JLM's Journal

2011-09-27T18:02:00.000-07:00

A lady in Cameron, Texas is trying to obtain sainthood for Dr. Eduard Rischar, a physician who practiced in Cameron during the first part of the 20th Century. I don’t know about being a saint but reading about the doctor sure makes for an interesting story.

Dr. Rischar was born in 1872. He came to Cameron in 1914 and practiced there until his death in 1948. He did much for the community, including help build a Catholic Church and a hospital, which he gave to the Sisters of Charity. The Sisters operated the hospital until it suffered the demise of many rural hospitals in the 1980’s.

The interesting thing about Dr. Rischar’s story is that he represented a transition in American Medicine from the Horse and Buggy Doctor to the modern era of medicine. He was from the school that had very little in the way of effective medications and treatments to the time of antibiotics with modern surgery and technology. Dr. Rischar represented those who had little to offer the patient other than a sympathetic ear and a gentle hand. Drs. today have no time to listen and have been largely replaced by technology. Paper work has also taken their time away from patients.

Rural hospitals, such as the one used by Dr. Rischar, have also disappeared from the scene. Modern technology became unaffordable for the small hospital and Medicare and other forms of reimbursement spelled the end of many hospitals. No longer were hospitals used as places for rest and recuperation from illness. Increase in specialization and ease of transportation to large medical centers helped put the final nail in the coffin of rural hospitals and the Dr. Rischars of the world.

The world of medicine has greatly changed since the days of Dr. Rischar. A simple urinalysis and a CBC were high tech test in his day and he might be paid with a dozen eggs or a chicken. People didn’t have AIDS and other exotic diseases and deaths from cancer and heart attacks were low because folks usually died from pneumonia or other infections by the time they were 50.

Dr. Rischar probably doesn’t deserve sainthood, but I wish the modern physicians had his caring attitude for patients and as leaders in their community. Those days seem to be Gone With the Wind, but they are worth remembering and reminding our youth about such people and times.

2011-09-16T19:15:00.000-07:00

I recently had a conversation with a friend who is about to open a multi-screen movie theater. The movie business and movies have changed a lot since I was a kid. The days in which the movies were on a big reel and required a projectionist for operation of the machine are gone. Movies now come to the theaters in a metal box that is inserted into the projector and a computer does the rest. No need for projectionist anymore.

It’s amazing that movie theaters have survived with DVD’s, Netflix and other modern technology. Movies may be downloaded onto a computer then projected onto your TV, iPad, phones, etc. Streaming of movies directly onto the TV is the current trend and this will probably replace DVDs and the fancy high definition Blueray.

Movies remain one of our most popular forms of entertainment and movies theaters flourish in spite of the high cost for attending. You can almost buy a Blueray player for the cost of taking a family to the movie and treating them to popcorn and a drink. And to think, I once paid 9 cents to see a movie and a bag of popcorn cost a nickel and a coke was also a nickel. The movies makers and distributors hold the release on DVDs until the theaters have had their run and everyone has had a chance at your pocketbook.

The most amazing thing is that movies remain popular even though they are terrible. There are only a couple of good flicks a year. The rest are a display of special effects with car crashes and explosions. The Westerns, which were my favorite, are now like the dinosaur and have become extinct. Probably the main reason movies remain popular is that TV is so bad. I often think of the good old days when the starting time for a feature was never posted. I just went into the movie at anytime and would frequently spend Saturday afternoon in the theater and see the movie a couple of times while I enjoyed the air-conditioning and good cheap popcorn. The quality of the film was excellent with real Technicolor and high quality lighting. The actors spoke in audible tones and the movies usually had an interesting plot. With all this, I also got to see a great cartoon, the newsreel, a serial and other special features like travel logs.

I guess everything must change to survive. Even our church services have changed and the movies are no exception. I still like the good old days and the Golden Age of movies.

2011-09-07T06:46:00.000-07:00

Labor Day passed and I hardly noticed it. The first Monday in September was chosen for this holiday to celebrate the American worker. The day was picked because it was midway between July 4th and Thanksgiving. It has usually marked the end of summer and the time when kids go back to school.

I have forgotten the holiday mainly because I’m retired, but there are other reasons. I guess it’s because of global warming and summer now seems to extend until Christmas and we are having record high temperatures. In Texas summer turns into winter overnight.

Kids used to start back to school after Labor Day but now it’s sometime in the middle of August. They have extended holidays with Fall and Spring breaks, so they make up the days by starting early.

In the past, Labor Day also signaled the coming of football season, but now football begins in the middle of August. Kids are playing in 100+ degree temperatures and having heat strokes. It’s just hard to get in the spirit for football when everybody is wearing shorts and still swimming.

When I was a kid, everything closed down for Labor Day. Now everything is open with big sales. I guess the American workers get a holiday but since there are no more American worker and our industries have moved overseas there is nobody to celebrate.

Labor Day is not the only holiday to disappear. We haven’t celebrated Thanksgiving in years. It has been completely swallowed up by Christmas. Christmas has also been rearranged and renamed as the Holiday Season. With the demise of the Post Office even Christmas Cards may soon vanish.

Oh well, no need to complain. I’m retired so everyday is a holiday. I did enjoy Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I especially loved cool nights and a good football game.

2011-08-29T07:54:00.000-07:00

I have to admit it. Al Gore is right. We have global warming. This summer has been the hottest on record and we haven’t had a drop of rain. The east coast has just been battered with Hurricane Irene, so I know there must be rain somewhere on the planet. I just wish a little of it cold be diverted to Texas.

As I have aged the heat seems to bother me more than ever. I am also a sissy when it comes to air-conditioning and must have it to survive. Hemingway wrote this neat story about an old man who wanted a clean well-lighted place. My revision to the story would be a cool, clean well-lighted place. The cool air is now a basic need, like food and water

I grew up without air-conditioning and thought nothing about it. My only exposure to the luxury of refrigerated air was in a movie theater. I guess that’s one of the reasons I love movies so much. I went through college without air-conditioning. It’s a miracle that I made it. Now, if the temperature goes above 75 while I’m reading a book, I fall asleep.

So, here I am complaining about the weather in the blog. The weather is always a favorite topic of conversation and something people like to complain about. Last winter it was too cold and about a year ago we had a flood in Central Texas. We are never happy.

The weather is never just right. Farmers never have it perfect for their crops. This week, Hurricane Irene battered the East Coast. People were warned for several days. Now that the hurricane has passed and was slightly less devastating than predicted people are complaining that much of the warning was a bunch of media hype. We should be thankful that the storm warnings are as sophisticated as they are and save countless lives.

Folks are never happy with the weather regardless of what is happening. When I lived in Hawaii people complained because the weather was always nice and never varied. We humans are just an unhappy lot when it comes to the weather. At least, the weather gives us something to talk about. The current heat wave and drought are even causing me to read the Bible more. I’ve been studying Revelations and the prophets to see if the earth may be gradually transitioning into hell. I don’t mean to complain but it sure seems like that is the case.

2011-08-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

I don’t care for shopping and try to stay home when my spouse is involved in this activity. During my high school years I worked in a grocery store and don’t mind helping in this area of shopping if it’s not at Walmart or HEB. I hate those two stores because they are so large and impersonal. I can’t find anything and they are usually full of tattooed fat people standing ahead of me in line at checkout with baskets brimming with every item in the store.

My favorite store is located in the Village of Salado where we lived for 20 years. The store is Brookshire’s. It has been expanded and contains everything you need. They even have fresh seafood. It’s a clean place that is usually not crowded, and the shoppers are decent looking folks. I love the section with cheeses, hams and other goodies that must be sliced, The salesperson is friendly and will even let me sample the goodies. The cheese from this area is much better than the prepackaged stuff.. The salesperson usually gives me all sorts of helpful advice, like what kind of meat to buy at his favorite country meat market.

I love the store because I usually see someone I know and we strike up a friendly conversation. Yesterday, while I was waiting for my cheese to be sliced this old cowboy looking guy, who must have been in his late 80s, started talking to me. He was wrinkled and weather beaten but friendly as a puppy. We started up an interesting conversation about this country meat market where he bought hogs head cheese. I hadn’t thought about hogs head cheese for years. He claimed it was one of ihs favorite foods. That’s the kind of people I like to visit with. He made me think of all sorts of goodies I sampled when I was a kid. Most of these have been forgotten in modern times. Most people never heard of scrambled hog brains and eggs. I have also eaten fried chicken’s feet, pickled pigs feet and tongue. The old cowboy got me to thinking about hogs head cheese which is really not a cheese at all but a mixture of various scraps from the hog, such as ears, tongue and all parts of the head except the eyes. These parts of the hog are cooked and prepared in a gel like mold. It’s not bad if you don’t think about what you are eating.

Anyway, I enjoy shopping at Brookshires because of the colorful characters you meet and the interesting things you learn. It’s great entertainment.

2011-08-07T13:57:00.000-07:00

Recently, I have tried not to write about political issues in the blog. They are too controversial and even more depressing than obituaries. In a way the current political issues and the economy are like an obituary of our country. I have considered myself an independent and in the past have supported Republicans and Democrats. I have now changed my political persuasion.

From now on I plan to vote against whoever is in office regardless of their political party or even their track record. The Tea Party has ruined the Republicans and are made up of a bunch of naïve, selfish loudmouths who think their mission is to cut out all our entitlement programs and not tax anyone, especially the wealthy. I wonder if they have ever known anyone who is elderly, disabled or underprivileged. On the other hand there is the left wing Democrat that wants a socialized state and government takeover of everything. None of them represent me, a middle class person who has worked, saved, paid a lot of taxes, abided by the law, helped many in need, had respect for my country, served in the military and supported the idea that we are a nation under God. I don’t mind paying taxes, but I believe Exxon and the wealthy should also pay their fair share; likewise, I believe in Social Security and Medicare but hate the fraud in our system and have no sympathy for those who are fit but make a life out of dependence on government handouts.

So, there you have it. Incumbent now means out. This means everyone from President to Justice of the Peace. I only wish we could vote Federal Judges out of office. The judges sit around and make rulings with no regard for how the majority voted on an issue. Another requirement for judges is that hey should not be allowed to vote or have allegiance to any political party.

The ones who need to go more than anyone are members of Congress. Six year single terms would seem fair but that’s it. The candidates should be required to take an IQ test as well as a test on American History and the Constitution before they can even run. The current bunch have sent us on a road to ruin and made our fragile economic situation a global issue. A course in economics and the Constitution should also be required when their term of office begins.

My new campaign slogan from now on is, Incumbents Out. That’s better than, ”change.” Maybe we will get change and good behavior with the constant turn over.

2011-07-31T10:20:00.000-07:00

My TV watching has greatly diminished. There is nothing on that seems worthwhile. The news is always horribly depressing, but I do try and stomach the 10:00 PM broadcast to see what mass murderer is on the rampage since we live near Ft. Hood. Our area is filled with killers, rapist and other perverts. Following this I watch the opening monologue of Jay Leno, then get ready for bed. Leno is great because he loves to slam politicians and the government. He also has a couple of special features such as Headlines and Jaywalking. This weeks Jaywalking was especially good because it featured questions on American History.

The answers Leno got regarding American History were unbelievable, but highlighted the shameful lack of history knowledge that is so common. Here are a few of the questions and answers.

When ask about the War of Independence and who we became independent from, the answer was Mexico. Another person got it partially right when ask about the author of the Declaration of Independence when he said Jefferson, but when ask his first name he said George Jefferson.

Another person was ask who delivered the Gettysburg Address and when this occurred. The answer was George Washington during World War II.

Another was ask if she had heard of Pearl Harbor and what happened there. She was partially right when she said she thought it was bombed, but when ask who did the bombing she said the Hawaiians.

Another was ask if she knew about the Alamo and who fought there. After thinking for a long time she said, John Wayne. One of the best was an individual who thought Lewis and Clark were Clark Kent and Lois Lane. No wonder they were successful in their expedition, one was actually Superman.

All these stupid responses about history make me very sad and want to cry. Over 50% of high school students never heard of Winston Churchill and can’t tell you who we fought against in World War II. They are even uninformed about current events. Recently it was determined that more than 75% of folks in Texas couldn’t tell you the names of the Texas Senators and many named Rick Perry.

All this is the reason I write a little post on facebook each day about a history fact and what happened on this day in history. I don’t reach many readers and most of them are already informed, but it’s the best I can do to try and make folks aware of what has happened in the past that has shaped our present and determines our future

2011-07-28T03:48:00.000-07:00

I have always loved books. It started with comic books and a little science book about the Wonder of Living Things. That science book was one of the initial sparks that led me into a career of medicine. I gradually progressed in my reading habits and settled on Mark Twain as my favorite. Through the years I have relished the joy of reading. Now, books as I knew them are disappearing and being replaced by the electronic version.

Borders bookstores are the latest victim in the vanishing world of books. Kindles and Nooks are now becoming the preferred method to read a book. These are great and convenient with the books even costing less than the printed paper version. I still like cuddling up with a hardback book and even enjoy the smell of the printed word. All this is now going the way of the horse and buggy.

The great magazines of my childhood have disappeared and the newspapers are in a rapid state of decline. Letters and handwritten correspondence have gone the way of the scroll. Even e-mail has declined in favor of texting using symbols and abbreviations. About the only mail I now receive at the post office are advertisements. No wonder the postal system is broke.

The small independent bookseller is totally a thing of the past. Soon there will only be two booksellers; Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Hope these giants survive. Even these giants are threatened by places like Sams that sells books for greatly reduced prices. There is hope that Sams and Walmart will be unsuccessful in the book business because their average customer doesn’t care about reading.

Anyway, it’s sad to see books like good TV and Movies fade into oblivion. I’m trying to learn the art of texting, but my thumbs and sensitive screens seem incompatible. Also, much of the written word, in any form, will likely be replaced by symbols and abbreviations. Even oral communication is being threatened by squeaks, groans, and words like awesome, like and you know.

When my new porch is completed, I guess all I can do is sit and stare at my backyard. There will be no books and the only TV shows are things like Americas Got Talent, Dancing with the Stars, Survival shows and CSI, all of which I hate. Even the pesky deer have disappeared from my life. All this is enough to make a body depressed.

2011-07-21T09:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Texas Rangers invaded the office of McLennan County’s tax assessor-collector and removed his files and computers. He is accused of cheating on his income tax and not paying $1,300 on a deal he made by selling a county vehicle. The investigators are going to spend a million or more in the investigation that will probably result in his resignation and a jail sentence. The thing that struck me about the news coverage was seeing the large number of Texas Rangers required to invade his office. I always thought it was one Ranger per mob, but for a simple tax evasion crime it takes a dozen or more. The main thing that caught my interest about the story was seeing the Rangers. They all wore cowboy Stetson hats, big belt buckles, hand cuffs and pistol strapped to the belt and white shirts with a pot belly hanging over the belt. It’s the classic dress for the Texas lawman.

I love how folks dress like cowboys. The hat is the key for the cowboy look. A big belt buckle and boots are also essential. A pot-belly hanging over the belt is a must. At the first football game we attended in Temple we saw a fat man dressed like this walking around the track before the game started. We inquired about his identity, and sure enough he was the sheriff. He was a classic.

Some novices don’t know how to properly dress. One weekend when I was in a local feed store a doctor acquaintance was in line behind me. He was from another country and came to shop with the other cowboys. He thought he was dressed in the right cowboy attire. He wore a towering hat like Hoot Gibson, had a red bandana tied around his neck and wore cowboy boots with the pants legs stuffed into the top of the boots. At first I thought it was a joke or he was in some sort of costume. But no, he was for real and thought he was dressed like a cowboy. He looked like a clown. He wasn’t a rhinestone cowboy like Roy Rogers but a throw back to the silent movie era.

I have known a few real cowboys and they don’t dress anything like Texas Rangers or the movie characters. They usually wear old jeans, a work shirt that may be plaid and some scruffy looking boots. They commonly have a western type straw hat that is stained from sweat and dirt. Their belt buckles aren’t even that impressive and they are usually lean people with flatter bellies than their drug store counterpart.

Our mental images and impressions are really heavily influenced by the media. The media is mainly responsible for myths such as one Texas Ranger per mob and superhero rhinestone cowboys. Anyway, I feel a little sorry for that tax assessor-collector being invaded by an army of cowboy Texas Rangers for cheating the government out of 1,300 dollars.

2011-07-07T13:33:00.000-07:00

I have the life saving answer for the defense of Major Nidal Hasan, the accused Ft. Hood shooter. This is the Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people and wounded 12 others in 2009. He was shot and paralyzed during the shooting spree and is now in a plush Bell County jail at great expense to the taxpayers. The investigation of the shooting has taken months, but yesterday the Commanding General of Fort Hood said that Hasan will stand trial with the possibility of the death penalty if found guilty. Hasan’s present attorney is a master of delays and obstacles, so the trial may not get underway for several more months.

The press continues to refer to Hasan as the suspect for the killings or the alleged killer. Sometimes they call him the accused. How many more witnesses do we need to say he is the cold-blooded killer? If we wait long enough for the trial everyone involved will either be dead or forgotten. Maybe this tactic is what his defense attorney has in mind. Just continue to postpone and everything will be forgotten.

My suggestion for getting Hasan acquitted is to hire the attorneys for Casey Anthony. They are certain to get him off the hook. Anthony’s attorneys would not only get him acquitted but the Army would probably give him an honorable discharge and some sort of medal. It’s probably better that he be acquitted anyway, otherwise he will be considered a martyr by the Muslim community. After his acquittal he would be eligible for full time disability since he is paralyzed. What a deal criminals have these days. Justice is truly blind

Anyway, one sensational trial ever few decades is all we can handle. Casey Anthony is enough for awhile. Hasan’s trial can be postponed for several more years if he isn’t lucky enough to get the Anthony lawyers.

Justice is truly blind, deaf and mute. I like Mark Twain’s remarks about justice. “The rain falls upon the just and the unjust alike; a thing which would not happen if I superintended the rain’s affairs. No, I would rain softly and sweetly on the just, but if I caught a sample of the unjust outdoors I would drown him.”

2011-07-06T07:08:00.000-07:00

Casey Anthony was acquitted by a Florida jury of killing her 2 year old child. The world was surprised because all the evidence pointed to her as the killer. She didn’t report the child missing for over a month and during that time she went partying and even had a tattoo. The body of the child was finally found buried in Casey’s father’s backyard with duct tape over her mouth and nose. Initially, the father claimed the kid drown in the swimming pool. Everything pointed to Casey who initially said her child had been kidnapped but later denied this story.

I couldn’t believe the verdict. I might have bought the verdict of not guilty for reason of insanity. No matter how you look at the case, Casey is crazy. Now she is going to be free for reason of slick lawyers. It’s another O.J. Simpson case. The whole case again confirms my opinion of lawyers and the justice system. It’s not about the law but about lawyers. I have an incredible distaste for that profession and to think I have a couple of lawyers who are friends: no, wait that’s only one and he isn’t a trial lawyer.

The story by the defense is ridiculous. They could have presented any absurd tale and this jury would have bought it. There are some other likely scenarios for the murder and cover-up. The baby could have resulted from Casey being raped by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the French monetary man. Strauss- Kahn then had Inspector Clouseau or the French Foreign legion dispose of the body. Other likely possibilities are this could have been the love child of Arnold Schwarzenegger or John Edwards and they were involved in the murder and cover-up. These scenarios are just as plausible as the story by the defense that got her acquitted.

Maybe I should be happy with the legal system and the prosecution didn’t prove that Casey committed the murder beyond a reasonable doubt. I am left with more than a reasonable doubt about the intelligence and wisdom of the jury in this case. Sometimes I think the justice system of the Old West wasn’t so bad. Hang them and ask questions later. At least we didn’t have overcrowded prisons in those days, because the accused usually ended up in boot hill.

Now, Casey Anthony will join the ranks of other famous acquitted killers like; O.J. Simpson and Lizzy Borden. This will be a story that will be with us for a long time and one my grandchildren will tell to their kids. This story, like that of Lizzy Borden will become folklore. On the positive side, perhaps it will become a classic case study in criminology and law school. Also Caylee Anthony is in a better place without the misery of being raised by an immature, crazy, dysfunctional mother.

2011-06-20T19:11:00.000-07:00

A lot of words seem to be disappearing from our everyday language. Words like; thank you, excuse me, pardon me, I’m sorry, and hello are used much less frequently than in years past. Many older folks still use the terms, but they are becoming extinct in the vocabulary of the young.

Today, was a good example for me. I went to the post office to mail a couple of letters and on exiting rushed to the door to help a young lady struggling with lugging a baby in one of those large baby seats. I successfully got the door open for her to make an easy exit and she said nothing. No thank you, kiss my foot or anything. If I had dropped over with a heart attack she would have just stepped over my body and kept going. Unfortunately, her actions are becoming all too frequent and the norm for today’s society. I was raised adhering to the Boy Scout Oath and have tried to help those in need or in distress. I also said “thank you” if someone helped me, and “excuse me” if I inconvenienced anyone. Rude is now the expected behavior.

Personal correspondence is a thing of the past. Most of this is now by e-mail or texting. With texting there is no greeting. With e-mail and a rare letter the greeting is now “Hi.” “Hi” has replaced “hello”and "Dear." It’s a much more informal world, so I guess “Hi” is the appropriate word.

Finally, the words “I’m sorry” are rarely uttered in this day and time. Nobody apologizes for a goof, it’s always someone else’s fault. There are so many lawyers; they have indoctrinated us in this philosophy. Every error is somebody else’s fault and they must pay.

For a few weeks we are living in a temporary house while our new home is completed. I don’t have a porch to calm me down, so my blogs are the ravings of an old man. I don’t even have the deer to rant about anymore. I awake in the morning and look at the drought, parched yard in this place and am blessed not to have a herd of deer staring back at me. I’m not sorry about that and also say thank you for the ordinances or whatever that keeps them off the city streets.

2011-06-15T18:12:00.000-07:00

I spent the morning in the Verizon store straightening out my multiple communications paraphernalia. I have more stuff than the Apollo astronauts when they went to the moon. My latest addition is a 4G Broadband Mobile Internet Access. It’s a little box, smaller than a cell phone that lets you get on the internet from anyplace. No more paying large fees in fancy hotels to get computer access and you can hookup anywhere Verizon has coverage, which is everywhere. It’s very fast and cost $50 a month. I’m going to use this for internet access in our new home since we are in a remote location and the telephone doesn’t have DSL and there is no cable hookup.

This internet box is only one of my Verizon toys. We have two cell phones. My phone is a Droid which is the same as an iphone with dozens of applications including; GPS, e-mail, facebook and all other internet connections. I can tunes into ball games through ESPN or get instant weather reports including Doppler pictures that are real time. That little phone lets you have the world in your hands.

I have mixed feelings about all this fancy communication. I still like my old phone with a cord that just rings rather than playing some fancy tune. That old phone has the ear piece over the ear and the mouth piece in front of the mouth and I can actually hear the person I’m talking to. There is also just too much dependence on the phone these days with everyone having an answering system. I can never talk to anyone in a business I try to contact without going through a complicated menu of punch 1,2,3 etc. I’m always placed on hold to listen to music and some voice telling me that all representatives are currently busy and please hold because my business is very important to them. Humbug!. Where is the secretary or other human? The phone is the reason unemployment is so high.

I long for the old days when I picked up the phone and the operator said number please. My number was 134. The operator probably listened to all the conversations but she could also find anyone for you. That was real personal service.

Don’t guess I should complain because all the numbers I need to know are programmed into my phone and all I have to do is push a button and the party I’m calling addresses me by name when they answer because the have caller ID. If I don’t want to call, I now simply send a text message. All this is pretty fancy stuff, but it comes with a price tag. My communication bill per month is now as much as I used to pay for groceries for 6 months. Oh well, talking rather than eating is a good way to Keep the weight down. Maybe I should write a book on that subject.

