Thursday, February 25, 2010
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
recycling debacle
Today we force citizens to recycle and hire workers to come around and pick up small boxes of stuff and deliver them to various sites for reuse when the bigger equipment would do the same at less cost to the citizens.
The possibility of being forced to pay a carbon tax is now possible with curbside pickups. The biggest problem is costs to the citizens when these very labor intensive pickups are used instead of the more operationally efficient equipment and systems.
The Overcoat
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Fun To Go Home For A Visit
I traveled from Moorhead, Minnesota to Hoffman , Minnesota for a chance to visit my only first cousin Loren currently from Dallas area visiting in the Hoffman area were he grew up. I left early to be able to attend church services in Hoffman also a small town close to were I grew up. As I approached the church a beautiful structure in the small town of Hoffman I was amazed of the size of the parking lot as big as the church I attend in Moorhead a city nearly 40x bigger.
I drove in at least 40 minutes early so parked towards the back and watched as car after car started coming in early. I also noted the quiet neighborhood while driving in. The corn fields with six foot high corn surrounding two sides of the parking lot. The sun was now shinning brightly making the scene so familiar to the years I spent growing up only 10 miles to the south. The church I attended was situated out in the country with trees, corn fields, and farms for miles.
The clock showed 25 minutes before service and I couldn't wait any longer as the parking lot was nearly full. My friend Phillip and his wife Sandy had arrived and I wanted to say hi before service. They both were classmates of mine during grade school. Phillip was a soldier in the Vietnam war and survived only to contract MS and is now in a wheel chair. We were also neighbors on the farm.
Loren arrived and we went in to sit down. It didn't take long to see many other friends were there too. After the services they have coffee and cookies for which give me time to visit with a lot of old friends. The church was nearly full and for the summer season I thought that was amazing which my friends told me that at times they need the overflow room.
I was so good to see the strong faith and character of the rural people confirming my belief that the country we live in had great people. Hoffman was also the first school system my wife Phyllis taught in and some of r her friends recognised me and we got a chance to visit too. Phyllis passed away 1976 from a boating accident in the Minnesota Boundary area leaving me with two young sons. She was a favorite teacher in Hoffman and it was good for me to see her memory hasn't been forgotten.
www.loveforbookwriting.com and www.myovercoat.com and Boomertweet on Twitter
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Swine flu scare
She is Chinese and was to be a tour guide for some friends from Chicago that wanted to see the Great Wall and other historic sites. They were part Asian in heritage and looked like they were natives as my wife is. They had no problems with moving around. The populace wasn't scared as they didn't know my wife and friend were from America but her family did.
My point is that the government of China has scared their population about Americans carrying the swine flu that even family members wouldn't get near my wife. Government control of the media at work creating mass hysteria causes lack of freedoms along with common sense. This was a very eye opening stark example of government media and controls.
blog by conrad : www.loveforbookwritng.com and www.myovercoat.com and boomertweet on twitter
Boomer memories #6 of many
The FarmBoy that walked many paths
On those Sundays I would find something to do and it usually was practicing my baseball throwing or football or basketball or my golfing course. I always had to do the lawn. It was so boring that when I was mowing I thought of all of things. I had noticed several gopher holes scattered around the yard. I filled them up with rocks to about 3 inches from the level ground. I had found over time several golf balls and tennis balls. I didn’t have a golf club but I had a Ted Williams bat. I would use the bat like a putter and hit the various balls I had from hole to hole around the house for hours. I would have different people playing against me assigned to the various balls I had.
When it became football season I would hang a car tire to the highest branch I could find so I would have the longest rope length possible. I would pull the rope as far to the left as I could then I would then run to my football and try to throw it through the tire opening as it swung back and forth.
When it was near winter I would shoot my basketball through a heavy wire I bent in a half moon shape and nail it to the barn wall between the silos as this area was the most protected from the snow and winter winds. For the baseball season I had a slick deal I made a strike zone stand with a net to catch the balls that I would be a strike. If I missed the net I would have to chase farther to get the balls making the effort to get strike’s the least work. I worked out a contest where if I got three straight strikes I got an out and if I walk a batter the opposition got a point. Then I would be the opposition and do the same.
We would raise roosters for butchering and my job was to feed them and chase them into the chicken coop at night if they weren’t all in already and lock them in. One evening after eating a late supper, I was reminded that I still needed to lock the chickens in. I ran outside to finish my chores. I would at times imagine that as I was going to the chicken coop that there were bears and lions hiding along the way and I would escape by making running moves and darting here and there. I was running back to the house and up to the door I went and into the porch I came with a bound just miss being caught by a lion. Birdie our golden retriever usually accompanied me to do these chores. She had crawled up on the back of the couch in the porch and was watching me outside running and coming in. I didn’t see her as I came in the porch. She was so happy to see me she leaped from the back of the couch right at me. The porch was almost dark; I was just getting in the porch in the nick of time avoiding this big lion. I still remember my shock when my dog jump at me.
Our annual one day vacation was the annual trip to the
