My country tis of thee....

Well its alomst the Fourth of July and naturally I get to thinking once again about those who came before us that allow us the freedoms that we enjoy through their sacrifice and service they gave for this country. I love this country, I get teary eyed during the National Anthem, I love the Red, White and Blue! I truly believe that we as Americans are blessed as One Nation Under God, and that we are Indivisible and foremost that we live with Liberty and Justice FOR ALL !!

I am an American whose great grand parents came to this country from Ireland, a fact that I am proud of, but I am not an Irish/American, I am an American. We are not little groups of people who are indentified by hyphenated terms such as Someplace/Americans, how is that Indivisible? If we do not stand as one then we do not stand for anything. We are a collection of individuals, we garner our strength through our plurality, we weaken ourselves through division. As a whole this country has the brightest and best, the innovators, the entrepaneurs, the philanthropists that the world envies. That is the reason that they come here, they flock towards the ideas of Freedom and Magnitude. Nothing is impossible in this land of plenty, IF the individual is willing to work for it.

FREEDOM, freedom of speach, the ability to be able to have a voice and express it publicly without being spirited away to jail or disappeared as happens in much of the world. This freedom to call your representative, senator or president useless, ineffective a bum or a liar and face no sanction other than the ire of said persons backers is what gives this country strength and makes it so appealing to the masses. Despite this we have seen lately many of our freedoms eroded, some were taken through the questionable policies of our current Imperial Leader, err, President, while others we have given away for little securities or to assauge some fear of harm. I bet those who have given their very lives for our freedoms are rolling in their graves, yet they may just as well feel that its our right, or a freedom, to give away the very freedoms they died for.

A FREEDOM we may soon miss, and definetly seem to be losing right now is the Freedom of religion. Right now this very freedom is under assault in the guise of Obamacare, or the Affordable healthcare Act. This Obamacare takes the very right of christians to say no to abortion away. It removes that right by saying that Christian institutions must pay for abortions and abortion related services and drugs, and that EVERY Christian individual pays for these very things when they pay the " TAX " that is levied in the mandated healthcare act. Yup my friends, you and I are paying for the murder of innocents, whether you are Christian or Jewish, or Muslim or Buddhist you are paying through your contribution to healthcare for the murder of innocent yet born human lives. Now if you are okay with this and its fine with you its not  a problem, but if you are against it you no longer have the freedom to say no.

On the other hand would not a person who is pro-abortion be upset if those in power suddenly mandated they must pay to limit or outright ban abortions and abortion related services/drugs or face fines and possible jailtime? The government needs to get out of our lives, we live in a nanny state already, we can not drive our car without wearing seatbelts, this was one of our freedoms we gave away as it was " for the good of everybody ", in reality it was more to hold down insurance claims. This current regime has implemented school food police to keep our kids from being fat. In reality if what we do hurts ourselves its not the goverments business at all. Now under the guise of national healthcare we have gave away freedom of religion, its only a small part but heck, aint that the way Hitler got rolling, a few limitations at a time?

Oh Yeah !! I almost forgot the Bombs Bursting In Air .

Anyway, have a great Fourth of July and enjoy the freedoms you still have left!

ed

What to write about?

I have not posted for a while as I have had a tough time thinking about what to write about. I wanted to find something that may interest my  -4 followers with out boring or disgusting them so that pretty well leaves me no options. I decided to write about my interests and either my -4 followers will ignore me or maybe I may double my followers to a positive number like 0 or even 1 if I am lucky. Of course my math is not that good so maybe I have the numbers wrong, but trust me my followers are in the minus category.

Bonsai, this is one of my hobbies/passions/sicknesses that I enjoy and have messed with since a child. I have always had one growing and at times quite a few going. I have lost them to accidents, weather, theft and disease, and a few I have killed myself due to misadventure or bad technique.

Today I want to share the tale of my Catlin Elm forest. Catlin Elm is a cultivar of Chinese Elm discovered in California by some guy who does stuff like that, discover new sports of Elms and other trees. I could look up his name, but so could you, what are you a lazy sumnabiotch or something? This sport, or cultivar is perfect for Bonsai cultivation as it has small leaves. Come to think of it the guys name might be Mr. Catlin, but don't quote me on that.

