That is a question being address by a group of young people who descended on Capital Hill challenging lawmakers to address the bloated defense spending that imperils their schools, communities, and futures. American Friends Service Committee (A Quaker organization) is proud to be associated with this group of young people.  See the article about these young people at http://afsc.org/story/1-trillion-contest-winners-visit-capitol-hill The basic question being asked is what could we have done with the money we spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars?  As a result of all this spending many in the U.S. congress today are stripping aid to towns and … Continue reading What Could We Do with $1 Trillion Dollars???

Our 25th wedding anniversary is coming up soon and it looks like we will be heading for Virginia and the journey through hallowed ground. I wanted to go to Disney World but my wife vetoed that idea. I guess I just have to work harder to convince her that Disney World is not just for kinds. Anyway getting back to the trip she didn’t veto. Virginia, for those you you who are U.S. history buffs know, is very rich with early American history. Most of the first six or more presidents were from Virginia. It was also the scene of … Continue reading Journey through hallowed ground…

  Screen glare is one of my pet peeves. My laptop computer is aging and I would really like to get a replacement. But it seems all laptops now for sale have the mirror like screens! I guess they are handy if you want to continuously check to make sure your hair is combed or maybe to keep anyone from sneaking up on you from behind but as far as reading what is on the screen they are the dumps.  You almost have to be in a completely dark room to be able to use them.  I know the colors … Continue reading Screen Glare!!!

Many believe that those who control the wealth and/or power in this country are pretty much above the law. That is at least compared to us slobs in the trenches. A case in point is Clarence Thomas who broke federal laws and will get away with it because of the power he holds. It seems the Supreme Court justice was “unaware” that he needed to report his wife’s $700,000 stipend from a radical right lobbying group on his annual disclosure forms for the past several years! Here is an excerpt from that article (the source can be found via the … Continue reading Above the Law??

The Republicans in congress seem hell-bent on eliminating the healthcare bill passed by Congress in 2009. They say they want to start over again but don’t really say just what it is that they hate so much. Is it: giving those who can’t afford even basic healthcare a change to get it? preventing the insurance companies from declaring “pre-existing conditions” for wherever they don’t want to have to cover? requiring everyone to have at least a minimum level of healthcare insurance the same way most States currently require auto insurance? requiring that most of the money collected for insurance actually … Continue reading A Healthcare Alternative to Obamacare….

Let’s take a closer look at one of the murals from the Corn Palace in Mitchell, S.D.  They really are made of corn and are changed every couple of years.   Continue reading Corn Palace Mural – June 2009

I am going to jump on my soapbox here for some ranting so be forewarned. But it is not that serious of stuff. I live in a pretty rural area so I can’t get any channels with an antenna or even get cable TV out here in the hinterland. I am pretty much only have one choice and that is satellite TV. Sat TV works out pretty good most of the time. It even gives me an instant weather forecast by going out right before storms hit. But the thing I have the most grip about is how they package … Continue reading The thing about Cable and Satellite TV….

I was at the Corn Palace in Mitchell S.D. when I was a kid in the 1960s. It was nice to visit it again and to see that it is still around. Continue reading Corn Palace – June 2009

I’m sure most of you seniors out there know the source of the title of this post but I’m also sure many of the younger generation don’t’.  It was a favorite quote of Popeye The Sailor Man. It goes something like this “I am what I am and that’s all that I am.. I’m Popeye the sailor man”  This saying has become somewhat of a mantel in my life lately. It seems that even after twenty five years of marriage my wife is still not done trying to change me into someone more to her liking. I guess that is … Continue reading I am what I am…..

There is an article in the Christian Science Monitor (see the link at the bottom of the post)  about how the Republicans want to cut spending on the federal budget. When Mr. Bush was in office and borrowing hundreds of billions of off budget dollars to fund his wars there was not a squeak from any of them. They suddenly got religion after the fact I guess. I wonder if it has anything to do with a Democrat now holding the White House???   Anyway, here is an excerpt from the article. One of the plans is the measure passed by House Republicans, which cuts … Continue reading Cutting Spending (Republican Style)…..

  Here in Indiana where I live there are two things that are almost certain about the month of March. The first one is March Madness and that is the high school and college basketball playoffs. The second thing is the final snowstorm of the season. Basketball, and other amateur sports, seems to be in the blood of many Hoosiers. I must admit I am not one of those however. In earlier years I did follow the playoffs but didn’t really watch many of them. Now I have no idea who would be even playing in any of the games. … Continue reading The Thing about March….

This like the other posts in the category is from the book entitled “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff… and it’s all small stuff” by Richard Carlson. It has many items that are particularly useful to us seniors. Our retirement years should be sweat free so to speak. Making peace with imperfection is something that I don’t have much of a problem with but I know several other seniors who still have a problem with things that are not perfect. My wife is one of them. Perfectionist seem to go through life fretting almost everything they encounter. Things like: dirty cars, … Continue reading No 2. Make Peace with Imperfection

One of the most depressing things to me is that some seniors seem to spend their lives just waiting to die. They have no ambitions or goals for their senior years. They spend their days do little or nothing. In other words they are very passive seniors; they say they gain their joy from inactivity but is that really true or just a cop out for not doing anything? I must admit that I am probably more adventurous than many seniors.  I enjoy constant stimulation. I enjoy planning and doing things that I have never done before. To sit around … Continue reading Waiting to Die….

