Source:  Military retirees say benefits hard-earned – USATODAY.com. The news in the article above came as somewhat a shock to me.  I often hear that the military pay is substandard; that we are forcing our soldiers to live in poverty. The graph to the right seems to go against those words.  It seems that being a federal employee including ones in the military that your compensation is well above those in the private sector.  In fact being in the private sector is putting you at the bottom of the total compensation ladder in this graph! I certainly appreciate the comments … Continue reading Federal and Military Employee Compensation…

One of my favorite pictures from a previous homestead. Continue reading Misty Morning – 1994

Source Article:  Republicans unready to rout Obama – chicagotribune.com. What I find most interesting about this article is quote below. America is finally wising up to President Barack Obama, a nice guy who prepared for the presidency by being a follower, by avoiding confrontation while cozying up to City Hall. These words are from a long time Chicago Tribune reporter. Of course Chicago is the adopted home of Barak Obama. Maybe I heard these words during the campaigns of 2008 but they were drowned out by all the rhetoric and “change” words that were flying around at the time. I don’t … Continue reading By Being a Follower….

In honor of my fellow blogger, Bob Lowry over at Satisfying Retirement, who is visiting the island this week I wanted to bring up a picture of my bride taken on our honeymoon there in 1986. We haven’t been back since but I expect that Bob will see a much different island than we did. Have a good time buddy…. Continue reading Maui Hawaii – 1986

Source: Post office turns to small-town mini-mart for savings – USATODAY.com. There is an old saying  “What goes around comes around” and that seems to apply to the much beleaguered Post Office. According to the above article they are starting to move small town post offices out of their specialized government owned building and back into local retail establishments.  I am old enough to remember that when I lived in a rural community while I was growing up the post office was in the general store/grocery. According to the article above they are planning to close around 3,700 offices and move them elsewhere. If they had … Continue reading What goes around…(The Post Office)

This is probably one of the most famous barns in America. Continue reading Hancock Shaker Village – 1998

Going back a way in my portfolio to pull out this picture of the Duck Pond in Central Park NYC. It was taken during our last visit there before moving back to Indiana in 2000. Continue reading Central Park NYC – Duck Pond 1999

This picture is obviously a digitized one of a picture I took almost forty years ago. This was a newly erected office park on the north side of the city. Continue reading Indianapolis – Pyramids 1973

Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.   Abraham Lincoln The advice in this quote is needed more today than it was even in Lincoln’s time. Most of the people in Congress are, as Lincoln himself was, lawyers by trade. A few posts ago I lamented about how we need a true leader during these trying times. Lincoln was definitely a leader during even more trying times than we find ourselves in now. If only the members of … Continue reading Quotes — The Wisdom of Lincoln…

O God, be Thou exalted over my possessions. Nothing of earth’s treasures shall seem dear unto me if only Thou art glorified in my life. Be Thou exalted over my friendships. I am determined that Thou shalt be above all, though I must stand deserted and alone in the midst of the earth. Be Thou exalted above my comforts. Though it mean the loss of bodily comforts and the carrying of heavy crosses I shall keep my vow made this day before Thee. Be Thou exalted over my reputation. Make me ambitious to please Thee even if as a result … Continue reading Getting Beyond Ourselves….

This picture kind of fits my mood lately. A little weary; a little aged. Continue reading These Old Barns – Wisconsin – 2010

None of them from any party are going to purposely ruin the country. They will all do the best they can. -July 8, 1928 Will Rogers If I had run across this quote ten or maybe even five years ago I would have undoubtedly agreed that it applies to our times. But given what has occurred since then I am just not so sure anymore. There just seems to be so much mistrust, I might even call it hate in some circles, that I am just not sure now. It seems that one party is more willing to see the country fail rather … Continue reading Where Are You When We Need You??

