Can't we all just get along?

After watching Bill O'Rilley last night I have a renewed feeling about our country. We all have to come together and back the new President Elect instead of worrying about what might happen. So that's why I say, can't we all just get along. The test for him first is going to be the economy. He has to get a hold on the economy first or he losses credibility with those that elected him. Of course, he is going to have to deal with Russia it appears, as they are already testing him the day after election.

If John McCain can pledge to work with President Obama, so can I. Time will tell if this was a good choice or not, but I for one hope and pray it was. All I know is that this country can't go on the way it is now, it has to change and that is what was promised so let us wait and see if the change comes before we jump on the "OH NO" band wagon.

The feeling I got from the O'Rilley Factor last night is that the new president will govern form the middle of the road. If he does, he will probably have more trouble with the far far left from his own party than he will from the Republicans. America can't afford the far left or the far right, we need the stability of down the middle decision making because that is where the good for the country will come from.

My Democratic friends have trouble talking about the mess we are in without getting all rilled up. Maybe I am to much of a non-worrier, but I don't like to spend time getting upset abut things I can't control. So, can't we all just get along? I will if you will. I will and I will continue to pray for the mess the new president has to take over. I for one don't know why anyone would want to jump into all the trouble nationally and world wide that President Obama is taking over. I guess he must really want to change the country, for the better is all we can hope for.

One more thing while I am on this Soap Box, during the last four years especially, the major media, celebrities and even my own friends I spoke about have referred to President Bush as just Bush. Even if you don't care for what he has done, you show disrespect to the office and the country by not calling our president, President. I promise to all ways refer to President Obama as President Obama no matter how I am feeling about him. He will be my president, just as the White House is my house. So, let us all show respect to the office and to the person in that office, if we don't it just drives us farther apart as a country.

That's all I have to say about this, so have a good day and coming weekend and I love you all.
Jim

Weather Teller

Good morning everyone,

As I sit here doing nothing I looked around the room and noticed I have a weather ball, a glass ball filled with red water that has a tube running out the bottom of the ball and up to the top where another very much smaller ball is located. When the weather is changing for the worse, the red water rises up the tube to the small bubble on top. I think this is correct, the barometric pressure rising makes the water rise. This forecasts when the weather is changing, like now for instance, the red water is clear up to the top and in the small ball or bubble. Bad weather is coming.

On the wall across the room is another weather forecaster, a very old thing with a dial that goes from stormy to change to fair. Now it is on change, I don't know how old this item is but it was my fathers pride and joy when he was alive. He thought he could forecast weather with it and be ahead of what was coming. Anyway, it was one thing I really wanted of his after he passed.

Then, on the opposite wall is an in-door out-door thermometer, which of course lets me know what the temp is in or out, but it doesn't forecast any weather change, only weather or not a coat is in need for the day.

Then, of course, I have this computer thing on which I get daily and sometimes twice daily weather updates from KWCH TV in Wichita. Also on the computer, I have a link to the Intellacast Weather Radar site. With this I can also see the weather change as it happens. It will show tracking of fronts as they move in, which by the way one is moving in as I type this. So, the weather is supposed to be colder and wetter.

What started all this looking around the room was the fact that I was popping some Tylenol for the pain in my knees and I thought, why do you need all these things to tell you the weather is changing. My arthritis in my knees is a full 24 hours ahead of any of the mechanical devices I have to go by. Some people may say I am crazy, but ask any one with the same problem and we all agree, the weather change has a great affect on how we feel. My sister stated to me yesterday that even she when she was younger thought that old people that complained were just crazy. Well guess what, now that she is older and has the problem she to can predict the weather ahead of time. In fact, I bet all weather stations employ a whole room full of old people just to advise when bad weather is about to happen. Wow, maybe I should look into this. Maybe I have discovered a new way to make money. I wonder, can this be one of those stay-at-home jobs I always get e-mails about that I just delete. Maybe I better start looking into them closer.

Have a good remaining week and pray for our country and our new leaders.

Bored with nothing to do

So, here I sit at this computer bored and nothing to do so I will blog. Wait, does that rate at something to do? Anyway, what do I blog about today. Let just see. It's windy and warm outside, not bad for November 1st but not very interesting. I always have understood that when you have nothing to say, talk about the weather.

