Les Histoires de Coeur

     My 3 AM mental ramblings have resulted in this revelation entitled "Affairs of the Heart". I can tell that I'm getting old, in the twilight of my years when I feel the need to write. However, I also recognize the fact that photographs would not do justice to my memories. The names here are true but are irrelevant as they are so "gone" or even have passed.

     My first "true love" sprang upon me in the fifth grade when our class received a new student in about October of 1957. Her name was Laurie and so blonde and from so far away, proving that there was a bigger and better life beyond our small town in central Minnesota. The next spring I had a model of a 1958 convertible Cadillac convertible Coupe de Ville with a guy and girl in it. I told her it was us which angered her. Summer came and went but the following year's Christmas play had me as Joseph and she was Mary. This delighted me no end, however I caught pneumonia and missed the performance, being hospitalized. Laurie and her family moved the following spring and was lost to me forever.

     The next heart-throb of my life was discovered in 1961 when I became a high school freshman. A whole new world opened for me when the students from St. Mary's, a parochial school, started "high school". A tall brunette girl captured my heart for four years in high school - and that lasted for decades. Unfortunately I was so smitten I never had the heart to even ask for a date. She moved to the south a couple of years after graduation. Years (and years) later while visiting cousins down south I found her phone number and we went to dinner and she invited me to a party the next day. By then we both had our families and she has since passed away.

     The third and last chapter in the loves of my life occurred shortly after my divorce in 1982. I was driving home from work one afternoon when a girl in a yellow Sunbird car let me out into traffic - LA traffic was tough even then. I waved a "thank you" in my rear view mirror. Then I saw what she looked like and said "SAY WHAT" to myself! For the next few days I would see her driving the same street and we would wave to each other. Finally by the third day I pulled along side her and motioned for her to pull over so we could meet. It became really terrific after that going to lunch together quite often. Lori changed bank branches a couple of times so I would miss her for awhile. Then seeing her driving the opposite way I made a u-turn in the middle of the street and we ran together like we were in a hair shampoo commercial. I was in the midst of moving again and lost track of her when her neighbor said she had moved to Washington DC.

Squashed Laurels - sitting too long

I've been in Los Angeles for a couple of months now working on my delayed projects and I'm getting itchy feet to go somewhere again - it's too damn hot with triple digit heat here near San Bernadino! Taos New Mexico looks a lot cooler at 7000 ft.

So I've left Florida after visiting both cousins for a couple of months. On the way there I dropped off my co-pilot - granddaughter at the Charleston airport to return for school. Ella was a wonderful navigator and great company. While I was in Sebring I finished some repairs on the motor home - bent luggage door. Then later in North Port I replaced the starter and a battery. All in all it was a great time, cousin Buzz who I rode with the Viet Nam Vets and previously the Outlaws both of which he is a retired member.

Having been "gone" for two years by way of Minnesota to check on the family homestead and Seattle to visit my South Bay Brother Marc, it's time to GO. My cousin Len (FL) is going to meet me in Taos on his way (another RV'er) to Minnesota. A Hungarian friend who grew up in Soviet Budapest has moved to Deming and is on my "visiting list". He has first hand knowledge of what socialism is like-terrible!

I'M OFF MY SOAPBOX

   With the changes since January my IRA is up substantially, the taxes are going down, the GDP is up so I don't have anything to complain about anymore. Besides, complaining is like trying to educate all of the inconsiderate drivers in LA.
   I've visited relatives in Florida and survived hurricane Irma, fixed my ice maker, upgraded my TV antenna for digital, and getting ready for Halloween (no pumpkins). Irma was supposed to go up the Atlantic coast but swung around to the Gulf coast so it hit the whole state. Highlands County was hit second worst after the Keys.

The neighbors have a few chickens so I've been helping feed them to get more eggs. I bent over to show them more food with an egg in my phone pocket and got it egged - no damage after a hasty wipe down. But now we're eating avocado omelets with Zatarains Crab Oil.

I'm Baaaak

Wow, what a difference a few years makes! From 2008 since I retired I've still taken a few jobs mostly at the direction of my daughter the president of the business. I've been to Nigeria four times for Chevron but got burned out on that. So when my cousin offered a 40 ft motor home for sale, I took him up on that. Last summer I spent in Minnesota with a side trip for a few weeks to Seattle to visit my Harley riding "brother" and saw the Boeing plant with my former brother-in-law. After wintering in Pennsylvania with my daughter and her family, I left for Florida to visit with cousins with my granddaughter as co-pilot. She caught a flight back home in Charleston, SC to get ready for 8th grade school.
So much for a quick update.....I have had some time in Sebring, FL with cousin Len like repairing the automatic door step and the battery parallel solenoid. There are a half dozen neighbors chickens that come over for their morning feeding. Right now I'm house-sitting until he returns with his new motor home from Phoenix. Then It's on to North Port, FL to see another cousin who I haven't seen in a couple of years.

