Free Speech

I am conservative.  I was very disappointed when Donald Trump was not reelected.  There was clearly voter fraud going on.  I don't believe the election would have been different without the fraud though.  Also there is likely voter fraud in every election.  I would like to see voting made better.  That is, every person gets 1 vote.  No bulk voter stuff.

Now to the free speech.  Officials should be concerned about voter fraud, but when conservatives suggested that there was fraud, liberals only called them names like 'election denyers', MAGA, right wing conspiracy theorists, etc.  It seems that every American should want fair and honest elections.

More about free speech.  We have had too much racist stuff happen in the last few years.  It has now become racist to talk about justice.  Differences of opinion should be celebrated and even debated without name calling.  I am grateful for conservative folks that are of a different 'race' or background than I have.  They refuse to label every caucasian as a racist and suggest that I do  not have to label myself as one either.  

Major institutions that should be for free speech have become against it.  Education and Media are two that have the most negative impact on free speech, but entertainment and social media companies are also major problems.

I will continue to pray for our nation.

Encouragement

March 15, 2013

I am writing this to be an encouragement to the wives who think their husbands are too slow to "fix stuff". Brenda was just sharing with a lady at our house that I had repaired an old lamp she had. She picked it up from the "dump". If you're old enough you will know about "dump picking". Anyway, I fixed it a few months ago. She "dump picked" it with Grandma Combs right after we were married in 1971. So it only me took a bit over 40 years to get it done. Brenda is so lucky I am "handy".

Why we celebrate this day off

70 years ago yesterday, my mom started labor. To commemorate such an important event as labor before my birth, it was declared that it would be called "Labor Day", and thus most had a paid holiday yesterday. You should thank my mom.

　

Birthday thoughts - You are gaining on me

You are gaining on me: here is the math. Let's say I was 19 when you were born. So when you were 1 year old, I was 20 years old.. That made me 20 times older than you. Then, When you were 10, I would have been 30 made me only 3 times older than you...you're gaining on me. Then, when you were 20 and I was 40, I was only 2 times older than you. Certainly, you will catch me soon.

Oh to be undignified

Brenda and I stayed at the Windsor Inn formerly EconoLodge South, Petoskey MI.  We often choose EconoLodge, finding prices pretty good as well as accommodations.  We had stayed there a few years ago too.  There is a section about two feet wide between the parking lot and the hotel filled with 1-2" stones.  Of course, being in Petoskey, Brenda assumes most of them are "Petoskey Stones".  On our last visit Brenda spent all of her spare time crawling in the stones with her water spray bottle looking for her treasures.  This trip was no different.  As we were unloading we met our hotel neighbors and Brenda shared her story of the treasures right in front of us.  Later, I left to go fill up the Harley so Brenda decided to resume her crawling in the rocks in front of the hotel.  I passed our newly made friends as they returned from dinner.  I knew they would drive up and find my not so dignified wife crawling in the rocks looking for a precious overlooked 'Petoskey Stone'.  Oh well, I went and filled the bike and purchased a few snacks for our hotel room.  Heading back I would have expected to find Brenda still crawling in the rocks with her spray bottle and the new neighbors sitting in their lawn chairs with a smirk.  What I found when I rode up was both them crawling in the rocks.  "Brenda showed us what to look for and we have already found one!"  Brenda was in our room tidying up the place.  Yep, Brenda's great personality shines through again!.

Riding my Harley motorcycle 08/22/16

Today we went for a ride. On the way we passed a field of fresh cut alfalfa. The smell was so sweet, I hoped that I was not breathing in too many calories. The field looked like a freshly mowed lawn. I noticed the shadow on the road to my left, trying ever so to keep up with me. I stole a glance as often as I could, since the shadow included my precious passenger’s hair flowing in the artificial breeze. We came to a pasture, with horses scattered about. It seemed that the main difference between a finely manicured corporate lawn and the horse pasture was a few thistle plants strewn about in place of the Juniper plants in the corporate lawn. Both contain expertly trimmed grass. We passed through trees on our way. They seemed to be carved out as a tunnel especially for my enjoyment. The oxygen saturation level must have been in excess because it felt refreshing to my lungs, nose...and throughout my being. Then, passing some volunteer clover next to the road produced a sweet smell such that I wanted to stop and steal a container full of the air for later, when life became so busy that I would not have time to enjoy this gift. Brenda pointed to the sculpture of the fluorescent white clouds in contrast to the deep blue sky.


I sat at Target on Alpine ave, waiting for Brenda. Seemed a bit long until God gave me a rainbow, for my viewing pleasure. Brenda wasn’t too long after all.

Getting bloodwork

Since I'm getting older, I have been required to get blood tests once or twice a year.  I went in to Spectrum Health in Sparta a couple of days ago, and the nice young lady asked if I had a preference for which arm she would attack.  I said "Of course I have a preference","I'm 66 years old."  "Which arm?" she asked.  "Well, I have a preference, but I can't remember what it is."