Contracts and such...

I finally got a copy of "the highlights" of our new agreement Monday night at work. It looks better than I thought it would; better than the rumors that were going around had it. I feel sorry for those hiring in after this, as they aren't going to be making nearly as much; I also think that GM will have trouble keeping new hires with what they would like to offer as there are other places that will pay as well that won't destroy you physically like building cars can.

The VEBA fund for retiree health didn't worry me as much as it does many; since our health care money isn't "guaranteed" like pension money (not that those "guarantees" mean much anymore), GM would have tried to wriggle out of it somewhere down the road and we would have nothing; we may still end up with nothing, but if it's properly managed there is a chance it will succeed.

I was already in "traditional" Blue Cross anyway, since they closed out my "paid provider" program; since Dottie had all her surgeries we like being able to have her return to the doctors that did them for her check ups. Those that have been in the HMO programs aren't happy about the prospect of office visits; this is somewhere I will actually gain because instead of paying 100% on all of them, we each get 5 a year at $25.

The monthly retirement amounts were actually improved a few dollars. There are other odds and ends that either held or improved slightly; I held out no hope for them "holding the line" on anything.

The one loss is that "sanitation" will now be contracted; the guys that are there now, most of them over 30 years, will have the choice of taking retirement or finding a job in a different department by 2009.

In return for the things that they gave up, the plants that are building vehicles now are guaranteed product through the life of the contract. My plant is guaranteed vehicles through 2012. No one expected that!

I will get out under this contract, as I will have "my time" in about 16 months, and while I might not go out the door right then, I will get out before this one expires "just in case". I will take my pension and my medical and, though I won't be able to sit back on "take things easy" like I dreamed of in my youth (due entirely to my own mistakes through the years) I will go somewhere else and have the option if I don't like it of walking out the door...
_____________________________________________

Meanwhile, while I have been selfishly sweating this out and worrying about my own little world and my troubles, our peerless leader has told Congress he needs another 195 billion dollars to fund Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile he threatens to veto the $35 billion to fund health care for children...

Sometimes I wonder if that silver spoon he grew up with was lead!

_____________________________________________

I had a vacation day today; originally it was supposed to be a day off to go fishing, but since it was raining this morning, we slept in trying to make up for what we lost this last week and recover a bit. After we did get up and eat, the rain quit so we went and picked up the car hauler trailer we used for the trip from my sister's and returned it to my nephew's former shop teacher who lent it to us. We shopped on the way home and filled my truck for the first time since Nebraska late Sunday evening, then came home and paid bills, ran laundry, and watched some TV... I'm going to try to get to bed earlier than normal tonight (the line would not be stopped yet were I at work) so I can get up and go vote and miss the crowds tomorrow.

I'm going to upload the photos from our trip in a few minutes, and hopefully find something worth sharing (room was at a premium, so I only took the little camera). If so, I'll try to get them up in the next few days, and make the rounds to catch up with you all. I hope life has been treating you all well, and that you forgive me for being a bit "caught up in the whirl" this last week!

alan

1500 miles, 26 hours...

with 12 hours in Laramie. Left at 2pm on Saturday, in at 4 something this morning. Dottie dozed a bit the last few hours coming home, slept 3 hours and went to work. I slept 9 and have to go get ready for work.

Drug 5 tons of metal up grades to 7700 feet with just under 2 tons of pickup; it survived but I wouldn't want to do it with a V-6 every day!

More later- thank you all for the thoughts and well wishes!

alan

Westbound and down!

This is the weekend my truck goes on it's first real road trip. Pulling a 3,000 pound metal flatbed with a '67 Galaxy on it from Lawrence, KS. to Laramie, WY.. I've had "her" a year, and she barely turned over 8,000 miles this last week...

No real news at work; they are taking the "higher ups" in all the locals to Memphis this weekend to explain the contract to them, so they can come back and explain it to us this next week so we can vote sometime late in the week or on the weekend. I was told we won't see anything on paper 'til around Wednesday. Rumors abound...

So I'm going to figure that worrying won't change any of it, and that no matter what they throw at us I will be all right, somehow. My depression of a few days ago (that feeling of being relegated to the scrap heap) has given way to a resolution to survive.

Thank you all for the kind words and kind thoughts; they meant very much during some dark hours!

May your weekends be fantastic!

alan

Here we go...

At 3AM they say they have an agreement. The preliminary things I'm seeing look like GM got most everything they wanted...I'm almost afraid to speculate on exactly what at this point, hoping parts of what I'm reading are guesses instead of fact!

But as it stands, I'll be back to work this evening, for which I'm grateful! From there, we'll see what the "highlights" of the agreement are, which are what they give us to vote on.

Thank you all for the kind words and well wishes through this; they have meant more than you could ever know! My heart has been in my throat for most of these last few days, and the emotional swings have been extreme. You all have been very kind, and I appreciate it so very very much!

alan

When I grow to old to dream...

I might finally be there...

I just finished reading about the 11AM strike deadline the UAW has set. It seems that they've agreed to what GM wanted, but GM doesn't want to listen to what the union wanted in return. So by the time I wake up, I may be on strike for the first time in 29 years.

Though I'm dreading it, if not now, I don't know when. The media keeps printing numbers that are outrageous; they seem to think I make at least 1/3 more an hour than I do, and that my benefits are worth more than twice what the company is telling them I make. I've never known anyone in skilled trades to make an hourly rate like I've seen them printing, let alone a line worker!

I remember a few years ago they told us we needed to pay taxes for our parking lot because parking was a benefit we would have to pay for if we worked somewhere else. We do have to pay taxes on some of our other benefits...

They keep spouting off about the cost of labor; the cost of labor for my car from the time the first piece of metal goes on the line 'til it rolls off is about $600. Even if my benefits are worth as much as they say, that only amounts to $1300 for labor and benefits.

The CEO got a 3 million dollar bonus last year. I don't know what those below him got. I probably don't want to!

Oh well, off to bed and we'll see what "tomorrow" brings!

alan
__________________________________________________

4:00pm

I got up at 1 and found out they had walked; I've been reading the Detroit Free Press and Reuters since, channel checking CNN and now our local news, along with checking my local's homepage. I don't know what to think about all this, other than just hang on and ride it out. I have picket duty Friday morning if it goes that long; if it does go that long I expect them to be out of the car business in the U.S. before the next contract it up no matter what terms they get.

I got a phone call from someone we've had loans with through the years a little while ago; the Beneficial rep just wanted to know if we needed anything. Her Dad retired from GM in '74 and so when she saw the news she thought she would check in on us! I was a bit shocked...

Hope it doesn't come to that!

Thank you all for the kind words and thoughts!

alan

Weekend Rising!

As I write this, Talia is asleep on the couch and my clock is set for 10:30. That probably means a caffeine tab and up at 11, but that's what happens when you try and shift your hours for the weekend!

Tomorrow's plans include some errands, whatever she wants for dinner and I've been told "Dora the Explorer". I haven't met Dora yet...hopefully she's aDorable!

Meanwhile, I looked up another old friend on YouTube and thought I'd let her knock your socks off. I've seen "Jazz on a Summer's Day" before; Mahalia Jackson, Louis Armstrong, Gerry Mulligan...everyone was there! If I had a time machine, Newport in '58 is of the many places I'd visit...(though if I go back much further I'm taking a kit with antibiotics in it, thank you!).

Anita O'Day first rose to fame with Gene Krupa's band, and throughout her life, she never forgot how to swing! She was still active last year, until right before she departed for a kinder place!



May each of your weekends be wonderful!

alan

Vacation day!

Tuesday off! A movie at the theatre early: "Shoot 'Em Up". Definitely better than you might think from the title; I'd of sat through it again immediately. I was one of those rooting for Clive Owen
to be the next Bond. They decided he was too old, and though Daniel Craig was good, I think they might have missed a sure bet!

We beat the rain home, and settled in for a 2nd movie, one Dottie didn't think she had seen until we were a bit into it. "Kelly's Heroes", from 1970. All star cast, led by Clint Eastwood. Dottie decided that might be one of her favorite WW2 movies. I hadn't seen it in years, and on DVD it was a treat.

Along with dinner we watched "Eureka", a Sci-Fi channel series we started watching last year. One we both look forward to each week...

We have a DVD recorder that my oldest and his wife gave us for Christmas and birthdays two years ago, and I two movies I had recorded for her skipped in the same place, so I put in one I had recorded for our 3rd movie of the night. She grumbled a bit when Leo the lion came on in black and white (she says that it reminds her of growing up poor with black and white TVs when everyone else had color). As we eased into "The Americanization of Emily" Paddy Chayefsky's writing along with James Garner and Julie Andrews won her over, and at 12:30 she went off to bed with a smile on her face. (No skips, either.)

