I'm Confused

There may be a few out there who wonder who this guy is. He is Phil Robertson the father of the A&E "reality" program Duck Dynasty. He was interviewed by GQ magazine and made some rather unflattering comments about homosexuals. What he said doesn't so much concern me. It has been the reaction to what he said. First, A&E suspended him indefinitely from appearing on the Duck Dynasty program. Phil and his family are very religious Christians and his comments on homosexuals were in keeping with his religious beliefs. It does not make them any less insensitive it just provides some background for the furor his comments have created. There are many on Facebook and other social media sites complaining about Phil Robertson's free speech rights being violated. Our free speech rights, those for every America, are derived from the first ammendment to the Constitution. It states as follows:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

It appears from everything I read today that no law has been made stating that Phil Robertson or any other American cannot make the statements regarding homosexuals that he made. This is not a free speech issue. It is an employment issue. A&E networks employed Phil Robertson. They paid him for his appearances on a television program the network broadcast. I worked for over 20 years for the Illinois Department of Corrections. They did not abridge my free speech rights but I also understood that my ongoing employment could be adversely impacted by things that I said. I was certainly free at any point to make disparging remarks about my supervisor, the governor, the director. Indicate that I thought they enjoyed copulating with farm animals or whatever. I chose not to make those comments in exchange for my continued employment. Phil Robertson is still an employee of A&E. He has been suspended while they determine what to do. He said some things his employer didn't like. They have a right to determine if his employment with them will continue. His free speech rights have not been abridged in any manner. He can go out today and repeat his statements in any manner that does not violate the law. Yes, there are laws that limit your speech. What? Go to a church on Sunday and start hollering in the middle of the sermon any kind of crazy statement you want. See how long it is before you are removed by the police for disturbing the peace or trespassing or some other charge. Try to argue that the police are violating your free speech rights. Using the most famous example, you can't go into a crowded theater and yell fire. Free speech has limits. At its core this is still not about free speech. It is about what sort of conduct an employer is going to allow from an employee. If what A&E did in response to what Phil Robertson said then use your free speech rights to complain (again within the boundaries of the law). You can't say things like you want to burn down their studios or kill the director of the program. Don't watch any of their shows. Just don't say they are violating his free speech rights. They aren't.

Why Is This Such a HUGE Deal????

Up front I'm not a big Miley Cyrus fan. Having made that clear at times she does have a point. Maybe this is little more than Miley trying to keep her name on the news and in front of everyone but she still makes a valid point. She tweeted this picture recently.

If you are looking for an attractive picture of Miley I must say this isn't it. She was trying to do something more with her breasts than wish you a Merry Christmas. Miley was saying thanks to New York for being one of the few states to "free the nipple". Director Lena Esco is releasing a film next month called "Free the Nipple". It is her quest to have backward censorship laws changed which in some jurisdictions require police to arrest women for breastfeeding in public or being topless at a beach. The film is having trouble being released because it is being given an NC-17 rating for nudity. I must admit I find it odd that films which depict all variety of murder and mayhem in a gory violent manner don't receive this type of rating. Killing, dismembering, beheading, stabbing, shooting, running over people with a car, all are pretty much okay. Show a nipple or two too often, too much, too long and it is NC-17 for you. Breastfeeding in public, how is that so wrong.

I don't see where this is in any way sexually provocative. It is a mother breastfeeding her child and sharing a loving, bonding moment with him. Somehow that is more offensive than this?

I mean really wouldn't you feel better if he had a shirt on. Yet as far as I know this is legal at every public beach in the United States. If a woman did this she would be subject to arrest in many jurisdictions.

Free the Nipple had a Facebook account until it was suspended for repeated posting things that violated Facebooks terms of use. One wonders why Facebook would find those postings offensive while having no problem with parents posting pictures of their children's poop. "Looking what little Johnny did! We're sooo proud!"

In closing let's be honest. The problem is men. If a group of women, oh hell, if ONE woman bares her breasts guys will crowd around with cameras and push each other to get a picture. You would think someone was leading a unicorn down the street there will be such a comotion. Get real guys, if you want to see a nipple lift up your shirt and take a look. Same thing, same place. Grow the fuck up.

The Parsons

My Great Grandmother was born February 24, 1866 in Henderson, township Illinois. She was the daughter of Franklin B Parsons and Sarah Bullard Parsons. She came from an interesting family. They originally came to what is now the United States in about 1637 with the arrival of Cornet Joseph Parsons. So the family has a long history in this country, but that isn't what this story is about. It is about these guys.

The men in the photograph are from the left David Hastings Parsons, Franklin D. Parsons, Franklin B. Parsons and the little fella in front is Gary V. Parsons. Let's start with what I know at this point.