2011-06-10T15:02:00.000-07:00

It’s only June and we have already had several days when the temperature broke 100 degrees. July and August are going to be miserable. To make matters worse, there has been no rain. We are in the mist of a devastating drought. Even more damaging is that we have slipped into another recession. All this is a possible replay of the Great Depression. We have another Dust Bowl, unemployment and no money. It’s going to be a long hot summer.

Even with all the heat, I prefer summer to winter. The other great thing about summer is the food. Food is just better in the summer. Fresh vegetables can’t be beaten. Homegrown tomatoes are a gift from the Gods. I can eat tomatoes from Mexico and other foreign places during the winter if they are disguised in a hamburger or salad with a lot of dressing. The tomatoes grown locally and ripened on the vine are a gourmet delight and I like to just slice them and eat them with other fresh vegetables, like peas, corn and okra. Of course, fried chicken is a perfect compliment to a tasty plate of fresh vegetables. Local watermelon is also a summer delicacy as well as peaches from the orchards in East Texas. Ice cream is nectar from the Gods that is best eaten on a hot summer day. I have paid multi-bucks for meals in fancy restaurants but none of these places compare to the summer delicacies prepared at home.

Other important facts about tomatoes are; they must be obtained straight from your own or a friends garden and be firm and red at the time of picking. They are also good if obtained from a local farmer who may be selling then by the side of the road. Even homegrown tomatoes seem to lose their rich taste if they are cycled through a store. Most are pretty good if bought at a farmer’s market, but sometimes the foreign substitute can sneak into these places.

Anyway, a friend just gave us a big batch of the red beauties from their garden, so I know what I will be eating for the next few days. Nothing in winter can beat the summer delicacies and the satisfaction of a home cooked meal. Even the news of a recession is tolerable with that kind of feast.

2011-06-02T10:51:00.000-07:00

We have been shopping for fixtures for the new home. We are also looking at counter tops for the kitchen and bathrooms. Granite is the “in” thing for the kitchen and there are various grades of this stuff. The bathroom may be marble or tile. It’s all very confusing and expensive.

Plumbing fixtures are the other items we have researched. It’s amazing how toilets have changed. Manufacturers are now designing them to use less water for flushing. There are now big holes in the tank to allow a larger quantity of water to flood the bowl very rapidly and produce a forceful flush. Unless the occupant is holding tight they may be sucked into the sewer system in the twinkling of an eye. The toilets come in various colors and heights and can be attached to the floor or wall. They have become a work of art. The internal mechanism in the tank is very complicated and looks like the interior of a nuclear reactor and can produce a melt down of the deposit in the bowl.

The toilet has come a long way since I was a kid and used the bathroom facilities of my uncle. He had an outdoor privy with a single hole. Some folks had a two holer so another person could keep you company for a dual evacuation. We didn’t have toilet tissue. That would have been a luxury item. We used a Sears and Roebuck catalog which gave a slick wipe.

The privy could be a dangerous place and was a common home for the black widow spider that could inflict a poisonous and painful bite. Wasp and other creatures also inhabited the privy. The privy was always located a safe distance from the house to minimize the odor. Lime was sprinkled on the excrement. I never saw my uncle clean the facility but that must have been an unpleasant chore.

Anyway, science has given us some amazing things in the past few years, but the toilet ranks up there with rocket ships, the atomic bomb and the CT scanner. Just hope I don’t encounter my demise with one of those powerful flushes.

2011-05-31T08:28:00.000-07:00

We are building a new home and I am amazed at how the styles change, yet they don’t change. 20 years ago we built a home in Salado that had all the modern trimmings. The house was built after the model of a Louisiana Plantation home. It has the style that was over 100 years old. It’s a style I loved and will miss. Our new home looks entirely different. The outside is much more rustic in appearance, like a lodge. The outside is a brown rough looking stone that takes us back to the time of the caveman. That’s okay because I hate the more modern styles. Both of the homes we have built are so called timeless homes. It’s the inside that differs from times past. The interior styles and décor in houses changes almost weekly. Something installed today is out of date by the time it is in place.

When I was a kid everyone had a hardwood floor or one covered with linoleum. Only rich folks had carpet. Everyone dreamed of having wall- to- wall carpet. Through the years, everyone got carpet and it is now out of vogue. Everybody is going back to hardwood floors. Wallpaper is out, and it used to be the rage. Walls are now painted and textured with so called earth tones that look somewhat like a sod home or the inside of a cave. Counter tops were made of tile of covered with linoleum when I was growing up, but now everything must be granite. Many of the modern homes today have a fancy outdoor grill with elaborate cooking equipment and well furnished patio furniture. The modern home dweller is attempting to move back outdoors like our ancestors.

Many of the features in the new homes seem to be getting us back to nature and are a throw back to caveman or more primitive ways. All these changes support my theory that we are in a reverse evolution trend and are descending from the ape. The main thing is that it cost a lot more to build than in the caveman days. The sad thing about modern day building is that the porch is disappearing. The porch is no longer useful since folks don’t have time to visit or do the other things that the porch was made for such as catching a cool breeze, drinking lemonade, shelling peas and such.

2011-05-26T21:09:00.000-07:00

We have moved to our temporary little rent house until our new home is completed. Our kitchen is now local restaurants and fast food places. I have been eating a lot of chicken and none of it taste like the chicken I ate as a kid or the kind my spouse prepares.

When I was a kid we raised our own chickens and the flavor was out of this world compared to the anemic stuff today. Today’s chickens have been breed to have large breast. These hugh chunks of meat are never cooked properly and are either too dry or raw in the middle. Chickens are also cut up differently today. As a kid, my favorite piece was the pulley bone, better known as the wishbone. This tasty morsel is now part of the breast and totally disguised.

The fast food chicken places of today usually serve a large piece of batter with the meat of the chicken buried in this fat laden plaque producing crust. These chicken places vary by the spices used in their batter that disguise the taste of the meat. The chicken really doesn’t matter, it could just as well be shoe leather.

My spouse prepares chicken for frying in much the same way as my mother did. She simply rolls the chicken is flour and liberally sprinkles it with salt and pepper. Another technique she uses is to roll the chicken pieces in buttermilk then flour. The batter is not all that thick, but forms a tasty brown shell when cooked at the right temperature for the just the right length of time that requires an experienced eye. Of course, fresh Crisco or oil is essential for the best taste rather than grease that has been used over and over for frying everything in the kitchen.

Frying, of course, is only one of many ways of preparing the bird. As a kid I really didn’t know it could be grilled, smoked, baked or made into all sorts of salads. I was raised on the fried stuff, and if done properly that remains one of my favorite foods. I can’t wait until we are in the new home so my spouse can break out the skillet and fry up a tasty batch of the bird in the way it is supposed to be fixed.

We

2011-05-20T17:02:00.000-07:00

We are moving from our beautiful home and porch in Salado. We are only moving about 10 miles away to Belton. We sold our home and the house we are building won’t be ready until sometime in July. In the menwhile, we are living in a temporary home in Temple. I miss my porch and even miss the deer eating all my plants.

Moving has been very traumatic for someone my age. My spouse seems to be holding up well, but even she is beginning to feel the pain. The trouble is that all this moving will be in vain because this fellow in California swears the world is going to end on Saturday.

All my life, I have heard preachers and others predicting the world is about to end. Entire religions are based on this prediction. Another group of scholars claim that the end is going to be Dec.21, 2012. I say all these guys are wrong because the Bible says that no man knows the day when the end will occur. That day is called the Rapture. That’s when Jesus comes and takes all the believers to heaven.

Anyway, I’m ready for the end. I hope they have a nice porch in heaven. I’m looking forward to seeing many of the people I have loved who have passed on. I even hope folks like Mark Twain are there. Twain said there would be no dogs in heaven. He said that admission to heaven was by favor not merit. If it were by merit, then the dog would go in and you would stay out.

This 89 year old prophet, sho is predicting the end of the world, said there is going to be a massive earthquake that will make the recent one in Japan look like a picnic. Atheist and Christians alike are claiming this guy doesn’t know what he is talking about. I heard him interviewed on TV and he seems pretty sure of himself. He has certainly gained a lot of attention. It will be interesting to see if we can still read this blog on Sunday.

Anyway, moving at my age is almost like experiencing the end of the world. For now, I am without a porch so there is nothing to inspire me. I feel like those poor folks in Japan or Haiti after their big quakes. At least I can see my new porch being constructed and if the Rapture comes on Saturday, I do hope there is a nice porch in heaven.

2011-05-11T05:25:00.000-07:00

There has been no blog in the past several days because there has been very little humor. Our family has been mourning the death of our nephew who died in the prime of life from leukemia and lymphoma. He had received chemotherapy for the past 3 years with little effect. He suffered all the side effects of the drugs including; hair loss, nausea, vomiting, infections and everything in between. He was much too young to die at age 53.

In the middle of all this sadness the only humorous experience was a visit with a physician who had come to my former institution of medical practice as a consultant and as a guest speaker. This fellow is the author of the book “ Mark Twain and Medicine.” He is an authority on my hero, Mark Twain and it was my privilege to go to dinner with him and also hear his speech. He was terrific, and it was almost as good as it might have been to have dinner with Mark Twain himself. I had a most delightful and entertaining time talking to this scholarly gentleman who knew just about everything about Twain. Between the two of us we possessed all knowledge about Mark Twain; he knew everything there was to be known and I knew everything else.

This fellow’s book was as much about the history of medicine in Twain’s time as it was about Mark Twain himself. It contained most of the humor of Twain that poked fun at medicine and doctors. Most of the treatments in Twain’s time were ridiculous and totally ineffective. The germ theory of disease had just been recognized toward the end of Twain’s life. Modern surgery, antibiotics and all the marvels of modern medicine didn’t exist in Twain’s time. It was a time for charlatans and all sorts of worthless medicines and cures. Mark Twain had a great time poking fun at these absurd practices. Twain also had some of his own recommended cures, like the advice he gave a lady about her illness. He told her she needed to give up smoking, drinking and swearing and she would get well. She claimed she didn’t do any of these things. He replied that she was a hopeless case, and she was like a sinking ship with nothing to throw overboard. She was doomed because she had neglected her habits.

Anyway, I had a great time with this Mark Twain scholar. He brought the only shred of humor at a very sad time. We reflected on what people will be saying and laughing about 100 years from now about our practices. Chemotherapy will probably be one of them. Folks will be saying; can you imagine they used to give people poisons that would make their hair fall out and throw up everything they ate. Hopefully, in a 100 years from now doctors will have a better and more humane cure for cancer and folks like my nephew will be able to live a full life and laugh at Mark Twain stories until a ripe all age.

2011-05-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

Today, most everyone in America is celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden, the spiritual head of al Quaeda and mastermind of the 9/11 attack and many other terrorist related deaths. While I am rejoicing at this death, my family is weeping and mourning the imminent death of my beloved nephew who is the same age as Osama bin Laden. Our nephew is dying from cancer and has done nothing but good things in his life. He has been a wonderful father and husband and a caring physician who has touched many lives in a very positive way.

Death is the greatest mystery of life. There is no hard scientific evidence that any part of us exist after our heart, either naturally of by mechanical support, ceases to beat. Many of us believe in an afterlife. As a Christian I believe this exist by believe in Jesus Christ who I accept as God, in the form of man, who came to earth and died for me and was resurrected on the third day. Others don’t believe in this Jesus and believe they can achieve the afterlife by belief in other saviors or by other means. Some believe in absolutely nothing after the heart stops. This latter group of folks may be in trouble if I am correct, otherwise it doesn’t make any difference. Only time will tell who is correct.

Even among Christians there is great debate about what the afterlife is like. Do people go directly to heaven or is there a waiting period? Folks like Osama bin Laden believe it’s okay to kill yourself if you take a few Christians and other infidels with you. He also believes these suicide martyrs will be greeted in the afterlife with a room full of virgins waiting for a big orgy. I prefer to think he checked into hell itself.

In my afterlife, I hope there are many mansions as the Bible says. Some religious groups think they are the only one there, so they may be off to themselves. As for me, I would hope to have a nice porch with a rocker and some of my good books. I would like to visit with some of the folks I have liked in this life as well as having family nearby all the time. Of course, I hope there would be no deer or other pest. I would sure like to visit with Mark Twain, but I’m not sure he will be there. I suspect there is still a good chance Twain will be in heaven, because it would be unfair to have him in hell and provide any amusement for folks like Osama bin Laden.

2011-04-28T20:14:00.000-07:00

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and Adaptation of the Species became controversial from the beginning. He came up with the idea after making a trip to the Galapagos Islands where he observed some of the weird animal life in that remote place. There were birds without wings and other oddities. That was way back in 1836. The Theory was introduced in his famous book on the subject and became a real hot topic after the famous Scopes or Monkey Trial in 1925.

The writer, Kurt Vonnegut, wrote a humorous book called Galapagos in which he described a tour boat on its way to the island when everyone else in the world died, but the folks on the boat survived. When they reached the island they started to adapt and evolve back to lower forms and their offspring, a million years into the future, had taken on many animal features and developed a much smaller brain because the big brain wasn’t needed anymore. Mark Twain, in a similar theory, said that man had descended from the monkey.

All these guys may have been right. We have been messing with Mother Nature in a big way and as a result we are going through some strange adaptations. We have overpopulated the planet and the human species has made some peculiar adaptations. People have a hard time getting along with each other and as a result we have wars to keep the population thinned. Another change that has occurred is the increasing role of the woman to be a breadwinner because of the need to afford all the junk we buy. The woman’s increasing role as a breadwinner and worker have taken her out of the home and business of child bearing. Her new role is a natural form of birth control. The career development path for women has also made child bearing occur at an older age, thus limiting the number of children in a family as well as producing a whole new set of diseases that have weakened the species.

Homosexuality is another form of population control that is a form of adaptation for our species. We are the only species of animal that practices the act of homosexuality. The other animals have predators that keep their population trimmed. Humans have no predators except for themselves. As a result, Mother Nature has taken care of the problem by increasing the number of homosexuals to control reproduction.

Darwin, Vonnegut and Twain all make sense. Maybe as we continue to descend from the ape to lower forms we will have predators that will help take care of our population problem. The government that has been our source of strength has now grown into a monster that threatens to consume us. So, we are adapting to control our population explosion through government intervention in our lives. Mother Nature is also helping with the earthquakes, tsunamis and tornados.

So, I think we are evolving and adapting to control our population growth. I differ from Darwin in my belief that we are descending rather than ascending from the ape.

2011-04-22T19:49:00.000-07:00

My back is killing me. We are in the process of moving and I have been packing books all day. Fortunately, a very strong young man is really doing most of the work and I have just been sorting and handing him the books that he rapidly packs into boxes. The boxes now fill a large room and I have given several boxes to the Salvation Army.

It’s hard to believe I have read a lot of those book and my wife has also read a big share. I wish I had retained a fraction of the contents. Just about every genre is represented. There are biographies, history, and every type of fiction including; science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, and historical novels. I have a wide variety of chidren’s books, cook books and books on gardening. There are how-to books on just about every subject from plumbing to auto repair. I have many books on religion and a large collection of Bibles. I am most proud that I have the complete works of Mark Twain by several publishers and large collections on the Civil War and the History of Medicine. In addition I have many medical books and textbooks from college and medical school.

All these books are like old friends. I reminisce as I carefully handle each one. They are old friends I have known for well over half a century. They have informed me, but more importantly they have entertained me. They have helped me take flight into other worlds and some places that exist only in the imagination or a dream. Through these books I have solved mysteries with Sherlock Holmes fought battles with Robert E. Lee and sailed around the world with Tristan Jones. Over and over again, I have laughed at the humor of Mark Twain and savored his satire and view of the world. I have explored the imaginary worlds created by Robert E. Howard and J.R.R. Tolkien. I have done all these things without leaving the house. Many of these books accompanied me as I passed through the valley of death recovering from cancer surgery. Yes, indeed they have been my good friends.

As I packed the books I occasionally thought about how much they had cost. I could have retired a few years earlier if my money had not been spent on the habit of reading, but yet I may have earned much less if I had not acquired some of the knowledge contained within the pages of my library. Anyway the inventory of my books as we pack them is worth the pain in my back.

2011-04-17T09:39:00.000-07:00

During my life, I have been fortunate enough to sit on some fairly important Boards and be advised by several knowledgeable people. All that has now passed. I now live a life of relative obscurity. My wife and children are my main advisors. Now, outside of the family my Barber would have to rank as my top advisor and primary source of information. I had rather sit in his shop and listen to him and his customers than for any Board meeting I could attend.

My barber is really a great source of useful and entertaining information. He is better than the internet, Wall Street Journal, local newspaper, CNN, Fox News, People magazine, Sports Illustrated and just about everything else combined. He is more accurate than most polls and is always correct in predicting the outcome of an election or the winner of a sporting event. What I like about him is that he is not the least bit arrogant about his encyclopedic knowledge. He also advises me about my yard, the weather and a host of other things pertinent to everyday living. Not only does he fill me with a head full of information and gossip, he makes me look good in the process. He administers a perfect haircut and trims all the excess hair growing form my eyebrows, nose and ears. I get a shoulder massage and a touch of hairspray to boot.

I only wish President Obama, Governor Rick Perry and some of our politicians could have him for a barber. I believe he would be able to help with some of our economic problems. Unfortunately, most would not buy into his recommendations because they would stress honesty and hard work.

The 12 dollars I pay for a haircut is well worth it. It’s a lot more than the 25 cents I paid when I was a kid but it’s much cheaper than a visit to a psychiatrist office or to a movie where I pay that much for a bag of popcorn and a coke.

My barber is growing old along with me. He now sits down to cut hair but does a fantastic job. Going to his shop has become one of the few reasons for me to leave the porch. I always come back looking a little better and a whole lot smarter.

2011-04-11T20:50:00.000-07:00

As we prepare to move to a new home we are in the process of trying to downsize. That is a very tough job. Parting with some of the stuff we have collected for over 50 years can be very emotional. I save a lot of stuff for sentimental reasons, and other things I have collected thinking they would increase in value after they were no longer made or easily obtained. It seems that everyone my age has been doing the same and the world is now overrun with collectibles. The baby boomers have now reached retirement and folks are just living longer, so there is a lot more of this collectible stuff. It has become worthless and of little value. It also fills a lot of boxes when packing.

As I sit here at my desk, typing this blog, I’m looking at little figurines and bust of some of my heroes like, Mark Twain, St. Luke, Hemingway, Shakespeare and Asbel Smith. I have a nice metal coaster with the emblem of the State of Texas and some other assorted junk. I might get about 50 cents for the whole lot of stuff in an estate sale. When cleaning out my attic I found a Life magazine published when JFK was assassinated with his picture on the front cover. I saw one of these recently in a junk store and it’s value was less than the original price. Gold class rings, silver tea sets and other such metal objects are now worth more melted than in their molded state of beauty.

I thought my kids might want some of my priceless stuff, but they have their own collection of junk that will be in need of disposal. I don’t think there is enough landfill space to take care of all the trash everyone my age has now collected.

I’m throwing away as much as my nervous system can stand, but we will be moving far move than necessary. All I can do is hope that the eventual estate sale will give someone a little satisfaction. I only wish I could discover someway to convert everyone’s collectibles and other junk into fuel. It would definitely solve the energy problem.

2011-04-04T17:50:00.000-07:00

Henry David Thoreau has always been one of my heroes. He built a small cabin adjacent to Walden Pond near Concord, Mass. He lived there by himself, several miles from civilization, and communicated with nature for a couple of years. He lived very simply with just the very basics for life support. He walked through the woods, and rowed on the waters of Walden Pond, as he observed nature and wrote about it in what was to be one of the greatest books in American Literature, Walden. He was a friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson and the other intellectuals in Concord. Thoreau died when he was only 44 years old. As he was dying, someone ask if he had made peace with God and he said, “I didn’t know we had argued.”

Thoreau’s main message was to simplify your life. He would not be proud of me. We are in the process of moving and are trying to throw away tons of useless, unessential garbage we have accumulated in over 50 years of marriage. The audio visual stuff including; reel to reel tapes, tapes cassettes, 8 tracks, vinyl 45 and 33 1/3 records, VHS, CDs and DVDs is enough to make Thoreau throw up. Most of my electronic equipment, including a box of old cell phones, belongs in the Smithsonian. We have a dish antenna on the roof beaming a picture to four television sets with news about who killed who in Waco and Killeen. I’m addicted to the computer with things like e-mail and facebook. I am literally saturated with unessential information and have crowded out space for treasures like Walden.

As we prepare to move into our new home there is a part of me that longs to be a Thoreau, and be content with moving into a simple one room house with a bed, a writing table and a fireplace. At one time I had a cabin, almost like Thoreau’s, located in the piney woods of East Texas. The house did have indoor plumbing and running water, but it was as divine a place as I have seen on the planet. It was like a porch that was a permanent dwelling place. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Enough daydreaming. It’s back to packing. I have a book collection that is large enough to start a small Library of Congress. There are some paperbacks that are so ancient the pages are brittle and yellow, but throwing them away would be like shooting an old friend. Even Thoreau wouldn’t want me to throw them away.

2011-03-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

I often think about the Old Chisholm Trail. This is the famous cattle trail that extended from below San Antonio, Texas to the railheads in Abilene, Kansas. Over 5000 head of cattle followed this trail in the late 1800s before extension of the railroads into Texas, and the demise of the Longhorn cattle made in disappear. I am reminded of the trail because it ran right through my current dwelling place in Bell County. The main street of the little village of Salado was the Chisholm Trail and the cattle crossed Salado Creek that served as a watering hole. I turn on Chisholm Street everyday to exit the subdivision of my residence. The story of the trail is also indelibly imprinted into my brain by the movies staring Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. The classic movie about the trail drive was “Red River” staring John Wayne and Montgomery Cliff. That movie has one of the best fight scenes ever filmed. Then, in more recent years the TV Epic, Lonesome Dove, tells the story of the cattle drives.

Movies and books paint a vivid picture of the cattle drives filled with its many dangers from Indians raids, cattle rustlers, stampedes, storms and droughts. It all sounds scary. There is no longer the need for cattle drives and the closes thing we have to the Chisholm Trail is Interstate 35. As I think about it, and read the paper everyday, it is apparent that traveling on I35 is far more dangerous than the old cattle drives along the Chisholm. Deaths from auto accidents far exceed any of the raids by Indians. Perverts, rapist, serial killers, drug dealers, swindlers, aggressive drivers and others in the trade make cattle rustlers look like a Sunday School class.

I sometimes imagine myself riding on the Chisholm Trail as I drive along I35. When I’m clipping along at 70 mph and there is an 18 wheeler tailgating me, It’s like being pursued by a band of wild Indians. As I enter the Dallas traffic, on the way to my daughter’s home, it’s like being in a stampede. When I pull over to fill up with gas that’s like being held up by a gang of rustlers. So, the Old Chisholm Trail has nothing on me for an adventurous ride.

The Old Chisholm Trail is about 100 yards from my porch and I35 is about a half mile away. I can hear the roar of the trucks at this distance. From the safety of the porch it’s good to just sit back and imagine all the action that has happened along that stretch of real estate.

2011-03-16T19:58:00.000-07:00

The poor folks in Japan have been hit with triple disasters; an earthquake, a tsunami and a possible nuclear meltdown. Anyone of these three would have been bad enough, but all three is the perfect storm to create the ultimate disaster. The earthquake is the largest on record in Japan and the tsunami is the disaster that delivered the destructive and crippling blow. Now the damage at a nuclear power plant has the potential of becoming the biggest meltdown of a reactor in history. There have been two other meltdowns, one at Three Mile Island in the US and the other at Chernobyl in Russia. Chernobyl was the worst and has left the site contaminated and an uninhabitable wasteland.

In Japan, four reactors are threatened. If the reactors are not cooled the core will melt and release clouds of dangerous radioactive material such as Radioactive Iodine, Cesium, Strontium, Plutonium and others. Exposure to these agents may be fatal in large amounts and in smaller amounts may cause cancer after a latent period of 20 or more years. The people most threatened by this deadly mixture are those in the near vicinity. If the radioactive material gets into the atmosphere it may be carried for relatively long distances but there is virtually zero danger of it reaching the US even in trace amounts. Those in Tokyo, some 200 miles away. are is some danger, but even there the amounts will probably not be harmful.

Folks on the west coast of the US are, nevertheless, needlessly panicked. They have emptied the shelves of potassium Iodide tablets. This medicine will block the thyroid from taking up Radioactive Iodine and give protection from developing thyroid cancer many year down the pike. That is all the potassium Iodide will do, it will not protect from the other forms of radiation that are a greater problem. The people think the potassium Iodide is going to do the trick for everything. In California they don’t need it or anything else because they aren’t going to get any radiation even with the worse scenario.

The interesting thing today is that our great Surgeon General knew nothing about the run on potassium Iodide in California or anything about a radiation threat. When ask about the situation she said, it’s good to be prepared. That statement only made people try and obtain more of the potassium Iodide.

So, we have a panicked US public about a disaster that poses no threat to them and a Surgeon General who is the greatest threat for the US. It’s back to the porch for refuge and thankful I don’t live near an active fault, the ocean or a nuclear power plant. It’s hard enough dealing with rednecks, the crowd at WalMart, and the traffic on I35.

2011-03-12T09:46:00.000-08:00

It’s been another bad week in the news. A powerful earthquake and subsequent tsunami devastated parts of Japan. The tsunami even reached the US West Coast and Hawaii. Much of the eastern US continues to have heavy snows and Biblical type flooding. Libya continues to be in turmoil with a developing civil war while the rest of the world stands by and gives the rebels no aid. All of the Middle East is at the boiling point.

The only good thing about the news this week is that the disasters have preempted the ridiculous stories about Charlie Sheen and Lindsey Lohan that have dominated the airways. Who cares about the dope head and his sexual exploits? I’m happy he has been fired by his TV network, but don’t care to hear anymore about it on the news.. Sheen was on all the talk shows and news broadcast. He is now giving a one-man stage show set for Chicago and New York. Thank goodness I have never seen his TV show. The thing that blows my mind is that Sheen has 2 million followers on Twitter.

Almost as bad as Charlie Sheen is Lindsey Lohan. Who cares if she stole a necklace? Just put her in jail and move on to the next case. Rehab isn’t going to help her. In her case, they should go back to an old treatment called a frontal lobotomy. That would also be a recommended treatment for Charlie Sheen.

I can’t wait for the wedding of Prince William. Maybe the news will shift to this multi-million dollar affair. I’m sure something will happen at this even that will capture the distorted eye of the news media. Maybe, both Sheen and Lohan will attend the wedding. It would be even more sensation if Tiger Woods attended along with Sheen. They could give the Prince a few pointers about his wedding night and great advice about how to handle women.

Well, it’s time to get back on the porch and turn the TV on to hear about the melt down of the nuclear power plant in Japan. That will set nuclear energy back for another quarter century and end the obvious solution to many of our energy problems. It’s back to fighting over oil in the Middle East and our dependence on these radical Christian and Jew killers for this precious liquid. We are nothing more than a Gollum in Lord of the Rings in our dependence on this “Precious.”

2011-03-08T11:33:00.000-08:00

We have one granddaughter in the Greater Dallas Youth Symphony and another in the Austin Youth Symphony. We have heard both of these groups play and they are fantastic. It’s amazing what beautiful sounds come from these kids. Their performances are not only great, but they play classical and pop selections that I love much better than some of the more contemporary weird sounds I hear from professional symphonies. I like pieces such as; “The Light Cavalry Overture”, “William tell Overture” and “Swan Lake.” Kids love to play those pieces and I enjoy listening to them because I am reminded of the Lone Ranger and such.

Now we are in such a budget crunch that many of these programs involving the arts will be cut or severely curtailed in public schools. Nationally, cuts for public radio and other programs to promote the arts are on the chopping block.

Music keeps a lot of kids in school, and sports also retains many that would otherwise drop out. It was through band that I met my spouse in high school. In my high school class, one person became a professional oboe player, another a professional opera singer and another a high school band director. Several taught music and enriched the lives of others through teaching or performing music. Now, all these programs are threatened. Schools may scale back to the use of slates and chalk.

Anyway, as my granddaughter’s Youth Symphony played the piece Gabriel’s Oboe, my spouse and I both got tears in our eyes thinking of our classmate who played oboe professionally and is now deceased. I don’t guess they will be turning out people like that from our public schools anymore. There will also be no libraries in the schools, so kids will have little opportunity to learn the joy of reading.

I’m just going to dust off my old vinyl records and listen to some of the old simple classics. Even if I could afford the gas to drive to Austin or Dallas to listen to the professional symphonies I wouldn’t enjoy or understand what they are playing. I’m going to miss the youth symphonies if they go by the wayside.

2011-02-26T06:28:00.000-08:00

Many states are facing major budget deficits and are looking at drastic ways to cut government spending. Wisconsin seems to be experiencing some of the greatest problems with state workers facing salary and benefit cuts as well as their right to collective bargaining.

Texas is also facing a meg-dollar deficit and many of the schools are facing draconian cuts. They are considering salary cuts for teachers as well as the elimination of many positions and programs. Even librarians and libraries are on the chopping block. It’s hard for me to imagine a school with no librarian or library. I guess the internet has become the primary source for the written word and we have Goggle rather than a librarian. It just seems impossible that the library may no longer be the center or nucleus for the dissemination of knowledge. All this seems like a science fiction story I once read where a man wished away his body parts because he didn’t think they were essential. First he started with his legs, then arms, and so on, until there was nothing left. Maybe this is just a process of evolution in which our society evolves to nothing.

My daughter has been a high school librarian for years and is even on a state committee that selects books for high school libraries. She has made books and reading exciting for the students. Now after years of hard work, all this is in jeopardy. Thanks to all the glutinous entitlement programs and also to Governor Rick Perry (Texas Gadhafi) for sucking the life blood out of our society. There is simply nothing more important than teachers and the education of our children, even our health care and many of the welfare programs. As education diminishes so does our life blood and the very element that makes us grow and advance in society.

Several years ago a library was started in our community. A primary source of funding for the library was a 1/2 cent sales tax on items purchased in our community. A citizen of the community, I know, is against all taxes and is also a person who has read few, if any books in his life. He was greatly opposed to the library and said. “we don’t need no lie-berrie in this town.” He was right, we didn’t need a library for him. You have to be able to read first. Maybe it’s best to just keep everybody behind a plow and the women pregnant.

It’s good to be retired and hiding on the porch. I may put locks on my book shelves because book burning may be next after closure of the libraries.

2011-02-22T10:24:00.000-08:00

I am trying to keep the blog journal entries as apolitical as possible so as not to offend anyone, but for the record, I can’t help but comment on the turmoil in the Middle East. That entire part of the world is boiling over by people who have been oppressed for years by ruthless dictators. These dictators salt away billions while their subjects starve and are terrorized. Our on country has coddled and appeased these dictators for years in order to satisfy our addiction to oil.

The common people are finally revolting at the risk of their lives. They are overthrowing the dictators and corrupt governments. Maybe, if we had waited, the people of Iraq would have overthrown Saddam Hussein, and it would have saved us billions of dollars and many lives of US soldiers. Although the overthrow has occurred in Iraq, and the government is fragile, it’s about as stable as they come in the Middle East.

I have been wondering where all these deposed dictators are going to go when they are exiled. I don’t know where Mubarak of Egypt is currently hiding. If Moammar Gadhafi falls in Libya, I don’t know where he will find a safe haven. Revolutions are also erupting in Bahrain, Tunisia, Yemen and places I didn’t even know existed. Where are all these leaders and government officials going when they are driven out of their countries? I suspect that Chavez in Venezuela or Castro in Cuba may welcome them but living conditions are pretty dismal in those places.

I used to have a piece of property in South East Texas that is hidden deep in the pine forest. It would have made a perfect hiding place. I used to think it would be the place I would go if there were a nuclear attack. It’s almost like Dogpatch USA. Except for me, no one really cared if the place existed or not, so it remained isolated through the years. It’s the perfect place to go and not worry about the rest of the world looking for you. Next to the porch, it’s the most restful and peaceful place I have found on earth. So, if I still owned the place I would offer it Mubarak, Gadhafi and others as a safe haven. Of course, I would charge them a hefty price. I would offer them a place on the porch but I’m afraid their camels wouldn’t mix very well with the deer in my back yard.

2011-02-20T18:26:00.000-08:00

Today, my spouse and I made the mistake of attending the church service in our Village of Salado. They had changed the service times around, so the 11:00AM service was the so called “contemporary service” rather than a traditional service. The contemporary service is the one that is supposed to appeal to the younger generation and the folks interested in Rock Music. This, theoretically, helps bring them into the fold.

The music was worse than horrible. There were two loud guitars, drums, keyboard, a saxophone player with sunglasses and two singers. There were very few young people in the service. For thirty minutes the congregation had to stand as the rock group performed. It was absolute torture. The government should try this technique rather than water-boarding. It is enough to make the most hardened AL Qaeda terrorist confess to anything. No one in the congregation sang except the two singers in the band. They sang, so called, praise music. I couldn’t understand the words to any of it. The minister finally spoke, and it was a fair sermon, although he played the harmonica to illustrate a point. His sermon was about Joshua and the Battle of Jericho, where the trumpets were blown and the people shouted and the walls came tumbling down. I guarantee you; if the rock group, at church this morning, had been at Jericho they would have had the same effect as the trumpets. Not only would the walls have come down, everyone would have run for cover including the Children of Israel.

To borrow a line from “The Catcher in the Rye” spoken by Holden Caulfield, “if Jesus would have been there he would have puked.” I hope to have a good shot at gaining entrance into the heavenly hereafter, and if I do I hope there are indeed many mansions in the place. I want to be in a mansion far removed from the rock and praise music singers. I would much prefer the harp and traditional music. It would be nice to be near the Mormon Tabernacle Choir or in the same place as George Beverly Shea. I wouldn’t even mind visiting the Church of Christ group who don’t use instruments at all. I probably won’t bother the Church of Christ folks because I want them to continue to think they are the only ones there.

Anyway, as I have said before there is no place like the porch for reverence. I can simply shut the rock bunch out completely, and put on the recording of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir or George Beverly Shea to get me in a reverent mood. There you have it. I know I have offended some folks with this one.

2011-02-17T12:24:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid I liked the newspaper mainly for the comics. As I grew older, I read the paper for the news and a few columnists. Now, with old age I turn immediately to the obituaries. I’m checking to see if my name is there and read about friends who may have passed on. I then read the Letters to the Editor because they are usually by people who are mad about something, and it makes interesting reading. I still like a few columnists. I get most of my news now from the internet or TV. The paper occasionally contains some local news of interest. The obituaries are what I enjoy most.

I guess I just have a morbid curiosity, but I read the obituaries in my local as well as my hometown paper even thought I haven’t lived there in over 50 years. I also enjoy the obituaries in the New York Times. I even have a book,”The Last Word,” that is a collection of interesting New York Times Obituaries. To make the New Your Times you must have done something interesting. For example, the book has one about a great teacher of the Classics at Harvard. He was the Mr. Chips of Harvard. There is also a good obituary about Orville Redenbacher, who revolutionized the popcorn industry. The one I really liked was about Babe Ruth’s little pal, Johnny Sylvester. This is the 11-year-old kid who was severely injured by a horse kick in 1926. The kid’s father didn’t think he would live so he sent a telegram to the New York Yankees asking for autographs to cheer his son. The entire team, including Babe Ruth, autographed a baseball for him. The Babe also told the kid he was going to knock a home run for him in the World Series. The Babe knockd three in one game. He told the kid he would knock another one in the next game, but didn’t. The Babe went and apologized personally to the kid. The kid survived and told the story for the next six decades. He died at age 74 and his obituary was in the NY Times.

I enjoy reading these interesting stories about just plain people who have done something extraordinary, I wish I could have known many of them in real life. If I had it all to do again, I would have tried to be an obituary writer for the NY Times.

One of the best obituaries I have read recently was by a 92-year-old cousin of by brother-in-law. The guy was very funny, even in death. His obituary was written in the first person. It started by saying he was dictating his obituary. Someone obviously filled in the blanks. One paragraph was a real jewel and said: “ I love you very much and I hope to see you in Heaven. For me to do that there are two things you must do. First, you must accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, follow Him and do His will. Second, you must pass away as I have.” Now that’s one of the neatest and most novel obituaries I’ve seen Iin a long time. Wish I could be that clever thinking things up, even in the face of death.

Anyway, this is all a little morbid, but you do learn a lot about people by reading their obituary. With some folks, that’s probably the best way to know them. I think I will just sit back on the porch and reread my New York Times Obituary book. It’s great entertainment as well as informative.

2011-02-14T20:13:00.000-08:00

My spouse and I traveled to San Antonio this past weekend to hear my granddaughter perform in the All State Symphonic Orchestra. She made All State in Viola last year as a freshman and again this year as a sophomore. Needless to say, we are very proud of her and all my grandkids.

The Orchestra, along with All State Bands and Choirs perform at the TMEA (Texas Music Educators Association) Convention each year. This is a huge convention and the place was packed with proud parents, relatives, student musicians and their teachers. I was most impressed when the President of TMEA read out the statistics of the orchestra members. Their average SAT scores are far above the average student and one student even made a perfect 2400.

As I sat there and listened to this group of outstanding students perform I was comforted by the fact that these are our future leaders and teachers. I feel much more secure about the future of our country when these young folks take over. I don’t have a trained ear but they sounded as good as any professional symphony I have heard, and I have heard quite a few. Even though it was a hassle for old folks like me to go the concert, and fight the crowd, it made me feel great, and also thankful for the teachers and parents of these outstanding kids.

After that great experience, my spouse and I then watched the Grammy Awards last evening. Boy, was that a contrast to the All State Orchestra. The popular songs of today really make me feel old and out of touch. We listened to the awards and the performers in order to, at least, have a little knowledge of the pop stars, and be able to converse with our grandkids. We even listened to the interview with Lady Gaga on 60 minutes. A group called Arcade Fire won best album of the year with Suburbs. That group even had violins and violas playing (I think). Mostly, what Arcade Fire had was noise, loud drums and wild lighting. I became depressed all over again. The only thing that saved me with the Grammy show was the song “Need You Now” by Lady Antebellum. That song was semi-sane. An overweight Barbra Streisand singing “Evergreen” helped me stay tuned to the end.

Anyway after the Grammy Awards I’m ready to go back to the TMEA Convention and hear that great group of kids. I’m just too old for today’s music and put up with the likes of Lady Gaga. The porch looks better every time I leave it.

2011-02-07T07:45:00.000-08:00

After a week of confinement from the freezing weather, the sun thawed things this weekend and allowed us to venture out and see a couple of our grandkids in great performances. One was a high school production of Li’l Abner and the other was the musical Annie by the Temple Civic Theater. The shows were terrific. I especially liked them because they were based on a couple of my favorite comic book characters.

The comics were my favorite reading material as a kid. My favorites were Superman, Batman and Captain Marvel, but I read them all including; Dick Tracy, Orphan Annie and Li’l Abner. I didn’t appreciate Li’l Abner and Al Capp, the guy who created it, until I was older. Capp was a master of satire and poked fun at most everything, especially the government. Capp’s cartoon strip was frequently banned and today he would really be considered politically incorrect. He offended a lot of folks, but he was very funny. Capp created some great characters like; Marryin' Sam, Hairless Joe, Lonesome Polecat, Evil-Eye Fleegle, General Bullmoose, Lena the Hyena, Senator Jack S. Phogbound, Scraggs, Washable Jones, Nightmare Alice, Earthquake McGoon, and a host of others. Most notably were the beautiful, full-figured women like Daisy Mae, Wolf Gal, Stupefyin' Jones and Moonbeam McSwine. All these characters lived in the worthless, backwoods town of Dogpatch. Most of these characters were in the musical production, and brought back some great memories.

Then, to make the weekend perfect we saw my youngest granddaughter play one of the orphans in Annie. That one also took me back to my childhood. There they were on stage, Annie, Daddy Warbuck’s and the dog Sandy. Missing was one of my favorites, Punjab the giant. The comic strip also had political commentary. In the stage production, I was really taken back to my childhood reading when Annie said, ”Leapin Lizards.” That was one of her favorite expressions and one I loved.

Unfortunately, the comics are disappearing along with the newspapers. I was lucky to live in the Golden Age of the comics, otherwise I may not have learned to read. At least reading was more fun and the comics were a lot more exciting that Dick and Jane. Some of the comics are still okay, but they have become very anemic in most papers. I used to trade them and probably had some valuable jewels. Not long ago, the first Superman comic published in the 30s sold for a million dollars. I probably had that one, but let it go like many other investments through the years.

Anyway, it was good to get off the porch for a little while this weekend and see these great musicals based on the comics that also included my grandkids in the cast. Even the porch can get confining in this cold weather, but I would get off the porch in any weather for a repeat of this

2011-02-03T17:39:00.000-08:00

I have not written a blog for several days.. I’m afraid the blog offends some folks. I don’t mean for it to offend anyone in particular, just everyone in general. The blog is called JLM’s Journal and is written for my personal satisfaction as a record of the things that interest me and I want to poke fun about. If I live long enough, I may go back and read them when I’m too feeble to type. They might amuse me at that time. It’s also a little record of my views that some future great, great grandkid might read. I would sure like to know what my great grandfather thought about the Texas Revolution, slavery, etc. As far as I know he didn’t write anything.

In my poking fun, I commonly refer to thieves, politicians, lawyers, bankers, doctors, preachers and others in the trade. Notice, I don’t say physicians or ministers. There is a difference in my mind between doctors and physicians and preachers and ministers. I don’t usually criticize people who earn their way by the sweat on their brow or respectable professions like teaching. I hold these folks in the highest esteem and consider some of them almost sacred. The only thing I criticize related to these folks is the injustices in their live like lack of proper respect or compensation. I also don’t like to criticize veterans who put their lives on the line for us. I have recently contributed to a blog that may be published on the web site of my previous place of employment. It’s about the problem of access to doctors and it’s sure to ruffle some feathers. Anyway, enough said about all this stuff.

In the past few days, its been too cold to think about anything except staying warm. In my advanced age it’s just harder to stay warm. This cold spell has made me think of other cold times in my life. When I was a kid I had three uncles who lived in the piney woods area. One was a farmer who had a son my age. I once visited them during a cold snap and remember it as one of the coldest times of my life. He lived in a Texas style dogtrot house with board siding and absolutely no insulation. Insulation had not been invented. You could actually see between the cracks of the adjacent boards. The house had a tin roof with little perforations in the tin that allowed you to see the night sky. There was no electricity, and as a result no lights. There was no indoor plumbing, so we used a chamber pot under the bed until daylight when we would make a run through the freeing weather to the outhouse. The house was built on bocks, so stepping on the floor was like stepping on a block of ice. The main heat for the house was a wood burning stove in the kitchen.

My Uncle would get up before daylight even in the winter and start a fire in the stove. He then went into the night to feed the animals and milk the cow. He then came in at dawn for a breakfast prepared on that stove by my aunt. There was no such thing as hot water from the tap. The breakfast was, nevertheless, great. We had mouth watering, deep yellow yard eggs, bacon, biscuits and unpasteurized milk with the cream. The breakfast was delicious but pure cholesterol.

I enjoyed playing with my cousin, but the visit was like camping with the most primitive conditions. It was during that cold visit when I decided I didn’t want to be a farmer. Now this doesn’t mean I don’t like farmers and am trying to demean their line of work. There conditions have greatly improved and I have great respect for farmers. The improvements were just too late for me, and my poor uncle.

Farming is a pretty hard life but some of these folks live a long time. Like my uncle I probably wouldn’t have been one of those to live so long. If I had chosen farming as a career, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here on the porch on this cold day writing a blog that, hopefully, won’t offend too many folks

2011-01-11T08:17:00.000-08:00

Here we go again with another suspect killer. The disturbed young man who shot U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, killed six people and wounded eight others is now considered a suspect in the shooting. This insane act took place with a parking lot full of witnesses with three of them tackling the guy and removing his weapon. He is now merely a suspect or alleged shooter. What does it take to say the guy is the killer? It’s now going to cost the taxpayer thousands of dollars to convict this madman. He won’t get the death penalty, so he will spend a number of years behind bars and in the courtroom at out expense.

The same thing happened over a year ago with the Ft. Hood Shooter. He is constantly referred to as the suspect or alleged shooter. It took over a year to even have a military hearing to determine if there was enough evidence for him to stand trial. In the meantime, he has cost us thousands of dollars for his care as a paraplegic with a special medically equipped jail cell. This guy’s lawyer has drug the process out for over a year with one excuse after another.

I realize that folks should be considered innocent until proven guilty, but in some cases, when it is obvious who is guilty, the process shouldn’t require any other investigation. Cowboy justice should prevail. The Ft. Hood terrorist and the Arizona madman should merely be taken to the nearest tree and hung. Some innocent folks have been put to death because of false information, but in the case of the Ft. Hood and Arizona nuts, they should be disposed of as soon as possible.

Anyway, if they are going to put these guys behind bars and wait for months to bring them to justice, I just wish they would stop calling them a suspect or alleged killer. Maybe we should change the wording in everything else that is reported. When a baseball team wins four out of a projected seven game series should we call them the suspected winner? If a political candidate wins 75% of the vote should we call him the suspected winner? If a funnel cloud dips down from the sky and destroys a town should we say that a tornado was a suspect for the destruction? In obvious cases we should just call a spade a spade and be done with it.

As I sit on the porch and watch the deer denude my plants, I guess I should say they are a suspect for the destruction. It might be the hummingbirds who frequents my feeder. I know what would happen to me if I shot the deer. I would be arrested and given a very stiff fine. There wouldn’t be any suspect or alleged terms used in my arrest and penalty. Oh well, such is justice.

2011-01-05T19:33:00.000-08:00

They are meddling with my hero and favorite author, Mark Twain. Today, it was announced that this so-called Mark Twain scholar is going to rewrite “Huckleberry Finn” and eliminate the N word. The book has been banned in many places for many years because the N word is offensive and considered racist. People have been talking about doing this for years and now the professor is going to substitute the word ‘Slave” for the N word. How brilliant, and what a way for him to make some bucks to supplement his paltry teachers salary and gain a little fame at the same time.

I have studied Mark Twain all my life and agree with Ernest Hemingway who said that all of American literature starts with the book “Huckleberry Finn.” Twain was the first truly American author. He captured the language of the people and addressed one of the greatest problems in our country, slavery. It is a book that is antiracist and antislavery. Like so many things with Twain, he pokes fun at our ignorance regarding the acceptance of different races and the evils of slavery. Huck and Jim address these problems on their boat trip down the Mississippi. Huck comes to realize that Jim is a human being like everyone else and he cares for his wife and children just like the white folks. Huck decided, he had just as soon go to hell, as to do what was considered right, and turn Jim in.

If this professor is going to sanitize Twain he has a lot of work in store. Twain had a pretty poison pen when it came to hypocrisy. He poked fun at almost everything in society, especially politicians. He also went after medicine, ministers, religion, health practices, charlatans and just about anything you can name. He wrote an entire book exposing Christian Scientist. He hated American Imperialism and was very critical of our government. He was especially tough on God himself, as well as most of the Bible. If the professor chooses to clean all this up, then we have no Mark Twain or at least one I wouldn’t care to read.

