seniorgeek

HO! HO! HO

2010-12-23T08:41:00.004-06:00

WISHING ALL MUCH HAPPINESS

I AM SETTLED IN MY NEW APARTMENT AT DRURY PLACE
MY MAILING ADDRESS IS
H. A. FLANDERS
1000 SCHIPPEL #126
SALINA, KANSAS 67401

SCHOOL DAYS

2010-08-26T14:18:00.007-05:00

HI ALL!

It is that time again

School days, school days
Dear old Golden Rule dayst,
'Reading and 'riting and 'rithmetic
Taught to the tune of the hick'ry stick
You were my queen in calico
I was your bashful, barefoot beau
And you wrote on my slate, "I Love You So"
When we were a couple o' kids

How many of you know the tune? If you do not, you can hear it on google!
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I am still trying to find my way around the Ipad. I am reading Emma by Jane Austen. The old English is interessting. Philip said it was one of the books they had in College in English class.
I just finished PILLARS OF THE EARTH by KEN FOLLETT on my Kindle. I downloaded the no 2 of the series WORLD WITHOUT END. I got the audio book from the Kansas library. I am getting better with th Mp3 player. Perhaps the benefit of these digital toys is having to learn something new. There are advantages to both print book and the e book. The changes are inteesting.
______________________________

I recieved notice tht it is flu shot time again. I have not heard anthing about a shrotage of vaccine this year, so maybe we will stay ahead of it this year.

_______________________________

I guess that the big news here is that I have moved back into Drury Place. Philip plans to move to Manhatanwhich will but cown on his commute , which is certainly understandable. My mailing address now is
1000 Schippel Dr. Apt 126
Salina, Kansas 67401

The biggest problem with the move is that I have not been able to get my own computer up an running so I am using the community computers at Drury Place for the time being. I may need to replace my lap too -it is getting old! Arn't we all!!

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Sending the very best wishes to all

Alden Seniorgeek AKA HAPPYDOC

DOG DAYS OF SUMMER

2010-07-16T10:11:00.004-05:00

DOG DAY MEMORIES

Lying in the porch swing, watching the clouds
Napping on the floor(Sunday afternoon) with a small fan moving the air
Sleeping under the stars to get the breeze at night
Walking to the river to wade in the cool water
The ding-ding-of the ice cream man's truck
A chip of ice from the ice man's truck when he delivered ice
Running through the sprinklers
Hopping to quickly cross the hot street-barefooted
BEST OF ALL an afternoon at the swimming pool

Then came air conditioning!!!

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Last week end we had a family gathering in Lawrence. Most of the clan was able to be there. We had a picnic at Clinton lake. It was really great to see and visit with everyone. Mary's spirit was with us. They also recognized my birthday - early-(90). We agree that we should not wait 7 years for the next gathering!! I was gifted a cover for my Ipad!

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I truly have a walking library with my Kindle and the Ipad. I am slowly leaning how to use the Ipad. I download a Barnes and Noble App for the ipad. When I was in Lawrence I of course had to go to the used book store and pick up some 2 dollar print books--these are especially useful for reading at night in bed!! Old habits die slowly.

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I hope that all is well with all of you.

HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

ADDENDUM

2010-06-27T10:02:00.003-05:00

OnJune 18, Mary's ashes were scattered at
Latiude N 40 detgrees 26.323 minutes; Longitude W 105degrees 45.706 minutes

This translates to Near the continental divide and Trailridge Road in Rocky Mountain Natinal Park

It is fitting that she will always be a part of the mountains which held a special place in her heart. When we were able to travel Mary needed to get her "mountain fix" at least once a year!
One of the fond memories that we had was at about that location, one time there was someone playing a hammer dulcimer and in the high clear mountain air, the sound was "out of this world".
Alden Flanders

A LIGJT TURNED OFF

2010-05-20T16:44:00.003-05:00

On Tuesday May 18 the light of my life went out. Mary died, but I like to think that a new star was added to the firmament. The warmth and glow of her life will continue. We were blessed for 67 years and are grateful for all of this time together.
sending best wishes and love to all Alden

February jPost

2010-02-19T10:50:00.007-06:00

February is lovers month so it is appropriate that I send my love to all of you.
Hosp;ice of Salina where Mary is a patient provides a computer for public use so I am using it to make this positing while Mary is taking a nap. It is a nice service. Mary is doing about the same. I think that the tumor is ioa little larger but is is slow. She is eating well and resting well and is well taken care of. I spend part of every day with her and help feed her some of her meals. I am well settled in Phililp's apartment which is quite close to the Hosp;ice facility. There is some open land with trees and grass around the building and sometime we see deer in the meadow. They usually have coffee and cookies available so it is a very pleasant place.

I am enjoying my KINDLE and also thy mp3 audio book reader. On the Kindle I am rading THE LAST LECTURE. and on the Mp3 reader I am listening to Patrick Obrian's HMS SURPRISE one of the o Maturin series and the saga of the sailing ships I can download audio books in mp3 or wma format -free- from the Kansas State Library. Electronic books probably are the wave of the future. Richard told me that in 2009 Amazon sold more e-books than print books.

Well, I did not get this posted and it is now March 1. I will finish it and get it posted. I guess that There was too mch Olympics. There were some birds singing thismorning so there is hope for Spring and every one is more than ready for it.

Some of the new TV programs strting up sound as if they may be interessting.

I guess that the next chore is to get everything redy and get the income tax filed. The Congress can not get together on any legislation of; note. So what the future hold is ayones guess. If it was not so vital to everyone one would be tempted to just "thro the bums out" and start over!! We will make it some way!!!

I will quit and get this posted and will try to do better in the future but do not hold me to it

Hope this finds all well with you and yours

HAF AKA HAPPYDOC

2010

2010-01-01T16:18:00.002-06:00

SENDING BEST WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR!!!!

2009 was a momentous year nationally, internationally and personally. I have been very lax in keeping the blog up and it does no good to use it as a communicating tool if one does not use it!! I have no excuses except that three have been several changes in our living situation. As noted in the last blog 6 month past Mary has had mor trouble. The end result is that she has been moved to hospice in Sept. She does not walk and has limited speech. She is well taken care of but it is difficult. Since Philip is in his apartment only part o f the time he suggested that I move in with him. Jane has her studio in Lawrence and so Philip spends most weekends in Lawrence. My mailing address is

1317 Faith Dr. Apt.#39

Salina, KS 67401

My phone # is the same 785 827 0628

I do have a cell phone # 785 342 0206---I am rather ignorant as to how to use it The wireless communication is changing the world however for example the sending pictures of the unrest in Iran etc. It will be difficult for evil doers to hide and that is good.

CLEOPATRA-MEHITABEL (CLEO) the cat went to live with grand-daughter Corey. I do not know if she will become more erudite living in the educational environment of Kansas University!! She will first have to get over the trauma of the move and come out from under the bed!! I am sure that she will in time.

I have been exploring audio books from the Kansas state Library. downloading book to an MP3 reader (free). The audio books and the e-books will revolutionize the publishing industry. I still enjoy my Kindle and am reading "INSIDE THE REVOLUTION" This is an inside look at Iran

Again, best wishes and I will try to do better in 2010!!

SENIORGEEK--AKA --HAPPYDOC

ONE HALF OVER OR ONE HALF TO GO

2009-07-12T17:50:00.001-05:00

2009 is half over. the world is in a turmoil in most any place that you want to look. N Korea, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Palestine, Israel, – There is always Sudan.

The economic collapse as affected so many people.

On a personal level, Mary has had to be hospitalized because of blocking of the bile duct. The Gastroenterologist was able to insert a plastic stent into the bile duct and get it past the area of obstruction. It was threaded through the lumen of the metal stent which had been inserted previously. This relieved the pressure on the bile system of the liver and thus also helped the pressure into the pancreas. The plastic stent can be removed and replaced as needed whereas the metal on she has can not be removed. The tumor has increased in size. They will continue to be watched. Her blood chemistry and blood count has gradually returned to normal. She is Puny and has been getting some physical therapy to try to get her strength built up.