Source:  Many U.S. schools adding iPads, trimming textbooks – USATODAY.com. I am a techie at heart; always have been. So it did my heart good to see this article about how many schools are now moving away from hard bound books to electronic versions. It is about time we moved into the twenty first century in some of our educational processes. From the personal interactions in the past I have found that some teachers, like so many others, shy away from technology. The educational training academics just did not have much room for forward looking things. This trend is similar to the one taking … Continue reading Many U.S. schools adding iPads, trimming textbooks

I recently read a post by a fellow blogger Bill Birnbaum about being knowledgeable on the topic of music among other things. His post got me to thinking about how I seem to be less interested in maintaining or increasing my knowledge of the world around me lately. I am a person who never got out of the habit of asking “Why?” I do continue to do it even in my senior years but it seems that I am just not as driven to find the answers that I once was. Why is that? (ok, that is another “why” that I will … Continue reading Knowledge Is a Good Thing, But….

I have been in an artsy mood lately so have been playing with my photo portfolio. I have decided to make the header picture here into what I call “A Slice of Life”.  This will be where I select a picture from my portfolio and take a narrow slice out of it. In some cases the picture will make sense; in others it will be hard to tell what the origin of the slice really means. In some cases I will tell you what the picture are about and sometime I will just let you guess. :) If you don’t … Continue reading A Slice of Life….

This post is a tribute to all those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 and everyday since then: To the 3,000 who lost their lives because of the terrorist attacks. To the 100,000 Coalition Soldiers killed and wounded in Iraq. To the 13,000 Coalition Soldiers killed and wounded in Afghanistan. To the 400,000 Iraqi Citizens who have been killed or wounded. To the 410,000 U.S. citizens who have lost their lives to drunk drivers since the attacks. To the 11,000,000 who have died as a result of starvation and lack of good drinking water since the attacks. I mourn each and every … Continue reading A Tribute To….

Occasionally I look back over some of my previous posts and discover that they defined a milestone in my life. I wanted to bring this one forward again as one of those moments. This was the point in my life where I discovered I really am a “senior”. Somewhat disturbing at the time but an accepted norm today. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> January 2, 2010 By RJ  As you know I have been spending much of this holiday season scanning in photo albums from the past. It has been quite a journey so far and I have not yet gotten into all the wedding photos yet  . This has … Continue reading Looking Back On My Favorite Personal Posts….

  Be the change you want to see in the world.  — Gandhi These words from Gandhi have great meaning to me. They are a big part of who I am. As evidenced by  the vitriolic atmosphere in the world today we have so many tools that allow us to complain, I would even call it ranting, about anything we disagree with. Just look at the bottom of any on-line news article and you will see very concrete evidence of this fact.  It is just so easy today to let the world know what we are against. But in my mind … Continue reading Be the change you want to see in the world. [Gandhi]

  I enjoy waking up and not having to go to work.  So I do it three or four times a day.  ~Gene Perret I don’t know anything about the author of this quote but the message strikes home with me :)  One of the first things I did when I retired was to take off my wrist watch and shut off the alarm clock. I had spent so much of my life to a slave of the clock I couldn’t get away from it fast enough. As it turns out I have never put the wrist watch back on … Continue reading Taking Naps….

I came across this long time ago picture of “Mama-son”. She was with us over fifteen years. She had a regal way about her. Continue reading Our Beloved Pets…

I recently finished watching the re-make of the old film The Day The Earth Stood Still. That is a story about how an advanced race of aliens came to save the earth. The way they were going to save it was by eliminating the inhabitants who were destroying it. That being us!  One of the statements made by the other world visitors was that we who inhabit the earth are a destructive race! He said we readily kill each other and are destroying the earth in the process.  The logic for starting over was that there are only a very limited number … Continue reading All I Know – A Destructive Race…

One thing Labor Day used to be about was a parade. This digitized picture was taken in 1990 somewhere in the northwestern U.S.  I never recorded, nor remember, the exact location….. Continue reading Labor Day Parade…

Here it is Labor Day. I have always wondered just what Labor day is really about and why it is at the end of summer. Here is what I found out about it from my old friend Wikipedia: The first big Labor Day in the United States was observed on September 5, 1882, by the Central Labor Union of New York.  It became a federal holiday in 1894, when, following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland reconciled with the labor movement. Fearing further conflict, legislation making Labor Day a national holiday was rushed … Continue reading Labor Day Thoughts….