David Hastings Parsons was born October 22, 1801 in Springfield, Massachusetts the son of Hosea Parsons and Sally Upham. His father Hosea was a gunsmith who died in New Orleans, Louisana in 1803 of yellow fever. David Hastings Parsons arrived in Knox County sometime prior to 1850 as he is listed as a resident in the 1850 census. He and his wife Lydia Taylor Warren are the parents of 8 boys and one girl. My Great Great Grandfather Franklin B. Parsons picture above being their third born. We have journals from David Hastings Parsons somewhere at my mother's house. She is attempting to find them. When you start looking at ancenstry records things can get confusing. Some are trying to indicate that David Hastings Parsons was a Civil War veteran. I found that unlikely as at the beginning of the war he would be 60 years of age. He had a son named David H. Parsons, Jr. who was born in 1828 and died in 1868. He appeared to be a likely candidate but the David Parsons who enlisted in the Illinois 124 Infantry did so in Aurora, Illinois and listed his occupation as farmer. David H Parson, Jr. was listed in the 1860 census as living in Knox County and working as a carpenter. A couple of hours work looking at Civil War records on line finally revealed that the Civil War veteran was David W. Parsons and to the best of my knowledge at this time no relation. The next bump in the road was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The majority of ancestry records available are due to work by the Mormon Church. They baptize the dead by proxy in order to ensure their entrance to heaven. They indicate that David Hastings Parsons was a member of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints endowment date January 8, 1846 at the Temple Nauvoo, Illinois. Their records indicate his spouse was Lydia Taylor. While I intially had doubts about this when given some thought it seems the most likely outcome. I had questioned if it could have been his son David Jr. It would seem more probable it was him based on a couple of things. Prior to this in 1840 David Sr. had been living in Ohio. He clearly came west to Illinois and eventually settled near Henderson. He could have gotten caught up in the religious fervor of the 1840's and been in Nauvoo. Since Joseph Smith was killed in the area and the church went west to Utah he may have decided to stay in Illinois. His journal may help solve the issue. The last thing I will note about David H. Parsons, Sr. is that he died January 18, 1899. So a very long life for the times.

Franklin B. Parsons and Sarah Bullard were married in 1849 and were the parents of 4 boys and 5 girls. My Great Grandmother Mary Emma Parsons was the second youngest. She was born in 1866 and died in 1952. Franklin DeWitt Parsons in the photograph above was their third child and second son. When we lived over at the farm in my grandparents house. The home built by my Great Grandfather John James Sutor, Sr. and Mary Emma Parsons we came across an envelop. Inside were several small folded pieces of paper with names written on them. Inside those folded pieces of paper were small snippets of hair. Two of the daughters of Franklin and Sarah died in infancy, They were Sarah Lucinda Parsons and Effa Manermia Parsons. One sister older than Mary Emma and one sister younger. Photographs were expensive in the 1860's so those little bits of hair were kept by her parents to remember her siblings.

Franklin D. Parsons ended up living in Kansas. It may explain why some of my Great Grandfather John James Sutor, Sr. siblings ended up in Kansas. They were the subject of a prior blog. The information I have on Gary V. Parsons is slim at this time. He appears to have gone by the name Guy and was a farmer in Kansas later in life. More research is needed to fill in those blanks.

My advice is to join Ancestry.com and get to digging around. There is lots to learn.

Stuff

I just want to spend a little time today writing about things I think about. It has been just over a year since 20 children and 6 adults were killed in Newtown. What has changed since then? You might think that after a tragedy like that (it was a tragedy) we would do whatever was necessary to protect our children at their schools. Gun control, armed police officers, metal detectors, locked doors, something, anything, everything possible. According to media reports in the year since Newtown 11,437 people have been killed by guns. This includes homicides, suicides, and accidental deaths. The estimate of the total number is actually 33,173 using estimates from the Center for Disease Control. The last year we have CDC records available for is 2010. The total deaths that year from guns was 31,672 a number that included 2,694 children or teens. Since Newtown there have been 26 school shootings. The following statistics may explain why we have managed to do nothing since Newtown.

Number of firearms in the United States: 310,000,000

Number of guns per person: about one

Countries with more guns per person: None

Country in second place: Yemen with about 11 guns for every 20 citizens

Number of licensed firearm dealers in the United States: 134,997

Number of grocery stores in the United States: 37,053

Total money spent by the National Rifle Association in 2011: $231,071,589

Total spent by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the largest gun control organization: $2,844,489

Percentage of Americans that in March 2013 supported an assault weapons ban 57%, and in December 2013 48%

Percentage of Americans that in March 2013 supported background checks for all gun purchases 91%, and in December 2013 77%.

Since Newtown 114 bills were signed into law by states. In 22 states new laws were created to curb gun violence. In 29 states new laws were enacted making it easier for people to own guns, carry guns in public and to make it more difficult for the government to track guns. Yes the total of the two is 51 however some states did both things and some states did nothing.

You would wonder since it appears the majority of Americans support a universal background checks why that wouldn't happen. You consistently hear the representatives in Washington claiming that the majority of Americans are for one thing or another and they should get what they want. A CBS News survey in 2009 showed that 64% of Americans say the government should guarantee health insurance for all Americans. Yet the Affordable Care Act does not accomplish this. It appears for the most part to accomplish very little at times depending on how cooperative the government is at the state level. Why is it a problem for every American to have health insurance? What is wrong with that? I understand the Tea Party and many conservative Republicans do not like the Affordable Care Act. Where and what is their alternative proposal? At some point don't you have to stop being against everything and start being for something? You want lower taxes but you refuse to cut government spending while you complain about the federal budget deficit. You want a free market while you provide tax breaks and subsidies to large corporations and banks.

