BARCELONA PHOTOS WITH MY NEW D600

Barcelona is a colorful, vibrant city. Many, many sites to visit and enjoy, as well as good food to eat.

                                                    

 Crowd on Las Ramblas after indepedence rally

 Church courtyard with bomb damage from civil ward

Walkway in Park Guell 

 Pattern on house in Park Guell

 Fountain in Park Guell

 Cathedral of Barcelona

 Stone chair at Park Guell

 Curved bench at Park Guell

 Stones at Park Guell

 Entrance to Park Guell

 Park Guell tower

 Park Guell columns

Colonnaded walkway Park Guell

Antoni Gaudi building



Running, medals, and Julie

     When I was thirty years old a group of my neighborhood friends, and I, decided we should get in shape for the upcoming deer hunt.  The first night  we started out and ran to the first telephone pole and then walked to the next one until we had completed a mile.  The process went on for a few weeks and gradually we were running an entire block before having to walk.  By the time deer season arrived some of us could run the entire mile.  The running did help us hike better, but it didn't help our aim at all.
     After deer season I kept up my running, and one day decided to add more distance.  I took off on a course I had driven that was 3 miles.  I got home, barely, feeling like I had run a marathon. I was exhausted, but happy, and committed myself to more running.  I ran regularly, and my knees began to hurt. I spent some money to get  better shoes and that solved my knee problem to this day.        

      After we moved to North Ogden I lengthened my course to 4 miles and eventually 5 and that became my standard for many years.  I ran in all seasons, in all weather. I started entering races and found out that I was one of the middle of the pack runners.  Nevertheless I kept it up. I ran alone.  It was my quiet time.  I collected shirts and certificates of completion, never placing high enough to medal.  I knew I never would and it didn't really matter.  My times got better from year to year. That mattered.  Decades went by and  I kept running. There were times when I was less committed than others but whenever I wanted to get in better shape I picked up my running.
     At some point in time Amy started doing some running and Julie started running cross country. I traveled to Colorado so see her run, and ran with Amy a time or two. They were both faster than me since I was more than thirty years older than both of them.  Amy and Julie ended up living near one another and were able to run together on a regular basis. Over time they convinced Keicha to start running. She did and they planned a race to run together.  They ran it, and had a wonderful time being three running sisters. I was proud to be the father of three running daughters. 
     I was told  sometime that one of the reasons Julie took up running was to connect more with me.  That connection changed with Julie's suicide.  I didn't run for awhile after that. I don't think Amy did either. But then one of Julies friends decided that they should run a race to honor Julie.  In August of 2010, friends and family gathered in Colorado Springs to participate in a Suicide prevention run/walk. We were team 808 for Jules. Our team was the top fundraiser for the event.  After the event, and awards ceremony, where Sheridan was awarded a second place medal in her age group, we started to all go our separate ways.  Some one called to me to go to the awards table. I went and was given the second place medal for my age group.  My first medal at a race,  one run in memory of my daughter.   I had cried and looked heaven ward as I crossed the finish line knowing Julie was there with us that day, keeping our running connection intact.  She had been with Jon and Sam in Bangladesh as they ran a course they had mapped out in their apartment. Something like 287 laps to make 3 miles.
    As time has passed my two running daughters have less enthusiasm for it now. Jon and Sam  have continued their exercise habit. Julies friends have run each year. This year I decided to go to Colorado to be with those who ran and walked in the Suicide Prevention event.   I had stayed in Ogden and Salt Lake City the past two years doing the walk with Keicha and others.
     The race started and I shuffled my way along the course. I thought about why we were all there that day and wished  Julie was not just there in spirit.  As I ran I became aware I was probably the oldest runner on the course and I considered what that could mean about a medal. We all stood around as the medals were awarded and I kept thinking.  Eventually they read off the last category, 65 and over, and announced my name.   I wasn't surprised.  I gathered my medal, this time 1st place. There were no other placers, and I don't think there was a 3rd place finisher the year I was second.

     Those two medals hang on the frame of a collage of Julie. I look at them, and her, everyday.  They are inconsequential but they  remind me of Julie's consequential act, and that I would give the medals and so much more, for a nice run along a quiet trail with her.

