I am not a happy camper, literally. I have made plans with my buddy Nate to go camping this weekend. I want to go to Marsh Lake on the north side of the Uinta Mountains. It is a beautiful spot and the fishing is great. I called to make reservations for the camp ground. I am three days out from camping and you need to reserve your site no less then four days out. So I can not reserve Friday, and I can not reserve Saturday because it is a minimum of two days on the weekend. We do not want to stay through till Monday. We could take off very early on Friday morning (Nate does not do early very well) and take our chanced that we can find a spot, but my bride does not think that is a good idea. Most the camp grounds are full for this coming weekend I have checked. I believe the plan will be for the two of us and are respective brides to head for the south slope of the Uinta’s and try to find a spot at Shady Dell camp ground. It is all first come first serve. I think the bride and I will take of earlier on Friday to secure a couple of spots. Nate and his bride can meet us there. I will admit that this is my fault for not calling sooner but I am still upset. Once I get the trailer set up and catch a few fish I will be much better. Until then look out.

I was over at Walrilla's wondering and he had a link to this article. I guess it is not really an artical but it is worth the time to read.

My daughter called at 5:30 this morning. Of course there was panic when I saw her name on caller ID. Nobody calls that early unless there is trouble. Her first word where “there is nothing wrong”, she was dropping her husband off at work and she want to come by to borrow my chain saw. She was taking down a few trees in her yard. She was at the house by 5:45 and I gave her a quick lesson on how to run the chain saw. This is a 20” gas powered tree killing machine. She had never used one before. She said she was good to go. All was good with the world. The bride and I headed off work.

About 8:15 I get a text message from my baby girl. “STUPID CHAIN SAW”, I had a very short meeting at 9:00 so I told her I would stop by as soon as I was done. I used the saw just a month ago and it had run just fine. So I thinking this is no big deal and I head down the road. I call my boss and tell her that I have taken off and will settle up with my leave when I get back.

I make a call to let the girl know that I am on my way and she asked if I could back into the driveway so I could take a load of limbs and stuff to the green dump in town. I am a dad and she is daddy’s little girl so I say no big deal. I try the chain saw and nothing it will not run. I have a spare sparkplug in the carrying case and I swap it out with the old one. It runs like a champ. Jill shows me what she is up to and this is no job for one person. I have my gym clothes in the truck and I change shirts and I am taking down trees. The trees have grown up and into over head lines. Not power but cable and phone lines. The chain on my saw is a little dull (like the operator) but is cutting fairly well. I cut the tree to fall away from the line but next to her garage. There is about two feet clearance between the garage and the tree with the line on the other side. The tree comes down hit the garage and my head. I figure my head broke the fall and save the garage. Not harm no foul. We cut off the branches and cut the tree into bite size chunks. I move on the next tree and this one is a little trickier. Then chain on the saw has given up the ghost, will not cut anymore. I need a break any way so I send the girl off to Home depot to fine a new chain or an electric chain saw. They are not very expense and I figure I could use one around the house. One or the other would do the job. She is gone and I get to spend time with my granddaughter Ava. This is a treat and I love to watch her. Jill comes back with both a new chain and an electric chain saw. There is no stopping us now. The second tree comes down without much of a problem. It hangs up in the lines just for a few seconds and then it comes tumbling down. Lines are intact and we get to cut this tree up into little pieces. This stopping by to help out turned into an all day project but I had a great time doing it. I take one more trip to the green dump and I am off. Jill and her husband can finish up the job. I left both chainsaws over at their place. I will admit that I hurt in places I forgot I had. But I feel good about it.

All in all it was a good day. When I was sitting out side watching Ava I figured this is what it is going to like when I retire. I have 196 days until I am eligible. I won’t go then but I can and that has to be a good feeling.

I had a very good time in the desert yesterday. My buddy Nate and I did not go chasing after jackrabbits. Nate figured with having my knee scoped last week I should stay close to the truck. I really think he did not relish the idea of dragging me back to the truck if I hurt myself. Each of us sighted in a couple of rifles at 100 yards, plus we did a lot of plinking. Plinking is done mostly with 22’s and is some of the best fun you can have with guns. I cleaned my rifles this morning and I will take care of the handguns a little later.

I was telling Nate that I may hold off on picking up any additional firearms for the next year. I really need to put some money aside. The bride and I are planning on a cruise to Alaska with her sister and husband, I have my Alaskan fishing trip in September, and the bride’s brother has invited me to go hunting in Montana next fall. The bride asked me how much we could afford and I replied “we are going to find out”. I checked my power ball numbers and I still am not rich, so I will put away some money.

This is a great artical on fighting the war

I am trying to work up the energy to go out and do some much needed yard work. Maybe one more cup of coffee will do the trick.

