Why?

After 2 1/2 years of blogging and now 20,000 hits on this site, I am doing a little thinking about why I blog and what I want to get out of it.

One of the blogs I read has a fan base that makes mine pale by comparison. There is a rant that on goes and takes a hard line on politicians. He spends a lot of time researching his views and makes a lot of references and links to blogs that support his view. I don't think I need to vent a lot more than I do so I'll not take that tone.

One of the blogs had a very short post almost daily and has a comments section that resembles a forum with between 25 to 35 posts by dedicated readers. At one time I wondered what impact I had and was concerned about the lack of feedback. I kind of decided that I don't need the feedback to feel good so I just put a counter on my post to see how many people hut my site.

I read the books by Lew Grizzard, of "Shoot Low Boys, they're Riding Shetland Ponies" fame. The Books were basically a compilation of his column in the paper. He told stories about his life and his adventures writing for Newspapers. I kind of want to write stuff so one day I can put it together for a book. But, I'm not sure that I have that "need" to succeed.

Barb reads what I write and sends me pictures when she thinks I need some visuals. I have at least 5,000 pictures I can use to provide color and a visual.

In the short haul, I will just continue to write and hope you continue to read.

MUD

Pictures

Little House in the Woods, Rabbit Run - Front View

Head waters of Tecumseh Creek
First sign of Spring in the woods, Spiders come to visit

Rabbit Run House, South View

Barb's Butterfly Cake

Path in the Woods after the Snow

Thinking of Spring, Flowers and Green

Sign of the day from my Best Bud

This post is dedicated to the 20,000 people that hit this blog to see what the heck I am up to.

MUD

Truth, Justice and the American Way!

Pumpkin Pancakes with Home made apple butter and syrup

Pumpkin Pancake Pals, No leftovers after they get their share

Picky Pumpkin Pancake Eater

A couple of years ago, I read that AlGore (One word on purpose) said the only way to save our environment was to cool off the economy a bit. Well Al, you got your wish. I wonder when the warming is going to stop and it will be a real "Cold Day in Hell". If you lived west of here and a little south, you would be butt deep in snow and may or may not have electricity. Right now, here in the Heartland and 10 miles east of the Capital Of Kansas Dome, the snow is gone and the temperature is 45-50 degrees. The wind is a little gusty right now but it is from the south and the more it gusts the warmer it will get.

Lets see if there is a truth in here somewhere to share. True happiness cannot be achieved unless income is equal or greater than outgo. Deficit spending can occur only when you print the money. One of the money programs makes it a game where you pay off the smallest to the largest debt and then get to scream "I'm debt free" on the radio. Even when you are retired, you are not free. Between Property taxes and income taxes, you will find yourself hitched to the ball and chain of owing the government. You want bigger and bigger government? (notice I didn't say Bigger and better) Get ready to pay more and more taxes.

Barb and I find it very interesting that of all the round ball teams playing basketball post season only the KU Ladies are still in the hunt. All the men's teams and most of the other women's teams in Kansas are home back in the student grind and the KU Ladies are playing in the women's NIT tonight. Rock Chalk girls! We are proud of you. In fact, we are proud of all the teams that played their best and just lost their last game. Even the guys to our south proved that no matter how many rebounds your star gets unless you can do better than 2-19 from beyond the three point line you are toast.

Justice is having it to be illegal to not wear seat belts and when the crash scene is cleared there is no one left alive to charge with the crime. Two wrecks have occurred in the last week here in Topeka where the occupants were not wearing their seat belts and died in wrecks. Our Legislature just passed a law that if you are under 18, you cannot drive a car without your seat belt on or talking on a cell phone. Should be illegal for anyone driving a car to talk on their cell phone. The seat belt deal is a self imposing penalty. (Guess who does not have a cell phone?)

The American way is for people to be in debt more than they paid for their first house for their latest car. Our problem is not that we all drive KIA's for mileage, it is when that idiot gets on the Interstate going the wrong way and hits you head-on in her Escalade you lose in your KIA. This was one time the seat belt didn't seem to matter.

I'm not sure where this serious tone came from today. Must have been the thing that woke me up this morning. I fell asleep watching the Animal Planet and this morning on a show about pet's doing tricks a parrot was singing. Great voice but absolutely no ear for pitch. I woke up thinking America Idol was doing another try out show.

MUD

If you are not the lead dog, the view never changes!

Sunshine Sunday

Here's to warmer days and lazy cats

Cold Gold Finches

Times are tough when the woodpeckers have to hit the sunflower seed feeder


My feet would have froze to the pole

View to the south of the house

I am sitting here looking out the window to a beautiful sun shinny day with just enough snow on the ground to cover the leaves and over winter debris. The birds are up close eating the rest of the really cheap bird food I poured on the ground to get rid of it. When the squirrels don't eat something, you know it is bad. The millet in that stuff is covering the ground in several places. They sifted through it yesterday and ate anything that resembled other stuff. There is one really scroungy looking squirrel below the sunflower feeder trying to find some sunflower meat in the empty shells. If the weather hadn't coated the feeder with ice and snow, he would be trying to get into the feeder. Once or twice a trip, it will shake it enough that one or two seeds will fall out but mostly it is just a trip up the pole and a fall down. All in all we have about 2 or 3 inches of snow and about 1/2 inch of sleet pellets underneath that. I would estimate the moisture from this snow to be between 1 and 2 inches.

Thanks to Flea's contest, I had Chicory coffee for breakfast this morning. It is a blend unique to Louisiana and I'll bet most of them sweeten and cream it so it goes nice with a beignet. I have always liked my coffee black (I add a little salt to cut the bitterness of the chicory) Beignets are a lot like the sopapillas you get at the end of a Mexican meals here in the Heartland. I'm not sure that they serve them with honey down south or not. They are basically a fried bread product rolled in cinnamon and sugar. What could be bad about that. OK, the food Nazi's will tell you that they probably exceed the total fat amount you are allowed for a day. Barb tells me that you should not exceed two tablespoons of fat per day. For me that is generally about what it is in the burger and fries I get.

Well, the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship still has one BIG XII team on board. About 6 PM today, we will see if Blake and his bunch of Oakies can beat Roy's Boys wearing blue. The reason I say about 6 PM is that no matter what the game is like during the game, it is the final score that counts. The Newspaper headline said KU lost their game in the final two minutes. No they didn't. They lost it when the buzzer went off and they had a lower score. Ask Memphis how long it takes to tie up a game. I thought a long time ago that the "Tar Heels" should have more black in their uniforms and lose that baby blue color. I think the Georgetown industrial gray uniform looks cool (except this year they were beaten frequently and often - You know, like a rented mule). Yesterday several sports writers were asking Sherron Collins and Cole Aldritch if they would come back next year or go to the NBA. Crap, they hadn't even dried off from their showers after the game and these guys want to know what they are going to do. Once the sweat dries, they will have time to decide where their finances and family are. Sherron already has a wife and son so he may have to go pro. Cole is just a student athlete and may stay. No matter what, there are new kids coming that will help the team next year. Did anyone but me notice that Brandon Rush scored 29 points for Indiana Pacers yesterday? He was that guy that stayed three years and was supposed to be a "One and Done" player.

