Tyler visits

While Tyler came home from Korea for a visit, he took some time to visit Noelle and his Nephew Andy in Tucson. Looks like the little tyke came away with a new toy! My grandson doesn't have to learn how to speak. He gets everything he wants!

Your Money

It was Fred Thompson of Tennessee who made the biggest rookie mistake. As a freshman Senator new to Washington he naively said, "I've got a lot to learn about Washington. Why, yesterday I accidentally spent some of my own money."

The Pork Flu

If Herbert Hoover did nothing else he was a clairvoyant of sorts and able to predict the future. He said one time, "Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the debt." And, it was Ronald Reagan who reminded us of the governments view of the economy. "If it moves, tax it; if it keeps moving, regulate; if it stops moving, subsidize it."

Crushed by your friends

It puzzles me why everyone had to be on the front row of this photo. Why couldn't we just put the short people in front and the tall ones in back? Instead, we put the big ones on the bottom and the light ones on top. When the photo was over I remember being smashed.

Good habits start early

It's a good thing he's learning about a toothbrush. Otherwise, I can hear it already. Someday the dentist will come back with the X rays and tell little Andy he'll have to have a filling. "What kind of filling would you like?" He will ask. Little Andy will respond, "Do you have chocolate?"

Nobel Prize

It was Adlai Stevenson who said, "They pick a President, and then for four years they pick on him." Lucky Adlai. He also said, "In America, any boy may become President, and I suppose that's just the risk he takes." My question is, "Can anyone win a Nobel prize?"

Daisy goes fishing

Some things are just irresistible. My granddaughter Daisy for one! Here is the latest and greatest photo I thought you would enjoy.

What the heck happened?

Here's an old photo of your author, right here in Denver! Kathy, what were you thinking about? Craig, can you interpret that look? And yes, I do have more old photos! Comments anyone?

Better duck!

The Civil War was a terrible thing. Relics of the past still remind us of the horrible loss of life and destruction. Wait a minute, that cannon is pointed at... hold on... is it loaded?... Uh oh... Lookout Craig!

Obama Gas

This photo was taken by a friend of a friend of mine in Detroit, I think. Some things are just way too puzzling to understand. Who's going to get cursed here when the price of gas goes up again? Perhaps I've underestimated President Obama. In the words of Tip O'Neill, "I'm against any deal I'm not in on."

Nancy has an appendectomy

Yes, it's true, Nancy had acute appendicitis. It was successfully removed very early this morning. I have a photo of the little devil but Nancy felt like it was less than appropriate to show. I did finally figure out why surgeons wear masks over their faces. If something goes wrong, you don't know who to blame! Her surgeon did a laparoscopy through the naval, in fact she used to be a naval surgeon. They sure specialize nowadays don't they!

Chicago Basin

When you hike up to Chicago Basin in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, you ask the conductor of this train to drop you off at Needleton out in the middle of nowhere. In our case he was happy to. Then you begin your six mile hike up to 11,000 ft. and three really nice fourteen thousand foot peaks. Craig and I took our kids up with us. Or shall I say, "they drug us up"? At any rate, pictured below is yours truly, my daughter Noelle, and Eric Hanson. Notice how large her pack was? It cut my weight in half!

Family dog

Much of our time outdoors when the kids were young, included Pepper the family dog. The family Golden Retriever was a great lap dog. We often joked that if a burglar broke into the house, she would lick him to death. I also think she must have been bred by a waiter. She never came when I called her. Anyway, I digress. We took her camping, hiking, fishing, and all over the place. We even taught her to heel. She would run about four miles in the first five minutes out of the car. Then she'd hang her head down panting really hard and follow our heels the rest of the day. That's heeling right?

Contrast this!

I was listening to Mike and Mike in the Morning last week on the radio (Mike and Mike is a sports radio talk show). The discussion was about Mark McGwire the famous baseball player who just admitted to using steroids 10 years ago. McGwire hit well over 500 career home runs and 70 home runs in one season which of course broke the record. Mike and Mike were discussing his character and whether he should be allowed into the Baseball Hall of Fame with such a tarnished record.

After the discussion they interviewed Michael Irvin a famous wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys. They asked Irvin what he thought about McGwire. Irvin said he was "happy for Mark McGwire and that by coming forward he finally found peace in his life." Mike and Mike said, "Yea, but should he be allowed in the hall of fame?" Irvin just replied, "He has peace in his life now, he was dead and now he's alive again." Mike and Mike continued to press Irvin on McGwire having a tarnished character and what he thought of McGwire. Michael Irvin would have nothing to do with their questioning and just spoke the real truth about McGwire's life and what really matters now. Irvin kept trying to bring them back to what's really important here.

Irvin was on an entirely different level than Mike and Mike. The essentially Christian is: Now you shall be completely free; that's why it is grace. Only Christianity has God's idea of how infinitely sublime God is; we men (and not surprisingly the media) make God rather trivial, or don't even want to talk about him.