Fran - Is this what you had in mind???

I just had to!!

The human side of war

Winter in SoCal!!!

It's winter in SoCal and our local mountains have received quite a lot of snow. The nice thing is that it is sunny and 68 degrees down here and cold and snowy up there. It's real pretty to look at from down here. We are expecting another storm tonight and through tomorrow and depending on who you listen to, we are gonna get between two and ten inches of rain over the next 36 hours plus more snow above 4000 ft. in the mountains.

I went to Bally's Gym today and ran 1.5 miles in 18:40. That's not an Olympic record, but it's good for me and my sore knees. My doctor recommended taking a couple of supplements called chondroitin and glucosamine for my sore knees. She says I probably have arthritis and these will help rebuild the cartilage in my knees. So I went to the drug store and found a bottle of 180 tablets that combines the two on sale for $10.49. Then the cashier told me there was a buy one and get one free offer, so I got two bottles for $10.49. My wife was so proud of me!!! My wife is quite the shopper, looking for sales and using coupons whenever she can. I guess she is rubbing off on me after all these years. Who would a thought!!

I'm reading a new book (I know, what a surprise!!) it's entitled; "Change your Thoughts - Change your life - Living the wisdom of the Tao." It's written by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer. He was one of the speakers at the conference I went to last year. It is obviously a study on the writing of the Tao Te Ching. It's pretty good so far, but I may have to read it a few times to get it all.

Happy Birthday Wishes

I can't believe I almost missed the birthday of another of my favorite actresses, Catherine Zeta Jones. What a babe!! Oh and I suppose I should include that it was also her husband, Michael Douglas' birthday as well. On January 25th Catherine Zeta Jones turned 39 and Michael Douglas turned 64. They have been married 8 years and have at least one child together. Both have starred in numerous movies. Did I mention that she is a babe!!

My Son Scott

This is a photo of my oldest son Scott and his family. Scott, on the right, is shown with his partner Bruce and their two daughters Rebbecca and Melissa. Scott is a licensed clinical social worker and manages the Clinical Social Work and Diversity Services department at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles. Bruce is a lawyer (I try not to hold it against him!!) and works for Paramount Studios. Scott and Bruce love to travel and make several trips a year to New York City to take in Broadway shows. The four of them just returned from spending Christmas in Paris, France. (My invitation got lost in the mail!) Scott is also is an accomplished violin player and has played professionally for several years. Love ya guys!!!

Learning to Sign!!!

This is a photo sent to me by Betsy. It is of me in Chapel at the school for the deaf trying to sign to the praise songs. You can see Jim in the background also trying to keep up with the students. Jim is making much more progress with sign language than I am, but I did learn how to spell my name and say yes and no and some other basic words. The biggest thing is getting over felling uncomfortable with using your hands like that.

Suzanne Pleshette Passes Away

I just learned today that another of the babes of my youth passed away. Suzanne Pleshette passed away on January 19th in Los Angeles from lung cancer at 70 years of age. She is best remembered as Emily Hartly, the wife of Bob Newhart on the series "The Bob Newhart Show" from 1972-1977. She was also in the movie "The Birds" and all the series popular in my youth like Dr. Kildare, Have Gun Will Travel, and Route 66. She also acted on Broadway and did voices in movies like The Lion King. Her first husband was Troy Donahue, but the marriage only lasted eight months. She is survived by her third husband, Tom Poston.

Happy Birthday Neil Diamond

Today is Neil Diamond's birthday, He is 67 years old. Neil is both an actor and musician and has been performing for many years. Karen and I saw him live once and he puts on a great show. I also enjoyed him very much in the movie The Jazz Singer.

Johnny Depp

This is for my favorite Johnny Depp fan, you know who you are!!!!

We made it home!!!

I'm glad to report that Jim and I are home safe and sound. We arrived in "sunny" SoCal at about 4:30 PM to rain, rain, and more rain. Not to mention a temperature of 47 degrees!! Jim is already cold again and had to have the heater on in the truck on the way home. It took us another two hours to get to Jim's house in the rain and rush hour traffic. But we're home and that's always a good thing. It's nice to go away and twice as nice to come home afterward.

I know I can speak for Jim and say a huge THANKS to all of you at the school for the deaf for making our stay a memorable one. We accomplished some stuff and hit the beach as often as possible. I have to add a special THANKS to Fran for cooking for us while we were there. The lady is a whiz in the kitchen. I'm afraid to step on the scale. Fran - I left without getting your email address. Drop me a line when you can.