So, in my opinion it doesn't matter what the majority of Americans want because the folks with the money buy the perks they want from the government. They write changes in the tax code and have representatives or senators present them as part of a bill. They get the benefit and then tell the rest of us that they are just following the law. It's got to be easy to do when you write them for your benefit.

Life will go on for those of us who don't end up on the wrong end of a gun. We will continue to have school shootings and too many citizens without health care. Children will go hungry, schools will lack needed resources while we build new weapons systems to protect us against enemies who can't defeat the ones we already have. The majority will say that something needs to be done while they choose to sit back and do nothing. You may now go back to watching TV and thinking everything will be ok.

Money, Money, Money

The news today was that President Obama has requested an increase in the minimum wage to $10.00 per hour. It would provide a wage earner with a family of four an annual income of $20,800. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services the 2013 federal poverty measure guidlines indicate that in the 48 contiguous states the poverty level for a family of four is $23,550. In Alaska $29,440 and Hawaii $27,090. So a wage of $10.00 per hour does not get you out of poverty in the United States. You would still need to hold another part time job and would still be eligible for some government assistance. It is a sad statement on where we are as a nation. Bill Maher said it well.

Perhaps Mr. Maher unfairly picks on Kentucky Fried Chicken. Here is the real cost from our largest employer.

The Walton family who own the majority of WalMart stock are among the richest 50 individuals in the United States. They are worth 10's of billions of dollars. They contunie to fight workers who attempt to organize and have been cited by the Labor Department for labor law violations. It would seem even working for a sleazy company like WalMart one should be able to afford the products they sell- like food, without government assistance. Yet that is clearly not the case. In all fairness the problems aren't limited to KFC and WalMart. We shouldn't ignore that company that provides us with McNuggets and the McRib sandwich. They both claim to contain meat from some sort of animal. How much can it cost to provide the public with sawdust and slaughter house floor scrapings?

CEO pay does raise an interesting issue. Why are they paid so much? Are they truly that talented?

Is a CEO in the United States worth 475 times the pay of one of his average workers? Does that seem to be a bit out of balance? Probably no more than this.

The current fiscal year defense spending will consume 57% of the discretionary spending by the United States government. We spend as much on defense as almost the rest of the world combined. Why? Would some of that money be better spent elsewhere? I don't mean in another country, I mean here.

When you first look at this it is difficult to comprehend the numbers. Almost 700 billion dollars spent in Afghanistan and over 800 billion spent in Iraq. Almost 1.5 TRILLION dollars total and we are not done counting the cost in either place yet. It will go on for decades. Benefits paid to the wounded and survivors of the deceased. Money that can and should be spent in recognition of their sacrifice. What could we have done with that money here. Improved interstate highways, high speed rail, affordable college education, job training, and hundreds of other improvements that are needed here.

The solution is in looking at the facts. Avoiding talking points and partisan politics. Communication. Where do we go from here? Henry Ford paid his workers more than workers made at other car companies. Did he do so because he was a nice guy? No, he did it because it would enable them to buy the cars they made. It would create increased demand for his product. WalMart, KFC, McDonalds and a host of other companies could learn from this. Pay a living wage. Someone who makes $10,000,000 a year does not provide the ecomony with the stimulus that 1,000 people making 10,000 dollars a year provides. Economics does not work as trickle down. The economy works when the masses of the country have money to spend. When they are paid a subsistence wage there is no money for new cars, furniture, clothes, and other items they would purchase if they could and make the economy grow. So the minimum wage should go up at least enough for a worker to live out of poverty.

Are You NUTS?????

One of my Facebook friends on a regular basis posts what she calls QOTD (Question of the Day). Yesterday the question was what is your favorite nut. It was a tough question. I like nuts.

Cashew nuts are great. Here they are dangling from a cashew nut tree. A great nut to cook with. Cashew chicken comes to mind. Excellent Chinese dish.

The Mrs. is fond of brazil nuts. Not a personal favorite but still a nice snack from time to time.

Almond nuts are recommended as a diet food. I don't think the can of them I eat is the recommendation. Those who want to be technical- I know it isn't a nut, it is a seed. By the way as the commercial says- "Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't." Since they call it a nut I will too.

Walnuts are the best thing that ever happened to a properly contructed brownie.

The glorious hazel nut or filbert. This is one great nut. Mon Cheri used to make the best chocolate with a hazel nut in the middle of it. Now they package them with another inferior product and to get 4 of the good ones you have to buy 12 crappy candies. I refuse to do so.

The glorious pecan. Let us be honest and truly southern. The word is pronounced pee CAN. My favorite nut in a pie. Pralines are a southern delight and I have some on order now.

I don't know how you talk about nuts without talking about squirrels. They are up in the trees stealing them from us all day long. This little fella sure seems proud of the pair he has.

Some nuts aren't edible but still vital. Where would we be without these nuts?

Sorry Mike had to throw this in. It would seem if this was real you could see them from your place. I was also wondering why Florida has blue balls? Is the gulf water really that cold?

