The Little Things in Life

It's the little things in life that make being a parent so special. Tonight I took my daughter to Temple Square. We walked around and saw the Christmas lights. It was very fun just to do something simple for my youngest child. She never had the chance to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square old enough that she could remember it. I'm glad that she will be able to remember this Christmas season with me and be able to appreciate the simple things about Christmas such as the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Often times, we spend so much time focused on the things of this world, That we failed to see that which is most precious right in front of our faces. I hope this Christmas each of you will find the simple joys in Christmas and not be so caught up in giftgiving, commercialism and, keeping up with the Joneses that you feel that the Christmas spirit has left you. Merry Christmas to all and have a Happy New Year!

So You Think You Know Cacti?

Cactus is one of my hobbies because I guess I have a knack for pain. I mainly have cold hardy cacti and yucca. I have a few that are not. One of the most interesting things that I have seen is that a few plants that I have that are not to go below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, are actually doing better than I thought given the circumstances.

Beggars can't be choosers so they say. I disagree. I have them stored in a garage to keep them out of the north wind and we have had unusually warm weather lately.

So time will tell if my old office plants will really survive the cold months ahead, but so far so good.

Think For A Minute

I take the title of today's blog from "The Housemartins" Think for a Minute. The lyrics of the song really might have some reasoning for the subject matter, but then again may not.

I am working now at doing an about face in my professional life. I came to an area in Idaho thinking that the grass might be greener if I followed a path and goal I set out for myself. Is the grass always greener?

In 2008 we elected our current President. Is the grass greener? We had a landslide election of 2014. Will the grass be greener?  Politics is easier to predict than one's own flesh and blood.

You fathers and mothers out there how much do you really consider your own children or each other if married in your own expanded goals for yourself?

What is the real reason behind your doing what you do? Your actions and motivations? Think for a minute? Maybe take some real time and put an hour down or days. Put some real heart and soul into yourself. Be honest with yourself. Think deeply about where you are now. How you got there. Where are  you going? Why are you going there? How will you get there? Who will your decisions affect? If you're truly honest with yourself you may be surprised.

When I first came to Idaho I thought that my last child a big part of the reason that I came here. By rebuilding my reputation and work I might somehow make her life different.  In a few short months that all changed.

She did not want her dad's complex reasons for being so far away. She wanted her dad nearby. That was it. The rest all were my own creations and illusions of what I thought a different approach might be. Truly a child never spoke more honest and to the point words.

Now starting over again is really starting over again. Bottom up with family support and with faith. That is it.

Nothing is for certain except this one point. I will be where I should be, with my daughter.  I have heard others say "she is only five, of course she will say that."

More stupidity has never been uttered by an adult. We forget that our kids are listening, watching, learning, keeping mental notes on everything we do.  It is their innocence that will be our judge of parenting in many ways.

So if you think that you have the time to make excuses, you only deceive yourself. "Time Waits for No One" is a quote I think that also fits. You can hold on to your precious beliefs of pride, being right, and doing it your own way.

Meanwhile those few precious moments will be spent as a parent in quality and meaningful time that you will remember and they will also. You can wait to see if your "being right" pays off later. I will take the first of these two tests of parenthood.

See I have a child now long gone to the adult world and I don't know if I will ever see him again or have a meaningful relationship with him. I could have been there more, but I wasn't. I wasn't a bad parent. I just missed out. My other older children have confirmed this. I am blessed forgiveness is a real possibility in my third son's situation. The older two are great men in their own right, and they will go far.

As for my daughter that minute I took to think will change history. Hopefully and God willing it already has. As a final plea out there dads and moms think for a minute. Is your endgame going to bless your child's life or put a wedge between you and him/her in the course of time?

You don't know the outcome, but you can make an educated guess. Only you know where you stand in what needs to be done and your relationship with your child. Just don't leave that relationship to chance. Gambling with money is one thing. Gambling with your children is another. In the latter the stakes are higher and if you lose, the debt harder to repay if it can be repaid.

