Obama for President

I guess it's still too soon to tell who is going to be the Democratic candidate for president. Things haven't been going exactly the way I'd like them to go. I was initially for Hillary (maybe because I like Bill so much), but the Clintons finally got so over the top out of fear that the nomination was slipping away that they turned me off. My flirtation with Edwards was short because he dropped out just after I started shopping for a new candidate. Obama was my senator when I lived in Illinois and I was a strong supporter of his in that role, but I worried that he might not be ready for a bigger stage.

Today a friend of mine, with whom I'd been having an e-mail discussion about candidates (and whose opinion I regard highly) sent me a link to a blog (thank you, Jane). It is highly factual and worth the read. I've decided that this reflects somewhat badly on me, because I obviously haven't done my homework. If I had, my worries about Obama having sufficient substance would never have existed. The points made in the blog are not about Obama's stand on the "big" issues that the pundits talk about in the media. I think they are more fundamental than that. Although Obama seems more correct than most on those, he's also correct on some fundamental issues like openness and integrity in government that other candidates seem to have a problem  recognizing as worthy of debate.

For example, I read an article this week about the number of Clinton administration members who are now with lobbyists or representing businesses and groups that want something from our government. The point of the article was that these people are already in place waiting for Hillary to be elected. I imagine that it is impossible to stop former administration employees from being in these sorts of positions and I don't think this should reflect negatively on Hillary. After all, a lot of unemployed Bushies are going to be angling for the same sorts of jobs over the next 12 months. On the other hand, Obama has proposed a whole set of safeguards to make such activities transparent--a much more realistic approach to the problem.

Anyway, here's a link to the blog. It may provide you with a whole new perspective on Barack Obama's candidacy. It did for me.

http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2008/02/obama-actually.html

Puppy Update

Ginger is growing by leaps and bounds. We don't notice it so much because we're around her all the time, but the scales tell us that she's getting bigger. She's at five months now and weighs almost 15 pounds. It looks like she's going to be a little bigger than we thought. We're guessing now that she'll top out somewhere about 20-21 pounds. She just got her second haicut this week, so we took some new pictures.  

We're told we spoil her shamelessly--she sleeps on our bed (she's big enough now to get up by herself) and she's allowed on the furniture. She doesn't shed, so there's no problem that way and so far she hasn't done any damage. She is getting a little big to sleep in my lap though.

Here's a shot of Ginger in her Valentine's day neckerchief. she looks a lot slimmer with her new cut.

Here's a shot of Ginger with her favorite playmate. She's a very demanding puppy regarding her playtime.

Ginger also takes her rest time very seriously. She likes to sleep on a pillow under the table where Susan and I work.

Chicago Grandkids

There are a lot of pictures of our Texas granddaughter on my blog because we get to see her every week. We don't get to see our Chicago grandkids very often. We Skype with them some, but I wanted everyone to see how cute they are and how fast they are growing up. So my apologies to our daughter-in-law, but I took some pictures from her blog to load on mine in order to give them equal time.

Here's a picture of our younger grandson with his baby sister. He dotes on her, much as he did with her sister when she was this age.

This is a picture of the three oldest getting ready for the Super Bowl. Their mother is an avid Giants fan, so everyone is decked out in Giants gear. Everyone was very happy with the result. Our daughter, who is an avid Patriots fan, graciously called our daughter-in-law with congratulations.

Our older grandson likes his hoodie. This is what we usually see when we Skype. Note that it is purple. We Skype a lot with him, probably because he's the one who's usually on the computer when we call. 

Our two Chicago granddaughters. I'm not sure the younger would ever have to walk if she didn't want to. Her sister would be perfectly willing to carry her everywhere.

There has been a recent communications development. Our oldest granddaughter has always been too shy to Skype or talk on the phone to us. That has recently changed as you can see from the picture below. She calls us and our daughter several times a day now that she has figured out her mom's phone. This reminds me of some of the cell phone ads on TV. This had such an effect on her grandmother that she started pricing airline tickets to Chicago, but I reminded her that it was 40 degrees colder there with snow. She's decided to keep talking on the phone until the weather gets better in Chicago.

As you can see we have some of the cutest grandkids ever and they are all a delight.

Puppy and Her Toy Basket

Ginger got so many toys for Christmas that Susan decided she needed a basket to keep them in. Ginger loves her basket of toys. The first thing she does every morning is get all of her toys out of the basket (giving each one of them a little play time). Then she gets into the basket. Here's a picture:

Ginger's First Haircut

You might have noticed in the previous post that Ginger was getting pretty woolly. She got to looking like some furry worm running across the floor instead of a puppy. We decided to get her a trim. We wanted to avoid having a foo-foo looking dog, so we insisted on just a general over all trim. We are very pleased with the results. There is one mystery, however. Why do dog grooming places feel compelled to put perfume and some kind of decoration on the poor little critters after they've already been subjected to the trauma of a haircut?

Any way, here are some before





and after pictures.