I want to mention that today is the birthday of my two sisters, Suzie and Kathy. Happy Birthday to you both. I will send along your card when I get settled.

Ah, it's good to be home!!!

PR trip coming to an end

It's been raining a lot over the weekend and so our beach trips were cut short. I woke to rain over night on Monday and then it poured most of the morning Monday. I'll bet we got over 4" of rain in just that short amount of time.

Jim did manage to paint the ceilings of Betsy's kitchen and living room on Monday. The highlight of the weekend was taking Jenny to a local dive shop and buying her a new snorkel mask for her birthday. As you can see in the photo to the left, Jim was doing his best to advise Jenny on her purchase with Joinallie looking on in the mirror. Jilissa and I stood back and watched the action as the shop owner came to Jenny's aid and helped her purchase a very nice red one.

We went out to dinner last night at a local Puerto Rican/Cuban restaurant. It was very tasty. I wasn't quite so daring this time and stuck with shredded beef.

We just had a 5 minute cloud burst, which is normal for the afternoon. We are hoping it will all clear away by 3:30 when school lets out so we can make one last trip to the beach. Then we will be on our way home tomorrow morning on an 11:00 AM flight. We stop over in Fort Laurderdale for an hour and then on to LAX. We should be in LAX around 4:30pm.

In looking back, I think we got a lot done on this trip. We also made some new friends and caught up with some old ones. Can't ask for more than that. Looks like the sun is coming out. I'm sure I won't have to twist Jim's arm to go to the beach in an hour. So long from Puerto Rico.

It's been a lazy kinda weekend here in Puerto Rico. Jilissa and I went to church this morning at the Maranatha Baptist Church and then met the other group for lunch at Chili's. I managed to find time for a wonderful Sunday afternoon nap. Haven't seen much of Betsy as she is fighting a terrible cold.

The photo to the left was taken this evening as the sun set behind what was just a little while ago a cloud burst. You can just make out the full moon in the background. This evening people are spread out all over the school. Some are in the library watching the football playoffs. I believe Jim is in the girl's dorm still wrestling with the electrical problem in their kitchen. Yesterday Jim replaced a heating element in the solar water heating system which can be used to heat the water when there is no sun for an extended period of time. This morning I had a very nice hot shower

Last night Jilissa challenged me to a game of scrabble and boasted an easy win over her slower and older opponent. I promptly beat her twice in a row, winning for the baby boomer generation.

No wonder they're so loud!!!

Victory in Iraq??

I read an article this morning from Dissidentvoice.com entitled, For Bush and McCain, Iraqis are Merely, "Ropes for America's Dirty Laundry" by Walter H. Uhler. A portion of the article read;

Bush’s prediction of victory is even more Orwellian. How can a needless war predicated upon lies about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and links to al Qaeda ever yield a victory? How can anyone claim victory when almost 4,000 American soldiers have been killed - and at least another 10,000 severely wounded — for a needless war?

Victory? How can a needless war yield victory when it precipitated widespread ethnic cleansing - of as many as 600,000 to 700,000 residents in Baghdad alone - caused the needless death of at least 250,000 (if not more than a million) Iraqi civilians and chased some 4.5 million Iraqis from their homes and neighborhoods?

Middle East scholar Juan Cole got it right when he observed: “I am often struck by how clueless the American public is to the vast destruction we have wrought on Iraq and its people, directly or indirectly. It strikes me as a bitter joke that four million are displaced, often facing hunger and disease, and rightwing periodicals and presidential candidates are talking about how the ’surge’ has ‘turned things around.’” The entire article can be read at; http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/01/for-bush-and-mccain-iraqis-are-merely-ropes-for-american-dirty-laundry/

Some people ask if I support our troops? I support our troops, but I don't think that the task that we currently have them involved in is in the best interest of the United States or the people of the Middle East. The people of Iraq seem to feel it's time for us to get out and let them sort out their problems on their own. We did what we claimed we wanted to do, and that was to get rid of Saddam and his threat of "weapons of mass destruction." There is no further reason to occupy their country. But President Bush won't leave. I believe he will push for a permanent base there so our troops can protect the oil needed by our country.

As I continue to ask, when is enough, enough???

Retirement Congrats!!!

This is Fran Wells, aka Fran Benson. Fran's first official day of retirement was yesterday. (Friday) Jim and I are helping her acclimate herself gracefully into the wonderful world of retirement. Fran spent 30 years teaching, which in itself should qualify her for a purple heart. She taught 15 years of high school at Wayland H.S. and another 15 years teaching business administration at Corning Community College. Both schools are in Steuben County in New York State. Fran was raised on a farm with her parents Arlene and Norm Benson, who are also here at the school. She also found time to raise a son and a daughter, and I believe if I'm not mistaken is a proud Grandma.

