Congress??

The English language has some wonderfully anthropomorphic collective nouns for the various groups of animals. We are all familiar with a Herd of cows, a Flock of chickens, a School of fish and a Gaggle of geese.

However, less widely known is a Pride of lions, a Murder of crows (as well as their cousins the rooks and ravens), an Exaltation of doves and, presumably because they look so wise, a Parliament of owls.

Now consider a group of Baboons. They are the loudest, most dangerous, most obnoxious, most viciously aggressive and least intelligent of all primates. And what is the proper collective noun for a group of baboons? - Believe it or not ....... a Congress!

I guess that pretty much explains the things that come out of Washington!

Congressional Reform Act of 2011

1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.
2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!!

I have seen this proposed several times as an Amendment to the Constitution recently and think it has some merit. I would also suggest adding a restriction on the size of the Congressional staff. Most of them have to justify their position by coming up with new laws their bosses can push through Congress, and we all know how dumb most of the "new" laws are.

Anybody care to comment?

Psalm 2011

Obama Is the shepherd I did not want.
He leadeth me beside the still factories.
He restoreth my faith in the Republican party.
He guideth me in the path of unemployment for his party's sake.
Yea, Though I walk through the valley of the bread line,
I shall fear no hunger, for his bailouts are with me.
He has anointed my income with taxes, my expenses runneth over.
Surely, poverty and hard living will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will live in a mortgaged home forever.*

Hmmm, Just Wondering .....

John Smith started the day early having set his alarm clock (MADE IN JAPAN ) for 6 am .. While his coffee pot (MADE IN CHINA) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor (MADE IN HONG KONG) He put on a dress shirt (MADE IN SRI LANKA), designer jeans (MADE IN SINGAPORE) and tennis shoes (MADE IN KOREA) After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet (MADE IN INDIA) he sat down with his calculator (MADE IN MEXICO) to see how much he could spend today. After setting his watch (MADE IN TAIWAN ) to the radio (MADE IN INDIA ) he got in his car (MADE IN GERMANY ) filled it with GAS (from Saudi Arabia ) and continued his search for a good paying AMERICAN JOB.

At the end of yet another discouraging and fruitless day checking his Computer ( made in MALAYSIA ), John decided to relax for a while. He put on his sandals (MADE IN BRAZIL ), poured himself a glass ofwine (MADE IN FRANCE ) and turned on hisTV (MADE IN INDONESIA ), and then wondered why he can't find a good paying job in AMERICA

Overdue Update

Sorry, I’ve been bad! This is especially for those not on Facebook.

Upon arrival in Williston, ND, main slide of trailer would not work right. We spent 4 nights with slide 1/2in/1/2 out. Only one RV repair guy in the city, swamped with all the RVs around, couldn’t help. Upon leaving Williston, had to manually help the slide close. Stopped at several RV dealers in ND & MN, NO ONE could/would look at it. Finally called Lloyd Bridges in Chelsea, MI (dealer we purchased trailer from) & they agreed to look at it. So we skipped sightseeing in MN, WI & UP of Michigan & got to Lower MI nearly 3 weeks sooner than planned. Got lucky, Lloyd Bridges had parts needed in stock & fixed in one day!

With extra time, spent 4 days in Chesaning visiting relatives & friends, then headed to Sparta for the Barnum 4th (3rd) of July Party. It was Great seeing members of the family that had not been on our schedule. Then to Hart to see Cindy & Joe, Melissa & Kajsa. Great grandchildren Austin, Tori & Logan were there too. A trip to Harrison gave us the chance to visit old friends at Long Lake for a few days! Now we are back in Hart, awaiting the arrival of our kids, grandkids, & great grandkids for a few days of fun, beach & eating!

So in a way, the trailer problems helped – we have had more time to visit than planned, and it’s been fun. Remember, our itinerary as known to us, is in the right-hand column.

Williston, North Dakota

You’ve all seen the emails telling how much oil is under North Dakota? Well, I can tell you, it is being drilled for! Northwest ND is in the midst of a “Boom”.

We planned to stay a couple of nights in Watford City, go visit Theodore Roosevelt Nat’l Park. But as we got closer to the city, we were seeing oil rigs, and tanker after tanker on the highway and going & coming from the side roads. Also started seeing what looked like temporary RV parks everywhere. Downtown was BUSY, late afternoon, & yes, you guessed it, NO room at the RV park or the city park.

So another 50 miles to Williston. Early evening, raining, road construction, mud, trucks of ALL kinds! Fortunately, Prairie Acres RV Park reserves half their sites for travelers, we got the LAST one. Truck & trailer had changed colors because of the reddish brown mud.

The highway is a steady stream of trucks; asphalt, gravel, dirt, tankers, equipment haulers, you name it. Streets are lined with trucks parked on both sides, local commented, “if it has a sleeper, the driver is probably living in it”. We’ve heard comments such as, “Williston is the only city in the US that is hiring homeless people”, “17,000 jobs available, but you need to find your own housing, and there isn’t any”.

While visiting the Roosevelt Nat’l Park yesterday, got talking to a couple from Minnesota, he is a road contractor. He doesn’t have any idea how they got the oil rig there, but he has been asked to cut a road to a rig 13 miles from the nearest highway. The road needs to be able to handle loaded oil tankers. We have also seen several pipe lines being laid along the roads & coming across the fields. The terrain here is very rolling & hilly.

As we came into Williston, we crossed the Missouri River, normally 200 yards wide, now over 3 miles wide. The bridge in the foreground is where the river channel is, the rest is usually dry land! It is currently at its’ all time highest level! And the snow in Yellowstone & Montana is not melted yet, and it rained again since we got here! And FEMA is rejecting ND’s request for help.

North Platte, Nebraska

Golden Spike Tower: The tower rises 8 stories above Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard – the world’s largest train yard, covering 2,850 acres stretching out eight miles. It’s Huge! Every 24 hours, up to 150 trains, 10,000 railroad cars are handled, sorted, made into trains in Bailey Yard utilizing 315 miles of track. The Locomotive Repair Shop can handle up to 750 engines per month.



Scout’s Rest Ranch: North Platte was home to the man who made the Wild West world-renowned, William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody, the West’s most colorful showman, army scout and buffalo hunter. Cody established a 4,000 acre ranch where he entertained guests, many of them wealthy & famous (actors, businessmen, royalty). He named the ranch Scout’s Rest as his fellow scouts were always welcome to come visit for a spell.

Fort Cody Trading Post: Ernie and Virginia Palmquist are the creators of buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in Miniature, which has its permanent home at Fort Cody Trading Post. Nationally known, this show of 20,000 hand carved pieces, all hand painted, took over 12 years to complete. The pictures are only part of the display!













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