Well, a little catching up to do, lol. Several things have happened since I last posted to my blog. I know, I'm a neglectful little fella.

I got the cat after all. Well, actually, I got two. Instead of one little blond kitty, I got two of them from the same litter, a couple of sisters. I could not come up with appropriate names so I posted to my Facebook account that I had the problem, and for my friends to suggest names. There were several very good suggestions, but the one that caught my fancy as an NCIS fan, was Abby and Ziva. Thus my kitties had names. They have turned out to be just as cute and quirky as the NCIS chicks they were named after! LOL. They are a lot of fun and very loving, so they'll do.

Next, my country has decided to commit economic suicide and reelected President Obama. How people think a socialist is going to know how to fix a capitalist economy I'll never know. I've known us to do some pretty silly crap over the years, but this has to take the cake. The only explanation I can come up with is that those who want free stuff from the government now outnumber those who are going to be called upon to pay for it. My disappointment cannot be measured on any current scale, it's that deep. Thomas Jefferson said; "The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." Boy, have we ever taken that route to heart. We've allowed ourselves to become the serfs of those who will not take responsibility for themselves, and we are forced to help whether we want to or not.

Oh well, such is life. We will not recover from the rule of this President in my lifetime.

Mac

Thinking of getting a cat. I know, I know, why do I need a cat. Well, why does anyone need a pet at all? It's just good to have a pet to take care of I think. Especially when you live alone, just seems a friendlier way to live. But you say, why a cat? Well, I live in apartments most of the time, and I'm just not a big fan of having a dog in an apartment. It may be just fine, I just don't like doing it. If I ever wind up buying that house I will probably have a dog as well, but I just don't like cooping a dog up in an apartment, just doesn't seem right.

So, a cat it is. A kitten to be more exact. I have a friend who has some kittens that need homes, and I think I'm going to take one of them. They will be ready soon, weaned and all, so they'll need to be taken home before much longer. I've already got most of the stuff needed, just need to buy some fresh food, and get the litter box back out of the garage. I've had cats before, obviously. I made the mistake of letting my last one go wandering, and I'm sure one of the neighbors at the time decided they needed her more than I did, so she went missing. Went without a cat for some time now, or any other pet, so I guess it's time.

So, now it will be kitty naming time as well, lol. She's going to be a little blond kitten, from a litter of little blond kittens, so it should probably be something "blond" related, lol. We'll have to wait and see if any names suggest themselves, eh?

Mac

I think I want to buy a house.

Well, I think so, anyway. It has been a long time coming, that's for sure. But as the years go by and retirement seems to take up a lot of my thoughts about the future, I begin to feel like I need to find a spot and perch there.

Having grown up an Army Brat, we didn't really "own" property or homes. We stayed where we stayed till we didn't stay there anymore. Home was wherever WE were, not where a certain structure stood. But, it has started to grow in the back of my little pea brain that it would be nice to have my own place to live that is NOT an apartment. I thought I might lease a house for a while to see if I even wanted to mess with it, but it seems the interest rates are just too low, and the housing market just too enticing right now (a real buyers market), that all adds up to - it's time.

So I'm looking around at neighborhoods right now, to see if I want to live there, before I then start looking for the right house inside a particular neighborhood. Call me picky, but the best deal ever on a house would be a really bad deal if the neighborhood sucks, just the way I think. I'd rather have a mediocre deal in a great neighborhood.

Of course, getting the loan is a whole other deal, lol. Going for a VA loan since I have that as an option thanks to all the time I spent earning it, so why not use it? I am getting pre-approved before I even go look at houses so I'll know what I can afford. I would hate to find "THE HOUSE" and then find out I can't qualify for it, or something just as inane. So, patience is called for, and patience I shall exercise. Hopefully by the end of this upcoming summer I shall be the newest full fledged home owner in a neighborhood near you? LOL.

I'll try and keep everyone apprised of just how it's going.

Mac

Family Reunion.

We had a family reunion this weekend in San Antonio, Texas. The reunion was of the McKinney family, at least as many as we could get there. The kids of mine, my sister, and my brother, were almost all there. It has been very few and far between that all of them have been able to hang out together and get to know each other. Cousins all, and they barely know each other. Hopefully, this weekend helped a little bit to move to a better place. So many of them also have kids now and we hope they all grow up knowing each other better than we know each other, lol.