Fran is here at the school for three months doing a wonderful job cooking for the students, and a delicious breakfast each morning for Jim and me. She is also tackling the awesome project of organizing the office here at the school. I've also seen her keeping a close eye on her parents who are both in their 80's. If you know Fran, you know that a rocking chair is not in her immediate future. Her future plans include doing some part-time teaching and writing a book on the Benson family history. I suggested she start a blog and she seemed open to that as well.

I had to go and specifically take this photo of her this morning because in looking over the photos I've taken since I've been here, she wasn't in one of them. That pretty much sums up how she operates around here. She's usually working hard in the background (much like me !!) making sure all the I's are dotted and the T's crossed. She has a wonderfully giving spirit and a great big heart. I'm sure there isn't anything she can't accomplish in this new and exciting stage of her life. Congratulations Fran and welcome to retirement!!

Breaking News!!!

This was the headline on msnbc.com this morning;

CIA: Al-Qaida behind Bhutto slaying

Now I know that Al-Qaida is not the Boy Scouts but when is our government going to stop blaming every bad think that happens in the world on them? And how much creditability does the CIA have anymore after 9-11? It seems like the government has cried wolf too many times to be taken seriously. You watch, President Bush will find a link between this assassination and Iran so that he can go charging into Iran with guns a blazin' to get more of our young men and women killed and wounded and kill thousands more innocent civilians.

As I've said before, when is enough enough!!!

A "snow day" in Puerto Rico

Woke up this morning to rain and it has been raining on and off all morning. The rain comes in wave after wave with sunshine in between. You can see the rain approaching over the hill and coming towards you like a curtain of water. When the sun comes out it gets warm and muggy. So I have taken a "snow day" which for you westerners is a day off from school because there is too much snow for the buses to run. I can't really power wash with all the rain, although as wet as I get power washing, the rain probably wouldn't make much difference. I thought it would be a good time to catch up my blog.

One of the interesting things about this school for the deaf is that they have a bell choir. Some of the students have some hearing, but for the most, they have no hearing at all. And yet, they play the bells and make beautiful music. In the photo to the left, Betsy and Jenny are working with the young children who are just learning to play the bells. Betsy plans to take several of the students to the states this summer on a tour to play the bells at churches. They play at churches and schools around Puerto Rico regularly. When they are practicing you can hear the bells all over the campus. They sound great.

Happy Birthday Jenny

This is Jenny Johnson. Jenny had a birthday yesterday (Wednesday) turning the ripe old age of 24. Jim and I told her we would buy her a new snorkel mask for her birthday, but she has to go to the store with us to pick it out and try it on. Those things aren't a one size fits all deal apparently.

Jenny is in her second year of teaching here at the deaf school. She teaches primarily the very young kids and does a wonderful job. She is from the Southern California area and she and her family attend Jim's church. It has been my extreme pleasure to meet her and get to know her better. In this photo she is doing her impression of Vanna White showing off her lady of the night plant. It's two buds had just opened up and she was so excited. She has quite the green thumb and has a variety of plants in various stages of growth on her patio. Happy Birthday Jenny!!!

Jim and I have been working real hard the last couple of days. We rented a second power sprayer and power washed everything in sight. Today Jim finished most of it with just a portion of the basketball court to go. We were both so tired last night that Jim was in bed by 8:45 and I was in bed by 9:30.

I moved into Jim's room today to make room for more Canadians. We now have five couples from Canada. They are four sisters and their husbands, and a brother and his wife. Apparently there are two more brothers who couldn't make it. I already learned that many of them live in a village instead of a town. I could only picture spear chuckers running around shrinking heads and stuff like that. They assured me that that wasn't the case.

The Coqui

This tiny little frog is called the coqui or el coqui. As you can see it is no larger that the face of my watch and yet it makes a very loud sound which sounds like someone is whistling or saying cookie. The first time I came to Puerto Rico I had a hard time sleeping because of all the noise they make at night. I would have to close my windows to muffle the sound. I was on the phone with Karen one night when she asked me what all the noise was in the background. It was the coquis. If it rains during the night, they are even louder.

