For me Kayaking must give way to a new sport!

I have to say everyone I talk to lately has given me the same words when I ask what sport I should take up?  The loud defining reply is kayaking!!!

For four years now I keep telling them I can't because of my bad foot (broken - leg broken) and if I stretch it out it cramps and resting on my bad heal it kills me...This is followed by bend your knees...don't put you legs out straight...My second reply is I have a bad ear and balance and I am dizzy and if the boat flips I won't know up or down or anything...they answer you will pop right to the surface.....

I have to say I won the most athletic award in high school..I love sports...I used to be great at most of it...but kayaking...please.

My best friend and business partner of 37 years Chris died of Breast Cancer ( a terrible death) and so in 2008 I paid for some people to go on the Inlet Bay World Record kayaking event to raise money for the Susan G. Koman cancer society.....they broke the record..yea..and raised a ton of money..$52,000 I believe.......Meanwhile I was safe in Earlville giving a speech on the Fair...

Then that record was broken in 2009 by Pittsburg..so last year they planned to do it again in Inlet...and try to break that record!   My sister-in-law said, "Come on you can do it"....I could not get out of it...so off I went with a borrowed blue kayaki thing....

The day was overcast and looked like rain at any minute but people started to come...there were so many people that they had to start people from many different spots on the lake...we had to paddle across the lake...and in a bit of a wind to Arrowhead Park the main gathering place with stands, shirts, food..whatever.....but there was NO POWER....which meant little food and stores open in town and few potties that worked because they needed pumps......

On the way across I got soaked by waves that ruined my cell phone even though it was in a baggy and after a while we set off for the place where we were supposed to paddle to and form a raft.... then we had to hold our paddles up and wait for the Guinness World Record People to fly over take a count and take a picture and make sure we were out in the water and not touching land.

On the planes first pass people yelled for us to move forward into the lake...on the second pass they shouted "waiting for more rafters"... as the clocks were down because of the power failure ...and then after far too much time we woo-woo-wooed and then the sun came out over us...many cried..I knew we broke the record.... it was over..and yes what ensued -  was a traffic jam.

Have you ever been on a lake next to 1,924 other kayaks...well its worse than being stuck on the freeway...especially since they are all facing in different directions!

I made it back to shore with the worse "charlie horse" I have had in years...but we did it...I did it ..and we broke the Guinness Book of World Records for the world's largest raft...by a ton of kayaks...it was such a sight that the official picture was printed in the Sport Illustrated Magazine...Dick Leland sent me his copy...I made Sports Illustrated!....But that's not all..a week ago a friend brought me the National Geographic Magazine for last month and we (I) was in it again...I, of course and 1,924 other people...

So as far as I am concerned...I have "Kayaked" my way to the top..Sports Illustrated..National Geographic...there is no where else to go...so I am working on finding a new sport this summer!!  Any suggestions????

Here are pictures of that wonderful event below...help stamp out Breast Cancer...view it be inspired...

Time marches on...no doomsday this year!

Well...THANK GOD!!! Today a scientist showed a newly found Mayan Calendar that goes hundreds of years past the doomsday date people have been driving me crazy with ...in December of this year!  Yea..


I am so sick of this flap about the end of the world coming that I was happy and copied the link so I could present it to my next gathering of doomsday sayers at dinner party next week.


The truth is however, I had sort of hoped the doomsday date would be moved up a few months so that I didn't have to hear anymore about "POLITICS and the election!"  Wow talk about blab..blab..blab..on and on about religions and other stuff that we have no real need to discuss since 200 plus years ago we are supposed to have separated Church and State (and I might add for good reason)  Perhaps I have forgotten what the Constitution looks like or how it reads!


The other half of the blab is about equality.....yes another part of the basics of our country that was stated in the Declaration of Independence...let see if I remember that line...That all men (and women) are created equal and endowed by their creator (*note no name or religion mentioned) with certain inalienable rights...among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness!   


Yes but more than 200 years later we are still trying to figure this out!    Does this mean happiness only to those who are the right color, sex, religion, or nationality.  Does this mean only the rich..and not the poor?


I am appalled to think that the great minds who are swaying our country today are not the likes of Jefferson and Madison...but Limbaugh and Beck..with a little "tea party" thrown in....hmmmm......


Then the next question that arises is ....if the world comes to an end... how is it going to happen????hmm.. Dinner parties have provided much fodder on this..nuclear war...global warming....being hit by meteorites.....flesh eating bacteria that is unleashed by some unscrupulous scientist!


Well for some uplifting news..we have also dated the frozen guy from up on the Italian - Austria boarder named Oetzi who is 5300-year-old caveman ... so see we have been around for many..many..years and will probably continue for many more...


Science has shown us the progression of the development of the average man's human body.....but as of recently ...my opinion is that the human brain hasn't done so well...it might actually be regressing.