If you have read this blog much, you probably have seen pictures of our out door cat, Tiger. He is just the same reddish gold, stripped color that you see on most feral barn cats throughout the Heartland. He generally shows up at least every other day to eat as much as I will feed him and to sleep. There are times he will come home with a war wound or two but he heals quick and it must be worth his while to go visit the local farm where the girls live. He will let me pet him if I will feed him. He hates the brush and I don't get a chance to help him knock out the fur balls that build up this time of year. Today he is off visiting the girls and wasn't out there to eat a hand full of cat food. Oh well, He'll be back, or not.

If you had a car with 100,000 miles on it what would you do? Do you replace it with a road worthy car now or when it stops and breaks down. So far it hasn't left us stranded but I always wonder. Barb is the hard sell in the family and she is more the replace it when it dies type. That is probably the story of my life. I would have little saved and no new toys and barb would never buy a new toy and have most of her money saved. Together we are just the right blend, kind of like a bride... Something borrowed, something blue, something old and something new.

MUD

Oops!

Right after I posted that it was not snowing, it started to snow. It looks like Grand Central Station outside by the bird feeders. They are working hard to get a place on one of the feeders and probably are spending more energy working on that than they should. You can see one of the red cedars drooping its branches in the background. When they touch the ground, there are generally some branches breaking off other trees and we are in danger of power outages. We do have a generator.

Update about 2:30 PM, 28 Mar 09. The snowflakes are now about 1 inch across and falling rapidly. We are now up to 2-3 inches and no let up in sight. Barb is up decorating a Monarch cake and I am watching Road to the Final Four. I made a quick run to the store about 1:30 and the roads were great once I got off the side roads. Not true on the way home. In fact, a BWT (Big White Truck) with 4 wheel drive is in the ditch right out on Tecumseh Road just north of 42nd street. It must have happened right before I came by as there were skid marks in several directions and circles leading to where the truck is. She had help coming.


MUD

Ssssssssssssh!

This is how I feel about last night's game!

Guess What? The KU Men's Basketball team is only about the 10th best team in the US. We all knew that the majority of the 2008 National Championship team went on to other things, mostly Pro Basketball. Everyone said this would be a year that whatever they did was good enough. Well, Good enough won the BIG XII and was enough to help us all cheer our butts off when there were times we wanted to cry. To at least lift our focus off the economy. Last night Michigan State played hard, KU played hard and the best men won. KU will arrive home about noon today and go on with the rest of their school year. They are after all students that play a game. I wanted them to win but I will accept that they are a bunch of kids that most of us would accept into our homes because they are great people. Rock Chalk! Just so you will know there is still enough play left in Oklahoma and Missouri to end the year on a right note. You know what? Someone will win and the rest will go home.

We are still getting moisture from that massive winter storm out west but have managed to not get the foot of snow that covered Dodge City. In fact, there is a little ice on the sidewalks but for the most part it came down as rain or sleet. This morning as I went out to feed the cat and fetch the paper it was slick but nothing you couldn't handle if you went slow. Old + Mornings does not equal fast in my book. We are glad to have the moisture and will probably stay home and enjoy what we have. I will write and read my normal blogs and watch the birds work over the feeders.

We went over to Best Buy yesterday and visited with Dave. He bought us a case for the hard drive from Barb's old MAC. So far I have it installed in the case but haven't figured out the software and installation for the MAC that lets the system recognize the hard drive. I guess the IBM guys have a software system that searches for the new items installed and installs the drivers for us. So far if the MAC does that, I haven't found the magic key or process. It seems like Dave is about to get a promotion to the Geek Squad there. You know, those guys that wear white shirts and black ties. He has taken most of their training and is way smarter about computers than anyone else I know. I am a user, not an expert. I'll bet he winds up meeting and greeting customers at the front window because of his customer service skills. He is aces with people and really knows how to help solve problems or at least make people not feel like idiots when they have a problem.

If everything works out, it looks like we are in for a trip to Europe and Africa. We have found some great priced tickets to Spain and will cross over into Morocco to see our friends there. The tickets we found are about half of what they were last year. So far the Euro seems to be holding and the dollar is not free yet. Oh well, I'll tell you more later. Yes mother, we have our passports and according to the web site do not need Visa's to visit so long as we don't stay more than 90 days. Barb knows the 10 day rule that I can only be away from home for about 10 days and I get cranky. It really is her fault that she wanted us to build a house in the woods that I love and want to go home about every 10 days.

Oh well, gonna go see what everyone else is saying. Have a great weekend out there.

MUD

The Buck Stops Here!

Over the last couple of days, I have had two very interesting discussions concerning money, investments and regulators. I also heard that the President said "The Buck Stops Here".

The first discussion concerning money was from a guy whose wife was encouraged to move her 401 (k) into a stock market based annuity. She gave the agent $90,000 and he promised her that she would get her money back "no matter what". When they got a notice that their investment was now worth $56,000 they contacted the broker/salesman. Where is the other half of my $90,000? The man explained that what the contract said was that if she would start a regularly paid annuity the company would pay until she had received her entire $90,000. No, she could not have her $90,000 back today but she could have a set amount like $500 a month to the tune of $90,000. Of course, they would have to withhold 30% for taxes as the payments are made. This sounds like another Ponzi scheme to me.

That same guy told me that there is a provision in the Kansas State Personnel Retirement System (KPERS) for a person to take out a lump sum and then have a reduced annuity paid over the person's lifetime. His best friend took out half of the money he had in the system and invested it in a stock market based annuity. Guess who has to go back to work because between losses and taxes he was basically wiped out.

The MG I live with, said that we need more laws to protect us from the bad guys and those Pesky Republicans are blocking that process. I had a discussion with her about the fact that I think there are too many laws now and not enough people enforcing the ones we have. A first year business school student should have been able to look at the Madoff Ponzi scheme and realize it had no substance. When income is equal to outgo and salaries and there is no operating "nut" to really pay the bills, it is a Ponzi scheme. When you start selling shares of loans on houses to investors and return a maddening amount to the stock holders and exorbitant salaries to those in the business, it is a Ponzi Scheme. It was the fact that none of the people we think are guarding our money even looked at this is the problem.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. No law can say it more simple. In fact it would take most people a lifetime to begin to understand the complexities of the current law and by the time you learn something, it is probably changed or loop holes made in the law to excuse those people that can afford to lobby the congress.

