Happy Easter Everyone.


I guess it was a coincidence but here on Easter Sunday, together with several articles in the Sunday Paper about Jesus' Crucifixion
there was also an article on a new Supercomputer that is in the process of coming on line.
The article, in addition to telling all about how many miles of wire it took to make this computer a reality, etc etc, also stated that the hope that it would be capable of over quintillion equations PER SECOND.
Folks, for one thing I cannot even imagine what the need for this fast a computer is. or what we need to know in a scintillion of a second, but the one thing I do know is that we, just maybe, just perhaps..We as a species are getting dangerously close to the edge of knowledge that we puny humans need to have access to.

Science has never been able to place a size to the universe. Science likes to believe that they DO know everything there is to know about the universe, but they don't, because up to now they have not had the tools to determine this figure.

Its just a guess, but I would imagine that the first use that the new super computer could be put to would be to figure out how large a NEW SUPERCOMPUTER,. it would take to determine the size of the Universe.

So perhaps a comparison would be: A man is given a shovel to dig down to find a larger shovel to dig down to find a larger yet shovel to dig down to find a larger yet yet shovel to dig down(ever faster and with ever heavier shovels full of dirt) to find an ever larger yet yet yet shovel to dig do....

Get the Idea?

Perhaps, just perhaps, it is part of the Grand Design (if there is one) that we, as a species, don't need to know a whole lot more than just this:   HOW BIG IS THE UNIVERSE? I DON'T KNOW! HOW LONG WOULD IT TAKE FOR A COMPUTER THE SIZE OF THE EARTH TO DETERMINE THIS SIZE OF DIMENSION. I DON'T KNOW!

To be absolutely truthful folks, I don't even know what else I need to know, other than to remember the things I have forgotten, those things I once knew, or thought I did, but no longer know.

Perhaps our brains are sort of a dry erase board of a finite size on which is written things as we learn them, but as the board fills, it is necessary that the top (oldest) line be erased to make room, for us to continue to chase our tails.
I do not know, Do You ?


Happy Easter
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This N That

Morning Folks:

Well it's been some time since I've posted anything, and even though I'm pretty sure that no one has felt like they have missed anything, I will still apologize, as I have missed the occasional comment.

I guess it could be accurately said that for awhile now I"ve been sort of downhearted by the actions of other folks who have erred in ways that have disappointed me, but who knows?, these same folks may feel as though I've erred in ways that disappoint them, as well, probis verbiscom!

But...to try and keep my aged fingers as flexible as they are likely to get, I have started writing. Following the example of my successful younger son, who IS a published writer, I've started writing stories, which even if they someday grow to book length, will never be published, for the main reason, they are not good enough.'

Still, its enjoyable, for me to try and meld at least some of the experiences of a too-long (77y) life, together with an imagination, just to see what comes out.

I've, thus far, Named my two Main Characters Therlew and his friend Norvun, and I've placed them in a small cotton-farming community in Arkansas, although it could have been one as a few other states, as easily. I am trying to write in the voice of these two worthies, and am thus far enjoying the effort. But enough about that.

I wonder about the health of someone I've never met, who, at last report that met my ear, ws suffering from multiple cancers. I've not heard of or from him in some time, but I will continue to pray for him and his wife. God bless you John.
I guess thats enough for today folks

Stay Happy and Well

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Creepy things.

Good Morning All.

I guess we all, at one time or other have had something happen to us that is sort of creepy. Sometimes, perhaps most times, we can explain the happening afterwards, but sometimes we can't.

Such a thing happened to me a couple of days ago and I thought it was worth chronicling on the of chance that someone else would find it sort of odd and funny at the same time.

In the newspaper that morning I had just finished reading an article about the mystery of the person who, for many years, left a tribute of three roses and a half finished bottle of Cognac at the one time grave site of Edgar Allen Poe.

I had, in the past, read about this on several occasions, but had never dwelt long on it, but on this occasion I was somehow driven, no... make that mentally urged, to re-read the Poem "The Raven", just to refresh it in my mind, and I proceeded to do just that. I sat at my computer reading through the poem and was struck anew with the simplicity and perfection of the meter of the Poem.
After reading the poem I sat for some time deliberating, as we all do sometimes, on whether to print the Poem and create a file for it, and ultimately decided not to do so.

