Love and proper care ......

HHHhhhmmmmm .....

I don't know, wliberty ......

Did you check with the White House on that .....

To see if you can be talking that way, I mean ....

Sounds pretty radical to me, anyway, this love and proper care stuff, here ......

Maybe even un-American ......

Should we even be talking about love and proper care in here?

Isn't that just so liberal .......

If that is liberal, the world would be be a great place if we were all liberal. Maybe that is why I'm a liberal.

Edit: I don't check with the Whitehouse on anything. See my signature file.

Radar is a beauty, wliberty! Love his neck ribbon...He certainly looks happy and content...he has come a long way since Oct......does he feel comfortable out out of his crate now and has he bonded with you even though he's still a bit shy of other people ?

wliberty, I sure do judge you by the look in that dog's eye ....

When an animal is as content as that one is, well, life can't be bad at all, and so ....

You were made for each other ....

And that is great ....

The White House should be checking in with you for training on humaneness .....

They sure would be thought more highly of if they learned some ....

wliberty -----

Radar is one magnificent Tri.

And -- You have done a wonderful job with him. Love and patience go a long way.

Kudos to you .

A.B.

What was the best thing before sliced bread?

Unsliced bread? Preferrably, the whole grain kind....

You're on a roll, Liv!

Why do they lock gas station bathrooms?

Are they afraid someone will clean them?

From the internet ....

Horse-Sense

Just up the road from my home is a field, with two horses in it.

From a distance, each looks like every other horse.

But if one stops the car, or is walking by, one will notice something quite amazing.

Looking into the eyes of one horse will disclose that he is blind.

His owner has chosen not to have him put down, but has made a good home for him.

This alone is amazing.

Listening, one will hear the sound of a bell.

Looking around for the source of the sound, one will see that it comes from the smaller horse in the field.

Attached to her bridle is a small bell.

It lets her blind friend know where she is, so he can follow her.

As one stands and watches these two friends, one sees how she is always checking on him, and that he will listen for her bell and then slowly walk to where she is, trusting that she will not lead him astray.

Like the owners of these two horses, God does not throw us away just because we are not perfect or because we have problems or challenges.

He watches over us and even brings others into our lives to help us when we are in need.

Sometimes we are the blind horse being guided by God and those whom he places in our lives.

Other times we are the guide horse, helping others see God.

Good friends are like stars.........

You don't always see them, but you know they are always there.

And this is from the internet as well ...

Dear Friends and Family:

I wish you all the very best this coming year.

May you find that your deepest and most meaningful wishes come true.

I wish for each and every one of you warmth, prosperity, harmony, wisdom, and the list goes on and on.

I hope you remember the little things for others, and that you receive them yourself, those things that seem so small, yet make such a big difference.

Smiles.

Hugs.

A wink.

The touch of a friendly hand.

I wish the warmth of the sun on your face, and gentle breezes to remind you that life is all around us.

I wish for you deep cleansing breaths when you need them the most.

And I wish for you strength and confidence and a voice when you need them the most.

I hope you are able to make a difference in whatever you endeavor.

I hope you have many laughs and loads of tissue for any tears.

I hope that you always have safe journeys, no matter where you go.

I wish for you health and happiness.

I wish that peace and beauty follow you, and that when you see with your mind's eye, what you see is good.

I wish you faith, no matter your beliefs or religious preference.

I hope that your place in this incredible universe is a place of serenity, hope, and thanksgiving.

I hope for you the ability to stay true to yourself, to seek your purpose, to fulfill your destiny and wherever that leads you, may you find joy in the undertaking.

I wish you well this coming year, and every year following.

May your life be filled with love and vitality.

May you laugh and dance and sing.

May you share your joy with others.

What a lovely email to receive and send to those near and dear Liv. That is one of the better ones that I have seen out there.

Happy New Year All (even if I am a couple of days late). Dodged the snow storm that hit Connecticut the past two days. I was convinced I was going to be digging my car out this morning, but that didn't happen.. It also hasn't been too cold here in Williamstown. I expected worse. One more game tonight, and then I hit the interstates tomorrow after lunch with my son. He got some pt last night and managed a basket within the first six seconds he was in the game. That was nice to see. Not likely to get pt time tonight. I suspect Liv you got quite a bit of snow.
Find I spend some of my free time here listening to the weather channel. But then I think about jeffmoskin out in California getting drenched,and hoping he isn't in the path of either a flash flood or mudslide. My old haunts in Marin County are flooded to the levels we experienced back in 1977 with the El Nino. Near hurricane strength winds and tons of rain. My heart goes out to the families who have loved ones trapped in the coal mines in West Virginia.

