When is our Congress going to get back to governing?

When is our Congress going to get back to governing?

I am so sick and tired of the Congress running around in circles with revenge against each parties…  They have been so consumed with getting revenge that the rest of their job is not getting done..  You and I, as a tax payer are not getting our monies worth.   They are suppose to be keeping an eye on our roads and bridges, for one..  delegating the money in our government for its citizen.. They are suppose to make sure we have enough security to keep our borders safe.  A subject that they have bounced around for years.. throwing it back and forth with nothing getting done.   They have not been secure since..  well, to be honest.. never.. the first illegals across the border was the USA.. going into Mexico..  getting land that we call California now.

And then there was the Texas mess.  Eisenhower, many years ago.. did do something that slowed it down.. with the Mexican’s thinking that things were better here. And at that time..  they were, some what.  Now both sides are a mess.. and it is only 10 %  Mexican who are trying to get into the USA..

There is not only the southern countries of South America.. but we have African’s, Haiti and so many other countries sneaking across the border as well as those who are coming across at the border crossings.  

But instead of this. .. we have a Congress who are fighting the fight for 2024 now.. Who is going to get in as a President..What can they do to get revenge on each party..  So we have more lawsuits then ever before..  and the committee’s and now the most stupid of all another unseating another president..  As I taxpayer, I am pissed that my tax money is going for all of this, that produce… NOTHING.  Congress has been in love with committee for years..  Millions being spend on COMMITTEES FOR THIS AND THAT..  while our road go into disarray, our bridges are falling down..   There is still people who don’t get just common health covers with out being held up by the insurance companies..  Even Obama care, as it is called now..  is a joke.. the insurance companies run that..  Now they are demanding that if you are a smoker.. you can NOT get surgery if you have nicotine in your blood.. What the hell…  People have been getting surgery for over 200 years.. and they smoked way more then .. than they do now.. Yet people are in pain, and going months to years without surgery.. because they have been life long smoker and can’t or still trying to quit.. 

Come on CONGRESS.. do YOUR JOB..  as the old saying goes.. Get it done or get off the pot..

 

With a push of a button……

With a push of a button……

With a push of a button ..  silence…  glorious silence

I was enjoying myself,  reading the local  weekly paper, The Reader. As usual the background noise of the tv.. Good Morning America at this time..  when I found myself slightly irritated, so I got up, walked over the table/chair area.. and pushed the red button…

Oh, SILENCE.. how precious you are…I thought as I walked back to my dining room table… and finished reading the paper..

It is the little things in life that give great pleasure.

My Dad would be sooooooooooooo proud. ..

 

As you can see from these pictures.. this is about a car.  It was my father’s car.   It is one he bought on a fluke, because the guy who owned it was a friend and the friend had financial problems.. so he sold the car to dad.

Dad had fun with it..  he drove it to breakfast every morning to his favorite little restaurant.. where the waitress were young and pretty.. And even at the age of 82.. he loved to flirt.  And even with the grey hair, and wrinkles..  he cut a pretty good looking man look.. 

After Dad died..  the will said that I got one of my parents vehicles… of my brother’s choice.  Why he didn’t keep the Vet. I don’t know. Because my brother was cut from the same clothe that my father was..  maybe his wife wasn’t fond of it..  But what ever the reason.. I got the Vet..  I had one son who lived in R.I. and I had him go get it..  as I live in Idaho.. We kind of went into partners of sorts.   He paid me a agreeable amount that was less than value and I kept the idea that if he sold it, I got more.. Well here we are Ladies and Gents. 29 years later.. and this is what it looks like now..  It totally belongs to my son..  He has worked on this vehicle for the past several years.. and especially since there became a WOREL BROS. WORLD CHAMPION trophy involved between the 4 boys.  This car won by a hair the first time.. and others have won the trophy since..   They skipped 2020 I believe.. The race is in June around Father’s day most years.

But the racing has narrowed down to two of the brothers for now. 

This picture is of this year.. After zillion hours of work.. and I can’t imagine how much money involved  (it is a wonder his wife goes along with this) to get to this point.  It isn’t perfect.. but close..   AND IT SURE LOOKS GOOD….. turns heads when people see it.. 

And if you look at the car at the starting line.. you will see the torque… the rear wheel is scrunched and the driver wheel is off the ground.  And if we could see the back of this car inside.. on the seat if it is still there.. or the shelf beyond…  if we could see the ghost of my father and brother, as their backs blow to the back of the car…  you would see two very happy laughing men.  

I am hoping that all 4 boys… get back into the fun of racing.. They have helped each other in the past… so it is not a cut throat thing.. but a brotherly love got to beat you, thing.   

These pictures were taking by a professional photographer who was at the track that day.. 

GREAT PICTURES... 

 

Yes it is a day in infamy, also…

Yes it is a day in infamy, also…

Like December 1941…  Pearl Harbor, this day too shall live in history

Forever..   Unless the new deals decide to hide it.. Not too many even

mention Pearl Harbor bombings and Kennedy being shot any more..  But they do bring up 9-11  as we are all familiar with the term..