Today we worked up until about 3:00 PM before heading off to the beach. I washed a couple of cars and helped Jim grout the shower wall he has been working on since we got here. I had the all-important job of rinsing out the sponges as Jim wiped the excess grout from the tile. The new tile turned out very nice. Jim did an excellent job. We went to blue beach, which is the one in the photograph in the header of my blog. The water seemed a little warmer and there are some waves at blue beach.

We have picked up two new people at the school over the weekend. Jerry and Sharon Martin are from Canada and here for two weeks. Jerry worked at the school years ago before hurricane Hugo blew through and destroyed the school. He helped rebuild the school and has returned most every year since to work and be with the children. They will be joined later this week by Sharon's three sisters and their husbands and a brother-in-law I think and his wife. Jim and I will be moving into one small room this weekend when the last of the group arrives. Should be loads of fun as the Canadians are such fun to tease.

We have also been visited by a snowbird by the name of Margaret Upperman. She is a 91 year old black woman from New Jersey. She sure looks great for her age. We got her talking about her growing up in South Carolina and going to all black schools, riding in the back of the bus, and being afraid to go out at night because of KKK members on horseback. What stories she can tell. She has a wonderful spirit and has no hatred in her heart. Her eyes were just so full of live!!

The second photo posted is from our horseback ride on the beach yesterday. As you can see it was a beautiful day and the beach looked great.

I ate Octopus!!!

After a great morning riding horses, we stopped at this sidewalk type cafe for some authentic PR food. I had no idea what they were ordering for me so it came as a bit of a surprise when I found out it was octopus!! It came in a dish with some yellow rice that contained peas and pieces of shrimp, mussels, and of course the octopus. Some of the octopus was a little chewy, but overall it was actually quite tasty. If you look closely at the photo of the plate of food you can see in the lower right hand side a piece of octopus and see the little suckers on it!!!


Had I known what I was getting I might have balked a little, but I am getting to where I am much more adventurous about food than I was a few years ago. They also had some clear hot sauce with red and green peppers floating in it that was quite tasty as well. It wasn't quite as hot as the "burn your lips off" sauce from the pinchos place.

The laugh of the day was when Jilissa, who is 19 years old and just the nicest girl, tried to say tentacles and came out with testicles!! You know we won't let her live that down for awhile!!

Puerto Rican Holiday

Today is a national holiday in Puerto Rico in honor of the guy who was instrumental in starting the educational system on the island. I don't remember his name. So we took the day off and went on holiday. Our first stop was at an equestrian center where we rented horses for a ride along the beach. We each got mounted up and were off on a slow trip down to the beach. My horse was one of the slower horses and lagged at the rear throughout the trip. I'm sure it didn't take him long to figure out that I didn't know what the heck I was doing. He even came to a stop once and I couldn't get him going again. Then Jim told me the horse was peeing and that

he would start again on his own when he was done, which he did. We went out on the beach for about a half mile and that was very nice. There was a cool breeze and clear skies. On the way back my horse trotted a couple of times. I'm sure he just wanted to get back and get me off his back. Jim and I were joined by Betsy, Jilissa, and Jenny. We all got a bit of sun and a great time was had by all.

Goodsearch.com

If you are interested in helping the Evangelical School for the Deaf here in Puerto Rico there is an easy and painless way to do it. There is a search engine called "Good Search" that donates a penny or so for each search done in the name of your favorite charity. You can go to goodsearch.com and type in the following name, Evangelical School for the Deaf (Luquillo, PR), under who you are searching for and then do your searches. The school made about $1300 last year just from people searching on this site. So if you are interested in lending a hand to a good cause, give it a try.
Thanks in advance!!
Fergie

Pinchos for dinner!!!

Tonight we went to Peggy and Jerry's for pinchos. As you can see from the photo, Peggy and Jerry's is nothing more that a sidewalk cafe. It only serves pinchos and drinks. Pinchos are basically shishcabobs made of pork, chicken, or shrimp served on a wood skewer. They are covered with one of three types of bar-b-Que sauce, mild, hot, and burn your lips off. They are also served with a couple of pieces of sourdough bread. I got the pork with the burn your lips off sauce. Very Tasty!!! The little cafe has about six tables in all and is busy most of the time. I'm sure I'm going to pay for these later tonight.

Then we went to a local resort called El Conquistador. It has a casino and lots of shops, including a Starbucks!! So I played a penny machine for about 30 minutes on a twenty dollar bill and walked away with $20.04. I also got to indulge in a mocha frappacino. Doesn't' get any better than that!!