All three of my little brothers kids were there, along with their children. My brother passed away just over 10 years ago now, so we considered him there with us. My sister had a pretty expensive trip already planned prior to the date for this gathering being set, so she was out of state in the land of Yellowstone. Knowing that area the way I do, I don't blame her one little bit. Her two youngest made it, along with the lone kiddo, and it was so great to see them. Three of my sons were there, with another son unable to attend, and my daughter having to work and miss all the fun. These are all grandchildren of my mom and dad, and you can see them in many of the faces.

Mom and Dad are both gone now, but they live on in this family of children and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Even with those who were not able to be there, we took up a banquet table at one restaurant on the River Walk with 26 seats. There were still two kids missing, with three children and significant others missing from there! So eight more should have been there including my sister, lol. It was a landmark in the family as I don't think that group has been together previously for many years other than the funerals for mom and dad, and those 10 years apart.

Its been just over a year now since mom passed, and she'd have been so proud to have seen everyone show up and get along so great. It was a real joy to see everyone and get to spend even the short time we had together. We shall not let so much time pass before we do it again, and that was the consensus. Here's to the next McKinney Family Gathering, sometime in the near future. Love to you all.

Mac

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend.

Happy Memorial Day. I have just been listening to some media, and reading some articles, that say we shouldn't say, "Happy" Memorial Day. It seems they object to that because it is not a "happy" holiday, it is a somber day of remembrance of those who have sacrificed all for our country.

Agreed, to a point. But one thing people should be happy about is that there are those in our society, as self centered and narcissistic as it is, that will sign up to go places and do things most people will not ever sign up to do, and possibly get killed in the process.

Yes, you heard me right. You SHOULD be HAPPY there are those who will sacrifice themselves for your benefit. You should be glad that those individuals will stand a post so you can talk on your smart phone, watch your flat screen television, go to the movies, hang out at bars, go to the beach, work a regular job, go to your kids soccer games, etc, etc, etc, with no more inconvenience than if you happen to get a flat tire on your little economy car.

In the meantime, those who have enlisted to protect you and our way of life are eating, sleeping, walking, talking and living in hellholes all over the world to try and keep the America hating hordes at bay. While you are complaining about coach class seats in the plane you flew in to get to grandma's for Memorial Day, your soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines are being hauled around in net seats aboard a helicopter or C-130 somewhere, wearing earplugs so their hearing isn't permanently damaged, and hoping some pinheads golden BB isn't going to take out an engine. Or worse. While you are eating hamburgers and hot dogs at the beach, remember the poor slobs who are eating MRE's on a mountain in Afghanistan somewhere, wont' you?

So as you settle in this weekend and grill some hot dogs, or guzzle a beer or two, please be happy that there are those who will do this for you, and take a minute or two to actually think about what this holiday actually represents. It is to commemorate those who signed up for all of the above, but didn't make it home to enjoy the holiday with you.

Mac
Captain, USAR (ret)

Blog is back up! Was down for a bit, didn't know when it would be back up so I could ramble some more.

They are hitting us from every side these days, eh? Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Libertarians, Communists, all trying to get a seat in the boat. Each and every one convinced they are right and every body else is wrong. The "New World Order" is coming and we're all going to be slaves to the rich people! Good grief.

Look, I'm no expert on what's going on in the world, but even I can see we've taken a very high dive into the deep end. I know, I know, if you look at history you'll see just as much loud argueing between political parties and individuals as long as there have been politics. We didn't just dream up dirty politics in this country in this generation, it has a long standing tradition here, as well as around the world. That's the problem.

This attitude of: "I'll do anything, I'll say anything, I'll condone anything in order to get elected to public office is so shameful as to put the lie to anything we say we stand for. Our political process has become so ugly, so stained with vile words and deeds that the people feel dirty after having particpated in even the least important elections. In colusion with the politicians is our media.

We used to be able to consider our media a protector of the people's right to know. We used to be able to actually consider our news media pesonalities as journalists who would bring us the world and tell us what was going on with some credibility. Now, they are no more than entertainers with their own agenda and with license to use the airwaves to tell us what we should think and how we should "feel" about issues they bring to the fore. I remember when all politicians were fair game to the news media, everybody got taken down a notch when deserved, regardless of party. These days, they are more interested in defending one party against the other, instead of defending US against them ALL!

