Politics

Reagan once talked about his family as being all Democrats. In fact, he said, "I had an uncle who won a medal once for never having missed voting in an election for fifteen years... and he's been dead for fourteen."

Without a doubt elections have been rigged and staged and cash has been exchanged. And, there is often personal motive behind every public action. Actually, it's kind of hard to criticize Iran given our poor history in voter fraud. Minnesotan's are feeling this jolt as Al Franken finds 300 or so votes coming from thin air! I think most people are a little suspicious of this. As I've said before, we should vote everyone in Washington out and start over. And now with Acorn behind the last election, new fears are right around the corner. I hate political jokes. Too many of them get in! So Mr. Obama, don't be quite so critical of Iran!

What's really needed in this country was best said by Louis L'Amour in his book Last of the Breed. "There are good men everywhere. I only wish they had louder voices."

Food

I think this is Nancy's favorite restaurant. Located in Bailey now, the hot dog you can eat inside of is truly unique. However, I was born a gourmet. Now I'm relegated to Cheerios Rockefeller!

Morning hike

Carpenter Peak is cool and quiet in the morning. Nancy and I hiked up to the summit this morning and brought hot coffee and biscotti. We enjoyed a beautiful view and lots of wildflowers on the hillside. We also saw a red fox scurrying away from us. What's to be afraid of? I would share my food with you for a closer look!

Riding with Joe

I went biking today with Joe at Chatfield Reservoir. I think I need to work a little harder to get in shape. Going up the hill over the dam was, well... challenging. And then to make matters worse, we rode back over to his house which meant a ride back over the dam and then up Jack Ass Hill. The good new is, if you want to call it that, Joe had a flat. This gave me ample opportunity to rest.

More rain than the plains

Rain, rain, rain. We continue to get it nearly everyday here in Colorado. Even the prairie dogs can't keep up with the tall growing grass! Ordinarily, they would eat it all and leave a barren wasteland. Rain is weird though - it makes the flowers emerge and taxis disappear!

My travels

I was in Washington and Oregon this week for work. I was in Eugene, Salem, Portland, and Tri-Cities. Below is a photo of Mt. Hood from The Dalles. This dam is quite unique. It has a fish ladder so the migrating salmon can get upriver to spawn. I guess I found a good spot to throw in a line! There are sport fishermen, and then there are those who catch fish. Still, there isn't much I can do if the worm ain't trying!

Family and more

We went to Prescott to visit my Dad and ended up spending time with his great granddaughter Daisy. Noelle drove up from Tucson to see us and visit. Nancy is the perfect grandmother. She gently takes over when needed and calms the storm. You see the day this child was born, she cried like a baby!

Noelle reads on the couch while Daisy sleeps. You gotta wonder if evolution really works. How come mothers only have two hands?

My Cousin Gary drove all the way up to Prescott to visit us. We were so pleased to see him and catch up on everything he's doing. He's a Professor of Finance at Thunderbird School of Business in Phoenix.

After lunch Gary took this photo of Noelle, me, Dad, Nancy and Daisy in front the restaurant. Everybody ate including the baby. We had a great time.

Free choice?

I haven't written on abortion or "free choice" before, partly because it's such a complicated issue and partly because I don't want to stimulate anger. I do think that as a nation it's time to "repent" of this thing. Clearly, shooting a doctor is wrong. But what about the children? S. Bulgakov has written, "Only suffering love gives one the right to chastise one's own nation." Who is suffering here? The teenage mother who forgot to take her pills? But, here is where it gets complicated. Talk with someone at an abortion clinic and you hear about mother's health issues, the baby's health issues, rape, etc. etc. No one seems to be irresponsible. We all know that's not true.

You would think it was impossible to take it upon oneself to "repent" on behalf of a nation to which one felt alien or even hostile. Nevertheless, there is a danger to the soul. Our vices and sins are lost in the blare of our freedoms and the importance of having a free choice. Perhaps we should get used to the idea that no people is eternally great or noble, not even here in America. I have more opinions on this and will write more when I feel brave enough.

Betrayed

I think most of our economic problems today were primarily caused by 100 or so greedy people on Wall Street, Fannie May, etc., not to mention 435 in one house and 100 in the other who did nothing to contain it. And now, to recapture an old saying, "keeping up with our newly elected officials' spending is like reading Playboy magazine while your wife turns the pages." It all looks really cool but that's about it.

But it's the words of Louis L'Amour that capture my feeling best in his book To The Far Blue Mountains; "It always seemed to me that a man who would betray the trust of his fellow citizens is the lowest of all..."

Rockies choke number 12

It did in fact rain last night, but before the game started. So much for my superstitions. 11 straight wins, 11 straight nights of rain. Hmmm. The rain didn't help. The Rocks went down hard last night along with the rain, 12-4. DeLaROSA was hammered in the first and second inning and Josh Fogg came in and saved what was left of their pride.

This was pretty much the story of the 12-4 loss to the Rays. Should be no problem getting this one over the fence! Our team just doesn't have the game down. One of our players slid into home plate last month, and he was just coming to bat!

Our friend Scott Bryan sat right behind us. He was pretty bored with it all I think, so he kept track of the stats on the bald spot on the back of my head. Actually, it's not too bad yet, at least I'm not slipping off the pillow when I go to bed.

11-0 Rockies!

