Almost Ready . . .

Almost ready for pre Christmas visit to Flower-Mound.  That is James and Joan's abode.  Collection of some of our family in a pre Christmas soiree.  We will bring some salsas that our house maid prepared.  We will bring the chips.   She is Honduran so we will have a touch of it from that part of the world.  We will also have Ceviche, marinated Red Snapper with lime juice plus onions, Jalapenos, olives and green onions (décor I think).  I will bring boiled shrimp and my dipping sauce, mostly Catsup and Horse Radish but a little of this and that added to it (it is secret ya know).

We will bring some wine for all to partake.  And in the tradition of South Louisiana, we will pass a good time.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Winter Has Arrived . . .

We are starting a wet and cold weekend.  Got up this AM to a gentle and persistent rain and temperatures around mid forties.  No ice, no frost, just misery.  The house is warm enough but without the brightness of sun light, it is just plain crappy.  Supposed to rain on and off all weekend through to and including Monday.

As I look out the window I see more leaves have dropped out front.  The two Shumar Oaks, red oaks, are dispersing their summer leaves and acorns (for the squirrels, ya know).  The trees are not bear yet but they are shedding and you can see a little more daylight through their branches now.  Soon they will be stark trees with just an errant leaf here and there that refuses to fall.

The little oak on the side yard has turned from green to a sort of golden brown.  It dies not shed its leaves but instead pushes them off in the spring.  So I may lose a few leaves but holds on to the bitter end.  Its fellow Post Oak has been showering us with its smallish acorns (the squirrels are not interested in them, to small for their taste).  I vacuumed most of them up yesterday, cut the grass out back (cut the leaves out back is a better description).  The mulching blade takes fairly good care of them but out back where the Post Oaks most reside, the mower had a tough time with the leaves out back.  It would push them up under the mower motor and front wheels.  I found by reversing I could leave a pile of leaves, so moved a great deal of them over near the compost pile.  Later I can rake them into the compost pile.

I will have to venture out again later on a good bright sunny day and vacuum up some more leaves of the drive way and side walks.  I usually end up with eight or ten bags of leaves and the vacuum generally grinds them up as it sucks in the leaves.  I toss the lot into the compost pile.  We will have a nice collection of them and may haps some good soil in the spring.

I see the Narcissus poking up in their flower bed.  Sure sign that winter is here.  Will have to cut back the Clematis vine here shortly, it will return in the Spring.

Stay warm.

To Orgeron or Not to Orgeron . . .

Bebe Orgeron has been LSU's interim head coach and done a good job, not a great job but a very good job.  LSU fired Les Miles early in the season and took a chance of Coach Orgeron to lead the Tigers through the remainder of the season.  He certainly is a colorful man, a Louisiana native, and an experienced coach.  He was a dismal failure at Ole Miss but came through at University of Southern California as an interim head coach.

He failed to best Bama this year and lost a tear jerker with Florida but he got the team's attention and they responded well.  This time he was less of a screamer and more of an executive and leader.  Did he scream, of course he did, but seemingly in the right manner.  He used his staff and he did not do that at Ole Miss.  He had learned his lessons well.

He can recruit and he will do a good job in that area.  He has a first class talent in Coach Aranda and let's him do his thing.  Now as a head coach he can hire some people that he knows well and perhaps change the style of the Tigers.  The Tigers are a defensive minded team that likes to run the ball.  That is not always the most effective way to win.  He has great talent in quarterbacks and if he gets someone to really develop those young men, then look for LSU to start really throwing the ball.

With a wide open offense and great defense, he will have a most powerful and importantly, entertaining team.

I am sure Coach Herman would have been great too.  But I think his cost would be high and frankly he did not look that good against Memphis Friday.  Other coaches could do as well but they were not of the caliber LSU was looking for in the next few years.  Coach Orgeron may not last more than two or three years but there will be change and now plenty of time to get the next great football coach.

Les Miles was and is a great coach.  He just is hard headed and refused to change when change was needed.  Coach Orgeron recognized the signs, took over and changed the entire processes.  He could not easily side car the past of Miles and did use the running team talent that Miles developed.  But he added more flash to the game and that made a big difference.  He has seen and worked with West Coast offenses and understands the changes needed.  Les Miles will go on and be a head coach somewhere - Baylor, Indiana, even maybe Norte Dame (unlikely in my mind).  He too is a great recruiter.  Time will tell but he is history now at LSU.

I am surprised that many of the news outlets, especially the big sports venues refer to LSU as one of the best places in the country.  The alleged "storied" program that demands the best especially in football.  That tickles me but I think it is a bit of hype.  I would think it is a tough place to succeed.

Geaux Tigers!

Progress . . .

Judie has weaned herself off Percocet and all opiate drugs.  She just uses Tylenol when needed now.  And the Tylenol seems to do the job for her.  Albeit, it is about the maximum dose one can take but it works for her.

She wakes sometimes with leg pain, or leg and foot pain, sometimes only the right leg and sometimes both legs are effected.  All of that tends to tell me healing is going on and the Sciatica nerve is settling down.  The other pain was probably associated with the spinal bones healing where bone had been removed to make space for the nerves and by now they seem to be healed up from the operation.  She has a large scar and a couple of places are still scabbed over.  I touched them, and they seem to be residual stitches.  So that too will in time go away.  It has been a struggle and reminds us we are not spring chickens anymore and all things take longer to heal up.

She is much more stable now, uses her walker a lot less.  We are going to look into a cane to ensure her stability when walking.  She does go short distances now without the walker.  And she is doing more walking about.  Still no bending or stretching down for anything.  And no driving which kind of cramps her style.  But she is over all doing much much better.

Election Is Over . . .

The voters by state have decided whom they wanted for their President.  In doing so they repudiated the present administration and its candidate.  Now the ads will quite down but the recriminations have started.

We were told that should Trump get elected the stock market would go through the floor. It did not go through the floor, it accelerated upwards.  The market apparently likes growth and change rather than the status quo.  Times they are a changing.

The pundits and the polls generally picked Hillary to win.  She did not win and now there is soul searching going on.  Some even saying the Democratic party is in total disarray.  I doubt that, there will be endless analysis, etc. but times will move on.  New candidates will appear in time.  But hopefully the shenanigans will stop.  The question stealing and giving to one candidate, the exchange of lies here and there will stop.  Maybe integrity will reappear in the Democratic party.  Not that there is not any of that in the Republican party, but it was not aired like that of the Democratic party.  I personally can not understand how the Democratic party nominated such a candidate.

Hillary had to much corrupt baggage, lies to Congress, lies about her personal computer server and her Emails, about selling access to the Secretary of State to generated moneys for her and her husbands charity.  And using the charity to pay for non charitable events like the daughters wedding.  Corruption was flowing all over the place.

The American public is not stupid.  They were tired of Obama.  They were tired of the lies.  And now they are in shock that their candidate lost.

Well we no longer have to listen to candidate rhetoric.  Now we move on.  Perhaps we will wipe the slate clean again and start over.  That is the beauty of the great United States of America.

Voted Yesterday. . .

We have early voting here in Texas at limited locations, that is not at all polling locations.  Ours was the county courthouse and they had about 25 or so voting machines in operation.  The voting procedure is the same as it one is voting on the basic election day, show your registration card, a proper ID and sign the register.  Then you are given an "approval slip" and you go over to the clerk who issues you a number.

The number has to be entered in the voting machine and allows you to cast your ballot.  You can vote strait ticket or individuals.  In my case I chose individuals and the machine led me through the extensive ballot.  The clerks, sheriff, constable, judges as well as our famous national candidates.  I did it that way because I purposely did not vote for one candidate.  So I had to go through the whole enchilada.  My wife, on the other hand, voted the strait ticket.  Even so I finished before her because she had to figure out what was going first.

What impressed me was there was a very long line of voters.  I had never seen that many before and the last 13 years of voting here.  And the clerk handing out the control numbers commented she had not seen that number either before.  In simple terms there must have been 40 or 50 voters in the line waiting their turn to vote.  On our way out, we noted the basic length of line had not changed, so more and more folks were pouring to vote.

This was not the first day of voting, it was the second day.  We could tell things were booming because is was virtually impossible to get a car parking slot outside the building.  We had to wait for one and when we left there was someone waiting for our slot.  The people were exercising the right to vote!

I do not know it that is  good omen or a bad omen.  I do know we are in the middle of the bible belt and the county is largely Republican.  There are not a lot of Democrats left and the ballot had very few Democrats listed for local elected positions.  In the national area all four national candidates were listed and one was able to select the one of his or her choice. 

My sense of things is that Trump was getting most of the votes here.  I do know in national elections, the candidates do get their fair share so to speak.  While being heavily Republican, the voters often deviate from the party of their choice.  So it could go either way but not likely a win for the Democratic party.

People were very sober in the line, little chit chat going on, they were intent to vote.  Again I do not know how to sense that as good or bad.  But they were packing them in.

Back Surgery . . .

Judie has endured through back surgery.  The Neurosurgeon said in his pre op visit is that she has the worst back he has seen and he could not guarantee any great success but felt he could relieve some pain.