I finished the last half our of a 3 hour documentary on Kansas City Jazz I had been working through this last week, recorded from PBS a year or so ago, then put in another movie I had bought last year. I don't know if any of you might remember Veronica Lake, but I fell madly in love with her back in my early teens. She walked away from Hollywood about the time I was born and only did two more movies after that, the last of which is called "Flesh Feast" from 1970. She died a few years after that much too young. Though it would be called a camp horror movie, a "B" or even "C" pic, it's better than you might think from the title and was worth watching just for her. I have a paperback copy of her autobiography I bought last year around here that I will get to at some point; it's so yellowed and the pages are so brittle I don't dare carry it to work, not that I have much reading time there anymore...

Meanwhile, the 5th load of laundry is in and I need to go move it. As I wander off, I ran across something very very special the other day. Many of you know my love of jazz. One of my idols was Gerry Mulligan, and I was fortunate enough to see him here in the early 90's before his untimely death (complications from knee surgery). He was an extraordinary talent; playing, writing and arranging some very fantastic things from the time he was in his teens.

One of the highlights of that concert was when he added singing to that list; though he might not be a Tony Bennett, give him a chance and then wait for him to pick up his horn...please?



May the rest of the week be kind to you each!

alan

I wish I were an ostrich...

and could just bury my head in the sand!

I've been avoiding writing a post for a couple of days now, hoping that by now our UAW contract would be settled and I could quit fearing a strike. No such luck at this point...rumors abounded all week at work and none of them were good. I remember my Dad telling me that while we got 4 pages of highlights to vote on that corporate lawyers had already vetted every detail in the "book" we won't see for 6 months while they have it printed...he said all that contract really does "is legally define how many ways they can f*** you". At the time I thought him very cynical; now at almost the age he was when I lost him, I know he wasn't...

He was meatcutter for years...I don't think his union even exists anymore!

When I hired in 29 years ago this month I believed that in return for my showing up every night and giving 100% to whatever task befell me that they would live up to their end of the bargain and provide me with the retirement and medical insurance they had promised. Others had walked picket lines and given up raises to get those benefits for us; now it seems that not only do they want to get out from under the obligations they agreed to, but they want to take money back as well. They keep referring to them as "legacy costs" etc..

How many shareholder dividends and executive bonuses did we pay for back when they were supposed to be putting money away for these costs? Had they put Roger B. Smith's "golden parachute" and the money they used to buy Ross Perot out to get him off the board when they didn't want to hear him tell them to "take care of the workers first" would that now cover this legacy? The money they used to buy EDS? The money they used to buy Hughes? The money they squandered on Fiat? (2.4 billion dollars when they bought in in 2000 and another $2 billion when they bought themselves back out last year!)

It's not like our medical is what it used to be, either! I used to have to pay the first few dollars of a prescription, and little else. Now it's all of the office visit, $10 to $15 a prescription, and any tests they don't feel like covering (including my wife's last pap smear)! Yes, I could go to an HMO and avoid some of that...I also would lose control over who I see, so I guess I shouldn't bitch about paying for the privilege of picking my own doctor off their list. That I was lucky enough to have one I trust be on it should be enough.

I know, it's still better than a lot of insurances, or none...

but somewhere along the way a promise has to mean something, someone's word has to mean something other than "until I can figure a way to get out of it"!
Just because you incorporate shouldn't make it mean less!

Beyond all of that and my little corner of it...

I heard a piece on NPR yesterday about the American Cancer Society changing the focus of it's next ad campaign. It seems that the biggest cause of cancer death is no longer cigarettes; it's a lack of access to medical care! Too many people have no insurance or not enough insurance to cover their illness.

So it's cheaper for them to die...

We claim to be a civilized nation; a caring nation; the "leader of the free world".

But don't get in the way of our profit structure!


Somehow we have to take the shareholders out of healthcare...

_____________________________________________________________

While I've been checking in here constantly to see if things have been settled, I've also been looking up old friends, musicians I admire, etc.. I ran across this clip and though most of you won't know Dizzy Gillespie you'll probably recognize the guy who comes in to join him. Some of you might know the host who comes in at the very end of the clip as well...



alan

My crew...

Caleb spent the night on Friday; Saturday afternoon Dillon and Talia came to spend the afternoon and stay overnight as well. Laura brought Bill's Neon in from Lawrence as I was worried about one of the brake pads that was very thin. While she worked on her homework, my crew changed the brake pads...

(Since they didn't come with clothes that could get really dirty, Dottie dug through the rag barrel to come up with stuff to keep them from ruining their clothes and shoes.)



Talia pulled all but the last lug on the driver's side by herself; Caleb had done 3 on the passenger side with my holding the body of the wrench and him pulling the trigger but Dottie (our photographer for the day) was still putting together clothes for Dillon at that point.



Caleb was off playing with pieces of rope he found in my garage while Dillon and Talia took turns tightening the caliper pins; then they learned about torque wrenches and got to tighten the pins until they felt the wrench click.



They were very proud of their dirty hands. The GoJo dispenser inside the garage door was an even bigger hit! When Talia first rubbed it on her hands she said "This is only good for smearing the dirt around, Grandpa". Then I gave her a rag and when she wiped her hands clean she really grinned. She was so impressed she went back out and picked up on of the old pads and rubbed it all over her hands just so she could use more of it! (I'm glad the pads aren't asbestos anymore!)



Everyone got to take a turn starting lug nuts by hand, learning what to feel for. Then they each got to take a turn spinning them down with a 4-way, learning how to tighten every other one in a star pattern so you don't warp a wheel or a disc rotor. I showed them the big torque wrench for tightening the lugs, but they've got a ways to go before they can generate 100 foot pounds, lol!

Dillon learned how to work the floor jack and he pulled one jack stand and Talia got the other as we let the car back down onto the ramps. (The Neons are so low in the front that my old Hein Warner floor jack won't clear the front of the car without it being up on ramps first.)

Then Dottie wanted everyone to gather in front of the garage for one last picture.



Yesterday was spent building models, watching "Care Bears" and "Stuart Little" and "Tom & Jerry" along with the IRL race. Dinner was leftover tacos and gorditas from Saturday's dinner. Their Mom and Dad came to pick them up as they were finishing, so they ate as well.

I don't think they ever realized yesterday was "Grandparent's Day", lol!

Quite a lovely weekend! I hope each of yours was as well!

Off to play carpenter for a bit before I go to work...

alan

Corners and curves...

Saturday slipped away without me getting much done. Dinner turned out well, though some of you would think I cheated...

One of my favorite "quick and easy" meals was always Italian Shake and Bake on boneless pork chops. I had been craving it for a while, and finally remembered to buy the Shake and Bake last week when I shopped. Either the Italian flavor has been discontinued or they were out; what I found was two new ones, a Parmesan and a Ranch.

So dinner after Dottie got home and showered was the Parmesan variety on boneless chops with fettucine alfredo and garlic toast; it was great! Dottie like it better than the Italian flavor, and I liked it as much.

She worked Sunday as well, and I rolled out early and rearranged the garage as things had been moved when I worked on John's brakes last week, so it took until noon to rearrange things and get to the carpentry tools and the wood. I had gotten the eave boards back up a few weeks back, and the soffets ripped, but needed to rebuild the ends of the eaves before I could put the soffets up. Of course, I cut the first one with the angle backwards; hopefully it will fit the other side. It took about 2 hours to cut the pieces and fit them to get the first one together. Now that the roof doesn't leak I had my little black and white TV uncovered for the first time in a year or so, and kept checking in on the IRL race, hoping to see Danica Patrick win her first. As it drew to an end I came in to make a glass of iced tea and cool off; the finish wasn't one I cared for, but at least everyone walked away!

Back outside and on to the back corner; of course, the one I cut reversed when I did the front came nowhere near to fitting the back. I measured it out and cut one; I reversed the top angle again...by the time I cut a 2nd one Dottie was backing into the driveway. She came in to shower while I put things together and then put everything away and locked up for the night just as the "vampire" mosquitoes decided I was their fix.

Dinner was leftovers from Saturday and just as good the 2nd day. Bill called as we finished and said his check engine light was on; I asked if the oil or temp lights were on and he said no, then I asked if it rattled or did anything funny. He had been complaining of a miss when he first started it, and I had told him some weekend when he had time he needed to put a set of spark plugs in it. He decided to take a night off work and come do them on Monday.

