No matter how many hopes and dreams I have; no matter how high my head is in the clouds; no matter how well I feel; when that little needle pricks one of my arms each Friday, reality manages to sober me from any intoxicated belief that life is good and somehow worth the effort of staying alive. All my years of building a tolerance to pain, all the days of making believe that I am really ok, and all the minutes of self-satisfied perception come crashing down with the stick of a very small needle that most of the time causes me negligible—if any— hurt. The needle prick is just a symbol of what my life has become over the past twenty years. I was once a fairly strong man, even though my mind never was a bastion of fortitude. At 6'5' tall and 220 pounds, I didn't dream of anything I could not accomplish. I didn't have the big, broad shoulders of Joe the Plumber, nor the biceps of Ahnold, but I did have some awesome leg strength, and if someone told me I couldn't do something, I went ahead and did it, not so much to prove them wrong, but to prove to myself that I was a man in control of his body and mind. Doing things I should not have done proved to be my undoing, or at least a big part of it. Then the RA I've had since childhood hit me hard in the late 70's, but I was able to get on with a semi-normal life until about 1987, when I had to have the bottom two knuckles of each finger on my left hand "cleaned out", and a plate implanted in my wrist to strengthen it after having some of the bone removed. Everything went down hill from there until in 1993 I found myself unable to walk without crutches. My hip joints had deteriorated so much that any movement caused great discomfort. In June and December 1994, I had the diseased joints removed and replaced with metal and plastic. In 2001, I had my left knee replaced, and now the right one is in dire straits, and I have a mental problem making myself do anything. Maybe a notion of "doom looms" is the best way to describe how I feel most of the time. You can help me overcome this living dread by voting for Barack Obama for President of the USA!

Happy Birthday!

Sweet William

Happy Birthday, Colleen Marie!
I hope this one isn't quite as traumatic as the last.
My friend, may YOUR day be wonderful!

Watauga River ... Wilbur Impoundment


I don't have a thing to do today, and I plan on doing a lot of it.
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Forgot I had to go to the bank!
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Elizabeth Dole! Shame on you, you hypocritical hussy! You epitomize the glory of Republican politics. The last time George W. Bush shit in the woods, your soul oozed from under a diarrhetic turd! You are the one whom obviously doesn't believe in God! If you did, you know He would kick your scrawny mean spirited ass all the way to Hell! You are a disgrace to American womanhood!
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I didn't watch the Obama infomercial, but I did listen to President Bill Clinton address a large audience in Florida just before an Obama speech. If Hillary hadn't been such an idiot for supporting the attack on Iraq (Bill did too), and if she hadn't gotten into the name calling of the primaries, Bill could have again been in the White House. We damn sure need him.
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If Obama gets elected, I wonder which one will be president; the good honest American we see now, or the mud slinging sleeze bag from the primaries? I am supporting Obama without voting for him, but I still dislike and distrust both he and McCain.

Watauga river



Friday past I wrote about my doctor being ill and canceling my appointment for that day. Today I went to my heart doctor for a quarterly exam, and damned if he didn't call in sick. I feel like Typhoid Mary; shunned by the world!
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In my younger days, I subscribed to Playboy Magazine for many years; only for the brilliant articles, of course. My how times have changed! I now subscribe to Popular Science which has no girly pictures and no articles of interest to a man about town. I read a lot of the articles, but my favorite part is the classified ads. Some offer legitimate products, and some are come-ons disguised for the sale of snake oil. Following are a few snippets that I like from the November '08 issue (italicized words are my thoughts):

• Save the planet with Motorsilk® oil treatment. Save your money by not buying.
  
• Abacus® wrist watch ... has no hands. Hell, why not?! I have a wallet with no money!
  
• The Rouge Wallet® designed for the front pants pocket. Good idea but not at $29.99+.
• Liquid Trust® fuels intimacy! Compels others to trust you! The hormone of love! They should have put a scratch-'n-sniff with the ad.
• Male enlargement: Four to five inches in four to five weeks! How big is big enough? Ladies, don't answer that; it will only embarass me!
• Xomax® for even bigger pricks.
• Athena Pherom♥ne! 10♥13® for women and 10x® for men! This one has been around for many years, but no scratch-'n-sniff samples.
• Invisible Glass® makes glass invisible! Duh!
• Restore libido with Eroxil® Fer shur!

