Fireworks

When I was a child we had fireworks stands every few blocks along Long Beach Blvd. in the city of Lynwood. They would be open for about two weeks before the 4th and you could buy fireworks anytime they were open. We would save our money and start collecting bottles early in the year to trade in for a few pennies, so we could buy fire crackers. For five cents you could get what they called Lady Fingers which was made up with many small firecrackers woven together. However, we would take them apart so that we could fire them one at a time, much more fun and lasted for a long time. Usually when you bought fireworks they would give you a punk and sometimes you could get several. We would light one end and it would smolder giving you source of flame. We would wait until dark before we started our fun and since it was summer we were allowed to stay out after dark.

Another thing we did during the summer was also great fun, my friend Dodo and I would collect tumbleweeds during the day and drag them home, then when it turned dark we would build a fire in the vacant lot and roast whatever we had, potatoes, carrots, onions, apples or anything we could get our hands on. Our main purpose was to have a fire and sit and talk and when our mothers started calling us to come in, we would burn a tumbleweed. The flames were spectacular and really quite frightening for they would shoot up into the sky and  bits of burning embers would drift towards the earth. Fortunately, we never created a fire we couldn’t put out and we did keep a hose close by in case we needed it.

Disaster Fascination

It seems to me that our media, newspapers, radio and television are overly fascinated with disaster. They frequently tell us, “Tune in at ten to hear the latest on whatever the current fascination is. Usually a murder, robbery or some terrible event, such as a storm, kidnapping, rape or you can only imagine. We usually go to bed.

The Federal Reserve Predicts Inflation is Temporary!

The new forecast from our Federal reserve is that the inflation we are seeing is a temporary circumstance that will soon change when they add it to the Stimulus. To them, it probably means “Print baby Print!”

You might ask to what good will this action have on anything? Nothing the government will do will change the situation, they have tried over and over again and never have they been successful. Most of the time we have come out of a depression is because of War, not through their other gyrations.

Rats and Other Thoughts

 

Rats can live longer than camels without water.

The average American eats in his lifetime the equivalent amount of pork as you will find in 28 pigs.

 

Sardines are not a species of fish, they are simply a small fish stuffed into a can with oil, water, spices and processed.

SOS was chosen for the simplicity of the message 3 dots 3 dashes 3 dots and does not mean Save Our Ship.

Fortune Cookies were invented by Charles Jung a Chinese Restaurant owner in 1918 for the amusement of his customers.

The French Poodle was created in Germany the name was Pudel, which might have meant splash as they were bred as water retrievers.

Spam was named from SP for spices and AM from ham.

My Disclaimer. If you believe any of this, you may be right or you could also be wrong. I just repeat what others have said, true or false.

Her is a fact I can verify. If you want a long and happy marriage, never go to bed angry.  Settle it, kiss and make up.

William F. Buckley

This could well be some advice for Obama. Any sign of weakness by the Free World will increase the appetite of the enemy for more attacks, conquests and war, as surely as the progressive revelations of the strip teaser increases the appetite of the lecher.

Graffiti

Recently the the UT has been running news stories about the “Surfing Madonna” that seem to elevate the graffiti into something of value. When anyone starts decorating public property without prior authorization it is, and should be considered, defacement of public property and must be treated as graffiti. Eradicate and charge the person who is responsible, all costs involved in removal, no matter how good it is. If you don’t, you will lose control.

Greed Wins Again.

Once again our Democrats are trying to sabotage our buying habits in order to keep their pets, the Unions happy.

Wal-Mart, Costco and any non-union big-box-store will not be able to open a store near you.

IS LIFE WORTH LIVING?

A man who is not with a woman, is a dead man.

REVERSE MORTGAGES ARE A FRAUD AND FOR FOOLS.

MetLife is pushing Reverse Mortgages. This was a header on a story about reverse mortgages. A Reverse Mortgage is a plan whereby you take out a second mortgage on a property where you have built up some equity and pay an exorbitant rate of interest. It is not only stupid to do this, but should be illegal.

If you are that desperate, try to sell it, if you can’t find a buyer, default and move in with friends or family or rent an apartment if you can. You can also sleep in your car, buy a mobile home and live in a trailer park or park it on the streets until you can recoup your loses. Not practical for you? Use the brains God gave you and find a solution, if that doesn’t work, go to a shelter or join the military. “For Every Problem There is a Solution!”

