Looking back

I am nearing a point in life where half a century has passed by and people are putting together reunions.  45 years ago I graduated from Officer Candidate School at Fort Sill, OK.  In spite of how bad I thought my time there sucked, I feel strangely compelled to go back for a reunion.  Is that crazy or what?   In 2015, I will have a 50th Reunion from a high school where I graduated with about a 1,000 students and I think I may go to that reunion.  



Yesterday, my brother and I talked about what our life would have been if we had married and stayed that way to our High School Sweet hearts.  Would we both be  living in a trailer in Dog Patch down in Wichita?  He was blessed with a couple of great daughters and now some cool grandchildren.  What would life have brought us if our aspirations had not been higher (or our abilities been lower?)   

1968 in Wichita  right before we got married in Las Vegas

I listened to a news program yesterday that indicated that gas prices are as much as a $1.50 a gallon different from Wyoming to California.  Kind of makes me want to get a truck and get in on some of that action.  Even if the difference was only a dollar a gallon, a couple of thousand gallon trailer would make a twice weekly trip worth while.  No, I don't want to drive a truck over the road.  I think our trip to Maine this past year took most of that out of my wish list.  If the Government wants to make a difference, find the speculators and kick their asses for us.


I will have to admit that there was a time or two yesterday that when KU was down 19 points and 15 minutes left in the game I doubted their comeback ability.  I guess that 7 seasons of winning the BIG XII conference title was good enough.  I would have hated for the Border War with Missouri to end with them winning on our floor.  having a Guard like Connor Tehan that could shoot from the outside did make Missouri play T-Rob Mano-e-Mano.  Having him score 28 points and Connor score 12 didn't hurt.  

In today's paper there was a question sent to Click and Clack the tappet brothers about why would you not want to buy a new car today and just keep it forever?  I loved their answer.  If you had a 52 Chevy today, it would not have power steering, power brakes, anti skid brakes, seat belts,  a 12 volt system,  air conditioning and it would only get about 16 miles per gallon.  If you were lucky enough to have a dad that converted the system to a 12 volt system and install an aftermarket air conditioner, you would have to set fight in the path of the fan to feel cool let alone cold air.  Lets not even talk about the heaters that might bring the temperature up a couple of degrees in the dead of winter.  

I am really looking for some answers on how to handle the problem of paying taxes on the 401ks, 503bs and IRA when we hit 70.  Yes, I know there are a lot of people that would be glad to have more money rolling in even if they did have to pay taxes on it.    My brother and I laughed at the tax problem the oil money is causing those of us that are still paying taxes.  Between time off for surgery and the additional medical bills he is fine for this year  Me?  I am still sitting beside a card table full of tax information hoping it will all go away.  


OH Well...


MUD