My little girl turns 30 today. The bride and I have called and I sang happy birthday to her. We will meet a little later today and have lunch in a park near her house.

My knee is feeling better and I think I will be to work in the morning. The bride wants me to take the whole week off. I don’t see the point in that. Either place I am going to be sitting most of the day. I won’t go back to the gym until I talk with the Dr. on Wednesday. My buddy Nate and I are headed from the desert this coming weekend to exercise our second amendment rights. Always remember the second amendment makes all the others possible. I have bore sighted a new scope on my mini 14 but I need to put it on paper to see how it is really shooting. I'll drag the shooting bench, gun rest, and spotting scope along and just have a grand time. I think most of the big bore stuff will be heading out with us. To my friend Dave you have an open invitation to head out with us anytime you come to the states.

I feel the need to get away and get in touch with my masculine side. I need a fishing and/or hunting trip. This weekend is out of the question I am recovering from my knee being scoped. It is sore and stiff but I am sure that it is getting better. Stairs are kicking my butt right now, so I avoid them as much as I can. It is little hard to when you live in a two story house with a basement. We have the carpet cleaning guy coming this morning, so I have vacuumed the living room and I mopped the kitchen. See what I mean I need to get in touch with my masculine side. I did have hunting and fishing shows on the TV while I was doing house work so it is not as bad as it seems.

My buddy Nate called to check on me last night. I do appreciate that. He was on his way to the minor league baseball game. I have thought about taking the bride to some of the games. But I don’t want to sit in the sun with the temperatures hitting 100 degrees. It has been cooling off a little so I may rethink about going. Could be a good diversion from the day to day goings on.

My buddy Nate explained to me how he knew God was a loving God, God made grass and weeds the same color. Now I am not sure that I agree with his theology but it did make me chuckle. It was almost 100 degrees again today. The air conditioning at work still does not work It has been tough this summer. I explained to my boss that I am sure they will fix the A/C by Fall.

I go in for arthroscopic surgery on my left knee this Thursday. I hurt it at my granddaughter’s birthday party. One year old girls can get pretty rough.

Ava spent Friday night and most of Saturday with us. What a joy she is. Ava is a blessing

I checked my power ball numbers this morning. I still have to go to work. sigh

My tooth has stopped hurting. The infection was into my jaw bone, even with the root cannel and the tooth all cleaned out I was still in pain. I woke up this morning and no pain. I have the day off so I am busy doing a bunch of house work. We are having a dinner party tonight and the bride is at work. She special ordered a vacuum cleaner with an oversized handle just to make sure that it fit me. We all know that the vacuum cleaner is ergonomically designed to fit a women’s hand. Women’s feet are smaller so they can get closer to the sink. The facts are the facts and all I am saying that it is just the way it is. ;-)

Worldnet daily sometimes has to be taken with a grain of salt. But here is a very good article on drunk drivers and their Immigration status

Oh my, I ended up getting a root cannel to morning. I left from work with my tooth throbbing, got to the dentist and the numbing shot was wonderful. I felt nothing through out the whole ordeal. Went back to work (my boss said she was amazed that I came back after a Root cannel) I have some stuff that is on a very short suspense and I was feeling no pain. About a half hour ago the shot wore off and I am feeling a lot of pain. I punched out and came home. I took some pills and should be feeling better here shortly. Man do I hurt.

My daughter in law is brand new to blogging. Maybe you could stop by and say hi.

It is going to be a warm one today. The forecast is for 101 degrees. This will be the twelfth day of 100 degrees or higher so far this year. I went out and did some much needed work in the garden. The sun popped up over the mountains and it got a little to warm for me. It seems Saturday morning is about the only time I can get out to do yard work. We leave the house around 5:30 each morning and get home anywhere between 4:00 and 6:00 in the evening. By that time we are too tired and it is too hot to do more then drag the hose around the yard. The great state of Utah is still on fire and there seems to be more fires all the time. Most are started by lightening. We get thunder heads moving across the state and they will produce the lightening but the rain does not reach the ground. It is to hot and too dry so it evaporates before it gets to the earth.

I thought about going fishing this morning but the bed would not let go. I slept in until 6:45. It felt great and I needed the sleep. The bride is still asleep and I am going to enjoy another cup of coffee. I love quite mornings like this, a little coffee and little prayer, a little yard work and hunting shows on TV. God is good and I am blessed.