The operation went off and we had a terrible day.  Late to start the surgery but that was understandable as the Neurosurgeon had a brain operation before her.  After the surgery he said it was tough, he could see the nerves react as he remove bone to east the stenosis.  Stenosis is the narrowing space inside the spine.  This is caused by age, shrinking discs, etc.  She has lost two inches in height and that literally compresses the spinal cord in a fixed area.

So he opened the area up, and there in started the problems.  She now had tremendous pain and we learned that hematoma (blood clot) had formed inside the spinal area and was putting pressure on her nerves, more specifically the Sciatica nerves.    She was in terrible pain.

So they had to go back in the next day and removed the hematoma and cleaned out the area.  They put in a drain and that prevent a return of the hematoma.  She was out the hospital after a day and half stay.  Got her home and the next day she was moving around all over the place.

And then the pain struck, again.  So bad we had to go to the Emergency Room and she got a Morphine shot.  And then was give a prescription for 120 Hydrocodone 5/325 tablets.  It means 5 milligrams of Hydrocodone and 325 milligrams of Tylenol.  She said that stuff did not work.

We went to an Urgent Care Clinic the doctor gave her Hydromorphone, 8 milligrams.  That literally knocked her out for hours at a time.  We got rid of that stuff as being to powerful and it too did not relieve her pain.

The Neurosurgeon was out of town, and his on call fellow handed her off the pain doctor.  Saw him and prescribed Cymbalta and Percocet, yet another opiate.  The Cymbalta takes three weeks to begin to effect the nerves, so that is yet to happen if it happens.  She is also take Lyrica that is supposed to do the same thing.

We had yet another MRI after seeing the Neurosurgeon last Friday.  He said he was mystified, he did not understand what was going on.  Her cousin's husband is a retired surgeon and opined it could be Piriformis Syndrome. I'll leave that to you to look up on Google but it is possibly an explanation to the pain.  Neither of the doctors has mentioned it though I mentioned it to the pain doctor and he blew it off.  I personally think he is worthless, just pumps more and more opiates out as a solution.

Her Neurosurgeon is at least interested and is trying to arrive at something.  We will learn today what he thinks.  If he continues with the unknowing position, I will think it is indeed Piriformis Syndrome.  There are exercises to take care of that and we will peruse it.

She has sort of turned the corner this weekend.  The pain is grow less, perhaps the nerves are beginning to settle down.    It was rare for her to have two days in a row that were good, and we have had that now.

We shall press on.

A New Era . . .

We are entering a new era.  My wife, Judie, has had all the recent medical issues and now has another one, Sjogren's Syndrome.  It is a disease that causes dryness, in her case it is dealing with the eyes.  Her eyes are not producing the necessary oils to prevent dryness.  This disease is always diagnosed by Ophthalmologist or Optometrist but the treating physician is a Rheumatoid Arthritis doctor that deals with Rheumatoid Arthritis.  It attacks the glands that secret fluids in the body.

In Judie's case it is dry eyes.  So dry she has lost some of her vision because of it.  Recent treatment by a Sjogren's Optometrist have helped.  More treatment to come.

She will also have to see the Rheumatoid Arthritis physician for further examination.  One ominous fact is that this disease can lead to Lupus. 

Could some  of heart previous heart issues be related, yes.  Could her Thyroid Gland problems be related, yes.  So it seems it has been around in her system for sometime raising havoc.  Maybe we can get this under control.  It is a very subtle disease and gets worse with time.  And like almost all similar ills it is an Auto-immune disease, meaning it probably is not curable, only controllable like Diabetes Type II.  Once you got it, you got it for the rest of your life.

Diagnosis was by blood test, the only way to really confirm the disease.  A simple test but someone has got to recognize it and do something about it.  Our eye specialists have done that for us.  Other doctors have asked if she has Sjogren's but that is about as far as they went.

It is hell getting old, ain't it!

False River -the Lake . . .

False River, an ox-bow lake along the Mississippi River is located in Pointe Coupee Parish and the county seat, New Roads, resides on its banks.  The lake was formed when the Mississippi closed the loop and cut through a new channel cutting the lake.  This cut off was discovered around 1700 when Bienville was exploring the Mississippi River.  The name "Pointe Coupee" literally means cut off.  A quick Internet search on Pointe Coupee will reveal the location and lots of information on the locality.

The lake today is several miles from the Mississippi River and is a stand alone body of water.  It is about 20 miles long and while its width varies is about a mile wide.  The lake is part and parcel of the parish drainage system and so when it rains the water generally flows into the lake.  Around 1904 Bayou Cirie was cleared and the lake drain excess water off via that tributary.  Today there is drainage canal with a weir and it flows into Bayou Grosse Tete.

The lake is kept generally at an elevation just below 16 feet sea level.  The weir sets the level and there are flood gates that can lower the lake further if needed.  A weir is a low level dam of sorts, so it allows excess water to overflow out, keeping the lake around 15.9 feet above sea level or as the locals say above the Gulf of Mexico.  The lake is located about 200 miles from the Gulf of Mexico as the crow flies and gives you an idea of how low and flat Louisiana really is.

The recent deluge rains as result of a tropical disturbance, once a hurricane, flooded the region.  True East Baton Rouge Parish, across the river and east and slightly south of Pointe Coupee Parish. got the brunt of the rains but Pointe Coupe got perhaps 15 or 16 inches of rain.

With hours False River began to rise and went to roughly 22 feet about sea level.  That is a six foot rise of a large body of water that mostly occurred over night.  The entire region is flooded and the run off is occurring all over the place.  Water may have even flowed back into the lake from Bayou Grosse Tete.  So one has to wait for the bayou to drain off, and the drain off goes into the Great Atchafalaya Swamp south of the region.  So it takes while as Bayou Grosse Tete, small river of sorts drains a large area, has a lot of water to move.  And False River is at the top of that elevation, almost the source of Bayou Grosse Tete today.  That makes False River the last place to drain off.

The family owns a camp, a nice three bedroom manufactured home on the lake.  It is on about an acre of land with a frontage that is a little over three hundred feet across.  Today it is one of the larger plots on the whole lake, most all the other areas have been subdivided and subdivided again to narrow 60 foot or so lots.  We all use the camp and the family share the expenses on upkeep.  So we are very protective of the place at all times.

Fortunately we have flood insurance and while the camp came with in inches of flooding, water did get underneath the structure and there is some damage but nothing like many others have suffered.  There are literally thousands of folks that are worse off than we are so we are sort of low priority but we will make sure the place is restored back to its normal self.  So I expect it will take a while before we can use it again.  And when we return we will all have our work cut out for us.

So we, as a family, were on the edge of the cusp but not totally in it.  Our furniture, appliances, etc. survived with no damage.  But we will have to fight mold and mildew and gradually watch the water receded to the normal elevation.  And it will smell to high heaven for a while as there is a ton of new rotting detritus all over the place.

I did not mention it, the lake was about to be lowered for ecological repairs.  Farm run off has silted up the lake and parts of it are to be dredged.  The project has already gone though one stage with a new island man made at the south end of the lake.  So more work was going to be done to reduce the inflow of silt and the changing of the water levels every so many years is good for the fish population.  So now the lake has to go from 22 feet down to 13 or so feet instead of the normal 15.9 feet, that will take a while to do.  That is 9 feet or so of water, that is many thousands of acre feet of water that has to be removed from the lake via normal drainage routes.  Those routes are inundated and will be for more than a month, it will take a while.

So we watch and we wait.

I Got The Tool . . .

I got the tool, a special screw driver used to adjust modern 2 cycle carburetors used in weed eaters, blowers, etc.  The typical carb has two adjustments, one for the high speed jet and one for idle.  I do not mean the idle setting which is a throttle adjustment, I mean the jet on the carb itself.

The carbs come factory set at as lean a position as they can get the engine to run.  They put the unusual screw heads on to keep the layman from adjusting the needles and the over all performance of the engine.  It is an EPA thing and a scheme to sell ever increasing numbers of weed eater power heads.

The new, normal engine runs fast okay but does not accelerate and sometimes will not idle very well.  The high speed is most noticeable in that the engine tends to stall when accelerated from the idle position to full throttle.  That kills the engine and results in a cranking situation.  This is hard on the starting mechanism, the pull cord and wears it our prematurely.  And it is very frustrating when you  keep trying to keep the engine running.

So I broke down and ordered the screwdrivers on Amazon.  There were maybe four or five ads for them in various prices ranging from about $4.5 to as much as $12 for a set of four.  I got the set of  four for about $6 and since I had some credits on Amazon, I actually got them free.  The set of four are for four different end caps on the adjustment needles.

I received them in just a couple of days and promptly began adjusting the high speed needle on the carb.  It took about three days of adjusting but now it runs like a top.  Yes, it does consume more fuel but runs dead reliable now.  No stalling on acceleration, none of that crap at all.

I also took the time to properly set the spark plug gap and that also made a difference too in starting operation.  So now the weed eater starts much easier and runs better.

I am sure the special end caps were designed to prevent the novice from screwing around with the carb settings and to make the user go to a shop to get the engine properly adjusted.  Both are set up to make us either discard the weed eaters prematurely or to result in paying a mechanic to do a good engine set up for you.

Was a time when you could readily get parts, have a user's manuals that really said something on how to take care of the weed eater, etc.  It is all designed now to make you, the user, go to another level to get things repaired and fixed.  They even make it hard to find parts breakdown illustrations to be able to order parts.  The dealers at the local level delight in the additional business but the smart etail guy provides the information and the "how to" to get parts.