ADVENTURES IN MOVING

     My daughter-in-law, Samantha, completed her doctoral studies at Northeastern University this spring. She and her husband had worked and sacrificed to help Samantha get her PhD. We were all excited and so proud of her.  She methodically started pursuing job openings. Everything Sam does is methodical. She was offered a position at Marywood Univeristy in Scranton, Pennsylvania, which she accepted.  Again we were all very glad for her.  In the back of my mind was the nagging thought, moving means another adventure with a rental truck.
     It wasn't long and my son Jonathan, Samantha's husband, called and asked me if I would mind helping them move.  I told him I would come and help. This didn't please my wife.  She has been telling me its too hard on me to help with moves now that I'm so old.  I brought her response on myself.  A few years ago I helped my daughter Julie move from Eagle Colorado to Broomfield Colorado.  I admit, by the time we got her moved into her second story apartment I was completely exhausted, and even told Julie and Amy that I was retiring from helping with moves.  I'm pretty sure it was just the altitude that made me so tired on that move.
     I, like many parents have helped our children move through the years. Its one of those parental responsibilities, but it is good bonding time too.  When I helped Julie move it was her, and her sister Amy, helping me.  They are both good movers.  I remember Amy saying, as we grunted a heavy piece to the truck, "its a good thing you don't have wimps for daughters."  I don't, they have all been willing to get their hands dirty and break a big sweat on moving days. As has Samantha. This move turned out to be the last one I got to help Julie with, and I will always be glad for the two days we had working close and just enjoying being Dad and daughter.
     Three of my children ended up in Colorado, and they seem to have moved a lot more than Ryan and Keicha, who live here in the Ogden area, close to me.  I have gone to Colorado to help Amy move, but lately she has been finding others to help, sparing my old body.
      When Jon and Sam left Colorado for Boston I got to help them move.  I met them at the Denver airport, Jon and I got into the truck and started out on our 4 day cross country journey.  We were followed close behind by Sam, young Atticus, and the cat.  It was great bonding time with Jon, who I saw regularly as he grew up but not regularly enough.  We had walkie talkies and we got updates from Sam about Atticus and the cat. The cat was so well behaved, I was astounded. One walkie talkie report from Sam reported that Atticus had told her cats like grapes too. He was feeding grapes to the cat.
     On about the third day of our trip, Atticus, who is is not an effusive child around me, decided he would ride in the truck with me.  I had bought some red licorice bits to munch on while I drove and I offered some to Atticus as he rode shotgun looking out at the world through the big high truck window.  He eventually fell asleep, a five year old needs his rest.  Later in the trip Sam reported to me that Atticus told her I bought the red licorice bits just for him. I smile everytime I see red licorice bits now.  As I said, our trip was three nights on the road. Long days of driving, talking, refueling, lunching, and looking at the changing scenery as we drove eastward.  The last night we spent in Albany, New York. It was May 31st, Sam's birthday.  We got in late and tried to find a place for a birthday dinner. Finally we found a place and had a quiet late dinner.  The next day we arrived at the apartment in Braintree, a suburb of Boston, famous for the Sacco and Vanzetti shooting. We arrived around noon and proceeded to unload the truck. To this day Jon says we set a record for unloading a truck that size.  I know we were all sweating like we were in a sauna when we finished. I stayed a day and looked around a bit, seeing the Northeastern University campus, and the Boston College campus, where Jon would earn his Masters degree. The next day I flew home, one more move done.
     The move from Boston to Scranton would be a walk in the park compared to the one from Colorado to Boston.  We loaded up the truck, with some help from a couple of Jon and Sam's friends. We slept at the apartment and the next morning we departed.
     We had a new set of radios and Atticus was much older and rode with me the entire way in the truck.  He had his book and the radio. He kept his Mom busy with reports about 5 minutes apart at the beginning of the trip.  I could hear the exasperation in Sam's voice as she replied kindly to his constant reports and queries, it was very entertaining to me. We arrived in Scranton. Their 3 story Victorian style house was on a one way street with no garages. It was Sunday and everyone was home so the street, on both sides, was full of cars.  Luckily there was some space right in front of their house.  Jon got the truck maneuvered into position and began unloading, Jon reminding me I was older and there was no hurry.  Two hours later we were done. the same time it took us when we unloaded in Braintree 5 years earlier.  We would have made it in one and a half hours but the struggle with mattresses in the narrow stairwell and finally roping them up the back of the house to the second story porch, slowed us down.
     We were all soaked again, and all very tired, but I had pulled my own weight, which is considerable.  We went and had a good dinner and came home and began leisurely unpacking.  I stayed for a couple of days to help get the heavy stuff placed and to tour Scranton. Finally it was time to head to Binghamton, New York for the flight home.
     I worked hard, had a great time getting close to Jon, Sam, and Atticus again. Ive spent time getting close to them on two big moves, and two weeks in Bangladesh, I've loved every minute of it.
     The next time any of the kids move, I will probably be in just a supervisory position, or just the truck driver. I'll gladly take the assignment and the bonding time it brings   The time Ive spent helping all of my children move has been some of the best time I've had with them. Sometimes in a quiet moment I find myself wishing they had moved more often..... then I come to my senses.