This end of the world stuff has gotten me singing an old song by the Kingston Trio that I used to love...well listen to it below and laugh... The Merry Minuet..and realize how many years ago it was written (1958) and is still true!!!! You will love this......

Written by Sheldon Harnick (born April 30, 1924) is an American lyricist best known for his collaborations with composer Jerry Bock on hit musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof.

Harnick began his career writing words and music to comic songs in musical revues. One of these, "The Merry Minuet", was popularized by the Kingston Trio.^[1] It is in the caustic style usually associated with Tom Lehrer and is sometimes incorrectly attributed to him.

Today my whole day went to the SQUIRRELS!

The week started with me working outside on the beautiful day that Saturday was - when all of a sudden I heard scratching and chewing inside the outside wall of the house....loud..I mean LOUD! I decided to remove a board and see if it was carpenter ants....God Forbid....or mice...It wasn't ants...so I figured mice.

Well my cat Rascal went on the hunt for the mice and brought me many victims trying.. no doubt...to get me to give him a special treat...Sunday morning from 1am until 4am Rasc caught a whole family of mice outside..I was relieved and figured removing that board worked....

Sooooo..last night I heard Rasc running around up and down all around and was sure he was on a mouse hunt.  Since I was not jumped on to get up and deliver him a treat I figured the hunt was a bust!!!

About 6 am Rasc wanted out and I was tired and left his little door thing open for him and went back to sleep...I woke up at 8 am ready to go and heard something on the floor near my bed figured it was Rasc....and there..lo and behold....was a large squirrel just nonchalantly looking at me!

Up I went chasing the squirrel trying to get it outside..first with the open door trick.  That failed!  Then with the open a window and lock him in a room trick..That too failed!  Then I got Barb to join me in the hunt and chase with two doors open, one window, a broom..boxes blocking ways around the room.....and then we lost him!!

I tore the rooms apart..and the  house looked like a war zone..........but NO squirrel!

Tonight I think ...we have it trapped in the office with the window open...but the house is old and the floor a bit hole..y...so maybe he went into the basement..but I don't know....

I am praying it went out and I can get some sleep.....but on a chance I failed to rid the house of it I went on line for suggestions...the one that appeals to me most is a "sonic rodent repeller" that emits a high frequency pulse that travels through walls and ceilings and is guaranteed...or money back...to do the trick!

So tomorrow if the scratching continues...I am going off to find one.......!!!!  Anything to get some sleep!

For information on this problem I went on You Tube..found no how to videos...but this ridiculous video advertisement for a not so humane product..but this is funny!!!!

May Day in today's world..could it be a "mayday" call for help?

I really found it interesting to think about May Day today.  I don’t think I have remembered it for years but with the help of the news and Occupy it came back to my mind.

Here on the back street I had a gathering of friends..some old..some new..and one had a birthday today!

I commented that most people don’t really know what May Day represents.  Many think it is was a festival with May Poles and May Queens.  Of course in the ancient times it was a pagan holiday that actually marked the first day of summer, it was the day half way between seasons…November the other.

For some of us when we were kids all we can picture was the Cold War and Moscow’s May Day parades with tanks and missiles and such.

The history of May Day here in the USA during 1886 was a day for workers to hold gatherings and marches in an attempt to shorten the hours worked to only 8 hours a day but with 10 hours pay.  The marches were supported by labor groups across the United States with all the major cities holding meeting and marches.  This year of 1886,  bought 10,000 people and up together for such marches across the nation... many leaving their jobs to attend.

Though most demonstrations were peaceful, one erupted in violence and became known as the Haymarket Massacre.  A peaceful demonstration was infiltrated by a few bent on violence.  The anarchists hurled a bomb at the police killing one, police started firing and many policemen were shot...most likely by other policemen.  The cause of the violence was a strike earlier that week that had become unruly where police had killed 2 workers….so this bombing was called revenge.

This organized marching and violence started a trend to force business to modify hours and served as a warning to factories that labor wanted change……

Now let’s play it forward 100 years or so …. the reality is…TODAY workers need to band together to force business to give  workers 8 hour days 5 day a week jobs....in other words full time jobs!!! 

Businesses are hiring part time employees only…this to save on having to provide benefits!!!!   Isn’t that really why many costs are going up…people having to work more than one job to make ends meet and yet they have no retirement benefits or healthcare???? Are we kidding ourselves into thinking that people are living off of the system because they are trying to collect some help paying their bills at retirement...if they can retire at all????

Isn’t life funny?  Everything seems to go around in a circle…like the Maypole Dance...the only thing that doesn’t go in a  circle is the cost of living…that just goes up in a straight line!

Are today’s demonstrations a “mayday” call for help!   Oh well...

Happy May Day!