This professor is doing what Tom Sawyer did in his story. He is whitewashing. I plan to keep my old editions of Huckleberry Finn that are not whitewashed, and give me the true voice of Twain, and America at the time it was written. Twain is probably turning over in his grave with the news of today. If he were alive he would challenge the professor by rewriting the book himself with the title being changed to “Nigger Jim”.

There you have it. I have used this forbidden word in my blog. I’m looking for the police to appear on the porch any minute, along with representatives from the NAACP, and other organizations representing political correctness to ban my blog. If they show up, I will just say the N word over and over, even though in my heart I despise the word and feel the same as Huck Finn and Mark Twain. Twain hated political correctness, but would join me in reciting the word in 2011 because it brings into sharp and harsh focus the nastiness of prejudice and racism.

2011-01-03T06:55:00.000-08:00

The Holidays have now passed. I had a great time, but am now exhausted and depressed. Our family is together a lot during Christmas and New Years, and we have a lot of fun, and eat too much. Our last family party is usually the Saturday after Christmas when we get together with my spouses brother, sister and their kids, grandkids and now great grandkids.

For us in Central Texas the end of the Holidays is an hour after the lighted ball in Times Square drops. In days past, we would listen to Guy Lombardo’s Orchestra play Auld Land Syne, and would sing along. Auld Lang Syne means “for the sake of old times.” They don’t play that song much anymore. All the entertainment on TV and in Times Square on New Years is Rock Music and Rap with deafening noise and words that can’t be understood. I sure miss hearing the melody of Auld Lang Syne coming from the saxophone of Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians.

The only familiar thing on TV is seeing the face of Dick Clark, although it is now distorted by his stroke. They have him sitting up and he utters a few unintelligible words with his paralyzed tongue. It’s almost pathetic, but it does remind me of times past.

One of my best New Years celebrations was several years ago. We attended an all Tchaikovsky concert by the Houston Symphony. Ever since, I have associated that great composer with New Years. That same year we stayed up all night with our friends, and ended with a big breakfast. I can’t do that anymore. If we stay up to see the ball drop, I likewise drop into bed and am asleep within a couple of minutes.

At my age, from now on, I think I will restrict my celebration to the porch. I will just keep the TV muted and play my old recording of Auld Lang Syne by Guy Lombardo.

2010-12-27T14:59:00.000-08:00

My grandson recently did an excellent project at school about the Nuremberg Trials. He did it as a video tape report. It was extremely well done and really stimulated my interest in the Nazis criminals who were on trial at Nuremberg. One of the sources for his report was a book, “Nuremberg Interviews” by Leon Goldensohn who was an American psychiatrist. He was able to interview most of the defendants and witnesses. He interviewed many of the top people in the Nazis party and folks who were very close to Hitler, like Hermann Goering and Rudolph Hess. Missing from the group was Hitler himself because he committed suicide. Also missing were Heinrich Himmler and Joseph Goebbel who, likewise, committed suicide. Adolph Eichmann escaped to Argentina, but was later caught by the Israelis and hanged.

Most of the people tried at Nuremberg claimed they were following orders and were opposed to Hitler’s tactics. One of the most interesting interviews was with Rudolf Hoess. That’s not Hess who was also interviewed, but was completely crazy. Hoess was head of the famous concentration and extermination camp, Auschwitz. He readily admitted to heading the camp that exterminated about 2.5 million Jews. He described the process in some detail. Train loads of prisoners would be brought to the camp and paraded before a couple of doctors who made the decision about who was fit for work and who would go to the gas chambers. The people weren’t even examined. The doctors just gave a casual glance, and decided who would live and who would die. About 40% were determined fit for work, the other 60% were put to death. Those who died were made to undress, and about 1500 at a time were herded into a chamber where they were told they were to bath, but instead Zyklon B, a poison gas, was released which produced death in 3 to 15 minutes. Many were cremated but large numbers were buried in mass graves where wood would be stacked on layers of bodies and ignited by straw soaked with gasoline. Prior to cremation the gold in the victims teeth would be extracted as will as jewelry collected.

I have read all about the Holocaust many times, but it gives me a chill every time I am reminded about it. It amazes me how the Jew hating President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinjad, denies the Holocaust ever happened. It further amazes me how the German physicians could justify their actions in deciding who lived or died. Even more amazing is the actions of physicians like Josef Mengele who performed horrific medical experiments on prisoners

When I think about all this it ‘s not a lot different from what we did to the American Indians and even to what we are currently doing. Recently, because of budget problems, several states are rationing care for Medicaid patients. In some places transplants are no longer covered, so people with end stage renal disease have no other choice but to die. Medicaid in several places will not cover dental work for root canals to save a tooth, but only pay if it is extracted. I’m afraid much of this rationing is going to get worse and those of us who are weak or infirmed may as well be pushed into a gas chamber. The gas chamber may be more merciful.

All these issues are too heavy for pondering on the porch. I will go back to watching the deer and wishing there was a Heinrich Himmler in Salado to offer a final solution to the deer problem.

2010-12-20T11:48:00.000-08:00

During the Christmas season there are several things I like to read and reread. First, I enjoy all the personal notes and little newsletters I get with Christmas cards. I like to keep up with folks and enjoy reading their stuff. It’s even fun to hear their bragging about kids and grandkids. Some like to inform me that their offspring have done marvelous things like winning the Nobel Prize for discovering the cure for cancer and such. Only a few tell the real truth about such matters as a kid being release from prison or being on probation for narcotic possession, etc. Anyway, I always enjoy hearing from friends.

The other reading I enjoy at Christmas is rereading Charles Dickens, ‘” A Christmas Carol.” I never tire of that one. I also enjoy rereading Truman Capote’s, “A Christmas Memory.” These are great stories. Of course, even at my age I find an excuse to read Clement Moore’s, “A Visit from St. Nicholas” or “The Night Before Christmas.”

One of the best descriptions of Christmas is from the “Pickwick Papers,” Chapter 28 by Charles Dickens. Those two paragraphs are as follows, and are sure worth reading slowly to savor the language of Dickens and the feeling of Christmas.

“And numerous indeed are the hearts to which Christmas
brings a brief season of happiness and enjoyment. How many
families, whose members have been dispersed and scattered far
and wide, in the restless struggles of life, are then reunited, and
meet once again in that happy state of companionship and mutual
goodwill, which is a source of such pure and unalloyed delight;
and one so incompatible with the cares and sorrows of the world,
How many old recollections, and how many dormant sympathies, does Christmas time awaken!”

“We write these words now, many miles distant from the spot
at which, year after year, we met on that day, a merry and joyous
circle. Many of the hearts that throbbed so gaily then, have
ceased to beat; many of the looks that shone so brightly then,
have ceased to glow; the hands we grasped, have grown cold; the
eyes we sought, have hid their lustre in the grave; and yet the old
house, the room, the merry voices and smiling faces, the jest,
the laugh, the most minute and trivial circumstances connected
with those happy meetings, crowd upon our mind at each
recurrence of the season, as if the last assemblage had been but
yesterday! Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the
delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the
pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the
traveler, thousands of miles away, back to his own fireside and
his quiet home!”

The only other writings better than these are found in the Bible in the second chapters of Matthew and Luke. So, Merry Christmas from the porch. The deer who are enjoying a Christmas feast, provided by my yard, also wish you a Happy New Year.

2010-12-15T19:19:00.000-08:00

I enjoy Christmas and the cooler weather this time of year for many reasons. One of the things I really enjoy is pulling out my two woolen Pendleton shirts and wearing them during the holidays. I have had the shirts for several years but they are like new. They look like Christmas. Both are a subdued Christmas red. One has subtle black stripes and the other blue and thin yellow stripes. One of the main things I like about these shirts is they were made in the USA.

Most of my other shirts are cotton and synthetic fabric and are made in China or other foreign lands. They start falling apart after a few washings. I can usually only wear them one time before they need to go through the washing and ironing process to look fresh and presentable. I wear the Pendleton shirts several times before cleaning, and they look fresh every time I put them on and they don’t even smell bad.

When I was a kid we used to snicker at the country kids who wore clothes made from feed sacks, but those would be great compared to the shoddy stuff we get from overseas today. I would love to have a feed sack shirt like those when I was a kid, but even the feed sacks today are junk.

The other thing about foreign made clothes is the sizes don’t match those in the USA. Chinese and Indian folks are smaller and an extra large in their clothing is equivalent to a medium in this country. I found this out the other day when I was going to buy and extra large sweatshirt and it would about fit my normal size granddaughter in junior high. The foreign made stuff is sized to fit pygmies.

I just wish all our clothes were made in the USA along with most everything else. The quality would certainly improve. I know it would probably cost more because the labor in the US makes it unprofitable to manufacture goods here. If we could abolish greedy CEOs and white collar bosses along with the ruthless labor unions, maybe we could turn out affordable, high quality produces and solve the unemployment problem at the same time.

I guess all I can do is just be thankful I can sit on the porch in my old Pendleton shirts and wish we could again have quality and made in the USA. At least, it’s a Merry Christmas thought.

2010-12-11T08:10:00.000-08:00

It’s Christmas Card time again. Every year I have mixed emotions about this ritual. I love to receive cards and know that someone cares enough to include me on their list. I also enjoy sending cards because I reflect on each of the names on my list and about what those folks have meant in my life. It’s the process of sending the cards that gives me a little pain. To begin with, it has become fairly expensive. The cost of the card and postage, plus a photograph of the grandkids, becomes a little steep compared to the days of the three-cent stamp.

It’s not the cost that bothers me the most. Keeping up with the address list requires a full time secretary plus a private detective to keep track of everybody. I can’t believe how often folks move, especially the younger generation. Of around 250 addresses I on my Christmas list only a couple of people have had the same address since I started the list almost fifty years ago. At my age, many of my acquaintances have lost a spouse or obtained a new one, so I am constantly altering the list to avoid sending a card to somebody who has passed on or has been exchanged for a new partner.

We attach a photograph of the grandkids in our card. We have done this since they were tiny infants. A picture of an infant is always good. The infant is like a dog when it comes to photography, all the pictures are keepers. We have seven grandkids and it has become progressively more difficult to get the perfect picture. My son is great with a camera, but it takes him about a hundred shots to get the perfect one. Someone is usually looking away, has their eyes closed, or is squinting at the sun. It’s a big job just to get all the kids in one place at the same time, especially since we now have teenagers.. Thank God for digital photography, it make picking the perfect shot a little easier.

We keep many of our cards for years and sometimes look at them and just reminisce about friends, some of whom are long gone. Thinking about these folks, who are no longer here, makes Christmas a little sad, but I am cheered when I open the new batch of cards for the current year.

I plan on keeping up the ritual of the Christmas Card exchange to maintain contact with folks I care a lot about. I also want to do my part in keeping the postal service in business. Christmas Cards and junk mail is about their only business these days. I like the e-mail cards, but there is nothing like getting that piece of real mail at the post office.

Sorting through the Christmas Cards is one of my favorite activities on the porch this time of year. We even have a Christmas tree on the porch that helps keep us in the spirit. All this Christmas activity on the porch puts me in a positive frame of mind and the deer eating my yard almost becomes tolerable. I just pretend they are part of Santa’s herd. Christmas does make you a little crazy.

2010-12-03T17:15:00.000-08:00

Almost every year at this time I give a talk about the birth of Jesus and some information about the Star of Bethlehem. A monk, Dionysius. under the direction of Pope John I calculated the year Jesus was most likely born. He reworked the calendar and came up with the concept of BC and AD. He didn’t use 0 because that number didn’t appear in math until about the 12th Century. Dionysius determined that Jesus was born in the 23rd year of the reign of Augustus Caesar which would be in about 6BC. Herod lived 2 years after the birth of Jesus and Herod died in 4 BC, so this also puts Jesus birth in 6 BC. Jesus was born about 2 years after the tax decree of Augustus Caesar that was in 8 BC. All this would have placed his birth in 6 BC, He was most likely born in the spring because the Shepard’s were in their field at night with the sheep at that time of year. Almost certainly Jesus was not born on December 25 in 1BC or 0.

As far as December 25th is concerned, this is a man made holiday celebrating the birth of Christ. The first record of a celebration was in 336. Emperor Constantine had the festival of the nativity moved to December to rival a Pagan festival which honored the return of the Sun as the days began to get a little longer as the Sun moved north in the celestial sphere after the winter solstice. Finally, Bishop Liberius ordered the celebration to be on December 25th starting in 354.

So Jesus was probably born in the Spring of 6BC around March 16th and we started celebrating Christmas on the Dec. 25th 354 by order of the Church. Of course not everyone buys this story, but they are the facts as I have determined them. I have another good theory about the Star of Bethlehem regarding a celestial event in March 6BC.

Atheists don’t believe any of this. Those folks are very uncomfortable this time of year and at Easter. Many of them are well versed in the Bible because they are all groping for an answer to life and why we are here. They can’t accept the idea of Faith. It’s hard for me to understand why they are such zealots in trying to convert everyone else to their belief in nothing. They don’t want any of us to feel comfortable in our beliefs or to display it in any way because it is offensive to them. They are on a sinking ship and want everyone else on board so they will have company as they go down. Misery loves company.

I know a lot of folks who like to fish and just get a lot of joy out of putting a hook in the water whether they catch anything or not. Some fishermen may even throw the fish back. I am not going to try and persuade these folks to give up fishing because it’s the thing they love. Why can’t the atheist just leave the believers alone rather than trying to outlaw fishing and close all the ponds.

Porch sitting is my thing. I guess if somebody determines that this gives me great joy and satisfaction they will try and outlaw porches. Porches may be offensive to some because they know it gives peace to others. Maybe that’s the reason we rarely see porches on houses anymore. Someone like the atheist have found out that they give joy to a persons life.

2010-11-29T07:22:00.000-08:00

The whistleblower website, WikiLeaks, just released a truckload of classified documents that could be damaging to the US. These documents are highly sensitive and reveal a lot of secret dealings with other nations. One of the documents reveals that Saudi Arabia urged the US to bomb Iran, to cut off the head of the snake, and prevent them from developing a nuclear weapon. A number of unflattering statements about foreign leaders were also made public.

The brains behind this website is a guy named Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist who has a background in physics and math. He has also been a hacker and computer programmer. I know he must be a smart guy, but I still don’t understand how he gains access to all this sensitive, classified stuff. The other thing I don’t understand is how we are stupid enough to let highly secret material escape to the Internet. People in high places continue to do idiotic things. Watergate would never have happened if Nixon wouldn’t have had such a loud mouth and recorded everything on tape. The break-in should never have occurred in the first place, because he already had the election in the bag. So much of this clandestine, spy stuff by the CIA and FBI seems to be downright ridiculous; however, it may help us catch some stupid terrorist, like the kid who was a potential bomber in Portland.

There is just no way to keep a secret anymore. Not long ago, the board at my hospital informed me about a secret deal with another hospital. The next morning my wife heard about it at the beauty shop. This Julian Assange has got to be good but he can’t compare with the average hairdresser or beauty operator. These folks are born with a natural ear for gossip and juicy information.

I’m thinking about networking with a number of beauty operators and starting my own website. This stuff would make great reading and would be a lot more interesting than all the international hogwash and spy trash. I might call it WikiGossip. That is sure to be a popular website and get me some heavy advertisement contracts.

My material could even be made into a book and I could call it secrets from the porch. I want to thank this blabbermouth, Julian Assange, for giving me such a good idea.

2010-11-24T08:01:00.000-08:00

The things people say today are incredible compared to when I was a kid. This week the Pope is talking about condoms and the new airline screening is introducing all sort of private words. When I was a kid, I didn’t even think about some of the things said and done in the open today. I didn’t have magazines like Playboy or movies with explicit sex scenes. My only pornographic magazine was National Geographic, but I rarely saw one of these because we couldn’t afford a publication like that. I would sneak around and look up dirty words in the dictionary, like pregnant. That was about the extent of my education. I finally learned what caused babies when I was in medical school. Before that, I was concerned that kissing might impregnate a girl. That was what movies, in my time, led me to believe. Seeing Jane Russell’s cleavage in “The Outlaw” and Marilyn Monroe’s legs when her dress blew up in “The Seven Year Itch”, were porno flicks for me.

The airport security has been amazing this week. All the perverts are applying for jobs as screeners. They get to fondle people all day long. If we let those folks have the jobs, they should be very effective and this would also serve to reduce crimes involving rape and other forms of abuse. Priest might even be able to work part time and this would save the church millions of dollars in suits. Anyway, the screeners get to feel peoples “junk” and also view them naked on the scanner. This has to be a great job.

The other interesting story of the week is the Pope saying the use of condoms might be okay in certain situations. I didn’t even think the Pope knew what a condom was. He said they might be justified to control the spread of AIDS. Specifically, he said that male prostitutes would be accepting moral responsibility by using condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS. I guess he thinks it’s morally okay for the guy to be a prostitute in the fist place. Boy, this stuff is really confusing to me.

All this use of once forbidden terminology and exposure to private anatomical parts and private acts didn’t start this week. The cracks in our moral fiber and the sexual revolution started back in the 1960s, shortly after introduction of the birth control pill. Homosexuals also started sneaking out of the closet at about the same time and are now making headway to be legally married and recognized in the military.

It’s hard to imagine what things will be like in another 50 years. I suspect people will be running around completely nude and freely copulating on the street. Even the deer and other wild animals in my back yard are able to restrain themselves better than humans. Humans appear to be descending rather than ascending from lower animal forms. Even the porch won’t be safe in the future.

2010-11-19T08:18:00.000-08:00

The big news of the week is that we are about to have the wedding of the Century. Prince William has announced he will marry his long time girl friend Catherine Middleton, better known as Kate. The time and place have yet to be decided. The one thing known is that it is going to cost a bundle. This will be tough in these hard economic times. The estimated cost will be about 15 million US dollars. This is a big figure, but less than the more that 60 Million for Prince Charles and Diana. Back in war torn England in 1947 the wedding of Elizabeth and Phillip also cost a major fortune, but the British people loved it. I suspect there will be a lot of critics but the British people will also love this wedding. It gives them something to do and a purpose in life.

The Queen and William will pick up some of the tab but the taxpayers will still foot a large share of the expense. Just cleaning the streets and security would probably be enough to feed the homeless in London for a year or more. It’s still worth it for the English people who worship their Kings and Queens. We have become almost as bad as the English in this country with the way we pamper the President. Harry Truman was our last cheap President. Truman and Calvin Coolidge were our best deals, money wise. William Henry Harrison wasn’nt bad since he was President for only a month and was sick the whole time.

It’s not just royalty. I think all weddings cost too much these days. I have been to some big blowouts in the past few years and I wondered if they were worth all the expense. I ask my spouse how much our wedding cost over 50 years ago. She figures it was between 200 and 300 dollars which included; invitations, postage, dress, church, flowers, reception, preacher and all. She remembered paying a lady 5 dollars to help with the reception and cleanup. Her mother made her dress and that saved a few dollars. I even wore a suit. I didn’t even know what a tux was and there wasn’t any where to rent one if I had known. My spouse’s boss gave us a honeymoon at the great Shamrock Hilton Hotel in Houston. We had the Honeymoon Suite and he paid the whole tab. It probably cost him at least 100 dollars for the weekend.

My wedding was probably pretty lavish compared to my parents. I remember them telling me they were married on the front porch of my mother’s home. Maybe, that’s the reason I have always taken a liking to the porch. I can’t think of a better place to get married. The porch is one of the most reverent places I know. I may write William and Kate about the porch but I suspect even the British people wouldn’t like that idea. Anyway, I can’t wait for the Royal Weeding. It might give us something worthwhile on the news rather than the dismal economy and the squabbling between the Republicans and Democrats.

2010-11-16T18:05:00.000-08:00

The US Postal Service is again losing billions of dollars this year. They are talking about raising postal rates, cutting services and personnel. Saturday postal service will most likely be stopped. The main cause of the problem is apparently the decrease in use of letters and personal mail.

When I was a kid, during WWII, one of my jobs was to go to the post office every day. We lived in town and the post office building was only a block from our house. I will never forget the number of our box and it’s location. It was on the top row of boxes and I had to stand on tiptoes to insert the key. I never got a letter myself, but always anxiously awaited a letter from my brother or brother-in-law who were away in the service. I occasionally got correspondence from the Superman Club but that was about it for me. The General Delivery window was always busy and there was a window for buying stamps and sending packages. The amazing thing is that postage for a letter cost 3 cents and the postal service was apparently doing well.

Now, I go to the post office and the box is packed with catalogs and other junk mail. My box is one of the larger ones and it is still full. There is rarely a personal letter. Young folks don’t even like to send thank you notes anymore. E-mail has replaced the personal letter and now e-mail is being replaced by facebook. What is next to speed and shorten communication? I guess in another decade, communication will be through telepathy. Just sit back and think about your message and the person will receive it.

Anyway, all the massive amount of junk mail I receive still cost some postage and yet the postal service is broke. I don’t completely understand the problem. I may be contributing to the postal crisis by using e-mail and facebook, but I spend enough on postage for my Christmas cards to pay for a good portion of somebody’s salary. We are looking at our Christmas card list for this year and considering a massive cut because of the cost. I guess, if I stop my Christmas cards this will be the final straw to break the back of the postal service, and will result in somebody losing their job.

I enjoy communicating with people via the newer media like facebook and e-mail, but there is still nothing like sitting on the porch, reading a personal handwritten letter. The personal letter has become a rare treat, and I sure hope the postal service doesn’t shut down and totally eliminate this wonderful type of communication.

2010-11-11T17:49:00.000-08:00

I learned today that telecommunication companies are going to stop printing the white pages of telephone directories. Apparently, the white pages aren’t used much anymore. Only the old folks use the telephone directory and they can’t see well enough to read the print, so the directories will now be history. They were once an importance resource for obtaining information on people, like their phone number and address. Since cord phones are now becoming extinct that is even another reason for the white pages to be discontinued.

Most folks now get a telephone number off the internet or have to personally be given a number. The number is then entered into your cell phone contact list. So, there is no longer need for a directory. Now, I just page through my contact list and hit a button and the number is automatically dialed.

Telephone Directories have served many purposes in the past. They were used by he-men to tear and demonstrate their incredible strength. At one time, I could even tear the directory for my home town because it only contained a few names and was pretty thin. Those little directories disappeared a few years ago and all the small towns were included as a section in a larger directory containing all the surrounding cities. I don’t like those directories because I always have trouble finding the little towns for which I am searching. The directories also became more difficult to use. One number that is almost impossible to find is the one for directory assistance.

I don’t know what they are going to put in the bedside tables of hotels anymore. The Gideon Bibles are being phased out because they aren’t politically correct and now without the telephone directory there is nothing for the hotels. I will miss them in the hotels because they were a source of entertainment as I thumbed through the pages in search of a long lost friend who I though might have move to the city I was visiting. I wouldn’t have called them, but was just interested to know if they were alive.

I hope the yellow pages go away with the white. Maybe all those folks from India will stop calling me. There is going to be a lot of these people out of work. Maybe they will start a white page directory of their own as a new line of business.

Anyway, this is one less book for my stack on the porch. I really never liked the directories anyway. I still loved the time of my childhood when an operator would answer and say, “number please.” If I didn’t know the number she would connect me to the correct party by just giving the name. In our small town the operator knew all the numbers and I think she listened in on a lot of interesting conversations. That would have been a neat job.

2010-11-09T09:15:00.000-08:00

After several days I’m finally adjusting to Central Standard Time or whatever it is. I’m always confused about Daylight Savings Time and regular CST. Moving the clock and hour back or forward has always been a puzzle. The paper and newscast always remind me that in spring we spring an hour forward, and in the fall we fall an hour back. I remember that for about a week.