Truck nuts. I'm not sure what this guy is doing. I'm hoping he is a mechanic (in my world a car doctor) and he is checking for a hernia. I went out and checked my truck. No nuts. I must have one that was castrated or it is a girl. Where would truck ovaries be?

 

I think they just ruined the annual Easter egg hunt for me. Don't want to send the granddaughters out in the yard looking for those.

So you have to love your nuts. How did I answer the question of the day? My favorite nut. Why my right of course. I remember too many time when I have said: "I would give my left nut for that." If I am willing to give up my left nut then my right must be my favorite. The little fella above only has one nut and he is holding it close to his heart. Take a little time today and love your nuts. Check yourself for cancer with a self exam. If you are lucky maybe someone will lend you a hand. 





November 22nd an Important Day in History

It is the 22nd of November 2013. Many will spend the day thinking about what happened on November 22, 1963. It was a day that changed America. How we saw the world. I am focused on a different November 22nd. It was November 22, 1981. It is the day our youngest son John was born. You might wonder if he was named after John F. Kennedy. It had nothing to do with his name, it was just a coincidence. It is a family name. His uncle, grandfather, great grandfather, great great grandfather and beyond were all named John. Since my brothers had no sons we named him John. He has three girls so he named his youngest daughter Johnnie.

John and Johnnie

John

The last picture is of John and a friend of mine Thomas (Sodbuster) O'Connor. Tom was helping John out in this picture from 1991 when John was 10. We lived on the farm and John was raising cattle or hogs at the time and Tom was assisting with transportation. John took care of his own livestock, paid the bills for feed and handled his venture well. He had a state ID card and a checking account. We were with him at the mall one time and he had to come get one of us because a store wouldn't believe he had his own checking account. We convinced them that he could afford the gift he was trying to buy his mom.

So today is one of those days where you feel kinda old. Your youngest child is in his 30's and has children as old as he is in the last picture. Where did the time go? So many things that could have been done that weren't. So many things that were done that maybe shouldn't have been. Neither of those things can be changed. All that can be hoped for at this time is that somehow here or there as we moved through those years we did something to change things for the better. Touched and changed someone's life for the better. While today's post is about this child, our youngest, we are proud of all three of our children and the adults they have grown up to be.

So while most today will dwell on the death of a John that changed America. I will be thinking about the birth of a John who changed my life. Who made it better, richer and fuller than I could have imagined 32 years ago. Happy birthday!

Things I Wonder About

 

This picture was taken in the summer of 1968. I would have been 14 years old at the time. I'm the guy standing off to the left side of the photograph. Going to the right- away from me is my Grandpa John, my Mom Anna, my Grandma Harriet, my younger brother David, my older brother Jay and my Mom's brother my Uncle Johnny. We are standing at the entrance to the Wolf Covered Bridge in Knox County, Illinois. Many years later the bridge was burned by vandals. It was later rebuilt as a wooden covered bridge in the image of the original shown here. I have no use for reproduction history. The original is gone and with it the craftsmanship and labor of the original builders. It is like a copy of the Mona Lisa. Nice painting but it does not have the significance or value of the original.

I have been scanning hundreds of photographs over the course of the past few weeks. It is my attempt to get my family's history straight in my head. My wife says that no one but me will care about what I am doing. That our children will not care about relatives they never knew. She may be right. It doesn't matter. I care about those people and they will all live in my head for as long as I am here. Shadows of a past I cannot fully know and an echo of lives that have impacted mine in ways I cannot understand or fully appreciate. I look at them to learn about them. Moments of time caught on film that may give me a hint of what they thought and felt. Letters they left behind, or journals, that give me a clues about their thoughts, hopes, feelings, life experiences.

I keep coming back to this picture. It was here, looking at this image 45 years after it was taken that I realized something about myself. You can see by the length of time that has passed that I am a slow learner. It was something I had seen in many other pictures but noticed when I saw this one. The family is grouped together. I am off a bit to the side. In the picture but not a part of the group. Standing away and apart from my brothers. When I look at pictures this is consistently the case. My brothers now farm together. They attended and graduated from the University of Illinois. They were members of the same fraternity. I graduated from Western Illinois University and was as they often stated a G.D.I. (God Damned Independent). It seems that has been the consistent feature in my life. A bit off to the side, apart from the group, looking for my place to fit in. Now I live in BFE, near the end of a dead end road. My wife and our dogs as my companions. I spent my working career learning the nature of human cruelty and knowing the evil that men can do. I am satisfied with a life apart from the hustle and confusion of the world. I watch and see how the majority of people treat each other and happily remain apart from it and them.

A New Refrigerator!

I have been absent from my blog for a while. I have been busy scanning family photographs in an attempt to get to know as many family members as possible while my mom is around to help with identification. There is very little more frustrating than having a picture of someone you think is a member of your family and no way to identify who they are. It becomes even more complicated in my case with the adoption of my father and the discovery of members of his biological family. I have some new pictures of them but they have not yet worked their way to the top of the scan pile. You will see them at some point in the future.

