High Crimes and Misdemeanors

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, whose county lies at the center of major drug and alien smuggling routes to Phoenix and cities east and west, attests to the violence. He said his deputies are outmanned and outgunned by drug traffickers in the rough-hewn desert stretches of his own county.

"Mexican drug cartels literally do control parts of Arizona," he said. "They literally have scouts on the high points in the mountains and in the hills and they literally control movement. They have radios, they have optics, they have night-vision goggles as good as anything law enforcement has.

"This is going on here in Arizona," he said. "This is 70 to 80 miles from the border - 30 miles from the fifth-largest city in the United States."

He said he asked the Obama administration for 3,000 National Guard soldiers to patrol the border, but what he got were 15 signs.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer condemned what she called the federal government's "continued failure to secure our international border," saying the lack of security has resulted in important natural recreational areas in her state being declared too dangerous to visit.

At this point the President of the United States has committed the crime of malfeasance. A deliberate failure to perform his duty to this nation. He is subject to impeachment and removal from office for failing to perform duties assigned by the Constitution.

The party of rants, violence and lies.....

SALISBURY, Md. -- A gunshot shattered a glass door Wednesday at a Salisbury office of the Maryland Republican Party, according to a party statement.

The party published the statement on its website, indicating that a single gunshot shattered the front door at the office early in the morning.

Salisbury police officers discovered the shattered glass after midnight and reported that the office had been vandalized.

The statement indicated that a party staffer found a bullet in the office.

If you have any information regarding this continuing investigation, contact Salisbury police by dialing 410-548-3165.

In these days it is entirely possible that someone from that office, or a friend, fired a shot to get a little notice for the GOP.

Even so, the person responsible needs a little jail time.

I am willing to believe a frustrated Demi could no longer restrain it's self. This would not be the first violent attack by the pacifist party. Stand by for more demonstration of unhinged politics.

Obama is working under the table again.....

Ashley Carson, executive director of the Older Women's League, wrote in a blog post in April that Simpson is targeting Social Security to fix the deficit even though it "doesn't contribute" to the country's debt problem. She also accused Simpson of "disgusting ageism and sexism" in characterizing those who oppose cuts to benefits as "Gray Panthers" and "Pink Panthers."

In his email to Carson, which was sent Monday night, Simpson said he is defending Social Security, not trying to undermine it, and referred her to information showing the program's long-range shortfalls.

He went on: "I've made some plenty smart cracks about people on Social Security who milk it to the last degree. You know 'em too. It's the same with any system in America. We've reached a point now where it's like a milk cow with 310 million tits! Call when you get honest work!"CNNMoney.com

OK, Dude, I've been doing honest work for forty four years, and you were a politician! What did you pay in?

OH, wait! Congress has made a tradition of "borrowing" (yes, those are sneer quotes) from the Social Security Fund, virtually since it's inception, and filling the coffers with worthless IOU's. Now the IOU's are about to come due, and you don't want to pay up! When I finally reach my retirement age, that continues to rise, I will have worked and paid into the system for fifty three years. Does that offend you that I expect some benefit that Congress has promised me for that entire time?

Do you think reducing the manpower of the federal government by laying off Social Security will reduce the deficit? Could it be that repaying the debt to those who paid for your schemes will cause a rise in the National Debt?

Will any borrow and spend politician, please, explain to me how spending a borrowed dollar in some trickle down scam, can ever be recovered in it's entirety? With interest? Can't happen.

Obama routinely places the most divisive people available in positions that will cause trouble. In this case he has recruited at least one person who would curtail our ability to recover what we have already paid in to the government. I would actually be satisfied with that amount that was deducted from my pay checks, the money that I worked for, but I will never see it.

Now you want to criticize some one who lobbies for the elderly, does that make me your problem?

Yes, Dude, I AM part of your problem.

Royalty....or so they think

The president has spent the day watching DVDs and playing the board game Taboo at Blue Heron Farm, the spacious $20 million estate the First Family rented, at a cost of somewhere between $35,000 and $50,000 a week. Sitting on 28.5 acres in the Chilmark section of the island, the farm has its own private section of Squibnocket beach, four living residences including a white Victorian farm house, a gym, a swimming pool, an outdoor basketball half-court, and a putting green. From the drudge report.

Hard times, not for the first family.

I guess we should all scrimp a little so Barry and Mo can have a little time off. The First Muslims are too stressed to attend to the nations business for more than a few days before going away to unwind.

What happened to Camp David? Not good enough?

