Candy Mae Sutor

Candy, our beloved buddy passed away on March 22, 2012. There have been no blog posts for a few days because I just couldn't make myself sit down and write what I needed to say about the most wonderful dog I ever knew. I will cry as I write this because I have cried every time I thought  about writing it. My dear friend Mike Blythe posed the unanswerable question about what is it about middle aged men and their dogs. Mike, I hate to break this to you but we are old men. Do the math. I am 58 years old so to imply this is middle age I would need to live to be 116. Not going to happen. So old men and dogs. Do our dogs give us a glimpse of old age and our impending mortality? Do we see in them what life holds in store for us? I personally can't look that far ahead. I think maybe it is just companionship. No offense to Nancy or Carol but being retired from the daily grind of work is isolating. There is less opportunity to interact with others and our dogs fill some of that void. They are always happy to see us and willing to listen to any silly thing that flies out of our mouths.

I don't know what I was saying here but clearly Candy is listening and paying attention to every word. I remember the moment this was taken she just came over laid her head on my leg and gave me that it's time for you to pet me look. I complied and so wish I could do so again right now. So that was Candy lesson number one. Sometimes when you want attention, if it won't come to you then you have to get off your ass and go to it.

Candy had a best friend and his name was Beau. He is our son John's brother in law and our adopted son now. Candy loved him more than anyone including us. When Beau would come over she would sing and dance at the door waiting for him to come in and pet and hug her. We didn't allow Candy on the furniture but here she is on the couch with her head laying in Beau's lap. So lesson number two from Candy, rules are made to be broken and when there is a new person in charge you are not responsible for telling him what the rules are. It was always funny when we would leave home Candy would stand at the front door and watch us leave. Sometimes we would get a mile or two down the road and remember we left something home we needed. We would pull back in the driveway and run into the house and there she would be taking a nap on the sofa. Her head would lift up enough to have a look at us and then she would just lay back down. Candy lesson number three, when you misbehave and get caught no point in stopping what you are doing you are already in trouble.

Candy loved to hunt in the yard and her favorite thing to chase was squirrels. We had a bird feeded off the back deck and when a squirrel climbed up in the feeder we would tell Candy: "Your friend is out there." She would go to the door and bark at the squirrel and he would run away for a few minutes. When he came back we would say it again and he most likely wouldn't run because the dog had not come out of the house last time. We would open the door and she would run off the deck and chase the squirrel. She managed to catch two during her lifetime. She caught the ones who couldn't decide which tree to run up. Candy lesson number four- indecision kills. Like one of our granddaughters says: "Pick a choice!" At the end we would open the door Candy would take a few steps out on the deck, see the squirrel running away and return to the house. She would also take a moment for a quick pee after all their are spaces between those boards and it is outside the house. Candy lessons five and six are don't work too hard (you wanted the squirrel out of the feeder catching one was extra credit) and never pass up the opportunity to use a bathroom. Old age will teach you that lesson sometimes with sad personal consequences.

Candy loved to ride in the truck. It was especially wonderful when it was warm enough for her to ride with her head out the window. We would drive slow enough that she could ride that way in comfort while she and I ran errands. When we got to where we were going and she had to stay in the truck she would bark until I came back. I think it was usually so I would remember to bring her a treat. I think her all time favorite was slim jims. She would have loved motorcycles and the feel of the wind in her face.

We buried her in the front yard so we would have to go by her everytime we came and went from home. Tuesday and Wednesday of this week we were working on the meadow down below the house planting trees. The trees were being planted on a 30 foot by 30 foot grid and over the course of two days with the help of my two brother, my helper Ethan, a John Deere tractor with a post hole digger and Carol we planted 545 trees. About noon on Tuesday my brother David was drilling a post hole when he hit the edge of a rock about a foot under ground. He could have just moved over a bit and made the hole and moved on. He decided to investigate and found a rock about the size of a large laundry basket. Most people who do not live this part of Illinois would think that is no big deal. It is. Around here we have dirt not rocks. We spent an hour we should have been planting trees to dig that  rock out by hand and with the help of two tractors with loaders. It is now the marker for our dear Candy's grave. I have to think she had a paw in this as over the two days of drilling holes that is the only rock we hit. If the hole had been over two inches the hole would have missed it and we would have never known it was there.

When I die the plan is that I will be cremated and my ashes will be spread out here at the place Carol and I built our home. It is my wish that they spread some of my ashes where Candy is buried so I can once again be with my dog. RIP Candy Mae.

So maybe you are wondering did I cry as I wrote this. Yes, I had to stop several times to regain my composure. It is a wound that will never completely heal. It is tough to lose your Buddy. 



