I have a favorite place at our homestead where I tend to spend hours at a time in the Spring and Summer months. Since it is the highest place on our property I call it “Up on the mountain”. I go up there to lay on my glider/swing and read the latest book or magazine. And of course I take an occasional nap there; OK if you insist on knowing the truth I take frequent naps there. :) My wife knows when I say “I am going up on the mountain” that she probably won’t see me for a couple of hours. Even my Basset … Continue reading Up On The Mountain…..

Ok, I have had enough; I just can’t take it any more.  Whoever invented the glossy computer/tablet/netbook screens must live in a windowless, unlit world.  I am a techie person; I always have been. I bought my first TRS-80 about 30 years ago and spent hours and hours on it.  I even changed my occupation from an electric engineer to information technology a few years after that. I am no stranger to this techie stuff. The first thing I bought that had a glossy screen was a laptop. I innocently didn’t really think of the consequences of my action. But I soon … Continue reading I Hate Glossy Screens!!!!

This is a picture of Indianapolis taken outside of the Indiana Historical Society building there. Continue reading Indianapolis – 2003

The Mayowood mansion was the home of the founders of the Mayo Clinic. Continue reading Mayowood Mansion – MN 2003

Am I biased about anything?  Of course I am. I, like everyone else have life experiences that have taught me certain lessons. And of course growing up I picked up many opinions from my parents and others around me. South Carolina is one of those biases that runs in me. This goes back to my high school history class days and learning that SC was the first to jump out of the Union because of the slavery issue. Then of course a hundred years later there was Senator Strom Thurmond who was consistently voted into office, even many years after senility had … Continue reading Am I Biased??…. Of Course I Am..

Living in a small town means the county fair is probably the event of the year. That is certainly the case for our small town. Continue reading County Fair July 2006

Source:  Editorial Cartoons – USATODAY.com Photos. I wonder what an elephant would look like without its trunk? I think it would look like a very strange character. But that is indeed what the current crop of Republicans have done to their mascot.  They have cut off its nose to spite its face. :)   I realize it is very difficult to be against everything and maintain any kind of consistency. I kind of admire the Republicans for being as good at it as they are.  It is really hard to be against everything But what do I know….. Continue reading It Is Hard Being Against Everything….

Spend your fixed income on what is important to you, not today’s marketers. Ok so this is kind of bogus post in that I don’t know what the 76 retirement rules might be that precede this one. :) But that doesn’t make this one any less important. One of my blog buddies proudly states that he has given up cable TV. I salute him for that if that is important for him but I choose to do otherwise. But I do see his point in several aspects. It seems that much of what is on cable today is nothing but a giant … Continue reading Retirement Rule #77

For me this is one of the most perfectly composed pictures I have ever taken.  It is of the top storage area in the main community building for the Shaker village. I have been there on several occasions and never tire of going back.       Continue reading Pleasant Hill KY – 2003

    I just poked my picture directory to see what would come out for this post. What you see is the raw ingredient for tequila. I took these pictures when we were in Guadalajara Mexico in 1995. I spent a lot of time there during my life in the corporate world. I never found a more gracious people than the co-workers families I visited while there.         Continue reading Tequila Mexico – 1995

I have been in a rather melancholy mood lately thinking about life. I have concluded that life is what you make of it. Yeah I know this is one of those sayings that we tend to fall back on at times. I guess this is my time. I have come to realize that life is not some glorious dream to be lived sometime in the future. It is not about those days when you can finally say goodbye to a seeming never-ending job. It is about day-to-day living; each and every one of them. If you think otherwise you are wasting a … Continue reading About Life…

My conservative friend and I recently had a conversation about a judge who made an extreme ruling about praying at a public school graduation ceremony. This federal judge went so far as to make a list of what words could be said there. The source article is at the bottom of this post. Here are parts of our conversation: My Conservative Friend (MCF): Prayer is the new terrorist weapon. It can, according to one judge, cause “irreparable harm.”  RJ: Sadly this is becoming pretty common place during the months of May and June. But is having everyone sit through Christian, Muslim, Hindi, … Continue reading My Conservative Friend re:Prayer at Public Ceremonies

From all the cows it is obvious that this is a working dairy farm.     Continue reading Working Farm, Northern Wisconsin 2010

Here is a picture of the lobby of the Truman Presidential Library in Independence Mo. While the library was somewhat minimal compared to our recent presidents. This mural was outstanding. Continue reading Truman Library – Independence Mo. – 2003

I have been thinking of my Dad today so I thought I would dig up this picture of him and me that was taken twenty five years ago on the evening before my wedding. One of my anticipated joys in life was to be able to spend more time with him after I left the corporate world. Regrettably he passed away about four months before that event. Continue reading Thinking of Dad….