Dottie and I slipped out to see "Rush Hour 3" on Monday morning early as Bill wasn't going to be here before 2. If you've ever liked Jackie Chan in anything, go see this movie on the big screen! I don't want to give anything away, but it has some of his very best work ever, and the setting is absolutely fantastic!

Bill came about 2:30; I had already looked up part numbers and once we got the diagnostic code and looked it up (when Dottie had her Neon I bought the Dodge shop manual and Bill's is the same car a year newer) it said "number one plug misfiring". They were due at 30,000; he has 54,000 on it. We also changed the air filter, the oil, and rotated the tires. He has a brake pad getting thin, so he's supposed to get it back to me this next weekend for me to change them even though he has to work. I told him if he can get it here on Friday before he goes to work his Mom will take him back to Lawrence and I'll do the pads and return it Saturday evening...I'd rather do that than have him chew up a rotor in the next few weeks, or end up doing them after it starts getting colder outside! I had him headed back home by 5:30 so he could get some sleep before he went to work at 10.

So today it was back to work and if I get my tail in bed in the next half hour maybe I can get up in time to put another one of those corners back together tomorrow before I have to get ready for work. It's supposed to rain off and on the rest of the week, so if I get up and it's raining I'll take my truck in for it's oil change (the dealer is still doing them for free).

I had planned to blog hop tonight, but it's 4:37, so I'm not going to get too far before my eyes cross...hopefully tomorrow night I can "make the rounds".

I hope the week is being kind to each of you!

alan

3 days off!

This weekend has kind of snuck up on me...I knew it was coming but had my doubts about ever really getting here!

I slept later than I should have today, got up and paid bills and then went out to run errands; in a few minutes I'm going to go start dinner.

I thought of titling this "And Another One Bites the Dust", but don't want to seem to be gloating over someone else's misfortunes. Suffice it to say that were all the hypocrites out of office, DC would be a ghost town!

Tonight, a leisurely dinner and some TV with my wife; tomorrow back to work on the garage and possibly a grandchild to keep us company overnight. Dottie is off on Monday for the holiday (hooray).

I'm really looking forward to this!

On other fronts, I'm officially "old" now; after over a year of my nagging, my wife has consented and I just signed us up for AARP. Later this month I'm towing a car to Laramie, Wyoming for one of my nephews so the older nephew can put an interior in it as his final school project. Hoping that between AARP and AAA I could get a decent room rate, among other things, it seemed like it was time!

This will be a flying trip, though, leaving at noon on Saturday after I work the night before and driving back on Sunday. Dottie gave up two of her vacation days in November (one was her birthday) to co-pilot, for which I'm grateful, since she's the only other one going who's ever towed anything that big!

The fun part is going to be going back to get the car when Brett graduates in December...somehow I'm not sure the weather is going to cooperate! I'm looking at a set of Blizzaks for the back of the truck, just in case!

:o)

alan

5AM...

After I came home and read my e-mail I tried to blog-hop around and visit most of you. I should have been trying to put together a router table, but I'm sure it will still be waiting for me tomorrow, or tomorrow night!

I've been picking up some tools of late with building some furniture in mind. Dad had a radial arm saw he could make do most anything, but my brother-in-law got it when Dad died. In digging back through some of Dad's books I've figured out that there is a lot a guy can do with a router that Dad did with his Dewalt, and if I'm lucky I can get away with my new circular saw and a good rip guide for the major cuts I need to make, at least for a while.

This old house has some places you can put shelves and such for storage, but not in a size you are going to buy anywhere. Dottie wants some kind of doors on anything like that to keep dog hair and dust out; with the router I should be able to cut tracks for sliding doors.

I've also thought it might be nice to build some things that might still be around when I'm gone; I have cabinets and things that Dad made 40 years ago...

Dottie used to tell me it would be nice to build a grandfather clock for each boy's family; I went and priced the one that Dad bought back in the early 70's and got a real case of sticker shock!

Maybe a couple of wall clocks instead!

:o)

Humpday...sometime's I wonder whether I'm over it or it's over me, but I looked in the Union paper that just came out for the month and didn't find my name in the obits, so I guess I shouldn't complain!

Yes, I actually looked...

alan

watching the wheels go round and round...

Up a little bit ago to find out that Gonzales has deserted ship at the Justice Department...not that I really expect that to change much, just a new round of review and stalling on all those documents everyone keeps asking for.

Friday afternoon I ended up with a grandson I hadn't planned on, as Noel had a doctor's appointment and Caleb and I kept each other company while they were gone. It was a nice treat on a workday!

I got up Saturday and we took Dillon out to the park along with his bike and mine. When we started he was complaining about having to wear his helmet because it makes him sweat and no one else does. I pointed out to him that I always do...along with a pair of gloves as I'm allergic to "road rash". About a half hour later he managed to flip himself off his bike and to a face plant onto the asphalt at between 15 and 20 as he was trying to pedal away from me. He landed on the right side front of his helmet and it made a very sickening "thwock" sound as he hit, but the only damage was a skinned knee. Suddenly he's decided he likes that helmet a lot! On the way home I pointed out 3 couples on Harleys alongside us and asked him "who's smart and who isn't"? After he looked for a second he decided that the one couple that were wearing helmets were the smart ones.

Not that I used to in my motorcycle days, except when I had to!

After we ate lunch his parents came to pick him up, and John figured out that his Caravan had shelled the right front outside disc brake pad. He went home to price parts and see if they were in stock; Dottie and I went to shop and run the weekly errands as I hadn't done them on Friday, and Penney's had kids clothes on sale so it was a good time to shop for Caleb's birthday this next month.

By the time we were done it was 9:30 when we stuck some shrimp in the oven for dinner and sat down to watch a bit of TV.

Sunday we went to an early show of "Stardust". One we'll be buying the week it comes out on DVD. I pointed out how badly the critics were slamming it the other day, and how well it rated on the IMDB; I think the critics must not have stayed for the whole movie...I remember seeing some tapes on sale in the old days of VHS that were Siskel and Ebert's review tapes and they cut a 3 hour Tom Cruise movie down to 5 minutes.

Sunday afternoon before John came I rebuilt the dripping faucet in the bathroom, then at 4 when he arrived Dottie started dinner while he and I started on his brakes. At 6:30 the van was done and we were sitting down to eat; not bad for a set-up I hadn't seen before ("they're all the same, they're just a little bit different" I remember an old instructor telling me once 25 years ago).

After dinner while Noel and the kids finished watching "Escape from Witch Mountain" he and I took it out for a test drive and he got to feel the new pads seat in; perhaps when I'm gone he'll not be afraid to do his own or help his brother when the time comes. I had bought a new tool set for seating the piston back in the brake caliper, after having used a large "C" clamp for years; it worked well and with the brake jobs I have left to do in my lifetime and those that will follow, it was well worth the $20 I spent for it!

Off to gather the trash and get ready for the start of another work week. I hope the weekend was kind and Monday was as well!

alan

Wiped out...

when I drug myself in last night, so I didn't write the update I'd intended.

I burnt my first vacation day in quite a while on Tuesday. Dottie was off, but since she has been trying to get all of her "annual" doctor visits done, she had an 11 o'clock with the orthopedic practice that did her hip and knee joints; that let me sleep in 'til 1 and actually get 8 hours after my 10 hour shift the night before. I let my physicals go sometimes as the doctor bills ebb and flow, but since she lost her kidney 5 years ago, her bloodwork is critical, plus she needs refills on her blood pressure medication. When she had the hip and knee done they told her they needed to do annual follow ups on that as well; now 5 years out they said she's doing so well they'll make it 18 months. All she has left now is her mammogram and another year is comlete.

After we ate, we finally made it out to catch the "Transformers" movie we had been putting off because at 2:23 it was a bit long to catch before I went to work on her days off. Good movie! Never thought a robot movie would have me in tears...(I keep telling you I'm easy!)

We picked up some barbecue on the way home and settled in with one we missed in the theatre but had purchased; "Premonition" with Sandra Bullock. Somewhat what I expected, somewhat not; very good movie and the "extras" on the disc were really good. There is a long piece about people who have this gift/curse in real life...

After she went to bed I ran laundry and watched the 3rd "Ghose in the Shell" movie: "Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society". Every bit as good as the first two movies or any of the mangas!

My first "graphic novel" was "The League of Extraordinary Gentleman" and it's sequel, having been drawn in by the movie. I never thought at almost 50 I'd start reading them! Somewhere during that I saw a reference to the first "Ghost in the Shell" movie, and one of the cable networks was running the first TV series based on it. Even though I jumped in mid-series, I was hooked. The movies and books are written with so many layers of things I can see coming in the not so distant future, they make you think for weeks and months afterwards.