At just that time, while my mind was still wound up in the ball of string that was the subject currently before me, and lost in thought, as we all sometimes are, when suddenly, just after reading the line, "Came a tapping, at my door", there WAS a tapping, a rapid and insistent tapping at MY front door.

Folks I don't mind telling you, the hair on the back of my neck stood straight up, and I had goosebumps on top of goosebumps.

I got up from my chair to go to the door, half expecting I don't know what, but certainly something odd, opened the door and found not a Raven, not any other infernal symbol or mysterious avatar, but instead, Just the the Pastor of a local church in our small town stopping by to ask my wife and I to visit his church sometime.

I thanked the Minister politely and told him he would have to excuse me for being abrupt, but I had something on the stove, received his acknowledgement, and closed the door.

Now, this will sound a little silly, but after the Minister and his companion were on down the street, I timidly re-opened my door and looked to make sure there was nothing sinister "awaiting at my door". There wasn't.

Now I am 77 years old, or 539 in Dog's years, and I could count on the fingers of one hand the odd things that have happened to me or that I have witnessed, in my lifetime, that were unexplainable.

There was one other instance that I'll recite, then I'll close this too-long post.

My wife and I had gone for a Sunday drive outside of Natchez, Mississippi, where we lived at the time, and had stopped at a small Civil War Cemetery.

My wife and I had walked a little ahead of our friends and were enjoying the peaceful quiet beauty of the little graveyard, when we came upon one of the hundreds of markers we had seen,  and when I looked down at the plain back of the stone, I HAD to get out of there. I don't remember what I said to my wife, but I left the area we were in and was soon relieved of the ghostly panic feeling I had. I still do not know why I had to get away from that area, but I confess freely, without feeling a bit cowardly, I DID.

I would like to say I went back and investigated what name was on that stone, but I never did.


These are just two odd things that have happened to me in my lifetime. there have been other, which I may someday publish, but if any of you have strange but true stories in your life, please let me know. We will all enjoy them.

Stay Well

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Endangered Species

Good Morning All.

If I may I'd like to write a few lines about a subject that is Near and Dear to me; The English Language.

For some time, I have been adding to the fuel for a good "Grudge Fire" an attempt to repel the savages who would assault the ramparts of the Castle of the English Language.

Regularly, I read an interesting article on my Yahoo Home page, and then for some self-flagellating reason, I invariable read the comments per the article, following it ( the article).

As often as not, the article will contain several words misspelled and the thing that really ticks me off, will contain that asinine example of laziness, the phrase "LOL" or "OMG". Folks if you are too lazy to type out the full word, just quit typing, and for goodness sake, use spell check.

Another trend in our latterly, as a people, assault on our common language is the usages of the words "Like", "Totally" "You Know", "You Understand". It is really frustrating to a person who contemplates the future of our great Nation, if led by the people who so brutally rape our Language by using these silly phrases.

As an example sentence: "And I was Like, you know, totally like radically thrld by this Like" "Awesum Dude" who was Like, Totally Like Hot, You Know?.

This seeming season of laziness in regards to our English Language could, I supposed be blamed to the assinaine fad of 'Texting". Perhaps I will be the only person disturbed by this and other examples of ignorance, but I think that before a person under the age of, say, 30, can get a cell phone, he or she should have to pass a test via a written essay, in which the English used must be at least understandable and even, dare one hope, Correct.

Now if you want to assault me for daring to criticize such idiocy, I guess I'll just have to blame it on the fact that I have never Texted, never Twittered a single Twit to any Twit, have been known to go for months on end without using a cellular telephone, do not own or even want to own, an I pad, a Blackberry, an I Pod, a Tablet, other than the kind containing pages of actual paper on which to write.

Like, Gnarly, Know what I'm sayin"?

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Good Morning to all people of good will.

Well, its a rainy but warm day here in Southern Illinois, and for the warmth I am thankful. I try, earnestly, to count my blessings frequently, for that is the one method I know of to figuratively "Bail out our Boat" when it comes to the function of our brains.

After going through the overlong list of my blessings, I am drawn to focus  bit on those things for which I am not thankful.