It almost makes me wish for Jimeah Cahtah back. Not quite, but he did use Camp David to keep Yasser Arafat off the streets for a while.

The excesses of this troop of would be rulers just floors me. I am seeing notes in the news that some are beginning to see that Barry doesn't intend to run again, that perhaps his attempt to destroy America is only a resume line for his speaking tour after leaving office.

It's almost unthinkable that the president of this nation would attempt to reduce us to a banana republic, then use the high office he has held to profit from the destruction. But, Hey, he's a Democrat, it's OK.

I could just cry....

I was day dreaming on Auto Trader, looking at Aston Martin's.

Some poor dude is selling a $160K, 2003 DB7 with 50,000 miles, for $60K ,,,,,

because his wife wants "something new".

What the dude needs to do is buy her a Hundai.

A comment from an article found on the Drudge report

nataya wrote:

The costs to the American taxpayers of Michelle Obama's trip to Spain are being understated.

In addition to the Air Force Two airliner that took Michelle and her daughter to Spain, there are numerous other aircraft that accompany the First Lady when she travels any distance from home base: there are the escort aircraft (fighter planes), there is at least one C-47 that must cart the bullet-proof limousines for the First Lady and her guests and the special cars used by the Secret Service, and there is a cargo plane to take the jet fuel over to Spain for the return trip back to The States. (we do NOT buy local jet fuel for the president or First Lady when they travel abroad). We also have to pay a per diem -- $273-a-day federal per diem for five days -- for each of the 70 Secret Service agents who must accompany a First Lady when she travels; that per diem is in addition to the lodging and food expenses (paid by the taxpayers) for the 70 Secret Service agents traveling with Michelle.

The costs to the American taxpayers for Mrs. Obama's "private" jaunt are stupendous and outrageous.

Was there NO place within the United States that Mrs. Obama would find interesting or worth visiting?

She COULD be touting America as a tourist destination; instead she is making a clear statement that there is nothing worth seeing in the United States.

She COULD have been spending American dollars to boost the American economy; instead, she boosted the Spanish economy. Gee, thanks, Michelle.

We have been LECTURED by President Obama about the need of EVERYONE to sacrifice during these stressful economic times. I guess Michelle Antoinette didn't get the memo. She is living higher off the hog than she ever dreamed possible.

My hope is that after the 2012 election, Mr. and Mrs. Obama will be free to travel anywhere they want to as PRIVATE citizens paying their own way.

Royalty needs not explain, all us little people need to suck it up and defer to them.

I have a couple of questions.....

The Obamassiah exhibits some odd behaviors for a politician. Perhaps he is above giving, at least, lip service to the will of the people. Perhaps he is blind to the consequences of being an idiot. Perhaps he just doesn't care.

The last part is what concerns me. A politician that doesn't care about the next vote has a plan.

The great one disregards the media, cracks on some of the reporters, and disrespects a Senator that spent more time in a POW camp that Barry has in the Senate. Poor PR if nothing else. His arrogance is on display daily.

Note to Barry: Arrogance does not sit well with "we the people".

He has championed a health care plan that will bankrupt many households, and disguised it as less expensive than what is available now. Many believe it is socialized medicine. I made that mistake as well. It is actually government controlled insurance that we will have to pay through the nose for. It will eventually, probably, expand to be come the very industry it demonizes.

Why?

For the money. If costs to the consumer go up, and the cost as well as the availability, of those services are regulated at a lower rate, remember insurance and doctors are ripping us off, who gets the difference?

The premise that the government will take in money is directly opposed to the projected cost of the bill. That is the excuse for the tax increase that comes with the bill and the taxes that will follow.

Barry has espoused "bailouts" of banks and automakers from the pockets of taxpayers. Would the collapse of banks and employers have triggered a depression?

We will eventually find out.

What is certain is the interest on the debt this nation has incurred is about one third of the gross national product. I am told when the interest on the debt exceeds the GNP our money is worthless, because the government that backs the currency is insolvent. Actually it's worse than that. If 100% of our income is owed to taxes to cover the debt, how do we live? If 100% of our taxes are owed to intrest, how does the government keep it's promises and obligations to the people?

He is in favor of "immigration reform". The expression is a euphemism for an amnesty for people who have committed various crimes by coming to this country or staying too long. That doesn't make them bad people, but lawbreakers. They also work, they take jobs that might be available to the 9% of citizens that need them. There are many degreed engineers who would gladly mow your yard or clean your house to put food on the table.

Well, not gladly, willingly.