I'm just out here curing my traveling jones - no place I have to be and the country to see.

What Is Everyone Else Thinking - or are they?

I Think We Have A Problem Houston (Washington)

• The Administrations IRS cannot find 6 months of emails
• Benghazi Murders Have Not Been Caught
• Al Qaeda Are Bigger and Stronger
• Obamacare Will Not Save $2500 But Instead Costs
• A 2.3% DROP In The First Quarter GDP - the economy is NOT improving
• Fast & Furious Gun Running
• The Attorney General Does Not Investigate Potential Crimes

So how long are you the people going to ignore this. Or are you happy with what this has become?

Dateline: My BRFS

Bunker Refuge From Stupidity
    
In his new book, “Blood Feud,” journalist Edward Klein gets inside the dysfunctional, jealous relationship between Bill and Hillary Clinton and Barack and Michelle Obama. Here, he explains what happened the night of the Benghazi attack.
     By 10 p.m. on Sept. 11, 2012, when Hillary Clinton received a call from President Obama, she was one of the most thoroughly briefed officials in Washington on the unfolding disaster in Benghazi, Libya.
She knew that Ambassador Christopher Stevens and a communications operator were dead, and that the attackers had launched a well-coordinated mortar assault on the CIA annex, which would cost the lives of two more Americans.
She had no doubt that a terrorist attack had been launched against America on the anniversary of 9/11. However, when Hillary picked up the phone and heard Obama’s voice, she learned the president had other ideas in mind. With less than two months before Election Day, he was still boasting that he had al Qaeda on the run

My New Bunker of Refuge From Stupidity (RBFS)

     So since nobody is listening or willing/able to do anything about the current social-economic circumstances, I will work n my own projects. The Lord knows I have enough of those. I have fixed the intake manifold leak on the Cherokee - after 5500 miles on a new motor I built, the bolts had slacked off and needed re-torquing.

     My 8 year old laptop I use only for internet radio ran like a quadriplegic so I found a replacement on Ebay. It works so well that for the $130 price I bought my granddaughter one too, She is aceing her schoolwork and her swimming so it's motivational.

  

   My friends of 45 years of riding together from Redondo Beach are gathering for the 20th annual Fat's Run to Kern River. I met Willie John at the Magic Mountain Denny's and spent a great weekend with everyone. Marc went home via 395 where he went north and I went south.

   I got the stripped shift lever repaired on my Heritage and a new battery for the Knucklehead. It runs now that I've adjusted the carb but the rear cylinder smokes bad. I've pulled the head to check and repair the oversize valve guides.

In - Transit

My Life Seems Like a Perpetual Transition

     I sometimes cannot tell if I'm going somewhere and am on my way, or if I'm returning and I'm on my way back. I guess if you've already been somewhere, then you can be coming back. Well, I'm on my way back to California although I'm not a resident anymore. It's just that my junk is still there - I guess because I don't have to go into the snow or rain to work on it. adding a Ha Ha. I've gone through Pennsylvania courtesy of Aleta and the kids picking me up at IAD in D.C. I stopped through Minnesota to see how things were going there and help where I could. Then it's on to SoCal.

     I feel particularly un-motivated but I DO know what causes my malaise! I don't know what to start first. And I don't know if what I'm doing is going to make any difference. Not EVER to others, I got over that years ago. I think I have it figured out though, I enjoy building/making/creating things. That's why I enjoyed this last trip to Africa - I got Nadia's help to build a new system that works automatically.

The hardest thing I have to do is realize there is nobody listening

    

Back to Nigeria (the last time)

     Here I  again, marching orders for Nigeria again. Chevron has another 27 mile pipeline at the SCC pipe mill in Abuja. The first time I went because I'd never been, thtecte 2nd time was because of the grilled giant prawns. This time I want to see my friends that work at the mill for SCC. Our commute is a 14 passenger van escorted by two 4-man pickups armed with AK-47's, one front and one rear. But they cannot protect from rampant stupidity.

     The low-boy hauling this crushed a drainage culvert, tipping over the truck and dumping this in a ditch. The culvert wasn't buried enough - it was too much work to dig more!

     Even at the plant, the 12 hour night shift quits working about 3 am so they can sleep until 6 am.