So, I don't have a lot of faith that anyone, especially the President, can have the buck stop there. Especially in this time where we really don't know where there or here is. More new laws that aren't going to be enforced isn't enough. Having the Government run in and saving us with money they don't have might be a part of the problem. Perhaps you can understand, I'm not sure I do. I love the MG's passion about this but I'm not sure that our caring enough is enough.

MUD

What Do Your Read?

In my younger days, I read everything I could. Back in the 20/20 days I could read for hours and loved every minute of it. Granted, that my reading started before we had TV and for a long time there were only three stations. The first week of school, I would read the history book and the science book and seldom crack them again. I could get D's and that was passing. I spent my reading time in the Library and reading a book a day was the minimum.

Over the years my eyesight started slowing down and I'll be the first to admit that all the reading I had to do at work kept me about as busy as my eyes could stand. I did love to read a few adventure "Faction" novels. You know, the stories based around facts but purely fiction. Slog through a Michener book and you will understand. I read the Source and Hawaii on the way to Viet nam. 17 days on a boat with little else to do.

Today I find myself drawn into W.E.B. Griffin books and love the adventure. Yes, I think we all see ourselves as the rich adventurer off on another grand time. I know the reality of adventure is that there are times when a grand adventure dips you into the deep shit and people shoot at you. Been there and Done that.

On the other hand, Barb reads a lot of books that are mystery based. The Hero or main character is out there solving crimes and putting the bad guys in jail. I read some of the books but every once in a while I find myself reading the latest Janet Evanovich saga of Stephanie Plum.

Since I was in the 9th grade, I have read the paper as often as I can. I don't particularly like USA Today as it seems to be a lot of facts without a personal touch. I don't agree with idiots very often but I do enjoy reading some of their ideas. I also read a wide range of blogs and enjoy the diversity.

I often question myself about the source of my thoughts and beliefs. Did I shape them from what I read or do I read to reinforce my feelings? I am not sure I care.

What do your read? Or, back when there were real cards and you played solitare did you cheat? Did you slip one card behind the deck and play again when there were no more plays? Did you play to play or play to win?

MUD

A little Weather Yesterday

When the wind blows here, the deer come down into the woods below the house and hide out. This is one of the twins we normally see. he is only about 50 feet from the back door. I wonder how you cook young deer? Poached? Nah, Barb wouldn't let me shoot Bambi.

This is a view of the angry sky that changed by the moment. With the wind gusting to 60 MPH, you didn't get to see the slowly changing patterns of clouds.

When barb went out to take pictures, the horses came to visit her. She didn't bring any apples or carrots and she didn't even pet them. I'm sure that the noise of the wind had them upset.

The wind yesterday tried its best to imitate a jet engine here at Rabbit Run. There were gusts of wind up to 60 MPH and it shook all the trees until there can't be any dead branches in the trees today. You couldn't hear anything but the wind when you went outside. The only good thing about it was that the spring sap had started to flow or we would have had ice storm amounts piles of branches all over the place. There were 10 semi trucks blown over out on I-70 because the drivers were too stupid to stop and wait it out. We lost out power but it was repaired shortly as it was only a fuse in the line that blew because the trees touched the line up on the road.

A lot of really strong thunderstorms passed over Kansas but most stayed well west of here. Sometime very late in the night (or darned early this morning) we finally did get some rain out of all the storms. I estimate it somewhere about 1/2 an inch by the water in the kitty food dish.

For a week the temperatures have been varied and it seemed a lot more like late spring rather than late winter. We are on the short list to get some snow this weekend. It is not warm outside and the clouds hold the temperature above freezing but does not allow it to warm up above 40. With a residual wind of 10-20 MPH it is not a fun day out there.

Even the birds are back hitting the feeders hard. They have been out nesting and getting ready to be somewhere else. Perhaps I need to be somewhere else also.

MUD

They Were Right

For the record, the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament committee was right on the mark for the most part. Out of the top 16 seeded teams, 14 of them are still in the Sweet 16 brackets. Arizona is still in there playing and Purdue (5) won their way in. The other 14 are either 1,2 or 3 seeds. That's an 87.5% score for their picks. I think this shows that in Bobby Knight's thinking that even if they expanded the field to include one more bracket and thus 128 teams, in the end the cream of the crop would for the most part play in the end. There has never been a 16 seed beat a number one seed in 100 games. Looking back across the years the final four has almost always included a number one seed. (I edited this, my count was off by one bracket for a total of 16 teams not 12)

Between the burning field to our south, the Red Cedar pollen count at over 30,000, one good book read and almost constant basketball for 4 days, my eyes are a disaster zone. Yes, playing solitaire on the computer hasn't helped. I don't feel like I need sleep, but just shutting my eyes feels good if done long enough. Like a little kid, if I do that for very long (more than a minute) I fall asleep. I may make a trip to Walgreen's and see if there isn't some eye wash product with my name on it. Barb probably won't admit it but I hear her over on her computer sniffing every once in a while. I can take antihistamines but nothing to relieve the stuffiness once it sets in.

The weather man is watching a pretty strong storm front that is moving in today. They have predicted thunderstorms as far south as Dallas and Blizzards across the Dakotas and in to Minnesota. All we need is about two days of 1/10th of an inch per hour rain. We don't need our toads strangled or our rocks pissed on like a cow on a flat place. We are ready to start putting plants out in the ground and moisture is needed.

It will be warm enough to ride this morning but way too windy. Oh well, there is spring cleaning to do. Now if I can work up the desire to kill dust bunnies.

MUD

Strange day for a Saturday

For some reason Barb likes to go to Lawrence to shop almost more than going to the west side of town on the Wanamaker Corridor. I think the only thing that Lawrence doesn't have is a Sam's Club. They will soon have two WalMarts and they have a Super Target with a grocery store. For dyslexic me, I always have trouble deciding if I am going to buy my 2x4s at Kohl's or Lowe's At least in Lawrence my only choice for now is Home Depot. One of my favorite places to eat there is Backyard Burger. They have an honest to god hamburger and chicken sandwich that is almost as good as mine.

There is a store there that carries most of the candy and tea from foreign countries. It isn't cheap but for the most part it is good. I really like a good licorice and Barb drinks a tea from there. I have been known to buy some chocolate and nuts bars but with Da' Barbs hitting weight watchers again I don't buy too much. The kids have introduced us to Poki that they like. It is unsalted pretzels dipped in chocolate. I would give it a five.