TIME FOR MORE RESTRAINT

     Recently a man called 911 and told dispatch he was going to kill himself.  Police were dispatched, and within a few minutes the officer had shot the suicidal man.  Adding one more to the number of suicidal people killed by the police.  Whatever training our officers have received, it would seem axiomatic that sending an armed officer to confront an armed suicidal person is going to lead to shots being fired and a death. 
     There have been a number of  shootings in my area over the past year.  Two of them have been ruled unjustified.  Yet no punishment has been meted out to the officers who did the shooting. If an officer commits a sexual offense they are processed through the judicial system very quickly, losing their job and being sent to jail or prison.  It would seem that taking a life deserves even more judicial attention and consequences.
     There has been a continuing trend since 9-11 to make police, or any kind of security forces, more robust and to allow them more leeway in the use of force, in some cases, overwhelming deadly force.  This increasing militarization of police forces has led to police using tank like vehicles on occasion to try to stop criminals.  We were treated to one such chase on the interstate system last year.  The man was stopped, and apparently wielded a gun at an officer and he was shot by officers.  Another man was pursued along the interstate, when he was finally stopped, he got out of his vehicle and police shot him. They stated they thought he was armed.  Eighteen months ago, police raided a house to serve a warrant. One officer was killed and several wounded.  The accused eventually hanged himself in jail.  The fourth hanging at the jail in the last several months.  The suspect in this case has been vilified in the press, even after he died, the county attorney continued to release information about the shooting that told the officers side of the story.  There is no doubt in many peoples minds the police did not handle the service of the warrant very well, resulting in a massive shootout in a quiet neighborhood.
      3 years ago a man was tasered while having a medical event and died. One of several deadly tasering incidents.  We have had one police force have over one hundred drug cases thrown out because of police misconduct on the cases.  One of their cases involved the shooting, and killing, of an unarmed woman.
    Since 9-11 most police forces across the country have used homeland security grants to beef up their supply, and types of weapons, vests, and other tactical gear. So now it is  a common sight to see SWAT type forces responding to situations. 
     At the national level we now know more about the kind of data gathering that goes on, as the government surveils blameless citizens.  The FBI, under J. Edgar Hoover,  became a very corrupt organization that was incredibly adept at spying on innocent citizens and has never been completely cleaned up. We have also added Homeland Security to the mix, and  the CIA has always been allowed wide leeway in their information gathering. All these organizations get massive funding to help protect us from terrorist threats and attacks. With most of what they do hidden from public knowledge and scrutiny. This  secretiveness and willingness to look at individuals electronic lives is at work at state and local levels too.  Our former police chief wanted to have a small blimp to help spy on the most crime prone part of our city.  Our local newspapers online edition, prints mugshots of people who have been cited for low level misdemeanors.  Ensnaring the person in a financial tangle to get the photos removed from sites that put them up and won't remove them without being paid. Police drive through parking lots and along streets photographing license plates indiscriminately. The information gathering in the name of keeping us safe has grown exponentially since 9-11, along with a more robust use of police power.
     Utah is a small state, population wise, yet we have more and more heavy police use in what used to be very low threat situations. There was a real rush to pass legislation at every level after 9-11. Much of it being  passed without  proper study and thought.  Some has been reviewed and fixed, much has not. 
     The pendulum has swung too far to the side of overly zealous police presence, enforcement, and information gathering. Much of it is being given a pass by the legal system.  The time has come for the nations citizens to begin to ask for, and receive, more thoughtful and restrained policing at every level.
      

    

