And Away I Go!

Worked in Greenville this morning, then off to the Chiropractor, last visit until at least after Thanksgiving.....Saturday and Sunday were good days, yesterday not so good, today, painful morning, but better right now.

Will walk up to George's Barber Shop in about an hour...20 minutes each way, twofold I need to walk for the back, and with gas now at $3.15 per gallon, why drive if you can walk? And It looks no better on the horizon....$4 by Christmas? Maybe more before winter ends.

Tomorrow(at 6AM no less) Garry and I head for Akron for a conference workshop concerning succession stuff for non-profit organizations...No Doze required, as well as a couple of cold ones for tomorrow night. Will be back Thursday, then turn around and drive my brother to Columbus(another 120 miles each way) to the VA Clinic....then next week, it's off to Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, to hook up with Patricia's family for Thanksgiving....looks like Hal will go, and maybe Sam(if he's not on a run)...so all 5 of us together....extra motel room required.

All-in-all, the driving and the change in beds over the next 12 days should give my back a workout.....or completely throw it out, and bring my decision to surgery or not-to-surgery to a quicker head.

Looking forward to Saturday...even though Ohio State in no longer #1...Michigan week is a real hate fest....winner takes the outright Big Ten crown and goes to the Rose Bowl....The Buckeyes have won 5 of 6 with Tressel at the helm, and I expect him to out coach Llyod Carr again this year....PREDICTION Ohio State 34 Michigan 13

Go Bucks!

The Weekend and the Toy Hauler

Yesterday was damp and down right fall like, rained most of the day...Saturday was not bad, except the Ohio State Buckeyes fell to a mediocre Illinois team, knocking the Bucks out of the National Championship game....but as any Ohio State(or Michigan) fan knows....the season rests on Beating Michigan and winning the Big 10, the trip to the Rose Bowl(or BCS) is icing on the seasonal cake. 64 and sunny is on slate for today, with rain by tonight.

Michigan Week is here....Go Bucks!

Working on some new exercises for the back....Saturday was "almost" normal, well as close as I've been in over a month....yesterday with the damp weather was a little worse, but the small workouts I gleaned off the internet seem to be working....tomorrow I make one more trip to the Chiropractor, probably my last, until after Thanksgiving, then I will reevaluate the situation.

Worked in Greenville this morning, and again tomorrow....then time for a haircut. Wednesday and Thursday I will head over to the other side of the state, Akron, for a conference pertaining to my position with residential services...I'm on the Mercer Residential Board of Directors, a non-profit organization serving families and individuals with mental disorders....a project close to home for me and my wife, who has been a Special Education teacher for many years....since we have a daughter, Anissa, with special needs, we try to stay involved as much as possible. Anyway the Executive Director and I are heading east a couple of hundred miles...making it easier, Garry , the director, and I both officiate football and umpire baseball...and have been beer drinking buddies for a number of years, coached baseball with each other and against one another as well.....so I'm sure we will partake in a few on Wednesday night.....will be home late Thursday, then head to Columbus Friday with my brother Mike, who needs his mending broken leg looked at at the VA Clinic down that way......a busy week.

Sam left Saturday night for Ocala, Florida, with a "Toy Hauler"...the photos show the 40 foot front engine Diesel rig....these things go for about $200,000, and have a upper bunk bed, 4 flat screen TVs, and nice stereo system, couple of sleeper couches, kitchen, bath room, and about 15 foot of rear end ramp and storage for motorcycles, ATVs, a Jeep, or whatever you want to haul.......a little pricey for my taste, but folks do but them. Sam will drop that one off around 1 this afternoon, stay with a friend, and fly from Orlando to South Bend......

Off for a walk to the Board Meeting........about 20 minutes each way. Dartball tonight, hopefully I will do better than last week, funny part is though, as bad as we played, we are the only undefeated team(out of 8 in the league) left...just one week into the season.

