They made it!

I don’t know why my pictures are always so dark after I upload them. They look fine beforehand… Anyway, we rode 100+ miles up the road, met the bus with the soldiers, and escorted them 100+ miles back again to see them reunited with their families.

What an experience! What an experience.

I’ll write more later.

Coming Home

Thirty area National Guard soldiers from here in Sioux City are coming home Wednesday. You can bet we’ll be escorting them into town! It should be similar to THIS, only without the bone-numbing cold… I’m taking the day off work Wednesday, polishing my bike, making sure my flag is ready…

Welcome-Homes are MUCH better than funerals!

Watch out for motorcyclists!

Randomizations:

1.) It is NOT a requirement to be a Republican in order to own a flag.

2.) I wish he could have.

3.) We went to the family farm Thursday night. My uncle was back from Africa to visit for a few days (remind me to tell you HIS story sometime — it’s quite something). We talked with my uncle, pinched the cheeks of several small adorable children, and saw this out the back window…

4.) Where’s the lapel pin? I even went to his website. Plenty of flags, but no lapel pin. Evidently it’s a mortal flaw for Senator Barack Obama to be seen without an American flag lapel pin, but Senator John McCain doesn’t need such things…

Isn’t it time to start thinking about the ISSUES rather than who wears lapel pins and what someone’s minister said?

Truthfully, if you’re going to get into that sort of mudslinging, here’s a tidbit for you… Senator McCain actively sought the support of Rev. John Hagee, a minister who called the Catholic church a “false cult system” and a “great whore.” Senator McCain said Hagee, “supports and stands for what I believe in,” and said he was “proud of his spiritual leadership.”

Turns out Rev. Hagee also believes he can read God’s mind, as in 2006 he said, “I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are — were — recipients of the judgment of God for that.” Just a few days ago, McCain said, “I’m glad to have his endorsement.”

Digging a little further, it seems that Rev. Hagee was actually defrocked and is not allowed to preach in some churches. He’s been in trouble with the IRS for earning millions of dollars per year as a televangelist and not paying taxes, and, like Senator McCain, had a messy divorce. He’s consistently made anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish remarks. (He’s been criticized by the Christian Research Institute for publishing a book in which he claims that the Christian church should reject the Jewish people as Jesus never claimed to be “the Messiah of the Jews, but only the Savior of the Christian Church.”)

Meanwhile, the North Carolina Republican Party has been airing an ad showing Senator Barack Obama’s minister saying outrageous things (“not ‘God bless America,’ no, ‘God damn America'”). Senator McCain claims to be a party leader, but he can’t seem control his own people enough to get them to stop airing the ad… McCain does repudiate the ad, but is ineffective in stopping it.

Speaking of Senator Obama’s minister, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, here are a few facts for you. Rev. Wright served both in the Marine Corps and the United States Navy, graduated salutatorian from the National Naval Medical Center, treated United States President Lyndon B. Johnson after Johnson had surgery, and received three letters of commendation from the White House. Rev. Wright is not just a minister, but is a professor of divinity and holds a doctorate. The man does seem to have developed some radical views, though, leading Senator Obama to condemn the pastor’s remarks and distancing himself from the pastor’s views, though Obama does not condemn the man himself.

Anyway, the point of this whole rant is that Senator McCain’s campaign should probably quit throwing stones at Senator Obama, as those stones can quickly be turned against them. And, to me, THIS WHOLE THING IS STUPID. I want to know who’s going to support our troops by getting them out of Iraq, who’s going to go after al-Queada, who’s going to get our economy moving again, who’s going to make solar and wind power affordable… Those are the things I want to know! In spite of my little rant about ministers and lapel pins, I don’t really care about that sort of thing at all… I care about the soldier I helped bury a few weeks ago. I care about the increasing number of homeless people in my neighborhood. I care about the words “food shortage.”

Truly random thoughts on a Saturday…

1. How many times in your life have you heard “Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton? How many times have you WANTED to hear “Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton? Probably not that many times…

2. I still think Senator Obama is the best of the three (Senators Clinton and the other guy both owe too many people too many favors). People say Obama is “elitist.” As Jon Stewart put it on the Daily Show (all quotes paraphrased because my memory sucks and I’m too lazy to look them up), “Okay, pick which one of the millionaire senators is from your social class.” Mr. Stewart also had a point a few days ago when he said, “What’s wrong with ‘elite’? Isn’t that a GOOD thing? I really don’t want someone like me to be president — I want the best, the smartest, the elite.”

But I still wish Governor Richardson had made it further in the process… Oh well.

C) Sometimes more Brot and less Bier might make the photos turn out a bit better. (Translation — drinking beer while tweaking photos may lead to colorful discoveries.)