Famous saying of that Great Philosopher, Rod Jones

Long Life

One of the secrets to a long and happy life is so simple you may not believe it. Take a walk, enjoy the neighborhood smile and say hello to everyone you meet. If they want to talk, take the time, you might just make a friend. Above all else, enjoy the exercise and feel happy you are still alive. There is nothing as valuable to a person as finding happiness in life as you live it day by day. Be like Ferdinand the Bull, who could always find time to stop and sniff the flowers.You don’t actually have to sniff flowers, but take time to observe, savor and enjoy the moment you are in, it is great to look ahead and anticipate coming events, but it is equally rewarding to enjoy the present.

A tree for Christmas

I wrote this Christmas, but didn’t post it.

     We put up our tree today, but it isn’t complete as we have the ornaments waiting to be hung. It is one of those faux trees we bought. I can’t explain why we bought it after sixty two years of live trees, but it is a fake tree. It looks okay, but lacks character. I remember the years when we were very young and we would wait until almost the last minute so we could get our trees for fifty cents. They were always live trees and Barbara and I would lovingly adorn them with our ornaments. I remember once, maybe the last time we bought a live tree. I was trying to get a tree and the fellow told me he would rather burn it than sell it to me for fifty cents. However, he sold it to me anyway and for fifty cents.

      After that my sister Nancy had a Christmas Tree farm and she would let us cut one. Eric and Alice would go with me to pick the tree and it was always fun to do. The last one we got was from the top of one of her trees. It was okay, but nothing special and it reminded me of my youthful folly and made me feel bad to damage the tree. It did grow another top later, but it wasn’t the same. I cut the top off a tree and carried it down to my grandparents house to bring home to Lynwood. My parents were very upset with me that I would cut the top off of a tree and of course I was upset myself. I have always hated the memory of that tree and the poor tree was not to blame. They made me put it up unadorned, but I was very ashamed And really hated it. I suppose the good thing is that it did teach me something important.

     Another Christmas my father was sick and we couldn’t afford a tree as in those days they didn’t pay for sick leave. The PTA had a tree at the Junior High School for the students and on Christmas Eve they brought it to our house with lights and ornaments on it. I think it was one of the nicest trees we ever had. I don’t remember anything else about that Christmas,  but it has always been special for me, because my father survived a devastating heart attack.

Denmark

       I was running out of the Administration Building on the last day of school before Christmas vacation at the University of Redlands December 1948, I glanced at the bulletin board and saw a notice about schools abroad. When I got to Chino, where Barbara and I were living I kiddingly asked her if she wanted to go to Switzerland to school. To my great surprise, she said;  “I would love it, lets go.” I told her what I thought I had read and she told me to go back and get the details. It turned out that it wasn’t Switzerland, but instead it said “American School of Scandinavia, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. I wrote for information and found that Denmark was available. I applied and was accepted.

We went to Denmark in the Fall of 1949 and I attended classes in the University of Copenhagen for the first semester and then transferred to the newly built  University of Aarhus. While I was attending classes Barbara and one of our neighbors, Millie  attended art classes in the Art Museum. Aarhus University was really a dramatic change from Copenhagen as it had new buildings and a smaller enrollment. Another plus at Aarhus was that they took us on field trips nearly every weekend so we really got to know the country and pubs where we would stop for lunch. Since the wives were welcomed on these trips, Barbara would bring our lunch, usually Danish black bread with liver paste and pickled beets and another with spicy salami. It really was one of the most memorable school years a student could ever hope for.

 

The Options

Obama has stated that he has three options to deal with the oil crisis.

Do something,

Do nothing,

Watch and see what happens.

I would add a fourth that he has used many times before, blame the Republicans.

 

Do you Want to be an Astronaut

If you have a desire to become an Astronaut? You can, if you have $63,000,000.00.For this amount of money you can buy a round-trip flight ticket on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft and go to the International Space Station and back.

Marine Le Pen

Marine Le Pen the leader of France’s National Front visited the immigration detention center on the Italian island of Lampedusa to alert the French to the “waves of Immigration” flooding in from the Arab world. She told them “If I listened to only my heart, of course I would let you board my boat, but my boat will sink, Europe does not have the capacity to welcome these illegals.”

California politicians should listen to her good sense. Hear that Jerry Brown?