Traveling I-80

     It was 1 AM, on a June morning in 1966, as I got into my 1965 Corvair. The car Ralph Nadar loved to hate. I had just finished my swing shift at DDO,  and now I was  going to drive all night to  Colorado Springs.  My route was through Wyoming, along  what was becoming interstate 80.
     After driving for nearly 12 hours I arrived in Colorado Springs.  The purpose of this drive was to talk to my girl friends parents about our desire to get married.  That's a story for another blog. After our one night visit we headed back to Ogden. We came home using a route other than I-80, and arrived back in Ogden a couple of very sleep deprived people
     This trip to Colorado and back was the start of my 47 year saga of driving  I-80 through Wyoming.  For the next few years my trips along I-80 were to go visit my wife's parents and family. Yes, my girl friend had become my wife.  Those trips were so long in my non air conditioned cars, and on some pretty bad stretches of road.  Even though Wyoming has some spectacular places to visit, none of them are along I-80.  So it meant just getting behind the wheel and forging on to your destination.
     When you look at a map, it appears you can take several routes to Colorado Springs that are shorter than using I-80.  You can't.  Having tried them all through the years, Wyoming is the quickest.
     It wasn't long and children were added to the thrill of the drive.  That meant more stops, and less peaceful time in the car. No electronic entertainment gadgets in the late 60's.  My in laws moved to Grand Junction at some point, but I was in the Army Reserves and we went to Ft. Carson for training every other year. So I was still making the drive to Colorado Springs. The trips I made while in the reserves meant that there were several adults in the car. It was nice to have company and to be able to change drivers.  One year we decided to go as far as Rock Springs and spend the night.  We drove up and down motel row checking rates, finally settling into a room with a couple of us on the floor to save money.
     Through the years the road got better and the cars did too, so the trip became less tiring, still not scenic, but not as wearing on you.  I-80 started bypassing some cities so the time of the drive started decreasing.  That was good because one year I had to drive home quickly to  attend my graduation when I received my masters degree.
     Winter drives across Wyoming have there own set of adventures.  The wind always blows so you always find sections of the highway with blowing snow, even with the proliferation of snow fences at strategic locations. I drove back from Colorado alone one winter, having left the family there for a Christmas visit. At Little America the road was closed. I went to get a room, but decided I could stay in my car. I had all the gear I needed, so I prepared to spend the night snuggled into my sleeping bag in the back seat. After a few hours I could tell vehicles were moving around. I got up and drove to the gate blocking the highway and waited. They opened the gate and we all lined up behind the snowplows and headed west at 35 mph.  At Evanston the plows left us, the road was better so we all took off on our own, I got home only a few hours later than originally planned.
     On another trip back from Colorado, this time with the family, the car started acting up as we drove in a heavy snowstorm. The car finally stopped a few miles west of Evanston. Soon a highway patrol trooper pulled up and said he would push me into the  cafe in Echo, a few miles down the road. So we enjoyed the ride in the increasingly colder car until we reached the cafe and I could call my Dad to come and tow us home.
     About the time I left the Army Reserves, my three youngest children relocated to Colorado Springs with their Mother.  So now my trips were to visit my children. They were quiet, thoughtful trips as I drove over, visited, and then back home alone. As a Father to a split family there was a lot to think about on the  long drive. Sometimes I drove over and brought the children back for the summer.  These trips were adventures.  One time the air conditioning was broke on my car, we all sweltered across Wyoming. Another time one of my daughters was sick and just laid in the back seat miserable all the way to Utah. Also it was raining heavily along I-25 at times on that same trip, and the car was not running right. We got as far as Ft. Collins and the car just wouldn't go anymore. We had to be towed to a shop and get the car repaired. Luckily there was a shop open on Saturday. The part to repair the car was three dollars. My bill for towing and repairs came to fifty dollars. I paid it and drove away fast before they changed their mind and decided I had been under charged.
     I tried to find stops for breaks that would help cheer the kids up.  We found a place we liked to stop for breakfast and we would stop at Little America for an ice cream cone. The times I took them back to Colorado in the summer were very emotionally draining for me and I think for the kids too, especially my youngest daughter Julie.   
     There is a lot of traffic on I-80 in Wyoming, much of it trucks. But its a good stretch of road to try and find a license plate from every state in the United States and to play the alphabet game.  Along with the games  we could always count on a thunder shower on the western end of Wyoming when we were coming to Utah, and one on the Eastern end going to Colorado.
     Eventually the trips I made were for high school graduations, watching cross country meets, to help grown kids move, to see new grandchildren, and to attend college graduations.  One trip I made with my parents so we could bring a piano back to Ogden, We spent the night in Rawlins on that trip.  Eventually I didn't have to be the one making all the trips. The kids were older and would drive to Utah on occasion.
     By now I-80 was long since completed, and it became my habit to count construction zones on my trips to Colorado. For the record, there is usually and average of eight each summer as they work to keep the road repaired and updated. With the advent of the higher speed limit and the interstate bypassing all cities, the trip has been shortened considerably.
     I had become comfortable with the 5 hours of I-80 I drove through Wyoming on my trips.  Ive even found some stark beauty in parts of the drive. One spring the median had wildflowers blooming in it. You can always spot antelope along the way and a couple of years as I was coming home I saw all the NASCAR haulers heading east after a race out west. A fun sight for me.
     The serenity I had come to enjoy driving through Wyoming was shattered in May of 2010. My youngest daughter, Julie, had committed suicide while living in Broomfield Colorado. Me, my wife and daughter made the very sad, tearful drive across I-80 one more time. No drive will ever equate to that one that late May day. We made it, I'm not really sure how, to my other daughters house, which was the saddest place on earth that day. We stayed a week planning and having a memorial service for Julie.
     The day after the service I knew I had to get back to Ogden and begin to process what had happened.  It was just me and my wife on the way home, a very sad and quiet couple.  I made the trip across I-80 regularly that summer and fall. The tears falling each time.  The pain got less as time and each trip went by.
     The past three years has found me still driving I-80 through Wyoming. Ive found it to be a time to contemplate my life, to look at Wyoming more, and of late, to listen to my play list for nearly the entire trip. The trip from Ogden to my daughters house in Erie is about eight and a half hours total.  On occasion I take one of the alternate routes just for a change of pace. When I get ready to come home I always come back on I-80.
     Now that I am older I have to make more stops along the way, but my goal is to still make the trip in eight and a half hours.  A couple of times, to help pass the time,  I have counted trucks going the opposite direction for a hundred mile stretch.  I have my gas stops and food stops and know every hill and dale on the road. How many trips have I made? as numerous as the sands in the sea.
     My trips along I-80 now are so different from that first one so many years ago. I have an air conditioned car, with a great stereo system, comfortable seats, a very quiet, smooth ride, and all sorts of digital data for me to interpret along the way. I have a wife who is willing to share the driving with me, when she goes with. My concession to her is that we stop and sit in a restaurant for lunch.
      I'm not sure how many more trips I will be making to Colorado, but as long as I have a daughter and grand kids living there, I will occasionally be spending 5 hours with my four lane friend, I-80 through Wyoming.

