Soap or Treat

Well, I see that tomorrow is Halloween already. My how time does fly! When I was a kid, I loved treat or treating. I still love the concept of trick or treating, although I haven't gone in years. Since I'm "flirting" with 60, I guess I could be arrested for impersonating a kid. Although all that know me know that I still act like a kid (on rare occasions that is).

I used to love to get all the candy to somewhat sate my sweet tooth, which I still have. Sometimes I would get an apple instead of candy and was disappointed, but all the rest of the candy offset that.

Although kids still go trick or treating these days, I have noticed over the years that Halloween has become a holiday more for adults than kids because there are so many parties that adults have these days. Another thing I haven't seen in years is kids soaping windows. I guess this lost art has gone the way so many others have that we did as kids. We used to love to soap windows from people who didn't give us any candy, hence the term trick or treat. If we really didn't like the person, instead of soap, we would use paraffin, which was much more difficult to remove from windows. If we REALLY had a grudge, we would soap the screens. This resulted in the trick that kept on giving because it was very difficult, if not impossible to clean a soap-streaked screen. Months later, the results of our vendetta were still evident. Alas, Halloween has never been the same since I was a kid.

For a more detailed description of our Halloween capers, you can read one of my famous stories on my world famous award winning web site. Check it out:
www.quarterhorse3.us/halloween_capers.html
Happy Halloween...
M I K E

Things We Can't Live Without (today)

I recently went to a horse show and was going to be gone for the weekend. Since my Internet access is through microwave, I called my provider to report I would be shutting down my transmitter. If I don't do this, they call within a few minutes after it shuts down. I guess they want to find out if there is a technical problem. They really keep a close monitoring. Before I called them, I noticed that the Internet access was very slow. When I called customer service to mention I'd be shutting down the equipment, it took several calls to finally get through. Apparently, a whole lot of irate callers were inquiring what the problem was with the sudden slow service. When I called only to mention that I was shutting down the transmitting equipment for the weekend, the technician was ecstatic! I'm sure he was fielding several calls from other users regarding the inadequate Internet service. When he realized I wasn't calling about the service, he said if I were here, he would kiss me! I'm glad I wasn't there because people would talk. This problem happens now and then and if one waits a little while, the problem clears up. I guess all the other users haven't realized that yet.

It dawned on me how much we depend on the Internet these days. It also occurred to me that once upon a time the Internet was a luxury, now it is a necessity. It's odd how things that were once a luxury have become necessities. I remember when I was a kid that a riding lawnmower was a luxury owned only by people that had the money to purchase one. These days it seems everyone has a riding mower even when their lawns are the size of a postage stamp. Here again is yet another example of a luxury becoming a necessity. By the way, it takes me an hour to mow my big lawn with a push mower since I still don't have the "necessity" of a riding mower.

Of course, I could list dozens and dozens of things that were formerly luxuries that have now become necessities. I guess we all can by looking at our present day lives that are filled with "necessities".

Oh, I have to go now, my microwave just rang, and it is time to eat... ;-))
==Mike== {;-)

GPS Conspiracy? :-0

Those of us that have GPS devices figure we can never get lost and have faith in our GPS device to accurately get us where we are going. Or do they? Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Check this out: http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3063945.html
Mike {:-]

Another Sure Way to Stop Spam

I have received quite a few emails from people all over the country thanking me for the computer tips and other entertaining stuff I have been posting. I had no idea that so many people read my Blog! Hey, don't you people have anything better to do???? ;-)

I have another guaranteed method to stop spam. I have been working on the hardware to do this. After much experimentation, I have finally perfected my sure fire spam filter. If you use this for all of your email, no spam will ever get through. I guarantee it! In fact, it is impossible for it to get through. Check out the photo below to see the details of my exclusive spam preventing hardware. The hardware is still in the beta stage at present. I'm testing different handle colors to see which one fits into modern decor. You can contact me to order my Sure Fire Spam Stopper. Just send me a check for $3,999.99. Please make sure your check is certified (like me) ;-o


::Mike:: {;-]

Mike's Sure Fire Spam Filter

Where's the Taffy?

I just received my copy of The Good Old Days magazine and they had a recipe for homemade taffy. This put a question into my mind; Whatever happened to Bonomo Turkish Taffy? All of we baby boomers will remember this delectable delight. I never knew why they called it "Turkish" taffy. Maybe taffy was invented in Turkey.

I remember when I was a kid how good it was. It kept dentists busy because it tended to pull out your fillings. Be that as it may, it tasted GOOD! It came in 4 flavors, chocolate (my favorite), vanilla, banana (my least favorite), and strawberry (my second least favorite). The first thing you did was to slap it on a hard surface to break it up into jagged pieces. Sometimes I would put it unopened on our fuel oil stove to soften it up. Now and then, I would leave it on top of the stove too long, and it became a big glob. I sure didn't want it that soft. It costs 5 cents and it seemed to be a huge bar. Of course, when you’re a kid everything seemed bigger because of what I call, "a kid's prospective". If I could find it now, from an "adult prospective" it probably would be the size of a "fun size" candy bar. I did some on line research and found that it was discontinued in the early 1980's due to, "changing tastes". I wished they had consulted with me first, because my taste for that stuff has never changed.

Alas, yet another "Gen X" conspiracy against baby boomers :-(

Blog Bonus! Hey fellow baby boomers (and non boomers), check out the swell video from YouTube. This will bring back some memories!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d7Fou0LhKY

==Mike== {;-)

A "Breath of Fresh Air"

Greetings fellow Blog readers. This will be quick and short since I'm just about to leave for church. My day is starting out just great. I just received an email from one of my old classmates and it made my day. Although both of us are on the opposite ends of politics, we have been having intelligent exchanges of political opinions and ideas. This is exactly how it should be when we discuss politics. Thank you Jim, you "made my day"! Now as to some you other people I attempt to discuss politics with, take a lesson in the proper way to do that... ;-) I'm glad that I am full of "warm fuzzies" this morning because we had a hard frost last night and it was 28 degrees when I woke up at 5:30 this morning. I don't do cold well at all, but at least my insides are warm this morning. Hey Jim, lets continue this conversation in January when its below zero :-))
Later...
Mike

"Disposing" of a Problem

Now, beloved readers, as promised, I will describe a guaranteed elimination of spam. We live in a disposable society, so why not be able to dispose of spam. As all of you know, spam is a real problem. The latest studies show that about 80% of email is spam and it is getting higher. As most of you know, spammers can get your email address when you post it on chat groups, news groups, Blogs (such as this one), when you order things on line, sign up for on line news letters, if you have a web site, etc. If you have a web site as I do, I get much more spam than people who don't have a web site. I did an experiment a while ago, and put one of my disposable email addresses on my web site. Less than 2 weeks later, I started getting spam with that address. Spammers use "spiders" and "botnets" to harvest email addresses from the Internet.