Although it's not as obvious in the photos, we think she is getting a little lighter in color, especially her legs and face. Her ears are staying darker. We think she is the ideal puppy.

Ginger and our Granddaughter

We had the privilege of looking after our Texas granddaughter last weekend while her mom and dad entertained a visiting friend. This is always a pleasure because she is such a well behaved child (as are all our grandchildren when they visit). This visit she got in some serious playtime with our puppy. Our granddaughter lives in a house with two dogs, but they are much bigger than she and interaction is difficult. Our granddaughter and Ginger are much the same size, so they can play much better. They also have a common interest--our granddaughter's toys. Most of these toys are almost a decade old because they date from the birth of our first grandchild. As a side note, it's interesting to see that some things never change--all of our grandkids have had the same favorites.

Here are some pictures:

Ginger giving her friend a kiss.



Joint examination of an interesting toy.



Ginger about to sneak off with one of her faves.



And for an added treat, a short movie of our granddaughter and Ginger. Our granddaughter is practicing her cheer for when Mizzou's BCS championship game opponent takes the field in 2009.

2008 Cotton Bowl Pictures

Here's a photo of Susan and me in our Mizzou regalia.



I was trying to take a picture of Truman the Tiger when these girls got in the way. I don't know who they are.



Marching Mizzou--the best marching band in the world. Too little of them at half time. However, the Missouri Waltz will look better if the band goes back to white spats. The Arkansas band was really bad--they looked dopey (they apparently thought the circus was in town) and didn't sound very good either.



The final word.

Mizzou 38--Arkansas 7

Chris, Tim, Susan and I went to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on New Years Day. We met up with some friends of theirs from vet school, who drove down from North Wichita. All of us Mizzou fans were a little disappointed that Mizzou didn't get a BCS bowl bid given the quality of their season. However, it has been 37 years since Mizzou played in a New Years Day bowl game (Susan and I were at that one, too, and it didn't have nearly as good an outcome. We sat in the rain and watched Mizzou lose 10-3). This game was great and the Cotton Bowl is a quality event. A lot of Missouri's players come from Texas and it's prime recruiting ground. Turns out that Dallas is also home to the largest concentration of alums outside Missouri. It had the added benefit of being only three hours drive from Austin.

Missouri was a only a 3.5 point favorite, but dominated the game almost from the beginning. Arkansas had beaten LSU, who is playing for the national championship, so everyone expected the SEC team to give Mizzou fits, especially because Arkansas' running back had won the Doak Walker Award as the best running back in the country. He turned out to be the second best running back on the field yesterday. Tony Temple, Missouri's tailback, set Cotton Bowl records for rushing yardage (281) and touchdowns (4) and was the game's most valuable player. The day was cold and we were in the shade of the scoreboard for much of the game, but it was worth it to see Missouri just overpower a good team.

This has been a weird football season. Missouri lost only two games--both to Oklahoma, who lost two games to teams that Missouri destroyed. Missouri beat teams that beat both of the BCS championship teams (Illinois, who beat Ohio State and Arkansas, who beat LSU). Aside from the two losses to Oklahoma, it was a good season. Mizzou beat Kansas (when Kansas was ranked #1) and won the Big 12 North. Most of the team is back for next year, so I am optimistic.

I have some pictures, but I took them with Chris's camera because I left mine in the car. As soon as she sends them to me, I'll post them here.

Update on Retirement--Christmas 2007

Christmas week is now over. We had a great time. My mom and sister came to visit and our cousins Ron and Jo Ann were here along with their son Bryan, who flew in from SF. Added to that was the first Christmas for Chris, Tim and Maya together. Tim cooked a fabulous Christmas Eve dinner for all of us and then we regrouped for Christmas dinner at our place. We have to figure out something different next year--too much food over too short a time. The only disappointment was that our son and his family were in Chicago rather than here. It's the first time in nine years we haven't celebrated Christmas with them.

We looked at options for my mom when she moves here next year. We found some good choices here in Sun City. We are going to continue scouting things with a view towards making a final decision in February. We are so happy that she has decided to join us in Texas.

I'm still enjoying retirement, probably more each day. Here are a couple of pictures showing how I spend my time--napping with my granddaughter and my puppy.

More Changes

We decided that our cars (which each of us individually liked a lot) didn't fit our needs. We need an SUV for traveling, so Susan's sedan wasn't suitable. However, Susan has always found Craig's Subaru uncomfortable to ride in and it might not be quite big enough anyway. Lastly, neither of them is a golf cart. So we have moved from being a two car family to a one-and-a-half car family. We traded both our cars in and purchased a 2008 Acura MDX. Susan likes the ride and Craig likes the tech (navigation, real time traffic, iPod adapter, XM radio and more). So far (one week) we are very happy with it. We also purchased an EZ-Go golf cart for travel within Sun City and for golf. It has a built in ball washer and an enclosure for the (thankfully infrequent) inclement weather and a few other features.

Here's a picture of them both.: