politicians, preachers and sinners

For some time now, my morning usually starts with a trip to our local resturuant for breakfast, it normally consists of a breakfast burrito with egg and ham, and coffee, we normally have a round table forum, and it consists of a lot of diverse and good people, that make the start of the day very unique and interesting, i alway look forward to going.You never know who will show up or what will be discussed, but one thing for sure, you know it was always be interesting.
On any given day we might have a couple of city commisonners or like this morning when the preacher and the country commisioner showed up, hence the title of the blog for today.
Both are very good folks and both very unique in their own right.We might have a land baron,a school board rep, some local folks like me, just adds flavor to the mix.Each with their own opinions and thoughts, our land baron is usually the catalyst for most of the discussions, is his mission in life and he is good at what he does, and just a good person to be around.

I didnt stay this morning, had to be back , was expecting phone calls, and had some things to get done, this being one of them.So i missed the roundtable discussions and i would bet any thing they were lively.
I got up yesterday morning at 4:30 for a trip to see my urologist in Lubbock, about 180 miles south of here, appointment was for 9:45, got there at nine,checked in and paid my money, made the obligatory trip to the restroom for their samples , and back to waiting room before going in to see the dr and his aides.
I met a couple from a town close to lubbock that rode motorcycles like i do, they visited among the many cell calls his wife recieved, he said he was in for a check up, but i was assuming it wasnt for post cancer operation check up, he was in his early to mid 40's and really didnt have a lot to say, and knowing what i know about the checkup's that i no longer have to endure, he probably wasnt looking forward to what laid ahead, most men dont, I never liked the exam, but it can only save your life .She was the sparkplug for the two of them, i can only bet she keeps things interesting when they ride or attend their association meetings, and every group needs one.
I got called in to be poked and prodded and looked at about nine fifteen, nurse was friendly and courteous, took my vital signs and ask lots of questions, which is good, dr then came in and looked me over , He was pleased , said i looked like i was a pin cushion, maybe next time they would put zippers in , so when they needed to work on me, would be lots easier for both of us.

Another aide came in after dr left and brought a hand full of pills with him, said here try these and i was out of there, i paid my bill and mounted up for the trip home.
I get to go back to full duty monday, and i am ready, have been restricted since august, and i am getting fat and lazy, have a tentative trip to dallas sunday, and want to take the bike, would be a very nice road trip, even with a little rain, i wouldn t mind
Will be nice to get out of the control room and pack and do all of the things i could not before, been a while since i have done them, i am ready to get back to work .
The trip comeing home was like the trip going down, just no rain and lots of wind, standard for the texas panhandle, i stopped to eat at amarillo, love my tex mex went to rosa's for lunch,


The first place i went in was full of highschool students, i know they have to eat, but this was disaster, i am fairly tolerent, but after about 30 seconds i decided a retreat was in order, fortunately, the other Rosa's cafe isnt that far, so i made my exit , no one the wiser and went to the other establishment, low and behold, more highschool students, but these folks acted like the young men and ladies they were, got their lunchs ordered and were eating, not in the way or pushing any one around or making a spectacle of them selves and others, was a delight to see.

I got back home about 1:30, hopeing to see we had recieved an abundant amount of rain, but we did get maybe twenty hundreths, i wont say any thing bad about that , i have lived in the texas and oklahoma panhandles long enough to know you start cussing the moisture and you may never get any, not sure how that works, you can call it what you want, mother nature, mojo or just what ever, people used to get shot at around the panhandle for seeding clouds and making the clouds go away, they learned a huge lesson from that too i think, but got kinda hairy for the pilots, dont know if they had kevlar shorts on or not, and i dont know any well enough any more to ask, some things are probably better not being known lol.

Before i digress to far, in accordance to the subheading here, you know i am not in politics nor a preacher, so you know where that leaves me, right square in the amen corner,if you have any spare prayers , send them my way, God will smile on you, and it will amuse him , that you wanted to help me , dont hurt to keep your name in the pot, this is like studying for a huge test , of a life time, one i really don't want to fail.