Now to the solution to all of this. If you use Yahoo Mail, you may already know about this solution, if not, read on. Yahoo Mail has a cool thing called, "Disposable Addresses". I don't know if other web email services have this since I only use Yahoo. In Yahoo Mail, go to your account and choose "Options" in the upper right hand corner. You will then see a list of email options. Choose "AddressGuard", and then follow the instructions. What this does is to create a "disposable" email address that is tied into your account and you will get email from your disposable address at your regular account "in" box. Set up a permanent primary email address, and then fill in the rest of it. What I do is when I sign up for an on line newsletter, etc, I put the web site name for the secondary email address.Let me illustrate, if I sign up for a newsletter, I will put the name of it in the disposable address. Let's take a fictional web site, if I sign up for the newsletter "Cockroach Chronicles" that is offered on a web site called, RaisingCockroachesForFunAndProfit.com, I will put "cockroachchronicals" as part of my disposable email address. Then, if I should get spam with that address, I know from whence it came. To prevent any more spam, I just delete the address. If I desire to continue receiving the "Cockroach Chronicles" on line email newsletter, I just make up another disposable email address and update it on their web site. I have hundreds of "disposable" email addresses so far. Yahoo lets you make up to 500 disposable address, which should be sufficient for any of us. Although, I must admit that I am getting close to the limit due to all the news letters I get and membership in news groups, discussion groups, etc. They do add up, indeed.

Check out my example for this Blog. If you look on the bottom of the left column, you will see my disposable address for this Blog:
zukeyjuice-mikesblog@yahoo.com. Note that "zukeyjuice" is the permanent primary address, and "mikesblog" is the disposable secondary address. Maybe your Internet email service provides this service, if not then use Yahoo Mail. Give it a try and you will eliminate all of your spam problems, at least from where you used a disposable email, and you will know where the spam came from. Neat, don't 'cha think!

Oh, by the way. There is no way that anyone can get your permanent personal email address or your profile from your "disposable" address. This comes in handy for example when you are "flamed" by someone on a news group or if someone question's your parent's marital status before you were born, etc. You can then just delete the disposable address you used and not risk getting any nasty emails from anyone in the group.

If you desire, you can even opt to send email from your disposable address. I use this option while trying to have an intelligent discussion and debate with liberals on democrat Blogs and groups. Since liberals are totally incapable of intelligent debate, it is very easy to nail them on their incorrect, illogical and irrational argument's. Rather than intelligent answers (they never have any) to my arguments, I always get their inevitable angry personal attacks. When that happens, I can dispose of my email address to avoid being harassed by the "Brainless Liberal Lemmings" as I call them. Others refer to them as "Useful Idiots". The reason they can not have an honest debate about their beliefs is that their whole system is based on emotion and prior brainwashing instead of an intelligent, logical, empirical, epistemological, rational, and pragmatic base like conservatism is.

Yikes! I'm getting off on another one of my famous "side tracks"! I'll save this subject and thesis for future posts when I will explain the origin, methods, proliferation, methods of indoctrination, and dangers of liberalism and how by purposeful design and intent it will destroy our free enterprise system and our God given freedoms much sooner than you think. (Possibly as soon as November 4th of this year.) You won't want to miss my treatise affectively refuting liberalism - socialism. These two terms are synonymous and are an attempted semantic subterfuge for what they really are: communism. This presidential election is the most crucial one in our history and will decide if we remain a free republic or become a communistic satellite county. This is very very serious stuff, my beloved readers!!!
Later...
``MIKE`` {:-)

Even More Things Bill Gates Never Told You

My laptop computer came with Vista. There are some things I don't care for in Vista. It took awhile to customize it so it pretty much looks like Windows XP, which is a great OS in my humble opinion. My server has XP, which I certainly prefer compared to Vista. One of the biggest problems with Vista is the email system. With XP, all you have to do is click on an email link on any web page and up pops your email default program such as Yahoo, Gmail, etc. With Vista, when you click any web page email link, instead of your default email, up pops MS Hot Mail, which I don't think is so "hot". In XP, it is very easy to set your default email program. This is not possible with Vista. MS Hot Mail is "hard wired" in the system to only use Hot Mail and you cannot change it to your default email program. Believe me, I've tried. Aggravating to say the very least if your default email isn't Hot Mail!

So, what can you do if you can't use your default email program? Well, I have a way around this. Just right click on the email link on the web page and choose "copy shortcut". Then open your preferred email program and simply paste the email link into the "To" address line, then go from there. This will save you a lot of aggravation when you always see the Hot Mail program turn up all of a sudden. If you're like me (heaven help you), you love to find easy ways around the "system".

I hope this will save you some time and frustration. It sure did me. One caveat, since some email links have the subject line automatically filled in for proper routing, it may pay you to let Hot Mail come up just to check this. If that is the case, then simply copy the subject and paste it into your email program.

In a future post, I will show you a foolproof method GUARANTEED to avoid ALL spam when you post your email address on chat groups, news groups, email news letters, on line shopping web sites, etc. Bet you can't wait for that one, huh! {:-o
(*) Mike (*)

Fall Photo

Recently, I spotted these two beautiful kids at our stand checking out all of our pumpkins. I just couldn't resist taking a picture. In fact, they came to the farm for a visit that day. These two are the cutest kids I have ever seen in my life! I just thought I would share this with my many Blog readers. Hey! Wait a minute! I just noticed that these happen to be my grandkids, Ethan and Ally! How about that, I knew there was something familiar about them {;-)

<>~<>~<>~<>

Mike

<>~<>~<>~<>

The Answer to the Mystery!

I just received a comment from a guy who gave the link where they acquired my email address! There is indeed a data base of Navy veteran's email addresses. Will the wonders ever cease!
Thank you, Tom! Now as to the other 281,814 mysteries I need an answer for... {:-O
^^Mike^^

A Real Mystery!!!

