On a clear day you can see Amarillo

Most of the grandkids are here, and they are having a ball,I now realize why my Dad always looked forward to all of us being home, if the door was slamming and the tv going , and i Hear

Pa pa,can you help me with this?????

Then things are right,

This is the ending of a chapter i just closed, since i was 14 years old, i had no idea,what i could and would learn , a lot about working, and people and Me.

My sisters are all in wichita kansas visiting my sister with the brain tumor, it was good to talk to the oldest, with all the latest news,and to hear about how things are going there, and sounds like some changes have been made, good ones i might add

I have some errands to run Monday, phones and computer to change over, and talk to a financial planner and see about getting my funds in one pot and closer to home

I have found a date has been tentatively set for a retirement party, so i will contact the powers that be and let them know, so they can do their thing.

I had made my retirement gift selection from the company , then found out that they allowed me to make a selection from yet another tier, but i dont think they have one for 60 years, so i guess i will choose from the 50 year tier, it still amazes me, i didnt argue, since i have found out it is futile,

I have recieved word, that it is time to go to Colorado and help my younger brother get started on putting his new business together, He and his partner take possession of the building some time this week

We have lots to do,take out carpet, and install new flooring, then get the panels set up for the displays and start building the data base for the merchandise that is going to come in

They are ready to get started and i cant blame them, I cant wait to get started

Stick a fork in me, "I'M DONE"

Good Morning

30 years ago today, i started my career in carbon black, it was a fantastic ride, but it is now finished today

I have had lots of changes since i was last here, some change is good, other parts of it NOT.

There have been several serious life changes for me, Divorce and losing some members of my family.Divorce is like death,X and i are still friends, some folks dont understand that, but they dont have too.

Losing my Oldest brother and youngest Son are the hardest things i have ever had to endure,

So i cling to my siblings and kids and grandkids.

I am not tough enough to handle the death of my son with out help, so i go to grief counseling , started our second part of the journey Monday night,We (My Family is in this with me) are making this journey together, I take my hat off to the families and counselors, that come and continue to share with us, I personally cant do this alone.

I had put off retireing till Ed left us, after a lot of soul searching, i realized, life isnt stopping for any one let alone me, so i could see it was time to make some decisions and changes

No one knows what is ahead in Life, least of all me, I know i look forward to seeing what it brings, I do know bad things happen to good people every day, life goes on.

Every one has problems and gets curves thrown in for good measure, that is the design of life , i believe

There will be a test at the end, i hope i can pass it.

I have seen on the news lately, that the seniors will once again be penalized for being seniors

when things in the fiscal government world get shaken, the first thing that is normally grabbed, is Social Security, i dont Understand why seniors are continually terrorized by the threat of benifits being cut, we didnt cause this problem, you can bet they will try to make us pay for them though

Put the house and congress on social security, they will stop that crap, Make them live in our shoes, and they will fix it, no more free rides, or entitlements, or eliteist, same way with Obama care, make them participate like we are forced to do, they will fix it, Hillary once said on the campaign trail, we want to give your the same care we get, Duh , my first thought was, we are paying for what they get, why dont we allready have that same program.

Did any one ever think about enforceing the benifits program for those that are eligible , get the rest off the program,no more anchor babies, let every one, learn our culture and language as a requirement for citizenship, no more non american flags over the american flag, and no more upside flying of our flag in side our borders, enforce the border security, make it real,no more quiet deals with mexico, they cant fix there own problems, lets take care of our own poor

The man said he was all about change

I normally try to stay away from politics and religion, both being very personal and conterversial.
I sat here and watched history being made, i wasn't sure i would ever see a black person as the chief executive in my life time, but it is done , we got there and maybe i will get to see it unfold in the next 4 years.

I personally believe we are in a depression, and it is gonna be a long way out, i know my Dad lived to be in one, and i had hopes our generation would never see the hardships and sacrifice that i know every one of that generation endured.

It made them stronger and more fiscally aware, Mom and Dad could actually put back more money than most and i never saw either one , that didnt have rathole money someplace.


Dad would never talk about the Depression, it took a huge tole on his family and life, in several respects.
I can remember growing up in the 50's and 60's, my mother and dad worked very hard to raise six kids and did very well with that, they had some simple pleasures in life but for the most part, their family were their most valuable assets.

I think the most important things i learned from my parents, Love and Trust in God, keep your word, it is your bond, help others less fortunate than your self, (i didnt have to look far to find folks that was worse off than i)
Love and protect your children,and that now extends to grandchildren, (we should have had them first )
I also learned there are some absolutes in life, No one person can make you happy, if you dont have happiness in your heart, you probably wont be a happy person, people that come into your life can very much so help you be happy and i found out , it isnt my responsiblilty , to make any one happy, i can help them be that way, but i cant produce something they dont allready have in their hearts.

