The first words of this article caught my attention today.  Let’s pull a few quotes from the article; they are in blue below. If you want to see the original article by Anthony Schlaff click on the link at the bottom of this post. “If traffic lights were invented today, the Republican Party would be against them. After all, aren’t traffic lights a perfect symbol for government imposition on individual freedom? The government takes our money to build and maintain them, and then uses them to tell us when we can stop and when we can go.” If I didn’t … Continue reading If Traffic Lights were Invented Today the Republican Party would be against them….

  I seem to have always had a garden, except for the college years. This one is probably my pride and joy. It had plenty of sun, rich soil, and a fence to keep out the crittters. I was forced to leave it 4 years later due to moving to New Jersey to fill out my pension. And for those who wander no I don’t think New Jersey tomatoes hold a candle to those raised in the MidWest. Continue reading My Pride & Joy –June 1992

  This picture was taken at the Henry Ford  Deerborn Village in 1992. I know the think (whatever it is) in the foreground is distracting but it is the only shot I took of the front of the store. Continue reading Wright Brothers Bicycle Shop–April 1992

  We spent several hours cruising around the back roads of Northern Wisconsin just south of Green Bay.We took about 60 pictures on this day. Continue reading Northern Wisconsin – October 2010

  Took this shot yesterday as I was taking Beulah, our Basset Hound, for a walk around our homestead. We have about six inches of snow on the ground so Yvonne is in seventh heaven (whatever that means)  Continue reading Snow in the Oaks…

A little over a year ago the Republicans were screaming about the bailout of the auto industry.  The Republicans scream about almost everything so I guess that is no biggie. But it is ironic that less then two years later they are filling their portfolios with the very stock they rallied against. Back in the days when I studied economics, which was before the MBA craze, it was commonly believed that corporations were  founded on the principle of a three legged stool. When the three legs were of equal length the company was stable and worth putting in your portfolio. … Continue reading About the Bailout…..

  Perhaps one of the most famous barns in America. Everything by the Shakers impresses me with its attention to detail. The inside of this barn is awesome! Hands to Work – Hearts to God. Continue reading Hancock Village Barn, NY–May 1998

  Yeah, this is a photo of the original picture by Grant Wood. It looks just like all the copies Continue reading Art Institute of Chicago–Dec 2010

  This was a day well spent. Make your you also visit his labs in Menlo Park. Interesting stuff there. Continue reading Edison’s Home in Menlo Park, NJ–August 1997

  Continue reading Parke County Indiana July 1999

  Continue reading Utility Barn – Oct 2010

Took this picture on the way to Chicago during Christmas week. The prairies of Northern Illinois and Indiana are a bleak scene in the snow months. I thought this picture was beautiful and sad at the same time. Continue reading A Bleak Winter Prairie – Dec 2010

The debate about class sizes has gone on for decades. Some say there are too many kids in one class and some say otherwise.  When I was in Catholic grade school decades ago there were usually about 30 40 kids in each classroom.  I think it is much lower than that today but I’m not sure.  But, I do know that I believed I got more than enough of the teacher’s attention even with that class size. In those days those nuns had a tendency to wrap knuckles with a ruler if you didn’t meet up with their expectations!  I got my … Continue reading Smaller Class Sizes…

http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/health/2011-01-05-walking05_ST_N.htm The above link is an article about walking that is very interesting. Like all studies there are probably some unaccounted factors that also contribute to longevity in the study but I believe the basic premise to be true. The more we seniors push ourselves the more endurance we have so let’s challenge our current status everyday.  This applies to both our physical well being as well as mental.  I am a believer in the saying “if you don’t use it you lose it”. Keep challenging yourself to make that lap around the block a couple seconds faster than you … Continue reading Walking Speed and Longevity…

Happy New Year everyone. Yep, I made it into another year. I am busy finishing up my new years resolutions today. A couple of them are to travel more this year (that is if our health allows us) and another is to do more posts on this blog. I currently maintain three blogs and this one seems to often get the short end of the stick so to speak. Redletterliving.net is about God and spirituality and such; it seems to fill much of my time the last year or so. InTheSlowLane.net is mostly photos of my life both past and … Continue reading Happy New Year

It looks like I will make it through another year. That is if the Lord lets me survive for seven more days :) I admit I have been pretty lazy with posting here lately. I guess I just got out of the mood. But I do have some excuses in that we spent much of this week in Chicago visiting some of the Christmas sites. The picture above is of the Christkindlmarket in Daley Square. Continue reading It looks like I will make it….

After the flurry of posts around my leaving my church of eight years this two week respite has been refreshing. I will probably start up again soon. Via this post I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.  May we all spend a few extra minutes in the next days contemplating some of the red letters. After all that is what this day is really all about. Continue reading Merry Christmas…

  Now that winter is setting in let’s look at a picture of our July garden that my wife took. She is quite the flower photographer. Continue reading Winter setting in…

This post will close out my current thoughts on institutional purity. I have made it a point that institutional purity has done some grievous harm to the Body of Christ. I am therefore saying that we cannot insist that there are certain things you must believe in order to call yourself a Christian? In my mind yes there are some things that are fundamental but they are very few in number. Everything outside of this short list is small stuff. Here is a list of those essential things that I personally am very much attuned to. It is from a … Continue reading The Musts of Institutional Purity

I want to bring some comments from a previous post entitled The Right of Passage to the forefront so that the issue is clear.  It has to do with my leaving my church home of the last eight years.  As pointed out below I did short circuit the formal process at it’s beginning stages by volunteering to leave.  I chose to take immediate action rather than to pursue it through it’s  formal stages. Here are the comments from that blog thread: From Dan Martin RJ, I’m sad to learn of this. I have another close friend that has just been stripped of … Continue reading For Clarification….

There is now a thriving industry nicknamed Sick Day Bounty Hunters.  They are hired detectives who check on employees who may be abusing their sick day privileges. See the full article at http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_50/b4207093635068.htm .The article claims a significant growth in the number of people who fraudulently claim sick days when they are actually doing something else. When I started in the corporate workplace in 1970 there was generally a strong loyalty to the companies we worked for.  In fact many people would come into work when they were sick because they wanted to get the work done. What happened to … Continue reading Sick Day Bounty Hunters

Here it is the first real snow of the season. We got about three inches last night.  Our neighbor on top the hill behind us has been plowing our driveway since we moved here ten years ago. But, last year his antique tractor broke down and he has not been able to find any replacement parts.  So this year I bought a plow blade, wheel weights and chains for my new garden tractor. This will be my first time using it. As with most men I really enjoy my new toys. Even though it will be cold (I really don’t … Continue reading Trying out the new plow…