To end our evening, the neighbor to the south of us burned his field that borders on our woods. Barb is really careful to watch for fires getting down into the woods and getting out of hand. We went up on the fire line and watched until well after dark. We take our flashlights and shovels and watch for those fires that smoulder until a breeze makes them pop up. The yard still smells like a wood fire even though most of the fire is out. At least this time they had a crew with water tanks and came around to check for hot spots. The last time we had to call the fire department the next day for small fires that jumped up. The wood timber fence posts were the worst to have a fire deep down inside and then fan itself up when the air starter moving. I also found a deer stand with a corn pile directly in line with our house.

So far two o f the six BIG XII teams have gone by the side of the road. I'll be watching today to see if Kansas and Missouri can move forward or come home. This is a fun time for me to watch all those young men playing a game for all the marbles. Win or go home. I am still mad at the Networks for switching to another game to watch a final and then not going back to wrap up something that we watched for an hour and 45 minutes. At least my brother put me on to NCAA.com and I can watch a game clear to the end no matter what the network does. It is a little maddening when they go away and then come back because of the delay. Watching a game and its almost two minute delay is strange.

Reminds me of a joke. A guy walks into a bar and sees a news coverage of a guy standing on a ledge 20 stories up in the air. He bets the blond barmaid $20 that the guy jumps. She accepts the bet and sure enough the guy jumps. The guy admits that he had been just down the street and had seen the guy jump so he didn't feel like he could really take her money. She said it was OK. She had seen the event live and didn't think the guy was stupid enough to jump a second time.

MUD

Money and Basketball

This is a long wheel based low rider expressing her contempt of Basketball

It might be strange to some people that there is a discussion of money and basketball. The Internet this morning and the local paper both had articles about the time lost (time is money, how fast do you want to go) and revenue generated by Basketball at the college level. With games now available to watch on NCAA.com I can imagine that there are a lot of fans sitting at their work desks with the volume turned down and watching their teams win and lose. The estimate is that the top five teams in Men's basketball earn a total of 100 Million dollars. KU brings in the rear of that pack with just over 21 Million. Throw in a final four or a championship and that skyrockets by a couple of million from fan products. Try to imagine how many T-shirts need to be made to generate two million in revenue from just the Logo.

The interesting thing to me is that you can go down the list and you have to go beyond the top 25 to find another BIG XII Team. Now, that is just the Basketball revenue. Talk football and I'm sure that you'll find Texas, Nebraska and some additional Southern Division of the BIG XII teams right in there.

This morning I feel a lot like the morning after. Two days of eating and watching games has me feeling all out of sorts. I'm quite sure that the red cedar pollen count being above 30,000 PPM doesn't help the red burning eyes and runny nose. Yesterday after the KU game we went to Sam's club after going to the Post Office. It was nice to get out a little but that three pound sack of Pistachios won't help either my blood pressure or my waist line. Throw in looking at this damn screen and reading a book has my eyes just a mess.

I hope everyone out there in reality land is ready for a big tax increase. The Budget Management Office has projected the deficit over the next ten years at 1 Trillion dollars. There is just no way the congress can sustain increasing the Health Care Costs, additional revenue to Schools and Government support for Housing without a big tax increase. Government is expensive, big government is really expensive. How much of that elephant do you thing we can eat? If it was possible for us all to pay our portion of the National Debt, I would sign up right now to pay my part. The problem is that I would be the minority and our children's children will be the bill payers.

I am not going to run out there and blame it on Obama. The congress of the United States is really in charge of making the money flow. The President is only the Budget guy because it comes out of his office. The real masters are the people that actually expend the money. They are the people to blame. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are the leaders in the House and Senate. It is their leadership in spending that will build a train from Disneyland to Las Vegas and no one will have the money to ride it.

I finally heard a story about someone I know that has found the credit crunch hit home. A friend saw an ad at Nebraska Furniture Ad that said up to $2,000 with no interest for 60 days, same as cash. When she sat down with them they told her that her limit was $ 750.00. What impact is it having on you and the people you know? Yes, she said she would com back and pay cash when she has that much.

It is cloudy and 60 today here in the Heartland. Predicting some rain but as much as we need it, we won't get enough. Have a great day out there.

MUD

The President on Leno

I do think some of the questions asked by Jay Leno to the President were "Softballs", but what would you expect. The first time the leader of our Nation comes on a talk program, you wouldn't expect it to be the Maury Povitch show. All in all, the President did a good job and I think that what we got was what we expected. If you like him, you liked his answers. If you were Rush you would focus on the fact that he has a mild stammer sometimes. Compared to the delivery of the previous president he is a gifted speaker. I guess no one really expects the President to do a forward 2 1/2 in to a crystal ball and tell us when we can all look up again and it will all be better. I didn't need to know when the new dog was going to arrive but hey, I'll bet his daughters do.

My concern remains that we solved the biggest problem by throwing money at it in quantities without fully understanding that when the 140 or 160 million dollars promised as bonuses to their managers by AIG would raise a stink. If it had been an extra $150.00 it would have been too much. Everyone in that organization needs to have a cut in pay and be damned glad they even have a job. Clearly the President had a good idea of what caused AIG to fail in the manner it did. A good leader stands by his subordinates and I was happy to hear his discussion of his treasury secretary. Now so long as that guy doesn't get thrown under a bus next week I'll try to be more supportive of the president.

At the point that the President said he was also going to move forward on Health Care and Education, I wish that Jay would have asked if now was really the time to spend more money on such issues. I really would like to hear how he expects to get closer to a balanced budget and take on two new financing projects.

Did you hear that the need for new cars is about 14 million and the production is only 9 million? In some cases you can buy a new car cheaper than the same model used. I have been looking at cars and that fact hit me square in the middle of my computations. The new car is probably a stripped down model and the used probably had a lot of options but I want fancy and cheap.

Oh well, today is the first day of KU's run in the Post Season NCAA Div I Men's basketball Tournament. I hope they play well and continue to play for a couple of weekends. No, they aren't defending their title of a year ago. That is NC's job. This group of Jayhawks were watchers and in a lot of cases High School students last year.

Have a great day out there.

MUD

I Won!

One of the blogs I read had a contest to help find a name for he son who was awarded the Order of the Arrow from his Boy Scout troop. I liked the fact that she called him Oatmeal Head and thought that Red Rocks in his head or Red Rocks was a good name. He did too (without the in his head part) so mosey over to http://thegoodflea.com/ and see what she is up to. I thought her Monday Irish jokes about the best I have read in a long while.

Being a former drinker, in my younger years, I thought the joke about Patrick and Michael in a life boat very funny. Michael found a lamp in the side pocket and as soon as he rubbed off the dust a Gennie popped out. He gave the only one wish and Michael wished the ocean to be full of Guinness beer. Patrick complained to Michael, "Now we'll have to pee in the boat."