My friend Dick

     Dick came bustling into the office, found me, and said "I don't know what happened, I just left for a minute and when I came back my yearbooks were gone". I glared at him, trying not to explode. He had lost the yearbooks for half his class.  That was my first real encounter with Dick. 
     One thing about starting out that way with someone there is really only one way for things to go between the two of you.  Over time things got much better between us. I was the teachers association representative at the high school and that meant I had contact with Dick during the year, as he was a member of the association. 
     I learned some about Dicks background as we got better acquainted. He had been the building representative in his school in California, decided to become a Mormon and move to Utah. He had, as one of our co-workers said, a hair trigger ready to go off any minute.  I saw that in Dick several times.
     I sat in some computer training with Dick and others one day early in the computer era at our school. He and one of his friends said they were not coming back after lunch, since the training wasn't teaching them anything. I told them to come back after lunch, they would like what we were going to do. We were going to learn how to get on, and use, the Internet.  They came back and they stayed all afternoon.  When I was able to show them how to get onto the Kelly Blue book site, and check out car values, Dick and his friend were convinced the Internet had merit.
     More time passed and Dicks marriage fell apart. He was lonely and heartbroken. He came to my office on many days after school and we talked until we were the last ones in the building.  It gave us a chance to learn more about each other and we sometimes talked financial matters, and I started doing tax work for Dick.  We also talked about computers a lot. Dick was fascinated by them and their abilities. I bought a laptop one year and soon Dick had to have one. A month later he asked me to help him with it. He brought it to school and it was still in the unopened box.  We got it up and going for him and he just kept being so delighted by what it could do.  Whenever I went to see him in his room after school he was on the computer.
     Dick and I worked the down markers for the Thursday afternoon football games for several years together and continued our after school chats.  He told me in of those conversations that he and his wife were going to get back together after 9 years of separation.  He seemed very happy, but unfortunately, he wasn't happy for long and in 3 years he was separated again. This time they both knew it wasn't workable and got divorced.  I was glad they did. I had listened to too much unhappy talk from Dick to think he could ever be happy in that marriage.  He found a condo he liked and started his life alone again. He didn't like it, and he tried online dating sites with some success. 
     By this time I had retired and so had Dick. We started going to lunch on occasion and would always talk for two hours.  I watched his hair trigger disappear after he finally got divorced and retired. He started looking inward often. He admitted he had been a real piece of work in his first marriage, and didn't know why his wife had stayed as long as she did before taking their young son and leaving town.
     We got to be incredibly close friends. Dick shared his feelings about life every time we met.  He talked about his son Matt and how accomplished he was. Dick wanted more contact with him and his family. He loved his grand kids and talked about them at our every meeting.
     He couldn't stand being alone and got feeling blue when he was without a female companion. I think he fell for each lady he met very fast and that made the breakups hard.  But he started being more philosophical about them over time. 
     We started trying to meet for breakfast every week. I would show Dick my travel pictures, and he was so effusive in his praise. When I showed him the photos I took at the Custer battlefield he looked at each one talked in detail about it and what had happened in the picture. He had visited there and was enthralled with the battlefield.  He had been to Gettysburg and when I finally visited there and showed him my pictures it was another chance for him to retell the story of the battle there.  I loved talking about history with Dick. He had such an inquisitive mind about it, as he did with computers.  He had a childlike awe with electronics.  I was lucky enough to be called his tax, investment, and computer guru. At times a mixed blessing.
    By the time Dicks body was discovered in his condo, one day in June of last year, we had forged a bond I have never had with another friend.  Dick was so appreciative of everything I did for him, he had become a much more calm, understanding person, he was the most honest person I have ever known, and cared deeply about those less fortunate than him. He lived in a very compact condo, did not live a fancy lifestyle, and yet every time I saw him or talked to him he was always so thankful for what he had, for the comfortable life he lived. He always compared it to what his parents had. 
     I miss Dick, his quick wit, his appreciation of the world, his just childlike awe of the workings of God. He was struggling with staying active as a Mormon or reverting to his Catholicism. We talked of that at great length, and he always encouraged my church activity.
     Everyone deserves a friend like Dick. He was the most receptive to differing points of view on political issues than anyone I have ever met. And that was part of the transformation I saw in him over the last half dozen years. From a fire breathing ex football player, who was, as he put it ready to kick your ass, to a very thoughtful older man who understood the need for compassion and understanding between human beings. He especially came to want to be closer to his son, daughter-in-law, and his grand kids.
      Dick taught me much about how to see and appreciate the world. His loyalty, insights, his light heartedness with waitresses, his passion for baseball. As I turned his TV off the day he was found, I was  sure he had been watching baseball. All of these were part of the guy I looked forward to meeting each week.  For Dicks incredible friendship I will always be grateful.