I am looking at one thing for which I am not thankful, and that is Windows 8, also known by a variety of cursewords.

I personally view this O/s as just the latest egg laid by that Antichrist "Billy the Geek Gates.

Now, obviously I have not even a portion of a fragment of an ort of Gates Wealth, but that does not preclude my criticizing some of his products,

My Computer, an aging HP inherited from my Daughter after she and I wore out my old Dell was taken with a Binary illness recently, and perished, so like the naïf that I am, I traipsed happily off and purchased a new computer. that is where the trouble started.

I purchased another HP computer, as I had grown to really like the old one I had, and in doing so I opened Pandora's Box.

My new computer came with the NEW AND IMPROVED WINDOWS EIGHT OPERATING SYSTEM.

Possibly Billy the Kid could say something nice about the O/S, but I sure as heck can't. 

The only question I  would ask of the obscenely wealthy Mr. Gates is WHAT THE HELL WAS WRONG WITH WINDOWS XP?

As I write this, a good and Smart young friend is laboring over my old computer, trying a Hard-Drive transplant to bring it back to life, and after he has done so, I will happily convey my "New Computer" back to the store where I purchased it. It is a piece of Junk.

Forgive me for my rant, which many of you will not understand, as you are among the generation that fins no mystery in the computer world. As for me, I am honest enough to admit that I know very little about this Technical Subject, even though I have labored long and hard trying to educate myself in and to this subject, I apparently am a poor Teacher.

Have a wonderful day, and stay far-far-away from Windows 8.

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Again We Sorrow

Good evening Friends:

I am sure that anyone reading this is as Heartsick as I am over the unspeakable tragedy that occurred last week at the school full of little Children in Connecticut. I guess I'm just like almost everyone else, in that I cannot, for the life of me, understand why anyone, even a Madman, would wish to harm innocent children, who as we all know, are not capable of doing anything harmful to a grown person, and thus cannot be guilty of any behavior or actions that would engender a standing enmity to cause one to perpetrate such a vicious, filthy,Irrational and sick Act, as this was.

I cannot wrap my mind around this. I keep getting a mental image of Twenty Small Coffins, Twenty growing lives and minds stilled forever, accompanied by Six Adults, who gave their lives to protect these beautiful, innocent Children. Perhaps I am not supposed to. I know many people would say that we cannot understand God's purpose in allowing such Acts, I would say that this cannot be the Act of God, but the act of a perverted madman, who abused the free will we are all given, but shed the cloak of love and caring which we are all also given.

I Do Not and Cannot understand this, and I never will. Perhaps I am not meant to.

I have written before that there is NO reason any civilian should have to own an Assault Weapon. They have only one purpose, and that is to Kill Human Beings. PERIOD.

I have been a Gun Owner since I was about Ten years old, or so, and never as a Civilian have I ever pointed a gun at an innocent Human Being, and I cannot believe ANY sensible Gun Owner, be they Sportsman or Collector or Scholar, would have any objection to the complete Outlawing of Civilian Ownership of Assault Weapons.

A gun is nothing more than a tool, and as such can be misused such as most tools can, but a gun is of a much faster and easier Lethality than most any other tool, with the possible exception of the Motor Vehicle, which also is responsible for the Death and maiming of too many beings each year. Just as No One other than a member of the Armed Services or Police Officer has any conceivable need for an Assault Weapon, neither does anyone have any need for an Automobile capable of ridiculous speeds, but many such vehicles are sold each year.

I believe that it is long past time that we all stop and say, this is too much, No More, and make the changes anyone of average intelligence should realize are necessary to protect the innocent.

Remember always these Precious little Children.