Don't laugh! A lot of these misleading ads sell a lot of crappy merchandise! We are gullabile for a quick fix!
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I wish this election crap would go away. At least Obama's info-ad won't pre-empt Spongebob!

Meanderings

Watauga River, Wilbur impoundment


We've been having snow showers this morning, and the highs today are to be in the mid 40's. There was some overnight accumulation in higher elevations. I just ain't ready for this. Never will be.
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I just noticed this story from the Associated Press: Employees of a Chinese restaurant were caught butchering an American deer in the kitchen of the establishment. The scarfing joint is in Hamburg NY, just south of Buffalo. Chinese? Deer? Hamburg? Buffalo? No telling what else these people served!
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This Presidential election is looking just too good for Obama, so I look for McCain to win by a small margin. If either camp has a big secret on the other one, it will be exposed within the next few days. It has to be revealed late enough that the other side cannot mount an effective defense before election day, but early enough so that it can be the theme for the closing push. Whatever it may be—if there is anything—it doesn't have to be based on pure fact.
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Another AP headline: 6-8 NFL players probed! I hate when that happens to me!
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I see where a pair of redneck neo-Nazi skinheads kids have been arrested for plotting to kill Mr. Obama and other black people. One of them is from Arkansas, and the other from Tennessee. I bet no one saw anything like this coming! I'm surprised it took this long for it to happen. Don't forget, that fine American civic organization called the Ku Klux Klan was originally formed in Tennessee.
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A final thought: Rachel Maddow on her MSNBC show last evening was accusing the Bush administration of trying to start more wars for sending troops across the Iraq-Syria border and killing a terrorist, and killing terrorists inside Pakistan. This seems like a knee-jerk reaction to discredit Republicans (as if Republicans need any more problems). Ms. Maddow, I am a liberal's liberal, and have been so since long before you were born, and I shall not defend the Bush Middle East policies. What I will defend is the right of America to protect itself. Just after 9/11, Bush told the world that any nation whom supported terrorism in any way would face the wrath of the US military. It is probably the only coherent thing he has said in the past eight years, and I agree with him 100 percent. The only thing I disagree with is that he waited so long to do it. We must take the fight to the terrorists, be it in Syria, Pakistan, Jordan, Iran, China, Korea, Russia, Venezuela, or anywhere on the globe. If we don't act and react swiftly and decisively, they will again carry destruction to us and we may not get by as easily as we did with 9/11, as horrible as that was. Ms. Maddow, if you wish for John McCain to be elected president, keep talking nonsense!

I'm Ken Anderson and I approved this message.

More Rambling

Wilbur recreation area


The RA doc and I agreed I was doing pretty well controlling the advance of the malady, so she scheduled me to return for my next checkup in four months instead of the usual three. She is another person whom wants to retire but can't afford to. Her husband has a type of leukemia and will never be able to work again at his practice.
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Saturday was pretty well a do nothing day. I was able to endure Alabama mopping the floors with the Vols for three quarters before going over to watch Spongebob Squarepants. Coach Fulmer and his staff still have the blessings of the Athletic department, and I imagine he has a lifetime job of dispensing mediocrity.
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Yesterday, we went back to Wilbur Dam to see if all the ducks had arrived for winter, but very few have. There were a few mallards and several Canada geese, and I expect some more duck species to arrive within the next two weeks, along with a lot more geese. The small impoundment was down two-to-three feet, and there was no water coming from the Watauga Dam to fill it. The river was low, quiet, and missing all its water just below the dam. We didn't go on up to Watauga lake to see it it was filling, so I don't know what the situation is; just that it is unusual.
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Some of the campers have left the area, but most are still living in their units along the river. I don't know how this all works out, but they pay $10 per day for the campsite and it includes furnished electric and a community shower building with toilet facilities, but last year the toilet was locked for the winter months and no one was allowed to camp. Carolyn found out the toilet was locked the hard way; she needed to use it ... badly!
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After leaving Wilbur, we drove on to Roan Mountain State Park, and up to the old Miller homestead and cemetery. I made a lot of shots at both Wilbur and the farm, but very few that I like; very few.
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Happy Birthday, JJ! Our youngest son is 36 today.