I wish our new president well, he has a full plate, and is gonna need all the help he can get, his campaign promises were all about change and i hope he has a plan to change things,

first thing he needs to do is scuttle his treasury secretary for some one that can remember to pay his fair shair and cannot get off from the responsiblity by telling congress that he is sorry,
I am pretty sure that any one of us in the same circumstance, would get a don't not pass go card and go directly to jail benefit that the tax laws enable for any one that cannot remember to pay their due.

This is not the change i wanted, this is more business as usual, congress and the representatives need real term limits, they work six years and go home, period, no full life retirement paid for off the the shoulders of the tax payers, we dont get a free ride, neither should they.
they should be allowed to live like the rest of us, the social security and tax laws would certainly be more equitable, and fair, if they want retirement, they should be able to make it like we do, by hard work and longivity in your chosen field, not by occuping a seat that needs new blood in it on a regular basis.
I have no problem with any one seeking a new life in this country, but they must understand that there is a proper way that is done, and it should be followed, they should be on the tax roles like the rest of us paying into a system that should work for every one, and this is the United States Of America, speak english, that is our native tongue here.
If you aren't proud enough of this country to be respectful of the customs here, and language here, go home, if this problem isn't fixed of all the illegals draining our resources, we will be come a third world nation and we are headed for that now, and it can happen quiet easily.
I have never seen so many companies and individuals with their hands out ever.

It seems like the new attitude is the government is the fix all, and it can't be, the government is of the people by the people, and you dont get a free ride, even though some in the government believe that is so, they have been there too long, a lot of greed has put us where we are now
Driving the energy prices out the top , makeing some very rich and others very poor, and it isnt driven by supply and demand, Wall Street has been complicit in this as well as others, and it all goes back to greed.
How many billions will we spend, before every one realizes you cant spend your way out of this,

When was the last time you called for technical support on any thing, a new product you purchased or something technical you need help with, or speak to any one about paying a bill or changing a payment date , and when was the last time you spoke to some one at these technical centers that actually spoke english that you could understand.
Why are we sending all our jobs out of this country, and our manufacturing base is all ready gone and if we let the auto makers go broke , that ought to just about clean us out, look around in your house, what do you see, that has a made in america label on it, if you truthfully find any thing i would acutally be surprised.

I can remember in the seventies when we had our first oil scare, it was much like this only not as severe, i think that was a testing ground to see if they could actually pull this off and apparently the question must have been answered, cause here we are,
Why didn't we move toward alternative fuel sources then, our government had to see this coming, but they could see both sides of it, money to be made if we scare the driving public, into believing that oil is short, raise prices, they lower them again after a while and give every one a false sense of security,every one gets geared up to do alternative fuel sources and different automotive technology and transportation devices, get that started, then when the fuel prices falls, every thing dies, the fuels and vechicles in the concept stage, because it can happen here and has to some extent as we speak, the oil companies wont founder, who do you think is buying up all the windfarms in the country after they are operational, and the hydrogen infrastructure and any other source that may be come available, these guys arent stupid.

I watched a show that originated at the Detroit colisuem yesterday on television, you could have thrown a gernade in any direction and probably not hit any one, looked like camera crews and a commentators and few disinterested observers , not the throngs you normally see there.

But what i did see is, new and unusual vechicles in concept and preproduction stages, that work, and will work, cars that can really help take us out of oil dependence from foreign countries and they have little or no hazardous by products poluting what i breath.
If these car manufactures really want to reinvent them selves, give us vechicles that will get 80 miles to the gallon, or electric vechicles that have good ranges of use, and no polution producers,
What happened to our can do attitude, we are the best nation on the face of this earth,why are those vechicles that every one knows is available , not on the market place, you want to stimulate our economy and put every one back to work, then produce the technology that will do exactly that .

vechicles are too expensive as it is, give us more bang for our buck, who needs a hummer, it will make a good flower planter box when you can't buy fuel for it.

I can remember in the 50's when our cars got over 20 miles a gallon consistently, small engines, we didnt need cars that looked like a block of granite with wheels, in the seventies they detuned the engines, put on emission pumps and you could watch the raw fuel run out the exhaust on the ground, we also have cars that had emission convertors on them that caught fire from the raw fuel in the confines of the convertor.