No, actually we dodged yet another bullet, right here where I am ....

Some dry air "backed in" from Massachusetts right above me this morning, and so, the snow just stopped ...

Just like that ....

And it's a good thing ....

I'm kind of "ganted up" right now, down at the hip like an old German Shepard, and so .....

God's being real good to me right now ....

By giving me this respite .....

And yes, I sure did like that e-mail, myself ....

Nice to know that there are people out there still thinking those kinds of thoughts ....

And taking the time to share them with others as well ....

Say, Snuffysmith ....

Ah ...

Well .....

You don't think that was too "liberal", do you ....

That e-mail, I mean ...

Too sappy, maybe ...

I mean, we do have to be image conscious in here, don't we ...

Politically correct ....

Ah ...

More REPUBLICAN manly ...

No hugs ....

Count me in the sappy category from time to time. And I've been known to rebel against the politically correct and even Republican parents - actually my Dad was a Democrat; my mother wasn't. That email has nothing to do with politics Thank God, but human sentiment which we don't get enough of in our lives, either by inadvertence or by design.

Safe travels, Snuffysmith, out there in the hinterland of civilization ....

And thanks for the nice thoughts .....

Yes, sometimes, we just don't get enough of them, indeed ....

And here, I was just thinking that if I was to suddenly die off in my human form and get re-constituted as one of wliberty's dogs, well ......

Not to worry. We are here in the unfashionable "flatlands."

But they are dry.

Relatively speaking, at least.

Ah, jeffmoskin ......

Out there in California, beset upon and beseiged by torrential rains, and floods, and mudslides, and earthquakes, and poodle-eating coyotes, and mountain lions marauding ......

Makes IRAQINAM seem tame by comparison ....

jeffmoskin, it makes my heart near to skip a beat everytime I think of what it must be like out there, just to get to the store to buy a carton of milk ......

I don't know which I fear worse, the poodle-eating coyotes, or the traffic on Rodeo Drive .....

Or is that really a boulevard?

PLUS losing the big football game!!

Life is cruel.

A.B.

Persevere, jeffmoskin ......

Please, oh please, persevere ....

Or endeavor to anyway ....

As always, we need your wit around for another day ....

Let's everybody get together here and give jeffmoskin a great big cosmic hug to get him through these dark days of civilization out there in the land of the eternal AH-nold ....

Fighting his way though packs of marauding mountain lions and poodle-eating coyotes, along with torrential rains and mudslides and earthquakes just to get outside for a breath of air ......

Oh, persevere, our jeffmoskin ....

You are a beacon of shining human spirit to us others in here who live in the admittedly more mundane and boring places here in OUR America, and so .....

The darkness if lifting, Snuffysmith ....

The light returns ....

And perceptably so

jeffmoskin - I was so looking forward to USC winning the Rose Bowl but they were beaten fair and square at their own game in the last few cardiac seconds of the game by Texas. There will always be another Rose Bowl. Somehow. Someway.
And Liv, I'm coming up your way later this week to take the basketball Freshmen to dinner and see a couple of conference varsity games. Putting the miles on the car. Amherst beat them by 10 last weekend.

We may agree on a lot of things, Snuff, but not this one.

My two favorite teams are UCLA and whoever is playing USC.

Putting miles on the car sounds like an understatement, Snuffysmith .....

More like hundreds at a rip ...

But oh well ....

This is what memories are made of and so ....

Go for the gusto .....

Warm weather ahead, Snuffysmith ....

For the next few days, anyway ....

Rain they say ....

But you know how they are .....

Anyway, safe travels, as always .....

And if you accumulate enough "FREQUENT DRIVER MILES" here, Snuffysmith, I understand that you will be in line to be one of those recipients of the cherished "KEY TO THE HINTERLANDS OF CIVILIZATION" that somebody or other in some official capacity allegedly has been handing out to show people from the real civilization how much their presence here in the hinterlands of civilization is appreciated by us yokels and hayseeds and such-not that does inhabit this part of the earth here in OUR America .....

An incredible day today, up here in the hinterlands of civilization ....

A day to be outside for sure ....

Warm ....

The sky was clear blue .....