Why do we want to give citizenship or work visas to foreign nationals when our natives are out of work. I wish I could find the article that put immigration at 100K a month, that would be 1.2 million a year. Who would be the hero if, perhaps, one third of that number of jobs were created. I'm pretty sure the Oval office would have some self congratulatory statement on the subject.

He has reached the pinnacle of ambition for a community organizer, where else could he go? Is one term enough to satisfy an ego large enough to have it's own gravity well?

I think not.

Mister Hussein Obama has a very interesting resume. If you brush past the education, lack of a certificate of live birth, voting "present" on almost every bill before him, and a complete lack of performance in the Senate, you will find that he worked for an organization run by sixty's radicals who sought the violent overthrow of our government. You will also find that he attended a church pastored by a racist who hates America. If you have ever associated with those sorts, you will know that they will not tolerate a dissenting opinion in their presence. Additionally most people go to church to worship and learn how to live from their Pastor, not just for appearances.

It might be for appearances, which would be slightly better, but then which is disingenuous?

Barry is a mole.

Indoctrinated by the radicals in ACORN, coached and sponsored by those well versed in politics, and presented as a candidate to change the face of the nation.

They got that part right.

This nation would be very hard to dispose of from the outside, however it could be done by economic means from within. The Democrats have been trying that for years. The greatest changes come from within. A nation torn apart by joblessness and a divisive leader, toss in racist sentiment, will not emerge the same.

Barrack Hussein Obama does not act like he wants to run for office again.

Is that because he can't win, or because he doesn't plan to allow another election?

Those are the questions.

As was stated before, this is the greatest nation on earth, he wants to change it.

Don't you remember?

Way back in 2008 the soon to be first lady made the statement that the pie is only so big, and some will have to take a smaller piece, so others will be able to get more.

Now we know who the "others" are.

That would be "she who must be obeyed" and forty or so close friends and family. That would not include the nearly seventy security folks. This was a "mother and daughter trip" per a White House spokes person.

Thank God it wasn't a family outing.

$375K, per the Drudge report. Somebody got themselves one humongous piece of pie.

Everyone I know is tightening their belt, and the White House staff is on over time planning trips for the first spouse. Eight this summer, or so reports say.

The next extravagance is the designer coat, from the UK, whass'amatter Mo-chelle, US designers not good enough for you?

The sense of entitlement is staggering.

Just so you know...

If you mix Whipped Cream flavored vodka with an orange soda, it tastes like a creamsicle that will punch you in the head.

Update on the work break

This has been a busy summer, very interesting, like the Chinese curse.

TLOML had a lumpectomy the day before I had to leave for work. If I live to be a thousand I will never do anything harder. Still the bills have to be paid. They were substantial, all covered now. God be praised, the mass was benign. Laser treatments (???) and medication and things are better.

We have done some kitchen up grades, and a major cleanup in the garage. If you think that was a minor thing, then you haven't seen my work bench.

We took a weeks vacation in Mexico, pictures below. We climbed some pyramids, swam in underground rivers, rode ATVs in the jungle and walked on the bottom of an inlet in hard hat dive equipment. We enjoyed some local foods, liquors, and entertainment.

The clan will have a new member in September, courtesy of my stepson and his love. She is the sweetheart he has been waiting for, or if he screws it up, he's an idiot.

One of my son-in-laws is changing jobs, so his soon to be ex-coworkers gave him a farewell party that left him at his door step at four in the morning, in his socks and boxers, falling down drunk, covered in ranch dressing and deli meats. ( WTH???) I don't think I will ever party like that.

An apology to myself and any reader lingering out there

These days I'm living my life in a blender, on puree. You might imagine the blur of the world passing as you peer out from your own Daiquiri.

I admit to a little sense of helplessness, as I watch the highest elected official in the land dismantle our nation.

Because of this, I have recently just shook my head and wondered how any one can still believe this amateur can remain in office.

I will start again to voice my opinion on these pages as an outlet for my frustration.

I should have been doing so all along.

If you were not terrified of government before.....

Now would be a good time to start.

From Congress a chart of the health care bill. If you can make anything of this you are way smarter than me.

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/tx08_brady/pr_100728_hc_chart.html

Except for the massive increase in taxes and government intrusion into your life.

A thought

All men are dreamers,

Some only at the moment of their death.

Endeavor to persevere....

this is the Democratic Party method.

In my state liberals and northern transplants tried to get liquor by the drink. Every time they tried the preachers and the boot leggers would get together and vote it down.