Here was the scene at Coors Field Sunday afternoon. We've had 10 straight days of heavy thunderstorms and showers and the Rocks have won 11 straight games. Now I'm not superstitious but... it hasn't rained today! Yet...

The Rockies have been in the cellar so long it's damp! Now it's damp on the field and we're out of the cellar. Clint Hurdle was fired and since then Manager Jim Tracy has led the team to a 13 and 4 record. Rumor has it Hurdle made a call to the bullpen and got an answering service! And then he was accused of tampering with the pitching machine. Right before he left the machine threw a no-hitter! We sent the machine to the Diamondbacks. Figured they could use it. Tonight the Rocks begin a 3 game stand against the Rays.

Colorful Colorado

One thing we've enjoyed in Colorado is all the wildflowers. Nancy and I went hiking today and were rewarded with an ocean of flowers everywhere. Lupine, Red Penstamine, Blue Bells, Indian Paintbrush, Fireweed, Wall Flowers, and Daisies were everywhere. It's no wonder they call it "Colorful Colorado!"

This was taken up at Mt. Falcon Park. We walked nearly the entire trail and enjoyed a beautiful day stopping for lunch on a perch over the city of Denver. A little further down the trail and we stopped at the old Walker mansion to see the ruins. Then, no sooner had we arrived at the car and it began to rain. The usual afternoon thundershowers showed up on schedule.

Samuel Johnson

I've decided this should be Samuel Johnson day. There is a story about him which says when he was only three years old, he "tread upon a duckling," the eleventh of a brood, and killed it. He then wrote the following epitaph to his mother:

"Here lies good master duck,
Whom Samuel Johnson trod on:
If it had liv'd, it had been good luck,
For then we'd had an odd one."

Do you believe it to be true? Could a three year old have written this? Even Samuel Johnson, the author of the first dictionary? Johnson said later in life, "few people had intellectual resources sufficient to forego the pleasures of wine. They could not otherwise contrive how to fill the interval between dinner and supper."

I find his whole life and story to be profoundly amusing. For the best biography perhaps ever written, read Boswell's, The Life of Samuel Johnson.

Trip to Bluff

If you go to Bridges National Monument you can hike about 1.5 miles and 400 feet down into the canyon and see Kachina Bridge. This is the third largest natural bridge in the world. The second largest is three miles up the canyon. It was 220 feet high and 240 feet across.

While we stayed in Bluff we drove to different areas to find the rock art and Anasazi ruins. This kiva was close to Mule Canyon about 20 miles West of Blanding.

One of our favorite spots were the ruins at Monarch in the Comb Ridge near Butler Wash. Below is a photo of the ceiling above some of the ruins. Evidently the water leached through the rock and formed this delicate design. Art was literally everywhere, both naturally and manufactured by human hands.

Bluff and Comb Ridge

We spent the weekend in Bluff, UT searching for rock art and Indian ruins with friends from our college days in Arizona. We stayed at the old Adams House in Bluff which is nearly 120 years old.

We hiked up to Monarch ruins on Comb Ridge and were rewarded with wonderful pictographs on the walls and excellent scenery from these beautifully preserved towers. It took us about an hour to hike up to the towers.

Below are some nice examples of 1,000 year old pictographs we found on the walls near the towers. They were fairly small. Were they the hands of children? Or, could they have been the hands of adults who were smaller over 1,000 years ago?

We also hiked up to procession panel on comb ridge. Ed is pictured below with a couple of deer and a long procession of people hiking up and down over the ridge. Notice the deer on the left has a spear coming out of its stomach. Evidently, it was a depiction of some Anasazi game and future meal. Needless to say, we had a great time. More on this trip tomorrow.

In the year

In the year 2029 the headlines will read...

Spotted owl plague threatens northwestern United States crops and livestock.

Baby conceived naturally. Scientists stumped.

Couple petitions court to reinstate heterosexual marriage.

Iran still closed off; physicists estimate it will take at least 100 more years before radioactivity decreases to safe levels.

Castro finally dies at age 112. Cuban cigars can now be imported legally, but President Chelsea Clinton has banned all smoking.

George Z. Bush says he will run for President in 2036.

$75 billion study; Diet and exercise is the key to weight loss. Average weight of Americans drops to 250 lbs.

Massachusetts executes last remaining conservative.

Supreme court rules punishment of criminals violates their civil rights.

IRS sets lowest tax rate at 75 percent.

Florida voters still having trouble with voting machines.

Work in a sour economy

We've had some budget cuts at work so I remodeled my cubicle. Pretty nice huh! I needed a little privacy, so I had a door installed. It's all sustainable, because it can be recycled when the economy improves. I even have a little window!

I needed a new laptop and it's nice to have two screens now. They're darker too, so I don't get eye strain looking at them all day. Also, I've noticed that I don't get nearly as many emails and phone calls as I did before. Work is great.

Wasilla

I was in Wasilla, AK yesterday for work. As I drove around I saw these mountains, a moose, and huge blue rivers. The scenery was stunning. Yet, it's all mixed with the ordinary, a salvation army thrift store, the road with a few cars, and the restaurant where I had breakfast. The guys I work with commented at lunch that they "take it all for granted" sometimes.

Alaska Airlines

Give thanks to the Lord,

for he is good;

His love endures forever.

Psalm 107:1

This is the what I got on Alaska Airlines the other day, sitting on my food tray. Thankfully there are still companies that "thank the Lord" for what He's done. And, His love does endure forever!