I think I have always liked jokes that have an odd twist of turn of phrase the kind I like the best. Jokes with punchlines such as "it was the bear that made Mel Famey walk us". Or the beer, whatever....

This is spring break and the opening day of the NCAA Div I Men's Basketball Championship. It is going to be a little cool after a cold front passed so I will probably spend the day reading a book and watching roundball. Both will make my eyes hurt and I will probably sleep well dreaming about a mass killer killing basketballs.

My horoscope was interesting in that it directed me to take notes if I was given details to follow. I guess I'll skip putting the finishing touch on my taxes today. Oh well, Have a great day out there.

MUD

BIG D, that stands for Diet

It just kills me when I read that people are trying all sorts of diets as fads to lose weight. It really is a matter of understanding how much you need to eat for the weight you are. All food is calories to fuel your engine. If your body needs less than you eat, you store it in the form of fat. I can say this because I have enough extra to keep me alive should I run into a rough patch. Those skinny people will run out in a couple of days and me, I'm good for a week at least. One column I read said she was on the low or no carbohydrate and she felt shaky and weak. Duh, you body needs fuel and guess where most of it comes from?



On of my biggest things is hearing how much fat is in products. The MG continues to tell me about fat like it is a totally negative thing. Yes, I understand that if I eat potato chips and have to wipe the oil off my fingers, they probably have more fat than I need. When grease runs down my face and stains my shirt, I probably have too much butter on my potato.



Is it too much for me to ask the MG to either remember to take those stupid cloth sacks in or to take out plastic? I feel foolish when she forgets the sacks and then tries to carry out 10 items in her arms. If you want to be smart for the earth, you should at least look not stupid in the parking lot. Who wants to look like a smash and grab thief on their way to the car? If you don't want sacks, go to Sam's club.

I just wish you could have felt the wind in your face yesterday as we rode at the lake. What a great day for getting out and making circles with the pedals. Even if there wasn't a smile on my face, there was one in my heart. Just a note, if you are walking a pit bull, pay attention to what he is doing. If he bites me, you will not like my reaction.

Have a great day out there.

MUD

Went for a Ride

Rode for about 40 minutes at about 12 MPH. It is near 80 with a light breeze. Couldn't have been a better thing for my attitude. Did I mention that our name is really O'Patty? You know after Patio furniture.
MUD

Crisis of Confidence

I have mixed emotions about today's problems. Where does the responsibility lie for the lack of confidence today? Is is based on the failure of yesterday's leaders, today's leaders or tomorrow's leaders? Does the fact that during a campaign anything can be said without recourse ever come back to haunt the officeholders? If we can force the unions to renegotiate their contracts, why the hell do we have AIG paying millions of dollars worth of bonuses to their managers? Why goose the gander in one scenario and pay with golden eggs in another? Locally we have a developer building a several million dollar development and right in the middle of the place one guy who wants to keep his land has no water or sewer because the developer just cut them off. The city doesn't feel that they are responsible.

How can one of the largest religions in the world claim to be the word of God and then tell their people to go out and blow up innocent people? How can a church based in Rome own so much and then not feel responsible for its priests when they molest the children of the people they purport to serve? How can that church tell politicians that they must obey their church on the issue of abortions and yet the law of the land is in direct confrontation to that teaching?

How can companies feel confident in the operating climate when they don't understand how their competition is being bailed out by the government? How can people feel safe when they hear that the President is proposing that we have a Nationalized health care and then turn around and say that the part of their health care paid for by their employers will be taxable? How can we hear that thee will be no new taxes for those making under $250,000 and then learn that the prior President's tax cuts are going to expire?

How can we feel confident about the state of the economy when during the election Senator McCain said the basis was sound and was roundly criticized? Now we have the President and his staff out trying to tell us all is well and the economy is sound? We were promised that the old ways of doing business will "Change" and we will eliminate line items in the budget and the first two things passed were so full of them that we are now believing that it will be better "Next Time"?

Day by day, I find that I love my country more but have a growing fear of my Government. Things don't seem to make sense and I don't think it is my old age setting in. My crisis of confidence is growing daily and I just don't know what to do to restore it.

We have a land where we pay athletes millions of dollars to play games and regulators that let Bernie Madof build a ponzi scheme that ripped off hundreds of millions. Who is in charge around here?

I know, I'll go out and ride my bike and just pretend that all is well. I hate it when this happens.

MUD

Good Day to be Irish!

I started this article by reading what Wikapedia had to say about the Irish and their day. It is typical of the Irish that they celebrate a religious leader with booze and a day of parades. Add a corned beef feast in the middle of the Lenten season and you further add to the mystery. For most of us, it is a sure sign that spring is here and the green of the season won't be far behind.

Somewhere back in the family history one of my grandfathers was Irish and he married a Scott. With a name like Petty, you would think we are English but a member of the family told us that the derivation of our name was French Petite (pronounced Pe' te) and written Petty as our family member came through Ellis Island. Where we came from is of little import, what we do and where we live is what is the mark of who we are.

Yesterday just wasn't Barb's day. She locked her keys in the car, forgot what she had or had not told me and then couldn't remember what she needed to go to the store for. I guess when there is no real big need to concentrate your thoughts, you don't have to. I just hope that one of us keeps it together so we don't find ourselves truly off on a lark someday as I try to find a new way somewhere.

There is the most beautiful Cardinal outside today. I think he sits in the green cedar tree because he looks so spectacular there with his red against the green. One of the woodpeckers just knocked a chunk of a suet block out ad he was on it like a duck on a June bug.

Headed to 80 degrees today and I most definitely will get the recumbent out and ride some. I also need to start the planning for some of the spring projects here at Rabbit Run. I think it is time to redo some of the deck before it falls off. After all, we have been here 20 years and it is about time to do some heavy duty maintenance.

Have a great day out there.

MUD

Roasting Larry the Cable Guy

One of the hosts or roasters said it was tough to play it straight when they are really roasting a caricature of a person rather than the real person. For the record, Dan Whitney grew up in Nebraska and started working in comedy in 1985. From his start, he has worked to build a persona that pokes fun of the very rednecks that comprise his fan base. As Larry the Cable Guy, he can earn $250,000 a night on tour and reportedly made 35 Million dollars last year. If that is fraud, only jealousy makes me want to call foul.

I enjoy the good natured kidding the Redneck Comedy Tour group does with each other. The throw together team on the roast on Sunday night was the biggest group of foul mouthed, who cares-who-they-are comics looking for a payday. I get so tired of hearing about Lisa Lampanelli and her love for screwing black men that it ceased to be funny several roasts back. Then they brought up Warren Sap who could deliver lines but I'll bet a writer had to put his material together. First of all, I can bet a black man doesn't watch the Redneck Comedy Tour any more than I watch rap music or BET.