Anyway the weed eater is running much better now that it is properly adjusted.  We use it to edge, to blow as well as a string trimmer.  I even have a tiller head that I can use.  There used to be a tree saw but I never got that tool.  Over the years I have gone through perhaps six power heads.  I have noticed that they have gotten cheaper in construction and more common amongst all the different brand names.  Gotten to the point it is no longer feasible to repair an old one, just go buy a new one, it is cheaper than getting a repair shop to fix the old one.  And the manufacturers do not seem to care, especially since they are making more and more of them as replacements.

Denton Swap Meet . . .

There are normally three swap meets I go to.  They all deal with radio control, almost all airplane stuff.  The swap meet is a time that enthusiasts get rid of stuff usually a deep discounts.  So it is a good place to shop around.  There was one at Denton this weekend.

With the on set of electric motors, fueled engines are on the decline.  Manufacturers have generally moved away for glow fueled engines though several of the big name manufactures continue albeit with fewer engines offered for sale.  So the swap meet was replete with lots of used airplanes and engines primarily designed for methanol fuel engines.  Yes, there was a lot of new electric stuff floating around but I was selective and did not pay much attention to them.

The swap meets also provide an outlet for dealers to sell.  Several are known to be and it is always fun to greet them and see what is hot in the market so to speak.  The dealers are also selling on a cash basis and most discount their stock and there is not such thing as sales taxes though I am sure the dealers end up paying the tax to the state anyway.  So there is that little 8.25% discount and the opportunity to bargain a little bit.  I managed to spend $5 on a Y connector that I needed.

So one always needs something and that is the place to get it.  In my case I was looking for a flyable airplane and found one.  Yes, it was quite old but in great condition.  The servos were ancient and the engine has been out of production for probably 20 years, in fact I am sure it is rather old technology but quite functional.  There was no battery or receiver.  One usually puts his own receiver in as there are now so many different conventions on frequency hopping 2.4 Gigahertz systems one has to match his own transmitter.  Batteries on the other hand, die with age and are sometimes moved forward to new applications.  So one gets the airframe, engine, servos which are all somewhat generic.  And of course, the owners labor that went in to assemble the airplane, perhaps even build the airframe.

So I had to scrap up a battery of which I have several floating around.  I charge it up see if if will hold a charge, etc.  And I have to install a receiver.  Then I have to check the weight an balance of the airplane, my battery may be heavier and so one has to check those things.  And once powered up one has to check to see if those old servos are working and that there are no obvious defects.

In this case, I had to use a heat gun to tighten up the covering.  The covering is heat sensitive and generally relaxes over time.  The covering adds some strength to the wings and there was a couple of small dents.  So the heat retightens thing up and takes some of the hangar rash out (storage dings etc.)

I have to run the engine to make sure things are okay.  It is a K&B, an old name though still made by an independent fellow out in California.  He buys brand names, the rights, the drawings, old parts and so on so he keeps the engines alive and going.  This model engine is still available new from him.

I suspect the engine is a old lapped port engine, not a modern ABC engine.  ABC is simpler and more powerful.  However, the power is sufficient for this size airplane, so I do not need a new or more powerful engine to fly it.  I may in time swap out the engine but not for now as I enjoy getting them to run again.  I have some engines that have never been run sitting in boxes ready to be used.

So by Wednesday I will have her ready to go.  It should be fun to fly. 

Oh, yes one final thing.  I got the airplane for $60.  I probably save several hundred dollars and many hours of assembly work.  One man's junk is another man's treasure!

Bashed My Stik . . .

A Stik is a model airplane designed by the late great Phil Kraft.  Allegedly it was built to test various engines that he was working on.  Today it is probably the most common radio control airplane in use.  There are many variations, some are decidedly better designed and built than others.  I prefer the Great Plaines Almost Ready to Fly or ARFs as they are substantially better built than all the others that I have owned.

In this case I inadvertently move the control stick and of course the airplane went where it was told to go.  In this case strait in vertically and full speed.  Did a bit of damage to the engine, so that is pretty hard crash.  It tore the muffler manifold right out of the head, pulled out some of the threads with it.  Fortunately, I have another such engine that I can use the parts from to fix up the engine again.

And I have ordered a new Stik from Tower Hobbies.  I got free shipping on the deal and that alone is worth about $20.  Then I found a coupon that gave me another $30 off and entered that in the appropriate slot on the order blank and reaped that saving too.  I had to get some stiffer control rods and hardware so that soaked up much of the savings.  Got a new propeller for the engine too.

So I have work ahead restoring the engine and putting the new Stik together.  I make it a tail dragger vice the original tricycle designed landing gear.  That entails moving the main landing gear forward and of course adding a tail wheel assembly.  I also reinforce the rear of the fuselage, a weak point now that it is a tail dragger.  I have to add weight and do that internally and I move the rudder and elevator servos aft (cut new holes for the servos and reinforce the area to take the loads imposed by the servos). 

So I have quite a bit of work ahead but I am getting good at it.

I like the plane design and it flies really well.  I see no reason to change as that is what I like to fly.  Others fly all kinds of airplanes, some electrics and some with gasoline engines.  I am still with four cycle glow engines and my Stiks.  It is what I like to do.  And frankly, I like to assemble them the way I want.  That alone is plenty of entertainment for me.

Political Conventions Are Over - - - - At last

Both convents are in the books, both of them had their controversies.  Both seem to have candidates that the populace are uneasy about or at least that is what the pundits wish us to believe.  I must say the Republican Convention was more rational than the Democratic one.

But both had their issues.  Cruz proceeded to shoot himself in the foot.  He repudiated Trump after he had pledged to vote for the winner.  Really poor actions on his part.  He would have been infinitely better off to keep his mouth shut.  But he could not resist, an ego thing, and Trump let him do it and them capitalized on it.  In the end Cruz looses again, pity.  And probably dooms himself in the future.

In Hillary's case there is a definite split in the Democratic Party with Bernie taking his troops out of it.  True Bernie did the final nomination by acclimation trick but a lot of his followers have left the party.  A rift at best.   Then Hillary tried to exploit the "Black Lives Matter Movement" which turned off another portion of her constituency.  She can not win beating the female drum alone.  And Hillary drags Benghazi along with her email issues.  And they will bring up all the past garbage.  Gonna get hot.

I think both parties have shown that the general populace is not stupid.  They are more rationale that  each thinks they are.  Both candidates used their families as much as possible, sort of a new thing going on in both parties.  Or is that they could not get others vet their characters?  Trumps children really shown out in the family thing.  In Hillary's case husband Bill do not do so good.  To much schmooze and again credibility crept in to the mix.  I have to admit I did not listen to the daughter speak at all.  Must now have been much as there was no raving by the media after it all.

Now on to November.  I will stay out of the stock market until then.  The market is very antsy anyway and Europe is shaky at best.  I will invest in more defensive issues, broader based to forestall severe downturns.  And I will buy on down turns.

I think the real issues will start to appear.  One will be tax verses non tax issues.  Another will be immigration.  And a third will be crime, police, war in the Mideast and who knows what controversy will appear on the horizon.  Zika maybe.  There is sure to be some of that floating around and will pop up to each candidate's dismay.  And once again, it will be the independents that will make the difference.  Third party candidates will as usual be shuttled aside as ineffective in all manners.

So the race is on

Unbeleiveable . . .

I think it is unbelievable that Ted Cruz dug his on political grave before the nation.  Did he not sign the agreement with NRC to support the candidate that got nomination?  He did and yet he stands up before nation and will not endorse Donald Trump. 

He is toast.  I am a Texan, I admit I did not vote for him for the US Senate but he got elected.  So he is our junior Senator.  I voted for him in the Texas primary over the former Governor.  Now he pulls off a stunt that is absolutely stupid.  What power had is now gone.  Oh yeah, he will have strong positions regarding the constitution but now will lack the pull to get anything done.  He is now a pariah.  He has proven he is an unrelenting self righteous fool.

Is he morally correct, perhaps.  Is he politically correct, absolutely not since he signed a pledge and does not honor his public pledge.  Personally, I would drum him out of the party but that is not within my power.  But I will not support him, he is worse than Senators John Cornyn, Barbara Boxer, and so on. 

Will I communicate with him?  Yes, here and there, he does have one vote in the senate, and sometimes it can be exercised in the right manner.  But come time for his re-election I will not vote for him.  There has to be a better candidate here in Texas.

He has become in my vocabulary a RINO (Republican In Name Only).  There are a lot of them around, plenty of them in the Senate but up to now he was a sort of a lone wolf.  Now he is just a vote, nothing more.  He will be literally powerless.  He is now the laughing stock of the party.  He is unprofessional.  He is whiner.  He is a loser!

I think Trump was right, he hit Cruz's sore spot and now Cruz wears it like a red badge of courage.

Calmer Now . . .

Things have quietened down a bit in Baton Rouge.  Seems as though this was a lone wolf determined to do his worst.  Makes me wonder did he have suicide in the back of his mind.  Surely, he must have known that there would be armed response and that he may not survive is activities.