Birds were singing ....

And who can blame them for that?

Now ...

It is night ...

And the moon is up .....

And it is bright ....

Moon is close to full ....

Silver light to walk in, if you are so inclined ...

Spring-like here, Livy.....in the 50s...calling for 58 this Thursday unbelieveable for this time of year.....I've got gardening fever and it's much too early for that...so I'm doing Winter yard cleanup...first time I've ever been able to that at this time of year...I hope this doesn't mean Mother Nature will dump the snow on us in April...I have Spring fever in January!

Well ....

We're curious too ....

What is yet to come ....

And Mother Nature says ....

Stay tuned ...

You will be the first to know .....

Along with the birds, of course .....

And the rest of nature, as well ....

vee haff eternal spring heeah in Kah-Lee-FAWN-Yah.

Eet vas 80 f*cking degrees today in der fatherlandt today.

Kah-Lee-FAWN-Yah uber alles...

Oh, stop bragging! But you have those earthquakes that might dump you all into the Pacific one day...

[quote=Livyjr,Jan 10 2006, 02:59 PM]
Putting miles on the car sounds like an understatement, Snuffysmith .....

More like hundreds at a rip ...

But oh well ....

This is what memories are made of and so ....

Go for the gusto .....

Warm weather ahead, Snuffysmith ....

For the next few days, anyway ....

Rain they say ....

But you know how they are .....

Anyway, safe travels, as always .....

Forget frequent driving miles Liv, especially if they go the way of frequent flyer miles. Two vignettes - when I was in law practice way back when, I racked up close to 500,000 miles between Los Angeles and Chicago and Detroit over a three year period of time (was running discovery in a huge case in Chicago)- only to find myself embroiled in a class action lawsuit against American Airlines for their repetitive changes to their frequent flyer miles program. The long and the short of that was an award of two round trip business class tickets anywhere in the US. Vignette Two: When I was settling the estate of my late husband who had in excess of a million miles on United Airlines, I learned that surviving spouses aren't entitled to the award of their spouse's mileage. So the long and the short of this is - it doesn't matter how many miles one racks up, they won't be there when the rainy day comes.
And yes, I will continue to rack up the auto mileage. Thinking about exploring southern Rhode Island when it gets a little warmer. But I've got a few basketball games to attend before I can do that. And the news for this Forum just doesnt' seem to stop.

Well, there goes that cherished KEY TO THE HINTERLANDS OF CIVILIZATION, I guess, Snuffysmith ......

Another old-time American value bites the dust ....

Well, maybe you could buy one as a souvenir at a Stucky's perhaps, or an Arby's .....

Along with a Burma-Shave sign .....

But that's unfair, jeffmoskin ....

You have the eternal AH-nold out there to decree eternal spring .....

And nature has to listen to AH-nold ...

Or get groped ....

While the rest of us have to take what comes ....

Get your motor running ......

Get out on the highway ....

Looking for adventure .....

And whatever comes my way ....

WHOA ....

Look out ...

Jump back .....

"GED OUDA DA WAY ..."

It's AH-nold himself .....

And looking oh so way cool with that lip of his all stitched up like that .....

"Ah, excuse me, Mr. Governator, but you were driving without a license here ..."

"I DON'T NEED NO STINKING LICENSE ..."

WHAP!

"Oh ...."

"Yes, sir ..."

"Schwarzenegger vows to update license"

By JEREMIAH MARQUEZ, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:25 a.m., Wednesday, January 11, 2006

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vowed to update his driver's license after police determined he had been riding his Harley Davidson illegally when he got into a minor accident over the weekend.

Schwarzenegger "will move forward to get the appropriate endorsement," the governor's spokeswoman, Margita Thompson, said Tuesday, two days after the accident that left him with 15 stitches in his upper lip.

Police did not cite the governor because they arrived after the accident.

Officers referred their findings to the city attorney's office, which will determine whether Schwarzenegger should be cited for an infraction.

City attorney spokesman Jonathan Diamond said the office had not received the LAPD report.

Driving a motorcycle without the proper license can result in fines ranging from $100 to $250 or more.

But while police determined that the governor had violated a traffic law, other agencies disagreed, citing different sections of the state vehicle code.

Spokesmen for the California Highway Patrol and state Department of Motor Vehicles said the governor's basic Class C license allowed him to ride the motorcycle with its sidecar attached.