So here it is, late Thursday afternoon, I'm halfway through my first cup of coffee, and my week is pretty much gone! Tomorrow I run the errands and shop as we are trying to "borrow" one of the grandkids to spend the night tomorrow night, and Sunday we're going to try to make an early show of "Stardust". Despite some of the things that have been written about it, it's still ranking 8.2/10 with 6,267 votes on the IMDB so that's always a better indicator for me as to what's worthwhile or not!

As I've been clicking back and forth to link movies, I see Bill Murray got in trouble for DWI...in a golf cart! I'm here enough I tend to read their news page the five days a week it updates.

So, down to two hours before I go out the door; time to "get moving"! May Friday and the weekend be kind to you all, and hopefully I'll drift through to see you all Sunday night, late!

alan

A New Atti "Tude"

Someone I really admire has put together a news site; hopefully you will all think as highly of it as I do...

I wasn't going to post tonight, but when I saw this I just couldn't resist!



I borrowed this from YouTube after I found it on Hill's new place...funny how he had it right then!

So did he have a dumb implant, or???

Hope the weekend was kind, and that those of you in hurricane country are spared a visit from Dean! Since New Orleans hasn't been put back together yet, I don't want anyone else standing in line!

alan

August 15

72 years ago today one of our brightest minds was lost. He could change opinions using nothing but words and wit; he could have been President easily enough had he wanted to.



Always curious, he tagged along when another Oklahoman was exploring freight routes over the North Pole, and on August 15, 1935 they lost their lives at Barrow, Alaska.

I used these quotes in a post over a year ago, but they are timeless, perhaps even poignant given our present circumstances.

Thank you, Will Rogers!


"Anything important is never left to the vote of the people. We only get to vote on some man; we never get to vote on what he is to do."

"About all I can say for the United States Senate is that it opens with a prayer and closes with an investigation."

"Alexander Hamilton started the U.S. Treasury with nothing, and that was the closest our country has ever been to being even."

"Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate; now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate?"

"Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for."

"On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does."

"Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke."

"I bet after seeing us, George Washington would sue us for calling him "father."

"Our constitution protects aliens, drunks and U.S. Senators."

"Things in our country run in spite of government, not by aid of it."

"This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer."

"Why don't they pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting anybody from learning anything? If it works as well as prohibition did, in five years Americans would be the smartest race of people on Earth."


This last one I have to paraphrase, but the same gentleman once asked:

"If the opposite of pro is con, then the opposite of progress is...?"


All quotes from Will Rogers, Nov. 4, 1879 - Aug. 15, 1935

alan

The hours grow longer...

We finally hit 9.7 tonight. I left for work at 4:30PM; I got home at 3:30AM.

Little sister's 48th went well, thanks mostly to Dottie. Mom used to cook a birthday dinner for each of us; after her MS started getting worse, I started cooking for Cindy. Usually something of my choosing. What she's really wanted all these years is pot roast the way Mom used to burn it...

So Dottie volunteered to cook it for her; 4 chuck roasts and it still wasn't enough for everyone to have seconds, though there was enough for Cindy to have leftovers for herself and her family the next day. I got up and shopped on Friday on 6 hours sleep, then between getting Mom picked up at the nursing home and getting there early enough to start the 4th roast (Dottie cooked 3 the night before) I got 4 hours on Friday night before it was time to get up Saturday morning.

Cindy was truly shocked at her gifts; it seems she had completely forgotten her Amazon list, lol!

Sunday we went to see the 3rd Bourne movie (4 thumbs up) and shopped our way home. That night I cooked pork chops and fried mushrooms and we watched "Bubba Ho-tep". I picked it up at Borders on Friday while I was running errands, as I had wanted to see it (Ossie Davis is a favorite) and had never seen it at the rental store...very glad I picked it up! Dottie had some qualms about watching a movie set in a nursing home, since she works in one, but laughed enough that I was forgiven by the end.

Thank you all for your kind words and your encouragment as I try to work these new hours and still have some kind of life!

10 'til five...off to bed!

alan

Just to end the week with a smile...

one of the funniest things that's hit my inbox in a while! This came from a teacher friend; I'm not sure where she found it...I blanked the state name...

These are real excuse notes written by parents in a ********* school
district. Spelling and punctuation were left intact.

1. My son is under a doctor's care and should not take PE today. Please execute him.

2. Please exkuce lisa for being absent she was sick and i had her shot.

3. Dear school: please ecsc's john being absent on jan. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 and also 33.

4. Please excuse gloria from jim today. She is administrating.

5. Please excuse roland from p.e. for a few days. Yesterday he fell out of a tree and misplaced his hip.

6. Carlos was absent yesterday because he was playing football. He was hurt in the growing part.

7. Megan could not come to school today because she has been bothered by very close veins.

8. Chris will not be in school cus he has an acre in his side.

9. Please excuse ray friday from school. He has very loose vowels.

10. Please excuse pedro from being absent yesterday. He had diahre dyrea direathe the sh**s.

11. Irving was absent yesterday because he missed his bust.

12. Please excuse jimmy for being. It was his father's fault.

13. I kept billie home because she had to go christmas shopping because i don't know what size she wear.

14. Please excuse jennifer for missing school yesterday. We forgot to get the sunday paper off the porch, and when we found it monday. We thought it was sunday.

15. Sally won't be in school a week from friday. We have to attend her
funeral.

16. My daughter was absent yesterday because she was tired. She spent a weekend with the marines.

17. Please excuse mary for being absent yesterday. She was in bed with gramps.

18. Gloria was absent yesterday as she was having a gangover.

19. Please excuse brenda. She has been sick and under the doctor.

20. Maryann was absent december 11-16, because she had a fever, sorethroat, headache and upset stomach. Her sister was also sick, fever an sore throat, her brother had a low grade fever and ached all over. I wasn't the best either, sore throat and fever. There must be something going around, her father even got hot last night.



Little sister's birthday is Saturday, and hopefully Sunday Dottie and I are going to slip out early and see Jason Bourne; may the weekend be kind to each of you!

alan

May my grandchildren...

live to see a world where people talk instead of kill each other!

My words, posted here. Please click if you have a few minutes...

alan

And so it begins!

New schedule this week; 10 hour days, and start time for the line moves to 5pm. I slept a bit later today knowing I'll be driving a 16,000 pound machine through narrow aisles with people running out in front of me at 3am. Hopefully I can settle into a sleeping schedule that still allows me to get something done!

It's not that my wallet won't appreciate the hours, and it's not that I won't mind that they can only schedule a half dozen Saturdays a year while we're on this schedule, but when you come home at 4 in the morning and take a shower you don't even have time to watch some TV or something if you plan on getting up by even 1 in the afternoon with a decent night's sleep. I've never been one to function well on less than 8 hours, though I can do it for a few days, it rapidly catches up with me.

So up at 2 this afternoon; it's 98 outside and the heat index is 110. I should b piecing in some of the wood around the eaves of the garage to get it ready to paint, but the idea of going out there right now doesn't much enthuse me!

If I'm even more erratic than I have been of late visiting you all, please bear with me while I try and settle in to these hours!

alan

OK, that didn't work, lol!

My sister sent me a .gif of "Alfred E. Neuman" that morphed into "W." and I tried to post it, but it didn't morph anymore when I did...sorry, I tried!

So instead I'll just thank you all for the kind words on the photo post below, sip my cappucino and try and slip outside to work before the heat of the day rolls in!

alan

Monday blues...

A few weeks ago, while on "vacation" I had mentioned we took the older two grandkids to a Natural History Museum. Parts of it they enjoyed, parts they found boring; at almost 8 and almost 6 I can understand that...

One part they didn't like was when I asked what they thought of their cousins. There was a display of the entire human genome transposed with that of chimpanzees; it took up an "L" shaped wall that would probably be at least 6 feet by 12 feet. The differences were highlighted, and though it would have been easy to miscount with all the other distractions, I only found 10. I couldn't have missed more than a few...

So I took a photo of my cousins and I-



When I turned around Dottie was trying to help Talia look through the vertical scope on one of the displays-



so I went over and knelt on one leg so she could stand on it instead of Dottie trying to hold her.

For years now this museum has had a display that shows something of the real world in real time; the kids were impressed with this one!




We showed them that the bees are so smart that the ones that are carrying pollen back to the hive walk on the bottom and one side of the tube, and the ones going back out walk on the top and the other side. If only humans were as courteous on the road!



I should have probably tried for a better close-up of the hive, but keeping an eye on which child was doing what and where was about all the 2 of us could handle!