He seemed to have no regard for killing policemen at all.  Sort of stand and fire.  He stood, he fired and then he died.  I wish the story would end there but there are families on both sides of this equation who do not have a clue as to why and what for.  It is truly senseless, It produced nothing but hate.

He took his actions one step further than the assassin in Dallas who was only shooting white cops.  He just shot cops, one of which was black.  So he just killed indiscriminately.  It makes no sense except that it was an attack on authority, police authority.  What a terrible waste to die for.  He will go down as a footnote in time of a era of racial tension caused by the present Federal Administration.

We do not need a war on cops.  They are doing their jobs to support and protect.  Let them be and support them.  They have deal with the bottom of the barrel all the time.  That is hard enough.

I hope calm and sensibility returns to our streets.  We have to deal with ISIS, we do not need to be dealing with our own citizens in an insurrection.

It has Gotten Worse . . .

We can not as a nation tolerate continuous attacks on our police force.  They are there to protect and serve not be targets.  When we peel back the onion on all the cases since Ferguson, MO it turns out the cops were right.  The cops are very disciplined, have standards and are charged with enforcing the law.

Now we have random shooting of police.  That is not acceptable.  And we investigate the shooters we tend to find a somewhat warped personality.  Being a little off is one thing, taking matters into ones hands to kill is another.  We have the right to protest, it is now somewhat part of our society and political make up.  But we do not have the right kill or target our police.

We as a nation we must get beyond this.  We do not have to love each other but we do have to respect each other.  I think the black community is in crisis.  We have to reach out to them in what ever way we can.  They are not bad people.  But the education system and economy have done them no favors.  Yet I look about me and see very much that the black community is part and parcel of us all.

It is not a time for isolation.  It is a time for coalition.  We must come together as a nation and stop this madness.

Disgusted . . .

I am disgusted about Ferguson, MO, about Baltimore, MD, about Baton Rouge, and about Minnesota.  The disgust is that the black community is up in arms, really arms, shooting people.  White police officers under fire.  They are under attack by black males, but black politicians, by black rabble rousers on all sides.

Are some while officers wrong, biased, you bet they are.  But that is the normal distribution of people in society.  Yet it seems that a great deal of the young black community, especially males, blame all policemen but especially white ones.  It is irrational.  It is non thinking.  It is emotional.  It is sad.  It is a break down of our mores, of our trust of the police, of anti authority aspects in all areas.  We are now polarized by this kind of thinking.

I think it is liberalism come home to roost.  Yes, there are victims but that does not mean the police as a group have caused such anguish, something else is underlying it.  Something that has been festering for a long time. 

And it what ever it is, has erupted in Dallas.  Sad for the police and equally sad for the black community.  Killing randomly is not the answer,  I am not sure what the answer is but I know death and destruction of families and friends is not that answer.  It is totally unthinking.

I hope it can be blamed on mental illness.  I hope it can be blamed on something we as a people can treat with.  If not, then we are entering an era of violence.  The Latino community does not react that way.  The Asian community does not react that way.  Only the black community seems to be reacting.  Why?

I do not believe it is drugs.  I believe it is misguided self education.  It is becoming ingrained.  We see it in rap music, now we see it on the streets.   It used to be random gang shootings.  Now it is directed at the police.  Why?

Dallas was having a peaceful but meaningful demonstration against violence.  And now five policemen are dead and another seven are wounded.  And one of the perpetrators is deceased and one is in custody.  Still another is on the run.  I am sure the black community is going to find that person and turn him in to the authorities.

This is not ISIS.  This is within our own communities.  This is in our society.  Why?  What has driven this kind of thinking and action?

The Market Post BREXIT . . .

Well as I expected the market has returned to its normal level just under 18,000.  It seems to land in that area and dither for a while, roll back to 17,500 and start back up.  The market is antsy about the up coming election as usual and not picking a winner.  It is sort of standing on the sideline and watching what is going on.

Corporate earnings have not been sterling and growth is somewhere just below 2 per cent.  Anemic is probably the term to assign to the market now days.  BREXIT provided a weekend of excitement and as usual the market reevaluated the cause for turbulence and has now discounted it.  It really does not effect us in the US and Great Britain is and will remain a preferred ally.  So we will watch in askance and continue to do business with them.  Personally, I think it is a good thing that the British pulled out of the EU.  They had steadfastly retained their currency while all the other members went to the Euro.  They took hit going it alone but that will smooth out in time.

I made one buy, held the issue of a couple of days and then sold it.  I make just under $200 on the deal going in and getting out.  Since the buy was in my IRA, it is of no consequence Capital Gains wise, it is just a blip of a piece of income.

All my other positions returned to their normal levels, some even went up.  And since it was the end of the quarter a bunch of dividends came in too.  Some of the defensive issues I was in  actually went up during the fiasco.  At the bottom of the sell off, I was down about 1% vice the normal reported 2.5% over all.  Now that 2.5% has recovered and the whole thing earned us a couple of hundred dollars.  So thanks Great Britain.

And the beat goes on.  I still remain on the side lines generally in my IRA.  I have been holding a cash position for several months anticipating a severe market correction.  I thought that BREXIT would trigger the correction but it did not.  The regular brokerage account remains fairly static.

So the market is in a sort of status quo, looking over the election and bouncing around a bit.  BREIXT just provide a short buy zone and I took advantage of it.  It was a no brainer.

I Guess I Was Right . . .

BREXIT hoopla is subsiding rapidly because people are realizing that it is a British thing, not a world thing.  And Europe seems to be getting over it.  Of course, many in Great Britain are still unhappy but I see where the government is not going to hold an election for the "Do Over" people.  If anything, I would think the Do Overs would lose even worse the second go round should there be such a thing.

Any way, the market is on its way back up.  I think it will recover to about where it was before.  Of course, FMOC could screw it up and something else could do it too.  I see where the price of oil will probably go up a bit as the summer driving reserves are down.  That means demand is up and that is classic "supply and demand' economics.  And rising prices in oil seems to spur the market on higher.

But there was no real reason except for general luke warm economy ala Obama we are settled in for the duration of his administration.  A group of incompetents with arcane give it away philosophy will come to an end.  As Margaret Thatcher said, "Liberals do great until they run out of your money to spend."   The gimmie days are I think are over.  There is not enough money to sustain all the gimmies.  Already the national debt is way out of control.

Perhaps the Republicans will grid their loins, and stop the leaking purse from excess spending.  And maybe we will get some reasonable tax reform.  I like the present system, as I understand it. I do not like the high rates of taxation and go great lengths to avoid having to pay excess taxes.  It is not that I dislike the privilege of paying taxes (as that means one has a real income), it is just that Congress wastes so much of it on extravagant social programs.  We need to get back to reality.

Any way, I did not panic and sell my investments.  I already had considerable conversion to cash in my IRA.  I have been selectively buying defensive stocks.  And I was pleased, that during the brief draw down, most of those stocks weathered the drop.  Did I have losses, yes, were they as bad as the market drop, no.  So I was some what prepared for a drop, just not because of BREXIT.  So we are now beyond that, I hope.

BREXIT . . .

I do not understand all this hoopla over BREXIT.  I agree some big US banks may and I repeat may be impacted but nothing else.  Airfares to United Kingdom (UK) may be down for a while but that will adjust pretty quick.  So why depress the remainder of the stock market?

I think BREXIT is only a stimulus to impact the US's weak economy ala Obama's ineffective fixes.  BREXIT is more about sovereignty of the UK than financial fiasco.  The Brits are just taking back their country from European bureaucrats that were essentially unelected rulers.  They did not want further increases of Muslim/Arabic people freely entering their already overcrowded island nation.  There were several thousand camping in France with the specific intent to get into the UK.  Now that will not happen.  So the UK was essentially taking back their own destiny from non-islanders located in places like Brussels, Paris or Luxembourg.

The UK will escape the bickering over Greece and their economic excesses.  Similar problems exist in France, though less so, but more so in Portugal, Spain and Italy economies.  And then there are group of little island nation states like Malta and Cypress (Cypress has already like the Greeks gone though a default of sorts).  So there are a host of inequalities in and amongst the European Union EU).

United Kingdom will continue to be a good friend and ally in Europe to both us and the continent.  NATO is not a function of the EU though many confuse the two.  For instance, both the US and Canada are members of NATO and have nothing to do with the economy or the Euro coinage in Europe.  They are not synonymous, while currently related, they are not the same.  One is military alliance and the other economic merger.  UK remains a charter member of NATO and is a strong military contributor to the military strength of NATO while neither Malta or Cypress have little or nothing to do with NATO.

I know for a fact that Luxemburg's contribution to NATO is one battalion of troops, a mere pittance compare to the US and the UK.  And since the Iron Wall has fallen there are new members of NATO such as Poland and Hungary as well as the Baltic States.  As I recall Austria is not a member of NATO and neither are the Swiss but they will align with NATO if threatened.

So do not confuse military strength with the potential collapse of the EU.  The EU is concerned with money not defense.  So even if the EU were to totally collapse, it would not mean a demise of NATO.

Even though the UK was a member of the EU they steadfastly refused to use the Euro and remained with the pound Sterling as their currency.  You would get your bill at a hotel in both denominations but had to pay in pounds.  Each of those EU nation states had their own tax system, while many were had similar tax systems they were not all the same nor have the same rates.  So a lot of the separation will not effect coinage, their no UK Euros floating around like Malta or Greece or Portugal.  The Euro is common to all those nation states with the sole exception being the UK.