We cant spend our way out of this, we have to have some people in washington that doesnt do business as usual and it is time for a change, you can do that at the voting booths, they wont change unless they realize you mean business, put in new people with fresh ideas that arent beholding to any group or individuals that have their own agenda, our country is at stake here and so is our future, one man cant make all the changes that need made, and it wont be easy, life time retirements for special folks that we pay for should be gone, term limits are a must, real ones and no more sneaky pay raises in the middle of the night hidden in legislation that must pass, this isnt the kind of character i want to see making our laws that we must live by, and they are exempt from, and your new treasury secretary designate is a prime example of , We all make mistakes, me more than any one, but what we are talking about isnt an i am sorry offense, because most every thing any one does could fall under that catagory,congress is a law making body, the people in cabinet positions should be leaders of character by example, Bill Richardson had enough character to withdraw when it looked like it may lead to a problem for our new president, this designate should do the same , congress cannot forgive the fact he didnt pay his taxes and do what every other person in this country is bound by, if they let this slide, the change we got promised, wont ever get off the ground, because it is allready business as usual if they let this slide

Now if i can figure out where my temperature sensor is

Moving is and always has been an ardous process for me, seems like we started when i was about 5 , and we been moving some one on a pretty regular basis ever since.
I have two moves in front of me, the one from my place of residence since 1977, and then the one to denver to live with my brother.
The beauty about moving is, you find a lot of stuff you thought was lost, and in my case, i lost a lot of things i knew where was, hopefully it will all come out in the wash, i still haven't found the original set of keys i put up for my bike and i know those are in here some place.
Well after 40 years of wedded bliss, i am starting anew, i keep seeing the emails where they ask people from our orginization to seek new oppurtunities, and i had the oppurtunity to do exactly that , i wont go in to what that acutally cost financially, but i may be living in a tv box before it is over.
But like i told the guy , when he found me in his closet in tulsa oklahoma almost 45 years ago, every body got to be some place, he didnt see the humor in it.
When i get to thinking about some of the things from my past life, one can only wonder why or how we made it this far, only answer i have is , some one up there likes me very much.

I havent written anything in a long time, and not sure why i am driven to now, i guess maybe something wants out or in, far be it for me to decide.

Some one ask me the other day why i hadnt written any thing lately, i guess i have been trying to digest all of the things that have gone on for a while.

We lost our older brother last october, and some good can come from that i reckon, as i know some of the other family members now take better care of them selves , and are seeking medical attention to have things looked at instead of saying ok, nothing is going on and nothing needs attention, trying to deny , we are all getting older and seems like after 50 any thing can and will happen .

i have become more serious about taking the meds i am required too, not letting them slide, i am guilty of that and it wont hurt any one but me.
There is a litany of things i need to change in my life, and i guess this is a part of that, maybe one way to keep track or a running record , to see how much of it actually gets done.

I cant wait to get to denver , and drive my brother crazy on a regular basis, he only thinks he has trouble now lol
I ask the turkey to take some pictures of my new room in the h ouse we leased in centennial, and of course he complies, guess what my room is full of boxes, some one needs to tell him you dont jack around an old guy that carries a gun. i am too old to take a whippin,



Looks like the sun is comeing up over the hill, i need to get dressed and get out side and get the scoot out and wash it up good for the trip to ruidoso this week via denver lol


Then it will be time to eat, just have to figure out where i want to eat and ride there lol


yall have fun

It goes up a lot faster than it goes down:

It is truly amazing to watch fuel prices rise to unprecedented price levels, this can only hurt the economy,and the driving public in general, the only backlash the driving public has it going back at the purchase level and boycotting the companies that they purchase from, but you wont ever reach them at that level, you might hurt the independent that purchases and sells his product, but the big guys are isolated behind the government, and wall street,and all the fat cats that are posting these never before seen , obsecene profits, it hits the middle class right in the pocket book , which is apparently ok,no one including the government is doing anything to stop it, the government just makes a bigger slice of the pie when the price goes up, even if they do nothing,which so far they have been really good at.
But when you have as much lobby money in the right places,and most of the companies have their hands in the coat pocket of most of the politicans it is hard to tell who still works for the US tax payer and who works for the oil companies.Granted , the driving public has some of the fault, because we still refuse to demand higher fuel standards of the automakers , if you must drive the tanks still available, 4 door pickups with dragster engines in them, and hummers,and the huge boats that are still available,new from the automakers, if you are gonna dance , you will have to pay the fiddler,and they all know that.
It amazes me, that so much new technology is available and out there, engines that run on water, but when these things come to light, there is usually a buy out and that technology disappears about as quick as it was brought to light, I do know this company manufactures welding plants that run on water they are on the market, and the inventor has a fleet of cars that are converted to run on water, so why istn that technology currently available for the american public, we have plenty of water, and it wont break the american dream,we could become fuel independent over night, but you think any one will allow that to happen, not likely, what i dont understand is why the public doesnt demand to know more and why it isnt being investigated on a scale of some of the current diseases that the government funds yearly.