One of the floors displays snakes and some of the other "critters" native to our state. The kids are still talking about the snakes. By the time we finished that last floor, Dottie and I both were about walked out; Talia needed to "go", so I sat down on the steps while Dillon was looking over the rail at one of the fossils he found so boring earlier-




Little did I know when I tripped the shutter, lol! So I'm being a bit vague about the name of the museum, just in case, though I'm sure they must expect this to a certain extent!

We got Bill moved out of his (thank goodness) walkout basement apartment and into the 3rd story one they were moving into. We're very glad the fridge, washer and dryer came with it, as getting their treadmill and excercise bike, along with a full length sofa, queen size bed, and two computer desks were enough big things to deal with for us older folks! Her Dad came and helped, and I'll be forever grateful, as it was raining off and on, 90, and the humidity was terrible! They didn't have power until today, so the only A/C was in our trucks as we made trips back and forth, and in the old apartment as we were loading up. The staircase was narrow enough that the bed and the couch had to be passed over the rail at the top of each set of steps because it wouldn't make the corner. The treadmill we would get to the top and then lean it to shorten it enough to go around the rail, but it's a heavy commercial one. I thought it might kill us before we got it there!

We started at 8 and got the small chest freezer moved to my sisters so it could plug back in, then got their bed moved before the rain started or her Dad got there. Though it was a queen, it isn't a top dollar one so Bill, Laura and I could handle it before her Dad got there. Laura had worked the night before, so she was already exhausted, and after the last of the big things were moved her Dad took the things they weren't taking (dining room set and tables) with him and headed home. Laura went to my sisters to sleep, and Dottie, Bill and I made the last half dozen trips with clothes and smaller things.

By 8 when we made the last trips up the steps it was getting too dark to see in the apartment, Bill was exhausted and Dottie and I were pretty wiped out as well. We went and bought them some cleaning supplies and left them at the old place and they were going back to clean this morning; I spackled nail holes and then we ferried Bill and his car to my sister's house to sleep a few hours before Laura woke up and they went back to clean. She was planning on getting up at 3AM, as she also had class today and they were trying to catch the utiliities people at their new apartment as well.

We got home a bit after 9, got Dottie through the shower and started the laundry she needed for today, then I ran through before the washing machine hit the first rinse. By the time we ate it was 10; Dottie went to get up to put her plate in the sink and her replacement knee wasn't very happy...by the time she felt like moving again it was a bit after 12 and she went to bed. I kept our laundry running until 4:30AM.

She was up at 8 to go to work, I slept 'til a bit after 1 and have been running laundry since. Now it's time to start getting ready for my shift...hopefully less than 9.8 like they his us with last Monday!

Hope the weekend was kind to you all and that the photos bring a smile or two to lighten those "Monday blues"...

alan

More from RFK...

"...I don't think that we're automatically correct or automatically right and morality is on our side or God is automatically on our side because were involved in a war. I don't think that the mere fact that the United States is involved in the use of force with an adversary makes everything that the United States then does absolutely correct. So I--the idea that we're involved in this kind of a struggle, if there are those within the United States that feel that the struggle could be ended more rapidly with less loss of life, that the terror and the destruction would be less if we took a different course, then I think that they should make their views known. I don't think they're less patriotic because they feel that. In fact, I think that they would be less patriotic if they didn't state their views and give their ideas, just because the United States is involved in this kind of a conflict as we are at the present time. Not to state any opposition, or say that we can't state an opposition because of the--the fact that we're involved in a struggle I think is an error. This is a difficult period of time, but the mere fact that we're shooting one another across the world doesn't make the United States automatically right. I think it should be examined. It doesn't make the course that we're following at the present time automatically right, automatically correct and I think that those who have a different point of view, no matter what their point of view might be and whether they are in favor of using increased force, or in favor of lessening the force, or even some--of pulling out unilaterally--I happen to disagree with that but I think they have a responsibility and a right to state those views, even though we're in a difficult period of time."

From a CBS television broadcast, May 15, 1967.

Of course, I'm sure now he'd be called a traitor like so many others!

Bill is moving this weekend, so I'll be missing until after my shift on Monday.

May the weekend be kind to each of you!

alan

I remember...

"...we're killing the enemy and we are also killing many civilians. But we are doing it because they want it.

Now we changed, we switched. Maybe they don't want it but we want it. We are going in there, we're killing ..., we're killing children, we're killing women, we're killing innocent people. Because we don't want to have war fought on American soil. Or because they are twelve thousand miles away and they might get to be eleven thousand miles away.

Our whole moral position changes it seems to me.

Do we have the right here in the United States to say we are going to kill tens of thousands of people, make millions of people as we have refuges, kill women and children as we have.

There is thirty-five thousand people without limbs...one-hundred and fifty thousand civilian casulties every year. Thousands of children are killed because of our efforts.

Do we have that right, here in the United States to perform these acts, because we want to protect ourselves so it is not a greater problem for us in the United States.

I very seriously question whether we have that right. And I think other people are fighting it, other people are carring the burden. But this is also our war. Those of us who stay here in the United States. We must feel it when...a villiage is destroyed and civilians are killed."

No, that's not from the debates. That's from a television interview given 40 years ago!

I've been spending some time with an old friend since the "You Tube" debates the other evening. No matter what page I open this book to, I find words that mean as much now as they did then!




Actually, perhaps they mean more now. I was 12 then...

Damn the man who extinguished the light and the hope I remember!

His name I won't mention because he doesn't deserve web hits!

9.8 last night; 9.2 tonight. Off to shower and sleep...

alan

Addendum, 1PM Wednesday.

As I was wandering through the house to the bathroom about 10:30 I woke up just enough that RFK's statement at the beginning of this interview really hit me:

"We are going in there, we're killing ..., we're killing children, we're killing women, we're killing innocent people. Because we don't want to have war fought on American soil. Or because they are twelve thousand miles away...."

If I drive fown the street to the next block, or downtown and start shooting people there because they might come break into my house while I'm at work, I go to prison!

Is there really any difference?

alan

Somewhere Murrow is smiling!

I love this man!



Borrowed from John-Marc; said so eloquently!

Thank you, sir!

Errands took up Saturday, the garage took up yesterday and I'm heading back to it now between thunderstorms.

alan

Sssssssssssssst-eam Heat!

Saturday; free Hazardous Waste day; up early to make the drop off with oil changes from Dottie's car and both boys rides along with a very old bottle of flea spray that was starting to "ooze" in the heat of the garage.

Home via Lowe's to pick up some blades for my new circular saw, an extra regular, a finish one and a cement one as I have a sidewalk I need to piece in before winter.

Earlier in the week I bought replacements for my 5 foot tall stepladders; one came from my Mom's Dad and it's mate from an estate sale 30 years ago. The sidebraces on both were being held in place with vise-grips and growing scarier with each ascent. They've been replaced with 6 footers, one fiberglass (to hopefully keep me from "getting bit" when I'm playing with electricity) and the other aluminum as the 'glass one doesn't have a paint shelf. The rung heights match so I can still use Dad's painter's board between them, which is where I'm headed as soon as I finish this coffee. New facia boards and soffets (sic?) to cut and caulk so perhaps I can prime them tomorrow.

After Lowe's I hit the carwash to blow the last remnants of the roof off the bedliner in my truck as Dottie has decided that our almost 10 year old BeautyRest is sagging enough to set off the arthritis in her back and in the hip she hasn't had replaced; if she feels like it after she gets off work tonight then we'll be going to buy replacements this evening. It will be deficit spending, like so many things of late, but if she gets to sleep through the night it's worth it!

My title is a reference to it being 84F. outside with about 88% humidity as it rained last night and this morning...breathing feels like you are in a sauna that's not quite up to temperature yet. Makes me think of a local history story I should tell sometime...

I got tagged while I was on vacation; if I can get these boards up this afternoon then perhaps I will put my reply up tomorrow. I need to go through some photos as well, as I have one really nice one of Dillon to share...

Angel seems to be turning back the time clock; though she gets up a little slow every now and then, if she doesn't start acting her age I'm going to start taking her medication instead of my WalMart Glucosamine Chondroitin! She's even taking to chasing the cat off when he badgers her for the first time since her hip acted up, a sight I thought I'd never see again!

A final thought: if Dick Cheney isn't part of the Executive branch, why is Bush handing power over to him while he goes in so they can look for his brain?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

"Hill" had this video attached to a post earlier in the week, and I just now got around to listening to it; wiping away tears as I type now...huge lump in my chest...

So much talent...so much heart!



alan

Back in (under) the saddle again!

Alternatively titled; "The Best Laid Plans"...