Great day at the beach

Spent a great day at the beach on Saturday. This is the seven seas beach in Fajardo. If you look at the map on a previous post, this beach is just to the right of that little peninsula at the N/E corner of Puerto Rico. The land mass in the background of this photo is that peninsular. The water is cooler this time of the year than when I was here last year in July, but still warmer than the Pacific Ocean. This is their winter and so it's a little cooler, less humid, and the ocean water is a little cooler. The sand on the beaches here have a different consistency than our beaches.



This second photo is taken looking to my right and out into the Caribbean Sea. The bathing beauty in the photo is Jilissa, who is an intern here at the deaf school. She is here from New York State and will be here through the end of this school year. She wants to be a deaf interpreter when she grows up.



The bathing beauty in the third photo is Jim doing a little snorkling. He said he saw a whale, or at least a fish as long as he can stretch his arms. Sounds like one of his fishing stories!!!

Saturday in Puerto Rico

This is a photo of the Eiffel Tower in Paris that my son Scott sent me while there over the Christmas Holidays last year. For some reason my invitation to the trip got lost in the mail, and by the time I heard of the trip I was otherwise booked. :-(

It looks like we're off to the beach this morning to do some snorkeling and general laying around. It looks like it's going to be another nice day here, sunny and about 82 degrees. I'll send more when I return from the beach.

Howdy from PR

Howdy from sunny Puerto Rico. Today I spent
a good part of the day using the power sprayer taking the mold off of the cement walkways and driveways. Since it's so damp here, a layer of purple mold forms on everything. It takes a power washer to get it off. In the photo above you can see where I power washed part of the driveway leading to the tool shed. The white part is the clean area and the dark is the area covered with mold. It's kind of a yucky job, but it has to be done. All of the cement areas were power washed six months ago when I was here, so this layer has formed since then. The mold is real slippery to walk on when it gets wet.

The photo to the left is of Jim washing off some paint from the sidewalk in front of the Kitchen. He and a local volunteer did about 45 minutes of painting with Jim's paint sprayer and then it rained for the next 45 minutes washing off part of their work. The entire school is painted in the aqua blue and white that you see in this picture.

In the foreground you can see a flag pole. Each morning the students meet in the court yard and raise the U.S. and Puerto Rico flags and sign the pledge of allegiance before going to chapel. In chapel the students sign songs and have prayer. Today we had a guest speaker, Pastor Motta, who comes periodically to present a lesson to the students in sign language. I've learned to sign please & thank you, yes and no, and mother and father.

This next photo is of Jim doing some tile work in one of the showers in the boy's dorm. Yes that is pink tile. It was once the girl's dorm until a new building was built. We couldn't find any tile to match that pink (what a surprise!!) so we went with a gray that sorta matches the floor tile. Jim tore down and rebuilt this entire wall, including putting in new fixtures the last time we were here and no one picked up the ball and did the tile while we were gone. Jim hopes to have this done in a couple more days. The poor baby worked so hard in there today that he was in bed by 8:40 tonight.

I went to see the movie "I am Legend" with Smith tonight. The movie had Spanish subtitles and the walls were so thin, we could hear the movie next door. Oh well, it was a good movie.

That's about it from here for tonight. It is actually 1:30 am right now, but I can sleep in tomorrow. I think we are going to the beach tomorrow. :-) More later.

Good Morning from PR!!

The photo shows my humble digs while staying here in Puerto Rico. The other three beds are empty right now, but a work party is due to arrive this weekend so Jim and I may be rooming together.

Yesterday I spent the day sweeping & mopping classroom and office floors. At about 1:30 in the afternoon a storm passed through and it rained buckets for about 45 minutes. In SoCal if it had rained like that all the freeway underpasses would be flooded and there would have been mudslides and car crashes everywhere. Within 30 minutes after it stopped, everything was pretty dry and there was nary a clue that it had rained. The teachers here laughed at me for stopping and watching the rain.

Last night we went to church at the local Maranatha Baptist Church. The pastor is Alan Hamilton who is an ex-marine from Texas. Quite a nice guy, although a bit conservative for my taste. After church we made a quick stop at the local Cold Stone Creamery for some ice cream.

Jim and I were both in the sack by 10:00 PM after a hard days work. Today looks like another nice day, although as I look out the window, I see clouds approaching. I better get to work before Jim finds me!!

Classic Neil Young

Classic Neil Young Song called Old Man.



I've been trying different things to enbed videos onto my blog so I hope you are able to access the song from this.