Think for a minute. Stop for a minute- The Housemartins

Football: Should It Take A Hike and My Response

I was asked by "Out of Step Radio" to offer my opinion on whether Football is too dangerous and we should do away with the violent sport. Here is my response as provided to the blog radio program:

"I don't think banning football is the answer. We as a civilization like violent sports football, hockey, rugby, boxing, martial arts, NASCAR, etc.  All of these sports have collision, broken bones, long term effects, death. Doing away with one means doing away with all.

I do believe that our young people need better education in their own anatomy and the results of diverse injuries that go along with them.

Banning them is not the answer and you can only go so far in addressing serous hits with rules.

Young men need to know what they're signing up for. They need to be told "this game could maim or even kill you.

Then they get to decide the pros vs cons. I'm a football fan. I love my team. I don't think banning football or other high contact and impact sports is the answer.

Parents, coaches, recruiters, and important figures all have that responsibility of educating our young men and women too about the danger that goes with a risk for glory.

Is it worth it? Yes! Is it our duty to let them know the odds of success? Yes! Then let them play after age 18 or before with parental consent. Every time a player goes down I don't care who he is playing for. I just hope he's okay.

Now play ball."

Starting Over In Three Months

I took a job out of state and now I am coming back home to where I started. Wound licking is and obvious side effect.  Now the big test is how am I going to take this next part, the reboot.

Well, first there is good old fashioned self analysis. How, where, who, what, where, and why? How did I get here.  Second is getting on the run and making sure that I am doing what I can to make sure that I get out of the box running.

Everyday is a new day and so it is. But the difference is the the sun rising and sitting around vs actually making something happen.

I don't recall such bad challenges happening to me in the past. Now it is working for a goal of being employed again.

Rather than hit my loved ones with a sad sack story, it is time to move forward and hopefully top out on the end.

But I do wonder why sometimes? Does it really matter? I have some sort of greater faith that things are hopefully work out.

Until I blog again.

Great Places To Get Passed on Interstate 84

Ever since I relocated to Twin Falls, Idaho I have been back to the Wasatch Front in Utah, which is still sort of my "home base." Practically everyone I know is there. Most important, my family is there as well.

But there are miles of road between Twin Falls, Idaho and Salt Lake City, Utah. Along Interstate 84. Here are some great places to avoid unless you torture yourself with bordome.  Then be my guest and to each their own.


If Governor "Butch" Otter, yes his real name, wants to brag about "Idahome Road," I would suggest a new thing to brag about in branding your state. In the far southcentral Idaho, someone loved dust and isolation. The only problem is they could have used greater imagination than this name.  So if you get off the highway to visit here, maybe a visit to a psychiatrist is also in order.

 

 

There is not a Sweetzer place along the 80 MPH zone than Sweetzer Road. Near Sweetzer Pass, Idaho this exit should only be used to find a bush to relieve "nature's call."

 

 

 

Juniper Road, Idaho is just road with a freeway interchange. Celebrating one of the Great Basin's larger shrubs or tree the pinyon juniper managed to get a road named after it. Maybe that is because there are more choices to find a bush of your liking, or Idaho is ashamed they don't have more of these lovely trees.

Crossing over the state line into Utah, the Hansel Valley gets an exit. Is this where the famed "Hansel and Gretel" tale took place? Was a man by the name of Hansel passing through? Maybe its named after one of thousands of Germans? Who knows? Again see if you can find a toilet or the boredom may kill you.

The name "Rattesnake Pass"makes sense here because one can see rattlesnakes living here. But the other exits featured here also most likely have the venomous reptiles here as well. Maybe you should not stop here including for nature calls because nobody wants to get bit while taking a pee by a rattler. Utah does have some great gifts to the 8 million worst places of the world to have to go through.

Not to be confused with Pocatello, Idaho is Pocatello Valley, Utah. There are no services here except ones you can create. Pocatello, Idaho should sue the namers of this Utah valley for worst name and copyright infringement. You will be glad when you are through this maze of  well bleh.

Happy travels.

Judges No Longer Abritraters of the Law, But Rulers of Us All

The United States Supreme Court again demonstrated why an overhaul is needed of the highest court in the land, and all other federal and state courts.

The courts do not listen to the people anymore, they rule them.  A judge is a nobleman and a justice is a duke, lord, or a black knight in somewhat rusted armor.