We ended up cancelling our trip to Branson. Dottie bathed Angel on Monday (the 2nd) so she would be clean when she went to the kennel and so it would be done before the family 4th of July celebration. The dog seemed fine that afternoon. The next morning she couldn't use one hind leg. Having slept in 'til noon on Tuesday, we didn't realize there was a problem until too late in the afternoon to get her in to see the veterinarian, and she didn't seem to be in pain. We thought somehow perhaps her hip had been dislocated in moving her around during her bath; at almost 12 years old, we both cried ourselves to sleep that night and the next thinking that this "was the beginning of the end". I've watched her eyes change a bit these last few years and know the day is coming, but I'm not ready to deal with that yet! Wednesday Angel hobbled and had trouble getting up if she laid down on her "bad" leg, but truly enjoyed the family party (lots of sirloin scraps finding their way to her). For the first time ever she even hung around the doorway during the fireworks instead of hiding in the other end of the house!

Thursday I called and cancelled our reservations because there is no way we were putting her in the kennel when she was like that, and there was no way we could take her with us. She was starting to put weight on the leg again, and when we spoke to the vet he said he thought it might be a knee problem rather than a hip, and for us to withold food after 6 pm and bring her in the next morning at 7 so he could check her and do x-rays. As the day wore on she was doing better and better; we were almost afraid the examination would make things worse...

Friday we took her in and he worked her hip and knee joint and said that it was arthritis and that probably it was just the tub that set it off. He said that he had found a Glucosamine, Chondroitin and MSM product that seemed to work very very well for dogs in this situation. We knew James Coburn had taken up acting again after finding MSM helped his arthritis, though it's parent drug had some side effects we read about as we were researching options before Dottie had her hip and knee replaced.

The vet pointed out that at almost 12 she is well towards the end of her lifespan and that he has had dogs taking this longer than she will most likely live with no adverse effects. So we bought the medication and he refused to let us pay him for the office visit, the hour of his time we took, or cancelling the 3 day kennel stay!

That weekend we kept Dillon and Talia for two nights, built a couple of models and on Sunday took them to the Natural History Museum at KU. Photos will be posted later...some of it they loved, some they found boring, lol!

By Monday Angel was so much better that Dottie decided we could do a day trip to Springfield, MO if we let Angel out around 8AM and let John put her out on his way home from work and again around 10 if we werent' home. We left about 8:30 and were in Springfield for lunch at "Hemingway's" (one of the top restaurants in Springfield, conveniently located inside the Bass Pro Shop there). When I rebuilt some of my reels this spring I used the last of some of my spare parts I've had for years, and didn't have a replacement for another, so when we had planned our Branson trip we had planned to stop there so I could restock rather than try to order over the phone.

There is a "World of Wildlife" museum adjacent to them; it is a walkthrough habitat with turkeys, pheasants, grouse and prarie chickens, doves, and probably 50 other smaller bird species flying loose in a "natural" setting. There are bobcat, river otter, beaver and aquariums with most of the fish species of North America as well. I wish I had taken the Nikon...if the family vacation we are planning for next summer comes off then we'll be stopping there with the grandkids and I will!

We left around 6:30 headed for home, and got home just after sunset. Quite a daytrip!

Wednesday found me measuring the roof of the garage and going to Lowe's to buy shingles, edging, underlayment, etc.. Got that all home and unloaded and found out they had put rain in the forecast for Thursday so we called Bill and told him to stay home with Laura instead of coming in from Lawrence to help; I had thought I could do it in 4 days by myself, so with his help 3 should be a breeze.

Thursday I tore off the old guttering and facia and soffet boards and tried to gather tarps to scrape the 3 old roofs onto, went to Lowe's to buy the lumber to rebuild them and make a stake bed for my pickup.

Friday we started before 7 peeling up the old ridge and starting to do the tear off. The first casualty was my grandfather's ATS&F coal scuttle; the weld where the handle joined the shovel cracked. Dottie made the trip to Lowe's to buy two replacements; she made a lot of those trips over the weekend!

By the time all the old roofs were off, the rotten decking was pulled and everything loaded in the truck it was too late to go to the landfill. Dottie took Bill home, and I figured up what I needed for replacement decking, cleaned up and went to Lowe's.

Saturday found me cutting the first replacment board around 6:45 AM. Up the ladder to attach it; perfect length, two inches too narrow. It seems Dad used 1x10's on one side, but 1x12's on the other.

I cut some scab rafter ends and put them in while we waited for the landfill to open, then we went and unloaded my truck. My half ton Chevy weighed almost 7400 across the scales...


Lowe's on the way home for 1x12's; the rest of the day was lost scabbing in rafter's and replacing decking. Around 6 we got the first piece of underlayment up and Bill and I were both fried (90's and humid, and I don't deal with it like I used to).

We had been supposed to take a one hour rail excursion on Sunday with John and his family and my sister; Dottie called everyone to cancel, as there was no way this was going to be done by noon! This was the first anyone else knew of what I'd been up to.

Bill wanted to start fresh in the morning, and that sounded good to me! We went in the house to clean up and eat, and found them saying it was going to rain in about 2 hours with a chance of hail! So much for 3 dry days in a row!


I have a 60x30 tarp I used to use in the winter if I had to work in the driveway; I could attach it to the front of the garage and run a kerosene heater under it so I didn't have to leave the boat out in the weather (it has wood under the carpet). We draped it over the garage and used the bundles of shingles to weight the bottom edge. We finished and Dottie hadn't been gone for 5 minutes on her way to take Bill home when the rain hit. It poured for about 45 minutes, then tapered off and quit about 45 minutes later.

Sunday we started at 6:30 again, on the side that would be in the sun first, trying to work fast enough to stay in shade. No such luck! Between laying the felt, then the edging, and unwrapping the shingles to let them dry after the rain, we had about 1/3 of the first side up at noon when John showed up. I had been trying not to bother him, as he works 60 hour weeks too often, sometimes more, and needs his weekends to recuperate. Thank goodness he did, because it was about 98 and humid as can be. He had done some roofing before, so we started taking turns on the roof so someone could cool off while 2 of us worked. By the time 2 more hours had gone by the two of them wouldn't come down anymore because they were so worried about me in the heat.

The first side was done between 2 and 3; there was a break to eat and then they started up the second side. I bucked shingles up the ladder and was the gopher, and they had me set the flasing for the stovepipe, but made me stay down the rest of the time. I figured out that the last roof I helped Dad with I was 16 and he was 43 and he never did another; he always paid someone else. I understand why now, though I couldn't have paid someone for the tear off and replacing the old 1x's, they'd have wanted to plywood it, and the budget just wasn't there for that!

Dottie and I cut the ridge shingles and they went down just after dark with the help of a 500 watt quartz light I clamped to the boys swingset on one side and my drop cord lying on the other.

I feel very guilty about them doing so much of this; Dad is supposed to be the cavalry coming to the rescue, not the other way around! I went back to work last night and my aches and pains had aches and pains. My feet were killing me, my hands are (still) swollen and I have bruises I had no idea how I got. I hope the two of them are bouncing back better than I am! Yesterday I went back out and did some things before work and got warmer than I wanted to; today I slept 'til 1 and haven't set foot outside yet!

I still have facia and soffet to replace, and then new guttering to buy and put up. Before I do I need to replace my grandfather's 50 year old aluminum ladder and it's mate I've had for 30 years as the side braces are giving out and the idea of landing like a pancake doesn't enthuse me!

Thank you for all the kind wishes and comments during my absence; hopefully tonight when I get home I'll be with it enough mentally to start catching up with all of you!

I hope life has been kind in the meantime!

alan

Vacation rising!

Since my "model change" at work was Tuesday night and I had old parts to pull from the line, racks to set and new parts to set during the "gap" we decided I needed my wits about me and so instead getting up early, we slept 'til noon. We went and voted (local issues) and then I took the vent fan in the bathroom down to see if I could fix it instead of replacing it; so far I won!

So, at work anyway, it's 2008 now! Strange thought...

Friday we set things so the construction people can work while we are off for two weeks. I'm looking forward perhaps even to an "early out"!

Dottie has taken vacation days to cover what should have been her work days so she will be off for this two weeks as well. Last year we had our 4th of July family celebration here and then went to Vermont to spend the rest of it with her family. I wish we were again this year, but instead I need to roof my garage and there are lots of other things to be done here. If I am lucky I will get a line wet somewhere between all of them!