I applaud the UK's determination to withdraw from the EU.  They have decided that they are British, not common Europeans.  That was vote for liberty.

The Heat is On . . .

Our rainy season is over.  At least for the foreseeable future.  The ambient temperature has shot up to the mid to high 90s with a lot of humidity.  We are drying out, the lakes as yet are full but the run off has tapered considerably.  Soon the lakes will be falling again as per the local norm.  We may yet get a  thunder shower but not very likely.

The heat index is driven by the humidity and is pushing over 100, feels like more than a 105 or more.  The local water parks are full to capacity as the kids (and parents) are seeking a place to cool off.  Cities and villages are trending toward water slide parks rather than swimming pools.  The danger is not so much of drowning but I guess broken bones and necks are a bit higher.  And the attendees get a thrill going down steep slides, twisting and turning into a relatively shallow pool.

We had a father's day cook out at the flying field yesterday.  Not to many showed up, a few did to enjoy burgers and watermelon.  Then it began to get really hot, so we all kind of packed up and headed home.  Today we are generally staying home and enjoying the real father's day.

I did some model covering.  I have just built back my Stik model, it was a pile of sticks from an errant take off.  I am pretty sure it was bent control rods that caused it all.  I will be checking it out anyway.  I doubled the control rods to prevent bending, not pretty but functional.  I will check out the receiver to make sure it is not going haywire too.  The bird will be a bit heavier with all the additional glue and patches.  Beefed up some of the structure, had to even patch the fuel tank with shoe glue or a similar sealant.  It does not deal with a great deal of pressure so a good patch will work.  I tried to stay away from fiber glass as that is heavy stuff, used around the landing gear mount.  I replace the top deck with 1/8th inch balsa instead on the thinner stuff in the original so I know it is stronger than before.  Getting the covering back on as I write.

I will have to install the landing gear and engine.  The throttle linkage is all set up, just got to hook it up so to speak and she will be ready to go.

It is hot in the garage where I do the work.  So I have to do it early in the AM and then kind of back off and work in spurts.  It is just to hot.

Discover Card . . .

Wow, out of the blue I got a message from DiscoverCard saying contact them, they think they have detected unusual activity on our credit card.  Usually, when I see such message they are nothing more than phishing.  But the message did display the actual last four digits of the credit card, so I called them as requested.

In a short but nice conversation with DiscoverCard person, we determined yes there was fraudulent activity going on.  There was a charge at a 7-11 and at a Tom Thumb Grocery store, neither of which we are near or use.  Asking further where this occurred and she said in Arlington, TX.  Of course, Arlington is a good forty miles from us and I have not done any shopping in Arlington.

I have no idea how they got the numbers of the card, could have been random in nature.  Or someone has been copying the numbers off other charges in the local region.  We will never know but we have Discover watching our backs for us.  We do use Discover Card routinely, and all other cards sparingly.  In fact I have just one other card while Judie has that and one of her own.  They were not involved.

Hats off to DiscoverCard and their fraud detection capability.  They had already stopped one charge and the other had gone through, but she said, it would now be kicked back and we had no liability.  Those are my kind of people.

Do I recommend them, you bet I do.  Second time they have come through for us like that.  The other time it was some game software operation, and we got that stopped.  That was years ago.

Our Animals . . .

No, not dogs or cats, we are talking about deer and squirrels.  I cut some branches off the Pyrocantha that surrounds the water well out back.  I had previously cut some Pyrocantha on the South side of the house and piled the branches up in the vacant lot right next to us.  So I picked up some of the branches from around the well area and started across the yard to put the new cut stuff on the old pile of branches.

I saw three squirrels under the bird feeder chowing down on spilled seed.  The Blue Jays and some of the other birds and an errant squirrel usually jump into the feeder and spill it over on to the ground.  The ground is bare there as the feeder is hanging from a branch of the Hackberry tree.  It is easier for them to feed on the open ground there than under the other bird feeders that have grass beneath them.

So I figured as I walked by with the branches the squirrels would leave quickly.  But not so, two these squirrels have become use to us feeding them via the bird feeder.  Do not get me wrong we are not for feeding the tree rats, that's what I call squirrels.  These two Fox squirrels just kept on foraging for seed ignoring me.  I was not moving fast nor was I actually coming at them, but I got with in 10 feet of both of them and they just ignored me and kept on eating.

I had just finished my second trip from the well with a hand full of Pyrocantha limbs and was getting ready to return for the final clean up.  I looked at the squirrels, they kept on eating and then looked over at the old Post Oak tree about half way between me, the squirrels and the well and there stood a young yearling doe.  She looked at me like, "Are you putting out food for me?'  I stopped in my tracks, turned and went around the front of the house and came inside.

I figured I would let them do what they do in peace.  I could get the remaining limbs later in the day.  No need to startle them or scare them off.  After all we are in their territory, not ours, we are just interlopers that can occasionally be counted on for some food scraps to eat on.

The deer are particularly fond of melon rinds, water melon is most common.  Though sometimes we have cantaloupe melon rinds.  Even old grapes, and greens of any kind except of course onions and other herbs.  They do not eat Rosemary, hence we have a lot of that planted and they do not eat chives.  They will on a rare occasion eat parsley, though it is not preferred. Naturally that is what we have growing around the yard.  They will also eat leaves of Crepe Myrtles and low hanging Oak limbs.  We have to have wire cages around Day Lilies, Daises or anything else we like except Vincas which they do not seem to eat.  They ate Tulips right down to the ground, but left the Garlic alone growing right behind the Tulips.  That kinda gives you an idea of what our yard is composed of, plants that deer to not eat.  No style, all driven by the animals.

They have gone beyond the animals being pests, they are sort of our cohabitants in the area.  Last week we had fawn spend the day in the middle of the yard.  Its mother left her there and came back later and got her.  The yard maintenance people spread fertilizer all around her and she just stayed where her mother put her.  The new born fawns are all over the neighborhood.

So I left them in peace and will go out later and finish my job.

Learning About Type II Diabetes . . .

Diabetes Mellitus is an auto immune disease and it is incurable.  The first, auto-immune means it will attack you in many different ways.  No two Diabetic individuals have the same kinds of reactions for the disease effects us all differently.  The second, incurable, means there is not cure!  You can get to remission but even then, Diabetes may still be doing damage to you.  And all of it is attributable to the effects of Agent Orange, or more specifically, Dioxin.

So learning about your disease is a constant challenge.  For instance I take Metformin, an old but reliable treatment for Type II Diabetes, and I take Januvia, a more modern treatment that works best against peak blood sugar levels.  It is a new drug thus more expensive and the Metformin is a generic drug, considerably less expensive.  Both work as designed so to speak for me.

And I have a glucose meter, I live by the meter!  I test when I get up in the morning, again at lunch time and before dinner at night.  Sometimes I test before I go to bed.  In the past I have tested at different times but I have learned a Diabetic does a test before eating.  When you eat your blood sugar (glucose) levels go up with digestion.  So it is called "determining your fasting" blood sugar levels.  And my doctor gives me a blood test roughly every six months called an "a1c" test.  This test can look back at least three months or more and determine your blood sugar levels in a different number.  One strives for an a1c of 6.2, if higher like at 7.0 the doctor will chastise you.  Above that level, and it does happen when a Diabetic individual is not managing his disease, then you are doing damage to you body.

Fortunately for me, after my diagnosis with high levels of blood sugar, I gradually brought down my levels to the 6.4 to 6.5 levels.  I tested a lot in those days and kept a log watching it come down. 

I went through a couple of VA examinations and they found I had cataracts that they attributed to Diabetes, they also found I had Peripheral Neuropathy (PN), that is damage to nerves in my hands and feet.  In other words, I was losing my sense to touch in my hands and feet.  PN causes different issues with people, some have pain, itching, etc. while others like me lose their sense of touch.  My heart disease, hardening of the arteries, is also attributable to Agent Orange.

I have had the cataracts removed and have Crystalens installed.  I wore glasses since I was 13 years old.  I do not wear glasses anymore.  I occasionally use cheaters to read but do not need glasses for any distance vision.  So the cataracts are taken care of but I must be examined yearly for Diabetic damage to my retina's, far so good no damage.

Well I thought I had good control of the disease except I was plagued by a rise in blood sugar during the night that resulted in a high test number in the AM when I got up.  That is generally known as the "Somogyi effect," discovered by a Hungarian doctor named Somogyi.  At night when you natural blood sugar declines, the liver detects the drop and acts to convert fats into sugar (or glucose).  So I figured it was just normal and I had to live with it.  In the AM when I got up the blood sugar would be 140 to 147 all the time.  Every once in a while, like maybe one day out of the month it would be around 125 to 130.

About year ago, I decided I needed to lose weight.  And to lose weight, well one had to reduce caloric intake.  So I quit eating lunch.  I figured in ancient times, people did not have the luxury of three meals per day.  It was a habit not unlike from smoking cigarettes.  I had quit smoking cigarettes cold turkey in 1980, thus I could quit eating lunch.  I lost almost 40 pounds and my weight is around 190 pounds now days.  I took two inches of my waist and I brought down my AM blood sugar to about 130 to 133 in the AM.  That was great.

