Guess Who's Back?

Wow - a whole month since I last posted. I was planning to make one or more posts about my trip to Australia, but after getting back and trying to get my body back to central time, going back to work, feeling post-trip fatigue, ... 

thundering36 and I with our new friend, Dindy, at the Healesville Sanctuary

One of my issues seems to be having time/energy/motivation to post. Life seemed to be moving pretty fast. Some random thoughts as I reenter the blogosphere ...

* The Democrats have gone crazy! I mean, who really knows what happened, if anything, with Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford. For those readers who are not young pups anymore, imagine someone going back and digging into your life when you were in high school and college. Really -- what kind of things could they say about you? What did you do at a party? Ummm ... which one  -- not sure of the year, location, or other important details.

Personally, I thought the grandstanding by the 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls was childish and poorly done. I will not give them even the acknowledgement of listing their names here. But guess what? You had the national stage and you looked foolish.

I'm not going to rehash everything that went on with then hearing, and I certainly have no solid evidence (nor does anyone else, apparently) of what happened. I have my own theory, but mind you -- it is just a theory. I suspect that the situation Dr. Ford described might have happened with another man. I get the feeling that if we had access to her therapist's notes, we would find that she has been riddled with significant psychological issues for many years of her adult life and her recollections are jumbled and not indicative of objective reality. As I mentioned -- this is just a thought.

The anger, bitterness, childish and destructive (dare I say hypocritical?) behavior of some of the far left has been amazing. If it keeps up, which hopefully won't happen since Judge Kavanaugh has now been sworn in, someone is going to end up hurt or killed. And we will see which party is more galvanized  for the midterm elections.

* Treasure your good health and your life. A major reason I visited my brother, thundering36, in Australia was because he had been having some serious medical issues. He was able to get out and do some things as long as there were rest days in between. We are hoping that his medical diagnosis is now becoming clearer and that there will be some procedures he can take to continue to lead an active life.

Shortly over a week ago, I volunteered to go to park in Indiana to go hiking with my wife and dog. I found out that my wife's plan was for us to go canoeing. Unfortunately, the water running through the park was up three feet and trips would be much more challenging. Ha! Our canoe hit some rapids and took us, at a pretty decent speed, right into a tree. The canoe capsized, and I was momentarily stuck underwater underneath it and some tree branches. Scarier than hell! I have watch Titanic too many times and felt like I was living the movie. Fortunately, some people were on the shore in that area and one guy came into the water to help me work myself out over several trees in swift running water. As a result, I lost my glasses, my hearing aids, and my non-waterproof cell phone got soaked and died. I've spent the past nine days getting things in my life back in order. I stopped wearing my contacts at the end of February because of impending surgery on my eyelids. I was forced to go back to them , which I had been putting off for months anyway. I was actually looking to buy a new phone anyway and was able to get one and be up and running last week. This Friday I am having an audiology exam and will be getting some much needed new hearing aids. So I have to tell you, this little canoeing trip cost my more than a few dollars.

* Poker. Arggg. I got in about five sessions at the Crown Casino in Melbourne and kicked some major butt. The players were bad, and the only losing session I had was when I lost a flip and an absolutely terrible player was in on a hand with crap cards and caught a miracle river. I returned home feeling confident about my game, but my poker has been suffering  while back at my usual rooms. This game sure can humble you sometimes.

* Anybody need a car? We currently have an extra car, which somehow made it through two teenage drivers and eight years of university parking lots and on-street spaces. It runs well, but looks like it has been through a war zone. Our van looks almost as bad and is still being kept around for hauling yard debris, furniture, etc. And my baby -- my faithful companion for the past 16 years (a red Ford Mustang convertible) -- squeaks everywhere. I'm taking in in to the shop soon to find out if there are any quick, inexpensive fixes. If not , it may be time to say goodbye. If so, what to get? I have no idea. If not a newer version of my car, I just don't know. I am not the kind of person that likes to spend a fortune on a car, but I guess I'll have to decide if I want something hot or maybe take a step back and get something a little more refined.

Thanks for reading!