 
    


    

Cloyd

      On Thursday my Dad and I took a sentimental journey to his hometown of Pleasant Grove.  We went to visit his brother Cloyd.  We were joined by Dads other surviving brother and sister, Cloyds wife, and their 5 adult children.  
     There were hugs all around, even a few tears. I told my uncle Cloyd that he looked like a fighter pilot in his oxygen mask.  I talked a bit with my cousins, who I see infrequently, but then I just watched as my Dad talked with his brother. 
     My thoughts drifted off and back to the years I had lived in Pleasant Grove and to my interactions with my uncle Cloyd.  He was always a very soft spoken, gentle, courteous man. He worked at Geneva Steel for over 30 years, and lived almost his entire life within a block of where he was born and raised.  I used to think he and Ruth had the nicest house in the family. Especially since they had a pool table.  It was a house he and Ruth built in the early 50's.  The house we visited them in Thursday.
     I went to many family gatherings through the years, whether reunions, get togethers at campgrounds, or just under the big tree at my grandparents. Cloyd was almost always there and we would spend a few minutes chatting.  I went on day long cross country ski trips, hiked Mt. Timpanogas, and deer hunting, all with groups that included Cloyd. 
     As Cloyd and Ruth were raising their family they suffered the tragic loss of one of their sons in an automobile accident.  That was the second time in my life I looked into the eyes of an aunt and uncle seeing the grief from the loss of a child.
     Cloyd and Ruth went forward, raising a very good family.  Since we had moved from Pleasant Grove when I was ten, our visits started occurring less and less frequently. In later years mostly at funerals as family members passed away. But I always talked to Cloyd when  I saw him. 
     Four years ago Cloyd had to start dialysis five days a week. You would never know it when you saw him. He was happy, interesting to talk to, and never a word of complaint. He moved slower, but still had a twinkle in his eyes.
     Dad and Cloyd were close in age and close as brothers, so when we found out he had been in the hospital for a few days, but was now home, I knew Dad would want to go visit him.  I volunteered to be the taxi. I had, for years, wanted to tell my aunts and uncles how much they all meant to me, and this would be a chance to tell uncle Cloyd.
     I came back to the present when I heard Dad say we should go. That usually means within three or four minutes Dad is on his way. Not today. Cloyd had been diagnosed with Luekemia during his hospital stay.  He and his family decided that it was time to end his dialysis treatments, as there wasn't hope for a much longer life now.
     Dad lingered, holding his brothers hand, talking to him about how well prepared he was to leave this earthly existence.  Cloyd was as humble as ever and was concerned about his preparedness. His family all told him he had prepared well. It was a tearful goodbye for me as I bent, took my uncles 86 year old but still firm hand, and told him he had been a great uncle.
     We left and drove home. Dad talking about his brother most of the way. When we got home we talked to Mom and my sister about our visit. It was a quiet, thoughtful conversation.  I finally told Mom and Dad I would see them soon and left with my sister.
      I had been home about three hours when I got a text from Dad informing me that Cloyd, who had been such a wonderful uncle and example for me, had passed away.
     Though I'm saddened by the loss of my uncle. I'm happy knowing I was able to tell him what a great uncle he had been to me.

