What a day. My daughter Lindsey told Liz and I that she is pregnant and will now be moving up her wedding date to November. I am very happy for her and Chris and looking forward to becoming a Grandpa. I know I look way too young to be a grandpa. She is due April 16, the day before Liz and my anniversary. So, within a year and a half we will have had 4 weddings and a grandchild on the way.

This bad economy brings out the strangeness in people. My daughter Lindsey has a small dog call Gigi. This dog is about the size of most cats. We licenced her the first year. This past year when didn't because money was tight. By the time you pay for her shot, and her licence you are talking over $200.00. This little dog is always inside and does not roam the neighborhood. Vector Control is now harassing us to licence her at all cost. They have sent a citation and a ticket to appear in court to make sure we license our dog. If we don't comply, we can be arrested and jailed. They haven't even stopped by to see if the dog is alive or still living with us. She is alive, and living with us. She is in great health and is very happy. Still they want their money to save their jobs. People are losing their jobs, going broke, and don't have extra money to spend. Crime rates are up, health care is down, and we are worried about a small dog having it's licence.

It's hard to believe that it is already September. What a year so far. I do misss the chapel and all of our friends from their. I Miss hearing the golden vocals of cliff. What a voice and mind.
I miss Don and Akiko. They are now in Japan. I talk with them regularly on Skypes, two way video. After teaching his first day of school, they closed the school for a week. No, he did not cause it, swine flu did. So his first week is a paid vacation. This swine flu thing might end up being a bad as predicted.
With all this debate over nation health care, and can't but wonder how people can outright lie about nation health care in other countries. As I said, my son and his wife are in Japan which has national health care. They love it, their friends love, everyone loves it. I talk with Canadians, they love it. I cannot find a real Case of people hating it, except people who get rich off it. Getting rich off sick and dying people is.......well............ sick. Oh, by the way, this depression or recession that we are in was caused by the greed of the rich, not the poor. The people who don't want a national health care is because of greed, not because of government, bad medicine or any other thing that they would concoct.

Today, a new day is dawning at Westwood. Our new pastor start his new calling with us. I have worked with him this week and he seems to be a wonderful person. He seems easy to work with and very down to earth. Westwood has shrunk over the last 10+ years and is in need of new life to be pumped into it. We have taken time to look at ourselves, our calling to the community, and our relationship with God. There will be changes, and changes are difficult, but sometimes necessary. I will be learning to play as part of a praise team,( can you teach an old dog new tricks?), plus helping to maintain the old hymns, maybe in a livelier tempo. May God bless us a we renew are faith, in his honor and to his glory.

My tribute to Ted Kennedy. Thank you for not becoming president. Thank you for being a senator from Mass. and not Michigan. His record for winning battles is below average. He is from a troubled family that has had a fair share of adversity. Everyone who worked with him says he was vicious in battle and gracious in in victory or defeat. He was a devoted Catholic, and had a history of bad behavior. He was truly a man of contradictions. He lavished in wealth and fought hard for the poor and downtrodden. If anything Teddy, you were good press. God Bless.

I talked with Don today on Skype. Video conferencing is very nice. Him and Akiko have moved into their apartment in Tokyo and are now trying to get settled in. We got a video tour of their apartment.

I have returned. Many things have happened since I last blogged that have kept me off line. First of all, the computer shorted out and had to be repaired.
Don and Akiko have arrived safely in Japan. We just set up our skype connection with them. This enables us to talk face to face with them, for free. Liz and I bought their car from them, so once again we have car payments for a while. Don and Akiko had to trim down all they had, to two suitcases and two carry on bags each. I'll have more later, as this blog is very cathartic.

Yesterday, two people in the entertainment industry died. Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. Most of the attention goes to a black pedophile over a white christian. Michael didn't want to be black, didn't want to be a grown up, and played with children and prescription drugs. But wait, he was an entertainer so that makes up for everything. Even when he admitted that he slept with children, he bought his way out of trouble. By the time the results of the autopsy are in, we will know that he abused prescription drugs and his heart couldn't take it. Elvis Presley syndrome. Farrah, on the other hand, fought a courageous battle against cancer. She would be alive today if she had agreed to a colostomy. She decided to get treatment outside the United States because it wasn't approved here. This was called, "The Steve Mcqueen syndrome." They both made beautiful corpses.

How Hot is It?

Is it hot enough for you?

These are just some of the weather related question often asked yesterday. It was so hot that 14% of our residents didn't go to work. It was so hot that republicans were blaming the democrats for leaving the heater on. The democrats were blaming the republicans for trying to make a profit off the heat. It's a government conspiracy to make people more dependent on the government. Idiots.

