Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Griffin is Growing UP and I Don't Like it

This is Griffin at age 4 at Disneyland...


Here are the best buddies at football...age 5?





























This Griffin and his little bro, Cooper and his best-buddy/next-door neighbor, Kendrick....last year..first day of school...

Here are the guys last spring, again...waiting on the school bus...




TODAY...3rd graders excited about their first day of school...still with Cooper cheering them on!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Annie & Sean are movie stars

Annie - "Miss Scooter Girl", plays the part of a Hooter-type waitress in a local movie shoot...she delivers food and beverage via a kids scooter..and as a "Scooter Girl In Training", she proceeds to accidentally pour a drink on a customer and there is a domino effect of two other scooter girls crashing into each other with beverages and food flying. Annie played her part well..but probably because of the practice of Cooper's scooter at home finding it's way to strange places







Annie and her Scooter-Girl-In-Training comrade, Debbie Duke, fighting it out in the bar's boxing ring...














Sean plays a handsome fellow (type-casting..didn't need much make-up at all) and is a Baptist preacher who feels compelled to enter a local Poker tournament in a disguise...
Does he win all the money and a chance to go to Las Vegas??

Stay tuned...

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Hurricane IKE - Local Clean-up


The winds blew - trees snapped - roof tiles flew - but none of our family members were hurt. Thank you, God. A friend of Sean & Annie was injured as he was helping someone clean up their yard and he is likely to be paralyzed for life.

Time to count blessings and not missing roof tiles.

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Closing Remarks


When I was a puppy and was lucky enough to travel down to Florida with my parents, the highways of today were just being built. We would drive along some of the "new" I-75 stretches for about 50 miles and then we would see the dreaded two words, "ROAD CLOSED". They became like swear words to us.
The funny thing is, when we got off the main road and drove at a slower pace, we actually saw more of the rural area and it wasn't so bad...other than not arriving an hour earlier than we would have.

Today is my last blog post ~ for a while, anyway.
I am getting off the road for a bit to take a look around at other stuff.
My current travel on this course isn't getting me to the destination that I need to be.

But I must say, it's been a kick!

Thursday, September 04, 2008

School is In Session and Kids Say the Darndest Things


Funny Test Answers From Children - Mainly Science and Health

* For a nosebleed: Put the nose much lower than the body until the heart stops.

* For asphyxiation: Apply artificial respiration until the patient is dead.

* For dog bite: put the dog away for several days. If he has not recovered, then kill it.

* For head cold: use an agonizer to spray the nose until it drops in your throat.

* We say the cause of perfume disappearing is evaporation. Evaporation gets blamed for a lot of things people forget to put the top on.

* If conditions are not favorable, bacteria go into a period of adolescence.

* Respiration is composed of two acts, first inspiration, and then expectoration.

* To collect fumes of sulfur, hold a deacon over a flame in a test tube.

* To remove dust from the eye, pull the eye down over the nose.

* Cyanide is so poisonous that one drop of it on a dogs tongue will kill the strongest man.

* Vegetative propagation is the process by which one individual manufactures another individual by accident.

* * "Germinate: To become a naturalized German."


* Algebraical symbols are used when you do not know what you are talking about.


* The inhabitants of Moscow are called Mosquitoes.

* Vacuums are nothings. We only mention them to let them know we know they're there.

* To most people solutions mean finding the answers. But to chemists solutions are things that are still all mixed up.


* When a singer sings, he stirs up the air and makes it hit any passing eardrums. But if he is good, he knows how to keep it from hurting.

Keep notes this year as to what your kids say...you could write a book! Have a great weekend! :)

Politics Confuses Me...Fact vs. S T R E T C H ?


I'm just trying to find the truth...and maybe the two conventions aren't exactly the place to find anything but pandering...from both sides. (this is a bi-partisan observance)
I was impressed with Governor Palin's speech..just like I was impressed with Sen. Obama's speech 4 years ago at the Democratic convention.
How can I find an unbiased fact-checker?
I don't know if it's this fellow who works for the Associated Press or if he is just out to confuse me more!

By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer Wed Sep 3, 11:48 PM ET

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth.

Some examples:

PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."

THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."

PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate."

THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.

PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."

THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.

Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.

He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.

MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson.

THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state — by population.

MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities," he said on ABC.

THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.

FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."

THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.

FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right — change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington — throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."

THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate.

___

Associated Press Writer Jim Drinkard in Washington contributed to this report.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Traitor Joe


So, last night Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman sung an interesting song of praise for fellow old fart John McCain, while berating Senator Obama. He called Senator Obama a "young" untested Presidential candidate. I guess compared to McCain, ANYONE is young. Even young Joe Lieberman, at the tender age of 66 is a puppy compared to J.M.

