Lost...

Two older residents of the old timer's home.... they told their nursing assistants that they needed some air and they just took off. It was three days later when anyone noticed their absence. Who cares' was the by word. Finally some unknown report two old farts walking along a river pathway..."This cound be a bad mixture." thought the staff and out went the white patty wagons...Upon the duo's return they promised 'to behave. Trust but verify.

Back on terra firma… 2/28

Two weeks away from home and it seems we missed another blast of artic air. Can’t believe we were in the balmy weather of South American then hours later shoveling white stuff. Which beings up today’s topic…the unexpected or what’s around the next corner. I don’t know of anyone who has not had a preconceived idea about a person, place or thing (all nouns) then been completely bowled over by the fact that what we thought about something was the complete opposite.

That’s what hit us about our friend’s new country and it’s people. I was told that the country, Ecuador, had one horse and some one had shot the horse, never guess who started that rumor? They and we were very wrong with this notion. They have many horses, chicken, cows (of all types). a mass of cars and buses, zoom zoom. Yet all of it is surrounded by much beauty. Our walk in their National Park, Cajas, as a real joy.

I was looking at the pictures I took of the Park in the Andes and they just don’t do the place justice nor do our preconceived notions. The place is a wonder and so are the people. So, here’s a big promise that in the future I will not prejudge anything! Well. Maybe.

Greener grass… 2/25

It’s on the other side of the fence if you are a goat or a cow; it’s always the better place to be than where you aren’t at the present time. We left for our to South American trip early a.m. on Feb 10th… wind chill outside was a minus -53 degrees . We were only a bit sad to leave having to put the dog in jail for 2 weeks. It only took the car 40 miles to get the temp gauge off dead bottom and get the heater working on our way to the Milwaukee airport.

Yes, we were looking for new horizons, a break in the frost patterns on the cabin’s windows. It’s seems our annual late winter trip to thaw out has become bi-annual. Something seems to come up every other year to blow our plans to pieces. On these trips south we‘ve been keeping our eyes open to find nirvana, a place in the sun to park for 4 to 6 weeks (February) figuring to miss the -53 wind chills.
Four year back we flew into the Big Easy and headed east along the gulf coast.

There were two small towns that I was seriously looking into, so was Katrina - sadly that following fall those places were washed away. So much for the western Gulf Coast. Last year we were half way down to St George Island, Fla… Stopping in Omaha? A family thing. We were detoured west to California on other family business. Once again a near miss, we had to call hotels along our planned route to cancel reservations.

So , this year I had it in mind to see the big down under for Aussie friends have been on our case to see them for years, make that decades. Well, “ Budd, we are headed to Ecuador to a wedding that your daughter is in!” That was the standing order from headquarters and you don’t mess with headquarters. So under our 3 feet of snow, cold and misery there has to be green grass someplace in this world.. Yes Ecuador was beautiful, green and filled with wonders but not enough golf courses.

Did we get lost site seeing?
One liner…”The use of a road map is a must…always after you are lost.”

Zoned Out… 2/22

WE were out of town, out of state, out of country, out of communications and a few friends (one) thought out of our minds… Yesterday morning and for fourteen days we were 4 degrees latitude south of the equator. We were with amigos in celebration of a very important event.

Visiting a strange land and it’s people is very rewarding plus we got to sample the local WINES. The country was Ecuador with it’s Andes and high elevation, Buzz is the by word if not from the local brew then from the high altitude and lack of oxygen. It was so for this sea level faring creature.

But the really amazing thing among others happened yesterday on our return trip. We went from a very comfortable 65 degrees in Ecuador to a warm 88 in Miami, then to 30 degrees in Chicago then 20 in Milwaukee then after the drive home to a minus 5 degrees at our door step. All these temps were in central time zones. From the hots to the colds all in our waking 22 hour trip home. I had to keep changing underwear, silk to fur lined.

So how was the country of Ecuador ? As the title of a Peter Seller’s movie states its ... “Being there!” or you could buy a globe, Tom Brown, and find out. The adventure continues in next week’s blogs….