Mary was in the new part of the ;hospital and it is very nice. they are almost to a paperless record keeping with computers everywhere. It will be interesting to see what develops with the so called medical reform.

Hope this finds everything goinG well with all of you—sending our very best wishes

HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

SPRING2/SUMMER

2009-05-20T08:04:00.001-05:00

School is about to be out, and Summer is beginning. We have not had the bad storms here in Salina that have plagued some part of the country. We are supposed to have temps into the 80’s this week. I am trying out a new program for writing a blog. It may make writing it easier and anyway it will give more variation in format etc. It is worth trying to see how it works it is “windows live writer” Also, I am trying to learn how to use SKYPE the audio, video, text communication program. It has good quality of sound and also the video is good. I noted that Oprah uses it in her program so I thought if it was good enough for her I might try it.

Mary had a CAT scan this AM to see how things are going. We will find the results later in the week.

Cleo in her favorite pose—Cleo’s advice “just be –don’t do”

will close and post and see how this works.

HAF AKA HAPPYDOC

SPRINGTIME

2009-04-20T09:17:00.002-05:00

Hi All
I have been egligent in keeping up with my blog. It is not April and sprinttime is beginning. However there have been storms around and snow in The West. Lynn in Denver had snow and rain at the same time. We have had a little rain we have had a little rain. The last of March we had the most snow that we have had all winter!! At least living as we do I do not have to shovel it. The flowering trees have bloomed and most of them have already lost the blooms. However, the redbuds are now coming out. Spring is welcome--nice to see all of the blooming plants in the stores and Nursery outlets. I may get a pansy plant just to have a bloom in the apartment.
We have had some short visits from family which were greatly appreciated. John and Gail cam dow from Rochester MN for couple of days. Gail got me on Facebook the social communication program. We have set up a Scrabble game and are playing long distance. Gail is ahead in points. My niece Carol is an avid facebooker. We also had a visit with our grand-daughter, Lisa with her husband Mike and two bows Taylor and Zakry. Taylor has his 2 degree black belt in Karate and is active in some other forms of mmartial arts Zack is into 4H and raising Rabbits. I am truly impressed with the school program that Mike and Lisa are in. Not all of the public schools are poor. They are using computers in the class rooms. Lisa has her class blogging and they have contact with a school in Gerany ane exchange blogs on the cultre and school program. Lisa is also connected with teachers in New Zealand.
I have hooked my laptop computer to my TV with is a 23 inch monitor. Also, I am in the process of getting wired with the tele-video program SKYPE. It also can be used just as a text or Instant messaging. At the present I am just at the beginning of the learning curve but will get there. I have not twitted yet! Have any of you!! Twitter appears to be a popular program.
Mary's test for Normotensive hydrocephalous turned out negative. which in a way is too bad as there is help with a shunt for that. We are continuing to continue on. Some days are better than others. We enjoy some of the programs that they have here at Drury Place. Saturday they had a really good program--a lady at the piano and she could really play and including all different genres of music. I need to play more just for fun. Our neighbor here has a Roland piano in his apartment and he enjoys playing it. I put my Technics piano out in the great room for a program some time back and have never brought it back. -- the space has been taken overe with computer stuff!
Hope that this finds all of you healthy and I am sure that you are following the happenings of the government etc. HANG IN THERE!! I will try to be more promt with my postings.
HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

BLOG

2009-02-09T09:23:00.003-06:00

BLOG
title--RECESSION/DEPRESSION
It does not matter whether it is called a recession or a depression the economy is a
mess. Banks have failed, people have lost jobs, the savings and value of assets of
people have been depressed and some severely so. It will take a lot to get things
back on keel. The present situation is a downward spiral. We will survive and find
that we can get along very well with less as we found out in the GREAT DEPRESSION!
We have a new president and it appears that he is getting a good team of advisors
around him and this is the most imporstant thing as one man can not do it all.
We are approaching Springtime. I am ready! We have even had temperatures up to 70
degrees, It is supposed to be 65 today. I think everyone is looking forward to the
blossoming and change--it will raise peoples spirits.
I have been reading DEWEY the library cat. I have it on my kindle. I am still learning how to use the Kindle. There have been several best sellers about pets and animal

MARLEY AND ME and MERLE'S DOOR are a couple of recent books. I have checked
out MERLE'S DOOR from the library.
You will note that I have changed to layout of the blog. The new format is supposed to make it easier to add and move elements etc. It gives something new to play with anyway.
We are still rocking along. Mary is to have some tests this week.
Grandson Zach and Susan returned safely from Isreal. They were glad to get back to the USA.
We were honored a couple of weeks ago when Dien drove his wife and sisters from Dallas to Salina for a couple hour visit. It was good to see and visit with them.It is really an effort for them to make that trip and we felt honored. Dien and Hang -his wifr-live in Sacramento, Nogc lives in Calif, Ly lives in Dallas, Ha lives in Viet Nam and Hoa lives in Thailand. They had all gathered for Bich's funeral. The family is quite remarkable.
I will close this posting and hope that it finds all of you in good health and surviving the trials of the economy.
HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

2009

2009-01-06T14:47:00.013-06:00

HI ALL!
2008is now in the past. and 2009 is the future. In about 2 weeks we will have a new president. The election was a historic time and it is good that there is seemingly a momentum of energy to make some needed changes in the governance of the country. President Obama will have to be a multitasker with so many things needing attention--wars, hot spots, economy, energy, unemployment, infrastructure, etc. There will be plenty for the commentators to talk and write about. We will get through all of this as we did with the depression and WW2. After all of the adjustments that we had to make then with everything from victory gardens, ration coupons, making your own soap and many other things. We then developed television, semiconductors, computers, jet engines, internet etc. In the future we will develop nano technology, solar power and other electric generation, hydrogen powered cars and things we have not thought about. An example of creative thinking; In the AMERICAN ASSISTANCE for CAMBODIA program in some of the rural school which do nLot have internet access for their solar powered computers they have developed a "motoman" program. A person and a motorbike (or oxcart) makes a round with a wifi on the back and picks up the saved messages and when he gets back to the base which has a connection the messages are uploaded and incoming ones are collected to be delivered the next day. This is a modern version of the PONY EXPRESSof olden times! www.cambodiaschools.com
On a personal note--We are still rocking along here at Drury Place. The last cat scan showed Mary's pancreatic tumors as being smaller. Grandson Zach and Susan have been in Israel visiting a friend during the between semester break. Bad timing but they should be home Jan 10 or 11. We hope that some solution can be found for the unrest in the middle east.

Le Pham Thi Bich

Many of the readers of this blog did not know Bich but I wish to recognize the extraordinary life of this lady. Bich died the last of December of a heart attack and kidney failure. 33 years ago she and her family entered and enriched our lives. Her life was not easy, (loss of her home, escape from Viet Nam, loss of some of her children, raising her family essentially as a single parent—(her husband was in “re-education camp” for about ten years before he could join her in America--). I can not imagine the anguish she must have felt, but never showed, at times. She was very brave, hard working and loving. We were honored to have known and loved her. The country has been enriched by her life and legacy. I am reminded of the Kansas Motto is appropriate, (in a different context), “TO THE STARS THROUGH DIFFICULTY”. Bich’s star is shining brightly!