Congress and the budget

     According to the constitution of the United States, Article 1, section 7, the house has the responsibility to propose budgets. The Senate can amend or concur.
     At present Speaker Boehner is insisting that the Senate pass a budget. He insists that the Senate act as any house bill will not pass the Senate. No bill is forthcoming from the Senate as they believe it will not pass the house.  Thus we have the same stalemate we have had for the past few years.
     The most obvious reason for the continued stalemate is due to the American public re electing almost the identical congress we had last year.  This when their job rating is at a historical low.
 Be that as it may, the time has far past for the bickering and posturing to cease and a budget be agreed on.
     In the process of doing a budget there is a very long list of needs to be addressed.  One of the items talked about often is Social Security. Although it is not adding to the deficit, but in fact is running a surplus every month. That money is being used in the general budget,thus Social Security is helping to mask how large the deficit really is.  The surpluses will not continue forever.  So there does need to be some adjustments to Social Security.  There is talk of, over time, raising to 70 the age for collecting full benefits.  One other option that comes to mind is to eliminate the early retirement option all together, or at least substantially increase the penalty for starting benefits at 62. Social Security does need attention but it doesn't need to be directly tied to any general budget agreement.
     There is much talk of Medicare needing adjustments for it to be sustainable. That is true.  The over simplified solution to just reduce payments to doctors by over 25% is not a workable one. Their reimbursement is quite low now.  The other option talked about is to streamline the program. It is a very bloated bureaucracy.  Some solution has to be found.  It cannot be allowed to go on year after year having congress simply delay the cuts to doctors.  That was the same method used for the past two decades to patch up the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). It was not built with a cost of living clause in it so every year it caught more middle class taxpayers in its grasp.  That was never the intent.  So the fix cost us billions every year until this year when it was finally fixed permanently. Over forty years after the program was instituted. 
     Congress put no adjustment for inflation  in the AMT, but it used a formula to adjust Social Security for inflation that skewed the adjustments to high. That needs to stop.  inflation adjustments, or COLAS, on all Federal  programs need to be figured the same way.
     The tax code in the United States is a completely dysfunctional behemoth that needs to be completely revised. It runs to over eight thousand pages at present.  All those pages are rules written, most of the time to serve some special interest.  The special interest treatment in the code needs to be eliminated. That would include items such as: subsidies to the big oil companies. There is no need, in any circumstance for them to have special treatment in the tax code.  Farm subsidies need to be re examined, and in many cases eliminated.  The ethanol subsidy is one that makes the point.  It has been in place for decades making it financially worthwhile for farmers to grow corn for ethanol production, thus taking corn out of the food chain. It then skews food costs. It was found that ethanol did not help anything when mixed with gas. No improved mileage, and it was harder on engines. There is still a rule in place that mandates increased ethanol production each year to be  mixed in gas, although Congress did finally act on the subsidy its self. The justification for the subsidy was it was a new industry and the government should help it get established.  Businesses should not be treated to government subsidies at anytime in their life cycle. A subsidy for one creates a hardship for another business.
       Many businesses in the United States receive special treatment for research and development. If a business is going to be competitive and survive they will of necessity have to do R&D on their own.  
      Airlines get large government subsidies, yet over the life of the commercial airline industry, begining in the late 20's until just recently they had not made a profit.  They are not doing that well at present.  All foreign aid needs to be reviewed.  The friction between congress trying to make the military continue accepting delivery of unneeded planes, tanks, ships, and weapons to preserve jobs in their district, needs cease.  Work is being done on Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae. Its needs to continue. They are bloated, and ill managed, and played a big part in the housing melt down. Even though some new regulation of Wall street and banking has taken place, there cannot be too much oversight of them. All financial crises in this country have been caused by these two industries.           
     While businesses get government subsidies our National Parks are being allowed to disintegrate before our eyes, as their budgets get continually cut.  The entrance fees need to go up more often than every twenty plus years. Congress needs to let the Postal Service run itself, instead of mandating, as they did a few years ago, that the mail must be delivered on Saturdays. The limit on stamp prices needs to be eliminated. Also the home mortgage deduction should be eliminated. Since it amounts to a subsidy for the housing market.
    The gas tax, which funds the road maintenance in the United States had not been adjusted in decades. Again it should be adjusted on a regular basis.
     The list could go on. Congress needs to spend time looking in depth at all programs in this country. That would also include all the family of federal grants that exist in this country.
      Their are claims that we can get to a balanced budget with streamlining government. Economists with good standing have stated that everything that is on the table for the budget now, including what is left of the fiscal cliff would cut GDP about 5%.  To get to a balanced budget it appears we need cuts on the order of 8% of GDP. The fear with the fiscal cliff is that 5% cuts would send us into recession again.That would seem to indicate that it is impossible to just use cuts as a way to balance the budget. There is finally some realization that there has to be a mix of cuts and more revenue.
     No budget proposal that has been suggested by either party gets us anywhere near a balanced budget.  That means the national debt just keeps getting bigger.  We are living as a rich country and trying to spend like a poor one.
     Congress has paid for the two wars we have been involved in, by using the government credit card.  They will have to be paid for sometime. We have always raised taxes in America in time of war. This time we have cut taxes, thus helping to create the widening deficits in our budget.
     The financial melt down, as bad as it was, would have turned into a depression without the costly bailouts, as imperfect as they were. The bailout funding has ended and government spending actually decreased last year.
     The congress we have elected has not covered itself in glory over the past few years as they have pushed us to the brink and caused a lowering of our national credit worthiness, and seem to be willing to do that again or even cause a government shut down as some of them would have us believe intrangicence is is an honorable quality.  
     Its time for the house, under Mr. Boehners leadership  to make a budget bill and send it to the senate. There Mr. Reid needs to bring it to the floor and from there let the difficult bargaining begin to reach agreement on a budget. It will, of necessity, be one that will impact all of us in some way.  Not coming to agreement, and just using short term continuing resolutions to fund the government, will just keep moving us closer to the situation in Greece. 
     We deserve real leadership from those elected to serve us. It should be made clear to them that a lack of leadership can have real consequences in the next elections.
   