San Diego is caving in to the pressure of the muslium community. What is not said in this article is the children are given a special room and prayer rugs provide by the tax payers of San Diego county. This prayer time is segregated for muslium only. I wonder what would be said if these were Christan kids wanting a bible club or prayer meeting. Oh wait they already tried that and there has to be separation of church and state. American had better wake up, these “prayer times” will soon need to be lead by a Muslim cleric that very likely will preach the hate that is coming from many of the worlds Islamic leaders. Trust me this will come back and bite us in the butt

It looks like the United States is not the only society with a left leaning agenda for school aged children

July 13, 2007
British schools cut Churchill from curriculum
Clarice Feldman
In a continuing move to suck the brains out of British schoolchildren, the curriculum board has decided to make teaching about Winston Churchill no longer mandatory to leave more school time for more "relevant subjects".
Britain's cigar-chomping World War Two PM - famed for his two-finger victory salute - was removed from a list of figures secondary school children must learn about.

Instead they will be taught about "relevant" issues such as global warming and drug dangers. Churchill's grandson, Tory MP Nicholas Soames, branded the move "total madness."

The decision to axe Churchill is part of a major shake-up aimed at dragging the national curriculum into the 21st century, it was claimed last night.

But the plan - hatched by advisers - angered schools secretary Ed Balls, who vowed to probe ALL the changes to the curriculum.

The proposals will see traditional timetables torn up, with pupils focusing on modern "relevant" topics such as drug and booze abuse, climate change and GM foods.

Churchill - voted the greatest ever Briton - goes off the required lessons list, along with Hitler, Gandhi, Stalin and Martin Luther King.

There will also be no need to mention the Wars of the Roses, Elizabeth I or Henry VIII.
With terrorists stalking the UK and Islamofascism threatening all of the West and its values, I can hardly think of a more stupid move than to replace teaching about Churchill with global warming and GM foods.

We got home from mom’s Sunday afternoon. We were able to get through the wild fire in the middle of the state. They had closed I -15 Saturday and open the road for a short period on Sunday. We happened to make it through; I -15 was closed again after we were safely on the other side. The fire is approaching 500 square miles. Just think about that for awhile.

I will have a chemically induce stress test tomorrow. These are not a lot of fun. They shoot you full of meds that raise your heart beat. It is the only way to get my hear beat to the level they need for the test. I think they are going to pump me full of radioactive dye and take my picture. Yep, it is nothing but fun tomorrow. What is really bad is no coffee for 24 hours prior to the test. No chocolate, no wine, no food after midnight, no nothing. Yes I will be living the dream come morning. In all honesty I don’t think it is all that bad. The meds suck but the rest in no big deal. I count my blessings, I am still alive and healthy for a broken down fellow.

I leave this afternoon for San Diego. The bride and I are packing up the dogs and going to visit mom. It will be a nice visit and we will get out of the heat for a couple of days.

My sister goes in for back surgery today. She has a cist growing out of her spine and pressing against the nerve in her back. She is in a great deal of pain. She almost did not get to have the surgery, she had an EKG just before the surgery and it was abnormal. It appears she has a slight blockage of an artery in her heart. She had triple bypass a year ago and she was freaked out. It came back 23% blocked so it should not be a problem.

I have been having some problems with my knees lately and I know I will have to get them replaced. I will wait until next year if I can. If I had them done now I would not be healed up enough for the cruise we are taking in October. That would be BAD!!

They have offered an early retirement at work and I have been thinking about it. If I put in for it and was accepted I would be unemployed by the end of September. I want to be retired but I don’t think I am ready for this “early out”. I am eligible for retirement in February. Then if they offer an early retirement I would not have to take any penalties that make a big difference on the bottom line.
I hope everybody has a safe and enjoyable 4th of July. See ya

My oldest son turns 32 today, I am not sure how that happened but I guess it did, Happy Birthday son. (none of my kids read my blog).

My youngest son and his wife spent the night last Saturday on the way to Sacramento. They joined up with her parents and went to visit an aunt. They left behind their three dogs. If my math is correct my two and their three mean I have five dogs at my house. My dogs are on the small side. We have a corgi at 25 pound and we have a Pomeranian mix that tips the scales at 17 pounds. The boy’s dogs are a basset hound, golden retriever, and a german sheppard. It has been chaotic to say the least; at least they all seem to get along (kind of). I went on the dreaded backyard patrol yesterday and was amazed at how much poop these guys can lay down. A snow shovel and a rake took care of the job.



My corgi digs all the time, she does not try and get out she just goes around looking for where she thinks a hole might be and takes out all the dirt until she finds it. She is very good at finding holes. While I was out in the yard yesterday Bruno (the Sheppard) decided he could find holes. I mean holes. There is a hole next to one of the supports of the deck that you could bury a Volkswagen. I fill this one in tonight.



It sounds like my buddy Nate has hurt his back. We had planes to go prairie dog hunting this Friday but I am sure he will not be up to it. So I am going cat fishing my freind Rickey. It should be fun and I enjoy smoked cat fish, and yes I know it is hard to keep them lit.