Veterans and Veterans Day

Worked for an hour or so, filling in at the Honda Satellite plant in Greenville this morning....went out to lunch with Patricia, no school today, but she had work to do with her "no child left behind" stuff, that they now do...like it or not. Plus she came down with a nice sinus infection....ain't the change of weather great....Sam is heading home for an overnight stay...2 RVs delivered to Salt Lake, now a Diesel Toy Hauler is on it's way to Ocala, Florida....he'll stop at home tonight leave tomorrow, drop off Monday and fly into South Bend Tuesday, pick up his car and take a week or so off. Hal will be home Sunday as his finals are about ready to go....one more Quarter at Wright State, then it's on to U of Dayton for his Masters work......

The back felt good this morning, but now some hip and leg pain has returned...Ol' well...it's manageable.

Veterans_________ Sunday is Veterans Day...Thank a Vet for your freedom._____

Today is Vietnam Veteran Memorial Day today....our little Air Force Sky Cop group is in D.C. for the annual reunion, about 300 of our surviving 1000 members plus wives will be there and march Sunday in the parade....I am passing again this year, but if all goes well I will head to Albuquerque, New Mexico next October for the next one......too many things on the table this time, or so I tell myself.

http://www.vspa.com/



It's funny, you hear folks talk about Vets and Veterans, almost like we were one big group of gung ho heroes, that marched alike, looked alike, and thought alike....nope, hardly....we are good guys, bad guys, drunks, fighters, lovers, straight, gay, black, white, Hispanic, and Asian...and all in between and mixed. Got along with many, couldn't stand probably an equal amount, and didn't think a second thought about the rest....bottom line, we were and are a mixture of American life and it's people. Some of us got out, some got thrown out, some made it a career, some went on to college, others went back to work in the shops and factories....and sad to say, some went straight to the gutter....about 25% of the so-called homeless population are Vets...but you know what? It wasn't the military that put them there, at least not most....some guys could not handle the military, some thrived on the lifestyle.

I joined the Air Force in 1968...Why? Well you see, this was before the lottery numbered draft, and unless you were rich, going off to college, or a self professed "queen"....you were gonna get drafted. My cousin Jack Poling, let the draft take him....and it did, the kid that saved me from drowning down in Englewood, Florida, when we were 11 and 12 years old, well Jack's name can be found on that Wall this weekend, along with 58,000+ plus other names, guys that didn't make it back. My brother Mike's best friend, David "Kim" Deeter, his name is on that wall too.... both Jack and Kim were killed in 1968, the year I decided to join. Mike joined the Air Force at 17.....I went in the week after he was discharged.....no gung ho for the war guy was I, but I was not a draft dodger either...my dad would not have stood for that....and the truth is, I could not have stood myself. Right or wrong, I was going in.....did I like the Air Force? No, Hell no....I was never one to take orders....making me a bad choice for a spit and shine Air Force Security Policeman....but I survived my 4 years, including my year in Vietnam.....and even managed to get an Honorable Discharge...although a certain little scuffle with a Nazi like little First Lt....with 2 months to go...did get me an early out of 6 weeks, and the promised I would not re-enlist....lol, no chance of that for me.

Now, would I trade those 4 years, and the places and times I served...No, Hell no, I would not trade one minute(well maybe a couple of those days I would be dry heaving next to a B-52 after a rougher than usual night)....I am proud I served, and proud of those that served with me...even those I disliked as leaders and people in general.

The military(although few career guys) run deep in both sides of the family.....during my Genealogy research, I have found at least 16 Civil War Veterans...both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line....one dead at Chickamauga, one wounded at the same place...one missing, one deserted, one joined too young, was booted out, and rejoined 2 years later. One Houseworth died in WW1, another in WW2....my dad, his older brother, and my mom's brother all served in WW2....Uncle Bill DeVore(mom's brother) joined late in the war, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, got frostbite, and ended up being a guard of Nazi leader Goerning, in fact he was one of the guards around the time Goerning did himself in with by poison....dad served stateside as a aircraft mechanic with the new Army Air Force, he served in Colorado, California, and New Castle, Delaware, where he met mom......brother Mike was an Air Force Fire Protection guy, who ended up in Takili, Thailand, after a stint at McDill in Tampa....I ended up a Sky Cop at Dover, Delaware, Nha Trang, Saigon, and Griffiss, NY..... Patricia's dad Bill Callies served in the southeast Pacific region around Guadacanel from 1943-45.