I don't know. I miss Huntley and Brinkley. I never knew what their political beliefs were. I didn't know where they stood on gun control, or abortion. I just knew what they reported in the news. I respected them for that. I used to respect Walter Cronkite, till he went all wobbly and decided expressing his opinion was more important than reporting the news. I know there is so much going on in the world that it is sometimes impossible to get it all right the first try, that's just life. But the cable news folks with opinion piece shows on constantly, advocating either a right-wing or left-wing slant to their entire production, have made it seem that we can no longer get anthing close to an unbiased report on anything! News reporting should very much be like a police report: Who, What, When, Where and How. You very, very, very rarely include the WHY because that is where you get in trouble with trying to be accurate. One source tells you one thing, and another source tells you another thing, and you then have to decide which is more accurate or true. Good luck with that.

Mac

Saturday Night Reflections.....

Let's see, how does the old song go?

"It's another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody,

I got some money cause I just got paid.

How I wish I had someone to talk to,

I'm in an awful way."

Such is life, eh? I kind of got on the subject of getting older thanks to several things that have happened lately. My kids started having kids, I realized I'm overweight and out of shape, and I just don't heal up as quickly, or as well, as I used to.

So I decide I'm going to lose some weight and start a mild workout program to try and get is some semblance of shape. So first thing I do is give myself a simple little physical fitness test to see just where I am before I start a program, right? Something simple, something I'm familiar with and can keep doing regardless of whether I have a gym handy or not. So I fall back to my old army days and figure I'll start out with the old PT test we used to do. Simple, right? Push ups, sit ups, and run. Nothing to it.

Now, I don't run, so it's more of a push ups, sit ups and walk, so that makes it even more simple. Just something to get me up off the couch and doing something. I used to do the PT test twice a year before I retired from the Army Reserve and maintained myself in between tests fairly easily. I can do this. I used to max the points on the push ups and sit ups, but I was no body's runner, so I would just try to pass that part, and maybe make a few extra points if I could. No problem.

The test was a two mile timed run. I used to pass it with no problem. Now I can't run around the block if you gave me most of the day to complete it. I used to do about 50 sit ups in two minutes, now I can do 15 and I was DONE. I used to do about 56 push ups in two minutes, not I did 15 and I was DONE. There was no running. I just walked, on a treadmill, for five laps and I was DONE. I've never been in such bad shape in my life.

So I got three iPhone apps that will help. One gives you a program to get you up to being able to do 200 sit ups. One gives you a program to get you up to 100 push ups, and one is called, Couch to 5K, which obviously is supposed to help you gradually work your way up to being able to run 5 kilometers. So I start the programs! The first day of the push ups it has me to sets of push ups, with a rest period in between each set. I believe it was 12, 7, 7, 9, 8+. Five sets of just a few push ups, and then you're done.

The sit ups program was much the same, obviously starting me off very, very slowly. Then I walked again and actually did 6 laps before being completely wore out. I knew that I'd be a little bit sore as a result of doing all this for the first time in a long time, but I had NO idea of how miserable I was about to be.

Ibuprofen and Alieve are my friends. I love them. I shall leave something to them in my will one day. about 24 to 36 hours after my little gung ho episode, I was so sore I couldn't put my shirt on. I couldn't fall asleep because I'd only wake up the first time I moved in my sleep. It was a real nightmare. Finally, it started to ease up and get better, so I was able to move, and to sleep, normally. Usually, as a result of something like that, I'd shy away from making it happen again, but in this instance, I really, really can't.

I have to do something about my weight. I have to do something about what bad shape I'm in. I have to. As I mentioned before, my kids are having kids, and I want to be around as long as I can to enjoy that as much as I can. I am so proud of my kids. They have really done such a great job with their lives so far. I can hardly wait to see what comes next for them.

As for me, yup, still single and unattached, but gainfully employed, just went over 20 years with this employer, 31 years in the business. Been single for 16 years straight now, which is a record for me, lol. I'm not sure if I'm sparing myself, or sparing any other poor woman from having to put up with me, LOL. I guess it is just in how you look at it. Who knows, maybe someone is actually out there just waiting to meet me, or not.

Mac