I arranged seven of these immature C. Elms into a forest planting as they were small trees and none were too spectacular on their own, but in a group, hell, they are still not too spectacular but as time goes on who knows.

If that shows up through the magic of this electronic medium we in my home call the "hey its my turn" then you will be looking at the image of my forest after being grown from seeds for two years and then being arranged into a group of seven in this nice colored cheap Bonsai pot. You will notice when looking at Bonsai in group or forest plantings, those terms being interchangeable, that the common practise is to plant them in odd numbers, 3, 5, 7, etc. This has something to do with Asian culture, its either that even numbers are considered bad luck or if you use even numbers in Bonsai displays an ancient Bonsai master will stop by your house and kick your butt with a large stick. Either way why risk it, keep your forest/group also known as Saikei which translates from that odd sounding speach the Japanese use when they talk about you without wanting you to know what they are saying, anyhow Saikei translates too Planted Landscape. And you thought you could not learn anything from me, Ha,  I say bemusedly to myself and my -4 followers, Ha,!! The above picture was taken sometime this decade, maybe even early this year. Could be January or so...

Its been growing for a while since putting it in the new pot and I use the method of clipping new growth back to develop ramification, which means making branches more dense with finer branchlets. This clipping of tender new growth back to the existing hardened  leaves allows for the branches to grow out from the leaves in a new direction so you do not wind up with long branches rather shorter branches with lots of little branches which also tends to thicken the branches. Most importantly it adds to the canopy of the tree.

The above picture was definetly taken sometime this century, I believe not more than a week or so ago, but do not quote me on that one either as I am an old guy and you know how the memory gets with age. In the picture you can see the fuller look of the overall canopy and with some imagination you can see the ramification of the branches, with even more imagination you can imagine yourself strolling through the trees when you spot a lovely young woman having lunch on a picnic blanket in the center of the forest, you walk over closer and notice she seems upset, you ask " are you ok?" she answers expalining that she had invited a friend she was romantically interested in to come eat with her and he did not show up or even bother to call and cancel, and she adds would you like some fried chicken and pie? Naturally you accept and after opening the chicken you hear a rustling in the background, near the largest tree in this odd grouping of Chinese Elms growing in the midwest in a large pot, and you get up to investigate. Walking towards the noise you notice too late its a mother bear guarding her three young cubs, after being ripped to shreds by the bear your last thoughts before imminent death are , at least the young woman is running the other way as she heard you screaming like a little girl as the bear set upon you with sharp talons slashing wildly. Sorry, maybe you had a good picnic in your version and learned about your common interest in the catholic Church and developed a mutual respect and love for each other leading to a sacramental marriage and a loving family. Who knows.

ed

Man this labor day is cold.

I woke up this morning and the sun had failed to warm the day, Labor day and its not much above 50 degrees here in Central Ohio! I must admit I never bought into this global cooling stuff and here it is making me wish I had paid more attention. Just last year I took the family out and pulled them around the lake on a tube tied to my boat, it was at least 90 degrees out, this year with the global cooling its way too cold to get on the lake, let alone in the water!

Just last week it was 101 degrees and bam, this global cooling sets in and its half that temperature now. Talk about a contrast, from bright sun to cool and cloudy overnight. I have tried my best to fight global cooling, I use as much petroleum based fuels as possible, I drive a diesel truck as often as I can and we leave the lights on to help use as much coal as possible and still global cooling rises its ugly head. I was listening to the weather radio and it said the record high for today 102 back in 1954 so if thats not proof enough for you global cooling doubters i dont know what it would take to convince you, maybe someone could skew the data and that would do it.

Global cooling aside, the football season is coming up and soon it will be time to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers dominate the AFC again. Yeah there are those other teams ? such as the New English Pattycakes and the Indianapolis Lil' ponies and the Cleveland Brownstains but who cares about them anyway? Pittsburgh will rule this year, thats my story and I am sticking too it.

ed

Weddings, hurricanes and earthquakes !