Schwarzenegger's 12-year-old son, Patrick, was riding in the sidecar during the accident but was not injured.

Both Schwarzenegger and his son were wearing helmets.

Schwarzenegger, a Harley Davidson owner who rides regularly with friends along the California coast, said Tuesday that he never bothered to obtain a California motorcycle license because he "never thought about it."

Schwarzenegger said he had a motorcycle license when he lived in Europe but never considered obtaining another one after he immigrated to the United States in 1968.

"I just never really applied for it," he said.

------

Associated Press Writers Steve Lawrence and Michael R. Blood contributed to this report.

And as does happen in here from time to time, we have one of those perhaps-Jungian TRIPLE-JUXTAPOSITION EVENTS happening in here, right before our eyes, as these things should, of course, if they are to have any real meaning outside the pages of some dusty tome or other on human psychology ....

At the same time, we have this interesting and rather mind-boggling conundrum above about why gas station restrooms are always locked .....

Juxtaposed with amy's comments about how warm it is for this time of the year .....

And that is then juxtaposed with a story about Richard "TAMMANY DICK" Cheney being hospitalized for shortness of breath .....

All pretty much at the same time ...

Which is what JUNGIAN SYNCHRONICITY is really all about, when you get right down to it ....

And those of us up here in the cold country, yea, the veritable hinterlands of civilization itself, see a definite connection ....

Or at least we believe we do, since in America today, EVERYTHING involving "TAMMANY DICK" is top secret and classified .....

But what we understand, despite all that secrecy, is that as the CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER of the TOP-SECRET UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ENERGY TASK FORCE, "TAMMANY DICK" ordered those gas station restrooms to be locked up tight and kept that way until he gave the order to open them .....

As we understand it, and this is certainly believable when it comes to "TAMMANY DICK" and his GOUGER and PROFITEER buddies in the ENERGY BID-NESS, "old "TAMMANY" and the GOUGERS and PROFITEERS hoped to drive out a lot of older folks up here from their homes due to inability to pay their vastly inflated heating bills, which would then make their property available to REPUBLICAN LAND SPECULATORS, and old "TAMMANY" was afraid that some of these people might find a gas station restroom actually open, where they might find some scant shelter from the elements .....

And old "TAMMANY" considered this to be a form of stealing from the gas companies .....

These old folks finding shelter in an unlocked gas station rest room somewhere here in OUR America ....

So he ordered them to be locked ...

To protect the oil industry, of course, from someone trying to steal from them ....

And what this has to do with his shortness of breath, as we understand it, is that old "TAMMANY" was then hoping to be able to rent these rest rooms out to FEMA as emergency shelters for these old people when the real cold weather came, and these old folks were huddled out there in the cold, which is good for a sympathy factor that old "TAMMANY" figured he could use to good advantage in having FEMA pay top dollar for these restrooms as shelters for these dispossessed old folks .......

But as amy points out, nature so far has not been cooperating with "TAMMANY DICK" .....

It's been warmer than he figured ....

And so the oil company profits are falling off .....

And the old people are not getting forced out of their homes as fast as old "TAMMANY" was hoping .....

Which now puts his plan to have a FEMA bail-out on questionable ground ...

Which then threatens the profits of the oil companies even further ....

Which then apparently caused "TAMMANY DICK" to flip right out, big-time, and apparently he started kicking this and that, and stomping on things with his heel, and in the course of throwing this alleged fit, he hurt himself on the foot, or feet, maybe ...

And so, he was put on some kind of drugs or other ....

Which got him short of breath .....

And so ....

JUNGIAN SYNCHRONICITY in action, right before our eyes ....

And how about that for juxtaposition, will you?

Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

And ...

This very important finding, of course .....

There are two theories to arguing with women.

Neither one works!

Which can only be learned from experience .....

Which you never have until it is too late ....

Is this that "vicious circle" we always heard about when we were young?

License? I don't got to show you no stinking license.

A positively heavenly day today, up here in the hinterlands of civilization ...

Heavenly ....

Blue sky ....

Warm ....

A beautiful day for any time of the year .....

And especially so for January ....

And a big old moon is shining out there in the sky right now ....

What a sight ...

Great story, Livy! Quite creative with making those connections,I'd say! AND, Mother Nature will continue to work her magic with 60 degree temps in my area tomorrow...will get cooler over the week-end....