I've always prided myself in saying that you can find anything on the Internet if you know how and where to look. Over the years, I have found things for people who were unsuccessful in finding things themselves on the Internet because I know where and how to look. The one thing that has always stumped me, though, is finding an email address for someone. If there is some super database with a directory of everyone's email on it, I sure haven't found it yet. This leads me to a real mystery. A while back, I received an email inviting me to a reunion of former crew members who served on my old ship, the Tattnall DDG 19, which was a guided missile destroyer. You don't want to know how long ago I got out of the Navy; even I don't want to know! Let's just say that the Tattnall was decommissioned several years ago. The big mystery to me is how they got my email. When I was in the Navy, it was long before email was even thought of, much less existed. As a former crew member, I could understand how they would know my name, but how did they know my email address? As far as I know, even the Navy doesn't know my email address, so how did they get it???? To the best of my knowledge, I've never emailed any of my old shipmates. Maybe they found that elusive email database that has everyone's name and email address for everyone in the world. I wish now that I would have saved that email and replied and ask how they got it. I guess they must know something I don't. But then again, most people know some things I don't, so what's one more thing.
--Mike--

More Things Bill Gates Never Told You

In my job with the County Engineer's Department, I had both fieldwork and a WHOLE LOT of paper work. Alas, the perils of having a government job. I had hundreds of documents in Word and Excel. By default, I was the office expert in Excel since I used it daily and sometimes nightly when I had deadlines. In compiling hundreds of worksheets in Excel with several lines of the same entry, I found it too much trouble and time consuming to use the "copy" method of left clicking the mouse and dragging to copy only a few lines down the column. I always disliked having to move my hands off the keyboard when I was on a roll. However, I found a much quicker keyboard shortcut. When you need to copy the above information in a column, just hold Ctrl and hit the " key. The above information will automatically be copied to the line below. It sure is easier to do this, than to keep dragging for only a few lines. As far as I know, I've never seen this shortcut in any manual. This shortcut will greatly benefit all office workers, especially those of you who work for the government because you will now have more time for coffee breaks. {;-)

+) Mike (+

Fall Has Finally Fallen

Is it my imagination, or is fall late this year. As shown in the photo, the leaves in our woods are finally starting to change colors today Oct. 13. It seems that in past years they started to change color in mid September. What is especially odd about this is that after a summer drought, as we had this year, the leaves change and start to fall even earlier. In any event, it seems as though they turned color overnight. Ah Huh! I have it! It is a scientific fact that leaves change color as a result of shorter days and less sunlight and more hours of darkness, which somehow signals them to turn color and fall off. Since they keep moving Day Light Savings Time later and later (this year it ends November 2), there is less darkness and thus the leaves change later. Hey, you cannot argue against that kind of logic. (I'm not even sure I can argue that kind of logic, but it sure explains it). {;-)

##Mike##

Things Bill Gates Never Told You

As the sub title to my Blog states, "Now and then you may find something actually useful here", I have discovered some nifty shortcuts for computing that I either haven't seen anywhere else or have discovered on my own. Take for example Microsoft Internet Explorer which most of us use. I was getting tired of entering the entire web address of web sites that aren't in my "Bookmarks". I have found that all you have to do is to enter the main URL. For example, if I have a web site URL I would like to go to such as: www.GetBentTurkey.com, most everyone types in the whole thing i.e. www.GetBentTurkey.com. I have found a way that fills in the "www" and ".com for you. Simply type in the main URL GetBentTurkey, and then hold Ctrl and hit Enter, and the www. and .com are automatically added, thus saving you the trouble of always having to enter the whole URL! Give it a try and you will be amazed at the time and typing you will save. I have not seen this shortcut anywhere else, not even in the "shortcuts" in the I.E. Explorer help. I don't recall when or how I found this out, probably when I was entering a web site address and the cat walked on the keyboard. One thing though, it doesn't work for .org or anything other then .com. However, I am confident I will eventually find a way for those too. It shouldn't take too long because the cat quite often walks on my keyboard when I am typing.

Another cool shortcut that I discovered (OK, I found this out from someone else) is labeling photos. How many of us have hundreds of digital photos of our grandkids, pet cockroaches, or of Aunt Hortense's visit, etc. that we haven't labeled because it takes too much time and effort to label each one separately. Most of us, including me, never seem to get around to laboriously individually labeling all those photos and as a result, they end up unlabeled in some folder hidden in the dusty recesses of our hard drives. Rejoice digital photo shutterbugs! I have a cool shortcut for you to label all of your photos at once! Simply go to the folder that has all of your pics and select all of the ones you want to label for each event or whatever. After you have selected all of them go to the first one and hit "rename", then label it with the name, such as, My Tour of the Moose Jaw Alaska Landfill.jpg, etc. Then just click in a blank area of the screen and Presto! all of your pics are labeled with the title and the chronological number. It will look like this: My Tour of the Moose Jaw Alaska Landfill.jpg (2), (3), etc. On thing though, be sure to add .jpg in the first photo name, or it won't work. I found this out the hard way.

Well, dear Blog readers, I hope this will help you. You will not only rejoice in the timesaving of things you have been putting off, but you will also astound your friends who will think you are a computer genius (like me)! See, if you read my Blog long enough, you do indeed find something occasionally useful. Hey, 1 out of 2,914 postings "ain't" bad huh! I have MANY other time saving shortcuts I have discovered. However, I will only occasionally list some in future Blog postings. After all, I have to give people some RATIONAL reason to keep reading my Blog.
^*MIKE*^

From Nouns to Verbs

I've noticed over the years the trend of using nouns in a verbal form. Of course, we all remember from High School English that a noun is a person, place, or thing and a verb shows action. WOW! I actually remember something from High School! Will the wonders never cease! Take for instance what I consider of earliest instance of this phenomenon. The word "party" is a noun and means to get together at a party and have a good time, in some instances let revelry go uninhibited. Not that I have ever been to a party like this. These days instead of someone saying that we went to a party, they say we "partied" last night, which is a classic case of a noun being used as a verb. Another more contemporary use is to look something up on Google. These days someone says that they "Googled" something. By the way, the name "Google" sounds like a baby coined the term. Actually, as only I would do, I researched this and found out the following:

Sean and Larry, the founders of "Google were in their office, using the whiteboard, trying to think up a good name - something that related to the indexing of an immense amount of data. Sean verbally suggested the word "googolplex," and Larry responded verbally with the shortened form, "googol" (both words refer to specific large numbers). Sean was seated at his computer terminal, so he executed a search of the Internet domain name registry database to see if the newly suggested name was still available for registration and use. Sean is not an infallible speller, and he made the mistake of searching for the name spelled as "google.com," which he found to be available. Larry liked the name, and within hours, he took the step of registering the name "google.com" for himself and Sergey (the domain name registration record dates from September 15, 1997). So there you have it just in case you were curious like I was or you would like to impress your friends the next time you "party".

Oh, by the way, I believe I am the first to convert a noun into a verb way back in 1953 when I was 4 ½. Check out the article from the Berlin Call Newspaper shown above. This is yet more proof that I never follow trends, I start them...