I like it best when we set the clocks back and hour because, theoretically, I get another hours sleep. I was reminded this week that I really didn’t gain an hour because I used the extra hour setting all the clocks to the new time. I didn’t know we had so many clocks. We have clocks on the microwave, stove, radios and on every wall in the house as well as on every table. We also have two grandfather clocks. I remember when I was a kid, we only had one clock and it was one of the kind you had to wind. It seemed like I set that clock everyday or at least would wind it and set the alarm. It has been said that the younger generation doesn’t use watches or clocks. They just look at their cell phone for the time. They are on the phone all the time, so why bother with a watch or clock.

Some of the most difficult clocks to set are in the car. Those clocks have little mini buttons that are hidden among the hundreds of buttons on the radio. Never try to set these clocks while driving. It’s the only thing worse than texting to distract the driver and cause an accident.

The daylight savings time in the summer makes it stay daylight until late in the evening, so it is good for kids and frees them up for extra play time. The regular time makes it a little more light in the morning, so kids aren’t going to school in the dark. For those reasons, it is probably worth the confusion.

One of my favorite TV shows in the past was Hee Haw and one of the great characters was Junior Sample. He was the fat, dumb, country guy in overalls. The time differences really confused him, especially the different time zones. He heard about this airplane that arrived an hour earlier that when it took off. He bought a ticket so that he could just go and watch it take off. Some states like Arizona don’t even use Daylight Saving time, so it really confuses guys like me and Junior Samples.

Junior Samples is one person I would have loved to have a conversation with on the porch. I would like to get his views on other confusing subjects like politics and religion.

2010-11-06T21:15:00.000-07:00

Today, my spouse and I saw the Walter Cronkite exhibit at the LBJ Library in Austin. It was terrific and worth the struggle to get there through the Austin traffic. The exhibit will be there until the first of the year and is definitely worth seeing. Cronkite was a remarkable guy and reported on the major events during my life. He was probably the last great reporter. He was objective in his reporting and didn’t give the usual liberal or conservative slant. It was just straight, interesting news and ended with “that’s the way it is.”

Cronkite was born in Missouri and moved to Texas when he was 10. He attended public school in Houston and then attended the University of Texas. He ran out of money and didn’t graduate from UT. It was probably okay that he didn’t graduate because college is for those who don’t have the natural talent of folks like Walter Cronkite or a Mark Twain.

He started reporting after dropping out of college and progressed to became the most distinguished of all broadcast journalist. He reported on the Great Depression, World War II, the Nuremberg Nazis trials. the moon landing, Vietnam, Watergate and probably the most emotional of all reports, the assassination of John Kennedy.

After a visit to Vietnam and the realization of the hopelessness of the situation he did give an editorial comment at the end of his newscast, suggesting that we should pull out and try to negotiate an honorable peace. LBJ said that if he had lost Walter Cronkite , he had lost Vietnam. That editorial comment was made in good taste and is so unlike the current journalist who bad-mouth everything and think they are making policy.

The only time that Cronkite seemed to chock up when reporting was when he announced that Kennedy was dead. That made everyone chock up, including me. He also became pretty emotional when Armstrong set foot on the moon.

Things seemed to deteriorate when Cronkite left the air. I had hopes for Dan Rather because he was a fellow Texan. Rather dropped the news to an all time low with his false report on President Bush. Now the airway is filled with experts on the left and right espousing their views and screaming at each other. I had rather watch the commercials than listen to the news and the political pundits.

So, I get most of the news from my computer as I sit on the poerch. I do miss Walter Cronkite and it’s higly unlikely we will ever see another broadcast journalist with his class.

2010-11-01T17:36:00.000-07:00

After visiting the Eisenhower Museum and Library my spouse and I have become even more absorbed in the study of his life. We are currently reading several books about his life. I also have a personal interest because he died when I was stationed at Walter Reed and knew some of the details of his demise. I was even more personally acquainted with Mamie or at least her bowel. I did the barium studies on her GI tract. When I talked to her, she constantly referred to Ike as the General, not the President. I now have a better understanding of why she called him the General. A similar thing happened in my life, but a little different, and on a much smaller scale.

Eisenhower was most proud of his accomplishments as a General. It was a rank he worked hard to obtain and he has to be one of the greatest military leaders in the history of our country. The Presidency was handed to him and he really didn’t work for it. He didn’t care about either party. Truman told him that he would agree to be the Vice President if Ike would be President. Ike chose the Republican Party because Taft was a strong contender and would likely win the election. Ike didn’t want Taft to be elected because Taft was so opposed to NATO and this was something that Eisenhower felt very strongly about. Ike got the nomination over Taft and became a Republican President and is now ranked as one of the 10 best Presidents. He was basically apolitical.

Now, for my story, which is on a much smaller scale. When I was in the Army Medical Corps I became a Lieutenant Colonel. Doctors are promoted because of time as a physician plus some merit, but it was something I didn’t really have to work for. My spouse got our checks cashed at a local store. The checks had our name as Dr. Montgomery with the address printed at the top. The lady who cashed the checks ask why we didn’t use my rank before our name instead of doctor. My wife said that the doctor designation was something I had to work very hard to obtain and that the Lt. Colonel was something I was very proud of, but it was handed to me because I was a physician.

As I reflect on the porch about the moral to this story, we are most proud of what we have worked the hardest for. I have seen Thomas Jefferson’s gravestone several times and it list his proudest accomplishment, and the Presidency wasn’t one of them. I like Eisenhower and Jefferson a lot, those guys had class.

2010-10-30T17:40:00.000-07:00

Halloween is here again. Next to Christmas it’s my favorite time of year. The origin of the celebration dates to a Celtic Festival. The word is supposed to mean summers end. Some call it “All Saints Day” and others call it “The Day of the Dead.” Although it is purely a secular holiday many Christians think it is evil and celebrates paganism and the occult. Isn’t that just like some people to get down on something they don’t know much about. It’s just a day for kids to have fun. They trick or treat and get a fill of candy. They wear neat costumes, carve jack-o-lanterns, tell ghost stories, start bonfires, bob for apples and watch horror movies.

I like the ghost stories. Some folks don’t even believe in ghost. Even the Bible talks a lot about ghost. The disciples thought Jesus was a ghost when they saw him walking on water. Mark Twain wrote about ghost. Now, if the disciples and Mark Twain believed in ghost, that’s good enough for me. Who am I to argue with authorities like that.

I have had a couple of encounters with ghost. One time I was in a remote country cemetery and heard a mother calling her child. I then heard a screen door close as if the child came home. It was very real and my wife heard the same thing. I thought it may have come from a nearby house but there was no house for miles. Another time I recognized the pleasant odor of a person in our family who had been dead for several years. My wife had an experience of the presence of my parents in the car long after they were deceased.

So, I’m convinced that ghost do exist and are manifest in many forms. They don’t have to be some see through figure that appears at night. As a matter of fact, ghost may be around us all the time and come to us through words in a book, pictures and various forms that are bombarding us like invisible radiofrequency waves. Memories are like ghost conjured from the past. Ghost constantly surround me on the porch.

Anyway, Halloween is a fun time for young and old. I have plenty of candy in stock on the porch for the trick-or-treat crowd. I do hope they come because candy is the last thing I need.

2010-10-26T10:21:00.000-07:00

Huckleberry Finn has always been one of my favorite books, but the last part of the book seems like it doesn’t really fit with the first part of the story. Tom Sawyer enters the story and he has this elaborate and complicated plan to free Jim. The whole thing is unnecessary because Jim is already free. That’s the way the new Obamacare program is turning out to be. It’s full of devious and complicated ways to charge me more for the same service. The whole thing is ending up costing me more money than if the healthcare system was government operated. It would probably be better to just have Medicare for all rather than forcing the private insurance companies to provide care for everyone.

My Medicare supplement insurance is raising the rates and all the private payers are jacking up premiums to be able to cover the sick and others who they are now mandated to cover. The doctors and other providers are continuing to demand high salaries, so the premiums can only go up to cover all this. Not only are the private insurance premiums going up, but the healthcare legislation is filled with subtle tax increases. You will have to pay a 3.5% tax on the sale of your home to help pay for the healthcare program. The medical expense account that allows a person to reduce their taxable income by $5,000 and use this money for medical expenses has been reduced to $2,500. The threshold for medical deductions has been increased to $10,000. For me, the amount of withholding for Medicare from Social Security has been increased and the cost of living increase for Social Security has not been increased this year. This list of subtle and devious tax increases goes on and on and the whole thing sounds like it was designed by Tom Sawyer.

It would be better to go to a complete government program like a big VA. Instead of doctors most of the care could be provided by physician’s assistants since they are cheaper and are taking over the practice anyway. It has become almost impossible to see a doctor and the primary contact with a provider is currently with a nurse or physician’s assistant. The death rate may increase, especially among the elderly, but as Scrooge says, this will serve to reduce the surplus population.

As I sit on the porch I’m rereading the last part of Huckleberry Finn so I can get a better understanding of the devious and complicated ways being used to finance the Obamacare program. I believe all of our congressman should read Huckleberry Finn so that can become even more skilled at devious ways to rob us and make life more miserable.

2010-10-22T19:50:00.000-07:00

The Crystal Cathedral and “Hour of Prayer,” made famous by Rev. Robert Schuller, are in the process of crumbling and declared bankruptcy this week. The attendance has declined and they have a multimillion-dollar debt. Programs have been cancelled and staff laid off and salaries reduced. The recession is largely responsible for the problem but there are other factors. The aging Schuller turned the operation over to his son and this didn’t work. His daughter is now apparently in charge of management. Others claim that Schuller has not embraced all the modern technology and the new wave of worship, including rock bands.

It’s ironic that the new generation of worshipers has deserted him. Schuller was initially considered a radical in his approach to worship. He was an innovator in presenting a new worship style when he started back in the Eisenhower years. He started by preaching in drive-in movies where folks could listen to him through speakers inside the car. He progressed to build a megachurch made of glass, which became a tourist attraction in California. He also possessed charisma with his big smile, aviator glasses and flowing robes. The new generation doesn’t like robes or organ music. The modern church service now rings with amplified guitars, drums and rock and roll. No hymnals are allowed. Dress for the modern service is casual and ties are forbidden. The new ministers preach that we must diversify and offer all these methods in order to attract the young folks. Schuller is accused of failing to adopt these new methods of worship.

The same things are happening in the church I attend. The pastor and church staff is certainly moving to the new age with rock bands and praise music. Casual is the word and the minister doesn’t even wear a tie most of the time. The recent youth director looks like he is dressed for yard work. Our church was lucky enough for an arsonist to burn down the sanctuary so that the congregation can now move to a newer part of town where the most recent community expansion is occurring. Some of us who appreciate quiet, reverence, hymnals, organs, choir robes and order in the service are being driven away. Some of us old folks even like to hear a good sermon, but that’s now an unimportant part of the service and it is usually about tithing. I think tithing is the new way to salvation. As I have said before, the porch is one of the most reverent places I know and where I am removed from all these distractions.

So, it’s goodbye to Robert Schuller, Billy Graham and that era of evangelism. Perhaps another star will appear on the stage in a cloud of smoke and bright flashing lights as is customary for rock stars.

2010-10-20T11:37:00.000-07:00

I have always loved the study of history, especially the history of medicine. I also enjoy the history of the U.S. and approached this subject through learning about the Presidents. The health and causes of death of the Presidents fascinates me. I might have enjoyed teaching history in high school, but could never have done this because you also have to be a coach to have this job. If I had been a coach, my record would have been worse than the current football coach for Temple and that is as bad as it gets.

It’s interesting that all of the US Presidents have had fierce political opponents. You get the impression that they don’t even represent the same country. This dates all the way back to Washington. From the earliest time there were those who supported a strong central federal government and their opponents who were for states rights and for little government intervention in our lives. This was a major cause of the Civil War. This was also an issue that made Adams and Jefferson bitter political enemies, yet in the end they were the best of friends through their correspondence.

Political bickering continues to this day and it’s like the Democrat and Republicans Parties aren’t even from the same country. They don’t agree on anything. All this is very distasteful to me. I hate the time for elections when candidates flood the airways with negative ads. All the ads are a character assassination of the opponent and they hardly ever say what the candidate stands for. It’s enough to make you want to throw up.

I am a political independent and agree with many of the issues from both sides but disagree with most. There is just nobody who represents my point of view. I don’t care for the Tea Party or any of the offbeat groups. So, I have just about decided not to vote at all this year. I want much of the bunch in Washington to be purged, but they will only be replaced by those who are equally bad.

I guess the reason I have come to admire Eisenhower so much is that he was apolitical even though he was a Republican. He was really neither Republican or Democrat. A few other Presidents have had the courage to stand on their own but this has usually been on isolated issues.

As I sit on the porch with the TV tuned to the Rangers and Yankees, I will just mute the political ads to avoid getting sick. If I do decide to vote, I will just take my list of write in candidates. The problem is that I can’t even think of anybody to write in.

2010-10-17T18:44:00.000-07:00

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. It all started back when my spouse and I were courting. A Halloween party was one of our first dates. After our kids came long we enjoyed trick or treat and dressing them in costumes. We have had several spectacular spook houses. We always decorate for the occasion, carve pumpkins and savor the day on October 31.

To get in the mood for Halloween, I like to tell spooky stories, see horror movies and read scary tales. I always dust off Edgar Allan Poe and read some of his stuff and read the grandkids stories like the “Legend of Sleep Hollow.” It’s amazing how our fright threshold has changed through the years. What used to be frightening is now almost boring. This week I downloaded the original Frankenstein movie to show to a couple of the grandkids and get them in the Halloween mood. They almost fell asleep during the movie and when I asked them to rank it on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the scariest, they ranked it a two. What will it take to frighten kids 20 years from now? They will have to watch an actual ax murder.

This weekend we watched over some of the grandkids including an exchange student from Germany. I had worked for a couple of days putting together a great slide show on the State of Texas that illustrated a lot of neat stuff about the state. I set the whole thing to some terrific music including Willie Nelson singing “Beautiful, Beautiful Texas.” They didn’t have time to watch my production, but opted to go to a party where it turns out they saw “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” I guess it was appropriate since it is near Halloween, but the German student may now have the impression that we are a bunch of murderers who worship the macabre. I was surprised to hear from the student that they don’t celebrate Halloween in Germany. That’s where I thought Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman all started.

Anyway, everything seems to be getting in shape for Halloween. Shadows elongate in late afternoon, twilight lingers, the evenings are crisp and chilly and the moon and stars seem brighter in the night sky. A wandering cloud that temporarily obscures the moon conjures up the image of a ghost. All these are signs of Halloween and I’m ready on the porch. They are even putting up Christmas decorations in some of the stores, since this season starts at the stroke of midnight on October 31st. We now completely bypass Thanksgiving. That’s probably okay because there is not a lot to be thankful for these days.

2010-10-12T06:11:00.000-07:00

They had a big celebration in North Korea this week to announce that Jim Jong Il’s youngest son, Kim Jong Un, is the successor to his father as leader of this isolated country that is part of the axis of evil. Un’s two older brothers were passed over for the job. The oldest brother, Kim Jong Nam. is a playboy who fell into disfavor when he was trying to sneak out of the country on a fake passport to go to Japan and see Disneyland. Nam is also a gambler who spends much time in casinos in China and doesn’t care about the job. The middle brother is apparently too girlish for the job. So, we are left with Kim Jong Un who is said to be a lot like his father.

Kim Jong Un is rumored to be a basketball fan. He is supposed to speak English which should help him as he watches the games. The main thing is that he looks like his father. He has the same winning smile as his father. He also has the same round chubby face and the ridiculous haircut. What I want to know is, who is their barber?

Un has also demonstrated a great ability to stand on the balcony and watch the troops goose step and look stern. He claps his hands like his father and has all the gestures that make him fit for the job. I’m sure he will carry on with harassing South Korea, building the atomic bomb and giving the US a hard time.

We hear a lot of bad things about our leaders. Everyone was bashing George Bush and now it's Barack Obama. At least we have the opportunity to bash our leaders. When I look at Kim Jong Il and UN of North Korea, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and Osama bin Laden of the Al-Quaeda terrorist group, I’m proud to be an American. Bush was laughed at by the media when he called that bunch the axis of evil. He was right. They sure aren’t a group of angels and there is no way to deal with them except from a position of strength.

Kim Jong Nam is the smartest one of the group. He wants to go to Disneyland and have a good time. I think the whole bunch would benefit from a trip to Disneyland. They might even benefit from the joy of sitting on the porch with me some afternoon. Perhaps I could convince them that our common enemy is the deer.

2010-10-10T04:30:00.000-07:00

We recently took a driving trip through Middle America and toured the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois and the Eisenhower Library in Abilene Kansas. We spent an enjoyable day visiting the boyhood home of, my hero, Mark Twain. We also spent several days in Wisconsin and visited Taliesin, the home of Frank Lloyd Wright. I was amazed at how rural Southwest Wisconsin appears. The country is filled with dairy farms and acres and acres of corn. We visited apple orchards and cheese factories and consumed too much food.

We always take far too many clothes. We were prepared for an expedition to the North Pole but instead had unseasonably warm weather. I guess global warming is a fact. Since we were staying in a facility that had a kitchen we had enough food supplies for the entire winter. A challenging feat was to pack and unpack the car each day along the way. There wasn’t enough space left in the car for even an additional roadmap.

We really didn’t need a roadmap for the trip because we were completely dependent on the GPS. This device lead us on some pretty exciting routes. As we maneuvered through Des Moines, Iowa we were directed through an incredibly circuitous route to our motel. It was like Tom Sawyer’s elaborate scheme to free Jim in the last part of Huckleberry Finn. A much more direct and simpler route was possible but the GPS took us through much of Des Moines. Still, the GPS saved us over and over on the rural roads of Southwest Wisconsin and around the large cities.

Our trip was an adventure in exploring history and the countryside. We also explored our motel rooms for bedbugs. The media has been filled with stories about bedbugs taking over New York and how these resistant little pests can be spread from place to place through our clothing. We inspected everything but found none of the creatures. At least, I hope we didn’t find any. On one occasion my spouse thought she had spotted on under the sheets but it turned out to be a tiny piece of thread. The media can sure make you paranoid.

Well. I’m back on the porch filled with a greater appreciation for a couple of our Presidents, Mark Twain, Frank Lloyd Wright and the state of Wisconsin. Sure hope I didn’t bring any bed bugs to Texas.

2010-10-07T10:24:00.000-07:00

Every generation seems to have a new vocabulary or a new set of frequently used words. Some of the words now used with text messaging are like a foreign language. One of the most commonly used words today is awesome. I have recently read a number of the letters between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson as well as much of Abraham Lincoln’s correspondence. None of these writings use the word awesome. Even Shakespeare, who used every word in the English language, didn’t use awesome. I never used the word until recent years, but now almost every sentence uttered by a teenager contains this word as well as “you know.”

I have recently gained an appreciation for the word awesome. We have just visited Hannibal, Missouri, which is the home of Mark Twain. We also visited the Lincoln Museum, Library, home and tomb in Springfield, Illinois The only word to describe the Lincoln Museum is awesome. To feel the presence of Mark Twain in Hannibal and experience the memory of Lincoln at his home and tomb is truly awesome/. We visited Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin that is the home of the great architect Frank Lloyd Wright. To witness his genius through his architecture is awesome.

So, the teenagers are right. Awesome is a great word. Now I’m going to try and learn some of the language of text messaging. I may be surprised to learn a new power word in this mumbo-jumbo.

I have often thought of the best word to describe the porch. I have finally found it with awesome. Awesome even describes the depth of my dislike for the deer in my backyard.

2010-09-26T17:19:00.000-07:00

I have aways enjoyed reading about people who are suggested recipients of the Darwin Award. These are folks who have performed some idiotic act that resulted in their demise and thus removed themselves from the gene pool of idiots.

A similar award should be made for those who do an idiotic act but live to continue to fill the gene pool with more idiots. A perfect example occurred this week. A burglar who was robbing a WalMart escaped and when the police were in pursuit he hid in a dumpster. A trash truck came just as he was secure in his hiding place and emptied the contents of the dumpster, including the burglar, where it was compacted. The idiot survived, but was fairly compressed as they loaded him on to a stretcher for a trip to the hospital. This award should probably just be called Idiots Award, because these folks survive and continue to multiply to fill the world with more idiots.

I have a lot of recommendations for this award. Many of them are associated with the government and those who make up some of the rules we must live with. A recent example related to my wives refill for a medicine. She had been suffering from a bout of asthma. The doctor prescribed an inhalant with some steroid that was very effective in stopping the asthma. He wanted her to get it refilled and continue the treatment for another month. We were scheduled to be on a trip when the refill came due in about five days. We were refused the refill because we were on Medicare and could not be given the medication in advance, even though we were going to be out of the state. Our only option was to go without the medicine and hope for the best. If the asthma returned, while we were away, this would have required a trip to an unknown doctor and emergency room with a resultant $2000 charge. That makes a lot of sense. The government pays this extra charge and still pays for the $50 Rx. I know some of the rules are to curb fraud and abuse, but there is something called common sense especially since I was well know to the pharmacy.

As Obamacare kicks in we are going to encounter more and more rules made up by a larger army of idiots. The next thing we will be hearing is that the medication we needed is not available for those over a certain age. That’s called rationing. The whole thing is scary. Even the porch is not a safe haven from the hoards of idiots who control our lives.

2010-09-25T05:35:00.000-07:00

This week we had a beautiful celestial event. It was a Harvest Moon and Jupiter was exceptionally bright. The Harvest Moon is a full moon that occurs nearest the autumnal equinox. That occurred this week on Wednesday night. Jupiter was very bright because it was nearer the earth than it has been in years.

Every time I see the beautiful night sky with the millions of stars I think about how all this was created. I also think about what Huck Finn and Jim had to say about the stars as they viewed them from their raft floating down the Mississippi. Huck judged that they just happened and Jim allowed they were made and that the moon could have laid them. Huck figured it would have taken too long to make them but finally concluded that Jim may be right and they could have been made because he had seen a frog lay almost that many eggs.

Science and the Bible are at odds regarding the creation and Huck and Jim are about as logical as many theologians and scientist. Faith is a big factor when considering such hefty subjects. I heard the other day that it takes more faith to believe it just happened than if the universe and stars were created. It does take a huge stretch of the imagination to believe that a few gases came out of nowhere and all the complex things of the universe just happened. Just considering the autumnal equinox is pretty phenomenal. A little more tilt of the earth or a shorter or greater distance from the Sun would make life unsustainable on the planet.

So, like Jim, I think the stars were made. I believe the time to make them is what causes us confusion. God’s watch doesn’t run like ours. The song Amazing Grace makes an important statement when speaking about the hereafter, “we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise that when we first begun.” So, the human and heavenly clocks measure time differently and Huck would be happy to know that the stars could have been made, it just took a long time.

I have written about these matters before but the creation is a timeless subject and one that gets a lot of consideration on the porch. The porch is a lot like the raft of Huck and Jim. It’s a peaceful place that allows you to think about such things as the creation, especially when you are looking at the Harvest Moon.

2010-09-21T21:26:00.000-07:00

In the last blog I wrote about the various cover ups by American Presidents, especially related to health. I was a little harsh on President Eisenhower who was one of our greatest Presidents. His greatness is often overlooked because the nation was at peace and it was a calm eight years for the American people. The time was like that after a major hurricane. The major hurricane had been WWII.

Eisenhower was a true American hero. He wasn’t the flamboyant, showy type like Patton or McArthur. He wasn’t a military genius or great strategist but his ability to get along with people like Churchill, Montgomery and de Gaulle made him a great leader and able to carry out the greatest invasion in the history of warfare. The invasion of Europe at Normandy on D-Day was the deciding blow that defeated Nazis Germany.