And in retaliation for the warm weather robbing the oil companies of profits that they had a God-given right to, gouging us on heating oil if the weather was cold as it should have been according to Dick Cheney's calculations, they have raised the cost of a gallon of gas up here about twenty cents in the last week ....

No one, but no one in America or the world will hamper the making of excessive profits by the OIL BID-NESS if old "TAMMANY" can do a thing about it, anyway ....

Yesiree...gas prices increased over 20 cents here too...the only way to get back is to stop driving,keep the heat way down and dress very warmly... :cold:

Or we could all just pack up and move to California and live with jeffmoskin out there in the land of the eternal AH-nold, and be happy foreveraftermore, because in the land of AH-nold, well, that is what you get to do ......

I'm not sure I want the hassle factor of living in the land of Ah-nold, even if the weather is better. And Livl, where is the snow? Seems I brought the sunshine to this corner of the planet. The Snuff

But they have those earthquakes and Arnold...I'll pass...thanks anyway!

Well, what can be said, Snuffysmith ....

You have indeed brought the sunshine ....

And so ...

What could the snow do but reteat?

I was going to say something about under AH-nold, California is indeed a land of opportunity .....

But I think I'll just keep my mouth shut .....

Generally speaking, you aren't learning much when your lips are moving.

(Say, that sounds like something Mr. A.B. might say ...)

Actually I'm a genuine native of the late great state, and I left, not once, but twice, the last time in 1999. And I was living in what I once thought was God's country in the San Francisco Bay Area, in Marin. But I am not adverse to leaving earthquakes and traffic behind. As for the rest, I too won't comment.

I had the good fortune to have lived out there in San Francisco ....

In the marina ....

And I loved it out there ....

And still do ...

I had no car ...

And did not need one ...

Nor desire one ....

Nor want one out there .....

I could walk wherever I needed to go, and did every day ..

And I was in as good a physical shape as a result as I have ever been ....

I was in one small earthquake ....

I was awakened from sleep, and had the distinct impression of being an egg being fried in a frying pan, and someone was moving the frying pan underneath me to keep me from sticking .....

In my travels, I don't know if I have come upon a place more hospitable ....

Or a people more indomitable in spirit ....

San Francisco was partly leveled by an earthquake shortly after I left, and if you go back there now, you would not know it ....

No whiners and cryers, them .....

In the weeks before Christmas, I was having trouble with my computer, which was a Gateway, and I was doing this test and that test, and finally, it was agreed between Gateway and myself that it would be necessary to send the computer back to Gateway, to a place down in Dallas, Texas, which I did before Christmas .....

Before I could send the computer back to Gateway down in Dallas, Texas, however, I had to give Gateway approximately $350, which I did by credit card ....

For the approximate $350, I got an address to send the computer to, and a service number, to identify my computer as belonging to me, at the address where I live, in the State that I live in, so that Gateway down in Dallas, Texas could then send my computer back to me, at the address where I actually live, in the State that I live in, when it was repaired .....

Which, of course, should just be plain old common sense ....

If you want something sent to you, well, you have to tell someone where you are, first, and that is what I was doing when I was giving Gateway Computers my $350, telling them exactly where I was so that when it was repaired, my computer would actually be sent back to me, so that I could then use it again, which is why I was having it repaired in the first place ....

Well, time went by, and I would call Gateway, to ask what is going on with my computer, and all I would get was either nothing or non-committal answers ....

Finally, yesterday, I managed to get through to someone at Gateway who was actually competent, and this person informed me that Gateway Computers down in Dallas, Texas had shipped my computer to someone named D. Carrol in Albany, New York and that D. Carrol had indeed signed for it, and so ...

But I am not D. Carrol, I said ...

I never was D. Carrol, and I have never told Gateway Computers down in Dallas, Texas that I am a D. Carrol ...

In fact, my name looks nothing like D. Carrol ...

So it cannot be mistaken for D. Carrol ..

And I do not live in Albany, New York ...

And I never told Gateway Computers down in Dallas, Texas that I lived in Albany, New York ....

So why was my computer sent to this D. Carrol in Albany, New York and more to the point, what is Gateway going to do about it ....

And all I know right now is that today, I got a call from Gateway Computers, and what they said is that they cannot recover my computer ...

It is gone ...

Along with the approximate $350 that I had to give to Gateway Computers, so that they could then take my computer and give it to some total stranger .....

And the phone number that they gave me to talk to an answering machine is a long-distance toll call .....