HappyTrails

Parents of young children know just how big a handful they can be during waking hours.  My sons were no different, it was always constant activity and mayhem.  I would have never chained either one outside like the story below, but the younger one did have to wear a bungee cord from my wrist to his wrist when we went out anywhere; otherwise, it was just chase him everywhere and get nothing else done.

You have to wonder whether Mr. Kriaris of Bellaire, Ohio http://www.examiner.com/r-5025686~Ohio_Father_Charged_With_Chaining_Toddler_To_Tire.html  who supposedly chained his toddler son to a tire in the front yard did so with any malice towards the child.  The other son, a 3 year old, apparently managed to get the chain twisted around himself as well.  Fortunately, a neighbor’s older child went over and released the children from their predicament.

On the surface, the story does look like child endangerment because these kids were not only very little, but outside the home by themselves and entangled in a chain.   Even if this was just a totally stupid thing to do on his part, and he actually tied the toddler, he really could use some adults to help refresh his parenting skills.  There are things a parent should just never do, chaining a child is certainly one of them.

This is an awful way for the Kriaris family to start off the New Year.

Volcanoes are fascinating and have always commanded my interest — but never up close.  A trip to the Hawaiian islands some day would be fascinating with at least one side trip at a safe distance to view any gently erupting volcanoes firsthand, but, again, never up close.  A Supervolcano like Yellowstone in Yellowstone National Park, well, forget it about it, pictures and videos will more than suffice for me.  If that caldera ever erupts, most all of us can say good by.

What has peaked my interest are the recent swarms of small earthquakes, over 250 of them, and so far, the biggest has been a 3.9.  The caldera is somewhere around 60 miles long, and Yellowstone Park is right inside the caldera.  That would be a fantastic vacation, but German Gal here is practical.  It makes no sense to me to go trekking through all the natural wonders and scenic beauty, knowing that we would be walking on top of untold billions of tons of hot magma that scientists truly do not know the stability.  I am not going there to visit, and you can’t make me.

The current swarm of earthquakes is worrisome because there have been so many within a short amount of time, and that is unusual.   All we can do is hope and pray that the recent activity is not signaling a tremendous eruption to come.  The Discovery Channel has a simple pictorial explanation how Yellowstone moved through Idaho to Wyoming, and other interesting information.  http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/supervolcano/interactive/interactive.htm

Here is a video of the Mt. St. Helens’ eruption, but keep in mind, this is tiny, considering the devastation that could be caused due the enormous size of the Yellowstone supervolcano.

I am feeling very neglected this year.  Every year we have extra calendars, but so far, no free calendar for 2009, not one.  Last year was special.  My dear friend Susie gave me a wonderful calendar with terrific pictures of the Three Stooges.  I think that was the Hubs’ all time favorite.  His other favorite was always the Church Lady from Saturday Night Live, but I have not yet seen any of those this year.  He will just have to make do with his posters.

This year, however, will be different.  We are hoping for two calendars, one religious one from church, which serves as a constant reminder of who we are and what we need to be…it is a great reminder, especially when you want to punch the um, ah, you know, living daylights out of some well deserving, oh, uh, um…nevermind, German Gal will keep this blog clean– somewhat, maybe, okay, for goodness sakes, I will try, you know, the New Year’s resolutions thing we do every year and usually forget about soon enough.

The second one we will pay for (if indeed the church provides us with a first one).  I understand that Sarah Palin 2009 calendars are a hot item on Amazon.  There are no Obama supporters in this house and a Sarah Palin 2009 calendar will work just fine.  We are definitely hoping to see a lot more of that gal in 2012 and beyond.

German Gal gets another gray hair every time an item is ordered where shipping and handling is due,  so we will troll the local stores first and check the prices.  After all, we still have a few more days until 2009.

Hubs admitted he thinks Sarah Palin not only is quite easy on the eyes, but we are both looking forward to 2012 — as others also seem like minded…

Don’t they already make an average of somewhere around $169,000 a year salary?  I could not even begin to add up the extras which they are also receive and perks of their employment which make their total “take” from the government (read that:  taxpayer money) much higher.