PR Day One

Well, day one in Puerto Rico is in the books. I was up and showered by 9:00 am or so. Spent the day doing lawn work, first with a gas powered weed whacker and then the riding lawn mower. The photo to the left is us putting a new belt on the riding lawn mower. From left to right are Jim, me, James, Norm and Betsy. It took a group effort to get it on right. They have a lot of grass here and it grows at a rapid rate. We didn't make it to the beach as we worked late into the afternoon. It was a beautiful day here, 78 degrees and a cool breeze. Tonight the bunch shown plus Jilissa, Fran, and Jenny all went to a Pizza Hut for dinner and had deep dish pizza. Then we went to the local Sam's Club for supplies. I already have 3-4 mosquito bites on my arms and legs.

Made It!!

Jim and I made it to Puerto Rico this evening. We arrived at the gate at LAX for our 6:00 AM flight at 5:35 AM and walked right on the plane. We flew a 757 from LAX to Miami Florida and had just under two hours between flights. We then boarded an A330 airbus and flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The A330 airbus had seven seats in each row with two on each end and four in the middle. I think that's the biggest plane I've ever been in. Of course Jim and I ended up in the two middle seats of the group of four and then a guy I swear weighed 350 lbs came and sat in the seat next to me. He was quite the nervous one as well as he constantly tapped his feet or swung his knees together. It would have been a real long two-hour trip except I fell asleep and slept about 2/3s of the way. If you look at the map above we are located just to the left of the point on the north east corner of the country. We are about an hour by car from San Juan. The closest big city to us is Farjado.

We were picked up at the airport by James (one of the students), Jenny, and Betsy. We stopped at Chili's on the way for dinner and then headed east for the school. We were briefed on what chores we have ahead of us and are off to bed. We are four hours ahead of you on the west coast so it's 11:43 pm as I type this. More as the week goes on.

Loose the Sheep Dogs!!!

The Sheepdogs

Most humans truly are like sheep
Wanting nothing more than peace to keep
To graze, grow fat and raise their young,
Sweet taste of clover on the tongue.

Their lives serene upon Lifes farm,
They sense no threat nor fear no harm.
On verdant meadows, they forage free
With naught to fear, with naught to flee.

They pay their sheepdogs little heed
For there is no threat; there is no need.
To the flock, sheepdogs are mysteries,
Roaming watchful round the peripheries.

These fang-toothed creatures bark,
they roar With the fetid reek of the carnivore,
Too like the wolf of legends told,
To be amongst our docile fold.

Who needs sheepdogs? What good are they?
They have no use, not in this day.
Lock them away, out of our sight
We have no need of their fierce might.

But sudden in their midst a beast
Has come to kill, has come to feast
The wolves attack; they give no warning
Upon that calm September morning

They slash and kill with frenzied glee
Their passive helpless enemy
Who had no clue the wolves were there
Far roaming from their Eastern lair.

Then from the carnage, from the rout,
Comes the cry, Turn the sheepdogs out!
Thus is our nature but too our plight
To keep our dogs on leashes tight

And live a life of illusive bliss
Hearing not the beast, his growl, his hiss.
Until he has us by the throat,
We pay no heed; we take no note.

Not until he strikes us at our core
Will we unleash the Dogs of War
Only having felt the wolf packs wrath
Do we loose the sheepdogs on its path.

And the wolves will learn what we've shown before;
We love our sheep, we Dogs of War.

Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division

Vietnam 65-66

I could't resist!!

Winter in SoCal

We had three strong storms roar thru SoCal over the weekend dropping quite a bit of rain and, as you can see, snow in our local mountains. This is a photo of our mountains from the Haven Ave. overpass of the 60 freeway. It's real nice to look at from here.

It's a great day today as the Victoria's Secret catalogue arrived in the mail!!! Doesn't get any better than that!!

I am putting the finishing touches on my packing for my trip to Puerto Rico. Jim and I fly out tomorrow morning at OH! dark thirty from LAX. We will make a stop in Miami for a couple of hours and then on to San Juan. We arrive in San Juan at approx. 6:50 PM their time, which is four hours ahead of our Pacific standard time.

I made a quick stop at the local Barnes & Noble to pick up a little reading material for the flight and also stopped at the local truck stop for some sheets and a pair of gloves. I like to take a set of sheets with me when I visit PR and then leave them there for them to use for other visitors. I like the sheets for truck sleepers as the top sheet is sewn to the bottom fitted sheet to keep everything together. Awe the memories every time I visit a truck stop!! The rumbling of the engines, the smell of diesel!! And yes, we will be doing some work there so I am taking a pair of gloves to protect my delicate hands!!

