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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Yay the war is over....

Just a quick note to let those of you who might not know it, but World War I will officially end on Sunday, Oct 3rd 2010. Sure they signed the Armistice Treaty at 5:00 AM on November 11, 1918, which was to officially end the war at 11:00 A.M. that very day. (Although on the Western Front shelling continued an hour or so after that time.)
But the treaty of Versailles called for reparations, and Germany was made to pay for the damage done by the war, (about 15 billion dollars in today's money) which they will officially do on Sunday. The final payment of about 41 million dollars will go to private individuals, pension funds, and corporations which hold debenture bonds. It is important to note that one of the main reasons Adolph Hitler rose to power was his belief that reparations for World War I were destroying Germany. It's also important to note that World War II reparations were paid in machinery, goods, and German labor, (German prisoners of war were sent to work all over the world, including the Unites States where they were called Military Labor Force Units.) and also about 3 Billion Deutchmarks to the World Jewish Congress, and another 450 Million Duetchmarks to Isreal. Most of Germany's reparations for World War II were paid by 1953. So on Sunday be sure to raise a glass and celebrate the end of one of the Worlds most deadly wars. That's about it today, Ciao for now.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Getting older...

Well, today is my (Kenton's)birthday, I am fifty two, no fifty three years old. Or as of this writing, 464,586 hours old. That's 636 months, or 19,358 days. Which seems a real short time to have been on this earth. According to statistics I have spent about 17 of those years sleeping, so I have only been physically conscious and using my body for about thirty six years. I started thinking of strange little things like, how much time have I spent on the toilet. Or how much time have I spent eating, or having sex, (way too little of that by the way) Going the other way, how much time have I spent in meaningful pursuits, learning, or teaching, caring for others. How much time have I spent being selfish or self centered (sadly more than I care to admit.) If I have showered 3 times a week at 10 minutes a shower I have spent 167 hours in the shower.
Waaaayyy too much time watching television, (I really don't even want to calculate that one.) Many Many Many hours in front of a computer, (right now for example). One thing I am sure of, I enjoy this life, and wish to continue enjoying it as long as nature and time and tide allow. So though I am getting older, that fact that I am HERE to get older is definitely a good thing. So if you see me today taking my creaking old body down the street, with it's sagging flesh and graying hair, it's bad eyes and hairy ears, wish me a happy birthday, because that's what I'm having, I assure you. Ciao for now.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Been a while....

We were looking at the blog and realized we hadn't had an entry since Sept 9th. So even though we haven't a thing that's interesting to write about we thought we would make an entry, so here goes. The last eight days have been pretty hectic around here, we have been finishing up on the gardening, draining and putting the pool away, and generally trying to winterize our existence. We also fought a major war with the downstairs toilet, it seems to have it's own opinion as to when it should work. We have tried a sewer snake, liquid plumber, and draining it and reaching into the tank to see if we can figure out whats wrong. All of us here have given it a pep talk as we flushed it, we keep asking each other questions like "Who are you talking to in there?"
and the answer is always, "I'm trying to pep talk the toilet." Needless to say the toilet isn't listening, and just goes on flushing or not flushing at it's own whim.
So if you visit us and are using our facilities, you may be a casualty in the great toilet war of 2010. (Just want to point out that Wolfie has written above the bathroom door "Abandon all hope." which was written above the gates of hell according to Dante Alighieri in his Inferno.} No, we don't think our bathroom is the doorway to hell. (Some of us here don't believe in hell.) But there may be just a little bit of purgatory in there. Just a quick note to fill some of our time, and waste some of yours, ciao for now.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Our house....

If anybody knows us personally they know that Wolfie (House mother Lisa) is the main cook here, not that I cannot cook, surely I can, but there is a tendency to make a mess, for example not too many months ago I decided to make some bread, (It turned out like tasty leather.) But Lisa described the resultant mess as "The white tornado meets the Pillsbury dough boy." So obviously cooking doesn't simply involve mixing ingredients and baking or frying, (Or Broiling, or boiling, or scalding, or grilling.) But also cleaning up the mess. And that is the reason I don't get to do much of the cooking, (which is actually a good thing as Lisa is a consummate cook.) Those of you who know us know the famous Super Bowl Chili of 1996. No seriously, people still talk about a meal she made over 14 years ago. Only five of us were there to eat it, but we all remember it, and can describe the different levels of heat it brought to our palate, It wasn't painfully hot, but the heat started at the lips and slowly worked it's way back down the throat. She had spent three days making it, adding different pre browned meats, cooking down vegetable juice slowly to enrich it. Four different kinds of hot peppers, and onions and green peppers also. It had chili beans and various spices, but this was certainly one of those times when the whole was much greater than the sum of the parts. She believes that she will never be able to make a chili like that again as there was no real recipe, but those of us who know her wouldn't be surprised if she pulled it off again. She will certainly have opportunity as Football season is beginning again, and those special days will be filled with good food and good friends as always. That's about it for now. I am getting hungry, I'll try not to make a mess this time. Ciao for now.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

On burning the Koran...

Recently a church in South Florida has decided to burn the Koran on Sept 11th as a protest to the extremist Muslim cause. And although we at the Crazy condone free speech, we disapprove of this action. Sure he has the right to burn the Koran, or the bible or the flag, but doing so will incite riots and violence in places where American lives are at risk. It is our sincere hope that someone also throws a bible on the fire to get the point across to those idiots (about 40 or so attend the church) what they are starting, (although doing so might get you killed as the Pastor has armed himself due to death threats.) If however someone does attempt to kill this guy our only hope is that no one else gets hurt in the crossfire. It's obvious to us here at The Crazy that doing something so hateful will only lead to more violence and bloodshed. Let's face it, burning the Koran is not going to endear us to any one of the dozen or so extremist Muslim organizations, and they are certainly not going to understand that the right to burn the Koran is guaranteed by our constitution. They will simply see it as the work of the devil, and assume the great Satan is at it again.
We should also point out that NOT burning the Koran won't make much difference either. They will still hate us. And we will still have to deal with them someday. Fortunately these extremist Muslims hate each other as much as they hate us, so maybe we will get lucky and they will kill each other off. Here's hoping. So what is the upside to burning the Koran, well, anyone? Point made we think, no one here can think of any upside to burning the Koran other than keeping warm on a cold day. Anyway just our opinion, ciao for now.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Weather changes....

After a couple of days of miserable humid hot weather here in the Upper Peninsula, we are now getting the first signs of fall weather, it's cooler today (thank god, or mother nature or whoever the hell handles these things.) Looking forward to cool fall nights listening to the wind trying to make it's way into the house. Some of us here at The Crazy thrive on this weather while others dread the coming snow. (That's what happens when a Mediterranean woman marries a man of Finnish descent.) Chances are the posts here will be a little sparse for a while but once the snow flies we may be back to doing this daily again. On another note NASA has recently discovered some new planets in another solar system, (actually a whole bunch of new planets) some of them a little over a light year away. (or 5.87849981 × 10 to the 12th power miles for those of you who prefer the British-American system of Units.) Needless to say no one alive today will ever see those planets up close unless a major breakthrough in space travel happens soon. Still, it's interesting to wonder if there is other life here in the neighborhood and what sort of life it is. Just a quick note for anybody who still might be reading this blog, and if not, well... it keeps us in the practice of writing anyway. Ciao for now.