Every worker is worth a wage, but right now our economy is devastated, and instead of voting to stop automatic pay raises, and have to vote on passing it each time, they are apparently going to let the auto pilot pay raise take over.   We would probably see them trampling all over each other to stop that IF automatic pay raises were to go into effect before elections, hmmmmm?

Social Security recipients are supposed to receive a monthly raise for 2009, but when you consider that is all the money many people have to live on for the month, it puts things into a much different and agreeable perspective — a much wiser use of government funds (read that:  taxpayer funds).

To permit an automatic raise to go into effect for highly paid Congressional members is just plain arrogant and makes me angry.   Guess it is time to check out what the local ones did or did not do.

If this makes you angry too, let those who represent you in your area hear from you.

Hubs got pressed into duty today to take me shopping.  I needed him to go with me because it was time to visit Sam’s Club and buy some mega-sized groceries in bulk  — 40 pounds of dog chow is too heavy for me to lift.  Add that to the ten pound package of dog bones and you see where I am headed here.  Dragging all that stuff into the house requires help, and I still had to portion and package the meats for freezing.  Lots of work.

We decided to eat first and watch the news.  It gets upsetting when you sit there and listen to the praise and stories about people playing Secret Santa.  It makes me want to scream, “HOW DUMB CAN YOU BE?”  Sticking wrapped packages of Christmas gifts in random places like libraries and many other public places.  These are not heart warming stories about nice people, this is just plain misguided and misses the whole point of real charity.

Totally misplaced charity.  If these people really wanted to do something good AND be a Secret Santa giving out free Christmas gifts, GO DONATE TO THE FOOD BANK and do not tell them who you are!  GO DONATE TO YOUR PARISH specifically for those in need where it will be given out where it will do the most good.  And so on.

So many places where they could actually do something directly for families in actual need and instead, they are dumping lovely wrapped Christmas gifts randomly in public areas and guess what??? People NOT IN NEED might get them instead.

Okay, rant over on Dumb Secret Santa Shenanigans.  Yes, I like the holidays and Santa Claus, but do you know that there was a real Santa Claus?  — no Mrs. Claus, no reindeer, no magic sleigh — but very charitable to the needy.   Way back when, centuries and centuries ago, was St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra.  Santa = Saint and Claus is a form of Nicholas.  Now he was a very charitable and holy man.  He is still honored today.  His remains were transferred to the Basilica in Bari, Italy — here, you can read about it (guess you will have to copy and paste the URL) http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=107 — there is a lot to see and read on this site if you go there.

You can see the Church here below.  A private company is supposed to be making a movie called Nicholas of Myra that looks like they are on the right track, although I have not seen any formal reviews on it.  You can check that out at http://www.nicholasofmyra-movie.com/the_movie.htm, sounds interesting, if they ever get it out in theaters.

Most of us were surprised when Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg gave her political endorsement to the incoming President this year, and it came as a surprise to me that now she wants the New York Senate Seat that Mrs. Clinton held.

Her children have to be grown by now and she always stayed out of the political limelight all these years.  Why now?  Is this a sudden desire to serve or does she just feel that as a Kennedy, she has to enter politics at some point in her life?

Basically, we know little about her except that her father, John F. Kennedy was President, her mother, Jacqueline married Aristotle Onsasis, and her more famous brother, John, died in a plane crash.  Besides her wealth and famous family, just what will Caroline Kennedy (note she is being referred to now as just Caroline Kennedy without her married name) bring in the way of experience to earn her pay?  Does she really have value and ability to contribute or will this just be a political plum?  I really do not know the answer.

You have to admit President Bush has fantastic reflexes when he dodged two incoming shoe missles.  Bush retained his composure, too,  and I found that amazing after watching what happened.  What I did notice when watching the video a couple times was that the supposed Iraqi reporter was aiming to hit Bush directly in the face.  Note that this guy waits until Bush is facing him both times.

It would be foolish to think that the reporter acted alone, but the news clip only shows a short segment, so it is not possible to determine if anyone there could have been providing any distraction while President Bush’s assailant was getting prepared to throw his shoes.