We all served, some better than others, but serve we did.....I salute all those both living and passed that did likewise.

{photos..top to bottom...Grave of Maish Houseworth in Waldo, Ohio...Maish joined the Union Army at age 15, was found out and booted, he rejoined at 18, and was Waldo's oldest surviving Civil War Vet when he died during ww2 at age 98....John F. Housworth, my Uncle during WW2, me in my Air Force Cop School mug shot from San Antonio, Texas, My Aunt Eva and her husband Harry Anspaugh a WW2 vet, Dad's old stripes and Army Air Force patch(this are his and original, not repros), Camp Perry Ohio during WW2, and Dad, Stan Houseworth in 1943, home on leave at Scott, Ohio}

Cigars. back pain, and other thoughts

Got out and walked a couple of miles this morning...all in the name of back pain, or lessening of same....will do so again later this afternoon. One thing about back pain/problems(this session is entering it's 2nd month), each day brings something new, and usually revised hope. Folks that never have had them(which included me until the late 1980s) usually have no clue has to how debilitating the problem can be....people who claim a bad back are usually looked at with disdain. But once you suffer from it, whether, like me from an old motorcycle accident(s), a hard working lifestyle, or just just being plain lazy and fat, once you "suffer" from it, you will not look at somebody with back problems the same.

As I had posted earlier when these problems popped up....I suffered from the problem for a 5 or 6 year period back in the 80s and early 90s....then, after being close to open back surgery, one shot of cortisone, ended the problem withing a matter of days....the problems did not reappear(except for a few minor spells) until this spring....then a month ago for some unknown reason they came back with a vengeance.....I have managed to deal with them thus far, with the help of a chiropractor....I'm not a big fan, but the insurance takes care of most of the bills, and the advice and treatments have given me a confidence to withhold any decision on laser or any other kind of back surgery until at least the end of the Christmas holiday season.....and for the most part, things are improving, and with the walking, the weight gain I had noticed has reversed, and starting back on the downward trend.

I've always had a pretty high threshold for pain, and that helps me get through it, along with Patricia, who when the morning aches are rough, helps me put on and tie the foot ware. Despite her overload at school this time of year, she has taken on the brunt of the housework, cooking, etc....I help out when I can...right now I'm taking a break from the housecleaning chores....to rest the back, but I don't sit for too long, and the work is standing and walking rather than sitting, so that helps.....so how is the back? Better than it was 3 weeks ago, not as good as it was this past weekend....the key will be a trip to a conference in Akron(200 miles each way) next Wednesday and back home Thursday, and a trip to the VA Clinic taking my brother next Friday.....then the ride to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving the following week.....that all should test out how far I've come, and a glimpse of what may lie ahead.

Hoosier Transit called yesterday, Shawn, the manager, and dispatcher wanted to know how the back was, and if I was up to taking a quick RV run delivery to Orlando....well it needed to be there by tomorrow, at 1200 miles I declined....not ready for that far a drive in a short period, plus the 120 mile Jeep drive to get the RV, and the plane flight back from Florida....told him I'd call them after Thanksgiving....we will see how it holds up then.

During and after my original back problems, I became pretty involved in weight training...my D.O. at the time was in favor of that type of rehab...I took it up with a pretty good workout schedule, and by the time I was 50 I could bench press 300 lbs...and was doing multiple sets 3 or 4 nights a week....most of the sets I did were back friendly.....even after I quit the local club, I continued to work out at home, but lowered the total weights lifted as I approached the ripe old age of 60(I turn 59 this coming March)....now with this new spell, the weight center sits empty and used only when Sam is home from his RV sessions.....I'm not sure when and if I will start up again...and when I do, it will have to be in a limited form, and the free weights will be a thing of the past....the Weider Gym will have to do.

Enough of that....

Cigars________

This time of year I usually put the cigars away, slow down on the beer drinking....this fall, since I won't be on the RV runs for awhile, and when I do return, not as often....I decided to enjoy cigars, even in the cold weather, and have switched from my usual Miller Lite, used to cool off in the summer, after a baseball double-header, or after officiating a hot weather football game. I'm am getting into the darker and more hearty type brews.....I've tasted about a half dozen different types, from Oktoberfest, to Pumpkin, to Dark Wheat, the Becks, the Killian Red, and my friend Garry's homebrew.....I have not decided on a favorite....but I am bound and determined to find one, or two, or three.....one thing about this type of beer, you don't need or want to drink too many in one sitting.