Agrarian Society

I spent the day cutting firewood and clearing brush. It is not the kind of work that challenges the intellect. It does challenge all your muscles, your back and your will power. It would at times be easier to quit. Since the work was mindless it gave me time to think. I took the time to vote yesterday and afterward wondered why. Normally I would not talk about who I voted for but today I will make an exception. I am, and always have been, a registered Republican. I asked for a Republican primary ballot yesterday. I stood in the voting booth and looked at the list of Republicans who want to be president. I had hoped there would be one of the candidates I could back. As I scanned the list I realized there was not. So I voted in some local races but did not vote for any presidential candidate or any delegate for any candidate. There are those who will suggest that I should have voted for the lesser of the evils. I counter with the least evil is still evil. Back to thinking today. I was contemplating our presidential debates and what a waste of time they are. We ask a complex question about tax policy or national defense, oh what the he'll throw in foreign relations and ask for a response in 90 seconds giving the candidates position. His opponent gets 60 seconds to respond. The end result is a series of sound bites that do nothing to educate the electorate. When Lincoln and Douglas debated in the 1858 election the rules were as follows. The first speaker had 60 MINUTES to make his point. His opponent then had 90 minutes to respond. The first speaker was then allowed 30 minutes to rebut. When they were done you knew where each candidate stood on an issue. In our immediate world where information is at our fingertips we can't pay attention through an entire one minute television commercial. What happened? Well 150 years ago our economy was primarily agricultural. You worked by hand doing a lot of things that did not require too much thought. You could contemplate what kind of country you wanted and the person you wanted in charge. I guarantee that walking behind a horse all day plowing you will find plenty to think about that does not involve a horse's ass. When you are playing a video game all you are thinking about is the game. We need to be better informed and demand more than sound bite answers from our candidates.

Two wheeln'

Today is a beautiful day. I went to Kewanee to Reiman's Harley Davidson to pick up my motorcycle. It had been in storage since last November getting some tender loving care from Reiman's experts. I am not one to gush over any business and proclaim them before the masses but Reiman's is one exception. Roger Reiman who was from Kewanee was a two time winner of the Daytona race. Not that silly stock car race the real Dayton race the 200 mile motorcycle race. Some of his personal motorcycles are on display at the dealership. The excellence Roger Reiman showed on the race track is reflected in how the staff interacts with every customer. Everything they do is done to the best of their impressive individual abilities. Enough about that. I dislocated my shoulder on June 20, 2011 and the only time I rode my motorcycle last year was on Father's Day which was June 19, 2011. So today I picked up the motorcycle and after about 30 seconds and one city block of nervousness I fell in love again. There is NOTHING in this world like riding a great motorcycle on a beautiful spring day. All the world is new. The flowers are in bloom.  The farmers are tilling the fields and the spell of freshly tilled dirt is the best smell in all of creation. There are things that tell you the passing of the seasons, fresh tilled dirt in the spring, the smell of corn pollen in the summer and in the fall the pecular sent of corn as it is harvested. I can close my eyes and smell each of them now. You miss those smells in a car. We all drive around with the windows up and the air conditioner on and don't have a chance to  notice anything. On the bike your senses are assaulted. The wind on your skin, in your hair, blowing your beard about, and whistling past your ears. The smells mentioned above. The sights around you with only your glasses to interfere with you line of sight. It is a grand and glorious thing. Those who don't ride will never understand and those who do ride will read this and think that only 10% was mentioned and there is 90% more left to say. Some things you just have to experience. You think you know about sex until you have it and it is so much more than you thought it was. Then you have sex with another person involved and you realize your solo flight was just a humble beginning of what sex could be. Riding a motorcycle is like that. You will never feel more alive. Is it better than sex? All I can say is the motorcycle ride will last a lot longer.

Old?

Today is my 58th birthday. Yesterday was Johnnie Lynn Sutor's 3rd birthday. She is one of my six lovely granddaughters.

Johnnie Lynn is the cute one in the picture. I am the other one.

There are days that I wake up and feel like I am 58 or maybe even older but once I get out of bed and get moving those thoughts go away. Spending time figuring out what to do and how to get it all done fill the day. There is always more to do than there is day to do it in. You wondering when you work how  you will fill all that free time when you retire. It doesn't seem to be a problem. There is always something here that needs to be done or a book that demands my attention.  Some subject I know nothing about but has pressed itself into that part of me that wants to know everything. I follow the current political process as closely as I can. The only thing I have been able to determine with any certainty is that when any one of those running is speaking at least half of what they are saying is a lie. The challenging part as a listener is figuring out which part is true and which isn't. It probably is best to depend on the old adage that if it sounds to good to be true it probably isn't.

