'Nother Daughter

I am sure that you have read from time to time that our son, David, married a Barbara and she too became Barbara Petty.  She became Barbara Jr when Barbara Sr signed us up for a "Walk Across Kansas."  She is in fact our Daughter by 'nother mother.   Her best friend is Mel who lives in Austin, TX. She has become our 'Nother Daughter. Mel was going to run in a marathon and her Achilles Tendon popped.  She is undergoing surgery this Friday and in about 10 days after that I'm going to drive down and pick her up.  Her family and friends are here in Topeka and the thought of having our 'nother Daughter spending the holidays alone just didn't set right with us.  


I am looking forward to a short road trip to bring her up and then a slightly longer trip to take her home.  I am sure that the promise of a few days in a warmer place in January will coax Barbara to come with me.  I wouldn't mind a side trip San Antonio one bit.  There is a La Quinta Inn right near the Mercado and that is a fun place to visit.  They have duplicated the shops you would see in most towns just south of the border.  The food there is the best.  This trip I'm going to try the El Carbon restaurant and try some goat.  I have not done that in the past but I'm is a much more adventurous place now.  There is also the promise of good places for "Have Camera Will Travel" to go.   


I listened to the President's speech from Osawatomie, KS yesterday.  It was clear from the start that he has a clear understanding of the problem.  I think it is the solution that eludes him.  he talked about the problem of large student loan debts and then said that more of the young need to get a College Education.  Duh!  we all know that the unemployment rate for college Graduates is half of the non graduates.  It should be obvious that their pay should be at least twice as much as the non high school graduates.  Hos do you pay back a loan of $60-$100,000 making twice the minimum wage?    There was one glaring error to me.  He said that under Bill Clinton the deficit was zero.  No, under Clinton, the National debt did not increase as the budget was balanced and the projections and income were equal.  Not one penny of the Debt was paid.  If we spent everything we made and didn't pay our debts off, we would be in Bankruptcy and that's exactly where we are.  


Dave Ramsey says that the first step to fixing what's broke is to specify a budget.  So far the Congress has not been able to pass one they could live with.  I think there needs to be a sunset law that states, "Any Congress that doesn't pass a Budget is recalled and a new one elected."   I am pretty sure that a couple of iterations of that step and Congress would get the message.  The next step would be that,  Any Congress that spend more than the income without a special vote of the people would be recalled.  The final step would involve some reduction of the National debt with a provision that gives the equation about spending being less than income.  


Oh well, life here at Rabbit Run is fun.  Got to go to Lawrence and watch the Hawks play a good Long Beach State team.  I was wondering if the referees would escape Lawrence there for a while.  One of the players from LBS hit our center in the nose and as he fell, they called a foul on him for the guy he fell on. The referees called the game pretty close for a while after that and the fans were shouting Bull Shit quite a bit.


Have a great day out there.


MUD