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Request

Good Evening:
I am writing this post to request that anyone reading this will do me the great favor of sending all your Prayers upward for John B. Turner, whose blog is John three Sixteen. This good man has recently been diagnosed with Multiple Cancers, of the Brain, Back and elsewhere. Joh needs all the help a Merciful God gan give , and I'm sure that the more prayers for him the greater his chances for a recovery.
John, even tho I've never met him has helped me a lot in the past by helping me to start and maintain this blog, and by setting an example of what a good person is. So come on troops, lets all say a bunch of prayers for John.
Thank You and God Bless

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Good Afternoon:

As you can see by the salutation, I have changed the font and font size on my Blog.
This is in response to Google's new format for Blogs. I do not understand when they(google) had what I considered to be a real good format, they had to change it.
Maybe I'm just an old fogie but I believe in the old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Let me know your thoughts.
If any of you have read my past posts, you will have seen when I reported that our Youngest Son had published his first book.
For those who like to read the work of a new Author, the title of the book is: Kingsnake, descendents of Iniquity
Author: Christopher Piper. I think it's a really interesting book about some of the Near and Actual Outlaws who live in the Southern part of Illinois, some of whom we've known. We will appreciate your feedback on this as well, if you are so inclined.
I have been doing a little writing. Just for my selfish enjoyment, will I'm pretty sure never be published, but I've enjoyed writing a lot more when I write just for myself. I am writing a series of stories about a small rural town, and the "Characters" therein.
Its Fun

Stay Tuned
Stay Well, Stay in Touch and Stay Positive.
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Too long a silence

Folks, I'm Sorry.
Or perhaps I should say Folk (singular), as I don't know how many if any people have ever been interested in this Old Man Blog, but just in case there are more than one, I figure I had better explain myself. My last Post was quite some time ago, and it was about the Death of a Dog. Our Dog, Our friend, our companion, and our source of almost constant joy.I have heard from several folks who felt just as my wife and I did, about Their Doggie friends.
At the same time we lost our dog, we had and are having some difficulties that have made our days stress-filled and difficult, due to the misbehavior and lack of purpose on the part of some of those who are very important to us, and it is slowly eroding our souls.
All my life I have regretted any form of waste, and for a person to waste the gift of an absolute gem of a brain, one that has shown in the past that it is capable of outstanding achievements is just so damned sad that I just don't know what to do. The sadder part of this is that the person who owns this brain is a parent and a grandparent, and those decedents, I fear, are emulating this person in some,too many, ways. Someone whose support I value has reminded me of the words of Marcus Aurelius. I remembered these words, but had forgotten the Author.
they are:
ETHICS----If its not true don't say it. If its not right don't do it.

I will continue to hope that the person of whom I am speaking will somehow read these words, and perhaps for the first time decide to change the things that have robbed themself of a successful life.

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Our Sweet Dog

Good Afternoon all.

Our Sweet Dog Scarlett, died on the Twenty First of last month, and her passing left a hole in my Heart and a rent in my soul.

Scarlett was a few weeks short of her Fifteenth Birthday. She lived with us about Ten years, after we took her from a neglected and abused life. She was way underweight and frightened when she came to live with us, and My Wife and I both were determined to improve her life and to make her happy.

We started almost immediately, taking her to a Veterinarian the second day we had her as she had a kidney infection. The Veterinarian put her on a regimen of certain medications, including Flea and Heartworm treatments, and we started, for our part in her recovery, taking her for a long walk at least once a day, and usually twice.

In just a short time, my Wife started cooking for Scarlett, rather than feeding her dog food, as advised by the Vet. Every single night Scarlett could look forward to a supper of either Steak or Chicken, garnished with rice or Pasta and Gravy..

Scarlett let us know right away that she enjoyed and appreciated her diet and her comfortable bed, inside, with us, rather than in the dirt outside, as was her bed where she used to live. She also put on about Twenty pounds, which brought her up to her proper weight.

Scarlett let us know she loved her food in a cute manner. My wife had placed a small Teddy Bear on Scarlett's bed shortly after she came to live with us and we, as silly Old Folks, called the Bear her "Baby". After she would eat her good, home cooked supper, Scarlett would often bring her Baby to us, placing it on the floor in the Dining Room, which, of course, melted our Hearts.

To illustrate how sweet Scarlett was, when we would take our walks people would frequently come to the curb to admire Scarlett and would ask (as it is wise to do) "may I pet her?", to which I never hesitated to tell almost anyone they could pet our Scarlett. Frequently the person petting Scarlett would be a small child and Scarlett was always to calm and loving, it didn't matter if the child pulled her hair or ear, Scarlett seemed somehow to know that the child was very young, and didn't mean to hurt her, and she would just stand patiently, wagging her tail and smiling.

