July 24
This is a quote from something on the internet purported to be written by a pilot. I tried Snopes but there was no hit. I like the analogy between Obama's preparation for the presidency and as a pilot. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO OUR NEW CHIEF PILOT. HE HAS NEVER FLOWN AN AIRPLANE, IN FACT HE HAS NEVER EVEN SAT IN THE COCKPIT, BUT HE SAYS HE HAS RIDDEN ON PLANES BEFORE. WE ARE SURE HE WILL GUIDE US SAFELY THROUGH THE STORMS WE MAY ENCOUNTER ON THIS FLIGHT.July 23
Another well-put quote, this time from Russ Smith, "I have serious reservations about Mr. Obama's economic and foreign-policy proposals (although the national service he performed in dispatching the Clinton machine can't be underestimated)..." Mr. Smith is the managing director of the Web site splicetoday.com.June 21
In the novel by Carl Hiaasen, "Sick Puppy" there is this great statement: "...there [is] no difference in how Democrats and Republicans conduct the business of government. The game stays the same: It's always about favors and friends, and who controlls the dough. Party labels are merely a way to keep track of the teams; issues are mostly smoke and vaudeville. Nobody believes in anything except hanging on to power, whatever it takes." That about says it all. They're all painted with the same brush.June 20
With the permission of Vaclav Klaus, Czech President, I thought I'd print a recent statement of his."The basic questions of the current climate change debate are sufficiently known and well structured:
1) Do we live in an era of a statistically significant, nonaccidental and noncyclical climate change?
2) If so, is it dominantly man-made?
3) If so, should such a moderate temperature increase bother us more than many other pressing problems we face and should it receive our extraordinary attention?
4) If we want to change the climate, can it be done? Are current attempts to do so the best allocation of our scarce resources?
My answer to all these questions is NO, but with a difference in emphasis. I don't aspire to measure the global
temperature, nor to estimate the importance of factors which make it. This is not the area of my comparative
advantages. But to argue, as it's done by many contemporary environmentalists, that these questions have already been
answered with a consensual "yes" and that there is an unchallenged scientific consensus about this is unjustified. It
is also morally abd intellectually deceptive."
June 15
It’s Father’s Day and my thoughts turn to my father and a couple of moments that I remember. One was when I was about seven years old and my brother who is a year and a half older and I were playing with our cousin who was then 11. Our cousin and one of us would team up against the other. My father, when he heard of the arrangement, said we brothers should hang together because we would be each other’s best friend through life. He was right and we are.The other was when I was about 40 and we went to Florida to visit my parents. When we arrived and I went to shake my father’s hand in greeting he batted it away and gave me a big hug instead. I loved it! As children we knew that Dad loved us but, being English, he didn’t show it a lot. That’s why the hug was so memorable. I’ve thought about it many times.
I’ve received “Happy Father’s Day” wishes from Tracy and David and I don’t expect Sam to call until after the
Celtics beat the Lakers (about midnight). Sam called after the U.S. Open golf tournament ended (in a tie).
June 10
We returned a week ago from visiting Tracy, Jerry and the girls...
...and Sam, Amy and Max.The flight out was fine but the return sucked big time. We sat on the runway in Denver while they "rebalanced the load." The pilot made up almost a half hour flying east but when we arrived at the Philadelphia airport we were too early for the gate so we waited until we were ten minutes late. Then they couldn't get the jet ramp or whatever working so we missed our connection. Bottom line; instead of getting home at 9pm we pulled in the yard at 12:30am. The best and most fun "travelling" we did was the drive to and from Montana through Wyoming's Grand Teton and Yellowstone parks.
April 15
Jules is enjoying a little sun. What is not shown is all the snow still around.
April 12
Yaaayy!! The top of the table is now in view. A few more days in the 60s and we might say "good bye and good riddance"
to the winter of 2008.
A few days later I got a picture where you could actually see the table.
April 6
After spending five weeks away in the south we were hoping some of the snow would have melted. I looked out the office and the banks were still high. I looked out the dining room window and the table was still buried. Winter refuses to give up.
March 7
The club is mowing the fairway using the local workforce.
March 6
Julie and I decided enough was enough so we traveled south to Fripp Island, SC and take a break from snow.
This is the beach in front of our unit... 
...and this is my idea of "beaching it."
