July 4, 2002
Well, Happy Fourth of July to you all! (Warning: Soap Box On) And despite some stupid out-of-touch-with-truth-and-reality judge near my birthplace in California, it truly is "under God" that this nation was founded and exists today. Funny how life changes us. In 1954 when Congress added those words to our pledge (wonder who that judge -- and many others -- offer pledges to today), I didn't agree with them. For a 14 yr old, the change to "tradition" was traumatic, and I'd earlier fought for the pledge just the way it was. Some time before the change, I was in the 5th grade I think it was, we got a new guy in class, and his religion didn't allow him to pledge allegiance to the flag. I'd had a brother in WWII and a brother in the Korean War, and I wasn't about to allow religious freedom to overrule our duty and privilege of saluting our flag and stating our pledge of allegiance. After getting physical with the poor guy three days in a row and being sent to the principal's office each day for fighting, the teacher finally got the idea that I wasn't going to be persuaded to not feel the way I did and act according to those feelings. From then on before the pledge each morning for the rest of that year, both of us would go to the principal's office, and then return to class after they'd finished the pledge. We both became the laughing stock of our peers as I recall. He didn't show up the next year. Must have moved away. Today I sort of regret giving him a bad time for something his parents were really to blame for, but "tolerance" wasn't part of my being then. Hardly is today for that matter. (The combination of older and wiser has changed a lot of my thinking and, today, I fully agree with the revised version of the pledge.) Tolerance wasn't why we went to war with England, and tolerance wasn't why we got into WWI or WWII or any of the "conflicts" since. I can't find the word in our Constitution or Bill of Rights either. If you can, let me know and I'll offer public apologies. Our liberal interpretation of those two documents are to blame for much of what I see wrong in the country today. When God told Israel to go into the country and kill everything and everybody, they got tolerant and look where they are today. King Solomon got tolerant of the other "gods" in the countries he conquered, and look what happened to him. Harrumph! (Soap Box Off) I truly do hope you had a happy celebration of the independence of this great country of ours.
We're in Moses Lake, WA, at a Sunrise Resort park called Pier 4. One of our favorites. On the left Barb has captured me almost capturing dinner. Had a couple of nice trout on, but didn't land them. The outboard was giving me fits by quitting and not restarting, so it went to the shop and I went to bank fishing. Paul, at Cascade Marina in Moses Lake, told me it ran great for him.....was I using old gas? Well, lemme think. I bought that gas in Florida, didn't I? Yup. Probably in April or May, as we'd left by June and I can't remember buying any since. Last July/August we'd used the boat in CA, but that was the last time it had been in the water. Could be I was using old gas. He told me not to waste my money on buying a stabilizer, but to get rid of it and start over. We found a place that would take it -- for $2.00 per gallon! It cost more to get rid of the stuff than to buy it! I hope the sale of our rig isn't like that! And of course, after doing just that, someone asked me why I didn't just pour it into the 20 gallon tank of the Jeep and get rid of it that way. Sheese! What a dummy. That would have diluted the "bad" gas enough that the Jeep never would have known the difference. I think. Anyway, we went touring yesterday. Gravel roads with plenty of washboard surface that made us love that Jeep even more. Columbia Wildlife Refuge. Potholes region of the Columbia Basin. Lakes all over everything, and while we enjoyed seeing a Golden Eagle (Barb saw two of them) and plenty of other smaller resident birds, we wished we'd timed our visit for either the spring or fall migration. We may come back for one of those times.
Ah, Barb and her flowers. We have no idea what they're called, but she tells me they smelled good -- and were full of bees.
Columnar Basalt these rocks are called. Some of the best examples of the stuff in the country apparently. Reminded me of the Sheepeaters area of Yellowstone.
Remember when we were "Scat Scouts"? Well, Barb learned her lessons well I guess. Back then (see March 4, 2001), she was using rubber gloves and a baggie to pick up anything that even looked like it might have been eaten. Well, off she goes to take these pictures of the Basalt formations, and here she comes back with a sly grin -- and some (very dry) scat! In her bare hands yet! Those lighter colored spots are cherry pits, and she'd brought just a little of the pile she'd found. Bear? Couldn't be anything else in my book, for a good sized pile and obvious wholesale "berry" eating. Hummmm. I'll have to discretely ask around of some of the locals. Not hard to believe, because there are all kinds of areas where a nice blackie could den up for the winter, and plenty of forage because of all the little pothole lakes. Interesting, truly interesting. You know, this really is kind of a fun lifestyle. You should try it.