As far as cigars, I had been buying them at the local "Low Bob's" outlets...but decided to give my old supplier Cigar International an order:

http://www.CigarsInternational.com/

Bought some of my usual, including the infamous CI "Mistakes"...as you can see from the photo, nothing wrong with these beauties, except the hand rolling was a little "off"...they ain't as "purdy" as the regular brand of Torpedo I smoke...but at $1.75 each, as opposed to $4 each....they work and draw just fine for me.....after my work is done inside, I will take a walk, come home and partake in one, with a nice "fall" type brew........

{PHOTOS...the CI Knock Off Mistakes in one of my favorite Humidors, and my old weight lifting station located in the darkest corner of my basement, sitting idle for now}

Election Results

Well I go my usual 50% on election day....2 of 3 City Council members win, and 1 of 3 school board members....the bad one appears to be the TAJ MAHAL...aka New County Jail is going to pass....with 100% of almost 11,000 votes in, the yes we want our criminals to have cushy facilities crowd leads by 70 votes....there are 160 provisional votes to count...but I doubt if 117 or so of those will be NO....so it looks like our sales tax will see another increase, and a multi-million $ palace will be built...right next to the county home and the school and workshop for the mentally retarded and handicapped.....since I have a daughter that goes to "Cheryl Ann Workshop", and I'm on the board for Residential Services, this does not sit well...but it appears the voters have spoken, and we will live with it.....

Fall is in the air, and with winds, clouds, and below freezing temps, if feels about right for early November.....my back was feeling pretty good this morning, then "after" the chiropractor worked on it...it feels worse, go figure. Have to say, I am surviving this and hopeful that surgery, laser or otherwise, can be avoided......we will see how the holidays and upcoming travels treat me and it.

Election Day/Dartball Results/Cigars and TV

Election Day 2007.....EEEE-Ha!

This one is a big Who Cares?....5 running for 3 School (Bored) Board Spots....5 running for 3 City Council Spots.....3 left wing tax and spenders, the guy that sold me my house, who owns a local plumbing and heating shop, and a guy I worked with years ago at Huffy Bikes....toss em' in a hat...and pull 3 names out I say.

Also a State of Ohio issue, voting yes gives money back to the locals for their enforcement of state mandated anti porn material and locations....I know all about state mandates, they killed the local Health Departments with them....so I checked yes on that one.....might as well give the money to Celina and Mercer County as opposed to those diversified shitholes Cleveland and Dayton.....get the Idea I'm in a pissed off mood?

The final issue, my favorite.....a 1/2% sales tax increase to fund a new jail...if that SOB doesn't go down like Monica on bent dick Billy Clinton, I will be both shocked and pissed off even more...."But it's only 1/2%' they(the local commissioners and Deputy Dog the Sheriff )... say, what they don't realize, or don't care is...those 1/2% increases add up. As for the New Jail to replace our old county jail.....instead of 15 cells with the poor low lifes having to live in tiny spaces...we would now give them and the Sheriffs Office new digs at only a few million dollars, funded for 15 years, or until death does us part....the new jail would have 100 spacious cells we could rent out when not full...got news, in a county of 40,000 where the majority of the population is white and German Catholic....we don't need 100 stinking cells...and if we do, something is rotten in Mendon. Anyway, that one got a big NO and I expect it to fail.....if not, what the Hell? What's a few more pennies on my six packs?

OK, got that off my chest....now I can go into my Christian mode, and talk Dartball League.....St Johns Lutheran won all 3 games against Bethany United last night...but we really sucked, especially one team captain and RBI and Batting leader....my back is better, but the left hip is taking the pain, and threw off my shots...at least that's my excuse...went 0 for 9 before hitting a triple and a single my last 2 at bats, giving me a sterling .182 batting average and one RBI...mind you this is from someone who has averaged .423 and 52 RBIs a season the past decade....no wonder I am in a sour mood....