Musings

This year has quickly slipped by ...


Another shot day has rolled around, and I must also see the RA doctor this afternoon for a checkup. I was supposed to see my family doctor for a six month check up this morning, but her office phoned yesterday and said she is ill and postponed me until December. This will make more than a year since I've seen her. My last appointment in April was postponed until now because my doctor was ill. I think I see the light! She checks her appointment list, sees my name and gets sick. I make a lot of people sick.
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I suspect that between McCain and Obama, more than a billion dollars will be spent in purchasing the presidency. Directly or indirectly, this is money that was hard earned by taxpayers, and I don't hear either candidate giving more than lip service to campaign reform. Our nation should not be allowing this deceit to go on. At least Sarah Palin got a new wardrobe.
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Why is the stock market still in free fall after having been given all that bailout money to help bolster it? Glad you asked. The market itself did not get the money; it has to wait for the old Republican whimsey of trickle-down economics to bolster it. Big time movers and shakers are getting the cash infusions from our treasury.
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Alan Greenspan, the former Fed chairman that helped W create this financial crisis, is saying it isn't his fault, but that his thinking was flawed. Rocks don't float!

Actually, ordinary citizens are the only ones whom face a crisis. The super rich could care less about anyone's economy. The ordinary rich will benefit from this; some as the meltdown happens, and others on down the road. I've never seen a poor or middle class rich person, and the smart money stays with the smart rich.

A Memory

Arney store


Some of my earilest memories are of my visits to this country store near my childhood home. The owner and proprietor was Doran Arney whose house was adjacent to it. Doran was a car salesman in Johnson City, and his father ran the store for him in the daytime and Doran relieved him of the evenings. Generally, it was open six days each week from daylight to dusk. Back then, no retail stores were allowed to be open on Sundays.

The store is located just more than a mile east of Jonesboro (the town reverted to its original name spelling of Jonesborough in the late 60's or early 70's) on the Boone's Creek Road, and is about three-tenths of a mile from my home on Headtown Road (which is now renamed Union Church Road).

The porch was accessed by a set of wooden steps on the right. Like a lot of similar places of the time, they depended on window light for most of the interior illumination, although there were one or two bare light bulbs on the ceiling. The back of the store had a small storage room for sacks of flower, feed, and other large items.

The furnishings I most remember were the counter that ran along the left side with its candy dispaly, and the ice cream freezer and soda cooler. The ice cream consisted mostly of Brown Mules®, Fudgesicles® and small cups of either vanilla, strawberry, or chocolate Pet® brand that was eaten with a small, wooden, paddle-like spoon. There were also some pint containers of the delights. The soda cooler, or pop cooler as we called it, was a large, red cola chest that had a rack inside that held the bottles just off its bottom. The sodas were removed by sliding each one to the end of the rack and then to the front. It contained Pepsi®, Coke®, RC Cola®, Nehi® orange and grape, Frosty® root beer, Cheerwine®, and Dr. Enuf® along with a few other brands. They were always ice cold.

The store closed in the late 1950's when another competing one with gas pumps opened just up the road from it.

Clark's Creek


There is definitely a virus making the rounds here. Diarrhea is the first major symptom, then comes nausea. I've felt bad since yesterday noon.
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Texas Instruments (TI) is laying off 650 workers worldwide. This is a company of 30,000 employees, and it will be just a drop in the bucket unless you are an affected worker. I seem to recall that TI had about 70,000 employees worldwide when I worked at their now defunct Johnson City plant in the mid-seventies, and most of these jobs were in the USA. If my memory is correct, that constitutes a lot of downsizing in the past 35 years.
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An update on what I said yesterday about a new stimulus plan for taxpayers. Looks like we may be bypassed on this one as the money will be mostly used for other things like infrastructure improvements. This is sorely needed and will create jobs, at least for a while. Why would they even consider leaving out the people whom most need help? Because we are easy! We are patsies! After all, they got by with the giveaway to banks and Wall Street, so they assume—and rightly so—that because they weren't tarred and feathered for their actions then, they can keep doing it. Another thing; a lot of us whom received the stimulus checks actually went against the grain of wholesome American capitalism and used the money to pay debts. That alone probably caused the Wall Street meltdown! Bullshit! We shall wind up getting screwed again, and we deserve it.