Most can remember exactly where they were, when they saw or heard about the planes going down..  I have already told in the past blog stories about

where I was.. just getting off work and thinking it was a small plane when the radio announcer told about a plane hitting the World Trade Center…like one that hit a building months or a year before..  And when I turn on the tv, when I got home.. found out it was WAY DIFFERENT..

All the stores that have been told…   and American’s finding out we are not invincible. Only difference this was.. it wasn’t military per say.

The other side of the coin… is other people..  I have 3 in my family.. A niece, a daughter in law and a grandson in law.. What is it that these people have in common?   They were born on that date.. before the bombings..  So their birthdays have become a sadness around other people..  I think maybe it has lessen in the past couple of years.

Hopefully there are those who do not find it sad to celebrate these fine people..  and I am sure there has to be hundreds more thru the USA…

For me?    HAPPY BIRTHDAY  BARBARA, TERRY AND TRAVIS, may YOUR day be full of laughter, and great times with your friends and family..

 

 

 

School days school days..

School days   school days.. 

The neighborhood quiets down..  The laughter and yelling of children.

The barking of dogs as the children run from one house to another.

All kinds of different classes …different than my days..

We didn’t have new math.. And some other titles I don’t remember because I had not a clue what they are.

We had… the difference between MAY and CAN… did your teacher teach you that in English? I was in high school when I learn that little lesson..  Teachers use to love pulling that one over us kids..  

The use of may or can…  when dealing with asking for the possession of an item.  Do you know?   I had my English teacher pull it on me.. I had asked ..  “can have that pencil?”   She said yes, but when I went to pick it up, she put her hand over it. I didn’t understand, after all she just told me I could have it…  well, I guess she didn’t… because I did not ask if I could have possession.. but asked if it was possible.   Confused yet?   I sure was..  She explain to me that asking if I can have it.. and she had said yes..   that it meant that I had the ability to take it..  but not the permission..  Had I wanted the possession of it ..  I should have said..  MAY I have that pencil..   She said people confuse the two..  I know I was sure confused… even when I went back to my desk with that said pencil.  She was a great teacher.. I am not going to tell you that she was my favorite, as she wasn’t… But I understood after the fact..  Even though she had warned us at the beginning of our senior year..    As she walked around the class room…. telling us,  we better be paying attention to her classes..  That this was our last go around.  And she said “I sure don’t want to hear out of your mouths 5 or more years from now, … “oh, Mrs. Clark, I sure wish I had paid more attention in your class. I have heard that so many times..  I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT FROM YOU.   I want you to pay attention NOW.. do you hear me?  She listened.. and repeated.. DO YOU HEAR ME?  Good, now lets get started.” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No one wants Grandma’s dishes anymore

No one wants Grandma’s dishes anymore

My sister in law’s daughter once told us, as we pulled away from an estate yard sale…..  “You know, Mom,  your life is a yard sale 3 days after you die. “

This is getting to be more and more true as the years ago by.

I can remember in the past .. great arguments over Grandma’s good dishes…  Some times speaking up to Grandma before she passed, some times arguments with survivors after Grandma passing.. Some of them so bad, that siblings not talking to each other for years.  Having grudges over different things that were promised when Grandma was alive.  Jewelry, dishes, silverware and etc…

Now no one wants it..  Antiques doesn’t mean much to the newer generations..   

I know there is nothing in my house that my kids would fight over..  Some of it I took care of years ago..  I sent a letter to each of them..  telling them I was downsizing.. That if they have seen something in my house, that they thought they would like after I am gone.. Speak up now..  Or it might have gone to the Goodwill while I was alive.   And there was a few things they did want. And I sent it to them.. Told them if there is something that I am not ready to get rid of yet, I would put their name on the back of it..  so they could claim it later.

As I have gone to yard sales of passing relatives of the yard sale people…  I see what could have been a prize possession of what that person had…  and now for $10 you can get the whole set.  Jewelry that is sold for 25 cents each…  That was wore with such pride in the pass.

Guess the moral of the story is.. you can give the possess away while you are alive..  or send it to Goodwill yourself..  or sell it and you spend the money on yourself.  

Ones I feel sorry for, is the children who are left behind to get rid of the possess of little value… from parents who collected stuff for years and would not get rid of it.. And now it has to be gotten rid of and no one wants it.

WHERE DID THE TIME GO??

WHERE DID THE TIME GO??

Just two more days and Summer is GONE..  ok, so some claim September as part of it.. Not me.. LABOR DAY COMES… And Summer is GONE, GONE GONE..

Got to start getting the yard ready for fall and winter..  put away, throw away yard art.. and sprinklers and all such..  Where the heck did the time go?  It seems like last week we were having 4^th of July..

