I speak truth, not so much as I would, but as much as I dare; and I dare a little more as I grow older. (Catherine Drinker Bowen) I got the above quote from a fellow blogger a few months ago. I don’t remember exactly who is was but the quote hit me head on. As I grow older I seem to dare and say some things that I would not have said earlier in life. When we are younger we think we speak the truth but we always hold off some things as we don’t want others to know … Continue reading A Little More As I Grow Older….

I know this isn’t a barn but I guess you could label it a “historic” building?  It is the Longaberger Basket Company headquarters in Ohio Continue reading Longaberger HQ – Ohio 2008

This is a picture of me at the Great Salt Lake in 2009.  I am currently using it as a header for my homepage blog   RJ’s Corner. Continue reading The Great Salt Lake – 2009

Note: I am going to cross-post here from one of my other blogs. I couldn’t decide which one was the most appropriate so I will post at both. (ha) Since the Republicans seem hell-bent on rolling back Obama-care I wanted to talk a little about one of the effects of this action. I recently had to have a rather expensive blood test run for a potentially life threatening condition. My past employer who maintains my pension and insurance fund constantly tells me that he is under no “legal” obligation to continue providing me health insurance. If I had been a … Continue reading Going Backwards…. Again….

Since the Republicans seem hell-bent on rolling back Obama-care I wanted to talk a little about one of the effects of this action. I recently had to have a rather expensive blood test run for a potentially life threatening condition. My past employer who maintains my pension and insurance fund constantly tells me that he is under no “legal” obligation to continue providing me health insurance. If I had been a union member instead of management he could not make these threats. (That sounds like a topic for another near-term post :) ) So long story short I still have … Continue reading Going Backwards…. Again….

I saw an article recently about how people in the future will likely typically live to be 100 years old. At first thought that sounds kind of nice. I align with the old saying “Everyone wants to get to heaven but no one wants to die to get there”. I certainly don’t want to die, at least anytime soon. I still have many things left on my life’s to-do list. But it seems when I turned sixty my body warranty expired. Things just don’t work as well as before.  My back continues to deteriorate with more compression fractures. My knees … Continue reading Living to be 100???

  The Republicans are at it again. All the presidential hopefuls are coming out in force to say how terrible Obama-care is but offering no solutions themselves. I guess they think they got the house back with this strategy so they think they can win the presidency that way too. They seem intent on giving insurance companies back the right to deny coverage for “pre-existing conditions” and taking away possible healthcare from those who cannot currently afford it. They seem intent on making healthcare a privilege for only those who can afford it and denying it from everyone else. The rest of … Continue reading At It Again…

Found this one during our Wisconsin barn search last year. Not only is it an old barn but it appeared to be an abandoned converted barn :)     Continue reading Northern Wisconsin – October 2010

Its like stepping back in time. Yeah, that’s me walking down main street. Continue reading Virginia City NV–June 2009

As mentioned on a previous post we are getting ready to head off on a Spring Vacation through Maryland, Virginia, and probably a few other States.  So that means loading up our HHR with all the “necessities”. We bought the HHR for our Westerly trip in 2009 and have used it for several others since then. Pulling down the back seat makes more than enough room for even my wife’s luggage. She says she doesn’t know what the weather will be so she must take a little of everything. Our little HHR is just perfect for us at this time … Continue reading We Still Love our HHR….

This is definitely a place where a picture, in this case a poster, is worth a thousand words so I don’t have much to add. Someday we will join the rest of the industrialized nations and provide universal healthcare for all our citizens. We could very easily do that if we only brought our military budgets in line with every other country in the world. Sadly but what do I know… Continue reading Don’t Be Silly

What is considered to be old is, of course, a matter of perspective. I have always been a dreamer in that throughout my life, although not so much lately, I have thought about where I would be and what I would be doing in the future. As a teenager I spent many a night staring up at a seemingly endless star field and dreaming out where I would be in the distant future. In those days the distant future was around the year 2000 or so! When we are young being old is about when we are forties. When we … Continue reading It’s a Matter of Perspective…

This picture was taken during our month-long trip to the west coast. We didn’t discover many barns in the west. This was on of the few we even managed to snap during that trip. Continue reading Kansas City, MO -2009

I have spent most of my life in the Midwest but did finish out my professional career in the NYC area. Before I moved to the Northeast I had frequent business trips there. It seems that many people I interacted with in that area, they call it the tri-state area (NY, Conn, NJ), had a definite opinion of us in the hinterland. They tend to look at our cities and towns as “cornfield with lights”.  They say what is there to do there? They think life is much slower when you get away from the tri-state area. They proudly say … Continue reading Life in the Fast Lane?

It warms my heart that two European countries have taken the lead in keeping the dictator of Libya from destroying his own people. Maybe humanity does mean something to political powers. I am also relieved that the U.S. has finally agreed to help them in that effort.  This goes a long way to proving that we don’t have to be the policemen of the world. While President Obama has dissappointed me in so many areas this is  not one of them.  He let others closer to the conflict take responsibility for stopping the innocent killing. Good for him. But, I … Continue reading Way to Go, Britain and France….