As I can never forgive Hillary for voting for the invasion of Iraq purely for political reasons, I can never forgive Obama and McCain voting for the bailout to help their corporate friends. We don't need knee-jerk government.

Colorful Clark's Creek


King George the Wise has decided it is time for another economic stimulus bailout for we Joe the Plumbers, even though it be a minuscule one compared to what the campaign contributing banks and Wall Street received. This time it may work, if they go far enough with enough money and not waste time talking about it. It won't be a cure, and will probably hurt in the long run, but something along this line is surely needed. Whereas most people whom received the last stimulus weren't hurting too badly at the time, they are now for sure uneasy about their futures. We haven't been buying big ticket items and have cut back dramatically on everyday commodities. This time it may work to alleviate the sorry shape we and our blind-eye government have gotten ourselves into. A lot of people want to get reelected, too.
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We went back to the markets on 107 yesterday and bought the last bushel of potatoes any of them had. We then drove on down to Clark's Creek where I made a few photos, including the one shown here. Although it was only about 3:00 pm, the sun is so low to the horizon now that there wasn't sufficient light in shady places to make photos with my slow lens, even at ISO 400. I used the flash, which leaves shadows I don't like, but I got one or two decent fungus photos.
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It is just mid-fall, and I'm already tired of winter! The free air temp today is in the 60's, but the wind feels like it is off an iceberg. I may have to trade in my shorts for long pants and a thicker shirt!
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Thanks everyone on Flickr for your encouragement while I get some other things done. The consolidation of notes is about finished, and I've actually written a couple thousand coherent words about my meager life.

October 12, 2008


We didn't go to Cade's Cove Friday. The weather was too crappy to do any of the things we had planned. This is the fourth time we had plans for going, and have yet to get out of the door at home. If I do get there, it will be on a spur of the moment thing.
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The Tennessee Volunteer football team won an SEC ballgame! Coach Phillip Fulmer deserves a fat raise and a long contract extension. Mediocrity should always be rewarded ahead of ability. Ex-coach John Majors has been bad-mouthing Fulmer of late, when in fact he was just as mediocre as his nemesis.
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Fall sure fell yesterday and last night, it is still chilly outside today, and there was frost scattered around this morning. I have now begun the countdown to glorious spring. I am much like Pete, the protagonist's cat in Robert Heinlein's science-fiction novel The Door into Summer. Pete doesn't like winter, and is forever scratching on doors, looking for the one that opens into summer. Humanity too seems always to be searching for some kind of summer, and the search usually becomes a religion.
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I see the McCain/Palin ticket is gaining in the polls on Obama/Biden; clear proof Americans would rather see a dirty fight than to know the facts. I'm still not overly proud of this country. We seem to be pleased with complacency instead of repairing the wrongs that plague us. The only way I will ever consider voting again is if the Electoral College is done away with and each voter's vote counts. I am a Blue voter living in a Red state, so what is the point of wasting my time at the polls? I have decided to support a candidate, though. I shall back Obama, even though I don't think he is the best person for the job. McCain is still and forever shall be a Bushite, and that alone keeps me from considering him. I will vote with this blog.

Extinguished Memories

Succumbing to age

I am planning to leave Flickr as far as posting photos goes, at least for a while. I shall continue to vist my friends and contacts photos as much as I can. I want to do some writing, such as bringing my life story up to date. My story isn't about me, but all the people, places, and things I can remember—including the many friends I have on Flickr—that made me whom I am. I have hundreds of bits and pieces in hand-written notes, computer notes, and things on this and my writing blog I need to put together coherently.

Why would anyone as insignificant as I want to journal his life? Many times I've asked myself this question and I don't have an answer except to say 'I am of little significance to the Cosmos, yet my life is unique amongst men'. This is certainly true of all humans.