About two months ago, I had eaten a large meal at supper and missed taking my Metformin, so I took a double dose that night.  Next day my blood sugar in the AM was 125!  Whoa, I thought, there is no reason I have to space out my Metformin in four equal amounts,  I can take one in the AM when I get up, one during the day or before dinner and two tablets at night when I go to bed.  Well, guess what my blood sugar in the AM runs between 120 and 125 in the AM.  My fasting blood sugar average is down now below 125, it is around 116 or less now days.

So testing is most important, and when and how much drug you take is also important.  I am really interested in what my a1c is going to be?  I would love to see it be at 6 or even some magic number like 5.9, reality tells me it will be more like 6.2, but we will see.

Have I conquered Diabetes Mellitus, I know I have not done so.  But I now have it under control and it will stay that way.  Oh, yes, I still do not eat lunch, or if I should do so, do not eat supper, or a large night time meal.  Gotta keep the weight off and gotta keep the blood sugar under control.

Heading to False River . . .

We are mentally getting ready to go to False River and the camp for Memorial Day weekend.  It is our usual trek now days where so James has a crawfish boil and we invite family and friends over.  I don't think we will have to many attendees, certainly Mark and Paul will show up.  Aletha probably will cruise by on her power raft.

Herrise will show but not eat the crawfish.  Walter has been invited but he rarely responds so we do not know if he will show up.  He did last year and seemed to enjoy the crawfish.  Amanda Louise and her husband will show up from Nashville.  I am sure they are doing their annual trek to visit family in the region and would not miss an opportunity to see us and dine deluxe to boot.

The camp is usually very green this time of year.  The Cypress trees will have leafed out for the summer.  And I am sure the Wood duck that nests with us will be in place in her nest box.  She is very quite and does not disturb us and we try not to disturb her and her brood either.  We sometimes have a Mallard nest out front, sometimes not.  In spite of their nature to migrate and few always stay around when they can find food.  Since the camp is often deserted, not used very much, it is an ideal spot for the ducks.  And sometimes they get great food too.

New Roads will be warm, moving into the hot humid summer time.  The lake will be quite active, not quite as active as the 4th of July but plenty boats will be running back and forth.  The camp has an aluminum bateau boat but no engine (ergo we do not need a license either).  We do not use the boat very much at all, stays chained up most of the time.

We make a few trips into New Roads looking for any changes.  The town is a bit more vibrant than it used to be and that maybe due to the Audubon Bridge in operation.  The town has sort of been discovered by those folks that live to the East of us in the Florida Parishes.  And the Mayor has been very proactive and getting events to draw folks in.  Real estate has become very pricey and that is the attraction of the lake.  And it has a few good eating places here and there in the region.

We drive by and look at our old houses where we grew up.  Some of the houses are gone, some are modified a lot.  We may see an old friend or two.  And we may take a spin out and check the plantation. 

We head back Sunday, drive is about 400 miles one way.  We may stop in Natchitoches or Shreveport, often at Longview, TX for bar-b-que lunch (and gas somewhere along the way).  We usually make it back home about 4 PM.  Got to stop and Buc-ees and peruse the many gas pumps and chintzy merchandise.

Lost Relatives . . .

Recently I transcribed my grandfathers letters to my grandmother from a period just prior to their marriage.  It was interesting because it gave insight to life at the turn of the century.  There were no telephones, no automobiles, few paved roads, transportation of any distance was by steam boat, even the telegraph was yet to come about.  Reading and transcribing brought  to mind our Morrison family.

My father's middle name was Landry.  I thought as youth we were related to the Landry's in Morganza, LA, nearby town.  While there certainly were Landry's in Morganza that was not the relationship at all.  As is the practice of many family's, mine included, we gave middle names derived from family names.  The name Landry came from my fathers grandmother, or his father's mother.  Our Pointe Coupee ancestor Jacob Haight Morrison had married a Landry from Donaldsonville, LA (another river town).  But today we know nothing of our Landry ancestors at all.

I asked friend who was from that region about Landry's and she said every other house along the Bayou was a Landry home.  A common name in that area.  So there is a challenge to go seeking out Landry's to find our relations, albeit very distant today.

When my mother and father had their 50th Anniversary party at my brothers log house in New Roads, Uncle Sharkey Campbell was an attendee.  I had heard of Uncle Sharkey here and there but did not know the relationship to my family.  It turns out my grandmother, Camille Seghers had a twin sister.  They grew up in upper Pointe Coupee Parish around Lettsworth.  My grandmother's sister had two marriages, her second marriage was to Sharkey Campbell from Northern Mississippi.  The Campbell's live South of Memphis, TN, down the river so to speak.  Uncle Sharkey was a salesman of sorts and operated at business that sold radios and later televisions.  I am sure it did more than that but I have no idea what it was.

While stationed at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, one of the wives of a fellow officer was from that region of Mississippi.  I casually  mention Uncle Sharkey Campbell lived some where around there.  She knew the Campbell family well and we conversed about them.  Small world, right.

But the point is we have lost track of the Campbell's too.  We know next to nothing about them and our last contact was 1981 at the 50th anniversary party.  Pity.

Recently, Herrise made a trek to Delaware to attend Little Sister Hayden's funeral.  Little Sister was a first cousin.  Since then she has made it her business to keep up with my mother's family.  My mother's family was five sisters, all deceased now.  Three of the sisters had children, two did not.  Not many of us but yet scattered about the nation.  I learned from Herrise of one of our cousins from that group was in the hospital in Georgia.  So at least we are keeping up with some of the cousins.  But Herrise while keeping address and the like, writes nothing of history or of the past.  She likes to deal with her children and does so very well but other than the cousins, and other direct Morrison relationships, has no knowledge.  She knows a wealth of data but unless I convince her to write it down, it too will be lost.

To many lost relatives.  Where are they, what are they doing.  We know we have cousins down in Brazil, in California (we have lost track of all the Seghers' family).  Even some of my grandfather's brothers and sisters are out of reach.

What a terrible loss.

Texas Weather . . .

Well really North Texas weather.  We are gradually getting out of the spring thunderstorm season.  This is when we have the severe weather, spring time.  Gulf moisture pumps up here and further North feeding all the systems up to and including Canada.  The Pacific Ocean provides the motivation, in that storms come into us from California, scoop up the moisture and build into tremendous thunder storms.  And tremendous thunder storm systems build into tornadoes!

Yesterday was a warm and windy day with gusts above 25 miles per hour.  And the Gulf of Mexico moisture in the form of low clouds were ripping Northward into Oklahoma.  And true to form, storms started to pop up but not in Texas, but along the Texas Oklahoma state line and flow North from us.  So there were tornadoes in the southern part of Oklahoma and rains.  We got a few showers, maybe a quarter of inch of spotty rain.  The strong Southerly winds drove our thunderstorms North into Oklahoma.

We can use the spotty rain, but not the thunderstorms.  We have had at least two hail storms already this year, normally we get about one every three or four years apart.  And the spring rains have charged up the local lakes such that the local small but vicious rivers are flowing.  The Brazos River over by our western border of Parker County has been out of its banks already.  That usually means Possum Kingdom Lake is at its maximum level and they must release water down stream.  That water flows in to Granbury Lake which is at its maximum so it is now flowing South towards Waco and Austin country.  I am sure Lake Travis at Austin which had been down sixty feet is probably up to snuff again.

That means the grass is nice and green.  The trees are all leafed out and full of leaves.  Things are growing well everywhere.  And the deer are not bothering us, meaning they have plenty of forage close to them so they do not have come into our yards and eat all the plants.  So I guess the drought is over for the moment.

The temperatures are breeching 80 and soon will be breeching 90 degrees.  July will be hot and sultry, literally steaming.  We will get our usual 25 or so days of temperatures over 100.  Hotter here than Tucson, Arizona.  I know for I have lived in both climates.

Dealing with Texas Tax Appraisal Office . . .

As a result of my recent VA increase in disability ratings, I rushed down to the county appraisal office to have my taxes reduced.  In some states that would the "tax assessor's office" but Texas it is the Appraisal Office.  Each county has one.

Texas as a state authority does not tax property, that is there is no state appraisal office.  All property taxing matters are at a county level.  Texas prides itself on say that there are no state property taxes even though the state regulates most of them with limits and definitions of the taxes.  Thus for instance there is a local property tax for education and schools.  And each school district can regulate its own taxes up to the state limit.  That is there is a maximum rate that can be assessed.  Not all counties go to the maximum, many do not need to do so, but big cities like Fort Worth and Dallas go to the maximum and even have a five year abatement period they can make use of if the population agrees to the tax increase by popular vote.   But at the end of the period of evoking the maximum limit the limit must revert to the state maximum again.  This prevents the abuse of the taxing power of the local school board that would at moments notice spend all your money on their wants. 

There are other little rules that I discovered.  One for instance is one must file for an exemption before 1 May of the year or have to wait until next year.  Fortunately, the VA paper work arrived before 1 May, in fact I just got the exemption in by 25 April to the Appraisal office.  So while at the time I was ignorant of that little proviso, God smiled upon me and I got it in in the nick of time.  I fretted by little review the following week would have been ignored but it was not and they made the necessary changes.

