Just Gotta Grill

We are celebrating Father's day and a couple of birthdays today and I will be out in the yard smokin' and jokin'.   Just so you know, spell checker didn't like smokin" or jokin' nearly as much as I do.  I will fire up the Weber grill and get some good hickory to make the brats and burgers taste really good.   In the past, I would pre-cook the brats inside but the last time I cooked them 100% on the grill they were fine.  I will start the brats a little early and do the burgers last.  The Brats can sit inside on the warmer until the burgers are ready.   Throw in a side of watermelon and perhaps some baked beans and it will be a wonderful meal.  Barb  is making a cake that is decorated with fresh berries and I'll bet it will be a hit too.  Did I mention that Barb was at one time an instructor for Wilton's at Michaels?   She can whip up great baked goods and do an even better job of decorating.  The half life of her cinnamon rolls is not even measurable as they don't last that long.

Today I was reading my Facebook page and there is a large number of 55-56 & 57 Chevy lovers on one of the sites I follow.  I have decided that I should coin a new term.  Shoe Box Socialism.  That is where everyone is "entitled to whatever he can pay for."  One guy wants to find an old 6 cylinder 4 door car and drive it and another wants to spend $60,000 on a kit to build one out of new parts.  I say what ever floats their boats.  When you figure out what a new car costs, having an old one as a daily driver isn't all that bad.  Yes, I am working on getting my energy up and fixing the 57 to drive as a daily driver.  I will have to talk to the insurance company and determine just what that will cost.  Right now it is a garaged queen that can go to shows now and then.

This is an interesting time in our history.  We are 150 years from the end of the Civil War and 70 years from the end of WWII.  We have forgotten a lot of the lessons learned from those wars.  The cost of freedom is very high and worth every dollar  we have spent.   Just this week there was a program that advocated that we mandate that every 18 year old have to spend a year in National Service.    That works well in Switzerland but I am not sure that our diverse economy and social strata's would allow it to work.  I know that it did wonders for me, but we were in a war and there, you either lived or died and that's not a price I want our young people to pay. 

There are a lot of interesting Dave Ramsey posts on Facebook and many make me want to post a few comments.  We were Dave Ramsey fans before we knew who he was.  To us, it was pretty simple to pay off your debts as fast as you can and do your best to not have new one's.  The rule that income had to be greater than or equal to outgo was a given.  I know that our willingness to work while going to College and a little help from the GI Bill made it work for us.  The idea of saving any extra money we could was just a given.  Our extravagance was a few monthly long distance calls to California and then Idaho so the wife could stay in touch with her parents.  A small price to pay for the wonderful; life we have had.
 
I am reading a lot about Rand Paul's desire to have a flat tax and do away with the IRS that bothers the hell out of us taxpayers.  I want them to change their focus on those places where we make money and them leave us alone.  Thin about all the interest income that doesn't get reported.  Those under the counter salaries would stop and everyone would pay their share.  I would start with the thought make a dollar and pay a dime.  I think the nearer place we need to be is about 15 cents but heck, we can pay for everything we are getting now.  Change the focus of taxation and I'll bet we can find a lot of places where people have just stopped paying.

This last Memorial Day, I went over to the cemetery and decorated Mom and Dad's grave with a flag and sunflowers.  As I drove by this last week I saw that they were still up and doing their thing.  I am sure that they would be proud. 

Glen and Virginia (Schawo)  Petty

 

MUD