My Cigars came in though, so that helps....Sam is on his 2nd consecutive trip to the Salt Lake City area...flew into Chicago last night, took the bus to Elkhart, picked up another and is in Iowa at this hour...hoping he will make it back by Friday....the wind is kicking up though, which cuts into the gas mph and profit.....

Now I'm feeling much better...but if you think this off year election gets to me...wait until next fall.....it won't be pleasant.

TV_______

Some of my broadcasting was done full time for a few years, but mostly part time on radio, from the years between 1978 and 2002. I did however, manage to get my mug on the boob tube for a few years from 1981 through 1993...doing local news, high school sports play-by-play, and a talk show called Newse7en Magazine on the local Cable Station in Van Wert, Ohio, (town where I was born, and where I worked my last 12 years at the Health Department before retiring)...it was pretty much fluff and slouck. But we had a fan base, especially for sports. As News and Sports Director, it got me into plenty of Sporting Events, including the famous -60 below zero AFC Championship game at Cincinnati vs San Diego in January 1982...where I watched beer in plastic cups freeze to ice in the "heated" press box.

I also got to meet many celebs and interview same....in my years in radio and TV I had interviews with George Bush(one) , Ronald Reagan, and Teddy Kennedy, at Dodge City....Governors of Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, and Kansas, Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas, before he was in Congress, he was an congressional aid back in 1980....and plenty of sports celebs...including Pete Rose(see yesterday's post), Sweet Lou Pinella after the Reds won the World Series in 1990(see photo), my favorite owner Marge Schott of the Reds...the rest of the media hated her, but I didn't, because she was just like me, she said what was on her mind, screw the political correctness....God rest old Marge's soul....(photo is me and Marge in 1994)...Johnny Bench, Pee Wee Reese, Joe Nuxhal, and every swinging jock who played in Cincinnati or Cleveland that you can name in the late 20th century....That's why I do not look up to these folks...because after all, they really are not that much different that you and me......famous yes, but just people...some good, some assholes, but just folks.

{Me doing the weather on Cable 7 about 1990, as you can tell, our graphics back then were not exactly "state of the arts"..and also me and Lou, me and Marge......}

Weekend Wrap-Up

Sitting here listening to XM Radio Channel 164....this is the Old Time Radio channel....everything from Jack Benny, to Gunsmoke, The Shadow, Fibber McGee, Burns and Allen, The Whistler, and a hundred other shows from the 1930s to middle 1950s....before TV became king. Most of it is good stuff, right now I am listening to "The Shadow" from the late 30s with Bob Johnson.

Being in Radio for a number of years, early on full time, then for another 20 years part-time, I always enjoyed the old stuff, long before I was in radio, and much before I was even born....makes the $12 a month more than worth it.....then add the college sports, NHL, and any type music from any era pretty well take away any need I have for FM or AM radio.

Anyway, the weekend went well...the back is coming around, now the pain is actually in the left hip, yesterday was pretty good, managed to walk about 3 miles in between football games. Today a little sore after my Greenville work, but will get out and walk up town to pay some bills after checking my fantasy football teams and working on this.

Ohio State continues to be #1....after falling behind Wisconsin midway through the 3rd quarter, the Buckeyes pulled out the hammer in "Beanie" Wells...and pulled away. They may not win it all, but at this point, they are #1....Oregon should be #2...LSU is the most overrated team in the land at this point...Kansas is the most underrated....one former sports announcer's not-so-humble opinion. As far as the pro game, I'm not a big fan anymore, but I do despise New England, their over hyped quarterback, and that slob of a cheating coach...having said that, they took a big step towards going undefeated(I still don't think they will win it all), Randy Moss is the reason for their overwhelming success.....again opinion, and we know what those are like, and some of us are.

Radio
_____________

I spent many years in radio, full time from 1978-1982, then part time for another 20 years, I still get calls but have pretty much left that part of my life behind. Full time broadcasting was a starving business, I had no trouble getting the jobs I wanted, I always had "the voice" for it...that was important from the early days of radio until the 1980s....not so much now, computerisation, and the wimping of America have made it vogue to have squeaky voice females, and femi voice males on the air.....like the country and society, radio has changed, and not necessarily for the better. I enjoyed my run, but to say I miss it, would be a lie.....I don't miss broadcasting(I also spent 10 years on Cable TV as a news anchor and sports play-by-play guy), anymore than I miss Environmental Health work....times and people change, I admire people who can do the same thing for 35 years and then fade away into retirement, but that was never for me.....actually I was amazed that I spent 20 years as a health department bureaucrat.