&~Mike~&

A "Beacon" of Hope

Although I mentioned this in my last Blog entry, I have decided not to write about the dangers of cell phone use since it is too depressing and I've grown weary of always being right :-) Therefore, I would like to think about beacons. A beacon is a giant spotlight that reflects light from the clouds. To the southwest of my place, I can see the small beacon at the Huron County Airport rotating and shining at night. This reminded me of when I was a kid. Some nights we would see a big beacon light rotating and emitting a narrow very intense light bean aimed at an angle to the sky. We asked our Dad what it was and he said it was a beacon that was used to advertise a store grand opening or a sale of some sort. It was supposed to raise the curiosity of people to go see where its source was and to hopefully to patronize the business. We never got to go see the source of the light which was always very disappointing to me. Sadly, they don't use these anymore. I sure wished they did because now I would go check out the source. The beacon light was always both scary and fascinating to me. It was especially cool when it reflected off the clouds on a cloudy night. Gee, I sure wish they would bring these back so it would add some intrigue at night. Alas, yet another thing you don't see anymore from the good old days...
:: Mike ::

The "Full" Story

I wanted to give Google a workout, so I looked up the phrase, "Does a full moon affect behavior?" Well, I found that the majority of opinions state that it does. I have held this belief for years based on empirical evidence of how others and I act during a full moon phase. I found that I needed less sleep and was more hyperactive, even more so than when I'm on my "Manic" highs. During these times, even my "Bipolar" medications don't seem to help much. It's good to know that my subjective and objective observations were indeed correct. As a matter of fact, the term "Lunatic" is based on bizarre behavior during the full moon phase. My next Blog subject will deal with the matter of the latest studies showing that cell phones can cause brain cancer. I'll give you a little preview. I've said this all along and again was proven right...

~)Mike(~

My Brain on Chemistry

Greetings beloved readers. It's been a few weeks since I have been inspired to post any Blog comments. My usual reason is that I have been otherwise occupied (which is a code phrase that I just didn't feel like it). The older I get, the more problem I have been having with my short-term memory. As is obvious from my stories, my long-term memory is very acute. I went to my Psychiatrist the other day and he said that as we age, our short-term "working" memory decreases. He gave me some medication he said may improve my "working" memory. The really scary thing is that the medication is for the early onset of Alzheimer's disease! YIKES! I think my short-term memory is beginning to improve, however. I think tha.... Oops, I forgot what I was talking about... Oh, yes, when I was getting my haircut the oth... No wait, that's not what I was talking about! Ah NOW I remember... The orange elephant I saw on the way to the barn this morning wa... I guess medicine isn't an exact science, but overall, I do see some improvement with my problem of forgetting what I am saying presently. You know with this medication I am reall.........

"Wanted" Some Information

I was at our local post office this morning and just got around to noticing that they don't have wanted posters hanging in the post office anymore. They may have been gone for years but I have never noticed until now. I asked the Post Mistress, or Postress, or Postette, or whatever lady postmasters are called these days about it. She didn't know the reason, but she suggested it may be a privacy issue. That made sense to me since criminals are being coddled more and more these days. It is my contention that we can blame the bleeding heart liberals for that. In fact I blame the bleeding heart liberals for all the problems in the world. Why would I do this you may ask? It's because they are!!!!!
Later...
++~Mike~++

Having a "Grand" Time

Grand kids are a blast! My little grandson Ethan recently came to visit "Gonga's" (that's me) farm. He enjoyed visiting all of the animals we have around here, cats, dogs, horses, turkeys, cattle, etc. I can't wait until his sister, "Ally" is old enough to be in tow in my other hand. We are "sauntering" up the barn ramp to look at one of the tractors that Ethan really enjoyed sitting on. Ah, I envisioned him operating the tractor some day. Even better, helping us to bale hay!!!! It is really great having another generation, especially ones that can help bale hay someday! {;0)
"Gonga", the proud grandpa...

Nagging From Outer Space

In all my years of driving, it is not all unusual for me to get lost. For a guy, I have always had a terrible sense of direction. I have been driving for 43 years. WOW! Time certainly marches on! At any rate, because of my horrible sense of direction, I purchased a GPS device. Now I can program in an address, and it will guide me to my destination. It even talks to me. I programmed in my church address, and it got me there and back, without my getting lost even once during the whole 1.68 mile drive! It takes a little time for it to analyze driving habits. After analyzing mine, it is starting to say, "Hey dummy, turn left not right". (It sounds just like my ex wife used to.) If I take a wrong turn anyway, it automatically recalculates my route. After only 6 recalculations on my way to church, it finally told me, "Forget it, just keep going your way and get lost as usual, you're on your own!". Today I have some books to take back to the library, so I'm going to program in the library address and give it a try for the 1.2 mile drive. I just hope that today it will give me a break and recalculates any wrong turns without nagging me and calling me a dummy. If I'm fortunate, its memory is as short as mine is, but I doubt that will be the case so, as usual, I'm allowing at least 20 minutes to get to the library while wearing the same earplugs that I used for all my driving when I was married the first time. {;-)

**)Mike(**

The First Accolade Of Our World Champion

The World Champion Belt Buckle just arrived for our horse's World Champion standing! When I wear it, I'll have to wear my suspenders to keep the buckle upright, it's heavy. More stuff will eventually arrive and I will post more pics. Hey, if anyone wants our stud horse to sire any of your foals, let me know. However, I must tell you that the stud fees won't be cheap!!! ;-))
<~~Mike~~>

MEMPHIS MEMO

One of our show horses, "Beezer" became the World Champion in Dun Factor (Color Class) at the International Buckskin Horse World Show in Memphis this morning! I was the one that choose the stud for "Beezer". Now they will have to admit that I know what I'm talking about relative to the selective breeding of horses. Our trainers and the "experts" suggested another stud for our mare and I persisted with the stud that sired our World Champion. I just had to post this right away because I'm not right that often in anything! More information will follow this in a day or two. I will, of course, post the World Champion official picture as soon as I get it!!!! I have to post this now because I can't wait to say to all of the "experts", "See, I told you so"!!! ;0)
~Mike~

Detected At Last!

I recently purchased something I've desired for years. I got a swell metal detector at 40% off at Amazon. All this with free shipping too. When UPS delivered it yesterday, I excitedly assembled it and ran outside to test it and to learn how to use it. I was thrilled to make my first metal discovery! I found our old corn picker that has been parked in our woods for several years. After I finally found it I waved the detector about ½ inch over it and got a very loud positive tone, which indicated metal! I think metal detectors are great and I learned how to use it very quickly! I've been looking for our old corn picker in our woods for years and am so glad I finally found it with the help of my new metal detector!