The real things that are pressing—and depressing—me are that I am losing my memory faster than I think I should. My old memories are fading to the point I am having trouble figuring what was real and what is imagined. New things aren't sticking with me like they used to. My attention span is almost nil. The bit of dyslexia from the mini-stroke I had years ago is becoming quite a nuisance, and I have to continuously edit anything I write, including comments made on people's photos. The arthritis in my fingers makes it impossible to know which key I will hit when I aim at one. Sometimes it takes minutes to write a simple sentence that I can understand. It generally takes an hour or more just to put a few readable (I hope) paragraphs in this blog. Creating and answering email is a problem, but I don't receive much ot it anyway. I would love to IM with my friends, but they would never know what I was trying to say. If not for a spell-checker, I wouldn't even try to write. None of this is a good sign, and I feel it will only worsen.

I do plan to keep this blog going as long as mentally and physically possible, and I hope it doesn't become more incoherent than it has been since I started.

Thank you dear friends for sticking with me all this time.
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Early tomorrow Carolyn and I will leave for a day trip to Cade's Cove at the southern end of The Great Smokey Mountains National Park. I have a GPS or I probably wouldn't find my way down there.

Happy Birthday ALICE

Alice and October ... always beautiful!


Happy birthday, Alice. You don't know how good it feels to have a friend as old as I! We got you a card, but then senility set in and I forgot to mail it 'til last evening.
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I am better I reckon. Went for blood work this morning, but it was not for the ailment that had me down for a few days. Had to see if my rat poison is working correctly.
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The tiny Asian critters that are killing hemlock trees in the Appalachians has finally hit our highlands. We saw many dead trees on Walnut Mountain during our Sunday excursion.
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The economy has faltered in a big way, yet the DC Dumbasses refuse to admit we are in a recession.

Beech


I'm about 90% well today; it takes longer than it used to to get over one of these "spells".
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Poor Sarah Palin. She can't seem to catch a break from anyone. She is doing the best she can under the circumstances. Her biggest sin is allowing them to draft her on the ticket to begin with. She's finding what big time politics is all about. If the Republicans lose, you can about bet she will spend the next few years learning the political system. I look for her to be a Senator come 2010 or maybe a little later.
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The doors to the US Treasury vault have swung wide open to banks that have mismanaged other peoples money. I'm not too awfully proud of my country!
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Yesterday was my eldest grandson's 25th birthday. Jeremy is a good young man.
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A must read!
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After feeling poorly for several days, I was well enough (I thought) to get back into the mountains yesterday. After cleaning the building in Elizabethton, we went on to Dennis Cove, stopping at the picnic and camping area for a short time. The tree colors still aren't good, and nothing like they were this weekend one year ago when we were there. The drought is still screwing up everything.

Same as last year, the farther up Walnut Mountain we went, the better the colors got, but they were still not great. There were many hunters in the woods as it is bow season for deer. I don't know if they were hunting, baiting, or looking for deer sign, but they were all over the place. We met several going in the opposite direction from us on the narrow road, and the first two refused to back up out of our way even though they were closer to a wide place in the road than were we, so I ended up backing a long way so they could pass. For the third one, I stood my ground, so to speak. He didn't want to back up even though he was within ten feet of a wide place, and I wasn't about to back more than 100 feet so he could pass. Finally he did back up, but he didn't want to; we exchanged salutes as I went by.

I started feeling badly again at the top of the mountain, and Carolyn drove the remainder of the way home via Buck Mountain, Hump Mountain, Elk Park in North Carolina, and Roan Mountain, Tennessee.

I am feeling much better today, and should be ready for our planned day-trip to Cade's Cove come Friday.

Dead Sperm

Prickly issues ...


Republican presidents since Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) have touted the "trickle down" theory of economics wherein the government "stimulates" (simulates?) big business with low or nonexistent taxes and no regulation of how the businesses do business. The benefits of higher employment and greater competition are supposed to trickle down to Joe Sixpack (giggle, wink) and make him prosperous. It has never worked, and I now hear both candidates using the phrase. I am not easily surprised, but those words coming from the mouth of Democratic candidate Barack Obama took me aback! It seems to me these gentlemen (sarcasm) are just a two headed coin when it comes to economic policies, and their basic difference is that John McCain is more closely tied to George W. Bush's pathetic rape of America's middle class taxpayers, along with its working poor, and the ill.

