Good Night Sweetheart

There is a time for every season and this is a sad time. My lovely wife of 53 years is dying of Cancer.  She has asked that no heroic measures be taken as she thinks it would be rude to put off your death when God calls.  So, we sit by her hospital bed in the living room and watch her struggle for breath.  It is agonizing for us, and I'm sure, agonizing for her as well.  She will not go gentle into the night.  I may have screwed that quote up since I'm not thinking too clearly right now.  This is a good space to put down my thoughts since I don't know who reads it, probably no one since I haven't posted in over a year.  Nonetheless, I will miss her, she has been a part of my soul since we met in high school 55 years ago.  Ours has been a good life and there are no regrets for any of it.  We have traveled a long road together and shared much of our lives with each other.  I suppose there are hundreds or even thousands of guys in the same boat tonight, I wish them the best, we each have to do this alone even if we are surrounded by family and friends.  Good night sweetheart,  sleep well, may the angels watch over you.

Can't Stay Away

I last wrote on March of last year. I had found Facebook and decided I didn't have time to follow FB and keep up my blog and besides I had run out of things to say. Things have not changed much, I have lots to say but I 'm not sure it will do any good to say them. I still think that the radicals in politics and the self-serving lobbyists are rapidly destroying our country. It seems to me that too many people are willing to let it ride and just get on with their lives and that depresses me because I often feel the same way. I have reached my three score and ten and I'm pretty that I will predecease our country, but I do have children and grandchildren and I long for something better for them. We hear it on all sides, crap that ranges from outright lies to half-truths used to try to convince us to buy into their point of view. And, no one challenges it except bloggers crying in the wilderness of the ionosphere. Example: "Citizens owning guns makes for a safer community." Bullshit! Countries with strict gun control laws are safer places to live than the US by ANY measure. "Health care in the US the best in the world." Again, Bullshit! The US is far down the list on any measure of health care statistics EXCEPT for the amount of money spent on health care. We are being fed manure and kept in the dark like a bunch of mushrooms, and we wallow in it and don't complain because we are warm and cozy in it. Problem is, we will soon be uprooted and fed to the pigs.

nuff said, be back someday.

Blog Time

I haven't written in quite a while. The news has been so damned depressing lately that I haven't felt like commenting on it. Our country has become so polarized that I fear for its existence. The art of compromise has vanished and it seems to have become my way or no way. There has to be a middle ground. I'm not just talking politics, this disconnect has crept into our religion, our economics, our relationships. It just sickens me! The stupid bigoted unfeeling conservatives are about to ruin the country.

War

I'm getting a little disgusted with some members of Congress, especially the Democrats who are complaining about President Obama's decisions on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Where were they when George W Bush took us into wars in those places? They were all gung ho and ready to support King George II in his "war on terrorism". Few in either house voted against anything to do with the wars, and they certainly didn't demand an exit strategy! If they had read any of the reasoning against going into Baghdad and removing Saddam during the First Gulf War, they would have realized that invading Iraq was a fool's errand. And, indeed it was. The whole of the Middle East is destabilized and any major withdrawal from Iraq will probably mean an invasion by Iran and a Civil War. As far as Afghanistan is concerned, all we needed to do was look at the Soviet Union's debacle in the 80's. If we didn't want to be stuck in Afghanistan forever, we should have stayed out. The CIA could have taken out bin Laudin in a swift surgical strike. We never did get him and now we have helped destabilize Pakistan and are fighting the same folks the Soviets fought! The problems and enormous and can't be solved with simplistic actions. Wake up Congress! Become part of the solution and not part of the problem.

More Football

Tonight the University of Oregon will play Oregon State University in the "Civil War" football game. For the first time in the 107 year history of the game the winner will be the PAC-10 Champion and play in the Rose Bowl. For years, college football in Oregon has been a step-child in the PAC-10, the state has far fewer people than California, or Arizona and, yes, an even smaller population than Washington. This, and the fact that both schools are in relatively small communities, puts them at a disadvantage in recruiting. However, in the past 10 to 15 years, new scholarship rules and some wealthy alumni have helped narrow that gap. The Oregon schools are now competitive and like the long suffering Chicago Cubs fans we supporters are having a good time knowing that our teams have a chance at a big time bowl game.

I am a University of Oregon fan, but I am reveling in the fact that winner of the "Civil War" will be playing in Pasadena on New Years. Go Ducks! Good luck Beavers.

Football

I am a football fan, High School and College football that is. I love the Oregon Ducks as any alum should and I bleed Black and White for The Vale High School Vikings as anyone who taught there for 44 years should. Yesterday the Vikings played Rainer High School in a 3A State Championship Semi-final game. The game was played in Bend, 5 hours away and I was unable to attend, but I listened to the game on the radio. Vale played very well and after falling behind early, quickly came back to lead 7 - 6 in the first quarter. They led the rest of the game, up 21-6 at half time. Rainer came back and narrowed the score, but each time Vale answered with another score. Then, the unthinkable happened, with only seconds left in the game Rainer tied the score at 28 - 28 and the game went into overtime. The Vikings scored on their possession and went ahead 35 - 28. Then it was Rainer's turn to try to score from the 25 yard line. Vale held them for 3 downs and with 4th down and 2 Rainer went for a pass play and the defense stopped the quarterback and had him in their grasp when he threw the ball. It was caught in the end zone for a touchdown and Rainer went on to score a 2 point conversion. Rainer wins and advances to the Championship game against Amity. Jubilation for Rainer, heartbreak for Vale. That's football, and that's why I love it. Kudos for both teams, great football.

Winter Travel

We went to Canyon City this past Sunday for services at St. Thomas. We woke up to blowing and drifting snow and I knew we were in for a fun ride. Going up Highway 26 on any day is an adventure since it is so lightly traveled once you get past Brogan, 25 miles northwest of Vale. The main highway is US 20 that goes to Burns and then on to Bend and Eugene. It is the main east-west highway across the center of Oregon and gets lots of traffic. US 26 goes east to west as well but is not as good a road especially in the winter. When it snows on Sunday morning it takes a while for the crews to get to 26 because 20 is the priority. Consequently, early Sunday morning trips up US 26 can be an adventure. When we left town at 8 am there was an inch or two of snow on the road and as we went along it got deeper until it was 4 to 5 inches deep. Fortunately, it wasn't too slick for the studded snow tires, but I could see that Jean was getting a little nervous. Never fear, I told her, we'll get to plowed road pretty soon. Sure enough, we met the snowplow in Cow Valley (7 miles past Brogan). From there on, the roads were ok, still snow packed but well sanded and plowed. On the way back, 3 hours later, most of the snow had melted off and the roads were great. Winter travel in Eastern Oregon can be very interesting.