After finding the corn picker, I decided to see how well it would find buried metal. I dug several holes with a shovel and finally found something that looked like a small piece of metal. I laid it on top of the ground and then got my new metal detector and turned it on and swept the small piece I had dug up and previously had laid on top of the ground. Sure enough it was metal! I guess I'm getting a little cocky because I learned how to use it so quickly and efficiently! Bah! Who needs to read the instructions! I figured out how to use it all on my own. I'm glad to know my thought patterns are not weakening due to old age like I thought!

The above picture shows my first discovery of the old corn picker thanks to my brand new metal detector. I can't wait to look for and find metal buildings, but will, no doubt, find and end up in a "mental" building instead thanks to my new "mental" detector. :0)

--Mike--

Retro "Ain't" Cheap!

I recently scanned some old family slides I obtained. It sure takes me back looking at old family slides from the 1950's. One of my good memories is of the old steel lawn chairs they used to have. I was delighted to see one of the slides of my favorite lawn chairs in those days. I sat in that very chair many times as a kid in the 1950's at my grandparents' place in Norwalk. They were called "shell back" chairs. As a kid, I used to enjoy sitting in them and rocking back and forth. I never recall ever having the chair fall back wards no matter how much I rocked or leaned back. Over the years, I have grown weary of the cheap plastic lawn chairs made in some Chinese sweatshop. I recently received a catalog that actually had reproductions of the very same 1950's steel "shell back" chairs I enjoyed so as a kid. I was all set to order some when I noticed the price of $99.95 each! That's not including shipping and "handling" whatever that was. I didn't get past the inflated price to check on the additional expenses! Alas, I shall not have the opportunity to relive the past by sitting in one of these chairs. The picture above is one of the actual chairs that I used to sit in at my grandparent's place in Norwalk in the 1950's. It probably cost around $9.95 in those days. Alas, now all I have is my memories since they are free without paying $99.95 not including shipping and "handling" costs! The only problem with my memories is that I have to allow for depreciation of my brain! :0)

++Mike++

Great Link!

Greetings all,
I've been otherwise occupied lately since summer has finally gotten here. I have a new story in mind for my web site, but haven't gotten around to writing it yet. One of my on line computer newsletters offered a really cool link. If you have a cell phone that has Internet capability (I wish mine did), check out this link the next time you are in a doctor's waiting room. You will probably get so engrossed, that the doctor will have to make an appointment to see you. This will also work for airport delays. In fact, you probably will cancel your flight and just fly standby once you get on this web site! You can also check out this link on your home computer, but be advised, it is addicting. Oh, by the way, here's the link: http://notalwaysright.com/
:: Mike ::

"Inhuman" Treatment

The other day I made an appointment with my family physician in Milan. Earlier today, I received a phone call. The caller ID said "Arizona" followed by the number with an area code of 520. I checked and sure enough, the 520 area code is indeed from Arizona. Before I answered it, I tried to figure out who would be calling me from Arizona. Even though I'm on the "Do not call list", sometimes junk calls manage to slip through. I do know one guy from Arizona who shows buckskin horses like we do, so I figured it must be Doug. I took a chance and answered the call. Upon hearing the message, I just about fell over. The call was to remind me of my physician's appointment in Milan this Thursday. All well and good. However, in the first place, the caller wasn't even a human. It was a computer voice synthesizer. At least they tried to make it sound like a female voice. In the second place, the call came from somewhere in Arizona! I can't figure out why my physician's office in Milan would hire a phone reminder service in Arizona. The office isn't that big! What ever happed to real people doing this type of thing? I suppose that people are all "gaa gaa" over all the new electronic gadgets out there these days. I wouldn't be surprised that one of these days when I go to my appointment, that the doctor will be some kind of android. I can hear the computer synthesized voice now "G-O-O-D M-O-R-N-I-N-G. P-L-E-A-S-E T-U-R-N Y-O-U-R H-E-A-D A-N-D C-O-U-G-H". (I sure hope the programmers remember to add hardware that will heat its fingers!)
M-I-K-E :-)

"Rack'n" Up the Years

I was taking another nostalgic walk through the old Berlin Hts. schoolyard earlier today and as usual, stopped to look over the old bicycle rack. It is still in the same place it always was and it has been there as long as I can remember. It was there all through the years I was in school. Let's see, it's been 42 years since I graduated. Yeoow! Now that is really depressing! It was there as long as I can remember all through my school years so I can add another 12 years, which makes it 54 years. Hey! I wonder why I am writing this Blog entry because now it is really getting me depressed! I'm sure it was there long before I started school so I'm not sure just how long it really has been there. I suppose any of those who know are most likely dead or too senile to remember their own names. It is interesting to observe that even the same bent rods are still there when I was a kid. In fact, I used to park my bicycle in it when I rode it to school --- years ago. (I can't bear to again write the number of years.) In this rapidly changing world, it's refreshing and encouraging to gaze upon this immutable landmark and remember the way things used to be some --- years ago. (Huh Ah, I'm still not going to recall how many at this point.)

*~Mike~*

Look Ma, No Wires!

During our recent horse show, a big group of us "horse people" went out to eat supper at a restaurant. This always amuses me when we go out to eat during a horse show because we are all in our dusty cowboy "horse" clothes and smell like horses. This is heaven to us, but probably not to other people, but we don't care since our money is just as green as anyone else's is. I noticed that as the waitress took our orders, that she had a small black plastic pad and was using a wand. I ask if her order pad was wireless, and as I suspected, it was. I then got to thinking about all the wireless things we have these days. Just looking around here at home, as I type this Blog entry, I can see several. For example, the laptop I am using has a wireless mouse. The Internet connection from the laptop is wireless to the Internet hub and the Internet to my provider is wireless. When I print something from my laptop, it goes to my main desktop computer and then to the printer on a wireless network. I can also see my wireless house phone and my wireless cell phone. I don't watch much TV, but the remote tuner is wireless. The tuner to my satellite radio is also wireless. I am now looking at the present temperature, which is 73.4 degrees on my wireless thermometer. At this rate, in a few years wires will be obsolete. I was thinking of making a wireless pasture, but the horses and cattle would probably all get out before I perfected it. I guess I'll have to wait a few more years before I go wireless for livestock. I wouldn't be surprised if some day they will even have "wireless" haired terriers!