Today’s one liner from our trek in the Andes…
“If you find a path without obstacles…it often leads to no where.”

My politics…. 2/7

Sorry, my last blog was a little political. Mother told me never talk politics and religion with “ friends”.

Why? You can never change a person’s beliefs in anything, only kick holes in them; not the person but their dearly held views. Long ago I lost a friend because he couldn’t see my logic. And he was from New York so I kicked holes in him - I was right and he were wrong, period. After all he was from New York and they only read the Times. Now years after, it's amazing how you can twist history into your own views for we all now know Goldwater was right, either you do something 100% or get off the pott.

Life and my advancing age has now lead me to take a stand in the middle of the road. I am neither right wing nor left wing I stand in the middle of both lanes where the white dots are. It's a great place to get run over by a semi. However, you can dodge a lot of bullets this way. So, when asked what are my views are on some issue my standard reply after itching my head and putting a serious look on my face I state, “I am studying the matter in depth at the moment.”

Here’s the neat part. Our kids are of opposite thinking - right and left, conservative and liberal. And I agree with all their thinking. The questions are which crooks will do less damage. We have a school board election coming up that means a lot more to us than the national bandits running for office.

So who am I voting for in Wisconsin’s primary next week? “I am studying the matter in depth at the moment.”

Today’s thought,
“ Everything that’s done always cost more than the first estimate.”

Which party? Donkey or Elephant?
It doesn't matter...
It’s super Tuesday, Clark Kent! How come we can’t get one qualified person with an honest backbone to run for the highest office in the land. Trouble is no one in the right mind wants to ruin their reputation in running for office and those that do have a terrible problem, their egos. Beside running is bankrupting and morally corrupting. Sign me up.

It’s a sad state when you look at the list of the candidates even sadder when you look at their backgrounds and their agendas. I just may have to dump it all and move out into the woods and bury my head in a snow bank. Wait a minute, I did that 20 years ago.

I’ve just decide who to vote for….non of the above. I know what we all need to snap out of this… a major crisis. Its when the people of this country have a gun to it’s head that it gets off the pott.

How about if we create a major problem, a ralling point... like an energy problem, have a terrorist in our closet, or how about developing a policy of stepping on other peoples toes. Better yet lets ship out all the jobs that we didn’t want and now need. It’s our economy stupid! What again?

Gee, it’s easy to point fingers, trouble is most of the time you pock yourself in the eye. I think I’ll join the Zebra party. It’s black or white with little gray at the fringes.
Today’s one liner…
”System run better when designed to run down hill.”

The polar ice caps…

They are melting? That’s right, for all the brains are telling us its so. However, it was minus 25 below this am with winds of about 35 mph. To some people it would seem cold (please) that’s putting it mildly. At present Hudson Bay is starting to be ice free in the summers and the poor polar bears are finding it tough shedding dinning out at their local Mc Donald’s for seal sandwichs, hold the Mayo for I have a heart problem.

Yeah, it’s heart breaking and so is walking to our mail box in this weather. Yesterday, I tried it and has my nose froze off again. So, I ask…
"Is this global warming?" It could be but having to deal with this weather is a real slap in the face.

All these years, too many, I’ve enjoyed the change of the seasons. But this last bout of Canadian clippers has turned my thinking around. To hell the Bears, and that goes for the Chicago ones as well. Those big hairy things sleep the winter away and do nothing for our gross national product except consume a massive amount of wild berries then relieve themselves in the woods. I’ve never heard a bear fart but its certainly has to be louder than a beer frat. Talk about noise pollution. Just stand outside of Whitman’s Bar for ten minutes.

So back to global warming… and our energy shortage. We need to catch bear frats, capture them and convert it to methane and burn this carbon free energy in our cars. Ok, ok it’s just a thought. You got something better? I can live without ice caps but knee caps is a different story.

From my stock broker…”It can’t miss, I can get you in on the ground floor , trouble is you are in the basement without stairs.”

Warning ,warning… I’ll be out of town for 2 week in Mid Feb… so there will be another void, it’s between my ears.