They persevered, and succeeded. No one will start the effort to repeal the law. There is too much money to be made.

The same applies to health care reform (gubbmint take over), they will continue down this ruinous road until it is in place.

As Ronald Regan said, "the closest thing to eternal life is a government program".

If we can hold them off until November, vote out everyone who even mentions it without spitting on the ground, we might be able to hold it off for a few years.

Send them all home.

Quiet drone...

sit down, shut up, and do only what you are told.

In another step toward a totalitarian world, the Obamasiah has committed to regulation on fishing, which could include, disallowing recreational fishing.

Previously the CHOSEN ONE has stated that "the right to keep and bear arms can be managed." His minion has committed to the Useless Nitwits small arms treaty. Discussions with every whack job in the world for any reason what so ever.

The entitlement mentality will destroy this democracy, as it has every other democracy. There are only so many beans in the can, when they are gone, if you continue handing out beans that have been borrowed, eventually you will reach the point that you can borrow no more, then what?

The health care "reform" and bailouts are a disincentive to being productive, responsible, and self sufficient. "I don't have to know or do anything, the gubmint will do it for me."

If our Congress critters will postpone the spending until the election season, they will see what we the people want.

Until then the Obamasiah, will continue to destroy our way of life as fast as he can.

God is telling me I'm Fat

Like I didn't know already.

I have my excuses, like work, like something hurts, like I'm a whiny baby.

This morning I walked down to the street. It was a beautiful day and warm. I looked down the street and saw an interesting profile. Looked like a weight machine. I wondered what kind of shape it was in, so I strolled over.

Mumh, looks Ok.

I went home and grabbed a two wheeled dolly, and, uhh, recycled it. It has two weight stations, one for fly's, presses, and curls. The other for leg extensions, pull downs, rowing and other things I will discover, surely.

I cleaned out the garage, washed the unit and drug it in, first work out and I didn't even use the machine.

As the good Lord has provided, so will I work.

Looks like I'm out of excuses.

Break between jobs, sucks huge

It’s been an interesting couple of months.

Kind of like being set on fire, but not quite.

Thanks giving and Black Friday. The struggle with the gift buying thing until Christmas.

Major family blowup, the girls, the rest of the family is OK and the one to blame (mostly) refuses to accept any responsibility, as expected.

I wish I was as perfect as she thinks she is.

My truck was stolen from my driveway, dumped in the woods a half hour away. Recovered the truck, the insurance company has it, we aren’t sure if it is worth having back.

Rednecks driving your truck that they have stolen don’t tend to take care of things. “Drive it like you stole it” is more than a line in a bad movie, for some folks it’s a way of life.

They made out with a thousand dollars worth of cameras and GPS units. The truck was recovered four days later, and the local PD saw it was recovered, the “investigation” pretty much stopped. It took a month, and several conversations with station chief to get a call from the “detective”, or is that defective, I forget, and it could go either way.

My son moved to a friend’s house, and took his wide screen TV with him. I went shopping for a TV without adult supervision. I found a Phillips 52 inch HD LCD that was great. It wouldn't fit on the book case, and looked like a huge, evil mushroom sitting on an end table. The result was an avalanche of remodeling that has only just been completed. That would include some new furniture, hardwood floors, painting and tile in a bathroom, then move all the furniture.

I have taken up paintballing as a hobby.

Sometimes the only way to get rid of stress is to shoot someone.

Nonfatal, in this case, but you can’t have everything, I guess. We run around the woods in camo, shooting kids and women, getting shot in turn. It’s lots of fun, if you can stand a few welts. Like the “t” shirt says, “If you can’t stand the welts, stay out of the woods!” We have a few Iraq veterans, they are the people you watch the most, (i.e. shoot them first if you can) because they will get you, if you don’t get them.

I got my truck back from the body shop on Friday, everything appears to be OK, but we are watching closely. One result of the theft is a monitored security system in the house and a driveway alarm, with remote controlled lights to come.

The Love of My Life is having health issues, excisional biopsy coming Wednesday, this after several noninvasive attempts to determine the nature of the shadow on an X-ray. She has had several procedures done in the Shamans office that scared the mortal life out of me. All is well so far, but we have far to go. This is all preventative, or diagnostic in nature, and we hope to stay in that realm.

I have to leave for work the day after her surgery, and will be back in May. I’m hoping for a job of several months duration this summer to help with bills and the move to a motor home for work. I would actually like to get a job overseas for a couple of years and rent the house.

