May ThirtyOneth

May thirtyoneth. Last day of school. Mom's vacation is over. Kid's vacation is just starting. Remember when you were a kid? Summer was all 'weeeeeeeee' and 'yahoooooo'!! Our lads, so wonderfully photographed today by my wife (see above) will now go to bed long after us old folks retire each evening. They get to look forward to a trip to North Carolina, and several weeks hanging out in Onterrible with friends and family. (check out Warren's shirt in the pic - says "I smile because I have no idea what's going on".... and he wears that to school...)

I get to go to work every day.

In other news, it was my Dad's birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday Dad!! I celebrated his birthday yesterday with an 8 hour round trip to Kansas City for a 20 minute meeting at Ford's assembly plant there. Unfortunately, my Dad doesn't live in Kansas City, so I didn't see him there. :-(

And, if my friend Mike in Michigan should ever happen to read my blog...I have a question for him..... "HOW LONG ARE THOSE MEETINGS WITH HUMAN RESOURCES????". Yesterday at about lunchtime he said he'd call me after a meeting he was headed to with HR. I am still waiting.......

Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day, observed all over the USA. For some of us, it means a day off work, for others, its just another day. I took the picture above of a cemetery in Fort Madison, Iowa, this morning. Beautifully decorated in honor of Memorial Day.

But for many, it is a day to remember what might have been. A day to remember young, invincible and optimistic men and women, who went off to war and never came home. A day to feel proud that they gave their lives, but also a day to feel sad or angry, because of a seemingly senseless loss of young life.

Memorial Day was first observed in 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery, and the tradition continues today. In 1915, Moina Michael, inspired by the poem "In Flanders Fields" wrote this to remember soldiers on Memorial Day.

We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.

So today, I shall take a moment and think of these men and women, heroes, most of whom never lived half as long as I have. I am in awe of them, and their commitment.

I thank God for those who have died on our behalf, and may He bless those who are left without sons and daughters, fathers and mothers.

weather

What on earth is up with the weather?? We go from barely tolerable spring weather, to a forecast of 93F for the Memorial Day weekend. Bloody 'ell. That's bloody hot, that is.

So much for spring. Swimming pool is already up to 74F after the blast of heat we endured today.

And its gonna be Taylor Hicks, I reckon.....just a few minutes to go.....

Anniversaries

A pic from a few years back....I think it was May 22, 196?

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!!!

Snoopy in Black and perhaps another thought or two

Doesn't this dadgum black dog (Isabel) remind you of Snoopy doing his little dance thingy?



The kids were in a tree, hanging a Sprite box (wassup with that?) down, and Isabel was determined that she should have the box. She eventually got it. The dog has so much energy that if I can figure out how to tap it, I think I could heat the house next winter with it. She more than makes up for the other two lumps of dogs. The other two dogs are long past caring what the kids do - they live to eat and poop.

A confusing moment the other day, for me, watching CNN. A lovely heartwarming story (which in itself is rare on CNN) about flying a young Afganistani boy to the US for surgery, cuz if he didn't have it he'd die. I fully expected the next story to be how many Afgans died in some kind of UN raid or something. While I think its wonderful to save this young lad's life, one has to wonder if his life is being saved just so he can go back home and be killed by ordinance from the same country that just shelled out megabucks for his surgery. It just seemed odd to me, that's all. I found it mildly ironic. Regardless, I hope the young lad does well. Who knows, maybe he'll grow up and become a huge influence in his country, and be instrumental in bringing peace to his people. It could happen I suppose.

Tomorrow, the high schoolers graduate at the school across the road. Apparently its quite the deal. Should be something for us old folks to sit in the swing in the front yard and watch.

toast to variation

So, I got to thinking on the way home from work today, which is rare. But anyway.

In manufacturing, our whole focus is the reduction and/or elimination of variation. Variation is the scourge of manufacturing.

However, variation is everywhere in nature. Can you imagine if all flowers were identical? If every tree had the same number of leaves, precisely? If we all as humans were identical? If everyone's farts smelled the same??

So why is it that we try so hard to eliminate variation? I am glad we have variation.

So let's all raise our glasses in a toast to variation. May your next beer taste slightly different.