During the 2nd week we are going to Branson for a couple of days; we haven't been since 1983. We were there with my Dad that spring for the last "family vacation" the way we used to do them before his cancer put him in the hospital; then later in the year her Mom came out from Vermont to visit and we went back because she really wanted to see the Ozarks though she was dying from lung cancer at the time. She got some time on the lake, and we took her to Silver Dollar City; though we pushed her in a wheelchair through the park, she rode every ride! She and Dottie also got a flight in a helicopter over the city and out over Table Rock Lake. Her Mom had been a mechanical engineer for Pratt and Whitney during WW2, laying out assembly lines and hiring for them, among other things. She truly loved that helicopter ride, not only for the beauty of the country, but the appreciation of the aircraft as well!

It's going to be very strange going back there again; I know enough things have changed that the memories won't be quite so vivid, but having spent every summer there from 1967 to 1983 with the exception of the years I was in California (even making one from there the summer after Dottie and I were married) I have a lot of memories...

The first time I saw Silver Dollar City it was one block square; you parked in front of the "1881 hotel"; it was free and it cost a quarter to go down into Marvel Cave! It was early 1962, and Dad had rented a camper for the back of his 1961 Ford pickup to see if "camping" was something we could all enjoy. We spent a few days at Roaring River State Park and then went to Branson and stayed at "Stormy Point" campground...

That fall, my sister and I were amazed to see this place we had just been show up on television. They were calling it "Bug Tussle" and it was supposedly where "The Beverly Hillbillies" had come from.

So, 45 years later, I guess we'll see what it looks like now!

Anyway, with Dottie off my time here will become scarce; I hope you all forgive me!

Thinking of you all!

alan

A Great Weekend!

Though things didn't go quite as planned, lol!

Bill showed up at 12:30 Saturday, he ate and then we went to go get his licenses. Our impeccable timing meant that the guy who works the sporting goods counter at Wal-Mart was on lunch, and it took a half hour just to get someone to come to the register, after repeatedly having different people page someone. The two that finally showed up had no idea how to fill out licenses...

Back home, hook everything up; it was 3 by the time we hit the water and Bill wanted to be home by 7, and wanted to wash the sunscreen off before he got in his car, so we were off the water at 5. Still, a couple of hours is better than none!

Sunday I got up and re-rigged some rods and reels and then took this boat out by myself for the first time. It has been a pain to get off and on the trailer, sometimes requiring two of us, but I've gotten a better handle on it each time, and pulled it off flawlessly yesterday. Fished 'til 7; when Dottie got off work at 5:30 she went home and stuck a lasagna in the oven and took her shower; by the time she was done and cooled off, I was home and got through the shower just in time to eat.

Back to work tonight for the last 5 days before our summer vacation; she's off tomorrow, though I have to work. Perhaps an early movie...I need to go see what's playing.

Hope you all had great weekends!

alan

Past the blues...

Father's Day really got to me this year. Having my Dad miss out on the years he looked forward to most and worked for his whole life was really bothering me these last few weeks.

My sons don't remember him at all, or Dottie's Mom who died in '84, a year after Dad. Dottie's Dad had passed on even before that.

Anyway, sorry about the blues!

We're to that part of the year when it gets warm enough Dottie doesn't really want to fish in the afternoons; I'm too old to go to work on 4 hours sleep, so instead of trying to fish early on her day off today and then nap, I got up early and we went to see the "Silver Surfer". Better than I expected! And it's always a treat to see Stan Lee get a bit of screen time!

Dottie works this weekend; Bill is coming in from Lawrence tomorrow and if the weather cooperates he's going fishing with me; if it doesn't I'll be going alone on Sunday. It was hard not to try to slip out for a couple of hours before work one day this week, but as much as it rained this evening I'm glad I mowed instead!

Two weeks off coming up the beginning of July; our annual holiday shutdown. Besides the 4th of July and some fishing, if the weather cooperates I need to replace the roof on my garage. Dad and I put the last one on it in 1966...it needed it last year, but I didn't have a way to haul off the 3 old ones I have to take off to start over. Renting a dumpster would have cost as much as the roof! (It's not a very big garage; Dad built it for his '53 Ford with enough extra width for a workbench.)

Usually July is dry enough we don't have to worry about painting and such, but it's been an odd year so far! Of course, if it rains I can always slip out to the lake between showers! Of course, if it stays dry enough to get the roof done, there's always painting and window putty and...(is there a way to make an infinity symbol here?)

:o)

May you all have wonderful weekends!

alan

Before I go out to mow....

and while I listen to something beautiful from a friend for the 3rd and 4th times...

I had planned to write a post for last Sunday before "the whirl" caught up with me. Something about the last Father's Day I got to spend fishing with my Dad 25 years ago. Something about figuring out when I was out with John and Dillon last weekend that John is a year older now than I was when I lost Dad, and that Dillon is almost 4 years older than John was.

John and Noel went to their 10th high school reunion last Friday night!

I have people coming into work in their "Class of 2002" t-shirts. I graduated in '73...

I don't know whether to feel old, lucky, blessed or cursed!

I suppose a bit of each is in order, like most things...

But before it rains some more, the lawn is calling!

alan

Better than I deserve...

was how I would describe my Father's Day!

Sorry about the lack of updates...between the "whirl" of life and overtime at work, the hours seem to be disappearing quickly! This last week it was announced that they are cancelling the rest of the Saturdays for the year because starting in August our start time moves to 5 pm and we will be working 10 hour days, 5 days a week until further notice. (That's 3:30AM to us!)

So I'm glad to have my weekends back, but not quite sure how tired I'll be when I get there!

After I was here last I did get the lawn mowed and the trimming done (thank goodness as it's storming again today). Thursday I spent putting the sonar transducer back on the transom of the boat as I ripped it off Tuesday evening when we bumped over a floating log. Friday we found out that my younger son's 10th reunion was that evening and we were keeping Talia and Caleb overnight while Dillon went to my sister's house, so I did all of the shopping that afternoon before work. Though I had to work on Saturday, after we were all up and around we took the two of them to a sporting goods store they hadn't been to; both of them had great fun petting the deer and turkey decoys, and playing in the open bins of plastic worms...

After my shift that night we watched a bit of one of the DVD's that was part of my Father's Day then went to bed "early" (for me, around 2:30). Dottie has been fighting a wicked cold for over a week now (refusing to pay for a doctor's visit has probably cost us it's equivalent in over the counter medicine, and finally she's giving up and going to see someone after her shift this evening). It's already getting warm enough here that the heat bothers her, and I knew it would be 90 by noon yesterday, so instead of fishing I got up at 9 and we went to an early show of "Ocean's 13". Good movie; four thumbs up, lol!

Bass Pro is right across the freeway from the theatre, and I planned on spending $20 there the next time I was out that way; Dottie put some things in the basket as well, and by the time we were through watching them feed the fish and rang out it was over $70.

She has been trying to talk my into combining down my tackle boxes into a bag and tray system, so we went by Cabela's on the way home to look at one that was on sale. It would take up as much room as what I'm using now so we decided to think a bit longer about that. By then the muffin and coffee we had for breakfast was worn off, and since it was Father's Day I got to pick lunch, and I love McDonald's chocolate shakes and hadn't had one for a very long time...

We got home a bit after 3; Bill and Laura were supposed to come at 4 and John and Noel were supposed to come for dinner later in the evening. Laura is working this summer and taking 4 classes, so we haven't seen much of her or Bill of late. They kept saying pick something to watch, so I put in a movie I bought last week (one of those I remember from childhood and couldn't resist when it jumped in my cart at Costco; Betty Grable and Dan Dailey from 1950 in "My Blue Heaven"). We were 2/3 of the way through it when the phone rang and it was John saying the battery in his minivan had died and he needed a jump start. He said he was in front of a place in the shopping district in Johnson County that I know sells batteries (NTB), but it was 5:30 on a Sunday so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and thought perhaps they were closed. I got cables out of my truck, Bill and Laura insisted on going along "for the ride" (the wheels are turning, you know...)

When I pull in to where we were supposed to meet, I could see the doors were open to the NTB shop; John was standing not in their parking lot but Olive Garden's, so I went ahead and pulled Dottie's Malibu into their handicapped parking, making him walk back around to the front of the restaurant...where of course, he said they had all been plotting this all week.

Though I had pretty much surmised as much, it was still a nice treat! Very seldom as schedules get busier and busier can we all get away for a few hours for anything! With Laura taking classes and working odd shifts, it's gotten even harder, so I was very grateful for the time with them all!

The funniest part was after dinner when we went to leave and Talia asked "was I going to fix their van now"? Though she was riding in it when John called me, she was still convinced it was really broken!

May her honesty never come back to haunt her like mine has me sometimes through the years!