     The hotel manager characterizes the national mentality with "every day is a new day". This is meaning one must retrain every local employee at the start of each day. The expats are all "normal".

   So we work two 12 hour shifts six days a week. There is no point to go anywhere as there is nothing to see here in the capital city of Abuja. There are no stop signs and the lights are always green for the major street. Since I've been working at SCC, they have never had a operational product tracking system. I have worked with the smartest, sweetest girl from South Africa - all the management is from South Africa.

   Both Nadia's fiance' and uncle work at the pipe mill. They were nice enough to invite us to their annual company party and we lasted until midnight.

    With this being my third trip here, my system has to get re-acclimated to the local food and cooking - But at least I know what to avoid to not get amoebic dysentery. We have had two people that required heavy-duty antibiotic shots to get cured.

     It boggles my mind what kinds of diseases Stanley had to contend with in the Congo. I am certain now that this is my last trip here. It has screwed up my spring in St. Lucia for 3 years now - enough is enough!

Here We Go Again

     So I get this phone call out of the blue while I'm raking leaves at my daughter's in Pennsylvania. I've gotten a referral for a new client in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. They want me to fly out to Rialto (Where Bogart was kidnapped to in "Maltese Falcon") and oversee welding repairs on 90 pieces of 3 ft diameter pipe......well, OK, the money's right. At least I get to visit with Willie and hang out with a fellow conservative Minnesotan. Well see where all this goes. Besides, I get to visit with my son and his family too.

Gone South

      Governor "moonbeam" Jerry Brown and his merry band of idiots up in Sacramento can kiss my lily white backside - I refuse to pay 10%+ in income tax on my retirement. Bottom line, there's no value for the money. I have flown the coop to Florida and I've already moved my company out of the state. Color me GONE!

So in the meantime my cousin had some fun occupational things for me to do. So now I'm a bona fide Southerner!!!

Life on the Mississippi

So I decided to visit my brother before the snow got too deep. And besides, fall is quite pretty up north and he has a few projects for me to work on. I was able to install a new kitchen faucet and valves because the old one leaked under the sink. If I'm going to do the cooking, I'm not running into the other room for water!
After a week or so I received a call requesting me to go to central Wisconsin to witness a factory acceptance test for two Motor Control Centers for a offshore platform - after retrofitting communication hardware for 3 days, we finally got to test the equipment so the 2 days turned into 5 days.....oh well. That's when I got to come back and finish repairing the drive wheels on the Toro lawnmower. Well, it's time to go to Florida now.

"Uncle" Ben and His Merry Band of Idiots

So there was a meeting of the FOMC.........
..."to “direct (the) market”  –  FOMC projections got out of control and now believe the market will go up. The whole financial market is now “government controlled” – Price discovery has been reduced close to ZERO – as even the term-premium (expected rate expectations) is ignored and considered invalid by Fed and its merry men.

Bottom Line: this man doesn't know what he's doing.
He and the government are continuing to rob your
purchasing power by almost 1 trillion dollars a year.

How long are you all willing to put up with this. It is just another turd in a pile of current Federal crap.

Who put this bunch of incompetents there anyway. It sure wasn't me. If it was you, I hope you're satisfied with your Presidential, economic, and foreign policy results. Thanks but don't do me any more favors.

Finally! I Made It To Nigeria

     After a false start for 10 days and a pre-production meeting, I spent 5 weeks on stand-by at Aleta's house pestering Ella and Philip. We put in a garden with tomatoes, corn, pumpkins, habaneros, and strawberries -it'll give them something to do, weeding LOL.

     So I spent LOT'S of time mowing the new 7,000 sq. ft. lawn we installed last fall to repair the sewer installation area that had become embarrassing.

 

 

 

     So now I've been here for two weeks and nothing has been seriously started yet. The pipe mill has run an acceptable weld procedure specification but doesn't have enough materials to run the job.......It's just as bad as last time a year ago if not worse because they don't seem to care. We have an armed escort bus ride for 40 minutes each way and work a 10 hr. shift. The bus ride goes through an outlying area and there are multiple volcanic cinder cones about 500 ft. high that sit on top of the volcanic plateau the capital city of Abuja is located on. I call this "The Mall of Abuja"

 

 



Immigration Legalization is AMNESTY

"Legalization" of those who are here illegally today is amnesty.  It's irrelevant if it leads to citizenship now or later, the fact of the matter is that it rewards criminal activity by allowing those who stole from Americans and their resources to keep what they stole and remain here in America.

But your parents, grandparents or other ancestors probably came here legally -- unless you're Hispanic. Then the odds are that your parents, grandparents or perhaps even you personally came here illegally.