The thing that gets me is the voters keep on believing! They seem to think the marriage of big government and big business will result in better times for them, their families, and the nation. They never realize the consummation is spewing forth nothing but dead sperm in the form of rhetoric, and dead financial sperm will not impregnate their nest eggs!
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If these companies which are receiving the bailout money were troubled manufacturing firms, I might look at it differently. Actually, the businesses benefiting from this giveaway deal only with money; they produce nothing tangible. Do we really need them being as huge as they are?

Another thought concerning the recent giveaway to "cash strapped Wall Street": A lot of banks and other mortgage holders have been very lenient to homeowners whose mortgage debt exceeds the fair market value of their homes. If the homeowners don't fall terribly behind on payments, the banks "work" with them, but this pseudo magnanimity will soon be wiped out as the government assumes more and more responsibility in covering these loans. The mortgagors will have Federal guarantees to cover the difference in the debt versus the value of these houses, so expect to see more heavy-handed foreclosures as the economy goes further into recession and more people go without full time employment.
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When Carolyn and I were at the camping area below Watauga Dam Sunday past, it was packed with campers of all types and sizes, which is very unusual for this time of year and the fact it wasn't a holiday. When the place is this crowded under normal conditions, there are several tent campers mixed in with the wheeled boxes. This time there were only a few tents to be seen. At our next stop, I spoke to a man whom lives in the area. He said that a big portion of these campers were folks without jobs whom had lost their homes. The government has restrictions on how long one can stay at any given park, so they move from park to park. Most—if not all—of these Federal recreation areas close completely in the winter months, so a large number of these unfortunates are looking at an even bleaker future.
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Tennessee's unemployment reserves—the money supplied by employer taxes to pay the unemployed—has fallen into the danger zone, yet the State recently cut the employers tax rate by more than thirty percent. If emergency measures aren't soon put in place, the jobless will have their only income source cut or eliminated, while newly unemployed workers won't get a dime. Any fix will fall on the shoulders of small employers like Carolyn, yet she hasn't had a lay-off in more than thirteen years
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In other earth shaking news, we had to have our water heater replaced today. Fortunately and due to my preponderance of manly wisdom at the time of purchase, we paid an extra $100 for one with a lifetime warranty. Today, it cost us $100 to get the old one removed and hauled away, and the new one hauled in and installed. If I live to be 150 years old, and I have to have it replaced every six years, I may break even!

Watauga River


Fed Slashes Interest Rate! Too little; too late. Just another stop-gap to make the middle-class think the government is on their side. Stocks finish the day down!

I hope W's cronies from AIG enjoyed their six-figure spa vacation at the expense of the taxpayers via the give-away votes of McCain and Obama! Neither of these two turkeys have the credentials or common sense to be president of the nation. I won't vote!
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Just isn't a heck of a lot going on in my world today, although a Made In China aerosol can of Carolyn's leg shaving stuff blew up in the shower while we slept last night. She bought it at Everyday Low Prices from WallyWorld.

Some local news headlines that interested me:

Hunter killed by own gun in accidental shooting
Seems this fellow was carrying an illegal handgun while bow hunting and when he bent over to cock his bow, the gun fell out of his pocket and went off, hitting him in the chest. Ironically sad!

Five sent to hospital when boy, 10, crashes van
This is a must read! I hope the newspaper does some follow-up on this, but it isn't a very good rag.
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AP Headlines:

Esquire names Halle Berry 'sexiest woman alive'
I wonder when this survey of all the alive women in the world took place? Must have been a pretty big undertaking to checkout several billion gals. Sexy Halle is; sexiest she ain't! Let's see; there are an estimated 3.3 billion females in the world and nearly 75% of them are more than 15 years old. That comes to roughly 2.48 billion to thoroughly inspect. Wilt Chamberlain would have loved to participate in such a survey ..., but then, so would I!

Fed to buy massive amounts of short-term debts
I would really miss it, but I'm willing to sell my short-term debt for $90 on the $100. I might take even less if I can go out with Halle Berry!