Personally, I was not for the war in Iraq, but I do have relatives, and even my own son, who have served our country in the Middle East.  Was this reporter a part of Sadam’s regime and preferred Sadam’s rule and his position in it?  It is doubtful we will ever find out his true reasoning.

Well, speaking of fast reflexes, I had one of my own this evening that did not work out as well as planned.   The trip we took today was longer than initially planned, and it was way past dinnertime.  Just stop somewhere and eat, right?  Wrong reflex.  We should have just gone home where we know where to stop to eat.

The cafe where we made the decision to stop was in a rather upscale income locale (old rich, huge homes, quaint old rich business district) and we were quite hungry.  Parking just down the street was the easiest and best thing about the whole debacle.

Service took forever and the food was awful.  To make matters worse, the prices were totally out of line with the “food” served.   One dinner was so awful, it had to be exchanged.  I’d really like to be able to recommend you take a road trip, and I do not like to name names.

Here is how you will know NOT to stop.  The place had a small bar and crowded tables with artwork for sale on the wall.  Lots of tables and chairs crammed into a small area and the menu prices are ridiculous.  That will be our newest test going anywhere new — we will check the menu prices first before we decide to stay, hungry or not.  Oh, and did I mention the ladies’ bathroom was dirty?  The whole place looked like it was a converted Isaly’s, long and narrow and the distinctive ceiling I remembered from childhood.

Okay, now test your reflexes, think you could have dodged the shoes?

Is it possible that some of these people did NOT get the memo that we seem to be falling into a national depression, and if every one of us does not take great care in what we do, we are all going to hell in a really big handbasket?  Really, how smart can it be to raise taxes when so many people are losing their jobs, their homes are being foreclosed, and basic needs are not affordable?

North Carolina wants to raise their highway use tax a percent, and are looking at other ways as well, such as raising tolls.

A friend just sent me an email and said, “pass this on”:  Iif you bank online, you might be able to find out faster — her bank in Pennsylvania is quietly calling their callable CD’s.  So, if you got a good interest rate on a callable CD somewhere, you better check it regularly, if it has not already been called.  It is possible you will not get any formal notification until just before your new maturity date, and new, pay you nothing, interest rate.  It is up to you to find out — assuming of course, you had any money to invest in the first place.

This same buddy has been complaining that down in Pittsburgh (Allegheny County) there’s been a big drink tax levied.  Well, true to form, I searched YouTube, and found a protest song.  It seems people are not too happy about it.

As Americans, we cherish our freedom of speech, it is our right.  When anyone, whether inside this country or outside this country attempts to muzzle any or all of us, it is time to stand up and fight.  Our freedom to believe what we determine is right should never be determined by anyone else for us.   There is a separation of church and state in this country.

I read with disgust today an article from the Washington Post that was linked to the Drudge Report about an arson at the Wasilla church attended by Sarah Palin.  The fire was set at the entrance and there were a few adults and children inside at the time.

Intimidation tactics perhaps?  Obviously, someone did not like that church’s teachings or beliefs?  This senseless violence could have resulted in death to those who profess a particular belief and setting the fire is absolutely criminal.  I certainly hope the arsonist(s) are caught and soon.  Read it for yourself at  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/13/AR2008121302503_pf.html

I have never understood how anyone could murder a child.  Kids will drive you crazy, but that is certainly no excuse for such awful violence to a child.

I was blessed with two sons and had always wished for a daughter.  If her mother is telling the truth, that is one thing, but if she really didn’t want her, we would have been glad to give her a home, temporarily if not permanently.

A child’s body was recently found in Central Florida, and the remains had duct tape over the area of the mouth.  The body was located nearby her family home.  That in and of itself does not prove who did it, or even that it is Caylee — yet.  Investigation procedures have come a long way in the recent past, and at least if it is Caylee, it will be proven.

It just hurts to think that someone had to know something about the situation before this happened and did nothing, or perhaps they really did not expect this.  If this is Caylee, I firmly believe that Almighty God has her and she is happy.  If this is someone else’s little child, I hold the same belief.