After the war he was so popular he was elected President and it really didn’t matter to him about politics, Republican or Democrat. That’s probably what I liked about him the most.

Eisenhower is largely responsible for our interstate highway system. He ended the Korean War. He addressed the issue of Civil Rights by sending troops to escort black kids into the Little Rock High School. Some say he was not aggressive enough with Civil Rights. He started the Space Program as a response to Sputnik. He built a superior nuclear arsenal so that we were able to negotiate from a position of strength against the communist threat.

Things were so peaceful when he was in office people almost fell asleep with boredom. Ike was overshadowed by the charismatic young Senator from Mass. Folks wanted this bright young man who promised change and for the torch to be passed to a new generation. Kennedy’s image was the main thing that defeated Eisenhower’s vice-president, Richard Nixon.

My, how I long for those tranquil and boring days of Ike. It was a time when people took pride in their appearance, were generally courtesy and civil to one another, were responsible, loyal and took pride in their work. People were even honored to serve in the military. Now days we pay lip service to the military by placing little yellow bows on our cars and singing their praises over the internet, but no middle class person and above wants their offspring in the military.

So a little cover up by Ike regarding his heart problem is okay. I’m glad he was President and most of all that he saved us from the horror of living under Hitler. I’m putting up a picture of Ike on the porch to replace the one of Marilyn Monroe, which reminds me of JFK.

2010-09-16T13:32:00.000-07:00

One of my interest, and the subject of several talks, has been the Health and Deaths of US Presidents. The more I have pursued this subject the more I have become aware of cover-ups by our Presidents, especially related to matters of health. This first became apparent to me, years ago, when I was in the army at Walter Reed Hospital. Eisenhower died while I was there and I viewed a post-mortem X-Ray of his heart that showed marked calcification of his heart muscle indicating long standing coronary artery disease. Eisenhower is documented to have had his first heart attack in 1955 but this was downplayed by the media. He subsequently had a total of seven heart attacks and heroic measures were made to keep him alive for the last ten months of his life at Walter Reed Hospital. The public knew little about all this. His first heart attack may have been as early as 1947 before he was President and we knew nothing about that. I have spoken to the archivist at the Eisenhower Library and his early medical records, before 1955, have mysteriously disappeared and there is also no record of his autopsy report.

Many presidents have covered up their medical problems as well as other things, like affairs and scandals. Chester A. Arthur had chronic renal disease and the public knew nothing about his illness, which caused him not to seek a second term. Grover Cleveland had a secret operation on his yacht for a tumor in the roof of his mouth for which a rubber prosthesis was inserted and the public knew noting about this. Woodrow Wilson was the biggest health cover up President. Wilson had a massive stroke that paralyzed the left side of his body. His wife covered for him and took care of the Presidential duties. Franklin Roosevelt had polio and was paralyzed from the waist down. The public only saw one picture of him in a wheel chair. He always appeared to be standing or sitting behind a podium or desk. Roosevelt became severely ill with hypertension and congestive heart failure during his last term but the public was not informed. Kennedy was on a lot of pain medications and also took steroids for his Addison’s Disease and the public was again uninformed.

The list of cover-ups goes on and on with almost every President having something to hide. Clinton said “ I did not have sex with that woman.” I guess it depends on the definition of sex to judge whether he was attempting to cover up. We don’t even know for sure where Barack Obama was born. Everybody knows about Nixon’s Watergate cover up, but in retrospect that is routine stuff compared to everyone else. Jefferson’s long standing affair with a black slave was not known until many years after his death and half the black, red-headed folks in the country claimed to be his descendants.

It’s just the nature of politicians to lie. Cover up is a natural thing for them and they don’t even feel guilty about it. Maybe we just shouldn’t care. Now days, the media is certainly going to bring all these things to the forefront because it is usually juicy and sensational news. The media is overdoing it. I think I prefer the old days when we were kept in the dark and didn’t know anything. Being ignorant makes life on the porch more comfortable but it does take away a little of the excitement.

2010-09-13T15:07:00.000-07:00

My favorite seasons are spring and fall. I have written before about the first signs of spring. When the pecan and mesquite trees bud you know that winter is over and there will be no more freezes. You can’t rely on fruit trees for this kind of prediction because they are always blooming early and get zapped by a freeze.

Fall is a little tougher to predict in Texas. We have prolonged summers and it sometimes seems like we miss fall. As a porch sitter, there are some subtle changes I use even when the weather seems like summer. The elms in my yard are the first to lose their leaves. The live oaks, of course, never seem to shed; that occurs in March and the new leaves are immediately on the trees. Other oaks shed later in the fall and the post oak will have it’s leaves turn brown but they don’t fall off till the end of winter. Pecans also shed late in the autumn and are mixed with the falling of the pecans. Ash trees shed early. It’s said the chestnut is an early leaf shedder but we don’t have any of those in our part of the world. So, I keep my eye on the elm and ash trees as the trees that shed at the first hint of fall.

Since I’m on the porch, I watch as the shadows of the trees seem to elongate as the sun makes its journey to the southern part of the celestial sphere. Twilight also seems to linger as we approach autumn and noon times are shortened. The days get shorter and I’m driven into the house by the dark at an earlier hour.

Folks in New England have a much prettier show to announce autumn with the changing leaf colors of the maples. In Texas, it just goes from green to dead but I still love to observe the subtle changes mentioned above. These changes are as real to me as to those who watch the maple leaves.

There are other signs that are beyond my description like the way the air feels and smells especially at twilight. We also commonly have a hurricane to hit or at least threaten the Gulf Coast to herald the approach of autumn. You really can’t tell from the behavior of the deer and other wildlife in my yard. All these animals are domesticated and act like pets or more like pest.

Anyway, autumn is right around the corner. A sure sign is to check the paper on Saturday morning and see the results of the high school football games and how much Temple lost.

2010-09-11T04:33:00.000-07:00

The media has a big mouth. This has to be one of the greatest problems with our society today. They love to make mountains out of molehills and accentuate coverage of anything that has a negative slant or thought to be sensational. The publicity given to such second rate celebrities, as Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan are prime examples.

The latest absurd news is the attention being given to a very minor Pentecostal minister, Terry Jones, in Gainesville, Florida. The minister makes a good appearance for the camera because of his bizarre mustache. He’s like a clown. He has gained world attention by organizing a Quran book burning to put down the evil Muslims for their action on 9/11 and their plans to build a mosque near the ground zero site. The media has gone wild with this coverage and it has incited riots in the Middle East and provoked even more hatred of the US. It has endangered our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. The President, the Secretary of Defense and the Commanding General of our forces in Afghanistan have ask Pastor Jones to cool it. You would think that this guy was as important as the Pope or someone like Billy Graham, but no, he is the preacher for a congregation of 50. All he has is the media blowing up a ridiculous story. If it were not for the news coverage, no one would be paying Jones the slightest amount of attention.

To make things even more sensational, Jones is claiming he has made a deal with the Muslim leader in New York who wants to build a mosque near ground zero. Jones will call off the book burning if the Muslims don’t build the mosque. The interesting thing is that the Muslim leader for the proposed mosque, Iman Feisal Abdul Rauf, says he hasn’t talked to Jones and hasn’t made any kind of deal.

The latest word is that Jones is flying to New York this weekend in hopes of speaking to Rauf. I’m pretty sure this very, very minor preacher, with a following of 50, is not going to change the mind of the Muslims and the American Civil Liberties people. I suspect he won’t even see them. The whole business just gives the media something else to make news about and it provides an opportunity for Muslims to riot in the streets, which is their favorite past time.

The thing that puzzles me on the porch is why I’m stupid enough to even listen to the news and ridiculous stories like Quran burning by a nobody. Stories about the exploits of non-talented and insignificants Hollywood types like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan are bad enough. Now, if Hilton and Lohan got in on the Quran burning that might be interesting.

2010-09-09T08:15:00.000-07:00

At my age it’s hard to get ready to evacuate your home for emergencies. Exactly a year ago, our little Village of Salado had a major flood. It has taken almost a year to rebuild the park and other areas ravaged by the flood. Last night we had a devastating flood that washed away everything which had been restored and did even more damage. We live on high ground and are not usually threatened by floods, but I have thought about what I would do if we had a call to evacuate. If I evacuate, I want to look presentable when I am interviewed by local TV.

Sirens were sounded last night and woke me about 4:00 AM. The power went off for about 30 minutes and I spent that time finding batteries for my flashlight and for the little weather radio. When I finally got everything working, the power was back on and I was informed there was a flash flood warning. It was time to turn on the 5:00 AM news for more details. I then became hypnotized by the TV coverage. Parts of Bell County were washing away. An entire mobile home park washed down the creek. Mobile homes are always the first to go in any kind of bad weather. A summer breeze can blow those things away. As the news unfolded with numerous updates the whole affair became very exciting.

All during the morning I kept thinking about getting dressed in case there was a tornado or a wall of water headed toward our house. Every time I made a move to dress, we either got a phone call or a news update about various places that had been flooded. It was exciting stuff happening right down the road.

Finally at about 2:00 PM I was headed to the shower when we got a call about a bank that had been robbed near by. Since I have been reading about Jesse James, I got into a discussion with my spouse about bank robberies. A big storm is a great diversion and a great time for a robbery. The police are too busy doing other things. We then talked about the best route for a getaway. All this took another hour. When all this was concluded, it was time for our meal of the day in mid-afternoon. Finally after the kitchen cleanup it’s time for the 5 o’clock news and a summary of the day’s events. Of course there is the 5:30 national news followed by another version of the local news at 6:00.

So there you have it, the entire day spent on the flash flood and I never got dressed to look suitable for evacuation. It was a day spent on the porch getting news updates and talking to friends on the phone. Sure glad we weren’t ordered to evacuate. I didn’t know a flood could be so much fun but I’m truly sorry for the folks who lost so much from all the water. None of these displaced people ever look good when they are interviewed on TV. That’s the reason I want to get spruced up a bit before I evacuate.

2010-09-03T22:14:00.000-07:00

In the past I have been told that a few drops of Native American blood flows in my veins. I have been unable to trace this with certainly, but I would be proud to have a few stands of DNA from a Sioux, Comanche or Apache. Mine would probably be a lesser tribe like the Kickapoo, Karankawa, Bidia, or Tonkawa. Anyway, it would be great to have a little Native Indian blood and be a true Native American rather than an alien. At least my ancestors were legal, I think.

I have recently been reading about a true Native American, Geronimo. He was a remarkable guy and not the savage depicted in the movies. He was a great Apache warrior. He wasn’t even a chief but rather an Apache Medicine Man, which is equivalent to a doctor for the tribe. His mother, wife and three children were killed by Mexican soldiers. After this, he vowed revenge on almost everyone and spent thirty years as a warrior, terrorizing the settlers and military. The soldiers couldn’t catch him as he outsmarted them with every move and evaded capture in mountainous areas where he lived and made his domain. He was like an Osama bin Laden of the 19th Century.

Geronimo, like all Apaches truly adapted to the land and he was actually a part of the canyons and mountains of Southern New Mexico and Arizona. He knew every water hole and hiding place and constantly evaded capture. He was very intelligent and filled with abundant energy and drive. He was completely independent, and literally lived off the land.

He was said to have magical powers. He could walk without leaving tracks, had a gift of mental telepathy and the ability to survive gunshot wounds (he was shot several times in his life). He once entered a cave and soldiers waited outside but he never came out and was later seen in another area. The remarkable thing is that the cave had no other known entrance or exit.

Geronimo was finally captured by General Nelson Miles in Arizona on September 4, 1886. He was sent to Fort Pickens in Florida where he became a tourist attraction and made money signing autographs and pictures. He became so famous he was in the inaugural parade for President Theodore Roosevelt. He died at Fort Sill, Oklahoma at the age of 79.

It was great to read about Geronimo on the porch. It sure beats reading and hearing about the economy, and whether Barack Obama is a Muslim or not. If Geronimo was running for something in November he would get my vote. I think he was a pretty smart guy and might even make a good President. I’ll bet he could even catch Osama bin Laden, he would know where to look

2010-09-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

It seems like when a company gets a new CEO that person tries to change the image of the organization and make their mark. It’s probably good for new blood to be infused into companies, but this often leads to disaster and the end of the company. The same applies to mergers and acquisitions. Companies merge in order to gain a greater share of the market, eliminate competition or obtain financial strength and stability. I know little about business, but it seems from history that all these fancy business techniques are a formula for failure.

This week I went shopping with my spouse and I saw the above in action and it will be interesting to see the outcome. We visited a store called Restoration Hardware. It’s really not a hardware store, but it’s a place where they always had unusual gifts and gadgets. They had neat bathroom accessories including various sweet smelling soaps, lotions, towels and everything for the bathroom including fixtures. The bay rum shaving lotion smelled so good I wanted to take a swig from the bottle. Their line of merchandise included a wide spectrum of goodies. It was a great place to Christmas shop and buy interesting gifts that didn’t cost a fortune.

Restoration Hardware is now in the process of completely changing its image and line of merchandise. Maybe it’s because no one shaves with a razor anymore and don’t need things like bay rum shaving lotion. I suspect the reason for change is that they have a new CEO and Board of Directors with marketing degrees or interior design and other such things. Anyway, they are now primarily a furniture store selling oversized and overpriced pieces of furniture with trendy cushions and pillows in which the material looks like it was made from feed sacks.

Anyway, I predict the demise of Restoration Hardware. I read in today’s local paper about a company in our town that is about to be taken over by a larger one. Everyone has been assured there will be no job loses and this is being done to promote growth. Let’s hope so. Regardless of what I say, with my lack of experience, mergers and acquisitions will continue and so will business failures. My spouse and I recently reviewed the giant businesses that once lined the streets of downtown Houston. Hardly any of these are around anymore, but neither is downtown Houston.

From my view on the porch, I think that business folks might be bettered served by reading a history book rather than getting an MBA degree. A little knowledge of accounting, an ear for the customer and history may be all they need to guarantee a successful business.

2010-08-28T10:34:00.000-07:00

It’s hard to believe the worthless people who continue to make headline news. Three names in particular continue to surface; Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Levi Johnson. These three continue to make the headlines, but have made absolutely no contribution to society other than being an alcoholic, drug addict or sex jock.

Paris Hilton is in the news again after being arrested in Las Vegas for possession of cocaine. She has already spent time in jail where she is supposed to have read the Bible and found the Lord. Her only contribution to anything is that she is an heiress to the Hilton fortune. The paparazzi love her and have warped our minds with their photographs and news coverage.

Lindsay Lohan is another worthless celebrity. She has been in a couple of movies, but people are more interested in her because of her misbehavior. She is on drugs and alcohol and is in and out of jail and rehab. Everyone thinks this is great stuff. If they make another dictionary and need a picture to illustrate the word dysfunctional, Lindsay Lohan would be the top choice.

The other amazing, worthless celebrity is Levi Johnson. He is the guy who got Bristol Palin, daughter of Sarah Palin, pregnant. A homeless bum could have performed that act. Levi has become a celebrity and been on numerous talk shows and even posed nude for a magazine. The only thing not shown in the nude photo is the part of his anatomy that made him famous. His on and off again relationship with Bristol has been big news. Who cares? The most unfortunate thing about this whole dysfunctional affair is that it brought Sarah more into the limelight. She has already done enough damage to the political system. The Democrats are probably behind this whole thing. Sarah is the greatest thing the Democrats have going for them since their President and Congress has them at a frightening low level of acceptance. Sarah is managing to split the Republican Party so the Democrats will end up winning in the November elections. The Democrats slogan should now be, Yea Sarah! Forget the change stuff, they want everyone to forget that word. Anyway, the most repulsive thing about this whole business is constantly seeing and hearing about Levi Johnson. He is more depressing than the economy.

I just need to escape my addiction to the news. I guess the only thing I can do is turn off the electricity to the porch, but then I would succumb to the heat. It’s almost worth it to take my chances with the unbearable heat than listen to the latest escapades of Lindsay, Paris or Levi.

2010-08-24T07:41:00.000-07:00

School has started and I’m glad all that is over for me. I have seven grandkids ranging from the 4th grade to a junior in high school. I ask them about their subjects for the year and it is unbelievable. I couldn’t cut it.

Last year I reviewed some of their Biology assignments and they were studying molecular biology and material beyond what I had in medical school. I have always questioned some of the stuff they are taught in biology. It seems like they should cover a little more anatomy and physiology so they will have an understanding of the major organs and their function in the body and will know what’s going on when illness hits them later in life.

The math and science that kids now take in high school is beyond what Oppenheimer knew when he constructed the atomic bomb. I’m sure that most would be able to calculate the critical mass of U235 needed for an explosion. My concern is, do they know simple arithmetic and able to make change or balance a checkbook.

I’m always asking medical students and other college graduates basic history questions and am surprised about what they don’t know. Well over 50% of college graduates don’t know who Winston Churchill was. Many can’t tell you who we fought against in WWII. What are they teaching in American History?

Of course, they can look up all this this stuff on a computer in the blink of an eye. Even though I’m amazed at what they don’t know, I’m even more amazed at what they do know. Most are so far ahead of where I was at their age it’s frightening. They are also more advanced in music and athletics. The average high school football player would make all pro if they were playing back in the early days of football. They are faster and bigger.

I grew up in a world of strict discipline and the teacher’s word was law. There was no policeman at school and there was complete silence in the halls as we changed class. All we had was a teacher with a yardstick. I guess the lack of discipline and presence of cops makes kids better prepared to deal with the real world of today and the violence we experience every day in the streets.

It’s just comfortable to be safely on the porch and far removed from the jungle of the average school. I am occasionally ask to help a grandkid with homework. It’s usually problem number 121 in chapter 13. Of course, I have to review the first 12 chapters, then I’m ready to start on the problem. And to think, I was once pretty good at math. I do still know how to make change.

2010-08-19T13:53:00.000-07:00

I recently read a survey that identified some of the differences in young people entering college today compared to a few years ago. There were some surprising findings and some that may already be apparent to most observers. We are indeed in a different world than my generation.

Here are a few of the findings from the survey. Most kids today do not write in cursive. They are skilled on the computer and text messaging and end up printing things they must write with pen or pencil. The spelling with text messaging is almost like another language and a dictionary may need to be developed for this foreign tongue.

Most young folks never use a phone with a cord except at their grandparent’s home. The world is rapidly moving to the cell phone. When I went to college we had no phone. For me to make a call it had to be on a pay phone or a line in the home of a friend. I wouldn’t think of making a long distance call unless it was for a death notification.

One of the amazing things is that kids don’t wear wristwatches anymore. They use their cell phones to give the accurate time. When I graduated from high school my graduation gift was a wristwatch and it was my pride and joy. I still have it even though it doesn’t run.

There are other interesting needs for kids starting to college these days that I knew nothing about. All must have a backpack. This needed piece of apparel starts in elementary school and continues until they get a PhD. Now days students couldn’t make it without a credit card, so this piece of dangerous plastic is an essential item. The college living quarters are filled with an array of electonic equipment including computers, ipods, TV, speakers etc. It is interesting that watching live TV is becoming a thing of the past. Shows are recorded and watched at a later date with skipping commercials and viewing a series of a favorite shows at one setting.

Of course many students now have a car. That was something beyond my wildest dream, but somehow I managed to get to most places and survived. It is amazing that I survived at all because except for a movie, air conditioning never touched my body. I couldn’t make it today if I had to attend class or study in the 100 plus degree heat. So, air conditioning is no longer considered a luxury, it is just a simple basic need like oxygen.

Well, the world has changed. It’s time to get out of the wristwatch business and into the cell phone racket. In the mean time on the porch, I still have my phone with a cord because I don’t have to keep repeating, “can you hear me now.” I just looked at my watch and it tells me it is almost 5 and time to watch the news live. That’s another thing, newpapers are dying. Kids don’t get their news from that souce anymore.

2010-08-12T09:20:00.000-07:00

The older we get the more paranoid we become. Experience hardens the psyche. Even considering the age factor, it seems like there is less of a caring attitude by everyone. In my field of medicine this is certainly the case and you see the same in business and even in the ministry. Even though we have more modern conveniences, to make life easier, we don’t seem to have the time to care for others.

Doctors are so busy the patient has just become an object. Long gone are the old family docs, who didn’t know much, but made you feel better by visiting and explaining things. The lower the echelon in medicine the more caring, but folks like nurses only do their caring on their shift. One minute past shift change and all caring stops. Docs gave up the caring part a long time ago when they became technicians and busy ringing up the cash register.

Business people and merchants haven’t cared in a long time. When businesses were small, mom and pop, operations they cared about the customer. The large chains are now operated by young folks who barely speak and only know how to stand at a checkout point, run a wand over your merchandise and swipe a credit card. There is absolutely no help in buying merchandise. In the old days every time I purchased a suit or pants there was a salesperson there measuring and helping select the right colors. You can now forget getting help in any store.

Ministers have now dropped the caring bit. Churches have become mega-operations with a large staff. If the minister is any good at preaching he spends his time preparing his one sermon per week. That sermon may be delivered two or three times on Sunday, but it’s not like in previous years with an evening Sunday sermon and one on Wednesday. Ministers used to visit when you were sick and even came to your home. Now, one of the associate pastors makes hospital rounds and if the head preacher shows up you know you are important, have a lot of money or you have reached the Pearly Gates.

Well, I guess it’s the bitterness of age, but I’m beginning to think the deer in my back yard are a lot more caring that the average person I deal with in medicine, business or the ministry. The deer love me so much they have almost moved into the house.

2010-08-10T19:58:00.000-07:00

I saw a Schwan’s food truck on the street this morning and it reminded me of a time when deliveries were common. When I was a kid many things were delivered and there were all sorts of salesman calling to peddle their goods at your home.

I remember when the milkman came every day with fresh milk in a glass bottle. Cartons and plastic bottles had not been invented. We left empty bottles by the door and the milkman just exchanged them with those filled with milk that had a big layer of cream on top. There was no skimmed, 1%, 2% and dozens of substitute milks, all we had was the fully loaded stuff, and it was terrific.

I go so far back in time I remember when we had no refrigerator. We had an icebox that was a box lined with tin and a compartment on top that contained a block of ice. The ice kept everything cool. The icebox was a luxury appliance for folks in the city who had ready access to an icehouse. An iceman delivered ice that was carried with a lethal looking instrument called ice tongs. Country folks were deprived of this modern convenience.

In those days, there were a lot of door-to-door salesman. They sold Fuller brushes, vacuum cleaners, Watkins Products, knives and dozens of other items. I always enjoyed watching these folks demonstrate their wares. Watching the vacuum cleaner demonstration was better than a lot of movies.

In those days, groceries were even delivered. One of the luxuries we enjoyed most was the dry cleaners delivery person coming by the house, on a regular basis, to pick up and return clothes for cleaning. More things required the service of the dry cleaners in those days because, wash and wear, polyester stuff had not been invented.

Young boys on bicycles even delivered telegrams to your door, but this was something you really didn’t want to get because it frequently meant a death or other bad news. Young boys also delivered medicine from the pharmacy and of course the newspaper. Newspaper delivery is about the only thing that still exists, but it comes in the middle of the night from an unknown source.

So, even though I don’t care for Schwan’s MSG laced food it was good to see them drive by the porch and remind me of simpler times when customer were important.

2010-08-08T20:55:00.000-07:00

It’s great to hear that the oil in the Gulf is disappearing. It has suddenly vanished. The fisherman can, hopefully, go back to work and maybe the tourist will return soon. It’s still not entirely clear what happened to the oil. Was it sucked up, burned, washed away by the hurricane or was it prayer. Maybe it was a combination of all the above.