My oldest brother and I belong to the Patriot Guard Riders Association, you have heard me mention this group and you will, many times more, a fine group of people and these folks have a lot of heart and soul, many vets here, want to honor the fallen and help relieve as much anguish for the families as possible, there are some that want to extend that, but thanks to the PGR, this is held to a minumim,
His Group from Dallas with the Ride Captain for this area left this morning for Fort Hood, to participate in honoring a fallen soldier.They go because they want to, not because they have too, Thanks for all you do PGR.I am very proud of you all, and very proud to be associated with you.
You can find information of the PGR at www.patriotguard.org if you have time and are willing, please take the time to see what it is about, it renews my faith in mankind, the site explains the mission statement explicitly, even i got it.Look at the picture gallery and mission reports, filled with good information and you will see the caliber of men and women that gave there all, so we could be here and be free.You wont be sorry u looked, , it impressed me and that takes a lot.

Time is my enemy today, even though i started this several hours ago, my thought process wont stay in one place, i had some ideas when i started this earlier this morning, but it has slipped into this afternoon and my salt mine hour looms.
Met our new ops guy yesterday, this appears that it can be a new oppurtunity for our place, i am sure the company has a specific direction they want to go, will be hard to see self directed work groups go by the way side, but climates have changed, people have changed, things that worked for a very long time and well, arent accepted any longer, so new ideas, not necessiarly better, but new for them, like booger said, been there done that, time will tell

Lubbock In My Rear View Mirror

It is ten twenty tuesday morning, 26 degrees out this morning, breakfast is consumed, google searches made, pogo played,XM blasting on the internet, country classics playing soothing sounds of my promised land. Some phone calls made.
National Weather promised rain, it came in the form of snow, started yesterday morning, got hard for a while, but still just a trace, more cold than wet.I am recovering from hernia surgery from last thursday, called Dr.yesterday, wanted to know if he had any objection to me driving to Denver , sounded like a motorboat on the other end,they still havent called back, makes me wonder , maybe he and my urologist should talk, or maybe they have, I can get more out of him in person, My Urologist thinks i am scarey, or maybe just crazy, either will work.I rode to new mexico in a month from radical prostate surgery, you would think that in 5 days i could drive to denver from a little hernia surgery.The gas they fill you up with for laproscopic surgery is the worst part of it, it has a lasting effect, usually for 5 days or so, very uncomfortable, once past that you are home free or at least i have been the last two times i had it.
I was told i had prostate cancer early last summer,with a friend's help and support, i found a very competent urologist in Lubbock, that performed the laproscopic robotic procedure, you will find that knowlege is the best weapon combating this disease, knowlege and a very positive attitude.
Every one is different, but few men will escape the tribulations of having to be checked for this problem, dont put it off, we never had a family history of prostate cancer in our family, so when the time comes, make sure you take care of you. Get the yearly DRE and PSA, it can only save your life, I was very lucky , You see God still looks out for fools and goldwingriders, and maybe not in that order.A very personal friend contracted it the year before, i wasnt far behind, but if you are faced with it, meet it head on, on your terms, Learn all you can,find a procedure that fits the way you feel, and the way you feel about your self, Your partner and mate will want to be a part of those decision making processes, it affects them as well if you have an ameciable relationship.If not you may find your self riding in Montana and Wyoming for a couple of weeks.
Fortunately, my bike is my therapy, when i got back to Denver, i was pretty sure what I needed to do, but at that point hadn't found the machine or Dr. I needed, but that information was forthcomeing too, just wasnt aware of it at the time.
I get really impatient some times, things don't go my way or the pace isnt fast enough , sometimes for good reasons,God is better than the A team, some times the players dont get the drift and he has to nudge them in the right direction, in my case, He may use a sledge hammer from time to time, but in time i usually get the drift.
I never realized how much water my cell phone could tolerate, on the way to colorado from Dallas i got caught in a terrible rainstorm in western kansas, Stood in the rain under a underpass for over an hour, when i finally reached civilazation again stopped in a burger joint first town i came too, may have been an A&W took phone apart, and dried every thingout, used part of a packet of napkins out of the holder to accomplish my mission , didn't realize they could hold that much water, after an hour the keyboard came back to life, but i didnt think the LCD would make it, sighed and close it all up , back in holster and back on bike, to finish my trip to denver.
when i go to aurora, in the garage and off bike, i offloaded every thing i needed and went to bed,
got a pleasant surprise the next morning, lcd was back and operational, figured it would be doa, and would probably have to exchange it some time that morning , if i could find a cingular dealer that would honor my warranty plan.
At my age, i realize that i can no longer put things up in a safe place, they will be gone forever, since the surgery's have started, i have to date put up a very good knife, and my blue tooth head piece neither have been seen again, also if you fine my green and white shirt jacket, i would be eternally grateful to get it back, but will still purchase another one today or tomorrow, as that is not likely, may be in the same place all my socks go,I can keep hanes in production at the pace i lose socks, i get a personal christmas card from them now, and expect to be on a first name basis by this time next year.
One more thing on the prostate cancer, keep checking on it, do the yearly exams, and psa with out fail, they are finding new things out daily and any one of them can save you life, even if you have to have the surgery, you will find, the people closest to you will want you there breathing, living , regardless of what you lost or percieved you have lost , there are certain things that change for ever, just figure out in your heart and mind, how you need to proceed, and dont forget to ask for help, your loved ones will do any thing they can, if given a chance, to help, friends are especially important here, you will need lots of support before, during and after.
Don't be afraid to sign up for a support group, they are there and available, you have to find and join them, lots of very good resources here, if not more than reading what is said, you have to find what works for you.but remember, smile, makes them wonder what you are up to.