The time has come with the refusal of the United States Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution  of the United States, to overhaul that organ of government.

Most all the several states had laws and state constitutional protections against being compelled to accept same sex "marriages." These laws were voted in by the majority of the people, to protect the sanctity of marriage and its extension, the family.

But judges now seek to invalidate not just fair and just laws of the land, but have the gall to lecture us and tell us we are not tolerant of those who shop for the right judges and justices to hear cases and make arbitrary and capricious rulings with no basis in US legal, traditional, state, or community standards.

They hold on to their lifetime jobs and bark "royal" decrees at the uneducated "masses."  The country is a mess. We have an imperial President who invokes decrees bypassing the Congress. The Congress is impotent, but it own choice to let the Executive and Judicial branches run amok with no consequences to these oligarchists for their actions.

The people on the other hand are hitting the tipping point and things will soon become not urgent, but an emergency to throw every bum in all three branches out, maybe at the same time. I hope it does not come to this. You cannot legislate the heart, mind, might and soul of a nation.

We who hold on to traditional values that are time tested and have worked for thousands of years are just supposed to yield the floor to the various left wing and amoral police lobbies. If not we will be put in "our place."

We who are holding on to principles of majority rule "tempered" not steamrolled by majority rights will be vilified whether in the majority or not.

Its time for our "diaper wearing" Supreme Court to answer to the people and to God. I propose the following.

1. Every supreme court judge appointed will serve 10 years and then must step down regardless of his or her age.

2. All federal judges will serve 5 year terms and will be subject to reappointment through a retention election in their jurisdiction after one term. If the circuit court and district court judges cannot retain a confidence vote of the electorate they will step down after their term is ended and cannot be reappointed and confirmed in that jurisdiction. The President and the Senate will then appoint and confirm new judges to fill vacancies. All federal judge vacancies that need immediate filling will be filled by the Governor and Legislature of the federal district of the state or Council of Governors for circuit court justices in which the vacancy or vacancies arise until the President and Senate can nominate and confirm replacements.
No federal judge shall serve more than three terms or 15 years. A federal judge cannot be re nominated for the same bench in which he or she held office after retiring or removal. They can be nominated for another jurisdiction or higher bench upon nomination of the President and consent of the Senate.

3. All federal judges at the district level will account annually to the governor and legislature of the state in which they reside to give an accounting of their rulings and justifications. If they be circuit court judges then each justice will account the same annually to the governors and legislatures of the states in their appellate jurisdictions.

4. All Supreme Court Justices, including the Chief Justice, will account to the President of the United States and both houses of Congress annually to justify their opinions, rulings, and actions. Upon hearing of the accountings the President will recommend to Congress a resolution of confidence in that justice's service and the Senate and House of Representatives may concur, be silent, or take lawful action up and to impeachment.

5. A Supreme Court Justice may be given a recommendation of no confidence by the President of the United States and the Congress then will consider lawful sanctions of that justice for failure to be a steward of his or her office and may extend to impeachement by the House of Representatives and Conviction and removal from office by the Senate according to the laws and Constitution of the United States.

The following changes will make the judges more politically accountable to the people, the several states, and to the Executive and Legislative bodies of the nation.

Corruption will be able to be dealt with as quickly as time allows and the people can redress the judges and justices of the lower federal courts through retention election.

Our Founding Fathers sought out wise men to carry on the task of defending the laws and the Constitution and the protection of all people, not just minorities who have redress issues nor arbitrarily throw out laws of the people with which they disagree.

The states should consider a similar model for the appointment and retention of judges. But state courts are the jursidiction of the states in which they are created and are free and independent organs of the federal system except as defined by the laws of appellate jurisprudence defined in the Constitution.

If we do not do something to hold the judges and yes all political officers of our federal and state governments accountable they will eventually become the nightmare so many hundred years ago feared by the Founders of the United States.

For the territories of the United States Congress shall make all necessary redress of federal judges in those areas until statehood or the affected territories independence from the United States is achieved. Territories are the jurisdiction of Congress and the national legislature owes it to these people in our territories that are not states to remedy their causes for judicial accountability and stewardship.

Failure to act will further insulate the judges at all levels of government to become oppressors rather than champions of the people and the laws that govern our nation.