 I must admit that it is strange to go back and see pictures of yourself- young and vibrant, ready to venture forth into an unknown future. A moment caught in time that you no longer recall. Yet you hold the evidence of its occurance in your hand. I will share one such picture today. It is July 31, 1957. My parents won the G.E Swap contest by entering the oldest operating refrigerator in Knox County. It was originally purchased by my great grandmother Emma Sutor, when she passed in 1952 it went to my grandfather John J Sutor, and in 1957 it was in the house where I lived with my parents. I suppose I can be forgiven for not remembering this moment since I was just a little past 3 years old. I'm the young fella in front holding my mother's hand. My older brother Jay has just turned 5 and my younger brother David is one year old and being held by dad. The hair cuts look familiar since in those days dad didn't think we needed to go to the barber. His barbering skills were limited to buzz cuts so that's how we wore what hair we had.

David F. Porter

It is time to jump back into a bit of biological family history. This one is a bit tough. David Porter was born to Grace and Albert Porter in Fulton County, Illinois in about 1927. My research up to this point has not provided me with an accurate date of birth. When the family broke up in the early to mid 1930's David, Kermit and Harriet are placed at Cunningham Children's Home in Champaign, Illinois.

I have spoken to Harriet about Cunningham and she stated the siblings rarely saw each other because the boys and girls were kept separate. David was eventually placed with a family but things did not go well. He was then placed in the Military School in Quincy Illinois. He is adopted by an Iowa family when he was 12 years old. We know this information because in 1960 he wrote Judge Murphy in Fulton County, Illinois and asked about his original birth certificate and family. Judge Murphy advised him that my biological grandmother Dora Louise Porter might be his sister. He wrote her on March 30, 1960 and relayed what he could remember of his family to her. He provided sufficient information to convince her that he was in fact her brother. David indicates that he lost track of Kermit when he was adopted by the Iowa family and has had no contact with any member of his birth family since then.

 

David's next letter to Dora indicates he has received letters from several of his siblings and from his mother. She sent a short note saying according to him: "She said it was too much of a shock for her to write more." He clearly has a gift for understatement since his mother had not seen or heard from him in almost 30 years. He has received pictures from several of them and is hoping for more. His sister Ruth suggests that that it would do no good to reach into the past and rehash all the things that happened to separate them and just move on from where they are now. He goes on to say something very forgiving: "I know Mother has paid dearly for the troubles of the whole family." He is most likely kinder than I would have been. He goes on to tell about his life. He served as a paratrooper during World War II in 1945 and 46. He is living in California and fate has not been kind at least financially. He is filing for bankruptcy. He is employed as a truck driver. He indicates he has met a wonderful girl named Dawn whom he calls Genie. She has two sons David 9 and Stephen 7. They also have a son together named Kenneth and a daughter Nona who is two weeks old. He states hopefully: "Our family is well and the future looks much better."

This is the picture David sent with his letter of his family without baby Nona.

 

The better times David hoped for were not to be. He next writes Dora in October 1960 indicating he is still working on the bankruptcy and that on October 25th his divorce from Dawn was final. She had run off with another man and left the children with him. The two older boys are going to be adopted by his ex father in law. Nona, according to David was conceived by the other man and is not his daughter although he says he loves her as if she were. He is not sure what will happen to her. Kenneth is the only child he feels is actually his. He apparently had asked Dora and George to help with some money so he could come out to Illinois and see them. George apparently was not happy about the request and vigorously rejected the idea. David apologizes for the gaff and states he is not a drunk or drug addict like his two deceased brothers were. He then states: "If anyone needed a drink, I should right now, but I know that brighter days are ahead and my troubles will be lighter very soon." He later closes the letter hoping to visit them soon and stating he is lonely there and has no friends.

 

I have discussed David with Harriet. When I interviewed her she indicated that he seemed to feel that his siblings should take care of him and provide his with a desk job of some sort. She relayed that he had passed away but she did not know when or where. My research to this point has not provided any records other than his military enlistment records from 1945 and his marriage record to Dawn in June of 1955. It appears that the brighter days and lighter troubles escaped him. Placed in an orphanage as a youth, cheated on and abandoned by his wife, seemingly rejected at least in part by his siblings one wonders if his life ever turned around. If I find any additional information I will share it here with you. 



39

Yesterday was our 39th wedding anniversary. No big party. No huge gifts. Just two people who have shared a life together and continue to be in love with each other. We did go out to lunch and did a little shopping. Then it was back home for a bit before we went to Monmouth. We went to Deep Blue Innovators Blues Festival at the Rivoli Theater. The draw for us was the opportunity to see Carol's former boss Glenn Brooks sing and play.

This is Glenn. He is an extremely accomplished musician and as he admits "a bit of a ham". There are many things to love about Glenn. His outgoing and unfailingly happy demeanor. The fact that he is in his 70's and can still make everyone in the crowd remember the rock and roll of their youth.

Manning the drums was Glenn's younger brother Chris Brooks. He is a bit younger than Glenn and is probably in his late 60's. His conduct and demeanor are much the same as Glenn.