If you think Warren Sap was bad, how they got Gary Busey out of his coma long enough to appear on stage is amazing. Shows you how hard times are when you don't wear a helmet and ride motorcycles in California. Did mention Marsha Brady? She was so memorable I don't even remember her name. (Maureen McCormic)

The biggest frauds about the program was the constant poking fun at the other roasters prior to finding anything funny to say about Larry. If the Dias had been covered with people that anyone knows, it might have been different. The only person I have seen lately out of the crowd was Jeff Foxworthy. As was typical, his was the only part that I would have wanted my mother to hear. Hearing a bunch of broke comedians poke fun at two millionaires was in its self funny.

The really sad thing is that the Comedy Channel will re-run this roast until everyone in the USA has had a chance to kind of vomit in the back of their throats at the real lack of funny.

What kind of an ending could I find for this rant? Get 'er Done. I am.

MUD

Big Dance Brackets

I would hate for anyone to think that former Coach Bob Knight and I have anything in common. Next to Billy Packer, Bob Knight is the biggest Horses Ass in Basketball. How Dr Knight escaped being forced into mandatory anger management classes eludes me. But with that said, he has a recommendation that would end the controversy about who got into the Big Dance. He said that they just need to extend the brackets by one game and let that game be held on the home court of the higher seed. What difference to the finals would 128 teams make?

He feels that the one game expansion would add the the satisfaction of fans across the Nation and increase the revenue of both teams playing. He said that a simple split of the gate would pay for the added travel costs and really give those teams selected to the Championship a chance to show their stuff to their fans at home.

The other way for this to work would be for the NIT to have an entry into the big dance that the NIT winner could play to win. Nah, that sucks... I like the first idea better. Think about having teams like Baylor, K-State and Tulsa having the chance to play those little Mid Major teams that win a tournament and get into the dance. Having the 6th, 7th and 8th place team in the BIG XII play some of the tourney winners would answer if they should be there in the first place.

Let me say that I would not want the job of picking who gets to play in the NCAA Div I Men's Basketball Championship. No matter how good a job you do, there are living rooms across the nation filled with fans calling "foul". It would be like the job of picking the flavor cool-aid for a Jim Jones meeting. It would be a no win situation and sure to get you declared Persona Non Grata faster than Lisa Lampaneli at a roast for Larry the Cable Guy. (Just a note- if you missed that gem on the Comedy channel your should consider yourself lucky. I will save that discussion for another time)

On our trip to Lubbock, we side tracked north to Canyon, Texas. There is a canyon there called Palo Duro that is a great view. Also the city of Canyon has an auditorium there that was the home of the Div II Women's Basketball Championship. Our own Jessica Mainz from Washburn University played her final game there this week. She also said that in November she played her final Soccer game there and they lost that game also. Needless to say, Jessica won't take trips to Canyon, Texas for vacations. Dang, I hate it when that happens.

It will be 70 here today.

MUD

Sprummer!

There is a time here in the heartland that is late spring or early summer. It is that time in March that makes all the gardeners want to get out and plant green things fully aware that we are only a few degrees from a killing frost. To meet the high expectations of the MG, I built a glass enclosure on the south deck and it spent the night full of tomato plants. According to the thermometer this AM it was right at that temperature that would have nipped their little butts, er buds. Inside the cold frame it stayed almost 40. Sure hope those plants make it to planting in the ground. I have a hankering for one of those big old red tomatoes or a handful of those little red one's. You know them, they are the one's that are almost sweet as grapes.

Today is the first day for the bracket announcements. It should be a tough year as there were more conference championships between teams no one would have expected. Who or how would you expect Baylor to play OK State when there a conference full of teams that on a regular basis beat both teams like a drum. Speaking of teams that show up and play hard have you seen the Memphis squad? I saw them play with Tulsa and it was not pretty. I would normally say against Tulsa but it was not a trade baskets game at any time. Memphis got ahead and did their best to beat Tulsa regular and often. I know my brother is a big Tulsa fan and I'll bet he was bummed out as much as I was when Baylor beat KU.

One day this week I am going to get the tax crap spread out on the table and floor here by my computer done and get it all in the mail. I hate to send a check as I have to pay but what the heck, that what's money in the bank is for. Spring is the season of paying. April is for income taxes and May is for the second half of property taxes. Once upon a time we had until June for the Property Taxes but the State needs to have the money to pay back all the people that over withheld. Oh well, money in, money out. So long as we can keep the balance that income must be equal to or greater than outgo we'll survive.

Have a great day out there. We are looking for 60's today. Must be spring, other than the woodpeckers the birds are not flocking around the feeders.

MUD

What's left to Say?

Some days I watch the news and on others I don't. If you search long enough, you can find that there is something about everything and on others there is way too much about nothing. Instead of being energized, I find myself feeling like a wool sweat sock after a hour of playing soccer. Yes, that is full of it and smelly.

Didn't I recommend a path for the new President to take a few weeks ago? I think he is so full of himself that he is like a magician with a new wand trying to make tricks work without perfecting anything. My first step/recommendation was to stop and figure out what was wrong. Instead of finding out the root cause, he and the congress have created a monster stimulus plan with over 9,000 separate things to fund and turned that sucker loose. Now without the benefit of watching that work to change the direction of our economy, he is trying to move us into Socialized Health Care. Lets see will that make the deficit 1.5 or 2 trillion dollars over his balanced budget by his third year in office.

Someone needs to keep a scorecard on this rascal. he promised change but he is not headed in the direction he promised. No line items in the budget. Well, he didn't tell us that he was going to bust a cap on our debt by letting congress pass a monster of a bill to fund these things outside of the budget. Change, he didn't tell us that he was going out and reappointing the Clinton staff back into office including Screech, herself.

I would like for you to watch over the next few weeks and tell me when one of the stimulus bill changes hits in your life. I predict that the first thing we will all fees is when the Bush Tax cuts expire next year and your taxes will go up. Remember when the tax bill due each week in your with holdings fell? Buck up pals, we are all in for a rude ride. Have you noticed that the number of credit cards offers in your mailbox is down? Have you looked at the details. I got one that offered cash back but the interest rate was 18% and no grace period on purchases. You pay the 18% from day one with a minimum of $1.00 per month. They went on to say that If I didn't make a minimum payment during any month the interest rate would go to 25%. Needless to say I am glad they are at least now telling the truth. Sure wish Barry would.

Oh well, we are headed for warmer days this week and at least I will be able to get outside and do something fun. Have a great day out there.

MUD

No Words to Beat This!