()MIKE()

Horse'n Around

We had another successful weekend horse Show. Our yearling stud colt "Beezer" got Circuit Grand Champion in Color Class. His mama did the same thing a few years ago and by selective breeding, he is just as pretty as his late mother "Breezy" who got a first place in color at our World Show in Columbia, MO a few years ago. This is because people finally listened to me and used the stud stallion that I said would yield the best result in color. (Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once and a while) "Skeeter", "Beezer's" half sister, got Circuit Reserve Champion Longe Line and for one day at least was tied with the leading longe line horse in the country. It was good while it lasted until yesterday when she was defeated by the other horse. Hey, we'll take second place considering the tough competition! Both our trainer and I think with "Beezer" we will have another World Champion Dun Factor (color class) at our World Show in Memphis this August! After a 4 day show and a 4 hour drive home, I don't have the ambition to dig out my camera to post any show pics right now, but I will later. As a consolation prize, I'm posting a previous pic of "Beezer" at one day old, and his late mother "Breezy" that I already have on my hard disc. When we get the official Circuit Grand Champion photo, I'll post it just in case there are any skeptics out there :-))

~~Mike~~

Alas; How the Mighty Have Fallen

I was doing some spring cleaning recently. It's July, but I got a late start. I guess I should call it summer cleaning. I came across some of my old heavily dust covered guitars. The picture only contains a few of them. I haven't found the rest of them yet including my expensive electric guitar that I used to play 1950's and 60's rock and roll with. I may have given the rest of them away, I can't recall. YEEEOW, now that's scary! I guess I had a guitar fetish in my younger days. Due to arthritis in my fingers and every other major joint, I haven't been able to play any of my beloved guitars the last several years. Fortunately, I can still type with the aid of Motrin. As I've said repeatedly over the years, "I am not growing old gracefully!" On the other hand, I've also said over the years, "Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional." Hey, that sure sounds like me, huh! If you are young, enjoy life when you can. Meanwhile, I'll just look at all of my old guitars and think back to when I played everything from Bach to Rock. Alas, this gives me something to "fret" about. I know, a bad pun, but my brain is getting arthritis too I think. I do, however, find some comfort in the fact that my old guitar college professors and my old private guitar teachers either can't play now due to old age, or they are all dead by now. This causes me to count my blessings because even though I can't play anymore, at least I'm not dead, although I feel like I am every morning after I get up :-)

Mike,

Former guitarist now turned Blog writer...

"High Test" Coffee

Well, I see that Starbucks is closing 600 stores. I have never been in one and never will be. It appears to me that Starbucks is a hangout for east and west coast liberals. I guess they specialize in Latte whatever that is. It sounds like coffee with a bunch of ingredients mixed in that no one would ever drink with coffee. In fact, I've never had a cup of Latte, nor will I ever. Remember what I always say and try to live, "I don't follow trends, I start them"! Latte costs $4.00 a cup at Starbucks. I assume that a cup of Starbucks "coffee" is 8 ounces, although I doubt if they contain that much. All right, let's do the math. There are 16 cups to a gallon. Take 16 cups times one cup of $4.00 Latte and that comes out to $64.00 per gallon! Now, at $4.00 per gallon for gasoline, that comes out to 25 cents a cup for gasoline. Heck, at this price, you might as well drink gasoline, which is $3.75 a cup cheaper than Latte. I wonder how to make gasoline Latte? For my taste, gasoline is sure to taste better and cost a whole lot less!!!

::Mike::

To "bee" or not to "bee"

Every year we have beehives from spring to fall. The reason for this is that the truck crops we plant need bees to pollinate them. I have never liked bees and am always afraid of being stung. The beekeeper always tells us that they won't bother anyone. This year he put the hives at the corner of my yard. I am right in the flight path of them! Last year I was innocently walking past them on the way to feed the horses and cats. All of a sudden, without warning, a bee hit me in the forehead and I received a nasty sting. Well, so much for not being bothered! As much as I like squash, cucumbers, etc., I'm starting to wonder if its worth being bushwhacked by sadistic bees. Heck, I don't even care for honey. I've been taking a different route to the barn this year and so far have avoided any kamikaze bee attacks. So far so good, but each day I am on my guard! Notice the picture of this year's beehives. I took this picture with my telescopic lens. Why press my luck! Maybe the bees are allergic to me this year because whenever I get too close to them, they breakout in "hives". Whoops, I haven't taken my morning meds yet. Does it show??? :-)

*)Mike(*

Fast Track?

My goodness, I find it hard to believe that it is July 1st already and the 4th is this Friday! They say that the older you get, the faster time goes. I can certainly believe that. It seems just a few days ago it was Memorial Day. In fact my knees are still sore from marching in the Memorial Day parade! I remember when I was a kid it seemed like forever between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now Christmas seems to rush upon me before I can buy most Christmas presents. Maybe I should blame my own procrastination rather than some "Time Warp". I'm sure it just seems like time is going faster, but time is a constant. (I think). Maybe it isn't a constant after all and that time warps actually exist. I'm not going to take any chances this year. After the July 4th weekend horse show, I'm heading to Wal-Mart to do Christmas shopping. Merry Christmas to all of you!!!
()Mike()

The Wonders Never Cease!

Have those of us baby boomers noticed that there is goofy unappealing stuff on TV and the radio the last few years that appeals to much younger people and not to us "older" folks over 50? I've heard this from just about everyone that I chat with. I read in the Drudge Report the other day that the average age media watchers and listeners is now 50. This is just outside the standard demographic of 18-49 that the media programmers and advertisers have been so obsessed with the last several years and consequently mold all media to that age group. I've also been saying for years that they are targeting the wrong demographic. There are more of us then there are of them and we baby boomers have more money to spend than they do. Now all of the studies conform this. Therefore, my observations and conclusions have been correct over the years. It sure is satisfying to know I was right. I'm savoring the moment because I'm not right that often. However, at my age, I am too mature to "gloat". NYAH NYAH - I TOLD YOU SO I TOLD YOU SO!!! Oh well, I guess sometimes in my excitement of being right, I just lose all my self-control :-)
##Mike##

Think'n Halloween

We are just finishing planting one of the 2 pumpkin fields. Hopefully, in spite of the wet weather delay, these should be ready before Halloween. If not, we will have one GIGANTIC after Halloween pumpkin sale :-)

Mike,

(Your lowly pumpkin planter.)

BABY BOOMER ALERT!!!

I got this in an email and thought I'd pass it along to my "senior" (OUCH!) readers.

Black and White (Under age 40? You won't understand.) You could hardly see for all the snow, Spread the rabbit ears as far as they go. Pull a chair up to the TV set, 'Good Night, David. Good Night, Chet.'