Scarlett had at least two strokes by the time she went to sleep, and I agonize over the thought that maybe I waited too long and caused this sweet Dog to suffer, but we thought as long as she was eating and enjoying her supper, we could wait a while longer. I hope we were right, but if we weren't, I will never forgive myself, and will not expect to be the recipient of a final forgiveness.

I wish everyone could have a wonderful Dog like our Scarlett, but you know; if you treat your Dog good and love them and take care of them, chances are you will have a loving companion also. Grandma and grandpa will always miss you Scarlett,but as it said on Uncle Chris' card, the car windows are always rolled down in Heaven.

Stay well, and do let me hear about your great Dog.

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Characters I have known.

Good Afternoon all.

I'm sure a lot of you have heard of the Peter Principle, which, simply put, is the process of promoting a person to a level above his or her abilities.

Most people have known such a person in their lifetime, and I've had the unhappy experience of knowing more than one, mixed in with the absolutely great people I've worked with over the years.

The person I am making reference to worked at the same facility as I did, and in the same Technical Division. After several years this fellow was promoted to a supervisory position over the area where I worked and things started getting pretty bad pretty fast. This fellow had the ability to take a well functioning department and in short order make everyone in the department either ticked off or disgusted, or both.

It was no secret that this guy had a couple of "Toadies" in the department, who ran to him with tales of people talking badly about him or not doing their work, etc etc etc, almost anything they thought would further their warped cause and improve their status in the eyes of this person.

The crux of the problem, as I saw it, and others voiced the same opinion as me, was that the bespoken supervisor was so insecure that the only way he could tamp down the worrying thoughts in his mind, was to bully every person, every chance he got. He actually hinted to me once, and only once, that if I would come to him when I heard something unfavorable about him, that it would be to my advantage.

I told this chap in no uncertain words that I would do almost any job I was given to the very best of my ability, but that I would not, under any circumstance, become one of his "Lickspittles".

Quite possibly I would have improved my position with the Company if I had done as he asked (furtively) but then how could I have lived with myself?

I have known people in all walks of life, and of all stations, and regardless how menial the job I have noticed that the men who did their job with pride in their work were almost always well thought of by their co-workers and their superiors. And these selfsame men, whatever their station, had no need to run to the "Boss" with lurid tales, mostly of less than whole cloth ,as did the man of whom I spoke earlier.

Folks, at what is probably the tail end of my life, I've found one thing to be ever true: I've found that the good people, the kind of people who you love to work around and with, outnumber the Bastards overwhelmingly.



I guess I have been extremely fortunate, as regards the people I worked with over the years, as the great percentage of them were more than pleasant to be around and to work with.

Stay Well

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In the News.

Good Afternoon

It seems that every time I read the Newspaper lately, I find something that I would like to write a blog post about, but when I set down at the computer, for the life of me I can't remember what it was I wanted to write about.

But I'll try, all the same.

A few months ago there was an article in the paper about a young woman who stopped her car on the Interstate, dragged her two year old out of the back seat, struck him on the head with some sort of wooden folding table, rendering him unconscious, and continued down the road, dragging her five year old son, and abandoning her two year old . It was only by the grace of God that a passer-by saw the tot lying in the traffic lane of the Interstate and stopped to render assistance, and thus averted the horror of the young lad being run over by a speeding vehicle.

It seems that the woman had, before starting to drive, had snorted a product marked as" bath salts", which had the reputation of causing hallucinations, when snorted, and thus catching the attention of the Drug Community. This excuse for a human being had INTENTIONALLY snorted these salts to get high. The older child had told police that his Mother had thought that his little brother was a demon, and had tried to destroy and abandon him.

The woman's picture was in the Newspaper and has been on T.V. news several times, and lordy lordy, if one looked up white trash in the dictionary, one would find her picture.

And now for the even more unbelievable part of this tragedy. The woman was sentenced to only Ten Years in the Pen for this attempted Murder. She will undoubtedly serve part of that sentence, be released by some damn fools on a parole board, and immediately get busy having more children that she can endanger, ignore and neglect. This is absolutely outrageous!!! This this ...trash, to be kind, needs to be taken out and sterlized, forbidden, on pain of death, from having any contact with any child, under any circumstances at all, for the rest of her miserable life.