MUD

Classroom Musings

I am taking classes from the County Extension Agents on Cooking. I will be a Master Foods Volunteer when I have completed the classes. The instructors are a great bunch but one of the ladies is a food Nazi. She makes measuring of flour into a Federal offense if you manage to pack an extra gram of flour into a measuring cup. She absolutely goes nuts if someone wants to taste the mayonnaise with a finger. We go through about a hundred extra plastic spoons. For lords sake, we are going to throw the Mayo away not try to keep it for a month or two. My cooking partner and I made Mayo and had to do it twice to get it right. The first time we either cooked the eggs too long because we didn't have the right thermometer or my partner poured too much oil in at the start of the process. The second time we used a hand whisk and everything came out almost perfect.

Why can you eat a steak rare to medium and not a hamburger? When you cut a steak, the cut is the part that is heated. It is generally cooked between 400 and 700 degrees and no disease germs can resist that. Hamburger is meat that has fat added from any other part of the cow and blades cut each tiny part. If there is any contamination at all, it is spread throughout the meat. Cook hamburger until it is brown all the way through or an internal temperature of 165 degrees. One of our class mates ate a rare hamburger last Friday and spent four days seriously sick. Many cases of botulism have been fatal if the person effected has a compromised immunity. Needless to say this applies to sausage.

Our guest speaker this week was the Douglas County "Pie Lady" If you had been there to see her demonstration and taste her pies you would agreed hat she has the right nick name. She makes a Crisco crust and it almost always turns out just right. We made several kinds of crusts and had a taste test to see which came out the best. The number one crust was a lard crust that just took us all back to the pies of our grandmothers. The second best was the butter flavored Crisco crust. Oddly the butter and margarine crusts were tied with an almost no difference in the taste. The oil crust was a failure in that it didn't seem to have a uniform texture. It tasted like a kind of fine sand. The last place crust was a whole wheat that in spite of what they did would not make into a crust. They made small cookies out of the crap and the results were staggeringly crappy tasting. I'm not sure that you could use 50% whole wheat and have results that are good. That mixture worked for cinnmon rolls.

Why am I writing about food? Because in the middle of my day yesterday, Baylor beat the hawks. What could I say about that but to say that I have the Boo Hoo's. KU was a step slow all day and couldn't hit the inside of the barn with a basketball (from the inside) Baylor hustled and got the loose balls and out shot the hawks. End of message. No, I want to say that the young men that play sports for their universities are primarily students and we should honor their work no matter what the outcome. They show up early and play their butts off for a scholarship. Each team is different and they play like a bunch of young men with good days and bad days. It is no fun when one team goes undefeated. The losses are what we remember and get excited about. If you saw the Oklahoma vs Oklahoma State game and weren't excited you should have been watching something else. They traded baskets and right down to the final shot could have tied the game up.

Oh well, cloudy here today and I probably won't be outside much. Got the trash out to the court and have this written. Big deal!

MUD

What Gets My Heart Pounding!

These are just a few more things that get my heart pounding a little harder.

• Stupid headlines in the newspaper. "The reason we are Fat; Politics & Iowa," Another one of those High Fructose myths that appears from time to time. Corn Sugar aka High Fructose Corn Syrup is just another form of sweet. We eat too much and too often and a lot of products contain corn sugar. We need to get up off our butts and do more and eat less. It isn't politics that makes me so sad, it is winter. Lets outlaw winter!


• Once each year I sit down with Turbo Tax and run the first shot of my taxes. I always have a rapid heartbeat when for the first time I see the gross income and the Taxes due. Now that I have the retirement income coming in all at the same time I can really forecast what and when I need to pay. If it weren't that taxes and the March Madness of Basketball arrive at the same time I would not be able to stand this time of year.


• The wind blowing through my hair when I get out and ride the recumbent bicycle around the lake for the first time. I will ride part way around the lake a couple of times to work out the kinks and get ready. That first time I ride all the way around is the best. The real truth is I wear a helmet when I ride so it is really the wind in my face. It is a good thing that my bike all the things I am not. Fast, light and nimble and fun to ride is the name for the blue racer recumbent. Alas, I am not any of these things. I know, we neither were/are cheap.


• That first cup of coffee in the morning. I would rather watch the sun come up, hear the coffee perking in the pot and open that new paper than about anything else. The dining room here at rabbit run gets filled with sunlight and all is well with the world. Until I read the stupid headlines in the paper.


• Did mention stupid things done and said by stupid people make my heart beat elevate? The local bus company recently had to cut some routes and service because of cost. Today the paper told us why. Those idiots signed a 10 month contract for diesel at 4.69 cents a gallon. Today the market price is 1.69 for the non taxed diesel. That one mistake cost the city a quarter of a million dollars. Stupid, stupid, stupid.


• The local police department had a helicopter unit until they had crashed most of the available copters including a new one. They got grounded by the outcry of the public. Now they have sucked the sheriff into this problem and are going to have a joint helicopter force. What we need is one law enforcement unit in the county and it needs to be ground based. We are not LA. I lost one friend to a crash and don't want to lose another.


• Another problem to fix from the national level. Fix the economy stupid! Leave Education and Health Care alone until we figure out how to get jobs and the banking system fixed. I promise you that the only way we can have banking, guns, new schools, better roads and health care is a tax increase. That will start the spiral of decreased revenue and higher taxes until we will all wish we had a little inflation rather than government confiscation of our income.

Crap, this was going to be a piece about things that increase my heartbeat not a rant! See what happens when I start writing after my second cup of coffee and reading the paper. Dang I hate it when that happens!

MUD

For two Dogs

see more dog and puppy pictures

I think he will understand.

MUD

Things I Love

Hard Headed Dachshunds

These are a few of the things I love:

• Start with my family. I love being a father and can rescue my son when he runs out of gas. I love it when they eat my cooking and even brag a little about it.
• There is one topic that almost deserves its own blog and that is food. In my list of food I like there is a check mark for yes. For the list about food I love, it is long and complicated. I have never met a rack of baby back ribs that I didn't want to eat. Put a pot of beans and make some cornbread and I'll be there. Almost all meat grilled in the Weber Grill with some hickory wood for smoke.
• A good book just makes my day. I have started to slow down in my reading but mostly because I am spending more time blogging than reading.
• Give me a junkyard of old cars and my visions turn to making a good ride out of other people's cast offs. I think I like them the most because I can fix them. One of the new cars conk out and you have to haul it to the dealer and plug it in to the computer. I really wouldn't mind that so much but they charge you $80.00 to plug it in and then charge you to fix it.
• A long discussion with my pal Ken. Sitting outside and talking is just one great way to spend the afternoon. We have had some good discussions while working but seems like work gets in the way of a good discussion. After all, we aren't as young as we once were.
• Most college level sports. I wouldn't walk across the street for a professional wrestling match but I love the college sport. You know that I am a round ball fan and will watch the professionals once the NCAA playoffs have concluded. Did I mention that I do not love baseball? Loved to play it, hate to watch.
• I love reading other people's blogs. I have a wide diverse group of blogs I read. There is Two Dogs down in Mississippi (I Love to type that word) that just lights me up to my pals who talk about things here in the Heartland that I love. Jenni's Prairie Air just makes my day. Then where would my day be if there was no new pictures of Austin on the Kirkland blog.
• I think that from the beginning of my days, I have loved to travel. Miles of miles behind the wheel watching the world go by is just fine by me. I do need to update my road machine so I can have one dependable and not too expensive to drive. I don't mind flying places but seems like a lot of fuss by the time I have to rent a car and turn it back in.
• Did I mention dogs are just about the best? I seem to have a way with them and they can sense that I mean them no harm. Yes, I have been bitten but I am a lot smarter about dogs now than I was when I was young. I can abide cats but they can't be "in the house" cats cause i can't abide litter pans.
• I love smart people and a good discussion. I almost can't abide fools. If you like somebody, convince me about them and why I should. I do tend to judge a book by its cover and the deeds of the person. What you do is more important than what you say.
• I love it when spell checker tells me I have written an entire column and there are no misspellings. It doesn't happen but I would love it if it did.

Enough of this for today. Move on Petty!

MUD

Green

Things here in the heartland are starting to turn green. You can go out to get the paper in the morning with a jacket and not the usual coat and gloves. The water dishes are not all frozen solid and the birds are sporting their highly colored feathers. Must be spring is about to sprung. One sure sign for me that it is springier, is that I find my schedule being pushed around by basketball game starting times. Wednesday and Thursday of this week we have the 5A High School Championships here in Topeka and the start of the BIG XII Tourney. The ESPN coverage has turned to the odd discussion of baseball, the College Tournaments and the end of Professional Basketball. Yes, I know it won't really be over until mid June. There was even some talk about some baseball tournament in the Caribbean? Who really cares if the Netherlands can't beat Puerto Rico?

We have had rain a couple of days in a row here and things are pretty soggy. I am glad to see it catching up on sub soil moisture. We had a great crop of apples this last fall because of all the rain. Hope it gets wet and stays that way.

Oh well, not much else today.

MUD

BIG XII Awards

When your team wins the 2008 National Championship and six players leave, you normally have a basket full of 1st year players and if you are lucky a Juco transfer. In 2009, KU started with two seniors, one Juco Transfer, a couple of sophomores and assorted 1st year players. They were all good athletes but untested for sure. The Coach, Bill Self managed to put this team together and win the BIG XII Championship outright. He is the BIG XII Coach of the year and on the short list for National Coach of the year. Only two Hawks made the BIG XII first team. Granted that Cole Aldritch and Sherron Collins are good, but leading a throw together team into a Championship is almost too good to be true. Cole was given Brady Morningstar's award as BIG XII defender of the year. The Morris twins should get the award but Markeiff and Tyshon Taylor were New comer Team members. Did I point out that Brady Morningstar hustled as much as any player in the BIG XII?

The two seniors, on the team didn't have a start until their senior year on Senior Day. Brandon Brichard and Matt Kleinman are great representatives of KU and I hope they got a good education because they probably won't play basketball at the next level. Even if Kleinman has four BIG XII Championship and one National Championship rings.

The first round of the BIG XII post season Tourney starts Wednesday and I think it is always fun to see how the games sort out in the end. There are four teams that could be there in the end. KU, Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma all play at that level. Surprise teams could be K-State and OK-State. On the right day and time, Texas Tech and Texas A&M will show up and play.

Lets see, did I leave out anybody? They are all great teams and let the best team win.

My awards this season are: Best Stadium - Texas Tech, with their band and Dancers an honorable mention. Best Fans- KU. Try to get a ticket there in spite of the $55.00 cost. Best Home Court Advantage - Try to win at Allen Field House (41 wins in a row) Next year's visits - Colorado and K-State. I would love to see the BIG XII Championship but have class on Thursday. They will miss me from about 11 AM to 1 PM.

Have a great day out there.

MUD

I Believe

• That I have earned the right to be critical of my Government. I have traveled in Harms way to make sure that you also have that right. But don't push it and be stupid.
• I have the right to stand up and put my hand over my heart for the National Anthem. You have the need to do so. Take off your stupid hat and the I-Pod out of your ears.
• You have the right to be critical of my flag but be careful if you burn it in my presence. I think my free speech rights should include the right to be arrested for kicking your butt if you don't listen. At least I think my first arrest should be for something worthwhile.
• You have the right to Text Message on your cell phone so long as you are: not in the movie theater where your damn little screen kills what is left of my night vision. Driving a damned car (or a train for gods sake) or trying to conduct business in a line in front of me. Pay Attention stupid.
• If it is good for me, it should be good for the Government. If it is good for me to pay off my debts and save, why is it not good for the government? Isn't the way they are doing it kind of like a Ponzi scheme? Those at the end of the line don't get their money back?
• I worked hard all my life and it is your right to do the same. Get up, go to work and work hard. You get paid and you should earn it.
• Cell Phones are so you can stay in touch when it is important. Not for you to conduct a conversation about crap at the table next to me in a restaurant. Call them back from the parking lot. At least outside. Turn off your cell phone ringer. Set it to vibrate when you have to pay more than $5 to be at an event. Remember I also paid to be there.
• If you want to look like a bum, do it in your grubby civvies, not in one of my old uniforms. If you only knew how hard I worked to keep (and spent) them looking good you wouldn't paint houses in them and then wear them out in public. Carhardt makes some great work clothes and they aren't too expensive. Buy some clothes at the DAV or the Salvation Army, they need the money for good causes and then throw the old stuff away when it is dirty and worn out.
• I take offense when you cuss around my wife. She won't let me get away with it but doesn't like to tell you about it. Knock that shit off!
• If I can't call you something, you shouldn't call your friends that either. I won't treat your women like whores, why do you? I darned sure won't call them that.
• Looking for someone to blame all your problems on, is stupid. We all got here the same way and are only as successful as we make ourselves. Get an education, work hard and you too can be a success. Look like a hood, get tattoos all over your ass and wear you hair stupid and you too won't be the person hired. Pull your self and your pants up and get a job. Save some money for later on (and not in one basket) and pay your taxes.
• Having a strong Military is good for our national defense. It will be the reason we don't have to fight every little war not the reason we do.
• We have the right to pursue happiness, not the right to have the Government give it to us.
• Free speech wasn't free to those who earned it for you. Be judicious how you use it and keep it precious
• If you disagree, you have the right to not read this blog. If you are respectful, you have the right to comment. I have the right to delete your comments if you are not.

MUD, COL (Ret)