Guess that old theory that life when you get old is like a bicycle with a toilet paper front wheel…  it unravels faster each year.. 

 

 

 

You got to wonder….

You got to wonder….

When you move to a new area..  and start looking about after you get settled.. you kind of get a feel of the local governments and etc.. 

Well, anyone who moves to ours..  has 3 to pick from and many more.. 

We have the college 45 miles from here..   the Trustee have been fighting so bad that the state has put their license or what ever that is … accreditation in harms way…. And even a year later they are still on shaky grounds with a temporary one..   

Then you have the trustees of the school district in the lower part of our county..  two of which are up for recall. Then you have with that  a superintendent that has been hired without a background check and not the proper paper work and has not put in for the temporary emergency superintendent paper work.. and school starts in 9 days..  Yet has taken over the office and fired the office crew because he doesn’t have confidence in them. Hiring his own.

Then we have the county commissioners who have been battling back and forth, and now one of them has put a temporary restraining order on the other, so he has to watch the meetings from  a video instead of being in the room. And the state senator who is head of the Republican party has put his two cents in there..  telling the commissioner who has been served, that he has to either quit or get up in public and apologize to the commissioner and the public for his actions of the past year.. 

Yep, Idaho governing.. at its best....

You know maybe when one moves to another area, and checks out the weather, the housing market and school.. they should check out the government part as well.

I can’t even imagine…..

I can’t even imagine…..

As the reports come in for the fires around our area… my heart goes out to of Medical Lake.. the worse of the local  group.. about 80% of the fires are in the woods..  some of them on the side of mountains..  Out of reach of roads and etc.. and fought with helicopters with buckets from the lakes.  We have been hearing them for about 2 months now.

Maui the horror of losing your home in hours.  To get up in the morning.. doing your normal routine…and by 5 that night, you have no home, you have maybe if you are lucky 50% of your possessions..  Some not even that..  Especially Maui.  Running with just the clothes on your back.  Gathering in a hall… holding your only possessions, sitting on a mat on the floor, that becomes your home for how long?  Standing in line with your family, to have food dished up for you to eat.. Wondering where you life will take you now..  No matter what the groups do, to try to soften the blow.. You and your family will NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN.

In our area,  you might have had 2 hours or maybe if you are luck 2 days before you have to drive out your driveway for the last time… with a whole home..  You have to arrange where your animals are going.  People out of the kindness of there hearts are driving in with horse trailer so you can get your animals to safety…   AND THEN WHAT?   Where do you go. Yes there are hotels and motels opening up for a couple days so you can make other arrangements?   If you had to let your horse go, run free with your phone number on their hooves… how long before you find them again? And where do you take them?   With housing so far out of reach for everyday people..  How do you find housing?  Can you afford it? Will insurance take care of that for you?   Even with friends and family helping the best they can.. even when FEMA and a few others kick in.. When you get to go back to your front yard and look at your property … all black, vehicles and other things burnt to a crisp…  YOUR LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN. It will take years for you to get back to where you were before..  A home, your family, your animals all safe.

I can’t even imagine…. Prayers for all of those who are homeless due to these fires…  which seems like such an empty offering…

 

SMOKE GET IN YOUR EYES….

SMOKE GET IN YOUR EYES….

These past several days ..  this song has played over and over in my mind..  Even the tune.. with Nat King Cole’s voice…  It was a song from my youth as my mother would play it on the piano many times…

But today.. and this past week… the words have been a reality to all of us.

We have had fire season every year… some years are worse than any other. And this year is a doozy of a year.. there are fires all over ..  we have as the bird fly’s at least 6 fires within 15 miles of us.  We are a little bit safer than most, as we live in a tiny town… but it isn’t impossible as the end of our road there is a small forest of about 40 trees. Of different sizes..  It is a VERY DRY year.. So it would not take much for it to catch fire..  and then the sparks flying in the wind , as it has in other areas… to come down in our yards and on some of our neighbors who have non metal roofs.  We have a metal roof and last year put up metal siding.. So we might have a chance in hell..  Lot of others don’t.

On the other side of Spokane (which is 75 miles from us) there is a small town with lots of farming fields and tree areas..  and it has burnt over 3,000 acres the first 12 hours.  And it is still going.. and heading towards HWY 90.. which is a east to west highway between Spokane and Seattle… there is even a chance of it jumping across the highway… slight at this time.. but still a chance..  They have rerouted the traffic on 90 to a town called Cheney that goes around Medical Lake area..  The helicopters are busy dipping their buckets into Medical Lake for using on the fire… 

So when I think about complaining about the smoke in our eyes… I think of Medical Lake people.. and their homes.. and their pleas for anyone with a horse trailer to truck their animals out of the area…   I got to admit.. what is a little smoke in my eyes..  And yes, I have been staying home.. windows and doors closed..   and praying for the winds to stop and the rain to come for at least 3 days.. but none of this looks possible from the weather report.

Stay safe all of you.. and be thankful the fires are not in your area.