I have no doubt at all, that if some practitioner of the Evil Arts were to procure some thoroughly dried Bovine or other Farm Animals Manure, package it as ,say, hair restorer, but publicize it, sub rosa, as a maker of good highs, a large number of damn fools would purchase and "Snort" it.

Some time ago, I was speaking with an old friend whom I had not spoken to in over 50 years, and reminiscing with him about the past, he referred to a job I held, back in the day, which was, looking at it now, extremely low paying, but was thought to be about right at the time, given my relatively unimportant status with that company, and asked me if I thought those were the good old days. I replied, without hesitation, that I absolutely did. When queried by my friend "Why", I couldn't think of any reasons other than we were young at the time, and things cost a whole lot less, like gasoline, as a forinstance. We had no further discourse on this subject and went on to talk about other things, but I think if my friend were to again ask me this question, I would mail him the articles about this woman from the Newspapers .

I'm afraid, that if asked to rate our population as a whole, I would have to say that it has gotten terribly worse over the past few decades.

Maybe I should just stop reading the Newspaper.

Stay well and do at least one good deed a day.

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Proud Papa

Good Afternoon Folks:

I, with your permission, am going to depart from my "Preaching" for once in order to indulge myself in a little bit, no make that a lot, of Paternal pride.

Our youngest child, Christopher, has just signed a contract for the publication of his first book, and my wife and I are just bursting with pride.

I should hastily add this disclaimer i.e. My son, who is very talented in several areas, got none of his talents from me. My wife is the smart one in our family, but the important thing is that he has these talents and he has put them to work, in the writing of his book, and I'm so very glad he has.

It has Been suggested by a few people, mostly co-workers over the years, that I should write a book, but, due to a lack of talent, and a probable overabundance of laziness, I never have. This exercise I call a Blog is a very poor substitute, and has, in fact, been perhaps accurately called "Crap", and it probably is.

But at least, thanks to our Son, there is now one writer in the family.

"Scuse the Braggin"

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This and That

Hi Folks.

I read in a recent copy of our local Newspaper that the State of Kentucky has broken ground, so to speak, on a new level of Insanity.

Now, even though I was born in the Bluegrass State, events over the past few years have made me almost ashamed to admit this fact.

The occurance I am speaking of is Kentucky's department of Fish and Wildlife Resources have announced a hunting season on.....SANDHILL CRANES!!!. Now correct me if I am wrong, but I have never thought of these Birds as "Trophy Material" nor do I believe I have ever heard of anyone of more or less human origins desiring to make a meal out of one of these graceful creatures. Kentucky, in all its wisdom has decreed that the season will run until 400 birds have been killed, or until the director of the Fish and Wildlife department sobers up, whichever comes first.

I fully expect that these intelligent people will probably attempt to open a season on Bald Eagles soon. I guess word hasn't filtered down that This is our National Bird. Just as it hasn't seemed to occur to these numbskulls the insanity of a season on any species of Cranes, Sandhill, whooping or any others.

The only bright spot in this stupidity is that each "Hunter" will ONLY be allowed to take Two Birds.

I would like to suggest to the high muckety-mucks in Kentucky Government change one small detail in the next season on these birds, and that is their Quarry has to be taken by hand, and that for each bird that is taken, one Kentucky legislator has to just quit his job and go home. The way I figure if these clowns can do nothing better than to allow a laxity in the laws of the State of Kentucky that allows for such obvious stupidity, well...Kentucky has too many legislators, who have too little sense. Folks, the days of such prominent and deserving politicians such as Alben Barkley, who some of you may remember as Harry Truman's Vice President, and who was giving a speech after his term as Veep ended, ended the speech and his life (he dropped dead at the end of this remark) "I would rather be a servant in the house of the Lord than to sit in the seats of the mighty"--are so few and far between as to almost be an extinct species.

As an aside, years ago I attended an auction at the Home of Alben Barkley which I enjoyed, and I was able to purchase some of Senator Barkley's books and the large antique Dinner Bell which was on a post in his back yard.

I still have both items, and am rather nostalgic about them.

Stay well and do good works.

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