Illiteracy

I was amazed today at the level of computer illiteracy that exists in the world today. Today at work, we had some vendor-type people in to present some blather about their company...yadayadayada. Both were engineers of some kind involved in the designing and building of equipment, all of which would involve programmable logic controllers and probably some editable text programming. Both representatives had the inevitable Dell laptops.

It took these guys literally 20 (count them, twenty) minutes to figure out how to get a file from one laptop to the other, using a USB portable memory stick. They had to move the file because they couldn't figure out how to make the screen show up on the projector. (it worked with one Dell but not the other). Dude 1 needed a file on Dude 2's computer, but Dude 2 kept copying the SHORTCUT to the file to the USB stick, rather than the ACTUAL file. DOH!!! A basic concept in computing - the shortcut (in Windows) or the alias (in Mac or Linux). But these engineers just didn't seem to have a grasp of the concept. That USB stick went from one to the other Dell at least 15 times.

I almost busted out laughing. I would have helped them but I was having too much fun watching them.

At this point, I think I could design some pretty wicked equipment if these guys can do it....

Frightening

How'd you like to wake up from a nap in the van and see this??



Yikes. As luck would have it, the truck ahead was being towed backwards....whew....

Spent a couple of days in Janesville Wisconsin on business. Lovely town. Looks like every other town I've ever visited. All the same franchises, hotels, etc etc. (yawn)

For Mothers of Boys

I wrote this, because my Mom had to raise two boys, as does my wife. I believe this sums up raising boys.....

Each night, on the edge of their beds
Frustrated with who they were today she sits
And yet
So proud of who they are tonight
She hopes
For their tomorrow and they
Know they are loved.

Happy Mother's Day. Us guys love you.

choir enthusiasm

We went to the elementary school choir concert this evening. It was well done. The music teacher gets all the kids excited about the music, as evidenced by the picture above. (they were singing 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' at the time)

Lots of fun. Other than the fact that it was about 90F in the gymnasium. (we don't believe in air conditioning, apparently....)

Des Moines River in Athens

 

Colin and I went riding again today. On the motorcycle. (lest anyone had the silly thought that we might be riding bicycles, or horses). It really should have been Warren's turn to go riding, but he was too busy helping Mom paint the edges of the swimming pool.

We rode to Athens. I always thought Athens was in Greece, but as it turns out, its in Missouri, just across the Des Moines River near Farmington, Iowa. We couldn't find the Parthenon, but we did find a cool civil war historic site, complete with a small museum, gift shop, and people in period costumes. We'll have to go back there again and hunt for that dadgum Parthenon...... :-)

The picture above is of the Des Moines river, taken from an old restored civil war era home that we wandered through. 

Hair Removal

The older lad decided that today was the day that all that hair should be trimmed a bit. He's all lightheaded now.

Ordinary?

Every month we still receive the newsletter from the Bereaved Families of Ontario. Some very amazing people run the southwest chapter.

Anyway, this poem was on the back page this month, written by Sasha Wagner, and titled "Ordinary?". I liked it.

This is no ordinary spring at all
It dances on with unbecoming weather;
Now more like winter than December was,
And then again as soft as early summer ....

This is no ordinary spring at all
It meets your heart with unexpected dangers;
now with the loneliest of memories,
And then again with unforgotten laughter ....

This is no ordinary spring at all
This is like life itself, a changing season;
Accept the wintertime of grief, and then
Reach for the hope of summer and healing.

Haulin' Ash

This boy was haulin' ash down the highway today, north of Kansas City, Missouri, on highway I35.

We were haulin' more ash, however, cuz we done passed his ash.

So......

Kat McPhee, or Taylor Hicks????

Puddle

This is my wife's puddle. No wait, she called it a pond. She has spent a lot of time on it, and I think its looking very nice, as puddles/ponds go. Very inviting place to sit and enjoy a cup of expensive coffee after dinner. That is, of course, as long as the dogs are imprisoned in the garage, otherwise a relatively peaceful time becomes absolute mayhem.

So for a moment, imagine there are no dogs about, and you can appreciate the puddle.




Notice the mischievious ceramic frogs.... wonder what they are up to????