The picture above is of my son John's three girls. They are (from the front) Johnnie, Audrey and Vannessa. I wish I could claim they got some of their good looks from me but I posted a picture of myself up above.  They are all looking forward to our Disney cruise in late May. It should be a wonderful time for all involved.

The final picture for today is Johnnie Lynn on her birthday holding her new Buzz Lightyear doll. I guess it is okay to call it a doll since she is a girl. I suppose if she was a boy I would be required to call it an "action figure". Political correctness run amoke again. She was delighted with her new toy and had to show all of us what Buzz could do. It is my hope that she has many more birthdays and that I get to see some of them with her. You never know what life will bring you so if you are looking for an advice from an old man it would be the following. Don't spend so much time worrying about what you might do tomorrow that you don't enjoy today. Don't waste any time feeling guilty about what you did yesterday since you can't change that either. Find something to do today that consumes you, that ignites your passion, that makes you feel alive and enjoy it with all your heart. Life is too short to waste it on hate. Love what you have and what you are, if you can't then make yourself into something that you can love. Be happy. 





Blago

It's another red letter day for Illinois government as former governor Rod Blagojevich headed off to prison. He spent his last day as a free man the same way he spent so many others, being an attention whore. Rod seemed to feel that any attention was good attention. He had to be the center of attention. He would schedule meetings, then show up late or in some cases not show up at all. While Illinois was suffering a fiscal crisis it is still attempting to dig out. Rod didn't want to live in the Governor's Mansion in Springfield and be away from his wife and kids in Chicago. The Illinois taxpayers paid for him to fly back and forth daily while the legislature was in session. While he called on state workers and vendors to tighten their belts and wait months for payments he flew around acting like the money supply was endless. He was and is a hypocritical jackass. He days in prison will be long and unpleasant but the guy who deserves our sympathy is his cellmate. Rod cannot and will not shut his mouth. He will feel compelled to talk about his favorite subject, Rod Blagojevich. The good news is we won't have to listen any more.

Winter

What happened to winter? A normal winter in Illinois calls for blowing and drifting snow. At some point the temperature has to fall to at least 10 below zero. The wind is supposed to blow and be so cold it feels like your skin is being peeled off. Everyone bundled up in their winter clothes so you can barely tell who they are and we all look like we have gained 30 pounds. This winter none of that happened. It was a year without a winter in Illinois. The snow blower was on the tractor all winter. It got used one time. It was removed yesterday and the mower deck was put back on. The weeds are already making their spring comeback and the multiflora rose stayed green all winter. You lucky souls who know nothing of multiflora rose it is the horror plant of the woods and meadows. It never gets any pretty flowers, but thorns, yes plenty of those. The thorns are hook shaped and have an outer sheath that peels off and stays under your skin festering. The canes hang down to the ground and make it almost impossible to get to the base of the plant to cut it down. It is a great place for a bird to nest because almost no predator is willing to go through the pain to get their eggs. There are plenty here on the farm to remove so it will be a bloody painful spring and summer. A good cold winter would have helped but mother nature had other plans. In Illinois the fools who try to predict the entire winter look at the "wooly worms" and other signs. They looked last fall and predicted a long and cold winter. Looking back it appears they should find another hobby as long range weather forecasting is not their strength. You would think with a warm winter it would be a long hot summer. The professional weather predictors are indicating that is not the case and the winter is not an accurate predicator of summer temperature. We will see if they do any better than the idiots who attempted last fall.
While cold weather is not something normally enjoyed in our house I must admit that I missed having a few days of the brutal weather we have come to expect here. I feel somehow cheated. Perhaps my repayment will be a summer of hellish heat and humidity.

I have questions but no answers

These are some things that may or may not amuse you.

Above is McArthur's Universal Corrective Map. He was Australian and got tired of seeing Australia at the bottom of the map and being asked about living at the bottom of the world. Life really is all about perspective and sometimes you have to turn the world upside down. If you don't like what you see remember you can change the world. Maybe?

Several thing come to mind. Is she having the "Big Mac"? If so it surely includes that "special sauce" they mention in the song. Could it be a "Quarter Pounder"? Ronald McDonald appears to be a player.







Seems like a good use for a cat. Serve and volley?



















The future Mrs. Sutor and I in 1974. Me with long hair (those were the days) sideburns and a Galesburg Sliver Streak Letter Jacket. The hair is gone, the jacket was stolen, the sideburns have morphed into a full beard and turned mostly white and the good looking woman in the picture is still in all my pictures. She still gives me that look. What was (is) she thinking?