President Obama introduced his effort to offer government assisted heath care. The insurance companies say that statistic don't support an overhaul. They claim that 8 out 10 peoples are happy with the insurance that they are paying for. What they fail to say is that the other 90% can't afford health insurance. Idiots.

Last week our esteemed governor announced the introduction of new jobs. Bad news is that they won't be available until nest year. She also introduced her wind powers jobs, but local ordinances won't allow these things to be constructed. For more information call the republican headquarters which are now located in India. Idiots.

Summer Celebration announced that if you don't purchase a ticket for the concerts, you have to purchase a pass just to walk around the fairground. For those of us that live near the concert fair will have to pay more because we get to hear the garbage for free. Idiots.

40 years ago we landed on the moon. I thought about this when I heard that NASA was trying to figure out how to go back to the moon. You would think they would have left a map. It reminds me of Captain Kirk asking Scotty if he found the engine room? Mr. Scotts reply, "right where I left it". The moon was right where we left it. In a world wide case of CRS, we forgot about the moon.
This , I believe, is the perfect example on how everything comes around. You would think that after 40 years, NASA would come up with a better way to get to the moon. I don't mean by "transporter", or "warp drive", but come on, the same Apollo rocket. Well at least we left the rover up there, just recharge the batteries. Just a thought, "If we use the same technology to get back to the moon, is disco and platform shoes coming back?" I wish I had my old leasure suit.

Fathers Day 2009

To all you fathers out there, Happy Fathers Day. My father is no longer alive so the emphasis is a little different. Now my kids fight over what I am going to do on this day. This will be the last time for a while that Donald and Akiko will be in the States on Fathers Day so they want us to spend time with them. Catherine and Sean want to share the day with his father and with me. Lindsey is visiting with her boyfriend's father, and I'm not sure about Cody. I always wondered why my father was agitated on Fathers Day. I always thought it was the tie I made him. I guess I'm pretty lucky, I could be sitting alone at home wondering why my kids don't care.

I read in the "comical" that the insurance industry want the government to pass a bill requiring all americans to purchase health insurance. What people don't realize is that they are asking for a bailout. By making it illegal not to have health insurance they are forcing everyone to help them. I have to laugh when people don't want a government run health care system, call it socialism, and want to tell the government to stay out of their business. In Michigan, the government forces everyone to purchase auto insurance. They call it no- fault insurance.
We are told that the Canadians are lining up at the border to come to the States because of their goverrnment run healthcare system. They can't wait to dole out their money for insurance that gives them less coverage then they have already. The insurance industry is already trying to stick it to the middle and lower class people by determining their insurance cost by their credit reports. People that have fallen on rough times, are now paying more insurance because they have missed a few bills. Foreclosures are on the rise and the insurance companies want to charge more.
I apologise to the insurance industry. I have just picked on you, but there are others who do the same thing. For years the auto industries forced gas guzzlers on the American market. They have given lucrative jobs and have forced the cost of buying a new car out of reach for many. They have padded the wallets of the petroleum industries buy failing to make fuel effecient vehicles. The list goes on and on. When will some of these people wake up.

A full weekend and now the new week. I performed a small wedding on Saturday, did my music stuff on Sunday. On top of this I cleaned the church and the house, with some help.
Liz goes in for her shots in the spine tomorrow and hopefully this will help her a lot. She is almost immobile because of her back. Since we don't have proper insurance, we had to come up with $600.00. This is her second round of shots. The first lasted about a month.
We are still waiting to hear from the county as far as lead removal. They did the paperwork, and the examination of the house which revealed a lot of lead. We are waiting for an estimator to come out and then the work is put out for bid.

Let's see. This depression was caused when gas prices escalated past three dollars pergallon toward the five dollar mark. Here we go again. The automotive industry is in chaos, jobless rates are at an all time high, homes are being foreclosed left and right, and the petroleum industry is going for more profit. General Motors is now government motors because of the profit greed. I saw this starting to happen in the 80's. Back then we called it the east coast philosophy. Make your profit today, make your profit tomorrow, and keep making a profit everyday. We call it the "now" generation. It started with the dot com business and spread from there. Instant profit at all cost.