We want to wish all a healthy and happy NEW YEAR! ALDEN AND MARY

politics 3

2008-11-25T15:06:00.000-06:00

politics 3
Finally the politicing and the election is over and we are now on to the nitty gritty. As I have said, the people in the new administration are the key to how we will all come out of these trying times. So far, I am impressed with the team Obama has been getting for his advisors. The one question so far is that of Hillary—if she does take the Secretary of State. Politically it may be a good move but I am not sure that she would be the best person. I thought that Richardson, the govenor of New Mexico would be a good chhoice. But then, what do I know. The economic team just announced is very impressive. It is apparent that they all will be ready to hit the ground running Jan. 20 when Obama is sworn in as the new president. I hope that the bleeding in the investment markets has been slowed or stopped; everyone has had a fairly hard hit in the last couple of months. I switched everything over to bonds which should be of some help. Everyone however is skittish, but we will do ok in the long run. I was just thinking that in the “great depression” we went to the river and cut down and cut up trees to help with the heating of the house and the cooking. It is true that cutting wood warms you twice, once when you cut it and once when you burn it.
I have just finished reading thomas friedman’s book, “Hot, Flat and Crowded”. I read it on my Kindle which was fun and also helped me get familiar with the Kindle, it is going to be ok. It can do more than I know how to do as yet. He certainly makes some good points and emphasizes that we have to do some corrections now as far as energy usage, development and the saving of the planet. GREEN is good! I have the book “Dewey” the library cat, on the kindle and hope to read it with Mary.
The final paragraph of friedman’s book
we need to redefine green and rediscover America and in so doing rediscover ourselves and what it means to be Americans. We are all pilgrims again. We are sailing on the Mayflower anew. We hve not been to this shore before. If we fail to recognize that, we will indeed, become just one more endangered species. But if we rise to this challenge, and truly become the Re-generation—redefining green and rediscovering reviving and regenerating America—we, and the world, will not only survive but thrive in an age that is, hot, flat, and crowded.

At this time of Thanksgiving we are reminded to be grateful for what we have and to share.
Mary and I are rocking along here at Drury Place.

Hope that this finds all going well with all of you!
HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

POLITICS 2

2008-09-23T09:17:00.014-05:00

Greetings All:
Politics is still the big thing and will continue until the election. The US is not the only place where there are changes being made. Pakistan has a new leader and Isreal also has a new Premier. The choice of Sarah Palin as the VP on the Republican ticket has created so much publicity that one would think that she is heading the ticket instead of McCain! The debates are coming upand the bail out of the debt will keep the pundits busy until the actual election in Nov. It is hard to conceive of the size of the debt we are talking about.

The following information rearding AIG is interesting.

The company's complex structure and aggressive approach reflects the determination of the man who built A.I.G., Maurice R. Greenberg, to create an global empire operating in complementary businesses. Not even the company’s annual reports to shareholders or its regulatory filings offer a chart of its complex corporate structure.

Though its name is American, the company is rooted in Asia. According to company lore, its founder, Cornelius Vander Starr, a World War I veteran, traveled to Asia with only 300 Japanese yen (less than $3 by today’s exchange rates) in his pocket and started the firm in Shanghai in 1919

Now they have increased the take to 700 Billion!! It will be some time before we have worked our way out of this. but at least I think that there will be some changes made and some improvement in the regulation and oversight of the financial sector so that the people running the banks etc get away without doing their job and then getting huge pay-outs when the company fails.
The first presidential debate is this Friday it should be interesting. I am surprised with Biden who I thought was a good choice for VP (and he probably is) but apparntly his mouth gets ahead of his feet at times and he has been making several gaffs,
I was pleased to see Bill Clinton on Larry King Live tonight and to learn about his "Clinton global initiative". apparantly a non gov. program to assist peoples and their problems--health etc--. His legagcy after out of office may be greater than what was when in office.
I made the jump and ordered a KINDLE e-book reader from Amazon. it may arrive tomorrow. So I will have a new toy!!
Mary and I are "hanging in there" here at Drury Place. I have had my 88 birthday this week so I guess that in itself is an accomplishment. We are pleased that our son Bill and wife Peggy will be here for a few days. Glad to get a visit once a year. They are living now in Fort Davis Tx. and have been busy getting their place set up.
(Sat. PM) I did not get this blog posted so will finish it and do so.
Bill, Peggy and the dogs arrived and they are camped at the KOA. They will leave Mon and go visit their kids in TX and LA. before returning to Fort Davis, TX. We are enjoying their visit here. We watched the Presidential debates last night. It seemed about a tie but neither really addressing the present finacial problems. We have been able to move a couple things along in the interest of thinning out stuff; In the process, I found the shoe-shine box which had been lost since we moved (2 years).
Bill and I have been playing with the Kindle. I got the Denver Post for 50 cents to try it out and have learned some other things about it. currently there are 170,000 books in the kindle format available.
I will get this posted. Thur. the VP candidates go at it--should be interesting.
Sending the best to all
HAF AKA SENIORGEEK

POLITICS

2008-08-28T09:22:00.010-05:00

HI ALL
The democratic party will have their BIG party tonight in Denver. I think that Biden was a good choice for a running mate. Tomorrow we will know who McCain's VP choice will be. We have two weeks now of conventions and then 2 months of campaigning and will then have a new president selected! This is a very important time in the history of our country. Solving the energy problem is the crucial element for improvement of the whole situation. We need an APOLLO approach. There are so many areas of unrest around the world that I do not envy the next president. It would be good to know the major members of the cabinet before the election in Nov.
I have started to read another book by James Alexander Thom titled "Children of First Man". He writes in western/indian genre. His wife Dark Moon is of the Shawnee Indian tribe. I have been reading the Wagon West Series by Dana Fuller Ross. The library apparently does not have the last volume #24. I can get it used from Amazon for about 2 dollars, with about 3.50 for shipping. Costs more to ship than to buy--signs of the time.
Amazon has come out with an e-book reader which is enticing. It is called KINDLE and will hold about 600 books. The hang-up is the price at 350.00. It uses SPRINT wireless technology and a book can be downloaded in just a couple of minutes.
Last Sunday's Q andA with Brian Lamb was very interesting. Gregg Mortenson was the guest and he has established "Central Asian Institute" whose mission is to establish schools in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. The interview is available through podcast and the web page for CSI is---www.ikat.org--He has written a book titled "Three Cups of Tea" which has been on the best seller list. The library has a copy but there is a 3 month waiting time. There is an emphasis to educate the girls which is so important for the future of the countries. An example of this is Mary's "sister" thru "Women for Women" is 20 years old and does not know how to read or write--We have no concept of the problems facing parts of the world.
Hope that all is well in your part of the world!

HAF AKA HAPPYDOC

LAST HALF

2008-07-10T08:31:00.002-05:00

JULY
We have passed the Summer solstice so the last half of the year 2008 is on it's way! We are heading for the "dog days". There is nothing to complain about here in Kanas--mostly--compared with much of the country. The town of Chapman was hit with a tornado with coniderable damage but the wheat crop is now in the bin and the crop was not lost like the corn farmers of Iowa with the extensive flooding. We need to use other cellulose material to produce Ethanol rather than corn, now. Also develop other sources of energy than oil or gas. I am interested to find out what. T. Boone Picken's plan will be? It will be posted on TV and from the teaser ad showing wind farms and solar collector I assume that these are the areas which he wants to emphasize. We do really need an APPOLO effort. Solving the energy problem is more important than putting a man on the moon. We are in an interesting time. Honda is planning to market a hydrogen powered car the last of this year or in 2009. It is quite a car, with a range of 350 mile on one fill up. They are also developing home hydrogen generators which will help take care of the lack of adequate infrastructure. Perhaps we are entering the post-hydrocarbon era. Research should be made on how to manage the atomic power plants residual material. There must be a good safe use for it instead of just burying it in a mountain.
I have just finished reading "Sign Talker" by James Alexander Thom--it is a historical novel of the Lewis and Clark expedition. It is particularly about the contribution to the effort by Chas. Droulliard. He was a half breed Shawnee Indian hunter and interpreter who joined the expedition. The group would never have made it to the Pacific and back without his contribution. I had never heard of him--much is made of Sacajawea--but Drooulliard's contribution was more crucial.
We are still hanging in here at Drury Place. There is some turnover in the residents with new people coming in and some leaving because of change in health status, need of more care etc. It was a good time for us to make the move with less to take care of etc. We do no cooking and few dishes, still do personal laundry. We spend more time reading. Mary's stent is still working.
The Political races are coming around to the last turn and the conventions are on the horizon but are really of not much use except to spend money and to try to whip up enthusiasm. The most important thing is who else is going to be on the team. The president is only as good as the information and the advise that is filtered into him. I hope we have knowledge in this area before the election. Regardless, we have lived through depressions, wars, scarcities before.
Hope that all is well with all of you and sending wishes for happiness.