The Man vs. El Hombre

Many St. Louis Cardinal fans were upset when Albert Pujols left for more money in sunny Southern California. Many comments that were made were not fair to Albert and hopefully did not reflect the feelings of the majority of fans. He has been an active participant in many St. Louis charity events and he casts a shadow far beyond the world of baseball with those activities. It is worth noting that while in St. Louis Albert actively resisted efforts to call him "El Hombre" out of respect for Stan "The Man" Musial. When you speak of St. Louis baseball and you say "The Man" there is never any question about who you are talking about. Albert was correct in his position and he deserves respect for taking that stand. The California Angels apparently were not aware of Albert's objection to this nickname and put up about 20 billboards referring to him as "El Hombre". He has once again taken the stand that this is not appropriate and has requested the billboards be removed. The Angels have respected his request and have agreed to do so. Some now are referring to Albert as a diva and demanding things outside his gigantic contract. They could not be more wrong. He is attempting to continue to pay respect to one of the greatest players in the history of baseball. Albert Pujols is a very good player and if he remains healthy he may well be spoken of with the likes of Ruth, Mantle, and Aaron. Albert as well as anyone who loves the traditions of the game understands that time is not now. When it is he will need his own nickname and not a remake of Stan Musial's. So Albert, continue to do the right thing, play the game with intensity and respect for tradition, because it is the way the game should be played. Purists will never accept the gambling of Pete Rose, the steriod records of Barry Bonds and any other player who has disrespected the great traditions of America's game.

Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh is hot and heavy in the news over the last few days regarding his comments about a Georgetown University law student. Ms. Fluke contrary to the allegations of Mr. Limbaugh was not advocating for taxpayer funded contraception. She was attempting to make the point that entities like Georgetown University do not pay for oral contraceptives even when the intent is to treat a medical issue like ovarian cysts and not to prevent unintended pregnancy. It is not a sexual issue as Mr. Limbaugh would have you believe it is a women's health issue. Once again a mass media talking head has decided to pursue an agenda by manipulation of the facts. Mr. Limbaugh is just one of many who seems to think that he who talks the loudest and longest must be right. He is but one of many and this is not limited to conservative commentators. Liberal media spokespersons have been guilty of the same sort of behavior. Mr. Limbaugh has apologized and indicated he made a poor choice of words in an attempt to be humorous. He is not presenting himself on a dialy basis as a comedy program. He alleges that the intent is a serious political discourse. Ms. Fluke was attempting to participate in our political discourse and make a statement to Congress about what affect a change in policy would have on her and other women. It would seem rather than addressing the issues at hand Mr. Limbaugh chose to make a personal attack on Ms. Fluke. The question at hand was not Ms. Fluke's sexual activities it was if employers who have a moral objection to birth control should be obligated to provide it in their health insurance coverage. Ms. Fluke for her efforts was labeled by Mr. Limbaugh a slut and a prostitute. He additionally suggested in his comments that she and the other females at Georgetown University should post sex videos on line for taxpayers to watch so they could see how their money was being spent. Is it any wonder why intelligent people who could add a voice of reason to our national discourse are so unwilling to participate. The statements they make are distorted and their characters are drawn into question instead of debate moving forward on the issue at hand. It is no wonder when one considers the facts that we often go to the voting booth feeling like we have no good choices. Millions of voters simply choose the one they think is the lesser of two evils. Well, sad to say but the lesser of two evils is still evil.

Newsweek seems to have hit the nail on the head. ENOUGH! Not just of Mr. Limbaugh but all those on either side of the debate who have managed to make it an uncivil shouting match. Being loud and being correct are not the same thing. A lie told loudly is still a lie no matter how many times you say it.

Michael Moore is certainly at the other end of the political spectrum from Mr. Limbaugh. His brief twitter comment posted above is as offensive and counterproductive as the statements made by Mr. Limbaugh. The name calling and insults from both sides need to stop.

Finally part of the problem may be in the recent scientific discovery that we tend to make a decision about things in about 343 milliseconds. This may have been a good idea when early man was sharing the plains of Africa with lions. Since men don't run as fast as lions the decision to run needed to be made quickly. If you believe in evolution (survival of the fittest) then a fast runner who makes a quick decision has the best chance. There are no lions trying to turn us into a happy meal now so it would seem like we could ignore the instinct to make a quick decision and replace it with the brain's ability to reason. Alas instinct seems to be alive and well. Charles Darwin, can you ever be wrong?

Be kind to one another. Think before speaking. Words once spoken can be forgiven but they will not be forgotten.