Enough rambling....60 and windy out today...then a cold spell checks in overnight...the opening week of regular season Dart Ball kicks off tonight.....St Johns Lutheran plays at Bethany United......results tomorrow.

{photos: me interviewing Pete Rose on Cable TV 1986, after his record setting season, First News Job...WIOU Kokomo Indiana late 1970s. News Director at KGNO Dodge City Kansas, celebrating KGNO's 50th year of broadcasting in July 1980, The Shadow Knows.....still heard on XM Radio}

The Weekend

Saturday approaching 12 Noon...damn, the Buckeyes are on the Big Ten Network, and seeing we have Time-Warner, means no TV...will listen on the radio.....the two need to get there act together, guess I could go up town and watch at the Irish Pub with their dish....but I've got better things to do than sit in a bar and spend money watching football.....it's another nice sunny, but cool day, so I'll listen to Ohio State-Wisconsin, walk some for my back, and maybe partake in another cigar later in the afternoon.

Speaking of Cigars...took a couple of cigar related photos outback yesterday...a couple of portraits of a good MI Torpedo, my old St. Johns Leather Coat.....and a cold bottle of Becks Dark.

Looking out my front door

______________________

You may have heard of Mersman Tables:

http://www.harryrinker.com/col-987.html

Mersman was one of the largest table and furniture manufactures in the world...especially popular during the depression years, you can still find Mersman Tables on E-Bay and at auctions throughout the nation.....some bringing good value.

Mersman(which closed in the early 1990s) was/is located in Celina, Ohio, on the west side of Celina, and was Celina's largest employer for much of the 20th Century....Mersman and the Huffy Bicycle plant were the life blood of the Celina economy. Today both are sadly, gone. Well almost gone, Huffy has been transformed into a Crown affiliate that makes tow moters and forklifts...Mersman meanwhile sits in a ghostly manner right across the street from my house....the buildings are slowly coming down with grant monies and EPA direction....it will be a few years before it comes down...then the property is slated to house a pregnancy center for women in need, also on the plans are some so-called "middle income" and senior citizen housing...code words for Welfare Central. The later have been put on hold....myself, I will miss the old eye sore....will it increase my property value? Probably, but I don't plan on moving in this life time....so the thing I see are increased property taxes.....

Anyway the old buildings make for some interesting photos taken from my garage and driveway.....

Grand Lake in the Fall

Well I didn't make it out for a sunrise photo session on the Lake this morning...(see previous post), between the backache and the frost, it just wasn't in the cards.....but it had gotten to 55 by noon so I crawled into the Jeep and headed towards the West Bank Park, Coldwater Creek, and then Windy Point near Montezuma.....

Montezuma is where I spent my High School years from late 1963 until I entered the Air Force in the summer of 68....a small German Catholic town on the south side of Grand Lake at that time...Montezuma has become home to expensive lake property and hordes of interlopers from Dayton and Cincinnati...the result being higher taxes and more pains in the ass...but that's the way it is these days...where there is a square foot of water, people have to build next to it, so they can stare at it.....

Grand Lake has changed from a decent fishing lake to a body of water with too many boats and not enough fish...such is life.

{Here are the photo captions(clockwise from the top left, I think?)