I hope you all forgive me for the lack of visits of late; the few times I got here this last week I booted my Opera browser (loads quicker, has most of my bookmarks and it's the one I use for paying most things because no one bothers writing viruses for it). Since the "new" Blogger came around, I can read all of your blogs in it, and update my own; some of them I can comment on, but other's I can't unless I boot IE. (Oddly, since the "new" Blogger came into being, when I open it in IE, though my blog is in English, the log-in headers are in Cyrillic...hmmmmmmm! I double checked my language preferences to make sure I hadn't moved...oh well!)

I hope all of you are doing well as we approach the midpoint of the year!

Thank you all for your visits and kind words. I think of you all so often as I work my way through another evening...

alan

What a week! :o)

Friday- fished with Dottie.
Saturday- fished with John and Dillon
Sunday- Costco, Sam's, Cabela's and WalMart
Monday- worked
Tuesday- fished with Dottie!

The lawn hasn't been touched in two weeks (not for lack of trying, but we went through one of those raining everyday cycles; the days it didn't, I fished!

We finally ventured an hour south to fish a little lake I had wanted to try yesterday. When we got there we were the only people fishing it; from all the rain the water looked like Mocha...we still caught a few small bass, and learned a bit of the lake. Lots of standing timber in it (lots of lying and floating timber as well; I ripped the sonar transducer right off the back of the hull)!

The rain seems to be holding just west of us again today, so I'm heading out to pick up all the broken (small) limbs and mow before this jungle gets wet again. Tomorrow I'll be putting the transducer back on the boat; Friday will find me running the weekly shopping errands before work. Saturday Dottie is off but I have to work.

I assumed both boys would have plans for Sunday, but Dottie doesn't seem to think so. If they don't, then I'll be grilling steaks and frying mushrooms...

But if they do, you know where to find me!

Summer Sunday afternoon...

I worked Saturday 'til 1AM, made it home and was in bed "early" (2:30) and we got up to go see "Pirates 3" at 10 AM. Enjoyed it thoroughly, 4 thumbs up!

Finally everyone's schedules worked out so after church John and his family met us at Wyandotte and the grandkids got their first ride in a boat. After some preliminary explanations of safety and such, I let John take the helm; the kids were bugging him for a turn at the wheel, so the link above (or coming up) is a video of Talia's turn. (It's just shot with the little digicam I bought, so it's nothing fancy...)

Noel had a migraine, so she and Dottie stayed ashore and found a shady place to hang out and talked; after we loaded up they came back to our house for brats and hot dogs. All in all, a great day; it was almost like packing two days worth into one!

alan

Your Score: Jimmy Stewart

You scored 19% Tough, 14% Roguish, 57% Friendly, and 14% Charming!

You are the fun and friendly boy next door, the classic nice guy who still manages to get the girl most of the time. You're every nice girl's dreamboat, open and kind, nutty and charming, even a little mischievous at times, but always a real stand up guy. You're dependable and forthright, and women are drawn to your reliability, even as they're dazzled by your sense of adventure and fun. You try to be tough when you need to be, and will gladly stand up for any damsel in distress, but you'd rather catch a girl with a little bit of flair. Your leading ladies include Jean Arthur and Donna Reed, those sweet girl-next-door types.

Find out what kind of classic dame you'd make by taking the
Classic Dames Test.

Link: The Classic Leading Man Test written by gidgetgoes on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Wednesday blues...

since Monday came on Wednesday this week...

5 days off; the lawn's not mowed (every time I start to get the mower out it rains, only compounding the problem), fished two of the five (Friday and yesterday) but since it keeps raining I haven't repacked the trailer wheel bearings so we still haven't ventured out of town to fish...yet.

Since the "temps" all got laid off at work, now they want everything we can build, so they started running overtime again last night, and we start working every other Saturday for the forseeable future. Of course, they couldn't time that right, so I'm working on the Saturdays Dottie is off...

We slipped out yesterday thinking we might get a couple of hours fishing in; we actually got to about the 5 hour mark as the skies darkened to the east for the 5th or 6th time. All day things had been moving past us on both sides, going directly north. This time we weren't so lucky...

We heard thunder, and Dottie wanted the boat on the trailer "instantly". We hadn't seen any lightning, and never did, but a few minutes after we heard the distant rumble the wind shifted and without even a sprinkle to say "hello" the downpour began!

Even at only 20 (speed limit on our little local lake) big raindrops start to sting!

And of course, Dottie is "blind" without her glasses, so when they are wet life is just a blur. I would say something about being "mad as a wet hen", but she deserves better for putting up with me!

Of course, trailering in a downpour and a crosswind is even more fun than just the crosswind, so that took a bit longer than usual. By the time we got the boat loaded and actually headed out of the park, the rain was letting up. 20 minutes later as I pulled into the driveway, it had completely stopped and the skies were starting to clear...

Despite all of that (and my sunburnt feet), it still beats work!

So I've been up for an hour now, letting my eyes wake up, fixing Dottie's cell, catching up on the news and signing some petitions; guess I'll go eat something and then try getting that mower out again...

Back to the "rat race"!

alan

The Truths they'd like to avoid!

Being ex-military, I know that the things that I saw were not always the things presented to the public as what was going on. Sometimes this is acceptable; there are times it is not!

"Soldiers for the Truth" was founded by the late Colonel David Hackworth as a way to try to do something for the guys in the field; the guys who are dying every day. One of the most decorated soldiers since Audie Murphy (actually, as I read, more decorated than Murphy) he never said what they would have liked him to, much as so many who have been dismissed these past few years. Some of you may have seen "Hack" on Larry King through the years; some of you will recognize the stories he broke as he tried to do "the right thing".

I am bringing this up now because his widow has continued Hack's legacy and is at the forefront of the body armor issue that has once again raised it's head. We of course, are told that our children are being provided with the best of everything; once again, just like the lack of armored Humvees and so many other issues, it appears that just isn't so!

Not a supporter of John McCain politically, I am still glad he seems to be wading into this if only for political reasons because perhaps that will give this life and death issue a high enough profile that something will finally be done! Then all we need to do is get our kids some weapons that actually work when they are needed, some helmets that actually protect them from head injury and some boots that actually hold together (borrowing from the last bit of Eilhys's article)

"As we enter the fifth year of this terrible war, SFTT will shortly formally announce the new Basic Five campaign to get America’s frontline troops the best available of the five most essential items of personal combat gear so they have the best possible chance to complete their assigned missions and make it home alive and in one piece in a plane seat instead of a body bag or on a stretcher. Doesn’t it seem criminal that the richest nation in the world, which spends more than the rest of the world combined on defense, can’t budget responsibly enough to provide its sons and daughters with a helmet that will prevent many more of the endemic, life-altering head injuries? With the same better body armor the generals choose – and wear hidden under their uniforms? With a rifle that’s not a jammer like Jessica Lynch’s M-16 and that’s at least as effective as the AK-47, the terrorists’ weapon-of-choice? With a sidearm that’s reliable and deadly in tight situations? And with boots capable of going the bloody distance?"

Somewhere I read a blog not long ago where someone's kid had written home and asked for a pair of boots, because they couldn't buy them in Iraq and the service wasn't issuing them! On NPR I've heard of Navy and Air Force personnel being retrained for ground roles in Iraq and Afghanistan because there aren't enough Army and Marine troops to do the job. (This explains why I keep hearing of Navy corpsman dying in country! They're being pulled to be medics!)

Though I wish I were "Jeannie" and could blink them all home and end this conflict yesterday, or last week, or last year, or make it never have happened, such is not my lot in life. I keep writing Senators (a Republican stone wall in my case) and my Representative, I sign petitions and I raise what little hell I can as so many of us do. In sharing this link with you, I'm hoping to give you each a bit more information
to use as ammunition in the fight not only to end this terrible war; not only to show this awful administration for the liars and profitmongers they are; but to try and help a few more of our kids come home physically intact!

Please, if you have a chance, read a few of these pages I have given you links to above? If you have a bit more time read some of the "DefenseWatch Feedback" correspondence like this one

Sorry for beginning your weekends with a rant; I know this is supposed to be the time we all get to escape the cares of the world for a few days. I also know that for our children who find themselves caught up in this, there are no weekends!

alan

Fishermen...

come in all shapes and sizes!




Not the greatest photo, but until I can afford to replace the Nikon I really don't dare take it in the boat! This is with a little Fuji digicam that I bought a while back off the closeout table at Nebraska Furniture Mart for less than a hundred dollars. 5mp, only 3x zoom. When we finally moved in closer he decided it was time to leave, talking to us the whole way as he flew off. Dottie tried to catch the flight, but he was quicker than the autofocus.

Still, it gives you an idea of what an old WPA/CCC lake from the late 30's looks like 70 years on.

alan