The young fella pictured above is named Jay and he was playing lead guitar. He related to the crowd that he met Glenn and Chris when he was a student at Knox College and they had gotten him his start playing in bands with them. He now lives in St. Louis and drove up just to play in this show with them. He said he would drive anywhere for that opportunity. If you look closely you will note he is playing a right handed guitar left handed. The pic guard is up instead of down and the bass string is on the top rather than the bottom. He is the first person I have seen play this way other than Jimi Hendrix. Jay appeared to be in his 30's and was quite and accomplished guitar player.

This is a picture of the group playing. When they finished their set I went out front to buy a half rack of ribs from the local fella providing the food for the evening. Carol and I shared some of the best ribs we had eaten in several years. We stayed around for a while to listen to the next man playing but decided after a bit we had seen the group we wanted to see and it was time to go.

 

It was off to our favorite spot Budde's Pizza and American Craft Beer.

Kate Budde was kind enough to take a picture of us so we would have a photo to remember our 39th anniversary. We were enjoying a couple of Oktoberfest beers. It was also the bar's halloween party that night. We didn't stick around for all that but did get to see a couple of interesting costumes.

This couple came in walking abreast of each other basically dressed as a giant bra with two huge tits.

The cutie in the foreground is Tami. She is one of our favorite bartenders. We actually love all the bartenders there since they bring us beer. She is doing her best angry zombie impression. The man behind her is Mike Budde dressed as Walter White from breaking bad. After taking these pictures we went home to take care of our dogs Teddi and Lily. Carol was kind enough to let me watch my Cardinal baseball team play in the World Series. I wish my Cub fan friends could experience how good it feels to say playing in the World Series. Mike, I know it has been a while for your Mets but at least you have memories. Pat is still waiting. So that was our 39th anniversary. Next year maybe we will have a party since it will be our 40th.

 















The Comforts of Home

As winter and cold weather swiftly approaches there are things to be accomplished in BFE. The mower needs to be removed from the tractor and the snowblower put on. The antifreeze needs to be checked in both tractors. Caulking around the house where there are leaks and in general tightening things up. It will be time to work on some quilting with the wife. She gets my assistance in the winter. The granddaughters need quilts made out of Papa's old clothes. Soup mixes have been ordered and were delivered today. Nothing quite like a bowl of warm soup on a cold winter day. One of the main chores is moving firewood from the outside stacks into the garage. It burns so much better when it isn't covered with snow.

The racks are set on the west side of the garage.

The tractor loader is filled from the outside stacks and driven into the garage to be unloaded.

It will take several trips to fill the racks. The great thing about wood is that it heats you every time you move it. Cut, split, stack, load, stack, move it into house, stack it in the fireplace and light it up. Most of it will be handled about 5 times before it is burned.

So here we are half done, one rack filled.

Success at last as both racks are filled.



The reward later in the evening is getting to sit on the love seat with Carol while the fire warms the room and gives it that romantic feel. Somehow that moment makes all the work worth the effort.

Harvest 2013

Last week my older brother Jay and younger brother David called. It was corn harvest and they wanted me to know I was welcome to come over to where they were farming for a ride along. They had purchased a new 8 row corn head for the combine and thought I would like to see how it worked. Those of you who don't farm or didn't grow up on a farm may never understand the draw that spring and fall have to those of us who grew up the changing of the seasons being an important event. I got in my truck and drove over for a bit of the harvest experience. I think for me the draw is not so much the sights and sounds as it is the smells. Especially the smell of harvesting corn.

This is the combine coming down through the field. It doesn't look too large from here.

This is a closer view. The tank on top is almost full of corn. It holds about 250 bushels. That would be about 14,000 pounds of corn. My older brother Jay is driving. The machine in total is about the size of a two car garage or a small house.

He has reached the end of the field and is unloading the corn into wagons to be hauled to the grain elevator. One load from the combine will fill one of those wagons.

This is the view from the driver's seat looking down at corn plants being pulled into the head. The grain will go into the combine's tank and the rest will be ejected from the rear of the machine. I had the opportunity to drive for a little while. It is always an amazing experience. Some many things going on that you need to monitor and so much the machine does with little interaction from the driver. The new head has ground hugging sensors so once it is lowered into position at the end of the row it adusts automatically to the contours of the ground. If you spend several thousand dollars more and buy a GPS unit you can basically just ride along yelling at everyone you see: "Look no hands!!!!" It had a different meaning 50 years ago when harvesting was a very dangerous profession and lots of farmers had at least on arm that had a hook instead of a hand.





My older brother Jay up on a wagon pushing corn away from the edge so it doesn't spill on the way to the elevator. The tractor pulling the wagons is another miracle of modern technology. It is a 275+ horsepower beast with an infinite variable transmission. The brain box of this monster determines the most efficient engine and transmission combination to get the job done. It saves a lot of fuel and wear and tear on the machine. The top speed on the road is 32 MPH. Since the front axel has suspension and the cab and seat are isolated it is a smooth ride down the road at that speed. My 40 horsepower Kubota has a maximum speed of 18 MPH and on the same road with no suspension will bounce you out of the seat.

