A very busy two weeks

They boys' last day of camp was Friday the 12th so until school starts in two weeks we'll be very busy helping out. 

I've been baby sitting just about every day this week and will continue into next week but at least the weather has been cooperating.

Today was one of the most beautiful days of the year and I expect they'll continue to be like this for some time as we enter the fall season.  Then you-know-what follows.

Brought the boys to the park today where they were more attracted to the water than the play equipment.

More later.

If I didn't have bad luck I wouldn't have any luck!

I was able to redeem about $10 worth of cans and bottles (see previous post).  My lottery winnings?  Zero, zip, zilch, nada.

Oh well.  Until next time.

Rationalizations-Part I

With the Connecticut PowerBall now up to $420 million, I've come up with a good way to rationalize spending money on buying  tickets for something I've got pretty much a zero chance of winning.  I collect all the plastic water bottles and seltzer cans our family accumulates and redeem them. 

Right now I have about 3 large bags of them.  I'll go over to Stop & Shop can/bottle center and spend about half an hour to get sometimes as much as $10-that's 200 cans and bottles.  Then I get as many $2 lottery tickets as I can depending on how much I actually get.

I know the odds are about 300 million to 1 of winning the big prize but another way to look at it is someone has to win, right?  It might as well be me.  Besides there are numerous lesser amounts with better odds.  For example with the right amount of winning numbers combined with the PowerBall number which I've gotten several times, it's possible to win several hundred or thousand or even a million dollars.

The down side-if there is a down side-is that you don't get the $420 million in one lump sum.  That much money is paid out in the form of a 20-year annuity.  If you want a lump sum, you get a lesser amount-like about $250 million.  Subtract from that state and federal income taxes and you eventually end up with about $150 million.  That's a long way from the original $420.  But I think I'll take it anyway.

I've read articles that follow people's lives after winning huge amounts of money.  What happens to many of them is not very pleasant.  But the way I look at it is by the time my family gets their hands on it, I'll be pretty much back to square one anyway so what the heck.  Go ahead, fate.  Let me win!!

Happy 40th Birthday to Peter Stockwell

Happy birthday, Pete.  You're a great son, father and we presume husband. Have a great day.

For a slide show of Pete through the years click here: http://georgeswebpage.com/photogallery

More about baby sitting

 Very often friends will ask me what I've been doing to fill my time since I retired.  As anyone knows who reads this blogspot on a regular basis, part of what I do is baby sit for grand children.

When I say this to some people-especially those who haven't been around young children in a long time-they kind of shake their heads and look at me with a weird expression.  Then they'll say something like I hope your kids appreciate what you do for them. 

I quickly explain, I'm the one who should be giving thanks because there's nothing more enjoyable for me than spending time with my grand children.

When I say this, they respond by asking what I do all that time.

Well, in an attempt to at least partially answer that, I herewith offer an hour-by-hour description of a recent day with my two grand daughters who are ages 6 & 9.  I showed up at my daughter's house at 7 A.M. and left at about 5 P.M. Yes, that's a long day and I admit to being ready for a glass of wine but it was well worth it.

Here's how the day went:

Arrive 7 A.M.  Gave the girls about 10 minutes to finish their breakfast while I went over some stuff with my daughter.

About 7:15 went downstairs with the girls to a playroom/office where we played school.  Brooke (9) and I were students and Courtney (6) was the teacher.

Shortly after we got down there, Courtney sounded the fire drill.  We all went upstairs, out the back door and across the yard just as my daughter was backing out of the garage.  Since the girls were still in their jammies, she wanted to know what we were doing.  Courtney said we couldn't talk now because it was a fire drill.  Becky continued on her way to work.

We returned to the 'classroom' where school continued for about the next 90 minutes or so.

By 8:30ish they tired of that game so they wanted to build a character who would be me on their Wii.  For the uninitiated, a Wii is a video game.

We spent some time doing that after which the girls played a game of their own while I read the newspaper.

At about 9:15 we went to the garden to pick vegetables.  Then we brought them in, washed them and put them away.  Courtney noticed a leaf outside with a cluster of small orange eggs on it so we brought that in and did a little research on my iPad.  We found out they were squash bugs.  Courtney wanted to keep them so they could hatch but I talked her into giving them back to nature.

By now it's about 10 o'clock at which time we went upstairs where guest reader Mr. Stockwell read stories to the girls' classes while they pulled students and tested them. 

By 10:45 the girls wearied of that game so we went downstairs and played Clue.  By 11:30 their hunger pains reached intolerable levels so I let them watch a show while I made them lunch.

12-1:15 Lunch and rest time.  The girls played quietly in their rooms while I played games on my iPad.  I was hoping to doze off but Courtney jumped off her toy box which was right above my head, scraped her leg and summoned her sister.  They both came rushing downstairs announcing a grave emergency.  Out with the Neosporin and bandaids.

