Things I find odd or funny

These are just a few things I wandered across that I enjoy. Feel free to enjoy or hate them.

We stopped for gas in rural Georgia and next door to the station was "Fantasy World".

 If this ratty looking shit hole of an "adult store" is your fantasy world may I please never visit your planet. Just a quick word on the gas station. Our daughter in law Mandie took her girls in to use the restroom and it was so filthy she turned around and brought them back out. The gas station also sold fried chicken. It was time to fuel up and move on down the road.

The residents of Tybee Island use a variety of vehicles to get around town. I think if you are going to use a four wheeler or golf cart there is nothing wrong with making a statement. Remember life is short! Have some fun! Give the world a peek at the freak that lives in your head!

Wet Willie's is a bar/dining establishment on Tybee Island. Not sure the name works for  me.

 

The next three pictures are brought to you courtesy of Johnnie Lynn. She is in the bottom picture and has started the trend in the family of taking my glasses and making the Mr. Papa face. She also tries to say in the deepest tones her little voice can muster: "I'm Mr. Papa!"



 

Sometimes you take a picture and realize later that maybe you should have looked at the background a little closer. Our daughter in law took this one. Now that I reconsider perhaps it was not an error and she intends to place us on clearance. What will this group bring on ebay?

The sign below means something at high tide. We were on the Tybee Island Beach at low tide. I don't think there was going to be any problem with folks swimming within 50 feet of the pier.

 

 

The giraffe pictured below and the bottle tree were in the front yard of a private residence on Tybee Island. There was plenty of other stuff in the yard but getting close enough to get good pictures would have been intrusive. Again, enjoy life! Be wacky! Make a statement!



 

 

 

This is me standing behind a turtle display at the Crab Shack on Tybee Island. Mandie commented that it appeared the turtle and I were involved in a questionable interspecies relationship. My advice, don't ask, don't tell. 

I like unusual road signs. Not likely to see this one in Illinois. Why did the turtle cross the road? Peaches baby peaches.

 











Edward Snowden?

Is Edward Snowden a hero or a traitor? Like most issues there are multiple sides to this story. It seems to me the beginning and the end of the story is our rights under the constitution.

Are the fourth amendment rights of citizens of the United States of America being violated by the government's collection of telephone records, emails and internet usage? Seems the answer is a qualified maybe. If they are simply looking for patterns of calls and emails. Use of sites on the internet associated with terrorist sites or bomb making information then it seems that most Americans feel their rights are not being violated. In this case I return to my buddy George.



Have we become so fearful of a terrorist attack that we are willing to sacrifice our fundamental freedoms to have some security? It seems to be the case. Do we pay a little extra attention when we are in line to get in an airplane and we hear someone named Abdul speaking in Arabic? Do we object to profiling while we practice it daily in our lives? Profiling is okay as long as I'm not being profiled. Is that the America we live in now? Freedom traded for security? Situational morality? One guy tries to bomb an airplane with a device in his shoes and now we all have to take our shoes off prior to boarding an airplane. Since the underwear bombing attempt I have decided if I fly again I will go commando. Perhaps that was too much information.

What surprises me on a daily basis with the current Edward Snowden statements is the relative silence of those who have been screaming about their second amendment rights. The argument was that we should not have universal background checks because it might lead to gun registry and a national database of guns and gun owners. The same folks seem to be unaffected by the revelation that the federal government has a giant database of telephone records, email and internet usage on everyone who utilizes those technologies. So, my second amendment rights are sacred but a warrantless search, denying me the right to confront my accuser, not incriminate myself, have an attorney and be imprisoned indefinitely without charges are all okay because it protects me from terrorist attacks? This is not the America I grew up in. I know that America had its problems too. Segregation, voting rights violations, Watergate, but we never seemed to be willing to give up our rights to feel safer. Life is dangerous folks. Someday you will die. Something unfortunate will happen and in an instant you will be gone. I want to be free until then. Rights, like George Carlin once said aren't rights when someone can take them away. They are privileges. The question isn't being asked the right way. Many are asking if the collection of these records is legal. The Congress has passed laws which allow this activity to occur as the Speaker of the House has stated over the last few days. I don't question its legality I question its necessity and morality. So for me being hated by terrorists and attacked for our freedoms is a risk I am willing to take. At least in that case I will have died a free man. The way we are headed the terrorists won't have a reason to hate us because we will have sacrificed our freedoms on the altar of security.

So, think, read, question, decide on freedom or bondage. Take a risk and die happy and free.

Johnnie's Vacation

 

It has been too long since I had time to blog. We went on vacation to Tybee Island, Georgia. It is a great place just outside of Savannah. Today there will be lots of pictures taken by our four year old granddaughter Johnnie Lynn. I gave her my camera several times during vacation and told her to take pictures of anything she wanted. I did my best not to suggest anything because I wanted to see our vacation from her perspective.

This is Johnnie's self shot. Pretty good job for a 4 year old. I wanted you to meet our photographer.

 

This is Johnnie's dad, John. She did pretty well here.

 

Your blogger.

 







What a pair.

This is what happens when you are short. Pointing the camera straight ahead gets you a lot of these shots. Johnnie has pretty good skills and has only taken a few like this.

When you are short you spend lots of time looking up so sometimes you take pictures of the sky. Sure is bright when you look up from down there.

Since you don't get to lead the pack you spend lots of time looking at other people's backs.

For some reason she decided we needed a picture of these trash containers.

On the same walk around Tybee Island she took a picture of these flowers. I guess to show us both sides of life on the island.

She was trying to get a candid shot of me but got mostly fingers on the first attempt.

A successful second attempt.

She stopped us on the sidewalk in Savannah to take this one.

Another Savannah shot. Again not leader of the pack so she sees lots of backs.

This was at The Crab Shack. Papa being silly.

Johnnie got us lined up for a group photo. She told us to move closer together and when she got us in position for the shot got us to smile by saying: "Say boobies!"

 

 

Johnnies view in the car is the back of Nana's seat or a look at her feet. No wonder kids are always falling asleep in the car.

 

She decided that taking pictures of trucks on the interstate would be a good use of her time and camera skills. She had a little trouble figuring out that you can take a picture while the car and truck are both moving. We would be along side and she wouldn't push the button because the truck wouldn't stop.

 

So that is vacation from Johnnie's perspective. It does make you appreciate the plight of the short. Always looking up at the sky to look you in the face or straight ahead and seeing a world full of asses. Look up Johnnie, please always look up.