My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food poisoning. My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter AND I used to eat it raw sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a brown paper bag, not in ice-pack coolers, but I can't remember getting e.coli.Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures then.

The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system. We all took gym, not PE .. and risked permanent injury with a pair of high top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we are now.

Flunking gym was not an option even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be much harder than gym.Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the national anthem, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention. We must have had horribly damaged psyches. What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything.

I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself. I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations.

Oh yeah ... and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed! We played 'king of the hill' on piles of gravel left on vacant construction sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent bottle of Mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked. Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.

We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either because if we did, we got our butt spanked there and then we got butt spanked again when we got home.I recall Donny from next door coming over and doing his tricks on the front stoop, just before he fell off. Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our house. Instead, she picked him up and swatted him for being such a goof. It was a neighborhood run amuck.

To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a dysfunctional family. How could we possibly have known that?We needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes? We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills that we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac! How did we ever survive? LOVE TO ALL OF US WHO SHARED THIS ERA, AND TO ALL WHO DIDN'T; SORRY FOR WHAT YOU MISSED. I WOULDN'T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING.

NEW LOOK! SAME GREAT SITE!

Having never been a "trendy" person, most trendy things these days never cease to cause me aggravation. One of them is all of the products that now say, "New Look Same Great Taste". For example, as I'm typing this, I can see the Lipton Green Tea box on the counter that says "New Look Same Great Taste". I can also see the big container of Metamucil (Hey, I'm getting old!). It too says the same thing, i.e. "New Look Same Great Taste". In fact, I've noticed dozens of products on the store shelves that say exactly the same thing! Gee, whatever happened to originality in this country? Whoa, I'd better not get off my subject here. I will cover this subject in a future Blog entry. Well, unfortunately I too have succumbed to this trend. If you notice the picture...
**Mike*

A "Tail" Tale

Well, it's a rainy day, so I am left to my own devices in the house. I happened to come across one of my old photo albums and scanned some pictures. This is a picture of me holding up part of one of our calve's tail. This was during the cold winter of 1990 and its tail devoloped frostbite and lost part of its tail. Thereafter, we named it "Frosty". It's interesting the things one finds going through old photo albums :-)

~~Mike~~

"Hail Hail" Rock and Roll

Please excuse me for paraphrasing Chuck Berry's lyrics. It hailed yesterday and I haven't seen hail around here in years. Not only that but it hailed again about an hour later! Very odd, indeed. Both times it was "pea" sized too. The last time I can recall hail around here was when I was a kid out on the tractor cultivating soy beans. The hail storm hit, of course, when I was on the opposite end of the field and my only shelter was under the tractor. I still got hit with hailstones and I remember how much it stung. Fortunately this time I was watching from inside the house!
^^Mike^^

It's Finally Here!

Happy summer everyone! Well, actually, summer doesn't get here until 7:59 PM tonight, but I thought I'd say it now before the line gets too long. Hmmm, now that this is the longest day of the year, the days will start to get shorter again. How depressing! Well, the good news is that summer is finally here for one day at any rate :-)
((Mike))

Coincidence? The Sequel

Hey gang, you know what the object pictured is? It is a Jeep Wrangler fuel pump. This is what stranded us 167 miles from home on Friday the 13th. These cost over $300. I'm sure glad that my Wrangler is still under warranty! Hummm, since this thing malfunctioned after only 15,000 plus miles, I wonder if it was made in China. On second thought, I'm sure it was. Isn't everything made there these days! Oh well, in over 43 years of driving, this was my first time to ride in a tow truck. I'm still counting my blessings which are more abundant than all the tea (and fuel pumps) in China ;-)

^^Mike^^

Coincidence?

As a Christian, I've never been superstitious. Yesterday we were on our way to a horse show at Brookville, which is north of Dayton. We were about 20 miles from our destination when my otherwise faithful Jeep Wrangler decided to go on strike at a stop light and suddenly stopped running. Since both the tow truck operator and I diagnosed the problem as likely electronic, we had to get a tow 167 miles back home. It was pouring down rain as we waited over 2 ½ hours for the tow truck to show up. Fortunately, I wasn't hauling our 2 horses we presently show. Our trainers have been hauling and showing our horses for us the last few years. (Arthritis and MS have now limited both of us from showing our horses ourselves). In over 43 years of driving, this was the first time I had ever ridden in a tow truck. At least it was an adventure for me as I counted my blessings. During the 4 hour trip home, it suddenly occurred to me that it was Friday the 13th! Was this just a coincidence? Hmmm, you have to wonder?????? :-)
~~Mike~~

The Obvious Solution!

Well, I just read in the Drudge Report that NASA is planning to visit the sun. Now there is a place where there is ACTUAL global warming. I'm surprised that as long as they are going to the sun, that instead of just sending a probe, why don't they have a manned mission to the sun? Oh, I know what you are all thinking that that would be impossible because the intense heat of the sun would melt anything or anyone that got too close. Well, I'm not even a scientist, but I have the obvious common sense answer as to how they could have a manned flight to the sun... Just go at night!!! :-)
++Mike++

It's True!!!!

For months I have been stating that global warming is not true and has been shown to be phony based on honest and scholarly scientific research by top scientists and climatologists. It is a conspiracy by the Stalinist democrat liberals to control our lives with all kinds of regulations that would take away our God given freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution. By the way, I'm not the only one that believes this. Well, after much observation, I am forced to admit that it IS indeed much warmer than it was even a month ago. I have found the cause of global warming and have even coined a term for it. It's called SUMMER!!!!!
~~Mike~~

Filling Space and Cyberspace

Well, if web sites and Blogs are not enough, now I am planning to start a podcast in the near future. I am going to utilize every Internet avenue to make my presence known to the world. Yeah I know, as if it is not enough that everyone can read my rantings, now they will be able to hear them too! Since people say that my stories are out of this world, my future plans are to record all of my stories on a special space resistant DVD to leave on Mars on the next Mars Rover mission. I'll let you know how this is progressing, but so far, NASA hasn't returned my calls yet.
~~Mike~~

Oh, Did I Also Mention...

You all met my Grandson Ethan in the previous post, but now I would like you to meet my Grand Daughter Alayna Gabrielle-Marie! She grew bored waiting for "Gonga" (that's me) to get the perfect pose. I think my daughter Mindy is still awake, but I can't see her eyes, or "Allie's" either for that matter! :-) Check out their web site:
http://www.babyhomepages.net/tothkids/

~~Mike~~

It's in the "Jeans"

After working with drainage for 30 years with the County Engineer's Office, it looks like my Grandson Ethan has inherited my drainage genes. He is fascinated with the catch basin in his driveway as he and I check it out. I am somewhat concerned if he should ever decide to make a career of drainage because it is one career that always goes downhill! ;-)
~Mike~

High Fuel Prices? HA!