The Jeep sitting in an empty Windy Point State Park parking lot.....looking north to Celina about 3 miles away, looking east to St. Marys, 10 miles across the lake, mouth of Coldwater Creek one of the feeders to Grand Lake, many small islands dot the southwest part of the lake, more dead trees at the Coldwater Creek mouth....our old farm house at 5595 Coldwater Creek Rd....we move here in the fall of 1980, when it was just Patricia, Anissa, Me, and the Airedales...the boys were born while we lived here, we moved into town in 1990...this was the first house the kids can remember, I see it is now up for sale, and they are removing the last of the Old Timber Barns from the property....a view of Coldwater Creek across from the house, many cars ended up in the creek here, several people never made it out...it's now protected by a guard rail. Duck and Goose Blinds....many Canadian Geese meet their end from these blinds....a few Mallards also become dinner from these....another look from Coldwater Creek towards St Marys a long boat trip across the pond....a couple of shots from Windy Point....stumps(always a boating hazard in this shallow man made lake(averages about 7 feet deep, and finally looking north from Windy Point to Celina...the large elevators on the left are a two blocks from the house......}

Frosty Morning

Couldn't sleep all that well, the back just would not cooperate...got up at 6:30 and watched Patricia head to her St Henry teaching job...thought, hey, the sunrise over the lake should look good this morning....then I looked...33 degrees, frost covering both the Jeep and Intrepid.....nope not this morning, would take to long to defrost one of them and by that time the sun would be up over Grand Lake....so I stuck the Sony out the landing window and this is it......the frosted up basketball backboard, the elevator, and the ghostly Intrepid in the coming daybreak.........

5 years later

On election day 2002 the GOP had it made....GW Bush had his mandate, the Republicans actually made gains in an off year election, things looked good for the "Grand Ol Party"....of course there was that nasty little war in Iraq, you know, the one where our troops had to play by the rules? Kind of like Vietnam, the enemy(all of Islam as far as I'm concerned) could blow themselves and anyone within shouting distance up....but the good ol boys from the US of A had to play by those stupid rules....you know the ones...Don't blow up mosques, don't torture terrorists, don't piss on their stinking Koran, follow the rules and let the war drag on...but why worry? George and Congress spending like drunken sailors didn't help either and....all of a sudden it's 2006, and the GOP is out of power, and Bush is a dead duck in office.....now we are just 12 months away from a complete and total downfall of the Republic.....Hillary for President, laughable just a couple of years ago....Not any longer gang....The Iron Dyke is set to ascend to her rightful(in the eyes of the lemming liberals) throne, and the United States of America is on the verge of becoming a 3rd world shithole. The economy will collapse as sure as I sit here with a bad back.....if I'm still kicking in 18 months...remind me to re post this...because if I am wrong, I will admit it with glee.....but I'm not, and I won't.

End of today's non-paid political comment............

November

_________________________

November has never been my favorite month....October with it's usually nice and dry weather has passed...winter is growling at the door, Rain, the Holiday season, gaining weight, and all the other nasty stuff is just around the corner. Not that the Christmas season is bad...it's just that it brings a unwelcome weight gain, and even more unwelcome weather(depending on what part of the country you reside). Add that to the fact that it's five full months until baseball season kicks off and a hint of warmer cigar smoking, cold beer drinking weather is back.

This winter of course I have something else to work towards....getting my back-back into shape, and how to do it.....another trip to the chiropractor today...but with the disk problem, I don't think this will be the final answer....my friend Garry's wife is a nurse, and Lisa was telling me about some non-invasive treatments/surgery that they are now using. They require an injection of a flexible compound into the spine/disk area that is shot...guess it's time to do some research...Hell in this day and age, anything is possible.

lol....Sam, the oldest son, gets himself a speeding ticket a couple of weeks ago, returning a RV from Dallas to Indiana...he gets picked up in Oklahoma for 65 in a 45 zone...$125 fine and a month to pay...he just comes in the house and and he tosses the stamps back in the computer desk......."There, that takes care of those assholes........." I look and say...."How many stamps did you use to send that money order?".... "One" is the answer...I tell him to look again...the stamps are from and old collection of 37 cents flag stamps.....lol, back to the post office to try and retrieve the court destined envelope from the PO....."he says, why the Hell do you have those in there/"...my answer...."remember, those are the ones you had in your car glove box for the past few years and tossed them in there"......SILENCE IS GOLDEN.....

And as Sam comes back in the door.... his payment is already through the shute and gone...O' well I'm sure the Caney Oklahoma Clerk of Courts will be glad to pay the 4 cent postage due....NOT!

Just another day in the life.................

{photos of October leaves becoming November leaves, and Sam's infamous 37 cents stamp}