On a clear day you can see amarillo

I am 61 and i am not sure how i got to this place i reside in now, and i dont mean the geological location either.Yesterday i was 25, no wrinkes or crowsfeet around the eyes, a life time ahead of me,drag racing on weekends, running the drag at night, terrorizing the girls, and having a blast, gas for my new elcamino was .44 cents a gallon, didnt know if i could afford to run it or not, would have to make some adjust ments to budget, truck payment was 85.00 a month rent was 120.00, eating was no problem, you ate when you thought of it, you could judge the strength of a muscle car when he pulled under the drive-inns awing, if he rattled the awning, he may be a contender, if not, usually a wanna be,when we get to bench racing, and start talking about the good old days, i lived them, life was good, fast cars, all the gas you could burn , because you could afford it,We used to punch off the traffic lights with the police cars, they not old did it, they demanded it, and i was always eager to oblige
The Elcamino had posi-trac and would run straight in first , second and third, as long as you were willing to stand on it, and i did my share of standing on it.I kinda cheated right after i bought that car, took it back to Dad, he slipped a 390 horse cam with isky anti pump up lifters in it, and that engine would run over the redline any time you wanted.
Only two other friends knew why it ran so hard, we had lots of fun with that car,ran a local boy with a hurst 442 blue printed and balanced right out of the shop, for pinks, I can still hear him hollering shift, shift, thru his open window, I knew his dad, he worked with us, and i knew what was being done to the car and by whom, i didn't take his car after we ran, cause his dad would have took both of us out, but he never wanted any more SS396 Elcamino's any more.
and it wasnt that i didnt get beat, a local boy was quietly working on his 50's model 4 door ford, going about his business building a giant killer, I ran him twice, he broke me from sucking eggs,He beat me the first time, shamed me the second but it was great, and i wouldn't have missed a second of it.I would go thru the list of classics i owned, but it causes my oldest son so much trama, i tend to shy away from doing that, lets say, i would be more than independently wealthy had i kept what i had over the years.
But as always , all good things come to an end, i met my other half, we started a family and the rest is pretty much history, just a few memories from 25 to 61.
I am a button pusher in a plant, you want some black soot made in your plant, i am your guy, have worked shift work for going on a life time, 25 years this summer. They called it R&D , I called it a very long party.It was a family owned concern, and as such it was very informal and very personal.
That changed over time as the powers that be changed, i had a good time,fun place to work for a very long time, till the bean counters got to comeing around, It is still fun, the people there make it that way, not like it was, but you can still see it, if you look hard enough
I was lucky growing up,My heroes were Gary Cooper, Roy Rogers, Lash Larue, Hoot Gibson, Gabby Hayes, Gene Autry and Audy Murphy John Wayne to name a few, and as i got smarter and older not necessarily more mature, My Dad and My Brother's were added to that list as well
My Dad was one of three men that i personally know that could diagnose a car problem over the phone.But that was the day when we still had mechanics, oh the guys that work on them now are technecians, and very smart, i wont take any thing away from them, they work hard at what they do, the ones that really work at it.
That was the time before onboard any thing let alone computers were installed in cars, My new pickup is smarter than me, and I won't let it imtimidate me, and my new motorcycle is also, no telling how many computers it has on it.I kept my old one too, and 85 1200 , paid for, no need to give it away so it is i n the shed too, insured and paid for, covered up in the corner, we will ride again,
I am home convelesing from surgery, two hernia and one for prostate cancer, if my dr knew i was riding in wheeler tx last monday, he would have strung me up, had threatned me before the surgery anway, that i could not throw a leg over it, till he said so, i do how ever start it to keep the battery up
The days have been so pretty here, and when my brother called saturday, and said he would be in Wheeler Tx on monday, i got a little curious, This is a good place , nice community and nice folks, but not a place he would frequent, i just sat back and decided to wait for things to unfold.
I later recieved an email from him advising me of what the trip was about, and i am profoundly glad he let me in on it.
Seems that a young soldier had been killed in action in iraq, and his funeral was last Monday morning.The young man was a brilliant student and just a very good man at heart, Was an Eagle Scout, and I have a special place in my heart for those young men that will work that hard to accomplish an honor of that magnitude, Being an Eagle stays with you for Life, and this young man lived what he believed, He gave his life for what he believed in.