If you are interested in more information about the school I will be working at in Puerto Rico you can visit their web site at www:esd.faithweb.com or Betsy's (the director) blog at beach-chair.spaces.live.com. I am taking my camera and lap top computer so I will be able to update my blog with photos and stuff while gone. It should be a nice humid 80 degrees when we arrive. My first trip there, I walked out of the airport and my glassed fogged up from the humidity. I will be home on January 23rd.

Levee breaks, City Floods. Sound Familiar??

I just heard the news of Fernley, Arizona, being flooded after a levee broke from the heavy rain of a recent storm. Is it just me or does any of this sound familiar? Here's the story;

SACRAMENTO, Calif.- A ruptured levee sent a frigid "wall of water" from a rain-swollen canal into this high desert town early Saturday, flooding hundreds of homes and forcing the rescue of dozens of people by helicopter and boat. No injuries were reported in the flood of Fernley, about 30 miles east of Reno, after a section of the Truckee Canal levee up to 150 feet long broke shortly after 4 a.m.

First it's a levee in New Orleans. Then it's a bridge in Minneapolis. And now a levee in Nevada. When will our government dedicate the necessary funds to update our countries infrastructure? Is it fair to question the expense of Bush's wars when just a portion of that money could be put to rebuilding our country instead of arbitrarily attacking sovereign countries for oil? According to the web site nationalpriorities.org the war has cost the American tax payers over $483,260,935,732 (how do you even say that number?) or $275 million a day. As I've said before, when will enough be enough?

I posted this cartoon earlier this morning and walked away from my computer. In no time I began to question my motives. I began to feel guilty for joining the masses in casting dispersions at Jamie Lynn Spears and the fact that she is pregnant at 16 years old. What a whore!! What a tramp!! Just like her sister!!

In my case, what a hypocrite!! You see, I married my high school sweet heart and she was 3 months pregnant and 16 years old at the time. Was she a tramp? A whore? I think not!! Was I a serial rapist or pedophile? (perhaps!!!) No, not really. In looking back I think we were a typical teenage couple who were in love and expressing our love for one another in a God given manner without the proper education of, or access to, birth control methods.

So what are the issues here? Is it the fact that she accidentally got pregnant or is it her age? I think it's a no-brainer to state that women of all ages become pregnant when they don't want to and the reasons behind each case vary. No method of birth control is 100% effective. Well what about abstinence you may ask? I think we humans are naturally wired to have sex and it's hard to remember abstinence when the juices are flowing.

And what is it about the age of 18 that is so magical? In looking over the various state laws on consent, only eight states have an age of consent of 18 years old. Eight more states have an age of consent of 17 years of age, and the majority of states, 28, have an age of 16 years of age. Now you mathematicians out there will quickly note that this adds up to 44 and there are in fact 50 states still in the union. Well six states show ages of consent that vary between 16-18 years of age, one for males and one for females!!! The age of 18 would make sense if that was when the hormones began to kick in, but we know that that is not the case.

I recently watched a program on the history channel called the History of Sex. (Go figure) One statement made was that the average age of marriage in the colonial days in America was 14 and 60% of those women were pregnant at the time they got married. So I think it's easy to assume that teens have been having sex for hundreds (probably thousands) of years. So why can't we learn from history? Today we have advanced birth control methods and we should be educating our teens and providing them with the necessary tools to make good decisions. But providing easy access to birth control methods will put the idea of having sex into their heads!! Sure, just like having easy access to guns makes them want to go out and commit robberies. Well, teenagers aren't mature enough to make a proper decision regarding sex. In many cases that's not true. If it is, let's give them some protection from what may be a poor decision.

So Jamie Lynn Spears, and unwed teenage mothers everywhere, I apologize for casting dispersions on you and your situation. I hope that you are able to obtain love and support from your family and loved ones and make a decision about your pregnancy that you can live with. As for former President Clinton, that's another story for another day.

Note: The opinions expressed in this blog are limited to me and may not reflect the opinions of others who live in my home. :-)

What goes around, comes around!!!

From the desk of what goes around, comes around, I found this news article on a web site called Farke.com. Knowing my friends and associates as I do, I know you will enjoy this on several levels.

Child molester inmate dies after choking on hot dog

ATWATER, Calif. (AP) Prison officials say a convicted child molester and kidnapper died last month after choking on a hot dog. Forty-five-year-old Frederick Fretz was serving a 20-year sentence at the federal penitentiary in Atwater.