I’m glad the oil is gone but there are many things in my life that make me sad to see disappear. Many of the type movies I love, like Westerns, are no longer made. Much of the music I have enjoyed is so hokey that it is no longer played. People dressing nicely are now a rarity. Waking down the street at night is no longer safe and it’s no longer possible to leave a kid unattended in the yard to play. The world is filled with crazy folks ready to assault you. Even the priest can’t be trusted. A kid can’t even ride their bike to the store or to a movie and leave it unlocked. It doesn’t matter because movies aren’t in the neighborhood anymore to be accessible by a bike.

My favorite foods are also disappearing. My wife cooked us a great meal today with okra and tomatoes, blackeyed peas and cornbread. She remarked that none of the grandkids would eat this stuff. Their life is fast food, pizza and such. They would be repulsed to see me crumble a piece of that cornbread into a glass of milk for a bedtime snack.

The saddest things to disappear are the people I love. All my aunts and uncles have passed away and my cousins are going fast. As the Bible says. “ One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever. Unfortunately, even the earth is not abiding very well. Global warming is in the process of reducing the planet to a burnt out cinder.

Oh well, I’m not going to worry about these things. There is not much I can do. I’m just going to close the porch for tonight and have me some cornbread and milk before turning in. I have to make sure all the doors are locked. That’s something else new to our modern age. We didn’t even have locks on the door when I was a kid.

2010-08-05T11:04:00.000-07:00

Some things are timeless and our mental image of many other things does not change with time. The pyramids have not changed in appearance for several thousand years. We were recently driving through the desert of the southwest and much of this remains unchanged and is the same as viewed by the Indians.

Even though some things age and die, our mental image remains the same through the years. For example, on this day, August 5th 1962. Marilyn Monroe died. If she were alive today she would be 84 years old. I just can’t imagine Marilyn as 84 or in a nursing home. My mental picture will always be of her standing with her skirt blowing up to reveal her perfect legs. She became a pop and cultural icon much like Elvis Presley. Those two will always remain the same to me. A lot of movie stars are like that. I prefer for them to stay young and vigorous looking. It bothers me to see folks like Willian Shatner as an overweight guy in a suit on TV commercials rather than as a thinner Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise.

Whenever I visit the gravesite of a relative or someone I have known, I usually have a mental image of that person as I knew them at their peak in life. Usually, the image is as I saw them through the eyes of a child.

When I see folks who were classmates in high school, they are still teenagers in my minds eye. It’s sort of like the picture of Dorian Gray. I always picture them as youthful but don’t see the aging picture.

I guess I have adapted or adjusted to my aging self. I’m sure, if a person from my teenage years was seeing me for the first time since those years, I would be unrecognizable. To me, I haven’t changed in spite of all the weight and wrinkles. The main thing that hasn’t changed is my inner self even thought it has been battered and bruised from experience. I still like westerns, the music of my younger years and Mark Twain. There is an inner spark in all of us that survives the slings and arrows of time.

Time itself is an interesting concept. If we understood more about it then maybe we would understand things like the earths creation, space and even religion. Hopefully, that inner spark in most folks is timeless. Unfortunately, that inner spark in many people is bad and needs to be extinguished. Maybe the creator will take care of that.

That’s some heavy thoughts from the porch. It’s time to get back to watching a good western even though most of these are repeats, but I like repeats.

2010-08-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

We just returned from our annual family trip to New Mexico where we tag along with the grandkids as they attend the Suzuki String Camp. It’s always a great experience and a thrill to see their progress and listen to them play in quartets, orchestras and solos. This was our eighth year to attend. The first six years were in Santa Fe, but last year it was moved to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. The facility at UNM is better, but nothing can beat Santa Fe. Santa Fe is a unique place with all the art, opera, food etc.

I love the food in New Mexico. The New Mexican food is really better than TexMex. They are basically the same; enchiladas, tamales, tacos etc, but the New Mexican uses green chilies and green or red chili sauce is used on almost everything. Refried beans aren't as popular in New Mexico. They use a small bean that is still tasty. Chili Rellenos are a big favorite . In general, the New Mexican food is great.

Tacos have always been one of my favorite Mexican foods. I must admit, that to my taste, one taco has all the fancy restaurants in New Mexico and Texas beat. That 5 star taco can be found at none other than Dairy Queen. In my opinion, Dairy Queen makes the best taco on the planet for a great price. The crispy shell is indeed crispy but with the perfect amount of steadiness to hold the contents together as you bite into the morsel. The meat is tasty and not as sticky and soggy as found in the more expensive restaurants. It’s good quality ground meat with just the right amount of seasoning. The lettuce and tomatoes are fresh and the cheese is like it has been freshly shredded with little tiny bands of the stuff capping the remainder of the contents. I usually squeeze a package of their delicious taco sauce on top of the whole thing.

These great Dairy Queen tacos used to cost three for a dollar. Like everything else, the price has gone up, but you can get three with a monster drink for 5 dollars. The drink cost almost as much as the tacos. The tacos by themselves are a little over three dollars. It’s a great deal compared to most of those fancy restaurants. Anyway, I had some of these mouth-watering tacos in Big Spring, Texas on our way home. It was the best meal of the trip and the least expensive.

It’s still good to be back on the porch and eating home cooking. I think I’m going to lay off green chilies for a while. My GI track is not as young as it used to be.

2010-07-28T12:47:00.000-07:00

Our family usually has at least one exciting event during our annual music camp outing in New Mexico. One year we drove through a police blockade and shakedown because of a prison break. This year the fire alarms went off at 11:00PM in the student apartments where we are camping. Most of the school faculty and many of the kids and parents are staying in the apartments.

My spouse, who can work nothing electronic, had just turned on a hair driver when the alarm sounded. We thought she had blown some sort of master fuse, but then someone started yelling for everyone to get out of the building there was a fire. People streaming down the hall said they had seen smoke at the end of the hall. We left the room with nothing but the clothes on our backs. My spouse had on her nightgown, and fortunately I was still in my regular street clothes of the day. People were wearing everything imaginable as they filed onto the lawn. All of the music teachers were carrying their instruments and most had their computers.

The police arrived very shortly but it was a full 15 minutes before an army of fire engines arrived. There were special trucks to handle toxic materials and bombs and there was even a helicopter circling overhead. It was an exciting thing for the kids and old folks alike. All of us on the lawn looked like the passengers on the deck of the Titanic before it sunk.

I kept watching for the flames and extension ladders to rescue those trapped on the top floor. After awhile, I noticed the fireman just milling around and talking. I got the courage to intrude into their conversation since they were just laughing and having a good time. They informed me that there was no fire. Someone had activated a fire extinguisher and that accounted for the smoke and also set off the alarm. They were now turning off and resetting the fire alarm system. I told the crowd and everyone seemed greatly relieved but kept on visiting. It was almost like a party.

One of the nice things about staying in these apartments is there is no TV. The family members are actually talking to each other and the experience on the lawn allowed us to meet some folks and have a nice conversation. It was sort of like the old days when people used to visit on the porch. On the lawn, I met a lady from San Angelo and we taliked about one of my favorite authors, Elmer Kelton, also from San Angelo. I talked to one of the teachers from LA about movie making. She has played in Hollywood orchestras. Another teacher styled my spouses hair. The whole experience was refreshing and I’m thinking about somehow activating the fire alarms again tonight so we can visit with the neighbors in the apartments. It’s a lot better than TV.

2010-07-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

I once read a fantasy story about this guy who had an auto accident on a remote country road. He was stretched out on the ground, with multiple injuries, waiting for an ambulance. A large crowd of people suddenly appeared. This always seems to be the case at an accident. A large crowd of people appear to see the blood and gore. He was taken to the hospital and survived. Then the strange thing happened. Twenty years later, he had a similar accident in another part of the country on a remote country road. While waiting for the ambulance a large group of people appeared to see the accident. He recognized these folks as the same ones who were observing him twenty years before in a different part of the country. It turns out, they sere all ghost or spirits ready to escort him to the hereafter in case he died. This is the same crowd that fills the emergency room waiting areas on Saturday nights around the country.

I’m having a similar experience this week. I guess you would call it a surreal experience. It’s almost like a dream while I’m awake. We are in Albuquerque, New Mexico attending a music camp with the grandkids as we have done for the past eight years. We stay in student apartments on the campus of the University of New Mexico, and it’s a little like camping. Naturally, we have to make a trip to the local Walmart for supplies. That’s where my surreal experience occurred.

I swear, it’s the same crowd of people here in Albuquerque that I wrote about last week in Temple, Texas. The place was full of identical folks. I thought maybe they had chartered buses or some other huge vehicle to transport them to the store in New Mexico. There they all were, standing in line at the checkout stands. Their bodies were covered in tattoos with various piercings and they wore the same cartoon character clothing. The women had most of their pendulous breast exposed and buttocks the size of Goodyear blimps pulling up the rear. The men were adorned in T- shorts and baseball caps. The women were something I may have seen in the National Geographic Magazine when I was a kid. The only minor difference is the New Mexico crowd was slightly thinner that those in Texas.

The only thing I can figure is that these folks aren’t real. They have to be spirits waiting to escort me to the hereafter. I’m not sure I want to go where they came from. This may be a bad sign because none of them would fit into the image I have of an angel. All I want to do is get back to the safe haven of the porch. In the meantime, I’m staying in the apartment with a book until the camp is over. I sure hope I don’t have to go back to the store for more supplies

2010-07-22T14:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went shopping with my spouse. The mission was to buy me a new pair of pants but it turned into a much more extensive undertaking. She is a pro at the shopping business and has the stamina of a wild dog of Africa. Even the shortest shopping excursion is like a marathon to me. I was ready to be hospitalized after a couple of hours. When we finally got to our last stop at Sam’s, I sat down to watch the people near the checkout while my spouse made several laps around the store.

The experience watching people at Sam’s is enough to fill the blog Journal for several months. Temple is not a huge city but there were long lines of folks with baskets brimming. Where do all these people come from? I didn’t know or recognize a soul. I also couldn’t figure out how we are in a recession from seeing the huge quantities of goods purchased by folks who looked like they were from the movie “Deliverance.”

I had just returned from buying my pair of pants and had to purchase a pair that required altering. I’m getting near the upper limits of the waist size that is available in most stores. I’m overweight but fortunately not in the obese category according to a dietitian I recently consulted. My leg length is out of proportion to my waist circumference. The young salesperson at Macy’s checked on her computer and said none of the stores in the state have my exact size. I guess I am an anomaly but I’m proud to be so unique.

Anyway, as I observed the specimens going through checkout at Sams I would say that over 75% fall into the obese category. My abdominal girth would be much less than the majority of those folks, including woman and some kids. If you checked their shopping basket it was apparent why. The baskets were filled with potato chips and other high calorie stuff, which must be purchased in bulk at Sam’s. The thing that puzzled me the most, after my experience buying pants, was where do these people get their clothes? Maybe there is a circus supply house close by that I don’t know about.

Anyway, I’m happy to be back on the porch. I don’t feel like eating anything for a while.

2010-07-17T08:36:00.000-07:00

To try and stay up with the modern world and communicate with my grandkids and friends I use the popular electronic social network, facebook. There is a box on facebook where you can write “what’s on your mind,” and this can be viewed by all of the people you have designated as a friend. I write something almost daily in this slot and it usually pertains to a birthday of some famous person or a historical event that has occurred on that day. It’s fun to research these events and birthdays and I’m happy that a few folks read it and make a comment. Other than for that, I rapidly scan the remarks on facebook to keep up with what’s going on with folks I know. It’s allowed me to stay in touch with relatives, in a way, that would have never been possible in the past. I would simply have lost contact.

I also love to sit on the porch with my spouse in the evening as the sun goes down until it gets completely dark. Our front porch lends itself to a breeze that is even made better with ceiling fans. The temperature is really fairly pleasant even in the heat of summer. We just reminisce and talk about most everything. We also enjoy conversations with others on the porch, but porch sitting and conversations are almost a thing of the past. TV, air-conditioning and a busy world have all driven everyone inside and the automobile makes it possible to escape to other more exciting sites for entertainment. A simple conversation on the porch is just not as stimulating to people today. It’s a greater thrill to watch explosions on TV or the movies.

The porch and sidewalks were the facebook of the past. The porch was the computer and communication center. Sidewalks, in small towns and neighborhoods, allowed us to stroll, with ease, to a porch nearby just as the internet, today, permits strolling from one computer to another. Somehow, facebook, iChat and texting are just not the same as face to face contact and prolonged casual conversation. I have thought of bringing my laptop to the porch where I could combine both worlds. I could sit on the porch and be on line with facebook. That’s called multi-tasking and is the norm in today’s world. That, however, would ruin the whole effect of porch sitting. Time on the porch is almost a time of reverence and worship, sort of like mediation or prayer. The tranquility of the porch would be totally disrupted with a computer or any other electronic gadget, including the iPhone.

Anyway, facebook is great but I hate to see the face to face contact of the porch be “Gone with the Wind” and take with it the tranquility of a summer evening and good conversation. . For now. I’m going to try and enjoy the best of both worlds, separately, before the porch completely vanishes into oblivion.

2010-07-13T09:08:00.000-07:00

I am very happy that my grown children and grandchildren have been able to travel and all have even been abroad in the past couple of years. My travels have been much more limited. They tell me that it broadens you as an individual and greatly enhances your education and appreciation for what is going on in the world. Some of my friends have traveled so much they have run out of countries to see.

I’m more content to stay at home. I haven’t even had a wild weekend in Waco to see the Cameron Park Zoo or stroll along the Brazos River. As a matter of fact, I haven’t even been to the Railroad Museum in Temple or the the SPJST Museum. I’m embarrassed to say that I haven’t even been to the Visitors Center in downtown Temple to go to the restroom. We recently visited the Bell County Museum and it was terrific.

When I hear stories from those who have traveled I think about a favorite uncle of mine who never traveled far from his farm in northwest Montgomery County. I believe Houston was the greatest distance he ever ventured from home. He read a lot and it turns out he was one of the most interesting people I have known. His brother was even more interesting and never even had a car during his life. If either of these brothers had attended college or traveled they may have won a Nobel Prize in something. They were that smart.

I ask my uncle one time if he had ever been to college and he said that he had attended a weekend course at A&M when he was a young man. I ask him what he had learned from that experience. He said it was one of the most enlightening times of his life because he had actually seen a baboon during that weekend at A&M. He talked a lot about that baboon and it was more entertaining than hearing about exotic trips to foreign lands. Other than for deer and other wild animals of the forest in Texas, I think the baboon was the only wild animal he had ever seen.

I have been to a lot of places in the US. After several trips to Mexico and sickness from some of those visits, I have sworn to never go south of San Antonio again. I certainly won’t go to a place where the water is unsafe to drink.

I am more of an armchair tourist. I’m content to just stay on the porch and watch the deer as I see the world through the eyes of CNN and thank God I’m safe in my chair. Even the deer are better than what I see and my books takes me to distant places where I met the most interesting people. I just got back from the Yukon with Jack London as I read a new biography of his life. I was eaten by mosquitoes in the summer and almost died trying to build a fire in winter. I then took one of many trips I have taken to Troy to help Heinrich Schliemann excavate. I attended the beheading of Mary Queen of Scots in a biography of Elizabeth I that I just finished. I did all this and walked to a room adjacent to the porch for a meal by my favorite chef of over 50 years. We dined on home grown tomatoes, black-eyed peas and cornbread. To quince the fire from the fresh hot green peppers on the peas I drank several glasses of iced tea brewed from the safe Salado water. It simple doesn’t get any better than that. My uncle was right.

2010-07-07T09:22:00.000-07:00

I have recently been reading about England’s Queen Elizabeth I who reigned from 1558 – 1603. She ruled during the Golden Age of England and made England a dominant power in the world after she wiped out the Spanish Armada. She was known as the Virgin Queen because she never married and did the things associated with that union. She was a brilliant leader and re-established the Anglican Church in England. England saw some other brilliant and notable folks during her time including, Shakespeare, Francis Bacon, Edmund Spenser, Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh. Elizabeth was the daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn. Henry had six wives in an attempt to produce a male heir to the crown. His third wife was successful and gave birth to Edward. Edward was sickly and did not serve long as king, which brought Henry’s daughters Mary and then Elizabeth in line. Henry had a couple of his wives beheaded, including Elizabeth’s mother Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth had her cousin Mary Queen of Scots beheaded.

Beheading was very much in fashion during the time of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. Elizabeth’s mother Anne Boleyn was very accommodating during her execution. She tied her hair up to properly expose her neck and provide a good target. She requested that the act be done with a sword rather than an ax because it would be a much cleaner job. The French used the guillotine, which was even more effective.

We have become a lot more effective in killing each other. Our techniques for execution have greatly improved through the years. Stoning was one of the first methods used to rid us of unwanted people who had sinned, voted the wrong way and other such crimes. Beheading became popular during medieval times and this method is still employed by backward cultures of today such as the Taliban. Hanging was the next popular method and was used for years. They hung people for the slightest infraction of the law in the old west. It seemed to be a great sport and source of entertainment during that period of American history. The gun introduced us to the firing squad and electricity to the electric chair. The gas chamber became popular after cyanide became available and was used so effectively by the Nazis in their prison camps during the holocaust. Now, because we are interested in preserving human dignity and minimizing pain and suffering we are using lethal injection. Sometimes this is even botched and we are continuing to look for better ways of disposal for the criminals and innocent who had a bad lawyer.

Anyway, it’s a lot of fun reading about Elizabeth I and Henry VIII. It makes me thankful to be on the porch, but the reading gives me a chill and I tend to pull my shirt up around my neck for a little protection.

2010-07-05T18:48:00.000-07:00

Most of the news continues to be bad. Oil continues to gush in the Gulf of Mexico, the stock market continues to drop, unemployment remains high and the war in Afghanistan is not going well. One bit of amusing news occurred this weekend at the annual hot dog eating contest at Coney Island.

This year’s winner of the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island was Joey “Jaws” Chestnut of San Jose California. This was his fourth year to be champ and he did it by downing 54 hotdogs in 10 minutes. He won the cherished Mustard Belt for his effort. Japan had been the champ for several years in a row and the belt was proudly displayed in Japan. The contest was disrupted this year by a former Japanese champ, Takenu Kobayahi. There was some dispute regarding Takenu’s contract and he also missed the weigh in. While the contest was going on the former champ went on the stage and disrupted the event. Police had to subdue him. He was handcuffed and arrested.

Joey “Jaws” Chestnut still won and the Mustard Belt remains in the US for another year. He is our hero and is the bright spot in the news for the weekend. Jaws is pictured above and surprisingly doesn’t look all that big. I had trouble getting one hot dog down on the 4th and I am already overweight. It’s just not fair.

Anyway, the whole event at Coney Island was a welcome relief from all the other bad news I hear on the porch. It was so amusing I didn’t even mind the deer playing in the backyard.

2010-06-30T12:29:00.000-07:00

We are a very paranoid society and nothing illustrates this more than racial profiling. I know there are inequities that are disgusting but we have carried the paranoia of racial profiling too far. A little profiling would sure help streamline things. The security hoops we had to go through with our recent trip to see Laura Bush and the absurd obstacles on our way to board an airplane are examples. Is it really necessary to frisk a kid or an old grandmother?

The sub-human idiots who give their lives as suicide bombers seem to have diminished a bit. Maybe they have run out of folks who don’t see the future in this endeavor. The suicide bombers have all been promised they will go to heaven and have a covey of virgins for their pleasure. With seeing pictures of virgins like Susan Boyle I suspect this may have changed some minds. Hearing a beautiful voice in the promised land is probably not what the bombers had in mind.

Anyway, the people who have been the terrorist and doing the bombing are all swarthy looking, so it makes sense to pull these people aside for a little more frisking. Some groups in Arizona are opposed to the new law that allows a policeman to check and see if they are an illegal alien. I guess they just want our borders to be completely open so Mexicans can pour across for free medical care and every other right granted to a US citizen. It’s okay for them to come across but they should do so in an orderly manner and be granted a work permit and the opportunity to become a citizen if they want to pursue this. After all, they are the only ones who do the manual work in this country. How are the authorities in Arizona going to identify illegals if they don’t ask? I seriously doubt if the authorities in Arizona would be asking blacks or grey-headed grandmothers if they are an illegal from Mexico. Maybe another option is just to annex the entire nation of Mexico and add that to the national debt since it is already so much it really doesn’t matter. Bring on the Muslims and everyone. Bring us your tired and hungry and we will care for them all as we disappear into the sink hole of debt..

So, if there were any authorities to check out the destruction of my yard by something eating all the plants, I would say look for a four-legged creature that looks like a big Bambi and don’t bother the elderly couple who walk by my porch every morning. I’m afraid to say anything about my problem because our Salado police would probably end up water boarding the elderly couple to get a confession.

2010-06-27T19:11:00.000-07:00

My spouse loves to read biographies. She enjoyed the recent book by Laura Bush, “Spoken From The Heart.” So, today when Laura was at Fort Hood, for a book signing, we were invited by my daughter-in-law to go to the event with her family. It was quite an experience.

My son drove, and getting through the gate at Fort Hood was the first challenge. We were turned back and had to go to the Visitor’s Center for a pass. This required extensive questioning and documentation about the car and personal identification to obtain a permit. On reentering the gate everyone was required to present their drivers license but the kids were not interrogated at that point. We could have easily slipped a dwarf terrorist through this checkpoint.

When we got to the location of the signing, at the PX area, it was unbelievable. There was everything from secret service down through every grade of federal employee, checking and approving our passage. We went through large metal detectors and emptied our pockets on two occasions to gain entry. Our body was even scanned by a hand held detector. We had wrist identification bands attached and the books we were to have autographed were scanned. There were over 25 people involved in this process. It made airport security seem like a picnic. There were even people walking down the line to keep us against the wall. All these people were acting official, and were serious about their business, as if they were looking for Osama bin Laden or other known terrorist on the loose. Wow, all this to see Laura Bush.

Laura was behind a barricade surrounded by another covey of protective guards. With all this trouble I was expecting to get to see her in the nude or something else spectacular. I thought she might have at least danced or performed in some way. But no, we were whisk by her as she automatically signed the books in a flash, with a big fixed smile on her heavily made up face. She was perfectly dressed and polite but only allowed about 5 seconds contact. There was absolutely nothing personal, just a signature.

I’m not even sure it was Laura Bush that we saw. I think it may have been a mannequin that looked like Laura Bush. Anyway, our time of exposure from seeing her until the quick signing was about 15 seconds. I’m sure we were the only people, not associated with the military, who attended the signing. No one in their right mind is going to go through that much trouble to get through security, unless it is an actual terrorist who would have been successful. The only people they stop are idiots like our family.

My wife did enjoy the occasion and I mainly got my kicks out of being with the grandkids and just going through the ridiculous experience of getting on the army post to see a celebrity. Next time, however, I think I will just stay on the porch.

2010-06-23T08:56:00.000-07:00

The oil spill story and BP got a little relief from the media this week when everything focused on the big mouth of General Stanley McChrystal, the military commander in Afghanistan. McChrystal bad-mouthed the President and his administration about their understanding and support of the war in Afghanistan. His remarks were published in the Rolling Stone magazine and infuriated the President. He has been summoned to the White House and will likely be fired or forced to resign.

McChrystal is a hyperactive, brilliant guy who sleeps four hours a night, runs seven miles a day and eats one meal a day. I think he has spouted off because he wants, personally, to get out of Afghanistan, and doesn’t want our failure there to go down as his fault. Even with the big troop surge that McChrystal requested we are fighting a losing battle. The ignorant people of that country don’t want to be liberated or change their ways. They are content with Taliban rule and continuing their miserable existence in the Stone Age. All they care about is living in the dirt, starving, growing dope and keeping the women enslaved and pregnant. They are happy to not shave or bath and just squat all day. We will never kill Osama bin Laden in those mountains protected by unbathed guys with rocket launchers slung over their shoulders. We don’t even know what these people look like. They are completely covered from head to toe with a dirty sheet and carry a machine gun. The only body part exposed is a dirty beard. As far as we can tell our troops are just firing into the wind. Our soldiers are marching up and down the road tripping roadside bombs and leaving their arms and legs behind. We never even see the enemy. All we have accomplished in our several years of fighting is to maim many American kids who now have to face life as amputees and try to function on artificial limbs with markedly disfigured bodies.