We'll see.

What the Hell is going on,

This is the letter sent to several offices around town. I was shocked by the lack of response. Silly of me I know.

And why haven’t we heard about it? I found out this weekend that there has been a rash of break ins’ and motor vehicle thefts in my neighborhood.

How do you suppose this came to my attention?

That would be when my truck was stolen from my drive way.

It was mentioned in passing by the responding officer. I live within walking distance of a police station. I never see them around, but I know where the office is. What I see on my street is drivers cutting through from College to Shipyard, at speeds up to sixty miles an hour. I have seen motorcycles go by so fast that you could only guess at the color of the bike. I don’t spend a lot of time in the front watching traffic, but it doesn’t take long for someone to blow by like they are going to a fire. The exception would be the Police Dept. I never see them. I have called the Police to my home and asked them to sit in my drive and clock speeders. They won’t do it.
This afternoon my wife and I started looking to see just what we could find regarding crime in our area.

Not very much.

The wife did several searches, had a bash with Google, and couldn’t find any report of my vehicle being stolen, or the other two being ransacked. We did find five motor vehicle break-ins and one theft, in our neighborhood.

I can’t call that a cover up, but the word sure didn’t get out.

I subscribe to the “newspaper”, and my wife reads it thoroughly, daily. We had no idea that there had been any problem close by, not to mention just down the street. That would be eleven property crimes, five this weekend. There have been twenty eight autos stolen in the last month in our district, thirteen recovered, who knew? Certainly no one in my neighborhood.

Why is that important?

Because when things start to happen you take extra precautions, as we do now.

Does the Star News have a crime reporter? If not, why not? If so, why aren’t they doing their job? I can sit in my living room and find out which restaurants in New York will allow me to use their toilets without being a customer , but I can’t find out about crime in my neighborhood. I know more about Haiti today than I can find out about my police department.

There are sixty two officers working from the Southeast Division Office, I had to walk in and ask. I did get a print out of the short title for the reports filed since Dec 1. It seems that if you are on College, Shipyard or Hollytree, you’re covered, otherwise you’re on your own.

There are some things I do know about our police. They are arguably some of the worst drivers in town. They might do better if they were paying attention, but most of the officers I see on the road are on the phone or computer.

I have been sitting at a traffic light at College and Shipyard and watched a car blow a red light by several seconds, it was in my line of sight and I knew the driver saw the light turn red soon enough to stop. The Police officer had his attention on his computer and never looked up.

Good job for the team dude.

I don’t even want to start with our TV “News Stations”, if someone isn’t on fire or laying dead in the street they don’t even notice. I hear more about John Edwards than crime in town, did anyone notice that the Enquirer scooped everybody? What does that say about reporting around here?

Crime reporting was once considered to be important, a public service, no more apparently. I heard the story regarding graft on the ABC board until my ears hurt, so what, politics as usual. It was, however, crime reporting, or at least embarrassing.

I actually got a call back from the Commander of Div. 6 (Southeast Station), a very nice Lieutenant. He did me the courtesy of researching the crimes and auto thefts in town. The situation isn’t as bad as it seems. It is, however, bad enough. The initial information I was given at the local station was twenty eight auto thefts this month, that’s almost one a day. There were several towed vehicles that were reported stolen.

Which drags up the question of why didn’t the people at the station know? I have been offered the opportunity to do a ride along, and I certainly will. I was informed that crimes in my area are down by forty nine percent, which is good, unless you happen to fall into the remaining fifty one percent.

It would be nice to have hard numbers for the amount of actual criminal activity. Ten percent of fifty isn’t bad, ten percent of fifty thousand is another matter all together. I will now be on the E-Mail list for the Div. 6 information on recent crimes. I also found out that the PD has a public information officer who reportedly sends out communications to the papers and TV stations.

What, exactly, is done with those items remains to be seen.

So, what do I want?I want PD to step up and be an example to other departments and drivers in the area.

I want the Star News to inform the subscribers of problems in their area, I want our local TV stations to leave the national news to the networks and get on the street to report the issues in our neighborhoods.

I’m tired of rumor mongers and mullet wrappers, I want reporters not “personalities”.

Up date: My truck was recovered five days later with relatively minor damage. The insurance has already paid me for the damage. Loss of electronics and such will cost me about a grand. The castle will get a monitored security system. I am contemplating unpleasantness for any future issues.