Prison spokesman Jesse Gonzalez says medics tried to remove the hot dog from Fretz's throat before taking him to a Merced hospital. He was pronounced dead on Dec. 19.

According to The Orlando Sentinel, Fretz pleaded guilty in 2005 to kidnapping an 11-year-old boy from Marion County, Fla.

(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. In the interest of timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press news wire and may contain occasional typographical errors. )

Happy Birthday Dyan Cannon

I see that Dyan Cannon turns 71 years old today. She was quite the babe in my younger days. Great hooters, as the photo to the right will bare out. I remember the uproar that the movie "Bob and Carol, Ted and Alice" made in the early 70s. She co-starred in it with Natalie Wood, another of my faves.

Josh and I went out the other night to see the movie "National Treasure Book of Secrets" with Nicolas Cage. It's the second time I've seen it and it was still very good. I love all the gadgets and history in those movies. Since Josh works at the AMC theater the price was very affordable. We stopped at Cold Stone on the way for a little ice cream before the movie.

Yesterday I test drove a 2008 Chevy Silverado pickup. It was kinda of a gun-metal blue with a vortex V-8 engine. It was very nice. The sticker price was $27,900 and I had the guy down to around $25,000. He was disappointed when I told him I wasn't buying yet. I will continue to shop after my return from Puerto Rico.

The weather man is forecasting a monsoon for SoCal. this weekend. Depending on who you listen to, they are expecting between 5-10 inches of rain over the weekend. I would go out and build an ark in the back yard but its a violation of my parole to possess a hammer for anything other than the shear display of the implement.

The countdown for my trip to Puerto Rico is down to four days and a wake up. (That's old military slang) It should be in the mid 80s there every day and nice and humid. I'm taking my trusty lap top so I can continue to post on my blog.

It's only a couple of months until baseball spring training begins again. I see in the news today that Roger Clemens has admitted to taking shots in the locker room, but they were "lidocaine and vitamin B-12". U huh!!

My UCLA Bruin basketball team is 11-1. It's lookin' good so far. They have a freshman center, Kevin Love, who is lookin' pretty good too. Kevin is related to the Beach Boys singer Mike Love.

And last but certainly not least, I had the pleasure of going to lunch with my former co-workers in the FIU to take my good friend Jan out for her birthday. She politely declined to disclose he actual age, but I'm sure she's not a day over 29. We went to the Northwoods Inn in Covina and had red and green salad and their great cheese bread. Good stuff!! A good time was had by all.

I've been published!!!

My letter to the editor was printed today in the Inland Valley Daily Report newspaper. I can hardly wait to hear if there are any responses. You can see it on their web site at http://www2.dailybulletin.com/letters/ci_7866262 or refer back to my blog entry on December 20th.

Blonde Joke

At The Doctor's Office

A young, very attractive redhead goes into the doctor's office and says that her body hurts wherever she touches it.

"Impossible," says the doctor. "Show me."
She takes her finger and pushes her elbow and screams in agony.
She pushes her knee and screams, pushes her ankle and screams. Everywhere she touches makes her scream.
"You're not really a redhead, are you?" says the doctor.
"No," she admits. "I'm actually a blonde."
"I thought so," said the doctor.
"But how did you know?" asks the woman.
"Your finger is broken," says the doctor.

Political Satire

Good Advice

My Love Poem to God

My Love Poem to God

I have been too long in the wilderness

Your prodigal daughter.

Wandering from heart to heart

Too confused to settle into my own.

But finally, at last, there is nowhere else to go,

But to that inner sanctuary

Where you've waited for me all along.

How to make amends for my long absence

How to seek the comfort of your embrace

And trust that it belongs to me.

At last to say ----- I love you, God

And wait for your reply.

----- Marcie New

Welcome to 2008

Welcome to 2008 !!!

I trust everyone lived through the New Year's festivities. Karen, Josh and I went to the Pachunga Casino for New Year's Eve. We had a very nice time. Karen and I made our usual deposit and Josh won $1700 playing a game called "let it ride" with a full house. It was very crowded which added to the festive atmosphere in the casino. It also helped that the casino gave out free hats and noise makers. The Temecula Police Department decided to have a DUI checkpoint on the street leading from the casino to the freeway, so it took us about 45 minutes to get out of the parking structure and travel the 2 miles to the freeway. We only saw one DUI driver on the way home, which I thought was pretty good considering the odds. We made it home in one piece and finally got to bed at about 3:30 AM.

What about that Rose Bowl game!! I kept thinking Illinois was going to come back early in the second half, but it wasn't to be.