PINEWOOD DERBY TIME

I got there at the requested time---waited about a half hour for the rest to show up.

Had a pretty good showing of cars to race.

It has always been fun for me to be the starter for the Derby. I get a kick out of watching the kids react to their handiwork.

PONDERING

I woke up fairly early this morning because my mind was going about a hundred miles an hour thinking about all kinds of things. I got up and read through a bunch of stuff on the computer. It really didn't slow the old mind down at all. There is an awfully lot of stuff going on in the world right now and a lot of tragedies out there. Most of my pondering is whether there is enough help in Japan to help the people that have lost everything. Makes my heart hurt to think about these poor people that did nothing wrong but are wiped out none the less.

HOPE JAPAN GETS CONTROL OF THE POWER PLANT AND GETS STARTED ON RECLAIMING PEOPLES LIVES.

THE RECONSTRUCTED HOUSE

Went south yesterday to see my brothers and see the progress on the reconstruction of the house we grew up in. It is coming along nicely and is just about finished. Thre re a few touch up things that have to be done and the construction of the garage and reconstruction of the basketball court in back but it looks really good.

PERSONALITY TEST

Went to a training last night for renewal of our foster care license. The instructor gave us a personality test to see where we fit in the four personality types. There were thirty word choices and 10 reaction choices. Surprise, suprise, suprise, I had 23 in the red and 12 in the blue---should not come as a surprise to anyone that is where I scored. Now I just need to figure out how to change this enough that I am not a sick purple....since reds and blues are generally not very compatible.

FUN DAY

Today I am driving a woman to her going away party in this 1930 Model A. They did an old time Forest Service photo shoot a few years ago at Big Flat. I wore the old time uniform for that and she wore the old time dress. It was kind of a fun day so they asked if I would drive her to her party in the car with the uniform on. I told them yes. They brought the car but can't find the uniform so guess I'll just drive her there in regular clothes.

I WILL BE MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE THAT WAY.

AAAHHH RETIREMENT

Yesterday Inklings and I went to a retirement party for a guy I worked with. We had a little bet way back early in our careers about who would be a District Ranger first. At that time neither of us thought it would be 20 years before we got it. I beat him to the DR position but he went on to be Area Manager for the BLM in our area so he made an extra grade.

The party was held in a Mexican Resturant in another town so we had to travel a little for it. I prepared what I was going to say expecting his boss to be at the party. I prepared pretty well before too---I wore a black shirt and my bastard hat (the black Stetson I wear when I am going to be a bastard). I was going to let his boss know how unfairly I thought he had treated my friend but--wah lah---he didn't show up.

My friend was pretty nervous when I got up to talk (because he knows about the bastard hat) but I only said good things about him. I did say that the BLM would talk about his time here as the GOOD OLD DAYS. It was a good party and I am glad he is out of a bad situation. I hope his health improves and he has some time to enjoy his life away from work. My fondest memories of him are when we were out in the boonies on horse back looking at the resources and having a great time. We had lots of great trips together---BUT NOT ENOUGH. We need to figure out a way to get out on horse back again.

IS THE WISCONSIN CRISIS AMERICA'S CRISIS???

I have been watching the happenings in Wisconsin with grerat interest. The Governor has not budged on a single point but says he is willing to negotiate. The 14 elected Democrats have left the state because if even one of them shows up to vote the bill, as currently written, will pass. If they don't show up it can't be voted on.

There has been a lot of rhetoric on this but the bottom line is that the Governor has the votes to do anything he wants to do and the only defense for the Democrats is to not show up. The Democrats have said they would vote for the spending cuts but not for removing the Union's collective bargaining clauses from the contracts.

The Governor keeps saying the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. The Unions in the past weeks have tried to rush contracts through before this law is signed. THE BEST PREDICTOR OF FUTURE BEHAVIOR IS PAST BEHAVIOR---AND BOTH PARTIES HAVE FAILED AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED.

This is way worse than GRIDLOCK and I pray every day that the Governor and the elected officials can find a way to negotiate through this. THIS IS THE BEST EXAMPLE OF FAILED GOVERNMENT IN AMERICA THAT I HAVE EVER SEEN!!!

Hope this isn't a preview of what is to become America's crisis.