Cast ur votes ............As Yogi often said....Only in America!

 

It’s time to vote for Parent of the Year.

 

In no particular order, here are this year's leading candidates:

 

 

 

 

 

Great old pictures for history buffs.....

GREAT Extremely clear old pictures. Taken with old 8" x 10" film camera.  Amazingly sharp...   These are photos of life in the US at the beginning of the 20th century. They are truly a walk back in time.  Read the caption under each photo to identify the location and time period.    019 | 1900| New Jersey circa. " Bergen Tunnel, eastend"           020 | 1900| Chicago . "A walk in Lincoln Park "           021 | 1900| Buffalo , New York. " Labor Day parade, Main Street "           022 | 1900| "U.S.S. Oregon quarterdeck"| Edward H. Hart           023 | 1900| "U.S.S. Chicago. One of the crew"           024 | 1901| Buffalo , New York. "Unloading ore from whaleback carrier"           025 | 1901| "Hanging rock on the Susquehanna near Danville , Pennsylvania "           026 | 1901| Petoskey , Michigan. "Grand Rapids & Indiana R.R. Station"           027 | 1901| Detroit . "Excursion steamers Tashmoo and Idlewild at wharves"           028 | 1901 | Colorado . "Station and hotel, summit of Pike's Peak "           029 | 1902 | "A poor family"           030 | 1902| Iowa . " Chicago & North Western Railway — steel viaduct over Des Moines River" | William Henry Jackson           031 | 1903| New York . " Brooklyn Terminal at Brooklyn Bridge "           032 | 1903| "S.S. Proteus. High water at New Orleans levee"           033 | 1903| "Unloading bananas at New Orleans , Louisiana "           034 | 1904| The Jersey Shore. " Steeplechase Pier and bathers, Atlantic City "           035 | 1904 | " Michigan Central Railroad. Oiling up before the start"           036 | 1904| New York . "The Ponies, Coney Island "           037 | 1905| St. Clair , Michigan. "Launch of steamer Frank J. Hecker"           038 | 1905| St. Augustine , Florida. "They were on their honeymoon"           039 | 1905| Coney Island , New York. "Surf bathing"           040 | 1905>| The New Jersey shore. " Boardwalk and beach, Asbury Park "           041 | 1905| Cleveland , Ohio. " Cuyahoga River from the Viaduct"           042 | 1905 | Buffalo , New York. "Jack-Knife Bridge, City Ship Canal , foot of Michigan Street"           043 | 1905| The Detroit River. "Transfer steamer Detroit in the ice"           044 | 1905| Houghton , Michigan. "Loading copper on steamer Juniata"           045 | 1905 | Buffalo , New York. "Looking up Main Street. Steamer North Land at Long Wharf"           046 | 1905 | "A winter morning"           047 | 1905| Knoxville , Tennessee. " Gay Street looking north from Clinch Avenue"           048 | 1905 | Hot Springs , Arkansas. "Roadway through the pines"           049 | 1905| Chicago . "The bridge, Lincoln Park "           050 | 1906| " Mississippi River Landing"           051 | 1906| Birmingham , Alabama. " Second Avenue looking east"           052 | 1906| Gulfport , Mississippi. "Steamer loading resin"           053 | 1906| Wequetonsing , Michigan. "The birches and the bay"           054 | 1906| Circa. "Banana docks, New York"           055 | 1906| "Railroad station, Magnolia, Massachusetts"           056 | 1907| Detroit . "Band concert on Grand Canal, Belle Isle Park "           057 | 1907| "The Brooklyn Bridge Promenade and Manhattan Terminal"           058 | 1907| Chicago , Illinois. " Jackknife Bridge , Chicago River" | Hans Behm           059 | 1907| Chicago , Illinois. " Jackknife Bridge , Chicago River" | Hans Behm           060 | 1907| Savannah , Georgia. "A group at the Hermitage"           061 | 1908| New York . " Times Square " The old New York Times building, now encased in billboards, Hotel Astor and various theaters seen from Broadway.           062 | 1908| Detroit . "Waders at Belle Isle Park "           063 | 1908| Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania. " Nixon Theatre, Sixth Avenue & Cherry Alley"           064 | 1908| "Suburban station, Petoskey , Michigan "           065 | 1908| New Yo=

To some very special folks in my life...

In case you haven't heard from me for 2016 (or even if you have already), I give you this gift of a most special email with many beautiful pictures for your perusal.

Enjoy and have a healthy, wonderful year..

Catching Wild Pigs ...

 A thought to remember, Marx said, "Remove one freedom per generation and soon you will have no freedom and no one would have noticed."

There was a chemistry professor in a large college  that had some exchange students in the class.

One day while the class was in the lab, the professor noticed one young man, an exchange student, who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt. The professor asked the young man what was the matter.

The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native  country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist regime.  In the midst of his story, he looked at the professor and asked a strange question.

He asked: "Do you know how to catch wild pigs?"
 
The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said that it was no joke. "You catch wild pigs by finding a  suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come every day to eat the free food".
 
"When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming.  When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence".
 
"They get used to  that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side".

"The pigs, which are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat that free corn again. You then slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd".
 
"Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence,  but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity."
 
The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening in America . The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tax exemptions, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare entitlements, medicine, drugs, etc., while we continually lose our freedoms, just a little at a time as the  government forces us to participate in many of these programs whether or not we want to.
 
One should always remember two truths: There is no such thing as a free lunch, and you can never hire someone to provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.

If you see that all of this wonderful government "help" is a problem confronting the future of democracy in  America , you might want to share this with your friends.

If you think the free ride is essential to your way of life, then you will probably not share this.
BUT, God help us all when the gate slams shut!
 
Quote for today: "The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a living are now outnumbered by those that vote for a living."

Think about the above and how it relates to what is going on in this country right now.  It is about time to stand up and say NO MORE.  Email this to your representatives and let them know that you are awake and taking a stand!!
KD

 "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately" ~ Benjamin Franklin July 4th 1776 "Those who hammer their guns into plowshares will plow for those who do not". ~ Thomas Jefferson "taint the guns they are after! It's all of your constitutional rights that they are aiming to take" ~ AB 2009 "God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it." ~ Daniel Webster 1834 "What, Sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty.... Whenever Governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins." (Rep. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, spoken during floor debate over the Second Amendment [I Annals of Congress at 750, August 17, 1789]) "So many so blind to that what is kicking them in the face is not someone else but their own ignorance. (AB 2014)"