Christmas/New Years is not always top o my mind as either enjoyable or fulfilling....Then "Ho Ho" happens.I quite excitedly don a red suit and work my way thru, this year, 150 children at my Elks Lodge. The magic is the small faces when they approach the old fellow. The faces have more brightness than a 100 watt bulb! Funny is the fact I never get tired of the faces....They launch me into Christmas spirit full bore. I hope one and all have a Merry Christmas followed by the finest of New Years!
Rollin Down The River.....
Surprisingly, life continues. I now find myself just two calendar pages from 82 years of age. I find myself in decent physical condition....if you ignore the several close calls I have had, and the fact my ticker and circulatory system is paying me back for abuses heaped upon them over the decades. I am afraid to check in on my liver and digestive tract.
I, along with most of the US of A, managed to survive the quadrennial assault on our entire way of life and laws we jokingly call a Presidential election. The shear size of this event, both in dollars and total commitment by at least two political parties, is astounding.
We are told every time this event occurs that this time is the LAST time we HAVE TO GET IT RIGHT or the country will blow up and cease to exist. I believe the major problem is the two major political parties!
It is my considered opinion that they, if allowed to continue unchecked, will indeed bankrupt this country in both dollars and of all standing in the community of countries on this so called big blue marble.
One party this time around spent well above ONE BILLION dollars to perpetuate their way of governing....AND LOST. Not a squeeze by finish but a complete washout.
The biggest mystery for me is how the folks on the short end of this fiasco now find millions of reasons why their side failed....and not one of the scapegoat causes has to do with them doing or saying anything unpopular. It has to be at least the fault of a small group of folks called THE MAJORITY! Aided of course by many on their own team who did not live up to expectations.
My most pleasant memory will be the short time between the end of the rehash of this election and the quite close beginning of speculation of the who the candidates will be for the next one.
It was so much simpler and enjoyable when the entire process, at least publicly, was only a few months every four years and involved miserly amounts by today's standards. Guess I need a trip to the Blue Ridge and a cabin for a week where my phone has no signal and there are no TVs or Radios.
How do I get to that bed and breakfast listing?
I like to think I am somewhat the realist. While many seem absolutely fixated on not revealing their age, I have always felt age is a sort of barometer of achievement. Perhaps in my look at life I feel much more positive about living this long as I never expected it. The last couple generations in my family have been relatively shortened lives. My Father had a heart attack at age 47 that could have easily killed him. He never recovered completely and finally passed at age 58 with his 3rd major heart attack. My brother died in his early 60s of heart and other ailments.
James Mangold, director of the new 5th film in the Indiana Jones series commented on an expanded aspect of the view from atop several generations....
"We can’t hide from where we are in our lives — none of us can — and neither can Indiana Jones," Mangold told The Hollywood Reporter. "I wanted to follow Harrison’s own lead and simply deal with it straight on."
I happen to be the same age as Harrison Ford, having my 80th birthday just 2 months ago. I now look forward to driving this somewhat banged up body as far as I am allowed...I am hopeful my outlook, while realistic, is as positive as can be....having gotten this far seems to me to be an incentive to go on.
I am left with the feeling that all the "news writers" (they are not reporters nor journalists) are blind and meandering all about the topic of CCP's balloon and its purpose/equipment. 1st-We knew before the balloon entered the USA, apparently via Alaska and Canada, of its existence. We could have ended this right there, off the shores of Alaska...or, perhaps, on land in the sparsely-populated state.
How about this idea? Where is the map of the complete track of the balloon? You know our radar has this baby all the way. I have seen some random spots where the thing hung there in the sky...no one has yet apparently gotten a hold of the idea. That would tell you in a heartbeat whether or not the thing was directed or controlled.
You don't suppose the truly open administration could be hiding the track to protect someone? Hmmmm
I shall endeavor to bring this blog back to life. Health issues, a near-death post surgery internal bleed and a series of three stents in my heart's circulatory system have wrought a lot of absence from blogging. Let's go back and post as the field of topics on which to post grows ever more Bidenesque.....rich and full of really dumb stuff! Onward!