My brothers are minimum tillage farmers and have spent years honing their craft. They finally feel in their late 50's and early 60's they understand how to raise a very good crop of corn. They would not share what the yeild was on this farm and frankly it is none of my business but from the smiles on their faces I would say it has been a very good year.

Greed

Over the past weekend at a WalMart in Louisana patrons who utilized EBT cards for the SNAP (food stamp program) noted their cards showed no purchase limits. Soon the store was overwhelmed with shoppers who apparently stripped the shelves bare in an attempt to get food items that they did not have funds to purchase. WalMart employees had noted the problem and contacted their corporate office. They were advised to let the folks go ahead and shop. IBM who runs the system was doing a test of its emergency generators and that apparently crashed the system which resulted in no balances showing. One shopper who was being checked out when the system returned to normal had a 49 cent balance on her card and about $700 worth of grocery items scanned. WalMart indicated they would not prosecute if the shopper left the groceries. The shopper walked out empty handed. If you are curious there are procedures in place for when this sort of thing happens. We are a caring nation and don't want anyone to go hungry. If the system crashes and the store has no idea what their EBT-SNAP balance is they are allowed to purchase $50 worth of food items. The limit varies by state, this is the limit in Louisana. WalMart was contacted and corporate did not respond to inquiries if employees at the store were aware of the $50 limit.

You might reasonably ask, where the fuck are you going with this? Greed, avarice, whatever you want to call it seems to be a hallmark of the current American lifestyle. Game the system. Get yours before someone else gets it. Get all you can and fuck the next person. I watch Shark Tank and too often I listen to one of the "sharks" ask how much it costs to produce an item and how much it sells for. The response may be that it costs $3 to make and is sold for $6. The "shark" has one concern. Can the cost of production be lowered? It is never the intent to lower the price for the item it is to increase the gap between the cost of the good and its ultimate sale price. So, you watch investors with hundreds of millions or in some cases billions of dollars concern themselves only with the procurement of more money. We celebrate their greed. We commend them as job creators. When they try to lower the costs of production they are almost always suggesting moving production overseas. They are job creators but the jobs are often in China. There is no concern for those losing jobs here only with getting a better return on their meager investment. I contend meager since often the request is for a modest sum given the extreme wealth of the sharks.

Let's get a bit closer to home. You go to the store and pick up 20 grocery items. When you review the register receipt when you get home you note that you got your 20 items but were only charged for 19. The item that did not ring up was valued at $20. What do you do? It's a big store like WalMart and they won't miss that $20? Do you go back and pay the $20? What if it was the other way around? You got overcharged $20. We are all in the car headed back and fussing about our time and expense for the extra trip.

Many are making a big deal out of this incident at WalMart over SNAP benefits. Isn't that typical, welfare queens and people to lazy to work taking advantage of the system. The truth I see here is that there is no difference in the three situations. The "sharks" were greedy and taking advantage, if I get something I didn't pay for and know about it then to my thinking I stole it. The folks in Louisana were guilty of greed and theft as well but no more than the other two groups. You don't get a free pass if you are rich, or it wasn't your intent, or extra blame because you are poor. Morals are not situational. Greed, is greed, is greed. We cannot celebrate it in the rich and punish it in the poor. It is always wrong.

FISH

I was volunteering at the FISH food bank the other day and wondered why more of the poor and hungry in Knox County did not use the food bank. It occurred to me after a few moments of thought that perhaps the price for the help was too high. Not in terms of money. The food is free. Nothing is required from anyone who comes and gets food. You have to be a resident of Knox County and you indicate without proof that you meet the income guidelines. No donation, no prayers, no going to church. All you have to do is walk up to the door and lay down your pride. Think about it. What are the hardest things to say? I'm sorry. I was wrong. I need help. The world opens up when we are able to utter those sentences.

When you stand on the side processing the requests the most difficult thing is being nonjudgmental. I don't know why they got in the position they are in. Drugs, alcohol, abusive parents, no parents, accident, illness, bad luck, it could be any one of a million things. My reponsibility is simply to prepare the food order for their size family and hand it to them. When I wonder about what happened to bring them there I redirect my mind to two things. First, they have humbled themselves and given up their pride. Second, but for luck and grace that could be me.

Emotions

I will first apologize for being absent for a few days. Saturday I was down with some sort of horrible stomach  ailment. I will not share the gory details only saying that my I never got far from the bed or the bathroom. It is not something I would wish on anyone. It appears to this point Mrs. Sutor has avoided my fate. Let's hope her luck holds out.