Holston Mountain

A while back, Carolyn asked me if it was a good idea to say some of the things I put in this blog. I told her that no one paid much attention to what old people say or think. They just write me off as a crackpot geezer. I watch young people whenever I can doing the things they do, and I'm not one bit envious of their youth, but I do envy their knowledge. Kids these days seem so much more savvy than we did when I was a bopper. Of course, if I'd had then the knowledge these youngsters have now, I would be a worse smart-assed old fart than I am.
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So far, the big DC giveaway seems to be backfiring, but the deed is done and worse is in the works. Bush is remarkable as president; only he can be the most unpopular president in the history of history, and still get a Democratic controlled Congress to cater to his every warped whim. This is one sick country!
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Carolyn and I drove to Wilbur and Watauga dams yesterday, hoping to see a lot of leaf color and a lot of ducks on the little Wilbur impoundment. No migrating ducks, and very little color ... yet. From the river, we drove on up to the Blue Hole, but the creek is dry from the drought. We proceeded to the top of Holston mountain on a narrow road that has been partially paved since I was last there last in the late 80's. Not much color on the mountaintop either, just in spots. Frost has certainly been there though, as the ferns have yellowed. The gate to the old fire tower is closed and locked, so we went toward the tv towers. I stopped and paid my respects at the moument to the Air Force aviators whom died in a crash in the 70's. They liked only a few feet clearing the top of the ridge, but that few feet was as good as a mile. They were flying an F-4 Phantom, which happens to be my all time favorite jet fighter. Seems like every decade has some crashes on Holston mountain, and this one is no different. A small plane crashed there within the past year or so, killing the people aboard.

Abort Handgun Ownership

A thought on gun control and abortion: You think abortion is despicable and at the same time you believe that gun control legislation is by and for wacko left-wing extremists? How about if we outlaw abortion and yet allow every crazy in the country to own a handgun? The gun toting citizens can then kill our children in drive-by gang war shootings. But that is ok. They have the right to own—and in some places—carry a loaded handgun. Tell that to a mom whose four year old daughter was killed in her bed by a drive by crossfire. Tell it to a grandmother whose eight year old grandson was accidentally shot and killed by a nervous cop.

What the hell do you think handguns are made for? Turkey shoots? They are designed, engineered, and carefully assembled for one purpose only: To kill people! Not turkeys! Not jack-asses! Not elephants! You, me, our children, and our children's children are the intended targets of handguns. Bullets don't judge the guilt or innocence of people before they slam into their soft flesh and rip up their entrails. A five year old child and a sixty-four year old geezer are indistinguishable to a rifled pistol barrel. The gun is just doing its job!

How about self defense, you say. A lot of handgun owners end up in a pool of their own blood because someone took their gun away from them and killed them. A lot of handguns are stolen and used in crimes. A lot of handguns are sold to individuals by their legitimate owners and those guns end up in the welcoming hands of thugs. Our prisons are over crowded, and a big part of the inmate population is people that used a "self-defense" handgun while committing a crime.

Sermon over.
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I didn't watch the political debate last evening. This whole mismanaged morass of mangled crap is depressing hell out of me. Whomever is elected, the American people are the only losers. I will say this; I did watch some replays of parts of the responses of both candidates, and while neither positively impressed me, Ms Palin seemed more like a robot than a human.

If you knew that all things you attempt to do are going to succeed, would they be worth doing?
Would you want everything you need for life handed to you no questions asked?
Would you be happy in a world where there is no competition for anything?
Would you enjoy year-round perfect weather?
Would you enjoy perfect health all the time?
Would you like to live in a place where time doesn't exist?
Would you like to live in a mansion on a street paved with gold?
Would you be happy if millions of neighbors had the same luxury?
Can you imagine having all this freedom yet never being free?
Can you imagine eternity?
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I know quite a few people, but I don't believe many of them have between $100k and $250k in the bank, yet the Senate version of the giveaway bill is touting the fact that the FDIC insurance limit will be raised to the latter amount. Just an excuse to go through with the bad legislation. I'm sick of all this and wish they would turn the keys to the US Treasury over to big business and have it done with! Democrats and Republicans belong to big corporations, and nothing positive is going to come out of Congress on this mess.