Look at hydrogen,another very viable source of independence, but who owns all the filling infrastructure, most likely the oil companies do,they have all the money,and that is what this is all about, not fuel or oil,it is power and money.
Take a look at who purchases all the wind power as soon as it is up and operational, surprise surprise, you say it is oil companies,well they purchased ours with in three weeks of the first blades turning in the wind.
Are you beginning to see a pattern here, or is it hard to see the forest for all the trees, It takes money to make money,that is why you never see the guys that really supply drugs, they aren't the ones in the cars on the interstates or trucks that get thru,they dont have to do the grunt work,same in this business, the guys in the direct firing line isn't the suppliers of the product, it is at the grunt level or convenience stores or managers of franchises,that can only do what the edicts allow coming down the chain of command,and do you seriously think you can get to the fat cats driving the prices , used to be supply and demand,now it is all controlled by wall street,that is one of the reasons you never hear any thing from opec, they dont have to do a thing, cause our own greed at the wall street level is gonna make those folks even more wealthy than they allready are.
The latest round of excuses comes at the refinery level, and i remember reading several years ago, we had all the capacity we needed, but you let one place stumble,or even grunt real hard and the price can also jump,as it has this week,you could see it comeing as the prices was jumping up and down last week in anticipation of the allready known coming surge in prices, makes me think the fix was all ready in the system, as i watched prices jump up 15 cents one day and back down the next,and it yo yoed several times last week like they were testing the water , sure makes onewonder
enough of this rant, have a good night and a better weekend, and get ready for the next surge, for you know is will come , just a matter of time, the media all ready hyped for the companies, so 4.00 a gallon gas is nearly a done deal, where is all the output and production that i keep hearing we are finding, who gets that ,what about the alaskan pipeline,where does all that production go,andwhat about all the wells we capped in oklahoma and kansas in the 60's when it was cheaper to bring in oil from the gulf, it has still got to be there , cause it probably hasn't been touched since they capped it, think about it

It Started out as a regular gonnabe wet Sunday:

I woke up late Sunday morning, which was about 7:20 to me, finally got out of town about 7:40 rode to Goodnight then stopped to put on Top half of rain suit(Frog Togs) then continue on my merry way to have breakfast in Clarendon at the Clarendon Steak House.

Now if you want a really good place to eat,and meet some friendly folks in the process, this is the place to go.

I sat for a few minute,gave me some time to reflect if indeed i should really be waited on ,but then my waitress showed with a phone stuck in the side of her head and a menu.

I ordered coffee and took the breakfast bar choice and headed over to the bar to retrieve my breakfast, people are very friendly and cordial there.

after finding scrambled egg and bacon and sasuage, and biscuits with hashbrowns and grape jelly and orange juice, i set about eating my breakfast, i got a hug out of the deal when the waitress apologized for comeing to the table on the phone,i started to ask her for the phone number , but i didnt want her to think i was a dirty old man, but some how i think she knew lol

People are very friendly there and it is a really good place to eat.

You will notice if you havent allready, i do a lot of riding and eating, and not necessiarly in that order.

I got on the road and headed towards Wichita falls ,i was watching the clock on the dash race towards a ten o'clock phone call that would tell me where i would eventually wind up meeting the other half as she worked her way down highway 82 towards me on her way back from a trip to KeyWest Florida, i think they had a good time,and i am not about to ask what it cost.Only her and her hair dresser will know.

After finding the other half on the road inbetween henryetta and munday , we had talked about going to the goldwingers gourmet haven (Dairy Queen) but i had noticed a nice looking place in town as i passed thru henryetta and decided that would be the place to go,it just looked like agood place to be

I would have never even dreamed who i would see there when we arrived , eventhough i had parked right next to his truck and dismounted, never even looked at it.

As i live and breath as i walked in there sits Eddie and Ercie Hill , the last two people i would have ever expected to see in that town or resturant, For those that have been living in a cave ,Eddie Hill is and was very prominent in dragracing, he used to help me and my cousin from oklahoma city sneak in thru the pits to watch the drag races, would be him or Jack Chrisman,both very highly thought of and very well known racers .

It was hard for me not to go over and pester him , but as I watched him and his family visit, i knew there was no way I could bother him,I did later in the parking lot get a chance to say hi to them and visit for a minute.
All of the family stopped to say something, and i was very pleased about that, a nicer or friendlier group i dont remember being in the presence of than these people.
When i returned home i took the time to look at Eddie and Ercie's webpages and history and was plesentaly surprised to see they have settled in nicely to retirement and enjoying life and found an invitation to all that view the pages to join them in a supper ride from his Honda dealership in Wichita Falls the first Saturday evening of every month, Dont know about yall, i think i know one old fat body from the panhandle that will take them up on that invite.
I saw them again on the way back to Wichita Falls,We all waved and then it was time to move on,It was a fantastic day to me,one i wont soon forget,as you can see, it doesnt take much to make me happy, and a blast from the past will do it for me every time