4) Proof that I’m old: I just discovered lolcats a few days ago. Proof that I’m immature: I can’t quit looking at them.

V) Tastes may change with age, but I still hate peas.

6) This is funny, and I wish I’d thought of it myself. (I found it HERE.)

7) After all these years, the bass player on Paul Simon’s “Graceland” album still amazes me. Next time you hear one of those songs, listen for the bass…

Oh, and Victor Wooten is a god. Proof of that can be seen in the video below. The man does things with a bass guitar that are borderline impossible. I swear he changes the laws of physics to suit his whims…

8) I ran out of ink in my printer today, and that made me feel like a failure. Why do I take those things personally? “Gaaah! If only I’d kept better track of the ink levels I wouldn’t have run out! I’m a failure! I suck!”

9) See the video below for some rather inappropriate gambling humor.

X) It’s a warm 60+ degree Saturday and I’m stuck doing computer work all day. Sucks. Ah well. Beats being homeless, I guess.

Olympic Humor, sort of

Ole and Lena went to the Olympics. While they were sitting sitting there on a bench watching the proceedings, soaking up the atmosphere of the track and field competitions, the lady next to them turned to Ole and asked, “Excuse me, are you a pole vaulter?”

Ole turned to the lady and politely replied, “No, I’m Norvegian, und my name ain’t Valter.”

Six Word Memoir

Steakbellie tagged me with a challenge. I’m a sucker for these things.

The rules:

1) Write your own six word memoir
2) Post it on your blog; include a visual illustration if you’d like
3) Link to the person that tagged you in your post, and to the original post if possible
4) Tag at least five more blogs with links
5) Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

My Memoirs (I’m gonna cheat and do more than one):

Learned that happiness
is named Dagmar.

Drifted too long.
Late bloomer, hopfully?

Blue dot
in a
red state.

Years pass sweetly,
Future beckons urgently.

Worked too hard
for the man.

Futility futility futility futility futility futility.

Bah! Gah! Grrr! Hhmph!

My stupid www.radloffs.net website is down, and I can’t figure out to whom I owe money to get it to work again. I just paid them a few months ago. I have another dumb old website I need a DNS transfer for, but I can’t get it to work. I paid them, but the transfer didn’t go through and I can’t get anyone to answer their e-mail to tell me what to do.

I just want things to work. I want a day without having to fight every single detail. I’m under the constant feeling that people are quite simply taking my money and abandoning me. It’s frustrating! I need a vacation. I’m really a pretty gentle person, but I’m having trouble not hitting people right now.

I have no patience for stupid today.

Runs With Elk

Kids and animals. Somehow Dagmar can make connections with kids and animals.

Yesterday Dagmar was feeling poorly again, but wanted some fresh air. “I have a headache,” she said. “I vant some fresh air.” So we bundled up in our baggy sweaters and headed down the road to the park where they keep the elk herd.

“I vunder if Mister Elk will remember me,” Dagmar pondered as we pulled into the park. “I like it vhen he comes up to the fence and lets me look at him.” Generally, the bull elk will spot Dagmar as soon as we get out of the car and will come trotting right up to the fence so they can dance a little. Dagmar will put her head down, and the elk will put his head down. Dagmar will shake her head, and the elk will shake his head… It’s a fun game they have. “I hope he remembers me,” she said again, peering out the window.

“I hope so,” I said. “You two have a funny relationship.” I thought for a moment. “Relationships with wild animals are tricky. Someday we’re going to come here and Mister Elk will have outgrown his games and might not recognize you. He is a wild animal, you know.” Dagmar nodded agreement. “I know.”

We pulled into the parking lot and spotted the herd in their pasture. By the time I had the camera out Dagmar was already at the fence… Mr. Elk was up on the hill, happily munching away at a twig. But by the time I got down to the fence myself, Mr. Elk had trotted over to the fence and was happily sniffing Dagmar’s baggy sweater sleeve.

And the dance started.

Dagmar hunched down and waggled her head back and forth. The elk put his head down and swung his antlers back and forth. Dagmar put her head down to the ground; Mister Elk did the same. Dagmar curtsied to the left, so did the elk… Within minutes they were running alongside the fence. They’d run all the way to the end of the fence that way, then they’d turn around and run along the fence this way. They’d do a little dance, then run to the end and back. Mister Elk would wait patiently while Dagmar would catch her breath, then he’d dance a little… When they ran, he kept perfect pace with Dagmar, not going too fast, not too slow.

You can see more photos of Dagmar running with elk by clicking HERE. It was really neat to watch! Dagmar’s been feeling ill again, but BOY did this seem to help! I wasn’t surprised that she wanted to get outside for a while as that does sometimes help with her headaches, but to see her smiling and running — that did MY heart good!