I am a spiritual person. I believe our spirit is what sets us apart from everything else on the earth. It is what makes us human. So to make this blog a true reflection of my life’s experiences it is necessary to add this category. I do this with some hesitancy.  I am inspired by many people and things that cross my life’s path. I will use this category to relay some of those stories  and thoughts to you in as positive a manner as I can. Let me start out by saying what this new category is NOT: I … Continue reading Things Spiritual…

Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today. — Will Rogers This is one of the quotes from Will that gets me thinking rather deeply. Besides loving the song Yesterday by the Beatles I don’t really believe in fixating on yesterday. Too many of us seniors just spend too much time there. We look back on our life instead of looking forward to tomorrow. Yes most of it is now behind us but there is still much more to experience in life if we just face it head on.  Our eyes should be looking forward at least most of the … Continue reading Yesterday….

I know one of the top shows currently on TV is Dancing with the Stars and there are a couple of others like it which I don’t know the names. I have only watched the aforementioned one for a couple of minutes but it seems pretty silly. You want to know the reason why?  Try putting the mute on during the program and you will see what I mean.  Without music dancing just seems like someone got into the Jack Daniels a little too much. I have mentioned before that I am deaf and after almost 25 years my brain … Continue reading Dancing Seems Pretty Silly To Me……

‎. . . there is people so excited over this election that they think the President has something to do with running this country. -October 30, 1932    — Will Rogers I would maybe add “or producing jobs” to the quote.  Everybody expects the president (whoever he is) to fix everything but history has shown that it can’t be done that way. He can tweak around the edges but that is about it.  let’s look at another of Will’s quotes about that. Being serious, or being a good fellow has got nothing to do with running this country, if the breaks … Continue reading Will Rogers Quote for Our Times

I got a little bored today so decided to play around some with the blog formats here. One of the categories on my corner was “Waiting 4 God” but that seemed to be a little too nondescript for what it has morphed into. This category is about life in our senior years but the old name could be taken to mean any of a number of things. One of my themes in life is “Simplify, Simplify, Simplify” so that is what I did. This category is now called “Seniors Only”. I know that name is pretty exclusive and it is … Continue reading A New/Renamed Category…

It seems that stock market trading is quite different from when I was dabbling in it in the past. In those days I studied several different parameter including the P/E ratios and such before deciding which company to invest in. And when I did buy a stock I held it for at least a couple of years. Now days trading in the stock market seems more like gambling at the roulette table than anything else. The only way you seem to be able to make any money is to try to time when you sell back your stock. Now a long-term hold … Continue reading Gambling or Not??

Continue reading Reflections — Ottawa Canada July 2011

Source: Column: Washington leadership’s grade is a solid F – USATODAY.com. Cal: McConnell and Boehner, challenge the wealthy. The “rich” should be the model for reaching out and helping people so that we can have less government and lower taxes. Churches should be called upon, too. Those megachurches with ornate architecture and huge budgets? How about living up to your commission to help the poor? Bob: You’re right. Boehner and McConnell, when it comes to taxes, you are tone-deaf and cowering before the Tea Party and the bombastic my-way-or-the-highway Grover Norquist. You both know that the tax code needs to be changed to eliminate … Continue reading Give them an "F"

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them. Henry David Thoreau These are words written by Thoreau in his famous book Walden Pond.  Anybody who has read any of Thoreau knows that he was a guy who marched to his own drummer. That alone makes him one of my heroes. Although he died at the age of forty-four he left us with many things to think about. All of us seniors need to quietly contemplate this most famous quote. Will you go to your grave with the song still in … Continue reading A Song Still In Us??….

A Quaker friend recently introduced me to the concept of attentive idling. The concept is so thought provoking I want to pass it on to all you seniors out there.  The idea behind these words is that all of us need to occasionally shut down our iPods, smart phones, PDA, and the like and just listen and observe things around us.  The last ten years or so has given us devices that make it possible to go through an entire day constantly being bombarded by artificial stimulus. When that happens it drowns out the things of nature and of God. … Continue reading Be An Attentive Idler…..