This is the entertainment system that we did for our friend's cottage. It took awhile to finish but I'm pleased with how it turned out.
We worked the Brew at the Zoo last night. I always enjoy that event. We were passing out drinks and coffee and were located right near the music. The guitar player is a "morning Man" for a local radio station and runs another one called "the bear". 107.5 I think. He and the girl that sang with him were very good. Considering the weather, it was a pretty good turn out. I think they met their goal. I must say I thought it was much better organized than some other years. Today was just a blah day, although the giants won pretty easily so that was good.

Just a Nice Day
I have a confession to make. I Love to work. I like the challenge, I like the feeling of doing something useful, I even enjoy being honestly tired and knowing why. I get a little frustrated when I can’t accomplish as much as I used to, but I bet I can hold my own with other 60 year olds. Today was one of those great days where work was plentiful, the weather was perfect and the company was enjoyable. What more could you ask for?
After my morning walk, we had a nice breakfast, and then headed to the zoo to tear down the old Ed cage and put up the new one.
Two very pleasant young men helped I enjoyed working with them and I enjoyed their company. I was able to keep up with them, but by two thirty I was pretty tired. We finished the job, and it does look good.
We headed home, I read a little, practiced guitar and relaxed. It was a beautiful day, good company and wonderfully fun work. Tonight I will sleep well and feel like I have earned it. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Where did summer go?

Where has the summer gone??
Actually, I know the answer. For me, much of it was spent doing something I really enjoy. Building things I have no idea how to build. To be honest, if I already know how to do it, it hosts little passion for me. Sure I can do it, but it generates about as much interest as taking out the trash, mowing the lawn or washing dishes, jobs I can also do quite well.
So this summer was wonderful. I finished up an entertainment center that involved some intricate angle cuts, did some shelves that required a number of half laps, and then the fun really began.


This looks like a simple installation of a cellar door. The correct way to install it was to have a perfectly flat and square entrance, with room on each side. The bottom of the door is supposed to lie flat on the ground, with the triangular sides raising the door about 25 degrees. As you can see, we had a door that fit in the corner of the house, was everything but square and needed to be angled at about 60 degrees. When I first saw the door at Foland’s, I asked if they had one designed for my house. The reply, “ No, and this one can’t be made to fit.” Just set me thinking. So, here we are.



The next pictures are of the zoo cages. The rectangular one, was not a challenge, but I had to do that one to get a shot at the second one. A six sided bird cage, built as a kit, so it can be taken apart and moved from our house to the zoo sight, and perhaps moved again later. I can’t describe how many fun filled nights I have laid awake trying to figure all the angles and cuts out.
So where did summer go? It was spent having a ball.

Don’t Forget to Say Grace!
The other day I was motoring along, windows down, top open, radio turned up way too high, listening to 60’s music. It occurred to me that the music of the 60’s was so innocent, so positive and hopeful. Of course the cosmic force could not let that pass, so the next song that played was Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction” That song contains one of the great ethical lines of all time.
“Hate your next door neighbor, but don’t forget to say grace.”
Joyful little tune!!
But it set the stage for what was to happen next. I opened my E Mail and there was one more hate filled harangue against Obama. This was the usual “He hates whites, He’s a Moslem, He wasn’t born in the USA.” What made it so offensive was the person who sent it. He is a passing acquaintance who deserves great credit for the care he showed a family member when that person was in dire straits. This gentleman went far beyond anything expected or required of him. From time to time he has sent us uplifting, loving messages and has often spoken of his great Christian belief. So how does he , or any other so called “good person” pass on filth like this?
I have a friend who complained that the right wing liberal media was out to get President Bush. I always argued that the media was not right or left wing, it was simply prostituting itself to the highest bidder. That the American public gets exactly what it wants, and it has been told it wants conspiracy and evil people in government and the sky is falling etc. Told by who? That is the amazing thing to me. The Rush Limbaughs and Rusty Skullcaps of the Radio world – ( And I fully apologize for not being able to name any liberal radio idiots- they exist, I just don’t know any names) are making millions of dollars by keeping the idiot fringe scared and angry. Father Coughlin* was an early version of this, but at least he could claim a legitimate hatred for England as his motivating factor. Today’s “experts” can only claim greed.
This is never to say, don’t disagree with ideas you don’t agree with. You think the cost of Health care is too high? Good for you. You want the thing paid for? I agree. You are nervous about “ a faceless government official making medical decisions about you? Me to, although I am happier with them than a faceless Insurance official making the same decision. But instead of valuable discussions that might bring us together, we have turned the discussion over to the morons.
Remember Sarah Palan’s Death Panels? Seems one of the big legislative initiatives of Sarah’s governor career was to get end of life counseling for Alaskans. I would highly commend her for that. Oren Hatch thought it was such a good idea he introduced Legislation into the Senate several times trying to get it covered by Medicaid. Suddenly, when suggested by a Democratic President, it’s a horrible idea. How do you spell Hypocrite?
There are still “Birthers” out there waiting to join the “Plug Uglies “ and “No Nothing Party” stalwarts. America has survived ignorance before, but not all of its members have. The last time we had this level of hate out in the open was during John Kennedy’s Presidency. While all the hate spewing fools may not pull the trigger, they most certainly are loading the gun.
And the latest outcry because the President of the United States wants to speak to the school children and tell them to work hard and stay in school? Rush decided that was a plot to indoctrinate the poor children because one idea was for children to write to the President with ideas of how they might help him. DUH!! President George Herbert Bush sat in front of an elementary classroom and suggested they might write to him with their ideas of how to help him.
So for me, enough. If good people stay quiet, evil will get a grip. If you want to make fun of Obama’s ears, or chide him about a specific program or hang him for something he actually does, fine, that’s part of being President. But the vicious, filthy hate mongering scare tactics being hyped by many of our “leaders”? All that shows is how frightened they are of ideas. Spare me!

*Father Coughlin was an Irish Canadian Priest who coined the term Social Justice. Unfortunately, while an early supporter of Franklin Roosevelt, when Roosevelt cozied up to Winston Churchill, Coughlin could not overcome the hatred many Irish felt for the founder of the Black and Tan in Ireland and started to apologize for Hitler. It seemed in his mind that anyone who bombed England couldn’t be all bad!! Coughlin commanded a gigantic radio audience and used it to be a thorn in Roosevelt’s side until Pearl Harbor.