I now have no problem with high gas prices. I traded in my Jeep, GMC pickup, and GMC diesel dually pickup and got this super gas saver vehicle. The only problem with it is that it gets a little "hairy" on I-90 heading in and out of Cleveland! The one advantage, however, is that I can cut underneath the big semis when I want to change lanes on the freeway.
~Mike~

More Cool Stuff

This is another rare time when I actually offer something useful in my Blog. Some of these things you maybe already know about, however, I offer them for general information. (If you are previously aware of these links, don't tell me in order to avoid bruising my delicate male ego.) The first is Google Maps Street View. This is really fascinating and cool. Most major cities now have this. To find which ones, follow the link below and click "Street View" on Google Maps. A bunch of camera icons show which city has this feature. It is really cool to see close-up pics from a vehicle that actually drove and photographed the route with a 360-degree camera lens. The second really cool link is Google Books. You can put any key word or words and it works just like Google search, only it finds things in any book. I put my name in the search box and found a fiction book titled Star Witness that actually mentioned my name on page 354! It might be fun for you to enter your name or any other thing and see if you are mentioned in any books. (Inside hint: I already searched some of my fan's names and found some of your names mentioned in books! It might be just your same name and not you, but its fun to get the book and amaze people. They probably will not know its not you, especially if you don't tell them :-)) Here are the links, have fun and play around with these fascinating and cool time wasters!
Google Maps Street View: http://maps.google.com/
Google Book Search: http://books.google.com/
Later...
~Mike~

"RIGHT NOW!!!"

I took Ava to the doctor yesterday and as we were waiting to check in with the receptionist, there was a female, (I refuse to call her a lady), who was in front of us arguing with the nice demure young lady receptionist. It seemed that she wanted her medical records and the receptionist stated that it requires 7 to 10 days to get medical record copies. I am sure there is no conspiracy to hide anything, but there must be a good logistical reason for the delay. After all, I have had the same delay when I needed my medical records several years ago. It is standard operating procedure. Well, SHE had the delusion that she was someone who was too special and important to have to wait 7 to 10 days like the rest of us peons! Oh, my, the horror of it all! She stated repeatedly, "I demand you give me my records RIGHT NOW, or I'll come back with the sheriff!" The words "Right Now" suddenly sounded very familiar to me. Oh hey, I remembered where I had heard those same words before. Have you noticed the last few years that most all of the broadcasters say things like, "Here is the news RIGHT NOW!", or its time for this RIGHT NOW!" or whatever "RIGHT NOW"! Besides being irritated by both the obnoxious phrase and all those that use it due to the "herd mentality" so prevalent these days, I have seen how it is affecting the general populace. If you wonder why so many people are so impatient these days, I think it is obvious that they are being unconsciously programmed with the urge for instant gratification. I think someone should find a solution to this problem RIGHT NOW! Groan...

On This Memorial Day

I was honored as a veteran to march in our Memorial Day parade today and take part in the memorial services sponsored by My local American Legion Post. Our precious freedom is from God and was bought and paid for with blood and sacrifice as we were reminded of today. I believe we are facing the most important presidential election in our country's history. This election will determine if we will continue as a free republic paid for by the sacrifice of all those before us, or if we will become a socialist Stalinist Third Word county. Please note that there is ample documentation to prove both democrat candidates are the same in their plans to destroy our beloved country. I feel it my solemn duty to inform all that they should weigh their decision carefully. Please follow the link to find out about the democrat platform and decide which political party offers the best president this November. Our very existence as a free country depends on it.
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/the-candidates-communist-connections/

Memorial Day

In a few days our town will have our annual Memorial Day Parade. I am looking forward to participating with my American Legion Post as an honor guard. I have been walking through our fields the last few days in hope of lubricating my arthritic knees for the 1.8 mile march. While watching the parade as a kid, I always pictured myself marching with the veterans in the parade and knew that someday I would be too, and I have been for the last several years. I have always looked forward to the parade and have and will always be proud to be a part of it as a veteran. Happy Memorial Day!
~Mike~

A Break in the Action

My mind has been otherwise engaged lately. This explains why I haven't posted any new stories on my web site or posted any new Blog entries. I thought I would at least post a new Blog entry to let everyone know that I am still around. I am planing to post a new story the next day or so. Now that the weather has warmed up, at least a little bit, I have been outside more than I have been behind a key board. Catch ya later fans... :-)
~Mike~

A Textual Problem

It is really scary how many people I see talking on their cell phones while driving these days. As I’ve always said, “The only number anyone should ever dial on their cell phones while driving is 911.” However, if that isn’t bad enough, I recently read that quite a few people are texting on their cells while driving! Yikes! Texting with a cell phone has always puzzled me. Why would someone go to all the trouble of typing text using those microscopic sized keys when they could just call or leave a voice mail? Another thing I’ve noticed, that I believe that is due to texting, is the proliferation of people who post messages on newsgroups, etc. in all lowercase letters with no punctuation. I fear that the present generation will cause the extinction of capital letters, commas, periods, question marks, etc. I just can not imagine a world without punctuation. Now that I have stated this, please do not send me comments or email in all lower case letters with no punctuation. My standing rule is to delete any comments that are in all lower case and not punctuated. Yeah, I guess I’m starting to get a little testy in my old age. The main reason is that I suddenly realized that I will receive my Golden Buckeye Card this December, so cut this “soon to be senior citizen” who is “flirting” with 60 some slack will you!
~Mike~

Fuel For the Fire

All right, since this is my Blog, I am entitled to rant and rave every now and then because that is one purpose of Blogging, so get ready because here it comes. If I hear one more person blame George Bush and/or those of us who are conservative Republicans for the high fuel prices, I think I’m going to scream! As a matter of fact I think I will. AAAAGGGGHHHH! There, now I feel better. Let me set everyone straight on this subject by stating the obvious. If you want to complain and place blame do it to the liberal democrats. THEY are the ones who oppose domestic drilling. THEY are the ones who oppose building new refineries. (There has been no new refinery construction since the 1960s.) THEY are the ones that sponsor all the Green Environmental wackos. THEY are the ones who oppose off shore drilling. THEY are the ones that insist on keeping our dependence of foreign oil. All right, now that I have set everyone straight on this, the next time you want to let off steam at the gas pump, after mortgaging your house and sacrificing your first born to pay for filling your gas tank, go to www.dnc.org and complain to the people who have caused this mess!