Well, I traveled this week to Florida for my sisters wedding. We decided to drive down and save on the plane tickets, forget the fact that I hate flying anyway, we were to start our 987 mile trip no later than noon on Tuesday. Plans made are soon forgotten or just ignored, at least in my house. We left at 5 pm and drove to about 2 in the morning looking for a motel when the road came to a complete stop. It seems a semi truck hit a small truck and the semi burned to the ground, after a mind numbing 2 hour and 45 minute delay we were able to resume the trip, now known as the trip through hell and at that time of the morning there are no rooms to be had so we ended up stopping in a truck stop and closing our eyes for an hour until the sun burned through the windows and ushered us along our way.

We arrived in Orlando around 4 the next day, its all a blur as my mind was not functioning correctly then. We went into our room and everyone went to sleep, except me, I was still driving in my head watching the mile markers and trying to stay awake. It seems that after driving forever it takes the old gray matter a few hours to realize its no longer operating a vehicle.

The trip down had a lot of stress associated with it, we were heading down into the path of Hurricane Irene, at the time they were not certain if it was going to hit central Florida or not. There was also the matter of the earthquake, two happenings that had my wife talking about the end times again. I assured her that it most likely was going to be someones end times, but we will have no idea when the end times are happening so no need to worry about it as all we can do is be prepared each day for our personal end times.

Well after my sleeping most the following day we went to rehearsals for the wedding, a complete waste of time as far as I am concerned. I would assume everyone knows how to walk down the aisle and as I was chosen to read a scripture passage, the first reading of the mass, one which I have heard and read many sundays since childhood as I am Catholic and we have 3 scripture readings every mass, I knew I could handle it just fine.

The next day of the weding everything came off just fine, my neice and her man got married without a hitch. The only problem was had by lucky old me, somebody decided to slam bothe their front door and rear door into the side of my Ford escape and put a large dunder on each door. Some guys get all the luck. The wedding reception was beautiful as was my neice. She was beaming and danced all night with that youthful vigor that makes me wonder when I became so old.

Now as I am writing this we are approaching the deadline for the late checkout and I am waiting for my little missus to get out of the batroom so we can start the trip home. My neice and her husband are flying to Dubai for their homeymoon and life goes on for us. I only pray that everyone who is affected by Hurrican Irene has the same luck. So if you are a praying person say a prayer for my neice, her marriage as well as her trip and pray that the storm hurts no one, property can be repaired but life is fleeting.

ed

Never take your eyes off children near the water.

My mother, God rest her soul, used to always tell me "Never take yours eyes off of children when they are near water, not even for a second." I thought of this twice this week while watching the local news. The first time was when I read a story about a young couple who went kayaking on a swollen stream with their 18 month old baby. Their kayak tipped over and the baby, who was in a lifevest , although they admitted it was improperly secured, was swept away. They found the lifevest the first day and the childs body was found two days later. I know this was not an incident of taking your eyes off of children, rather a tragedy opportuned by recklessness, or perhaps just youthful ignorance. Either way its a terrible tragedy and the authorities are considering filing charges against the couple.

The second time I thought about my mothers words was this Sunday when on the news was the report of a young family who went camping along the banks of a central Ohio river and their two toddler boys wandered out of the tent and were swept away in the river. The body of one child was found and the search called off for the other child as the river is so high and the water fast, they feel the body may be in the turbulent waters of a nearby dam.

I am happy that I am not a judge, in a case such as the first I related here I would find it impossible to be impartial hearing the case. I would be heartbroken for the couple, but I would be predisposed to finding this couple guilty of neglect and child endangerment. I would never take a child, or my wife on a swollen river and not consider at any time not having a baby well secured in a proper floatation vest.

The second family I would look at it like a tragic accident and feel they had already been punished far worse than any human could deserve.

Remember, NEVER take your eyes off of a child near water ! The water can be a lake , a pool, a stream or river, its even dangerous for toddlers to be left alone near buckets of water, cleaning solutions, the bathtub and even the toilet.