But I had to go through the review twice.  I filed and noted only a minor reduction in taxes.  I thought that to be not correct and went back and questioned the decision.  I showed additional paper that showed the increase in rating dated from 17 February not just 25 April as dated the information letter from the VA.  They dutifully copied the new and precise data and made changes.  The difference was startling and very beneficial to me and Judie.

The difference went from $5,500 or so to $715.93.  That is a big difference and I am glad I went down a second time and talked with them.  I did not get angry just pointed out the correct dates to apply the new VA rating.  And they accepted that immediately.  I thought that was very nice of them.

I know if I had waited there was no way they were going to pay me back the excess.  I would have been stuck for the higher amount of taxes.  Tax people do not like to give back anything.

I think the taxes will further diminish next year as there is a prorate between the effective date and the beginning of the year, or a month and half of higher taxes, then down to the low level.  Next year it will be for the full year, so I should see another reduction but of a more reasonable amount, maybe a couple of hundred dollars at best.

So the VA benefits are beginning to pay off.  I am sure the less fortunate veterans really get a good deal for them individually.  They need it.  I need it less so, but deserve just as much as I have literally sacrifice years off my life due to the disabilities.  I would rather not have the disabilities but that is not for me to determine, it was between God and the Veterans Administration to do so.

Interesting . . .

I have been told and I have read that permanent life insurance known as "Whole Life Insurance" is a bad deal.  That it is a poor investment.

Years ago my now deceased ex brother-in-law, a New York Life Insurance Agent, sold me a series of whole life insurance policies.  They were for face value of $10,000 each for a total of $30,000 of life insurance.  They cost ten or twelve dollars each a month for the rest of my life, or until I made some changes.  Some of those changes were unaware to me, I was ignorant of what I had really gotten into.  But it did not hurt me at all. I bought those policies around 1965.

About 1981 I borrowed the cash value out of each of the policies and invested the money in the very hot money market fund.  I was getting 10 to 12% return on my money, much more than the stated amounts in the life insurance policy.  And I had to pay interest annually on that borrowed money.  It was my money but . . .  

I had changed the policy status from active to paid up participating in 1981 which meant I no longer paid a monthly fee for the policies.  The change meant that the face of the policy was what I had essentially paid into it less of course the cost of the administration of the policies.  So they were in limbo.

In about 1995 we, my wife and I,  paid off the loans on those policies.   And then I elected to use the annual dividends to buy more paid up participating insurance.  Those policies have steadily grown and are now all worth more than $10,000 each, one is over $12,000 face value and all continue to grow.  The dividends are not like stock dividends, they are a return of your money and thus are not taxable on an annual basis.

I just got the statements on two of the policies and the dividends amounted to a little more than $360.  The dividends went to buy more participating paid up insurance.  I am guess the third policy will also be about $200 in dividends make my annual total about $560.  No matter, it is income that I do not have to pay taxes on and is reinvested in the policies.

My intention is that my children shall get the policies when I die.  Of course, should my wife predecease me for that to occur.  She is the primary beneficiary, the boys are the  tertiary beneficiaries. 

Back in 1981 I also got a $20,000 whole life policy from USAA for my wife and I got a "Universal Life" policy from USAA.  These are policies I continue to pay for via allotment out of my retirement income.  Her policy had immediate purchase of paid up additional coverage using the dividends and today is almost $40,000 in coverage.  In my case the Universal Policy has more than $44,000 in cash value.  It grows at 4.5% based on the cash value per annum, the actual insurance declines so that the beneficiary gets $50,000.

The bottom line is I was late at using the paid up participation elements because I just did not know about them.  But in the end I learned and used them to make the policies grow in value with no addition out of pocket expenses to me.  And there were no tax implications as I did not "cash them in".  The children will get the benefits in the long run at a time when they can probably really use them for their benefit.  Or God forbid, they are cash instruments and if need be, I can access the money in time of need.

Finally . . .

My latest claim to the VA was approved and approved in record time.  The claim was for a rate increase for my Prostate problems.  While I am most fortunate, no Prostate cancer, I do have an enlarged prostate and that is know as Benign Prostate Hypertrophy or commonly BPH.

Often BPH is a precursor to Prostate Cancer but I have been rated for this disability since I retired from active duty, or about 25 years.  But the VA in its wisdom game me a zero rating back in 1989.  Now with the change in rating I have a 10% rating for BPH by itself.

The real kicker here is that the 10% pushed me into the 100% total disabled category.  That is a compensation increase and resulted in the most desired rating of Permanent and Total disabled.  
P&T as it is known means the VA will not reassess my present conditions that could possibly lead to a reduction from 100%.  That is they will leave me alone for the rest of my life unless I open the door for re-assessment by filing another claim.  I have such a condition that I can file a claim for but I will not, time to let it all die down so to speak.

The 100% and P&T also give me some increased benefits regarding life insurance (which I do not need nor want), education benefits for my children (who are now to old to use them) and dental and eye care.  I no longer need the eye care, I get an annual check up for my eyes due to  Diabetes Type II but that is paid for by Medicare and TRICARE for Life.  And I no longer have to wear glasses except to read sometimes, and I get the glasses off the shelf at Walmart for about $4.00 a set.  I also have dental insurance that I will keep because we like our dentist and he does good work.  So I will leave the additional VA benefits alone.

Compensation for 100% does result in an increase and that is about a $1,000 a month increase.  Not bad, it is all tax free.  And in Texas, veterans rated at 100% are forgiven their property taxes in most counties.  I live in such a county.  I will pay some property taxes but the reduction from the present rates will be on the order of 95%, so they will drop from $6,400 annually to about $400 annually.  Both of those numbers are significant to me.  Of course, I will lose the Federal tax deductible for the property taxes but that is very acceptable trade off.

You might say I have maxed out.  No more claims for me.  While compensation and tax eradication are most desirable, I would much rather have better health.  But that ain't gonna ever happen.  Now it is up to me to live as long as I can.

Der Goof . . .

Yes, an error.  We were dining out last Sunday as is our habit and this time it was at Pappadeaux's Restaurant in Fort Worth.  It is the closest Pappadeaux's to us and it is the closest to fried Louisiana food to us.  Other fish places are all good and closer in proximity but none meet the overall quality standard that Pappadeaux's does on a continuing basis.  You pay a bit more but the food is worth it.

James was with us and we sat down and immediately ordered two dozen raw oysters along with our drinks.  We rarely drink alcohol drinks anymore, it is usually Diet Cokes or water.  The waiter put in the order and came back for our usual entrée dinner desires.  It was a slack time, we were early, so we were getting "Johnny on the Spot" service.  So along with the drinks and bread came the two dozen oysters.

We dug in and began chowing down and all of a sudden up shows the waiter with help and another two dozen oysters.  It seems there was an error and they, for some unknown reason, double filled our order of raw oysters.  And as a practice in such a high class restaurant, there was no charge for their error and they did not want to just throw out the oysters, so they brought them to us.  We gladly devoured the extra oysters though it bordered on literally over eating.

They would not charge us for their error so when the bill came I doubled the tip.  Somebody got rewarded for somebody else's mistake.  No matter, I bet that waiter will remember us.

Maybe next time there will be another error, ya think.  No but they, the wait staff, are appreciative and do remember their good customers.

Bon-A-Petite!

Crawfish . . .

We ate at Pappadeaux's last night in Fort Worth.  We dined on a Pappadeaux's Greek salad for two and then had our individual orders.  I got the Crawfish special and Judie got her deluxe Shrimp and Crab cocktail entrée which included Avocado but no onions.

As you can see it is just a modicum of Crawfish with a piece of boiled corn and a couple of Irish Potatoes.  I fished out the vegies and put them on a side plate and Judie chopped up the potatoes into bite sizes.  We both ate on the potatoes and I ate the corn, umm, and the Crawfish.  She fished out one Crawfish and ate it complaining it was to spicy for  her.

We had not been to Pappadeaux's for a while, we avoid the place when the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo is going on.  The Texans go wild for the place as if they can not get that kind of food out in the hinterlands of Texas.  The show had finished a couple of weeks ago and true enough on a Tuesday night things were not to crowded.  Yet, as always, the place was loud and filled up gradually while we dined.  We go early and leave early.

This time we stopped at Central Market on the way home to get Emely's bread.  Emely is the house cleaning lady and she likes a certain kind of bread that Central Market bakes.  Judie can not seem to get her to take a pay increase, she has been our cleaning lady for about four years now, so Judie prepares a meal for her with extra Jalapeno's, Avocado's, Strawberry's, a rotisserie Chicken warmed up.  Emely eats what she wants and bags the rest to take home.  Her family now kind of expects the largess from Morrison's every two weeks.  She comes on a Monday, we set it up for her and quickly leave the house and let her do her thing.

While at Central Market we also go pot plants, cheese, the bread, sampled some Central Market Ice Cream and got desert.  We choggied on home to feast on desert and it was almost time for bed.  Well almost time for me to go to bed, Judie does not come to bed until the wee hours of the morning.

But it is Crawfish season so might as well eat up.  Only a few places have them but they are not hard to find in this city which is heavily infested with Cajuns.  We have Razoo's, Pappadeaux's and the Flying Fish which all serve Crawfish.  And yes, no one around here but our brethren for the Frozen Nawth says Crayfish.

Bon Appetite!

A Capacitor . . .

A capacitor is an electronic device that can hold a charge.  In the old days before the current super duper capacitor discharge electronic ignitions we used have a "condenser."   A condenser is a capacitor and is used to collapse the electrical field in the coil to generate a spark for ignition.  The principle is still the same but things are self contained and decidedly more reliable and long lasting because there are no moving parts like points to deal with.

Capacitors are basically a storage device.  This is why they can hold a charge.  And they come in many sizes and types.  Electrolytic capacitors are usually large in the ability to hold a charge.  Film capacitors are not large in size or volume and are usually quite small in the charge they can hold.

Capacitors can also be used as filters and tend to remove noise on the lines inside electronic circuits.  That is why a typical circuit board has a lot of little capacitors place here and there to soak the interference.

But because they can hold a charge, they can be used to smooth out drops in voltage.  These are generally known as filter capacitors and have large values in Farads.  A Farad is a rather large amount of capacitance, ergo the little ones are measure in microfarads, millionths of a farad.  So when one sees a 80 Farad capacitor, that is a big sucker and if charged up to a high enough voltage can actually kill you.  

In my radio control we have been having what we call brown outs.  That is when the battery temporarily drops below a specific voltage and shuts down the solid state receiver.  That voltage can be around 3.2 volts, all it takes is a quick dip measure in microseconds and the transistor goes dead and the receiver quits.  This is where the capacitor comes in, one can put one in the power circuit parallel with battery and when the battery starts to sink for any reason, the capacitor starts to discharge to hold the voltage.  Magic but functional.  And the capacitor can last as long as a second to keep that voltage up.  When the battery recovers, the system demand goes down, the voltage goes back up and the capacitor recharges.  It takes care of that sinking spell.

Of course if the battery demand is prolonged then there is not recovery, the battery goes down, then the capacitor and of course the airplane goes down too, it usually crashes.  But that is a different circumstance we can not protect for very well.  Fortunately, it is a rare occurrence.

I just ordered up some 3300 microfarad capacitors.  They are rated at 6.3 volts, pretty near the battery voltage.  I am sure it will last for a whopping half a second at the most.  But that is plenty for me.  All I have to do is put a plug on the end of the capacitor in the right polarity and plug it into the receiver and I am protected.

What We Have Is A Failure To Communicate . . . .

That is a line from a Paul Newman/George Kennedy movie spoken by Strother Martin, the actor portraying the prison warden.  It was a truism them and it is a truism now.  "What we have is a failure to communicate."

Today I tried to get into Microsoft X Box to set up Solitaire.  It finally locked me out, too many attempts were made to get in.

First it asks you for your Email address or a phone number.  I tried the phone number and it never heard of that number before.  Seems it wants a numeral 1 in front of the area code to indicate "country."  Of course it did not say anything about a "1" or a country code when asking for the phone number.  It just assumes you know that.  And of course, that is not a normal practice in the USA.  Even with the corrected phone number it did not work as it did not recognize the phone number.

So finally got by that hurtle by going to my Email address.  First I tried the MS Email password and it never heard of that either. Clearly under the Email address is box for a password.    So I put in my Email password.  Noooo - that is not the password they wanted.  They wanted an X Box password.  The box just says "Password."  Finally figured that out.  Second hurtle gotten over.  All their instructions are as clear as mud or really, no instructions, just assumptions you know what is going on.

Next hurtle is secure digital code they want installed.  It is a series of characters, letters and numbers printed out in a jumble.  They are at different angles, some filled in, etc. as a test to make sure you can read them.  After about seven times, I figured out I was using the wrong password and none of the security letters would work as the password was wrong.  Again they did not bother to explain that all had to be just what they wanted, when they wanted them and of course how they wanted them and you had to figure that out by osmosis.

Finally, got all of that straight and then I get a message, that I have tried too many times and was locked out.  No solution provided regarding the lockout.  Is the lockout good for a hour, day, week or month?  Obviously that is just too much work for Microsoft,

This is a product of people that write the code to operate our computers.  Yet, they live in a never never land of idiocy.  Thanks Microsoft. 

Well, I guess I do not need to get into X Box and Microsoft loses a shot at getting a few dollars for an App.  If they are going to be that dumb shit about things, they deserve to not get any sales.  Probably never heard of the old adage "that the customer is always right."

Gold Finches Again . . .

I gotta go feed the Finches again.  The little Gold Finches have already gone through about 8 pounds of Niger Seed (aka Thistle Seed).  As I look out the front window the wind is out of the North with gusts and it moves the bag back and forth but that does not deter the Finches.  The hang on the bag and pull seeds through the loose mesh as if they were hanging on a thistle plant in a field and feeding on the thistle flower.  The are very adept at hanging on.  The wind is not challenge.

As usual some of the seed spills on the ground but those that are not able to muscle their way on to the feeders get that seed.  They are always in a flock, so there are usually a bunch of them feeding at the same time.  They are very competitive around the feeders for a space to eat.

The other feeder is metal mesh tube about three and half inches in diameter and about 10 inches long.  I have counted up to seven Finches on that feeder at one time.  It is, however, not as will liked as the cloth bag feeder.  While it holds considerable more seed and because of its relative size is more stable in the wind still does not make it the selected feeder. 

When I service the feeders, the bag is literally empty while the metal feeder is down about a 1/3.  Perhaps because there is a lot more seed in the metal feeder, they maybe consuming it at the same rate.  But from a novice point of view, does not seem to be the case.

Either way, I am into a second bag of seed.  It is 10 pounds in size.  I have already been through some of last years seed and five pound bag of seed.  I am estimating they have eaten about 8 pounds of seed already this year.  I think it is because they learned about my source of food from last year and are simply returning to the spot where they know they can eat a lot. 

They provide an interesting out look on nature.  As they molt in the spring they grow more and more golden in color.  When they are near total Gold in color they migrate off to somewhere else.  I am sure it is further North into the Great Plains perhaps all the way to Canada.  Though I have seen them in Tucson, AZ feeding on a giant bag in front of bird food dealers location.  And that was pretty late in the season, so some of them have to be locals and do not migrate.

Bird experts say they are around us all year long but I only see them early in the year.  Starting mid January and running to early summer, then they quit feeding on the feeders.  I am guessing that they have other sources of food that are much easier to get at than the feeders and that is why we do not see them through the summer and fall to winter.

Interesting is that other birds see them feeding and come in see what is going on.  Most common is the Cardinal.  But they have not mastered the skill of hanging on the bags or feeders.  So they stay a while and then fly off.  Chickadees do the same.  Mocking birds do not, they come by but it is there local turf and they eat bugs.  I have not seen any Blue birds around the feeders yet they are all over the back yard, they are bug eaters too but will eat seeds off the ground.  Blue Jays also do not come, they seem to be only attracted only by peanuts.

So right now it is the time of Gold Finches.  House Finches are here all year but they do not feed of the bags either.  And we have a couple Wrens, look like Cactus Wrens to me.  Long beaks and love to build nests that they do not use.

Spring certainly seems to be here early this year.  Peach trees are blooming early.  Blue birds are already nesting in their boxes in the back yard.

Feels Like Spring . . .

It feels like Spring is here but beware of early signs.  I recall while living in Dayton, OH area, one Spring the temperature shot up 75 degrees F.  It was warm and bright out side.  The sap started up in the soft Maple trees.  Everything looked like it was going bloom or putting out new shoots here and there.

It lasted about a week or ten days or so.  It was great.  Then bang, the Arctic Express kicked in and the temperature dropped to close to zero degrees F.  I lost four soft Maple trees because the sap froze and killed them.  It was bitter cold out side.

In that region they say wait to plant seedlings in your garden until May 15th.  Me, a Southern boy, well that seemed late but I did what the locals said.  I did prepare the garden but did not plant anything.   And then just as May 15 rolled up I had to go out of town on a trip.  I was gone just a couple of days and was back on the 17th of May.  All my gardening buddies had planted their garden and were crying alligator tears.  They had a sever freeze the morning of May 16 and it killed off their new plantings.  Me, I did not have anything in the ground so I caught up with them immediately.

Well we are have a false Spring right now.  Been as high as 79 degrees and you can see the buds on the Peach trees swelling like they are going to bloom at any minute.  I hope not because we always get that late freeze here and one year it killed off all the new fruit.  So I sit and watch, and hoping we do not get that late season ice storm.

We have had a very mild winter here.  New York, Wisconsin, the Dakotas are all freezing and we are basking in the sun.  I know we are in for at least one more winter blast but sit back and enjoy the false Spring.  I have been fixing the lights we have out in the yard.

The lights are simple things with an LED bulb and a single AA rechargeable battery installed. The top of the light has a solar cell and light detector to turn the light on at night and off in the morning and lets the solar cell charge up the battery.  Works pretty good, they are getting better, brighter and have smaller solar cells.  The technology development is working.  But I had to get new batteries and charge them up and install them.  A lot of my old lights no longer work, so have been replacing them.

I know I will get to look out and seen maybe snow one more time this Spring.  I hope it is not an errant hale storm, tears up everything including our roof and at least one car so far.  But that is the Spring of North Central Texas.

So do not go plant anything - yet.