HAF***AKA***HAPPY DOC

ELECTION

2008-06-09T10:58:00.002-05:00

We finally know who the cadidates for presidet will be. The democrats have at least created a lot of excitement and this will be an important course changing election in November—whichever way it turns out. I think that there will be a much larger turnout than usual to vote and that is a good thing. We will probably be tired of all of the “noise” before it is all settled. The early elections of the nation—the late 1700’s and early 1800’s—with Jefferson, Adams, Burr, Hamilton, Marshall, etc—between the republican and federalist parties of the day became rather rough and we survived. The important thing is to vote—you can not bitch if you do not vote!
SIGNS OF THE TIMES! One of the residents’ grandsons was visiting here and was driving one of the new SMART cars. It was interesting to see one of them. It is a very small 2 passenger car with good gas mileage. Richard said that he has seen a number of them on the road in Europe. We will probably be seeing more of them –or other developments –spurred by the high cost of gas. The Smart car has developed almost a cult following with discussions etc on the internet. Richard was here visiting for a few days and he took us for a drive toward Ellsworth to see the wind farm which has been developed in Ellsworth and Lincoln Counties. It really is interesting to see the wind electric generators. In a way we are going back to the 1930’s before the days of the REA and some farmers then had windmill generators with storage batteries for their own electical system. At least it was some better than a kerosene lamp. An article in the local paper today reports that a rural homeowner has a permit to set up his own wind generator and will reduce the amount of power he takes from the grid and if he has excess will be able to sell it back to the power company.
General Motors is betting all of their nickels on the new VOLT electric car.
As a plus, on our trip to see the wind-farm we drove through Ellsworth. Rich’s car has “On Star” navigation, so we told it to direct us to our old home—216 Colo. Ave—and it did! It is hard to envision the database to be able to bring up the address in ELLSWORTH, KANSAS. It was a pleasusre to see the old home place and it has been modernized and has a 2 car garage etc. The front porch has been improved to be a concrete slab but the swing (more modern) is still hanging in its old place ---memories!
We have had a very active spring storm season, with tornadoes, thunderstorms and hail. In Salina we have been very lucky; we did go to the basement one evening for a little while because of a tornado sighted just west of town. One wonders what the hurricane season has in store! Mother Nature seems to be restlesss!
I will close this posting and send the very best wishes to all of you.

HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

SPRING

2008-04-24T11:01:00.001-05:00

Title: SPRING IS BUSTING OUT ALL OVER

I think that is the lyrics in “Oklahoma”, anyway the jonquils, tulips, forcythia and the bradford pear trees are all blooming. So, Mother Earth is awakening from the Winter “blahs”! I know that some people like the stark black and white but I prefer the color.

A Spring Haiku:

Spring blooms bursting forth,

Mother Earth decorates her hair—

The hearts of all soar!

How about the Election Run Up!! At least it has made some jokes and has been some different entertainment. We do not go into a deadly rampage as the islamists do with the publishing of a cartoon! Visiting with a friend in McAllen, TX this week; he stated that in Mexico they are designing a portable ladder that will enable people to climb over the border fence—probably the contract will go to China—isn’t free enterprise great!

The Spring break of the schools was an opportunity for us to have some visits from family. Lynn and grands Kirsten and Karl from Colorado and John and Gail from MN. paid us a short visit. It is great to have a visit in person rather than just the telephone’

A web address that you might enjoy abd get some laughs (the music of the soul).—

www.wackywits.com

One of the jokes

Passing by the primate area one day, a zoo attendant happens to notice a chimpanzee sitting on a rock with an open book in either hand, looking first at one and then at the other. Upon closer examination, he identifies the books: the Bible, and Darwin's "Origin of Species".

Curious, he asks the chimp, "What's with the books?"

The chimp replies, "I'm trying to decide whether I'm my brother's keeper, or my keeper's brother."

Mary’s bile duct stent stopped up—we knew that it was only good for about 3 months. It has been replaced with a bigger, better model and she is doing fairly well now—not jaundiced.

There have been no more postings from “baghdad burning” blog since Oct when the family escaped to
Syria. However Sainab Salbi who is the founder and ceo of Women for Women program has posted notes on her recent visit to Iraq which is very distressing as far as the day to day lives of the civilian population is concerned. You can read these notes at the following address.

http://wfwnotesfromthefield.wordpress.com/

My reading has been mostly fluff and “escapism”, which I guess balances the news reports and the political noise. I have been reading—slowly—“god is not great” byChristopheer hitchins and just checked out (because of the authors name)“Blue Grit” by LAURA FLANDERS. The sub-title is True democrats take back politics from politicians.

Hope that this finds all going well with all of you!

HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

and the winner is

2008-02-17T15:50:00.001-06:00

AND THE WINNER IS……..

The reppublicans have essentiially decided on their candidate for president and the democrats are in the battle to the finish. They may go to the convention and the super delegates. We may get tired of all the “blather” but aren’t we glad that we can do it!!. The new primary format does give the populace a chance to put in some input but the process should be changed so that it does not take so long and also some mechanism to be less expensive. Some of the money could be better spent. It appears that Obama has made great strides but the Clinton’s are very strong opponents. (I do not know where hilary gets her 35 years experience, unless she was co-president with Bill!) At least, we do not bomb and shoot our opponents as they did in Pakistan.

On c-span 2 today there was an interview with the writer who helped Benazir Bhutto write her book “reconciliation”, which has recently been published—in fact—just before she was killed. This was in the “afterwords” segment this week end on book tv. It is very interesting and is available on the internet as a podcast. The interviewer was Akbar Ahmed who is of pakistani desent and author of many articles and books on islam.

I have been negligent in posting to this blog and in fact had thought some of not continuing. We have been busy with health problems etc. mary was finally checked at the cyberknife facility in Wichita but she is not a candidate for that type of radiation.

I want to take this chance to wish all of you the very best wishes for 2008—and we will get through the elections!

HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

wonderland

2007-12-19T14:00:00.000-06:00

WINTER WONDERLAND

It is almost winter but it does not seem to be like a “wonderland’! We have had an ice storm followed by a 9 inch snow. This has resulted in a devastation of many trees but most disrupting has been many people without power. There have been downed power lines and transformers knocked out for a week or more. The outages have been spotty and here at Drury Place we lost the use of the elevator, but all other electricity has been functioning. Everyone is helpful and supportive. Perhaps a “small” disaster once n a while is good to be reminded of the intrinsic goodness of people. However, wars and fanaticism with man’s inhumanity to man must be eliminated. It will happen in time. Education is the major key. One effort I that direction is the OLPC—One laptop per child program.

http://laptopgiving.org/en/index.php

One learning child. One connected child. One laptop at a time.

The mission of One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. In order to accomplish our goal, we need people who believe in what we’re doing and want to help make education for the world’s children a priority, not a privilege.

Since November 12th, OLPC has been offering a limited-time Give One Get One program in the United States and Canada. During Give One Get One, you can donate the revolutionary XO laptop to a child in a developing nation, and also receive one for the child in your life in recognition of your contribution. Thanks to a growing interest in the program, we have extended Give One Get One through the end of the year. You may also donate laptops via our Simply Give and Give Many options. Through the increasing public interest in OLPC, we hope to give many more children the opportunity to grow, explore, learn and express themselves.