It would be a blessing for anyone who would pray for these couples who lost their children, their lives are forever changed now. Ask Jesus to fulfill his promise from the Beatitudes, " Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." These people need comforting, please dear God help them in this their time of tragedy.

ed

Hey its a new record !!

I just noticed that if I post another blog entry for the month of may it will be a personal record for monthly output! This is a great achievement and should thrill the throngs of followers I have waiting for my next posting. Well maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, my followers number -4, do not ask me how you get a minus statistic in the category of followers, but I have it, trust me.

If someone actually left a comment, I would be so shocked I would think that I was a date in the Mayan calendar! I even invited friends and family to read my blog and none bothered to use the bandwidth to see what I have to say. I mean can I actually be that bad a writer, am I that uninteresting that no one on the entire internet would bother to read my output? I probably should have named my blog, Naked pictures here! then maybe I would get some comments like, "Wheres the naked pictures dude", and " No fair man, you said there was naked pictures here", and "False advertising you jerk!" it may not be much but at least I would not be so lonely.

Then again perhaps my offerings are so profound, so interesting and thought provoking that once read, people go away to a distant mountain top secluded from all distractions, to contemplate what they have just ingested and try to formulate their lives according to what they have read here.  They were probably so enraptured with what they gathered here that they lost all will to live amongst anything that would distract them form my message, then again, maybe not.

 On the odd chance that you happen upon my blog and see anything that you like, or maybe that entertains you, heck even if it annoys you leave a comment and tell me how you feel. Just FYI, I feel with my finfertips, it works for me.

ed

Rain, rain go away...

Working outdoors is an honorable profession. It is the staple of progress, building new structures, laying roads, clearing lands etc. are all undertakings of those who work outdoors. I am a coatings contractor, most of my work is exterior and this rain is killing me, even worse than the poor economy has been killing me. I use the term " killing me " not lightly, rather its an accurate description of the process that occurs when one is robbed of his livelihood by either an inept (hopefully) President or an occurence of nature such as this miserable rain we have endured for the past month here in central Ohio. For example, I get no exercise setting home and due to limited funds I wind up eating cheap fast foods, clogging up whatever remaining arterial pathways I have left to ferry needed blood to my various extremities.

Then there is the worry about how I am going to pay my bills, to provide for my family, to put food on the table, and the worry about how this is affecting their health. Worry is a killer by itself, I am a Catholic christian and I know I should trust in God and beleive that He will see me through these hard times, yet I think of how long it took his chosen people to be set free, and the years they spent wandering the desert and realize that I am not that patient. Thank you God for being merciful as I fail in every test that is set before me. I guess if were not to worry about such things I would, in my mind, be a bad parent afterall God gave me this family along with freewill and I choose to try to be the best parent/provider that I can be and this combo of economy and weather are just killing me.

Although there is a bright side, pretty soon the stress and the bad diet and my advancing age will catch up with me and I will die (hopefully) because if I get some protracted illness that costs me money or further burdens my family I would rather be dead. Nobody ever promised that life was fair and I have made many bad choices so I am not blaming God, I know its my fault and if I were God I would ignore my prayers too, although I would probably smite a few people in charge of things at this time.

I would look at the world and say, America is in awful shape financially and their President wants to spend $ 1.7 trillion dollars? smite time for you. There is a religion that is killing people who do not convert to their beliefs in how I should be worshipped knowing that I allow them freewill, smite time for all of you! There are dictators getting fat off of the produce of those who they rule while those very producers suffer from starvation, smite time. People are killing my creations through many avenues such as abortion of the yet born, wars and genocide, conversely the same thing, fools its smite time.

That is exactly why I am not God, by the time I finished smiting all the scum most of my creation would be , well, smited. I would smite those who buy fancy jewelry while there is still one person who wants for food or shelter, that would be the end of my people.

Perhaps its a good thing I am an exterior contractor, all I can do is smite my self and my family. So here I sit singing to myself , rain, rain go away, little eddie wants to work today, you see he has loads of bills to pay! , over and over again, reminiscent of Jack Nicholson in the movie The Shining. Its a good thing I do not have access to an axe......

ed