McChrystal realizes all these problems, and the hopelessness of our situation. He has found a way out. He will come out a hero. If he leaves his post and we lose, he can always say it wasn’t his fault because the administration didn’t listen to him. If by some miracle we win, which is highly unlikely, he will claim it was his troop surge and strategy that led us to victory. In any event, he will leave the military and get a high paying job as a CEO of some company and make millions. He will also give speeches at $100,000 a pop. The loser in the whole affair will ultimately be President Obama and the American people. Osama bin Laden will remain hidden in the mountains terrorizing the world.

Unfortunately, Afghanistan will go down as another one of our lost wars that was unnecessary. The only way to have won in Afghanistan would have been to sterilize the entire place with a few well placed nukes, but that would have been barbaric and not fighting fairly. It’s more proper to crash planes into the World Trade Center Towers. It’s almost as bad as the losing battle I fight with the deer in my backyard. My command post is the porch but it’s sure a lot nicer that the miserable place where McChrystal lives. No wonder he wants out

2010-06-20T10:12:00.000-07:00

I have always been intrigued by Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. I can’t buy the whole thing, but I do think we have evolved within our species and in some aspects we have reached the pinnacle and are now headed in the other direction. There is even evidence that we are moving in both directions. In recent years, some have become stronger physically as evidenced by the many sporting world records that have been broken. Of course, steroids, shoes and equipment have contributed to much of this advance in physical feats. It is confusing, because when we see the specimens on the football field it’s a good argument that we are going back to ape status. We have certainly regressed in music as we hear the deafening sounds of rock and rap.

Certainly, the human brain has advanced in many areas. There have been numerous, startling inventions and discoveries such as the airplane, automobile, rockets, computers, television, antibiotics, DNA, birth control pills and the ability to create life by cloning. We have even put a man on the moon and invented an atomic bomb to destroy the human race. Advances in the ability to communicate are phenomenal, starting from drums and smoke signals and progressing to the telegraph, telephone, e-mail and now text messaging. With things like the iphone and the new ipad we literally have the world in our hands through the internet. Through satellite contact, we are anywhere on the planet and beyond with the speed of light.

With all these advances, in many ways, we seem to be moving backward with communication. We have lost our ability to write a letter or to communicate in longhand. We were typing, but this has evolved into text messaging. Facebook and other media allow us to stay in contact, but with a more abbreviated language. Text messaging resorts to all sorts of abbreviations and symbols. This is even spilling over to oral communication. Teenagers speak in rapid high pitch tones for speed and no one seems to articulate their words or speak distinctly. It’s enough to drive Professor Higgins of “My Fair Lady” crazy. Soon we will be communicating with mere grunts and groans. I ask you, what kind of words are; AML, NE, RUCMNG, BCNU, D8, XO, LOL, NBO, NP, ADBB and ☺. Why can’t the English learn to speak?

Yes, I think I believe in evolution. We are now going the other way. At least we can’t return to a fish, because the ocean is filled with oil and that would guarantee our extinction. I hope I can just stabilize on the porch even though no one understands my archaic language.

2010-06-14T18:08:00.000-07:00

I have written before about my love for the old Southwest Conference. I grew up with those football rivalries and always looked forward to the champion playing in the Cotton Bowl. I loved stars like Doak Walker and Bobby Layne. When the Big 12 came along I really lost interest, but still followed my losing Baylor team because it is my Alma Mater. I never expected Baylor to win but have been very proud of them in the past few years with Men’s and Lady Bears Basketball.

The latest shuffling with the PAC 10 has been sickening. It all boils down to money. PAC 10 persuaded Colorado to join and they are nothing. I don’t think Colorado even has a baseball team. I hope this whole shuffling process blows up in the face of the PAC 10 big wigs.

It would be great if the Texas teams could stick together in a conference of their own and again include schools like TCU, SMU, Rice and University of Houston. A rebirth of the old Southwest Conference would again make me a fan.

The college football teams no longer represent the student body of the schools. Each school has its own mini-pro team consisting of hired gladiators who are preparing themselves to become millionaires in the pros followed by a life of crime including; murderers, rapist, child molesters and drug addicts. Most of the apes playing football can hardly read. At least it gets them off the street for a while.

Even many years ago, when I was in Baylor, the football team was just above the ape on the evolutionary scale. A friend of mine was a tutor for the Baylor football team. I took a botany coarse with the team. They had access to the test for study and still flunked.

I do hope the Texas teams stay together, otherwise it is going to cost the state millions of dollars. Baylor would probably end up playing the Waco high schools and maybe even Temple. Temple is one they could probably beat as long as the Wildcats keep their current coach.

Well it doesn’t make much difference to me on the porch. I’m now more interested in watching the riots and the spectators getting trampled to death at the World Cup Soccer matches. Talk about a boring game, soccer is almost a bad as watching baseball on TV.

2010-06-13T18:08:00.000-07:00

On most major transactions in my life I have rarely paid the asking price. I always pay more. The purchase of a car is a good example. The salesman will quote one price and at closing there are numerous add on cost that raise the actual amount I pay significantly. Taxes, license, and multiple other added features are killers. Computers, TVs and other electronic equipment always come with the push by the salesperson to buy an extended warranty, which is worthless and nothing but pure profit for the business. I won’t even begin to talk about the add on cost for building a house. The price of material increases daily and the final cost may be far above what you had planned or even imagined.

Everything we purchase has gone up in price and down in quality and quantity. A nickel candy bar now cost over 50 cents and is smaller. There are larger packages and bottles for most every product, but the contents are smaller and we are paying more per ounce for the material than in the past. It looks like we are getting more when in fact we are being duped and cheated.

Diogenes is one of my favorite philosophers. He was a Greek philosopher who carried a lantern around in search of an honest man. He was known as Diogenes the Cynic and founded the Philosophy of Cynicism. He believed we should study the dog. He thought the dog was a virtuous animal and knew instinctively who was friend and foe. Mark Twain probably loved Diogenes. Twain said, not to ask St. Peter to let your dog into Heaven because admission to Heaven is by favor and not merit. If it was by merit the dog would be admitted and you would be left out.

Even the cost of my sitting on the porch has gone up. Electricity is higher and I am no cooler or warmer than in the past. As a matter of fact, since I have adjusted the temperature to save a little I am more miserable. What I pay for my satellite TV coverage is far more than what I was originally quoted. The books I buy are also more expensive and the contents are worse than those filled with the words of writers in the past. I also pay a lot more for what is now called music.

So, is it any wonder why I like Diogenes and the philosophy of Cynicism. I am going to start carrying a lantern in search of an honest man.

2010-06-08T13:56:00.000-07:00

As I get older, it’s frightening to see the bodily functions deteriorate. My spouse has had poor hearing for years but I have now surpassed her. We are constantly shouting at each other. A stranger might think we are mad, but it’s just our normal conversational tone.

In a way, the loss of hearing is the most amusing of the sad losses of bodily functions. This week, I got a big laugh out of one of my miss-hearings. The Chief of the Coast Guard in the Gulf, who is overseeing the oil spill operation, is Thad Allen. It was only a couple of days ago that I realized his name was Thad when his name was scrolled across the TV screen. I had been thinking all along the commentators were saying Fat Allen. While he is a little on the chubby side, I didn’t think he deserved the name Fat. I’m sure glad to have that straight.

One of the problems that makes our situation worse is most of the news commentators are now women with high-pitched voices. They speak very rapidly with a high squeaky voice, so we hear only about 1 in every10 words. Long gone are the deep mellow voices of the Walter Cronkites of the world. It makes the news a mystery when we only get fragments. It’s just as well, because the news is so bad.

We are finally going to have to break down and get a hearing aid. We are missing too much of what the grandkids have to say. We will have to shuck our vanity and wear one of those devices sticking out of the ear canal. At least they have gotten smaller and the wires are gone. Many of the young folks are now wearing those huge telephone gadgets permanently implanted over the side of their face, so maybe we will be fashionable.

My father who lived to be 93 always had poor vision. Once, when he was developing bad hearing and also had a sinus infection, he remarked that he just needed a new head. I’m about to that point, but in my case I would require a complete body transplant to be half way normal.

Meanwhile, on the porch, I will just crank the TV volume up a few notches and move a little closer. Sometimes, it is an advantage to be hard of hearing and frequently a little amusing when you think someone is named Fat rather than Thad.

2010-06-07T08:16:00.000-07:00

In 1528 Cabeza de Vaca, a Spanish explorer, was the first so-called civilized person to set foot on Texas soil. He, along with three other colleagues, wandered across South Texas, the Southwest and northern Mexico for eight years before being rescued. He could have predicted in 1528 where the oil from the present blowout would go ashore and that Texas and Mexico would be spared. How would he have known this before oil was even discovered beneath the sea?

De Vaca set out from Spain in five ships with over 500 people in 1528. They landed in Cuba after a terrible hurricane destroyed two ships and killed 200 in his party. He then departed Cuba with three ships and about 300 remaining people. He was headed for northern Mexico. Navigation was poor in those days. He sailed and sailed and finally put ashore on what is now Tampa, Florida. Why didn’t he cross the Gulf of Mexico? He didn’t know about the swift current of the Gulf Stream and the so-called loop current that we have been hearing about. His ships, like the current oil spill, were pushed east to the beaches of Florida.

De Vaca didn’t know where he was. They made rafts and sailed along the Gulf Coast. Of the 300 who made it to land all but four finally perished. They starved or were killed by Indians. De Vaca and his colleagues survived by adapting to the Indians ways and also practiced healing with some success. He removed an arrow from the chest wall of an Indian and the patient survived. This was the first surgical operation in Texas.

Cabeza de Vaca recorded his experiences in a Journal. He described how the Indians lived along the Gulf Coast. They had abundant oysters, fish and plants to eat. Unfortunately, they would not be able to survive after our current disaster. They would have moved onto higher ground and more fertile territory. We could learn a lesson from de Vaca about the direction of oil flow in the Gulf and we could also learn from his Indian friends the importance of preserving our environment.

As I sit on the porch and read the account of Cavaza de Vaca wandering along the Gulf Coast it make me sad to think that the beauty and the abundant resources from that area have now been destroyed. Like the Indians, the inhabitants ot the Gulf Coast are going to have to move to more fertile ground.

2010-06-01T12:30:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day passed without a blog entry in the Journal about those who have served and died for our Country. Memorial Day also unofficially ushers in summer and it has entered with a blast of heat this year.

I’m sure glad we have Memorial Day to remind us of our past wars and those who died in the service of our country. It seems like we are making an exerted effort to forget some of the wars and as the history books are rewritten some may be forgotten altogether.

There is a “politically correct” effort to squelch the Confederacy in the Civil War. It was our most costly war in terms of lives. 618,000 soldiers died in that conflict and 258,000 were Confederates. History books will probably record the Confederates as enemy deaths and not count them among the Americans.

We have been made to feel guilty about the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan and the Japanese American internment camps in WWII, so Japan will probably not be mentioned in the history books about their role in WWII. Iran doesn’t believe the holocaust existed, so to avoid risking our relationship with the Muslims, Germany’s role in the war may also be forgotten.

I served during the Viet Nam conflict and that skirmish has also been erased from the memory banks of American history because we lost and folks like Jane Fonda thought we were wrong. I know a large number of people who served in that war and also several who died, were wounded and even captured. They suffered as much as anyone else who has served through the years.

WWI is all but forgotten. I had an uncle who died in that war. That occurred long before I was born, but I have his last letter that serves as a reminder of his life. He died on October 27, 1918 from poison gas used by the Germans and is buried at Plot C Row 15 Grave 11 at St. Mihiel American Cemetery, Thiaucourt, France. The cemetery is pictured above. John Henry Welch was almost literate, but the last sentence of his last letter pretty much sums up the fears and uncertainly of the soldier facing battle. He said, “ I will see you all again someday. I am going to live in hopes anyway.” He was killed a short time later.

Meanwhile, another Memorial Day has come and gone and summer is definitely here and keeping me on the porch. I’m just thankful that I have the freedom to sit on the porch and write what I like on the blog because of people like John Henry Welch.

2010-05-29T12:45:00.000-07:00

A sentinel event is defined by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) as any unanticipated event in a healthcare setting resulting in death or serious physical or psychological injury to a patient or patients, not related to the natural course of the patient's illness. These untoward events change the method of practice and can certainly change the life of the patient involved.

I could use the same term in describing events in history. These are events that changed our nation or the world. Good examples are Pearl Harbor that ushered in World War II and the World Trade Towers destruction on 9/11 that led to our War on Terrorism and the unstable conditions in the world today.

Today, May 29, is the birthday of President John F. Kennedy and his assassination on November 22, 1963 was also a sentinel event in the history of our nation. Regardless of how we fell about his politics and personal life, when he spoke or even made an appearance it gave us a sense of pride and confidence in ourselves and our nation. The nation seemed to have changed after Kennedy’s death. We have lost confidence in our government and the President.

The sentinel event of history doesn’t have to be a tragedy or catastrophe. The two major scientific events of my life were the Manhattan Project for the development of the atomic bomb and the space program that put a man on the moon. These events spawned many other scientific achievements. In my field of Radiology the major event was the development of the CT scanner.

I wish that we could have at least one other major sentinel event before I depart the planet and that would be the development of another reliable source of energy. That would solve many problems like our dependence on foreign oil and giant Gulf oil leaks.

Meanwhile, all I can do is sit on the porch and watch the giant oil leak expand in the Gulf. It may run up the Brazos into the Leon and then seep into my yard. It could then kill the remaining foliage in my yard and the deer would starve. That would be a bad sentinel event turning into a good one.

2010-05-27T14:37:00.000-07:00

The oil spill is the dominant news item this week as the disaster has worsened. The flow of oil from the blowout has remained unchecked for over thirty days. The beaches of Louisiana are now coated with oil and the black stuff has made its way into the marshlands and is destroying precious wildlife. The tourist industry has been crippled and the fishing business devastated. The economy of the whole place is in peril.

The news coverage is interesting. CNN seems to have more people on the scene. CNN stresses the negative and sensational. Anderson Cooper is always in the middle of a disaster. The emphasis on the coverage is on the blame game. Everyone was initially blaming BP and the BP people were blaming each other as well as the folks who make the cement and everything else associated with drilling. Now the blame is focusing on the government and Obama is taking heat. Poor George Bush has even been blamed because of allowing offshore drilling. Fingers are pointing in every direction. I can’t find out what is happening with the spill because of the shouting and finger pointing.

The coverage by Fox has been poor. The world could be ending from the hit of an asteroid and Glenn Beck would be talking about how we are becoming a socialist nation and Bill O’Reilly would be listening to himself talk. The major networks give only limited coverage at 5:30PM and through the local channels. The world could be ending and the major networks would still be airing things like Dancing With the Stars and CSI.

Radio is basically worthless as far as news is concerned. They have the programmed country music and nothing interrupts that. I have heard the tornado sirens blasting away and the local stations are oblivious to a disaster.

I don’t know why I even listen to the news. The stuff that comes over the air just disturbs the tranquility of the porch. I’m sure the oil leak will eventually stop just like all bleeding eventually stops.
I just wish Bush and Obama would not have let this happen

2010-05-24T16:08:00.000-07:00

It seems like it takes a long time for the Church to learn or get a message from God. Sometimes I wonder where these theologians in authority get their information and who they communicate with.

Nicolas Copernicus died in 1543. He was a brilliant Polish astronomer who was the first to figure out the earth revolved around the Sun rather than the other way around, as the church believed. For that he was excommunicated. This past weekend, after several hundred years, he was reburied as a hero. The church had finally realized its error and that the earth does revolve around the sun. Copernicus made his observations without the aid of a telescope.

Almost a hundred years later, Galileo used a telescope to confirm the findings of Copernicus. Galileo also discovered the phases of Venus and the moons around Jupiter. The church considered him a heretic and confined him to house arrest for the remainder of his life. In 1992 Pope John Paul expressed regret for how Galileo had been treated and admitted the errors of the church.

Michael Servetus, a Spanish theologian and anatomist, discovered the circulation of blood a hundred years before the Englishman William Harvey, who got the credit. Servetus published his findings in a book that contained some remarks that challenged the teachings of the Church. He was critical of infant baptism and had some dispute regarding the concept of the Holy Trinity. He, along with his books were burned at the stake. Three of his books survived.

In the 20th Century, John Rock invented the birth control pill. Dr. Rock was a devout Catholic but believed in hormonal control of fertility. The Church was very opposed to this idea and the Church harshly criticized Dr. Rock. Dr. Rock stopped attending mass.

It’s not just the Catholic Church. I was brought up being taught that it was a sin to dance, and now the Baptist church even promotes and sponsors dances. Lots of folks believe the world was created 6000 years ago and dinosaurs and other ancient creatures such as Neanderthal and Cro Magnon Man have lived since that time.

It‘s tough handling some of these concepts. I have no problem with God. I just wonder about those receiving the message. I’m not sure a collar and a robe help serve as a conduit or antenna for the information any better than the rocking chair on the porch.

2010-05-20T09:46:00.000-07:00

May is the month for end of year school programs. We attend several every year to gloat with pride over the achievements of the grandkids. The programs cover a large spectrum of activities such as choir, orchestra, talent shows, recitals, awards, and graduation. Often, we have to sit on gym bleachers that kill my back and then listen to every grade level perform until the crowning moment when our grandchild is on stage or is recognized. It’s all worth it, because nothing else in the world gives us more pride and joy.

A few nights ago we heard the intermediate school orchestras perform and one of our granddaughters was given special recognition. I felt as if I had won an Academy Award. At recitals when they are on stage playing solo, I bite my nails and say a little prayer. They have never let me down with a bad performance. I have been honored with going to an All State performance and that was like winning the Nobel Prize. A very special honor is that I have been the guest speaker on several occasions for academic honors and graduation ceremonies where my grandkids were recognized.

At each of these programs I am reminded of a verse of scripture from Ecclesiastes that is used by Ernest Hemingway at the beginning of his book, “The Sun Also Rises.”

“One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh;
but the earth abideth forever.
The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down,
and hasteth to the place where he arose
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full;
Unto the place from whence the rivers come,
thither they return again.”

My generation passes like the sun setting, but in my case the rising sun of the grandchildren is much brighter than for my time in the sky. That’s the most comforting thought I have on the porch.

2010-05-16T18:17:00.000-07:00

I’ve been reading this great book called “Mark Twain and Medicine.” Twain had a great time poking fun at the terrible state of medical practice in the 19th century. The world would have been better off without doctors until the early 1900s. There are still problems but nothing like the slaughter carried out by physicians in the 19th century.

Mark Twain referred to the doctors as assassins and said they were more effective killers in war than the soldiers. He suggested replacing the troops with doctors for greater efficiency in killing. Looking at the statistics, Mark Twain was correct. Of the 618,000 soldiers who died in the Civil War, two thirds died of disease and treatment by the doctors. The doctors had no idea of the germ theory of disease and performed operations with unwashed hands and contaminated instruments. Dysentery and other medical conditions were caused by filth and were treated by blood letting and purging. Calomel was a standard treatment for almost everything. This was a powerful cathartic that further complicated the dehydrated state of the patients and the calomel contained mercury that was poisonous. Ipecac, used to induce vomiting, was also a standard treatment.

As many as 400,000 of the Civil War causalities could have been prevented if the doctors had known what they were doing or simply left the patient alone. For example, the mortality for yellow fever was about 30% if untreated and 60% if the doctor applied his deadly skills and went to work with his poisons.

Twain also hated the practice of Christian Science. This practice was set up to always be a winner. If the patient had enough faith then their disease (which was self limited to begin with) would be cured. If the patient died then it was because the patient didn’t have enough faith. It wasn’t the fault of Christian Science.

Twain also attack patent medicines that were very prevalent in his time. Most of these medicines were primarily alcohol with a little flavoring. They were totally ineffective except for making the person who concocted the solution rich.

Fortunately, much of this witchcraft and unrestrained charlatanism no longer exist; however, much harm to the patient still occurs in medical practice. We still need a Mark Twain to show us the error of our ways with good humor. This would be more effective than the current practice of litigation that only makes the lawyers rich and still allows medical mistakes, fraud and poor practice. The lawyers have now joined the ranks of the assassins.

2010-05-13T08:03:00.000-07:00

The recent elections in England are a little confusing. I’m not sure why anyone would want to be Prime Minister there anyway. All they do in Parliament is yell at each other and heckle the Prime Minister as he gives his speech.

I think Winston Churchill would approve of the new government. When he was elected as Prime Minister in 1940 he received a lukewarm welcome. On May 13, 1940 he gave his famous speech to the House of Commons and said, “ I have nothing to offer except blood, toil, tears and sweat. The speech was a call to arms against Hitler who was one of the greatest menaces the world has ever known. Hitler was running ruff shod over Europe and Churchill had the courage to stand alone in opposition to Fascism and in support of Democracy. He finally persuaded Roosevelt and the US to join the effort and Hitler was eliminated from the planet. Time magazine voted him as the most influential leader of the 20th Century. Unfortunately, most high school and college students today never heard about Churchill.

In spite of Churchill’s great leadership during WWII he was defeated as Prime Minister in the election of 1945. Churchill was a conservative and did not believe in a welfare state. He was defeated by Clement Attlee who Churchill described as a modest man with much to be modest about. Attlee was a socialist and a member of the Labor Party. He enlarged the system of social services, nationalized major industries and started the National Health Care System. He was Prime Minister from 1945 to 1951 and Churchill was reelected. Attlee was also responsible for the decolonization of a large part of the British Empire. Before Attlee the sun never set on the British Empire because of its immense size, but that ended with his time in power.

The Conservatives are back in power in Great Britian and Churchill would probably be happy. I have no idea whether this is good or bad for those folks and in fact it probably doesn’t matter as far as we are concerned. Our biggest concern with England is that they are being overrun with Muslims and this could pose a threat to our mother country and to us. Their immigration problem is worse than ours.

All this is of no concern of mine on the porch, but as always I wonder if there are lessons from history. For example, the Panic of 1837 and the resulting depression should have been a lesson for our situation today.

2010-05-11T08:09:00.000-07:00

The painting above shows Halley’s comet over the birthplace of Mark Twain in Florida, Missouri and over Stormfield in Redding, Connecticut where he died. It’s a composite painting. The comet makes its appearance every 75 – 76 years and was visible in 1835 when Twain was born and then again in 1910 when he died.

Mark Twain said, “I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year (1910) and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don’t go out with Halley’s Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt, now there are these two unaccountable freaks that came in together, they must go out together.” Mark Twain, did come and go with Halley’s Comet.

It was a hundred years ago this week when Halley’s Comet was at its brightest and closest to the earth. It had appeared a few weeks earlier, at the last of April, and heralded the death of Mark Twain. The comet’s most recent visit was in 1986 and it was a puny show. I could barely see it with my binoculars. The astronomers had an explanation for its lackluster appearance, but I figured it had probably been extinguished when it was overshadowed by the brilliance of Mark Twain when he departed with it in 1910.

I was hoping the comet would usher in another great personality like Mark Twain when it appeared in 1986, but so far that doesn’t seem to have been the case. It’s unlikely the world will again see someone of his brilliance. The Almighty creates someone like that only once. I wish he was alive today to comment on the foolishness that goes on in the world. He would have a lot to write about.

As for me, I will just have to be content with rereading his works on the porch. It helps me laugh at what’s going on and ease the pain to some extent.