There is a group and i dont intend to give them much space, but a bunch of crazies that want to disrespect the sacrifice of our fallen, makes no difference to them if it is Law enforcement or Military or Fire Fighters.Not only will the descerate the memory of these people, they go out of their way to extend the anguish of the family involved with that sacrifice.
I was a reserve office for 5 years, I know what these men and women go thru every day, was never in the military, but only an idiot would not understand they are in harm's way every second they are in a hostile war zone in any country.Did they ask to go there,NO i can assure you they did not, they went willingly, so that what had to be done is getting done, and not on our shores, Ol Osama has allready shone us he will reach out and touch us and he wants to bring that business here, has several times allready and will continue to try with his cohorts as long as any of them breath.
Out of this , i joined a group called Patriot Guard and believe me I am not much of a joiner, i have been in the radio clubs and car clubs, and what ever, which most failed, because their cause was never clear, and most had way to many chiefs and not enough indians.
I will tell you , i came away from Wheeler with joy in my heart, Yes they lost a very bright , wonderul young man, that had a bright future ahead of him.I have never been any where and been treated any better with a group than the kindness and courtesy that was shown our group in Wheeler Tx.
The Patriot Guard will not go to a service unless they are specifically requested to attend by the family Period
I am not a spokesman for our group, they have really intelligent folks that do that
All i can tell you about is what i experienced, and what i felt and what i saw, and to say the least, i was very impressed.
Police officers and troopers came from allover the Panhandle, they were kind and courteous to all that i saw them deal with, they stood and visited with our group, and we had a very diverse looking group on monday, I rode in next to a new truimph, with a group from oklahoma, the chaplin from a cma group stood next to me at the cemetery, emotions ran high for all of us, the officers treated every one fairly and evenly, we staged at ten behind the court house and recieved our instructions . The Ride Captain was working very closely with the Sheriff's department, they made a place for our bikes and watched them for us through out the time we were in Wheeler, after we rode in formation to the funeral, we did what we could to keep the demonstrators from imposing there vile contempt and hatred on the solider's family, The sheriff's department gave the protestors a permit which expired at 11:00 am.
DPS officers and sheriff's officers and police officers moved in at 10:55 had them put up their signs , they loaded and left
We did run some bikes to keep them from getting their message out, i liked it, there was some noise, and it was loud, but it was never meant to disrupt the services which it did not. The funeral started at 11:00 as planned, we moved our bikes from the second staging area near the Highschool back to the original staging area to form a honor guard for the family and fallen soldier.
I h ave never been afforded the respect and kindness i saw exhbited by the citizens of Wheeler,
as we staged for the honor guard, on both sides of the street behind the court house,I saw citizens that had attended the funeral, walk in the street in front of us, the women waved and talked to us, the men took off their cowboy hats , some even saluted as they went by, and the car prosession was the same, never have i seen any thing like it.
Every intersection had one or more law enforcement officers blocking the streets, standing at attention or parade rest, as we went by all the way to the cemetery , we were at the end of the procession, so they could could have easily gotten into their cars and move out, before we got there, they chose not to and remained as they were,
We pulled into the cemetary, and walked to the graveside services, all attended, as the friends and family left the grave site, quiet a number came thru our ranks women and men a like, spoke to a lot of us, thanking us for comeing and participating in their grief and loss, i have never seen this kind of kindness any where, we were also ask to return to the school cafeteria to eat lunch before we left, that was fixed for us by citizens of Wheeler, officers and firemen and the bikers ate, signed the books the family and Patriot Guard had available , then we departed for our respective homes.I will never forget what i witnessed,you havent lived till you had a whole city hug you.