Proofreading is a dying art, would you say?
Man Kills Self Before Shooting Wife and Daughter
This one I caught in the SGV Tribune the other day and called the Editorial Room and asked who wrote this. It took two or three readings before the editor realized that what he was reading was impossible!!! They put in a correction the next day.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
No, really? Ya think?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------




Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers
Now that's taking things a bit far!
-----------------------------------------------------------




Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
What a guy!
---------------------------------------------------------------




Miners Refuse to Work after Death
No-good-for-nothing' lazy so-and-so's!
------------------------------------------------------




Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
See if that works any better than a fair trial!
----------------------------------------------------------




War Dims Hope for Peace
I can see where it might have that effect!
----------------------------------------------------------------




If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile
Ya think?!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------




Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures
Who would have thought!
----------------------------------------------------------------




Enfield ( London ) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
They may be on to something!
------------------------------------------------------------------------




Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges
You mean there's something stronger than duct tape? Oklahoma's new construction program!
----------------------------------------------------------




Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge
He probably IS the battery charge!
----------------------------------------------




New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
Weren't they fat enough?!
-----------------------------------------------




Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft
That's what he gets for eating those beans!
-------------------------------------------------




Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half
Chainsaw Massacre all over again!
***************************************************




Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
Boy, are they tall!
*******************************************




And the winner is....
Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead

Did I read that right?

> An older, tired-looking dog wandered into my yard.
> I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home and was
> well taken care of.
>
> He calmly came over to me, I gave him a few pats on his head;
> he then followed me into my house, slowly walked down the
> hall, curled up in the corner and fell asleep.
>
> An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out.
>
> The next day he was back, greeted me in my yard, walked inside and resumed
> his spot in the hall and again slept for about an hour.
>
> This continued off and on for several weeks.
>
> Curious I pinned a note to his collar: 'I would like to find out who the
> owner of this wonderful, sweet dog is
>
> and ask if you are aware that almost every afternoon your dog comes to my
> house for a nap.'
>
> The next day he arrived for his nap, with a different note pinned to his
> collar:
>
> 'He lives in a home with 6 children, 2 under the age of 3 - he's trying to
> catch up on his sleep.
>
> Can I come with him tomorrow?
>
>
>
>

I know, I havn't updated in a while. We have been very busy with birthdays, graduations, and house work. I am once again the main music man at Westwood. Since Louie hit the road, the chapel has closed, projects going on around the house, it lucky if I find time to retire.
I have watched the gasoline prices rise over $1.00 per gallon over the last few weeks. The news people are trying to excite us by telling us that gas prices are down $1.00 vs. last year.

Donald and Akiko have been busy raising money for their move to Japan. They will be moving in the end of July.

Liz's health is still not good. She will be going back for more shots in her back which is really limiting what she can do.

My health is ok.

The dogs are doing better since they can spend more time outside. This also makes the cats happy.

I just don't have time to sit and blog anymore.

The first half of this month is very busy. Young Don, graduated from Hope College this past weekend. This involved alot of running back and forth from Holland. This week was also the beginning of Tulip Time, so traffic was terrible.
This week is Cody's 18th birthday, Mothers Day, Catherines birthday, and the openning of the Star Trek the movie.

My son is graduating from Hope College this Sunday. I am so nervous. This is another first in my life. I have never had a child graduate from college. I know what it is like to be proud and humble at the same time. Here is the bragging part. I have the greatest son a father could ask for. He has followed his destiny and has made a man of himself. He has a beautiful and intelligent wife and a great future full of travel and adventure. I am soooooooooooo proud. The many nights I spent praying for him and God has answered these prayers and more. Now I get to watch him walk down the aisle in a college graduation. I thank all the people who helped shape his life, as Liz and I did not do it alone. For those of you who mocked and ridiculed my son, I feel sorry for you. You lose. nanana. My son is truly the greatest

April showers bring May flowers, and allergies. It seems like it is taking forever to warm up, and for the leaves to come out on the trees. Once it starts to bloom, we will be complaining about allergies.
Liz and I went by the chapel yesterday. It is now called, "the Bluffton Chapel". Their worship service is 11 am on Sunday morning. It may be a while before I could check them out, as it conflicts with Sunday obligations on the keyboards. I miss the people that worshipped together and hope that we can reunite sometime.
On May 3rd, my oldest son,Donald, graduates from Hope College. I am extremely proud of his achievements. My oldest daughter just graduated from her nursing assistant class, and did it by being the best. She now has to take her state boards.
Lindsey is trying to finish up her high school GED and is hoping to complete it before Cody does. I see MCC for both of them.
This summer we are hoping to do a complete overhaul of our house. New siding, new windows, new plumbing etc...
May also bring birthdays for Catherine and Cody. Cody turns the big 18, and Catherine becomes a year older.
Well I believe that covers it all for now.