I have been hesitant to write on this subject because I have just been too something. I continue to try to determine the emotion or emotions involved. The government is shut down and we appear to be stumbling along to a default on our national debt. I initially thought my feelings about this were anger. Rage, perhaps. Disappointment, grief, sadness, also seemed in play. If you are looking for me to blame one side or the other you will be disappointed. I blame them all. Everyone involved has some responsibility to bear in this mess. This is not something that has developed overnight. Not something that has occured because we have our current President, Senate Majority Leader or Speaker of the House. We have stumbled toward the edge for decades. Spending more than we take in. Allowing larger and larger annual deficits. Involving ourselves in the affairs of other nations. Trying to be the planet's policeman. We argue that we want to keep government out of our lives. Well, that seems conditional. If the program benefits me, then it should stay around. If it doesn't, then clearly it needs to go away. I worked in the public sector almost my entire working career. I did factory work a couple of times and honestly I don't see much difference between work in the two areas. In both cases I went in and did what I was told to the best of my ability. If it needed done and it wasn't my job. It didn't matter. Did I wonder in both cases if I would or could lose my job? Sure. Things happen in government and industry and positions are eliminated. I paid into social security and into two government pension systems. It cost me over $1,000 a month to get old. It was taken with an agreement on how it would be paid back. The state of Illinois is in dire financial straits at this time. They have already made changes to the health care coverage they agreed to provide. Later this year or sometime next year they will change my pension benefit. I understand and accept that. It is called shared sacrifice. We all give something so that we all benefit. There is almost none of that going on in Washington at the moment. It is sad and frustrating, and disappointing and stupid.

So many things in this fight have gone wrong. The closing of the World War Two Memorial and the National Mall was stupid. The comments by some on the right that the Affordable Care Act is the worst piece of legislation ever and compare it to the Fugitive Slave Act are simply clueless. Louie Gohmert, Representative in the House from Texas never fails to amaze me. If you wonder why nothing gets done here is part of the reason. His recent quote: "All this clown (speaking of the President) needs to do is repeal the most important law he ever passed, and then this will be over. Why is that so hard? The Tea Party represents almost 22 percent of Americans. Only a dictator would refuse to give us everything we want. Obama should be more than impeached-- he should be in jail." If we got what we wanted because 22% of Americans demanded it then the United States would be a very interesting place. I haven't checked the numbers recently but last time I looked somewhere in the neighborhood of 90% favored universal background checks for firearm purchases. The percentage of Americans who favor a policy has nothing to do with it being right and becoming law. I am inclined to agree with my friend Dan who feels that the Affordable Care Act was designed to fail to that single payer health care could be implemented. While I don't like the Affordable Care Act, I do think that everyone should have health care coverage. There has to be some way to get that done that all can agree on. Here is my problem. We have to stop talking past each other and start talking to each other. We need to do the things a Christian nation, which we claim to be, should do. The basic things. Feed the hungry, educate our children, provide health care to all our citizens. There must be a way to talk and come together and get those things done.

Until we start addressing issues and stop the name calling and sound bites I will continue to be all those emotions. Sad, angry, frustrated, disappointed....

October

I think maybe this is my favorite month. The leaves on the trees begin to turn. The weather turns cooler. Fat guys love that, we sweat less in October. Warm enough you don't need a coat, cool enough you aren't making your own gravy. The corn is ready and harvest begins. Spring brings the smell of freshly turned soil. Fall brings the smell of corn harvest. Chaff in the wind and the roasty smell of corn going through a dryer. The poison ivy turns that lovely shade of red and I'm less likely to get covered again until next spring.

 It is the month of our wedding anniversary and marks the day I was fortunate enough to convince the most wonderful woman in the world to marry me. Later this month will mark 39 years of marital bliss. This is us circa 1974.

Friday night marked Octoberfest at Budde's our favorite bar in the world. Where we go and feel like we are at home having a beer or two with friends.

So this is a bonus, we have the four food groups represented. Meat, cheese, bread and beer. Why waste limited stomach space on things like fruit and vegetables?

 

So as you can see the beer is on ice as is the cask which will be tapped shortly. The fella in the blue shirt is our able barkeep Casey. You may recognize him from previous posts as he is the mandolin player for Frank F. Sidney's Western Bandit Volunteers. The guy in the orange shirt and hat is Jim Smith owner of Somethings Brewn and an excellent beer brewer.

The man in the gray hat is Mike Budde and the gal peaking around the firkin is Diane Budde. They are the owners of Budde's Pizza and Craft Beer Bar. Mike is getting ready to tap the firkin by knocking the faucet in displacing the bung from the bunghole. Yes, dear reader, do not be disappointed your faithful blogger made numerous comments before, during and after regarding Mike and his actions hammer into the bunghole. Did I feel like it was too easy? Did it make me feel cheap?Did I comment anyway? Fuck yea!

The firkin has been tapped and the golden elixer of life flows forth. October is a glorious month. Let the games begin.

The contest was to hold a full mug of water at arms length. The winner would get a prize. Jim dropped out first. He later alleged that if the mug had been full of beer and he got to drink it if he won he would have showed the young fellas how it was done. My personal opinion is that he would have been disqualified for drinking the contents and holding up an empty mug.

 

Carol, pictured on the far right decided to enter the lady's competition. She was the senior participant. The ladies were directed to hold their mugs out straight ahead at breast level.

 

 









You will note that Carol's arm has started to droop a bit. Some in the crowd commented that she was not holding her mug as required. She calmly replied that she knew where her breasts were and could in fact hold her mug lower and still have it at breast level. I, for once in my life, remained safely silent. 

I include this final picture of Jim to say that a few drinks and a smile is great way to spend an evening with friends in the glorious month of October. Seasons change but true friends don't. Go have a beer and chat with a friend you haven't seen in a while or make a new friend.