Source:  GOP presidential contenders drift to the right – Politics – Decision 2012 – msnbc.com. Mitt Romney is about to announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination today. He seems to be the most creditable candidate in the Republican field but that is not saying much. Given his flip flops there is no way I would ever trust him as my president. Here is a quote from the above article: Romney, who leads in most polls, has rejected his earlier stands supporting abortion rights, gun control and gay rights. He says his 2006 law requiring Massachusetts residents to obtain health insurance was right … Continue reading And Then There is Mitt…..

The Source:  Bachmann on 2012: I’ll ‘stand up to Obamacare’ – Politics – Decision 2012 – msnbc.com. As the above article states apparently joining the already overcrowded Republican presidential contest is yet another Tea Party candidate Michele Bachmann. She has honed her message to everything that she doesn’t like and on top of that list is Obamacare! but in this article she  proclaims she  is a “rock-ribbed constitutional conservative anti-socialist. Call me a sexist if you want but I have always thought of women as the fairer sex. Being historically the primary care givers they haven’t seemed to suffer from … Continue reading A Female President??

One thing I definitely miss about New Jersey is all the diners that were there. We frequented many of them but this one was perhaps our favorite. If you notice from the picture that gas prices were considerably different in those years!! Continue reading Diners… Freehold NJ 1999

Before our New Jersey years we lived in a house on the north side of Indianapolis. While we were there we “adopted” two of the neighborhood cats that came to our door about to have kittens. Big Red, as we named him also came to our door for his regular dinner. He was a scraggly cat and looking at his ears and belly it was obvious that he got into a fight now and again. When we moved to NJ the new owners promised to continue to feed him. Here is to you Big Red. I hope you had a … Continue reading Big Red…

It wasn’t the end of the world just the end of Oprah. Continue reading A Slight Miscalculation….

Here is one in Staunton Virginia near the Frontier Culture Museum. If you are ever in the area the museum is well worth the visit. Continue reading Staunton, VA – April 2011

It seems I am drawn by bronze statues of people lately :)  Anyway here is one of Minnie Pearl from the Grand Ole Opry. Her most famous line was  ”How-dee!!! I’m just so proud to be here!  I was not a regular viewer of the show so the name of the other person in the picture escapes me right now. Continue reading Grand Ole Opry, Nashville – April 2011

I must admit up front that I have never been much of a country music fan. The folk music of  Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, Peter, Paul & Mary consumed my music tastes during my earlier hearing years. But I did occasionally watch for a few minutes of the Grand Ole Opry when it was on TV in the 1960s. Some of those characters were quite entertaining! So while we were in Nashville we visited the Ryman Auditorium that hosted the Grand Ole Opry for its first thirty some years. It was interesting to see all this history of the place. The stage … Continue reading The Grand Ole Opry…

I see where Indiana’s Governor just signed a law to take another layer of healthcare away from those who cannot afford to pay on their own.  He is de-funding Planned Parenthood because up to 3% of what they do is abortions. The other 97% are for completely other things. This brings up the title for this post.  It seems the Republicans insist on yielding a merciless meat cleaver where a compassionate scalpel would have done the job.  I know Republicans are seen to be against abortion (I have doubts about their real sincerity on that topic) but to take away all the services of that agency is merciless … Continue reading Merciless Meat Cleaver vs. Compassionate Scalpel..

Here is a pretty good place to eat that is just down the road from the USS Wisconsin in the previous post. It is pretty much “old school” but well maintained and seemed to have a pretty good following for at least the Sunday we were there. Continue reading Freemason Abby @ Norfolk VA – April 2011