  



    

Posses, guards, and being safe

       The run to the rifle range was 2.7 miles. Wearing a green Army uniform, combat boots and helmet.  And packing  a canteen, poncho and an M-14. Once at the range the entire day was spent firing the M-14. Everyday for 2 weeks, hundreds of rounds.
      Finally it was off to the qualifying range.  In the foxhole, shooting at pop up targets.  Hit enough of them you were classified as an expert, miss a few you became a  sharpshooter, and miss a lot of them and you were a marksman.   The nervousness  set in and the bullets missed their mark for many of the shooters, making them either marksmen or sharpshooters.
     One last test of nerves for basic trainees was crawling the hundred yard infiltration course.  Done under the live fire of machine guns.  Many of the trainees were incredibly scared, some panicking as the bullets and tracers  zipped overhead.     
      Finally the training ended. The reservists returned home,becoming true citizen soldiers,well  trained on how to shoot to kill,and hoping they would never have to. The active duty trainees went off to various assignments, including war.
     I returned home to become an educator. During my  tenure the educational climate changed. We used to just call the bluff on bomb threats called in, and had the callers arrested within a half hour.
    It became time, some said,to put armed policemen in schools. My wife helped write the grant in our district.  In the ten plus years there was an armed policeman in my school I did not see them so much as prevent a fight or break one up. And every gun incident in our district was solved by information from a student to the administration.
     Some of the faculty got concealed carry permits. One of them was sitting on the bed with his wife showing her his new gun, and accidentally fired it. It missed them both luckily. The others who had permits were not the types of personalities that would be useful with a gun in an emergency situation.   
     There is research to show that even trained officers don't shoot very accurately in panic situations.  Anyone who was to  encounter a school,or workplace shooter, will find staring at a cold blooded gunman to be very disconcerting,affecting their accuracy, thus putting people at risk. 
     Armed posses outside schools,  armed guards inside them, either professional or volunteer, or teachers with concealed carry permits,  none is a prudent approach to safe schools.  
     None of those in my school who had marched to the rifle range, learned to shoot accurately from twenty five yards to three hundred, ever got concealed carry permits, nor did they suggest it to others as a way to make the school a safe place.  They all knew about the dangers of stray bullets.