In the early 1900s when millions of people came through Ellis Island there was no welfare system. You either worked hard and earned a living, assimilating into our culture, learning English and strove to become educated or you starved.  Yes, there were groups that provided help but it was voluntary; Churches and other groups, most faith-based, did indeed provide help to those who couldn't help themselves and that's fine.  But there was no Section 8 housing, no WIC, no Food Stamps and no free medical care.
                                                 You worked or you starved
Excerpted from http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=221913

Workers Are Supporting The Mooches!

These 11 States now have More People as Takers than as Makers!
Last month, the Senate Budget Committee reports that in fiscal year 2011, between food stamps, housing support, child care, Medicaid and other benefits, the average U.S. household below the poverty line received $168.00 a day in government support. What’s the problem with that much support? Well, the median household income in America is just over $50,000, which averages out to $137.13 a day. To put it another way, being on welfare now pays the equivalent of $30.00 an hour for a 40-hour week, while the average job pays $20.00 an hour.

Since I'm Off My FB Soapbox....

Written by a USMC Vet:

The American Dream ended (on November 6th) in Ohio. The second term of Barack Obama will be the final nail in the coffin for the legacy of the white Christian males who discovered, explored, pioneered, settled and developed the greatest Republic in the history of mankind.
    A coalition of Blacks, Latinos, Feminists, Gays, Government Workers, Union Members,  Environmental Extremists, The Media, Hollywood, uninformed young people, the "forever needy," the chronically unemployed, illegal aliens and other "fellow travelers" have ended Norman Rockwell's America.
    The Cocker Spaniel is off the front porch...the Pit Bull is in the back yard. The American Constitution has been replaced with Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" and Chicago shyster, David Axelrod, along with international Socialist George Soros will be pulling the strings on their beige puppet to bring us Act 2 of the New World Order.
    Our side ran two candidates who couldn't even win their own home states, and the circus fatty Chris Christie helped Obama over the top with a glowing "post Sandy" tribute that elevated the "Commander-in-Chief" to Mother Teresa status.
    People like me are completely politically irrelevant, and I will never again comment on or concern myself with the aforementioned coalition which has surrendered our culture, our heritage and our traditions without a shot being fired. You will never again out vote these people. It will take individual acts of defiance and massive displays of civil disobedience to get back the rights we have allowed them to take away. It will take Zealots, not moderates--not reach-across-the-aisle RINOs to right this ship and restore our beloved country to its former status.
    Those who come after us will have to risk their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to bring back the Republic that this generation has timidly frittered away due to "white guilt" and political correctness.....

    I'm done.

Spring Hiatus in PA

So after a while I figured I ought to put something up here lest I lose the 2-3 readers I have!
      I spent a month in Birmingham working in a steel pipe mill and eating everything pulled BBQ. I spent a weekend visiting Cousin Bob and wife Joyce in Mentone (NE Alabama - Go Crimson Tide!) while waiting for a Chevron Start in Nigeria AGAIN! That was a false start for the 12 of us to the tune of a pretty penny. So now I'm back at my daughter's house heckling the G-Kids.

I managed to put in a 15 x 25 foot garden with corn, peas, zucchini, strawberries, eggplant, habanero (for PTC), and the radishes are already coming up. Ella and Philip will have some weeding to do when I go back to Nigeria LOL.

You Can't Fix Stupid, But You Can Move

     Earlier this month, California voters passed Proposition 30, a ballot measure containing a number of tax increases that will help avoid drastic cuts to the state's higher education system.
     There's no solution to stupidity that is lawful; your only lawful option if you live in that craphole called California where people vote to steal your money using the guns of the government as a means to compel you to to turn it over and then give it to a bunch of thieves on Wall Street -- not even spending it on a program to benefit you and your children -- is to move!     Florida here I come

Democracy Works!

     So now we have our President and I'm satisfied - the system works for 51% (or in this case 49.7%) of the electorate. Personally I'm glad Obama won because he can still be held responsible for the murder of four Americans in Benghazi. He just stated a week after the election (hmmmmm) that he was responsible for Susan Rice being the "network mouthpiece". So networks (including FNC), if you get Rubed by a shill, it's your own fault because everyone knows that the Whitehouse Crew is a bunch of Chicago thugs masquerading as our national government.
     My more immediate concern is voiced by of all things a European newspaper....Czech on top of that. How's this for insight? It was translated into English from an article in the Prague newspaper Prager Zeitungont:

"The danger to America is not Barack Obama, but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the  necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools, such as those who made him their president."