  I must admit that I am a Internet junkie. I pay most of my bills on-line. I get most of my news on-line.  I purchase a lot of goods and services on-line. I follow friends on Facebook I get and receive many emails daily As a result of all this activity I have a lot of logins and passwords strewn across the Internet. I also must admit that until recently I had not really taken my many account passwords very seriously. That changed about a month ago when I discovered that someone had gained access to one of my … Continue reading About Passwords and the Internet….

This is just too sad to take lightheartedly. There is a global food crisis in much of the third world. Part of that is due to us using so much corn for ethanol. We have so much in the country and so much of the world is starving. Something is wrong with that! Continue reading Global Food Crisis…..

It is a rainy day here in Indiana but considering that it is not snow it doesn’t get me down. And the fact that between July and September of last year we had less than an inch of rain total, I welcome a rainy day now and then.  The picture above is one of my favorite ones of my hubby. It was taken about 25 years ago during our visit to the Wisconsin Dell.  I love her more now than I did even then. Continue reading Rainy days don’t always get me down….

I just changed the word “Satirical” to “Lighthearted” for this blog title. It seems that the word “Satirical” has come to mean something quite different than in Will Rogers’ day. Looking at what Wikipedia says http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satire some might get the wrong opinion of what I am trying to do here. According to Wiki there is now a definite dark side to satire that is more predominant today than the more light hearted approach that Will Rogers used. I am definitely not on the dark side and neither was Will! :) Its funny how some words change at time goes by. In … Continue reading What is Satire?

I seem to be on a Pickles streak here but it is nice to see something focused on us seniors.  Almost everything else is for the 18 – 35 crowd. :) Over 85% of the people in the U.S. claim to be religious. But just what are they religious about?  That is the question. Continue reading About being Religious

Here is a well used Indiana barn. Continue reading Indiana–June 2009

This is my favorite view of our homestead. I call it “up on the mountain” as it is the highest point on our property. This is where my outdoor glider resides and is where I do most of my spring/summer/ fall reading and the corresponding naps. :)    I ache to get back to my mountain home. Given the warm weather lately, hopefully it will be soon. But that is probably wishful thinking. Continue reading Anxiously awaiting…

I have had many interesting meals and cherished friendships at the GD Grill. I also got “popped” there one year for my birthday thanks to my friend Dave R.  I haven’t been there in 15 years. We will have to plan another visit there sometime in the future. Continue reading Guadalajara Grill–October 1994

Some probably think that the phrase “More with Less” is a recent invention but I was brutally hit with it in the 1990s. As my team around me was constantly shrinking the workload was constantly increasing. The above term was almost nauseous to me during that time. I wish I could have come up with some of the things in the Dilbert cartoon at the time. The last couple of years of my corporate life were not pleasant. I was working sixty hour weeks to do “more with less” (less meaning I was never paid for the extra hours!). No … Continue reading More with Less

We came across this barn while visiting a Tractor show with our good friends the Hoffmans. Continue reading Elmora Indiana – June 2008

  I just came across this comic strip a few weeks ago. It is not one of my favorites but it does from time to time give me some ideas.   Better done well or not at all has been around for a while now but i never thought of applying it to me senior years and especially as far as my hubby is concerned. So I will be putting this one on the back burner for use when it is most appropriate. And the journey goes on.   Tags: or+not+at+all, Pickles+comic+strip Continue reading I didn’t know I had a choice…

I just watched a episode on FrontLine (on PBS) about multitasking.  Kids today insist that they can do many things at the same time and almost all of them involve some form of electronics.  The FrontLine episode basically said the kids think they multitasking very well when in reality they don’t do any of the things well at all.  The brain is just not meant to do multiple things at the same time. I’m definitely not a kid anymore but I too can multitask if I need to but I prefer to work on one thing and then get it … Continue reading Multitasking??

  Let’s pick on the TV folks for a few posts. I have always enjoyed seeing the new HGTV Dream House each year. But this year seemed to be different than the past.  I watched about five minutes of this years show and found myself a little dizzy and still wondering what the house looked like.  It seemed that every time I saw a picture it was either zooming in or panning out and lasted for no more than a second or so.  I tried several times to watch but the result was always the same. Thank goodness for the … Continue reading HGTV Dream House 2011 Intervention…..

This is one of my favorite barns. It is located in the Living History Museum outside of Des Moines Iowa. Yeah, that me going it. Continue reading Des Moines IA–June 2010

I am having trouble with my project of comparing what Jesus said to what Paul said.  There are several reasons for this difficulty. They, for the most part, didn’t appear to address very many of the same issues. There is so much baggage associated with this topic it is hard to not be prejudged by it all It seems I must extrapolate the two men’s actions as well as words to make any comparison. This leaves me with some basic questions. Did Jesus leave it up to Paul to fill in his blanks? Did Paul take it upon himself to … Continue reading Jesus and Paul Comparisons – Harder than it looks..

One piece of trivia stuck in my head for a good number of years is the one I used as the title of this post. It was coined by an English guy in the mid-1880s. It is good to see that it still applies today. Pens tend to be sharp instruments both literally and figuratively but they are not as deadly as our ever-loving weapons here in the U.S. And they are a lot cheaper too. We could use the extra money for taking care of this medical quagmire we have gotten ourselves into or cashing in our IOUs to … Continue reading The pen is mightier than the sword.