February 13
Another 6" (so far) and the table is buried. The forecast is for the snow to turn to mixed snow/rain. Terrific.
February 11
After a week's worth of thaw winter returned with a vengence and, except for a mound of snow, you wouldn't
know the table was there.
January 9
Nothing like a couple days in the fifties to take away the snow.
January 3
There's a little round table in the backyard that's about three feet high. It's almost buried. The picture
was taken at 4:00pm so it's getting dark. It warmed up about five degrees today so now it's 4°.
December 30
I think the birds are nesting in our Christmas tree.
December 6
I've finally "finished" (in quotes because David will find something that needs fixing) Ireland Tour after weeding out some pics from 639 taken and trying to remember what they were. Julie helped 'cause she has a better memory.December 3
I suppose it had to happen sooner
or later I just wish it had been later. We received about three inches last night and have added another
three this morning by 10:30 and it's still snowing. The plow's been by once and will need to plow again
before too long.
November 29
It's been a couple of months so time to update the site. I added the Ireland Tour under "Journeys" even though I haven't finished it but who knows when that will be. At least the first week of the tour is added.
We started in Dublin at 5:30am when we landed and went north
to the tip of the island and then south along the Atlantic coast and flew out of Shannon on October 4th. A great trip and Dick and Nan
were perfect traveling partners.
Just before we left Tracy called to see if we could spend a week there while Jerry was on an extended business trip in Asia. Naturally
we said yes and flew out on October 13.
The twins are terrific and we had a ball. Leslie has me
in her thrall.
September 19
You might get the idea that I don't update this site often. I do, just not this page. Books and movies are up-to-date.We're going to take a little trip to Ireland with my college roommate, Dick Reycroft and his wife, Nan, a two-week tour guaranteed
to hit a pub in every town. We had no intention of going until at our fraternity reunion Dick said they were going and, "Why
don't we join them?" That's all the invitation we needed. I'll add a page to "Journeys" when I return.
Dick Reycroft at our fraternity reunion in July
April 10
We've completed a little more than two weeks and we have learned a lot. First of all we learned that we really don't like big cities. We went to the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville and enjoyed it completely but after getting out we also got out of town as fast as we could. we had planned to spend time in Albuquerque but after putting up with traffic we decided to blow it off and head for Santa Fe. Once there we collapsed in a nice motel. We considered the Wortley Hotel but their wireless internet was suspect.
We were attracted to the nice place next to the hotel but we weren't dressed apropriately.
We've a ton of pictures to go through and quite a number to discard but when that's done I'll put a few pages up with pictures and narrative. In the interim I'll keep adding a few comments/pictures to the home page.
March 8
We just bought two books to help us decide what to see, and do, where to stay and eat, and read about the history of the area. So far, I've read about the Albaquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos areas. It would take us months to see and do what is described in the book. Here's what we got.
February 18
Not too much time left before we jump in the car and head west, just five weeks. Julie and I have pored over the maps and through the AAA books to find interesting places to visit and stay. Except for Nashville we don't intend to stay in one place for more than a night until we reach Albuquerque. We'll spend most of our time in northern New Mwxico and southern Colorado until we go north to Tracy's and then to Sam's in Montana. After that we'll make a couple of stops in Wyoming before stopping for four or five days in the Black Mountains of South Dakota. From Deadwood down to Custer, Mt. Rushmore and Chief Crazy Horse, there's some good "old-timey" things to see. After that, I'll doze while Julie drives back to NH.January 26
For the last week and a half Julie has been spending some time in the downstairs bedroom and told me not to go there. Seeing as I have a birthday coming up I figured she was working on something for me. She gave it to me today (I don't think she could wait until Sunday (birthday day)). What a great gift!! It's a photo album of many of the last seventy years of my life. It's packed with pictures of my early youth, the kids, Julie and friends. I thought she had been working on this for ten days or so. She actually started more than a year ago. We've got a ton of pictures and she poured through them and sent many of them to Tracy for scanning, improving, and printing. My two favorite women did a great job. The best part is that I can enjoy it over and over again. Julie gave it to me when there were just the two of us so I wouldn't over emote and embarrass myself in front of others (smart move). I'll probably bore everyone with it for the next year or so.January 4
It's time to do some clean-up of the website. Nothing serious just have to get rid of some old stuff.