I recently saw a t-shirt that said ~
"Average Life Expectancy of a male is 73.6 years
John McCain is 72 ~ You DO the Math"

A life insurance actuary would tell you that Mr. McCain's life expectancy is actually 83 years old since he has made it this far...but with his health history and stress factors, ??? Of course, he does relieve his stress by letting go of the ole temper now and then.

But I digress...

It seems ironic that Joe, the democrat, is coming out with guns blazing against his own party's candidate. I wonder how his constituents feel about that back in his home state...you know, the people who voted for him to represent them. But what seems doubly ironic (if that is possible) is that he called this 47 year old, Harvard magna cum laude Law school graduate, 8 year state senator, 3 and 1/2 year U.S. Senator "young" and untested.
And the possible (maybe PROBABLE) Republican Presidential candidate, albeit it as an understudy role, is 44 with a bio that includes her sinking the winning shot at the free throw line in a high school basketball game when she had a sprained ankle. Who puts that stuff in a bio? Maybe someone who is YOUNG and had LITTLE experience?
Oh, yeah, she graduated with a journalism degree too.
When you look at her policies, it just notes that she is pro-life and interested in energy conservation.
Well now, doesn't that about cover all the issues that a senator in Washington is exposed to also. NOT!
I do not care that she is a woman...or that she has a 17 year old daughter who is pregnant..or that she eloped at age 24 and gave birth 8 months later. That is for the silly media to hype. I care that she has no clue about anything beyond her PTA and backyard oil drilling.

Now, back to Uncle Joe....Here is what Senator Lieberman said about Mr. Obama in 2006:

“As far as I’m concerned [Barack Obama] is a ‘Baruch,’ which means a blessing. He is a blessing to the United States Senate, to America, and to our shared hopes for better, safer tomorrows for all our families. The gifts that God has given to Barack Obama are as enormous as his future is unlimited. As his mentor, as his colleague, as his friend, I look forward to helping him reach to the stars and realize not just the dreams he has for himself, but the dreams we all have for him and our blessed country.”

Interesting, eh?

Here Comes The Bride....Down a Strange Aisle


Ah, yes...the dream wedding.
Little girls have thought about that "big day" when they walk down the aisle toward her Prince Charming while the organ music announces her arrival and the guests ready their hankies to dab their eyes. Every minute detail of the perfect setting for this once in a lifetime day has been planned and re-planned.

As that little girl grows older, maybe the wedding day takes a little different turn in her mind. Maybe she won't wear a strapless gown but an off-the-shoulder dress. Maybe she will replace the organ music with a string quartet providing the mood for the walk down the aisle.
Maybe she'll get married in a cute little chapel in the woods...or on the beach at sunrise...or at the local zoo...or parachuting over the grand canyon...something really creative...

or

in a funeral home.

WHAT??? Are you nuts? Have you lost your last brain cell?!!??

Well, hold on to your veils, my friends...I just read (TRUE STORY) a news article about a couple in Michigan who decided to exchange their vows in a funeral home (since it is now football season, Ohio State fans are saying, "that figures...it had to be a MICHIGAN couple").

And why not?
It's just a big room with lots of chairs and one long funny looking elevated couch with a lid.
Flowers for the big day would more than likely be easily and cheaply acquired.
Parking should not be a problem.
Ice for the cocktails should be plentiful.

I don't know about this being the perfect venue for the start of what one hopes would be "the best day of my life".

I'm afraid that in the receiving line, some may be tempted to refer to the groom as one lucky stiff ~ or maybe inadvertently tell the bride that she looked "so peaceful"...

What ever happened to Church weddings?

Monday, September 01, 2008

T.V. Troubles


Give me back my black and white, three channel TV set with no remote and "rabbit ear" antennas that needed aluminum foil on the tips ~ with someone having to sit in just the right spot, holding a golf club in the air to acquire even a fuzzy reception.

WHY, you may query, do I want to step back in retro time?
Because I wouldn't have spent half of my life during these past 4 days on the phone with Time Warner Cable trying to get my High Definition, big screen, 328 channel TV to turn ON.

There was a total of 5 phone calls that added up to 2 hours & 14 minutes of blah, blah. We finally discovered that a Time Warner "technician" had cut our cable while attempting to accommodate our next-door neighbor with better reception. Now, our neighbors are enjoying crisp, clear television pictures and I have finished reading all 213 books that I have been meaning to get to ~ and am down to reading back issues of Readers Digest (from 1984 and 1992) along with a couple of issues that belong to my 3 year old great-nephew Cooper's Highlights Magazine for Children.

I think this may speak to my being way to dependent on the talking screen. Since I have the TV back in working order, I have been glued to the Weather Channel and i refuse to turn the set off for fear that it won't turn back on.

I just heard a woman weather reporter mention that one of her reporters playing outside while Hurricane Gustav is moving in is being "spanked" by the frisky winds.
Wow....I can't even enjoy a good weather report without it needing to be screened for language content.

Back to needing television of the old days ~ including when we didn't know if it was snowing on the football field or if it was our reception.