The XO laptop is designed to be indestructible.

The last couple of months have been somewhat hectic. I have had a cataract removed from my right eye. Mary has had a problem with jaundice due to restriction of her common bile duct by the pancreatic tumor. A plastic stent was inserted with endoscopic technique to remove the blockage, at least temporarily. We are looking into Cyberknife treatment.

In this Christmas Season, Cleo joins us in wishing all of you a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

BEGINNING FALL

2007-09-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

I am finally getting around to writing another blog, there is no excuse for the delay except for my lack of motivation. I am motivated now to alert all of my correspondents that the lady who has been maintaining the “Baghdad Burning” blog for all of these years has now made a new posting in September!! See the link in my Sidebar. She and her family have emigrated to Syria. Even tho they are now “displaced persons” she notes that now there are no labels of Sunni, Shiite, Kurd and the associated fears for living in Baghdad and all of that is just short drive away. It is all hard to comprehend. I had feared that she may have been a victim of the continued violence in Iraq, as her previous posting had been back in April. General Petraeus has made his report to the Congress. I have just finished reading “The Glorious Cause—a novel of the American Revolution 1776 to1783” by Jeff Shaara. Establishing a new government was a

very difficult job and seems almost impossible in Iraq.

An interesting book was highlighted last Sunday in the afterwords segment of booktv on cspan2--After Words: Raymond Ibrahim, editor and translator of "The Al Qaeda Reader"

This is a translation of Ben Laden’s and his henchman’s writings. There is a podcast and it can be seen on www.booktv.org.

A new resident here in Drury place is an artist and she has been using colored pencils. I am very interested in the effects she has been able to get. We may be able to get a group together and learn something about using that medium. It willl be fun to try. It is simpler and does not require so much stuff, such as a mixing palette, water, etc. Also one can combine the pencil with watercolor.

The symphony season will start in October. We are looking forward to that.

Richard was here for a couple of days last week. He is getting together with some of his old buddies in Topeka and will have a good time and do a little sailing. The GE merger previously mentioned fell through.

Healthwise, we are still plugging along. I will have a cataract removed in Oct.

The presidential election’s drums are increasing in tempo and volume—we will have to get ear plugs before it is all over!!

I am trying to learn how to use a cell phone. We are on Philip’s family plan so are gradually moving into the 21 century. I am still trying to get some of the residents here at Drury to learn something about using the computer—so far, not very much success.

Well I will close for this posting and hope that it finds all well with all of you—

HAF; AKA HAPPY DOC

JULY

2007-07-10T13:34:00.000-05:00

Title: INDEPENDENCE DAY

“Self-evident truths…all men are created equal---freedom…liberty and the pursuit of happiness…”. Noble sentimentsbut not existent in much of the world today. We think of dear Bich and her family who enriched our lives in 1975, but what a travail for them to leave their home and friends in Viet Nam. And we have compassion for the author ot “Baghdad Burning” blog whose last posting in April was of the trials and concern of finally deciding the need to leave their home in Baghdad for an uncertain future.—see the link in the side-bar—“Baghdad Burning”.

----and then there is DAFUR---!

Summertime is the time to see some of the family. Richard was here for a couple of days last month—his branch at Abbott is being purchased by General Electric. John and Gail were here for a couple of days. Bill and Peggy will be visiting sometime in September. Phil and Jane as always a big help. Lynn keeps in touch with regular phone calls.

The 2008 presidential election is heating up. We should have something like England and have only about 6 weeks of campaigning before the election instead of 18 or so months as we are having. I did hear a talk by a Rep. Hunter of san Diego and he sounded very good, but he wont get anywhere probably. The amount of mony that is spent is almost indecent. The money would be better spent to help out some of the troubled areas of the world.

The annual tennis highlight of the year –Wimbledon—is playing out this week and Venus Williams is back to her old form and won the ladies title for the third time. There are no American men in contention for the mens title.

We are doing fine here at Drury Place. Mary will have a repeat CAT scan the last of this month. I will have a cataract evaluation the last of Aug. We probably eat too much and do not get enough exercise.

I read an interesting book recently. “THE SECRETE HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE.—economic hit men, jackals, and the truth about global corruption.” By John Perkins. It is about the excessive power and control of the corporatocrasy. There is need to develop corporate accountability.

The unifying principle is to create a stable sustainable, and peaceful world for all people everywhere.

BIKER TALKS TO GOD! A little levity

A man riding his Harley was riding along a California beach when suddenly the sky clouded above his head and, in a booming voice, the Lord said, "Because you have tried to be faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you one wish.

The biker pulled over and said, "Build a bridge to Hawaii so I can ride over anytime I want." The Lord said, "Your request is materialistic, think of the enormous challenges for that kind of undertaking; the supports required reaching the bottom of the Pacific and the concrete and steel it would take! It will nearly exhaust several natural resources. I can do it , but it is hard for me to justify your desire for worldly things. Take a little more time and think of something that could possibly help mankind."

The biker thought about it for a long time. Finally, he said, "Lord, I
wish that I and all men could understand women; I want to know how she feels inside, what she's thinking when she gives me the silent treatment, why she cries, what she means when she says nothing's wrong, and how I can
make a Woman truly happy.

The Lord replied, "You want two lanes or four on that bridge?

__________________________________

Hope that this finds everything going well with all of you.

HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

RAIN, RAIN, RAIN

2007-06-04T20:48:00.000-05:00

RAIN, RAIN, RAIN!

May was the wettest month on record for this area and as of the first of June we are 11 inches above the normal! The wheat prod8cton appears to be hurt, first with a late freeze and then there have been some fields which have been drowned.

We are doing well. Mary saw the oncologist and he said that sometimes the best thing to do is to just stand still. So, we are standing still and will get a CAT scan in 3 months. The important thing is that we are still doing well—both of us. We are hoping to have some company this summer; visits from Rich, John and Gail and later Bill. Phil and Jane have been a great help. Lynn keeps in touch with the telephone.

The theaters last production of the season is this month, ANYTHING GOES with Cole Porter’s music. It should be fun. The symphony season has been really great this year.

As usual we enjoy the library. Currently I am getting a history lesson. The book is POWER, FAITH AND FANTASY; America in the Middle East from 1776 to the present. This is a 700 page book but is well written and enlightening. It is of interest that one of the major reasons for the founding fathers to call the constitution convention and establish a federal government is that the Barbary Muslim Pirates were capturing our ships, imprisoning and selling our people a slaves etc and demanding ransom etc. At one time 20% of the gross national product was paid to the powers of N. Africa. It was necessary to have a central government and to develop a Navy to protect the ships and commerce.

I thought that this was worth passing on.

Here SHE is, the USS New York

[]

USS New York

It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center.

It is the fifth in a new class of warship - designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopers and assault craft.

Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry and Amite, LA , to cast the ship's bow section. When it was poured in the molds on Sept. 9, 2003, "those big rough steelworkers treated it with total reverence," recalled Navy Capt. Kevin Wensing, who was there. "It was a spiritual moment for everybody there."

Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the "hair on my neck stood up." It had a big meaning to it for all of us," he said. "They knocked us down. They can't keep us down. We're going to be back."

The ship's motto? "Never Forget"

Also, this URL which was sent to me as an attachment was worth sharing.

http://www.terrorismawareness.org/know-about-jihad/

I hope that this finds all of you in good health and happy.

HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

APRIL SHOWERS

2007-04-29T10:55:00.000-05:00

Spring has come, in fact it may have almost gone! We are having some very warm temperatures this week.

In my March posting, I made note of the book by Newt Gingrich. This posting for April will be mostly about that book.

TITLE: WINNING THE FUTURE: a21st century contract with America. AUTHOR: Newt Gingrich. internet web page. www.newt.org

21st Century Contract with America

Gingrich Communications

Newt Gingrich

We are committed to a safe, healthy, prosperous, and free America. We believe our children and grandchildren deserve the opportunities our parents and grandparents gave us.