With that catastrophe out of the way, we decided to go to the library. 

2:30ish-home from the library so on to swimming and dance routines by the pool.

3:45 came in for snacks and more dancing routines but eventually Courtney wouldn't share her iPad so we had a brief period of mediation.

4:15 or so.  We decided to play checkers.  First Brooke and I played.  Then the winner (me) played Brooke and Courtney.  Courtney wanted to make her own decisions so Brooke went to her room to play and Courtney and I played until her mom's return home at around 4:45 to 5:00.

Thus endeth a long, but fun, day.

Typical Fox Interview

First: check this out
http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/is-this-the-most-embarrassing-interview-fox-news-has-ever-do?fb_action_ids=10201958343388463&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map={%2210201958343388463%22%3A479998508757810}&action_type_map={%2210201958343388463%22%3A%22og.likes%22}&action_ref_map=[]

This is without question one of the worst Fox News interviews ever broadcast.  The so-called journalist conducting the interview clearly has an agenda, did not read the book and is by any measure so profoundly ignorant as to defy logic. 

Yet, there she is, still plodding along.  Happily-for you and me as well-this will be the last post regarding anything on Fox News because I won't be monitoring it any further. 

A (too) quiet house

For the past four days our two grand daughters ages 9 & 6 have been staying with us.  Their parents had work obligations that took them out of town all  week.

The girls returned home yesterday afternoon so this morning instead of getting up to let a dog out and start the day,  it is eerily quiet. 

No more giggling in their room.  No more dancing, singing, playing school,  helping with workbook pages,  settling minor squabbles and preparing breakfast-all of which happens within the first two hours that they're up. 

I have found quite logically that the older our grand children get, the less they need us to be involved with every thing they do.  They are quite capable of amusing themselves while I do routine household chores or workout or whatever else I might have to do.

There's a mathematical logic to this process in that the length of time they're able to go on their own is directly proportional to their age. 

This of course is normal.  We want our children-and grand children-to be independent.  But it's also a reminder that we too are getting older. 

We need to enjoy them as long as we can. 

Poor Mr. Snowden

Edward Snowden's father (and his lawyer)  appeared on the Today show recently strenuously defending his son's actions by citing all sorts of wrong-doing on the part of government in general and numerous security agencies in particular.

The poor guy doesn't get it.  None of what he said is the point.  Maybe he was right in what he said about government but the fact is his son still revealed damaging, classified information.  He broke security and then instead of staying in the US to defend himself, he fled.

He needs to be returned to the US to face trial.

Stand your ground-also known as OPEN FIRE

"A stand-your-ground law is a type of self-defense law that gives individuals the right to use reasonable force to defend themselves without any requirement to evade or retreat from a dangerous situation."

 The above definition is the basis for the stand-your-ground law that exists in one form or another in many states

On the surface it seems reasonable enough.  You threaten me, I get to take care of myself.  Simple, right? 

Well, no.  Not so simple.  In many areas-most recently Florida-it has come to mean something very different.  It means more than just self defense.  Unfortunately it means to many people "don't even look suspicious!"

The stand-your-ground movement across the country is in my considered opinion one of the most dangerous-and wrong-headed-laws man has ever conceived.

Make no mistake about it.  There are going to be more Trayvon Martins.  Many more.

Take cover!

Let's take a walk

I just finished reading Khaled Hosseini's third book "And the Mountains Echoed".  The first one was "The Kite Runner" and the second "A Thousand Splendid Suns".  I read all three.

Hosseini is a gifted writer.  To me what makes his books even better is the fact that they can teach us so much about a people who are literally and figuratively foreign to most Americans-Muslims. 

Every once in a while, either in print or on TV, I come across some ignorant big mouth ( I find it one of life's annoying ironies that ignorant people are often the loudest) explaining how all Muslim people have one goal in life.  That is to kill the infidel, aka us. 

Fox News among others seems to be especially fond of this view.

The idea that millions of Muslims the world over want to destroy us is of course ridiculous.  Like everything else  in religion or politics it's the extremist-or lunatic- fringe that is dangerous, not the mainstream.

To really understand this, it is necessary to learn a little about a given culture-or as it has been often stated-take a walk in someone else's shoes.  

Well, one way to do that, short of actually visiting the country,  is to read the fiction of that culture; hence, Khaled Hosseini's books. 

Read them or at least some of them.  You won't regret it.  As a bonus you will not only have a great read, but you'll also learn that the vast majority of the Muslim people are just like us.  They simply want to live peaceful, secure  lives with the people they love. 

The "Experts" Weigh In

It's official.  George Zimmerman has been acquitted of charges brought against him for the death of Treyvon Martin.