The election is tomorrow, yea!!! I am so ready for it all to be done with. I am tired of nothing but political ads and news full of nothing else. Who ever wins, I hope it will be the best for our country. I have my opinion but will not share it on a blog. If you know me you know my opinion and I have not changed.

This is the first month in a long time where the first two weeks are pretty much empty, so we will probably just sit around and watch the boob tube. What fun!! All my football teams pretty much suck. Kansas City had the game won yesterday and let it get away, so whats new. Dallas just plain stinks and Denver is not far behind.

I am getting over a sinus infection and am feeling much better than I did all weekend. How do they start anyway?

We played cards on Friday night with friends and once again, the men dominated. I am sure it will all turn around on us someday, but until then we will continue to be the poor winners that we are. The girls get tired of all the bragging, but hey, when your hot your hot.

I can tell you one thing, this is not helping the boredom situation.

I have a sort of funny thing happen over the weekend. On Saturday I got up and made coffee and breakfast. No, that's not the funny part. I had the remote control sitting on the table by my coffee cup where it should not have been. You might guess, I spilled the coffee right in the remote. Now you know a man without use of his remote is pretty much lost. We got by all day by only changing the station, manually, one time. I went to bed early, who could stay up if the remote didn't work. Well anyway I got up Sunday and tried the remote and low and behold it worked. Guess is dried out. There were a few buttons that didn't work at first, but after a while all but one worked. Thank goodness, I couldn't have gone another day with out the remote. I took it in this morning and exchanged it. I have vowed to keep it out of harms way from now on. I can't face another day like Saturday.

Because She Said So

I am writing this blog because she said so!!! That is my sister that said so and I have always done wheat my sister said. We visited our son and his family over the weekend and this phrase came up several times. it always will when there are kids involved. I can remember asking "why" to many things my mother told me to do and the answer was always, because I said so. I believe that was all I needed to go ahead and follow orders, but anymore there are more way's and said so's than there were when I was a child. Why, you ask? Because if my mother said so and I didn't, then the next thing was "wait till your father gets home". I hated that reasoning, so I just did what I was told, or at least that is my story. I am sure my sister would disagree with me.

All in all though, we are blessed with a group of very good grand kids. I have seen, in my years of retail and police work, how kids can act up and how there is no respect of authority. Why is that? Well here is my opinion, parents are too busy and preoccupied with all that is going on to just one simple thing. That is, just be consistent. By this I mean if you tell your kids to do something don't let them get by with continuing to do whatever it is you have told them not to do. So, see this is the problem. In my childhood, I knew if I didn't follow orders I would get a spanking and I, in most cases, did not want that. Oh, I was not a perfect kid by any stretch, but I learned a respect for others property and what it meant to mind with out more than one because I said so.

Have a good weekend to all.

Winter

Winter is coming, and I for one am not happy about it. I don't like winter and haven't since I had to work in it at the Chevy dealership in Lubbock. As a kid, of course, I loved the snow and sledding and building snowmen. But, as I got older and went to work, my first job as I said was at the Chevy dealership. My primary job was getting new cars ready for delivery and my secondary job was checking them in when they came in on transports. Normally this was not a bad thing, but invariably the colder, wetter, icier and snowier it was, that is when at least multiple transports would show up. the factory only put enough fuel in the cars and trucks to get them to the dealer in the summer, not the winter. Between the railroad and transport companies, most of the cars/trucks would be out of gas or worse the battery would be dead, or both. I would have to climb around on this big truck full of cars putting a gallon of gas in them and/or replacing the batteries. This is when I learned to hate Winter.

Another thing about winter is that I hate putting on heavy coats and then driving. I have an old faded jacket that I have worn for the last several years, that is very light weight, but I use it anyway. I figure I can take the cold long enough for the heater to get warm and then again getting in wherever I am going.

The coldest I ever got was when I had on jeans, long sleeve shirt and insulated coveralls. heavy gloves and a helmet. I should mention I was ridding my motorcycle and the temperature was in the 20's. But then, the motorcycle ownership is a whole other blog.

Now that we are retired, we have decided that if it is icy or snowy, we stay in the house where it is warm. I know that there will be those times when we will have to get in the cold, but that is OK, I can handle it in my own way, as I said.

Another thing about Winter, the driving conditions. If everyone would just stay home if at all possible there would be a lot less accidents. It is my belief, most people have no clue how to drive on icy or snowy streets anyway.

From what I have heard, this year is to be colder but drier than normal. That is a good thing, unless the predictions are are all wet. Pun intended!!!

Hopefully everyone has a safe and uneventful Winter.

A lot of Nothing

Being bored with nothing to do and waiting on a phone call, I will try writing a lot about nothing.

Is anyone else ready for the election to be over? I am, I am tired of hearing the same old things from all candidates over and over. How about lets just make it a law, no one can campaign except a month before the election. Eliminate the conventions too, what a wast of time and money. Well, just got the phone call so not waiting on that anymore. Anyway, back to politics---how can anyone know what to do? I heard a comment the other morning on the radio that sure makes sense, whoever you are for won the debate--period. So true, so true!!!! this same person was commenting about the undecided voters in the polls, she said if she gets called, she just tells them she hasn't decided to get them to quit calling although she has made up her mind.

Speaking of phone calls, we get at least one and sometimes two hone calls a week form City Card telling me this is my last chance to save on interest rates. I sure wish it was and they wouldn't call anymore. After all, what happened to the no call list I signed up for several years ago that was supposed to last forever, I thought.

Another example, I give to Special Olympics every year, well now this year I have caught them trying to get donations every 3 months. I may have to refuse them next year if this keeps up. Do these people think we are stupid and brain dead? Oops, never mind that question I think I just answered it.

Another thing I am wondering about, here in Salina before there was a water shortage, my lawn care people put on fertilizer 4 times a year that needed watering in at least a quarter inch. But, now that we have a water shortage they apply something that requires no watering. Question, why didn't we use this stuff all along?

Another question, why is gas always cheaper after I fill up and higher when I am on empty? I don't know, but maybe I am the controlling interest in the gas prices. If so, you can all thank me for the current decline in gas prices and I will probably need another fill up in a couple of weeks, so be ready and beat the increase.

Also, why does it always rain the day after I get my truck washed? See question above....

Well, like I said a lot about nothing and-- it is. I guess I will go do some more watching TV and dozing off from time to time. Seems like we get more of that done than anything else we do. What a life!!!!

At Their Mercy

It has come to me in resent years that we, as humans, are at the mercy of all most everyone and everything we want to do. For a current example, this banking mess and the bail out to go along with it. We, the common folk, have really no choice but to be at the mercy of Washington politics. I don't know how we can trust them to do the correct thing, because wasn't it them that got us into this mess in the first place. Of course the Democrats are blaming the Republicans and vise-a verse. How do we know what really went on and how do we trust politicians to get us out of this? Oh, I firmly believe something has to be done and quickly, but just what I don't know and I am not sure anyone knows for sure. It seems to be just guess work, hopefully it will be the correct guess.

Another example I have come across of just lately, is my cell phone company. When I changed carriers, I didn't get to pick out a phone I was just given one that the salesman said was a good phone and he had had good luck with it. Being at his mercy, I believed him. Now some 10 months later I realize it is not the phone that I want at all. Was I offered a choice or told of different features at the time, no I wasn't. Now, I admit, that I told him I wanted a FREE phone and so that is what I got. A free phone with no features I want now. Now I am the mercy of the cell phone company because I can't change my plan until October 2009. Oh, I could just bite the bullet and pay $200 for a phone like I want, but the fact is this, if my salesman in the first place had been a true salesman he would have pointed out other phones with more features for an additional price. I might add, much less money then $200.

So what are we to do to keep us out of being just at the mercy. Well in the case of anything political, the only thing we can do is vote. Again though we are at the mercy of the people running for president and we know they all will say whatever they think we want to hear. Besides, when whoever gets into office then they have to depend on Congress passing legislation that the president wants. Yea right!!!

In everything else in life, we must take out time to study all the ins and outs of what ever we are doing. I think I can do this in my life, but I have to get want out of the picture and that is hard for me to do. In most cases lately, the decisions I have made are working out just fine. Now if my choice for president works out, I will be happy. So, everyone take head at my words and remember to not let yourself be at the mercy, as much as you can. Keep the faith and trust in God, but remember God will let you make mistakes so you can learn from them. Boy has he let me learn a lot in 65 years. Now if I could just remember what I have learned when I need it.