In a rapidly changing world with new threats and new competitors, we must implement policies that will ensure America’s leadership, safety, and prosperity. And we must reinvigorate the core values that have made an exceptional civilization.

We do not believe the traditional instruments of government will reform themselves fast enough and thoroughly enough for the twenty-first century.

The entrenched lobbyists and entrenched bureaucracies will do all they can to minimize the changes no matter how vital those changes are to America’s future. Self interest will dominate national interest if the normal political system operates with business as usual. The pressure of daily events will keep both the news media and most politicians focused on the immediate and the trivial rather than the long-term and the profoundly important.

Only a grassroots citizens’ movement can insist on the level of change that is needed for our children and grandchildren to have a successful future.

Such a citizens’ movement would have to be focused on goals rather than on interest groups. The goals define the America we want our children and grandchildren to have.

To achieve this future we will:

Defend America and our allies from those who would destroy us. To achieve security, we will develop the intelligence, diplomatic, information, defense, and homeland security systems and resources for success.

II.

Transform the Social Security system into personal savings accounts that will enable every worker to have higher retirement incomes from their own work and avoid the need for financial support from their children.

III.

Recenter on the Creator from Whom all our liberties come. We will insist on a judiciary that understands the centrality of God in American history and reasserts the legitimacy of recognizing the Creator in public life.

IV.

Establish patriotic education for our children and patriotic immigration for new Americans. To achieve this, we will renew our commitment to education about American citizenship based on American history and an understanding of the Founding Fathers and the core values of American civilization. We will insist that both our children and immigrants learn the key values and key facts of American history as the foundation of their growth as citizens.

Meet the triple economic challenges of an explosion in scientific and technological knowledge, an increasingly competitive world market, and the rise of China and India by implementing:

1. A new system of civil justice to reduce the burden of lawsuits and to incentivize young people to go into professions other than the law.

2. A dramatically simplified tax code that favors savings, entrepreneurship, investment, and constant modernization of equipment and technology.

3. Math and science learning equal to any in the world and educating enough young Americans to both discover the science of the future and to compete successfully in national security and the economy with other well-educated societies.

4. Investing in the scientific revolutions that are going to transform our world—particularly in energy, space, and the environment.

5. Transforming health care into a 21st Century Intelligent Health System that improves our health while lowering costs dramatically. In the process, American health care will become our highest value export and foreign exchange earning sector.

VI.

Work to include every American in a system of patriotic stewardship so every person has a real opportunity to pursue happiness as their Creator endowed. Prepare for the aging of the baby boomers and their children so we can have active healthy aging with the best quality of life, the longest period of independent living, and the greatest prosperity. We will:

1. Develop a system in which those who wish to stay economically active are encouraged and incentivized to do so because active people live longer and healthier, have a greater opportunity to pursue happiness, and are less of a burden on their fellow citizens;

2. Develop a system of independent living and assisted living that increases the years in which people can be on their own and in most cases enables people to live their entire lives with freedom and dignity;

3. Develop a new model of quality long-term care in which both the care and the quality of life are compatible with a twenty-first century American expectation of progress and innovation;

4. Use the new technologies and new scientific knowledge to turn disabilities into capabilities and change government regulations and programs to help every American achieve the fullest possible ability to pursue happiness.

VII.

Change the mindset of big government in Washington by replacing bureaucratic public administration with Entrepreneurial Public Management so government can operate with the speed, effectiveness, and efficiency of the information age.

VIII.

Balance the federal budget and insist on a lean government, low tax, low interest rate economy to maximize growth in a competitive world.

IX.

Insist on congressional reform to make the legislative branch responsive to the needs of the 21st century.

Ensure an election process that is honest, accountable, accurate, and free from the threat of illegal votes or subsequent litigation.

If we insist on these goals and insist on electing leaders at all levels dedicated to these goals, we will be able to leave our children and grandchildren an America of safety, health, prosperity, and freedom that would make our parents and grandparents proud. We too will have done our duty to our country and our achievements as citizens will be worthy of the America we inherited.

The run-up to election will be interesting. I am sure that we all will be tired of it before it is over.

We are doing fairly well here. We still have not determined the course of action, if any, regards the tumor found on Mary's pancreas. The recent CAT scan did not show it! We will see an oncologist May 9th.

This isenough for this posting. Wishing all the very best

HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

VERNAL EQUINOX

2007-03-25T08:56:00.000-05:00

The vernal equinox has come and the flowering

trees are busting into bloom and the jonquels are

blooming, so I think that we can definitely say that

Spring has sprung.
Cleo has almost become a lap cat now. The first

thing in the morning she gets up on the arm of the

love seat, next to my chair, and says "comb my fur".

Then she crawls onto my lap and gets her "hair"

dressed for the day. Afterall, a lady can not start

the day all frousy!
We enjoyed the youth symphony performance this

month. There are two orchestras- the junior high

and the highschool- when they played combined

peformance the stage was really full with over a

100 musicians. Both groups really performed very

well. It is good to see the young folks becoming

involved with something other than "rap" .
____________________
The last "Atlantic" magazine had an interesting

article regarding global warming. The web page:

www.theatlantic.com has also an interview with

the author.

Global Warming: Who Loses—and Who Wins?
Climate change in the next century (and beyond)

could be enormously disruptive, spreading disease

and sparking wars. It could also be a windfall for

some people, businesses, and nations. A guide to

how we all might get along in a warming world
by Gregg Easterbrook

INTERVIEWS As the World Warms
Gregg Easterbrook talks about his cover story,

"Global Warming: Who Loses—and Who Wins?," and

the unexpected by-products of climate change.
by Timothy Lavin [Web only]
_________________________
I have read a really great book.

TITLE: NOW THEY CALL ME INFIDEL, Why I renounced jihad for America, Israel and the war on terror. Author: Nonie Darwish-A muslim Shahdid's daughter.
library #- 962.054 DARWISH
The book is an autobiography of an Egyptian lady who spent the first 30 years living in a restrictive muslim society and then came to America and was totally amazed at the freedom, especially for the women and many things that we take for granted. Her father was a high military person in the Gaza. He was assasinated when the author was 8 yr old. He was declared a martyr or a Shahdid. She draws a good picture of the muslim life especially for the family and women. Being upper middle class she did get a good education but she questioned many of the Islam doctrines.

EXCERPTS FROM “NOW THEY CALL ME INFIDEL”
The author lectures at universities now in the US regarding the dangers of Islam. She warns that the young people are being indoctrinated by the mosques into the fundamental beliefs.
“My life has been a journey from hatred to love, from a culture that stifled joy and creativity to a life of freedom and endless possibilities. Because I love my adopted country, I have a duty to alert my fellow Americans to a real and present danger.
“Radical Islam has declared war on America and on the West and the majority of Muslims either support or make excuses for the terrorism”
…….not all Muslims are terrorist, but the fear, defensiveness and silence of the majority is “heard” loud and clear as agreement by the radicals…….religion is the game the radical leadership plays as a camouflage to greed..
“Most moderate Muslims choose to blend with American society and do not want to be associated with radical clerics or mosques imported from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and paid for by a wealthy Saudi government. But they cannot simply look the other way and ignore what is happening to radical mosques across this country. It is time to reject the politicization of Islam, the subverting of the call to prayer into calls for jihad, and changing American’s Constitution to the Koran. Having thrived financially in the United States for decades, American Muslims can well afford to pay the salaries of their religious leaders and maintain their own mosques. They need to choose preachers who are more in tune to the value system of the society they have chosen to call home, values such as compassion and tolerance and responsible freedom of speech. We owe it to America to return back its generosity and kindness.”
__________________________
Newt Gingrich has a new book out but it was checked out. I have my name on the reerve list so I should be able to have read it by the time of my next posting next month. The name of the book is "Winning the Future".
____________________
I have my new hearing aids --Mary likes them as now I do not have the TV volume turned up so loud!! I do think that they will be ok but it will take some getting used to them.
I send best wishes to all and I hope that you enjoy the blog. It is a way to keep in contact.
HAF AKA HAPPYDOC

TRANSITION TO SPRING

2007-02-25T13:11:00.000-06:00

BLOG FEB.

Title Transition to spring

February is the month for transition to spring. Mother Nature however does not make the change sedately. She rustles her skits and stomps her heels. We had a long spell of cold and snow, but now we are having some spring like days with warmer temperatures and the snow has melted. We were very fortunate however in that we did not get the brunt of storms like they did in the north-east part of the country. Here, we have seen a few robins and the early bulbs are poking some green shoots out of the ground.

The political climate is also heating up. It would be nice if Washington politicos could concentrate on some important issues rather that re-election. It will be a long nearly two years. In a way it will be interesting, but the people will get tired of it before it is over.

The Iraq situation does not seem to get any better. The report from inside by the author of the “BAGHDAD BURNING” blog (see link in the side-bar) is totally discouraged. Many of the people who could be the backbone for rebuilding are fleeing (and they can not be blamed). The current government does not prosecute rapists, women are second class citizens. And then, there is Iran, Israel/Palestine, Sudan, Somalia etc. The last ATLANTIC magazine had an article giving the details of the trials of the Burnhams who were kidnapped and held for over a year in the Philippines. It almost makes one

feel guilty to complain about the weather—but we will!

We are enjoying the Symphony season and it is the highlight of each month. In March the Youth symphony will perform and that is always very interesting. In Feb we had the Classical 3B’s—Beethoven, Bach and Brahms. The guest soloist was a virtuoso violinist from Dallas.

February is the month of love and valentines and Mary and I were honored to be chosen Valentine king and queen at the valentine party here at Drury Place. It was fun. The main card game that they play here is Pitch, which we have never played. So, we have taken our first lesson and will learn how and perhaps enter into the game on card night. They seem to have a lot of fun and pitch is not very taxing mentally, which may or not be good. Relaxing fun however is good. That is like reading “fluff” books which we do part of the time. I have read a couple of Danielle Steel’s books this month. I have the book “BLINK” checked out but have not progressed very far. The concept of “adaptive unconscious” is interesting.

The mainstream media publishes a lot about the gangs and the problems of the youth of this country but the good things that they do get little attention. The project of the Overlake school in Redmond Wash. deserves publishing.

PAILIN, Cambodia, Feb. 1, 2007 — In an extremely poor town in Cambodia, children are being robbed of their childhood by poverty, illiteracy, sex trafficking and AIDS.

Yet, down one dirt road, lines of neatly dressed children are now marching into a school with new chalk boards, books, computers and a connection to the Internet.

The Overlake School students raised $15,000 through bake sales, talent shows and raffles to build the Cambodian school. Once the school was built, they kept raising funds for teachers, books and the computers.

Kun Sokkea, 13, said she's in school for the first time and can finally dream of a better future.

She lives in a one-room shack and her mother is dying of AIDS, but she is now e-mailing her American friends to update them on her studies and progress as she learns English.

"What I want to take away is the knowledge that one person, a high school student, can make this huge difference in someone's life," said 11th grader Nathan Cocanour.

And in a remote corner of Cambodia, the students of the Overlake School have certainly done just that.

_____________________

This school was built through "American assistance for Cambodia", which is the organization that we established the "Pearl and Mary Flanders " school in Cambodia.

www.camnet.com.kh/cambodiaschools/schools_map/school_139.

I will close with best wishes for a happy Spring.

HAF AKA HAPPYDOC

NEW YEAR

2007-01-29T21:24:00.000-06:00

TITLE: NEW YEAR & NEW TIMES

A new year has started. A new congress has begun with the democrats in the driver’s seat and with the associated responsibility. The leaders wanting to be president are beating the drums for 2008. A new approach is in progress in Iraq with a new commander and with hopes that the Iraqis will be able to control the violence and the internecine killing.

2007 may be a watershed year not only politically, but also personally. I am back to where I was as far as any evidence of heart failure, Mary still has some unresolved issues, but we are doing well. We are glad that we are living in Drury Place, especially with the cold weather and the snow that we have had. We are also glad that we did not have the snow that Denver had!

The weather is conducive to spending time reading. Books that I have read – The end of Faith, by Sam Harris; The truth about Mohammad, by Robert Spencer; The Creation, by Edward O Wilson; a couple of “cat who” books by Lillian Jackson Braun, and I have started another book by Edward Wilson—The diversity of life.

Wilson is a biologist at Harvard University. Following is my notes on the book “The Creation”.

THE CREATION:An appeal to save life on earth

Author: Edward O. Wilson Library 331.951 WILSON

The author is a biologist at Harvard U. He has written several books he is an entomologist.

"More respect is due the little things that run the world" (insects)

"the more biologists learn about the biosphere in its full richness, the more rewarding the image. Similarly, the more psychologists learn of the development of the human mind the more they understand the gravitational pull of the natural world on our spirit, and on our souls"

we have a long way to go to make peace with this planet and with each other.

"Life on this planet can stand no more plundering. Quite apart from obedience to the universal moral imperative of saving the Creation, based upon religion and science alike, conserving biodiversity is the best economic deal humanity has had placed before it since the invention of agriculture. the time to act is now."

The earth has had 5 cataclysmic destruction of life, due to cosmic actions. The sixth is now beginning but due to human activity. Causes: habitat loss, invasive species, pollution, over population, and over harvesting, gathering.

Next week our grandson, Zach is going to Europe to spend a semester in Germany. He has set up a blog in which he will post some of his experiences. For those of you interested, the address is.

www.zachflanders.blogspot.com

It will be interesting to see how the blogosphere and the internet will be used in the political climate the next two years. It is getting pretty hot already and it is just beginning. An example is the false report the Obama attended a Madrassa school as a child. So we can expect spurious information. The next question is what is Iran going to do in the next 2 years. At least we can joke and laugh at our leaders and not worry about being shot or throats cut! I think that I should set up a blog or page for Cleo. She would probably have some interesting things to say.

I hope that all of you have a great 2007.

HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

THE MONTH THAT WAS

2006-12-13T15:08:00.000-06:00

About Nov 3 Alden began to have symptoms of an Upper Respiratory infection. It was elected to treat with symptomatic medication as anti-biotics are not effective against virus infection. By Nov 15 there was shortness of breath and some swelling of the feet and ankles. There proved to be fluid in the chest and there was an elevated sed rate and decreased ventricular ejection fraction so the diagnosis of viral myocarditis with congestive heart failure was made.
With lasix and rest and restricted activities there has been continued improvement.
On Nov. 23—thanksgiving day—Mary had abdominal pain and some chest pain. With home treatment there was improvement but there was noted also weakness and she fell several times in the next days. She was able to see the Dr on Wednesday and found that she was very anemic and was admitted to the hospital. Blood tests indicated the diagnosis of pancreatitis. Scan of the abdomen found a mass in the head of the pancreas and a needle biopsy performed on Friday which was reported out on Tues was a diagnosis of a neuro-endocrine tumor or a carcinoid which is the same category of tumor that she had removed at Mayo’s 10 years ago which had been in her anterior mediastinum. Mary was really sick and anemic and her protime was way out of bounds so after 4 units of blood and 2 of plasma and IV feeding she improved and the blood enzymes and liver function parameters turned toward normal and she got on solid food and came home Sat AM—Dec 9. At present, we are in the recuperating mode and also waiting to decide regarding the tumor in the pancreas. Enough for the medical organ recital. Future blogs will include our progress.
The elections are over and there will be a shake up in the government and the future progress of the conflict in the middle-east. It is easier to “wage war” than it is to “wage peace”. Thomas P M Barnett’s blog of Dec. 9 is worth reading. [click the link in the side-bar of my blog and then to his Dec 9 blog—title “despite failures in Iraq, nation-building on our plate—the Scripps Howard site has the complete column.]
One paragraph: The problem is that bad guys get smarter, shifting their efforts from a "first half" (war) they cannot win against our world-class forces to a "second half" (postwar) where they can prevail against our rather mediocre nation-builders. Simply put, insurgents avoid our Leviathan force during war, waiting until the follow-on peace can be sabotaged by terrorism and the battered populace co-opted by their superior forms of tribe-building.