But if you read the papers, watch news broadcasts, listen to talk shows, look at Facebook posts, follow remarks on Twitter, read blogs or just plain talk to a group of your friends it is clear the jury got it completely wrong.

Words like "gross miscarriage of justice" or a "travesty" or "another murderer goes free" can be read and heard everywhere.

The interesting thing is that not a single one of the people writing and stating these lovely remarks had any access to the evidence nor were they on the jury or even attend the trial every single day-or even a few days.  What they did do was watch the news or read about it on the Internet. 

All of their information was gained from some other source, most notably, the media. Yet they regard themselves as well-informed enough to pass judgement.

Interesting how the human mind works (or in this case doesn't).

The United Fund

In my conversations with numerous people (yesterday was the most recent) regarding the $11 million fund being administered by Newtown Savings Bank and The United Fund, I keep hearing a major misunderstanding. 

No matter what one may think of the United Fund, the plain fact is that they are in no way what so ever profiting from the fund they're helping to administer.  In fact they're losing money.

The money is wholly controlled  by a group of people who have sole decision-making authority.  The Fund takes no fee for its efforts.

Much of the misunderstanding originates from one particular relative of one of the victims.  That person is often quoted in the press and her remarks are taken as fact.  The media needs to do some fact checking.  The Fund is getting a bad rap-at least in this particular instance.

Must reading by a far better writer than me!

http://gaellynch.blogspot.com/2013/07/ripples-in-stillness.html?spref=fbhttp:

Let's put things in perspective

All I've been hearing for the past week or so is that this weather is intolerable.  The heat, the humidity-it's all more than one can bear.

Well in the interest of public service, I'm here to remind those complainers that these are exactly the days they were wishing for not such a long time ago.  Remember this?

So, cheer up.  We'll be shoveling soon enough!

Independence Day

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness..."

Happy birthday, U.S.A.  May you long endure.

Are you having trouble handling some of what's going on in our country today?  I suggest you put it all in perspective.   For example take a look at what's going on in Egypt now.  Then I think you'll feel better.

Happy July 1st

1. To learn more about the month of July, click here: http://georgeswebpage.com/almanac

2. On this day, exactly 150 years ago, the Battle of Gettysburg began.  By day's end there would be over 15000 combined casualties.

More of life's little mysteries

I have one more observation regarding the recent Supreme Court rulings then I'll stop for a while.

In one of its decisions it effectively removed blocks to same-sex marriages-but not entirely.  It left the door open for legislative action to be taken that would basically put the issue back on the table. Opponents of the court's ruling have 25 days to take such action.

So now the news is filled with reports of all sorts of movements underway to block Prop 8 as it's come to be known.  The opponents of equal rights for gays are simply not giving up.

My thought is why on earth are antigay forces making such a fuss. They're disguising their actions as those that preserve the 'Christian' or moral thing to do but let's face it, they're homophobes.

Does anyone really care who another person marries?  I certainly don't.  I don't care if a person marries a man, woman, goat or a tree in their front yard.  So long as they leave me alone, they can do what ever they want.

Here's the kicker:  the very people frothing at the mouth about gay marriages are the same people who rail against perceived government intrusions from the left.  Yet, they have no problem intruding themselves into another's life.   The hypocrisy and lack of logic here is totally lost on them.

These nuts need to just shut up and  go away.  Leave people alone.

Stamford Resident Flies Nazi Flag

A recent piece in the Danbury News-Times reported on a well respected Stamford resident who is flying the Nazi flag off his front porch to protest the policies of President Obama.

Conversations with several neighbors revealed that the guy was well liked and respected.

The guy's explanation was that he was not trying to suggest that Obama was a Nazi.  He was simply trying to make the point that in his view the president was making policies very much against the best interests of the country.  Furthermore he is calling for Obama's impeachment.

In my opinion the fact that his neighbors are taking such a nonchalant approach to this display is appalling.  The Nazi flag represents the ultimate in evil.  After all, Adolf Hitler was responsible for the mass execution of 6 million people.

To even remotely equate Obama's leadership with Hitler's is so profoundly absurd that it gives one pause to wonder what on earth these idiots are thinking.

This level of ignorance is intolerable.  Fortunately for them, the First Amendment protects their right to embrace this kind of insane thinking.  I would like to think the majority of Americans are far more level headed.  At least I hope so.  If not, we're in deeper trouble than I originally thought.

Thoughts about SCOTUS

The Supreme Court of the United States, aka SCOTUS.  It's been in the news quite a bit lately with a flurry of activity and rulings before their summer recess.

But with the exception of a few special-interest groups who are most affected by their rulings, not many people are paying much attention.  In fact I'll bet if you were to pick 10 people at random, one at most would be able to name all 9 justices.  In fact there are probably only a handful of people who even knows there are 9 much less their names or that 6 of the 9 are men.