I.Q. test

AP wire
updated 8:54 a.m. ET, Mon., March. 1, 2010

ORLANDO, Fla. - Rocky, a 700-pound grizzly considered one of the most gentle animals of all Hollywood's performing beasts, bites down on the neck of a veteran trainer.

Illusionist Roy Horn is severely mauled by a show tiger during a Las Vegas performance.

An elephant at an Indonesian tourist resort tramples its longtime handler to death.

And now the latest — a 40-year-old trainer at SeaWorld Orlando is drowned by a massive 12,000-pound killer whale named Tilikum, an incident that raises anew the question of whether some beasts, especially the biggest ones, have any business being tamed to entertain.
Descriptions of Tilikum, the 22-foot orca which has now killed two trainers, inevitably come around to his intimidating size.

Sorry, if you expose your vitals to a PREDATOR, you may become a chew toy. Neither you, nor your next of kin, should be surprised. Orcas are intelligent, not human. Any thing 100 times your weight, with corresponding appetite, has an unfair advantage in unarmed combat.

This is how it works.

Choosing a wife
A man wanted to get married. He was having trouble choosing among three likely candidates.

He gives each woman a present of $5,000 and watches to see what they do with the money..The first does a total makeover. She goes to a fancy beauty salon, gets her hair done, newmakeup; buys several new outfits and dresses up very nicely for the man. She tells him that she has done this to be more attractive for him because she loves him so much.

He is very impressed.

The second goes shopping to buy the man gifts. She gets him a new set of golf clubs, some new gizmos for his computer, and some expensive clothes. As she presents these gifts, she tells him that she has spent all the money on him because she loves him so much.

Again, the man is impressed.

The third invests the money in the stock market. She earns several times the $5,000. She gives him back his $5,000 and reinvests the remainder in a joint account. She tells him that she wants to save for their future because she loves him so much.

Obviously, the man was impressed.

The man thought for a long time about what each woman had done with the money he'd given her.

Then he married the one with the biggestBoobs.

Men are like that, you know.

There is more money being spent on breast implants and Viagra today than on Alzheimer's research. This means that by 2040, there should be a large elderly population with perky boobs and huge erections and absolutely no recollection of what to do with them.

I don't believe a word of it!

First, no woman I've ever met would ever tolerate the man having two other "likely candidates".

Second, they would never tell him "it's because I love you so much", he's supposed to "know" with out her saying a word.

Third, she already knows that she is the "Hawtest Thang" he ever saw. so she doesn't need a make over.

Fourth, she would never buy him things that would distract him from her.

Fifth, although the woman is certainly competent to invest in the stock market and gain great returns, she wouldn't give it back, and the only thing she would buy is shoes.

Finally, the guy wouldn't give her money because he already knows all the above, and he knows who has the biggest boobs anyway.


If you don't send this to five OLD friends right away there will be five fewer people laughing in the world.

The Elephant in the Room

I went to say good by to a friend today. She is the sister I always wanted, and tells me I am the brother she never had. Very high praise indeed.

She is the person who, as far as I know, has never done a bad thing to anyone. I have known her for thirty years, and will miss her for as long as I live.

She moved away several years ago and I lost track. A time or two I would run into mutual friends who would give me up dates. Like most people I was so busy trying to live that I lost touch with the very best people I know.

One friend told me she had developed breast cancer and another told me she was in remission. I didn't even know where to start looking to find her.

Just past the end of my nose would have been a start, but I was so busy.

While Christmas shopping I ran into a mutual friend who knew what was going on, the lady told me that she has bone cancer, that has spread to her brain.

TLOML and I resolved that I should visit and be quick about it, for that chance once lost could not be recovered. I called a friend today to start tracking her down, and found she was visiting her old home near here. I made a call and as quick as I could drove to where she was.

I held the speed down to something under a hundred. There was no reason to hurry, but I wanted to have as much time with her as I could. Walking in was as hard as anything I have done in a long time.

Manly image and expectations be damned. I wanted to be strong for her, well, I blew that one out my whatever. After a litte while I calmed down enough to feel her acceptance of her fate. She was not bitter or afraid. I hope that when my time comes I can muster one tenth of the grace she wears like a crown.

We visited for about four hours and I held her hand the whole time. We talked and laughed about all our old friends and things we had done. We spent our time catching up on all the things I had missed.

We talked about everything except the elephant in the room.

When I finally had to say good bye, and it was a final farewell, for I know I will never see her in this life again, we gently touched the subject.

I kissed her forehead and her hand and told her that I loved her and would miss her forever.

An angel will soon leave us and the world will be a poorer place with out her.