The fact of the matter is, however, that they are absolutely the most important group of people in the country.

Think about it.  They get to decide if the laws our state and federal governments pass are constitutional. And to top it off, unlike in lower courts, there is no appeal.  Their word is final...period.  End of story.

Two of their recent decisions for example have far-reaching consequences.

First, there's the ruling regarding the Voting Rights Act.  It effectively allows states to redraw their congressional districts as they see fit.  The upshot is that a state like Texas for example can now make it almost impossible for a democrat to get elected.  Nice, huh?

They left the door open by suggesting Congress revisit the act and modernize it.  Good luck with that.

The second big ruling is in regard to gay marriages.  Basically, they said the state of California can not deny to gay couples the same rights afforded straight couples.  It's a huge victory for gay rights.

In my humble opinion the courts screwed up in one case but got it right in another.  I'll leave it to you to figure out which side I'm on but if you're a regular follower of this blogspot, it won't be hard to do.

So the next time you hear of a SCOTUS Justice retiring, pay attention.  The next person to get on could shift the balance of the court and make a huge impact for many years to come.

OK, ready??  Who's the Chief Justice of SCOTUS?

Ups and downs

We returned yesterday afternoon from having spent three days visiting friends who live in a fairly remote area of Pennsylvania.  It's located about 45 minutes northwest of Scranton and it's overall about a 3 hr drive.

There are a number of advantages and some would say disadvantages to spending time in a region like this.

There's of course the obvious advantage of visiting with friends whose company you enjoy.  There's the added advantage to me of beautiful, untouched countryside consisting of woods, fields and streams.

The down side is that getting to stores or restaurants involves a longer drive than what one may be used to.  In fact depending on what you're looking for, it could be a rather considerable drive.

There's also the fact that where we were there was no cable or cell service.  The folks we visited did have satellite TV and a rather slow internet connection but at least they had one.

Was this a problem?  Certainly not to me.  We had a very pleasant visit.  Younger folks who have a need to 'stay connected' may have found it to be a huge inconvenience but we found it very restful.  After all, we could still eat, walk, talk and read.  What else do you need to do?

I think it's good for everyone to step away from the information highway, disconnect and relax once in a while.  Too many people are leading hectic--almost frantic--lives, constantly on their phones checking their Facebook status and emails.

Relax.  You'll live longer.

Newtown schools are out for the summer.

My heartfelt congratulations to all Newtown teachers, staff and students. The year is over and you will FINALLY get to kick back for a while to let the healing process continue. How you all managed to carry on and present a cheerful demeanor to your students every single day is something I'll never know but you did it! Have a wonderful, restful summer. I hope to be seeing some of you this fall when my grand son, Cole, attends full day kindergarten.

Random stuff

Good news.  Full-day Kindergarten in Newtown. Cole goes to Sandy Hook School next year

Golf tournament last Monday.  Played my usual level of awful.

Finally catching up with yard work in spite of rain rain rain.

How about all this talk of US intelligence agencies listening in on conversations of foreign leaders?  I know.  I don't care either.

And finally...Yet another family milestone:  Cole lost his first tooth yesterday!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's day to all you great dads out there.  You're doing the most important job there is.  Keep up the good work!

Here's a picture of two great dads-my son Peter and my son-in-law Mike.

A Day to Remember

Today is Flag Day.  It is also the 6-month anniversary of the tragedy at Sandy Hook School-a horrible event that is still fresh in our minds.

Government Surveillance and treason

The issue of government surveillance aside, the National Security Agency employee who leaked classified information to the press is a traitor--pure and simple.

He needs to be located, returned to the United States and tried for treason.

The fact that he thinks the government is going too far in its surveillance techniques is irrelevant.  There are procedures in place for people to report such abuses.  He did not follow it--not even close.

End of story.

Remember D Day

Today marks the 69th anniversary of D Day, the largest amphibious invasion the world has ever known involving over 160,000 soldiers and 5000 ships. By the end of the day there would be over 10,000 allied casualties.

D Day was the beginning of the end of World War II.

Happy Birthday, Becky Stockwell Sullivan

Happy birthday to Becky, born this day 1975.
Time marches on!

...And now Courtney & Brooke perform.

More from The Children's Studio of the Performing Arts featuring grand daughters Courtney & Brooke.

Courtney & Brooke's annual recital

The Children's Studio of the Performing Arts paid tribute to Sandy Hook School last night at Oxford High School.  Grand daughters Brooke and Courtney each performed at the event.  Video of their performance to follow.

Happy June

Happy June one and all.  To learn more about the month, click here:
georgeswebpage.com/almanac