I just purchased the book, “”the Truth about Muhammad” by Robert Spencer. It is a documented biography which is not flattering. Were I Spencer, I think that I would wear a bullet-proof vest. In 1988, Salman Rushdie wrote “Satanic Verses” and a fatwah was issued against his life. The bounty eventually reached into the millions and he had to go into hiding for several years. Book stores were bombed, translators were assassinated and even possession of the book carried a fine --how can such fanaticism exist? Today the president of Iran states that the holocaust in Germany did not happen!
Best wishes are sent to you and yours for a happy Christmas and for a new year which makes significant steps toward peace for all.

HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

NOVEMBER BLOG

2006-11-23T09:14:00.000-06:00

TITLE: OPEN LOVE LETTER/THANKS/PRESCRIPTION

One of the statements on the foil wrapper of the Dove Chocolates is to “write a love letter today”. This is today so this is a letter to my bride of 63 years. Dear Heart, Mary did you think that on the pleasant evening on the Missouri river on a riverboat moseying on that starlit night, that all of the events that would follow from that blind date—yes, children there is love at first sight! The love glow from you face these 63 plus years later, lights the infinite love in my heart. How could we be so lucky, and to have such a wonderful family to continue the legacy? Now, at this stage of life’s continuum, the eyes want more light, the ears miss things and aids do not always help, neuromuscular controls make a walker feel comfortable, however love does not diminish and like the universe, expands.

My love Always Alden

We have received notice that we will be getting a new “sister” thru the women for Women program, as Rasma in Afghanistan will be completing her year of training. A little help and love can do a lot and so it behooves one to do what one can do. At this time of year it makes us be so very thankful to be Americans, regardless what the rest of the world is thinking. We are all citizens of the world and have a role to play not only for the peoples of the world but also for the care of the planet, our home. The recent growth of interest of NGO—non government organizations are encouraging as the government frequently gets things messed up. Sudan for example.

The guest on Brian Lamb’s program last Sunday, Q and A, was the Saudi ambassador to the US. He was asked what he thought of Bin Laden—his terse and categorical answer was “He wants to rule the world.” This took me back to the time when another evil (the little corporal) had the same ambition. Now the president of Iran states the holocaust did not happen and that Israel should be blasted from the planet. Evil is Evil wherever it is found, changing the color does not make it a rose. To combat evil may take sacrifices and in fact the battle needs to be felt. Remember: gas coupons, food coupons, office of price control, victory gardens, gold star mothers, no nylons! Rosie the riveter built airplanes, steel workers built ships, young boys left the pasture and in a few months were flying multi engine planes! A friend in Hays who was a member of the famed Flying Tigers has just died.

American Volunteer Group, a fighter unit that trained in Burma and China, during the year prior to the United States entry into World War II, to fight against Japanese forces. The AVG's first fight against the Japanese was December 20, 1941 (approximately three weeks after Pearl Harbor). The Flying Tigers had great success against the forces of Japan during the lowest period of the war for American forces, and gave hope to Americans that they would eventually succeed against the Japanese. The Flying Tigers were credited for destroying almost 300 aircraft with a loss of only twelve of their own in combat.

The world trade center location should not be smoothed over and planted to grass. The stark black steel reaching into the sky should be there to enable all to feel and not forget. There is time for the planting of grass after the war is won!

HAF SENIORGEEK AKA:HAPPYDOC

DLST

2006-10-30T16:29:00.000-06:00

DLST

This coming Sunday at 2 AM we will fall back for daylight saving time. All, except for the more sensible folks in Arizona, who will continue on the normal time. According to Wikipedia; DST has been tried in various forms for some time, but was installed in US in 1942 during the war years to save energy. It is questionable if it accomplishes that. The farmers always operated on sun time. We will adapt!

The trees are definitely changing color and before long will be losing their leaves. This year we will not have to be concerned about raking the leaves, or I might add, shoveling snow a little later. This is another advantage of living in Drury Place apartment.

I have been putting together a collection of games to put on the community machines. I have put together everything from jacks to chess. I hope that games will be a good way to get the residents introduced to the computer and also they are good for hand-eye coordination, entertainment and mental stimulation. We will see what happens. Next month I will be putting on some demonstrations and instruction.

I enrolled in 3 courses thru Virtual University. www.vu.org You can enroll in 4 classes for the 20 dollar fee. But I can not keep up with one let alone 4. But, one does get some good information and can either print it out or copy to a disk. I enrolled in 35 days to better writing

The truth about Islam

Liberate your inbox with

Thunderbird

I think that I am a “drop out”. I have not done any of the homework for the writing class and I have not been able to get Thunderbird installed on my computer. The Islam class will be interesting. It is put out by 2 practicing Muslims. I had put together information, and led a class on Islam, about 3 years ago. I am curious what this class will bring out about their beliefs.

Robert Spencer who maintains “Jihad watch” on the internet, recently authored the book “The Truth about Mohammad”. This is his blog

My Invitation From al-Qaeda

By Robert Spencer

FrontPageMagazine.com | September 6, 2006

In American al-Qaeda operative Adam Gadahn’s convert-to-Islam-or-die message to America released last Saturday, he extends a special invitation to the President, as well as to Daniel Pipes, Michael Scheuer, Steve Emerson – and me:

If the Zionist crusader missionaries of hate and counter-Islam consultants like Daniel Pipes, Robert Spencer, Michael Scheuer, Steven Emerson, and yes, even the crusader-in-chief George W. Bush were to abandon their unbelief and repent and enter into the light of Islam and turn their swords against the enemies of God, it would be accepted of them and they would be our brothers in Islam. And we send a special invitation to all of you fighting Bush’s crusader pipe dream in Afghanistan, Iraq, and wherever else W. has sent you to die.

Gadahn also praises Western leftist sycophants and apologists for the global jihad, and invites them to become Muslims as well:

Why not surrender to the truth? Escape from the unbelieving army and join the winning side. As for those who have expressed their respect and admiration for Islam, and acknowledged that it is the truth and

It is important to note that Gadahn’s “invitation” to Islam is coupled with a threat of violence: “To Americans and the rest of Christendom we say, either repent (your) misguided ways and enter into the light of truth or keep your poison to yourself and suffer the consequences in this world and the next….” In this, Gadahn is following the example of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, who told his followers:

“When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action…Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them…If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya [the tax on non-Muslims specified in Qur’an 9:29]. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah’s help and fight them” (Sahih Muslim 4294).

Muhammad’s directions here to extend an invitation to Islam and follow it with a threat were also followed recently by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. For his part, Gadahn calls the Islamic prophet Muhammad “the chief and master of Adam’s children, and the embodiment of high morals and good character.”

The thuggishness of Gadahn and the supremacist creed for which he has become a salesman was evident in other parts of his message. “Islam,” he explained, “is the only religion acceptable to God and came with the revealed book, the Koran, which abrogates all previous revelations, like the Torah and Evangel [Gospel]... God recognizes no separation between religion and state.” In this he makes an expression of the Islamic supremacism that delegitimizes the religious traditions of Jews and Christians. In line with the Qur’an (3:67), Gadahn says, “Abraham was neither a Jew or a Christian, but was a Muslim hanif.” (A “hanif” is a pre-Islamic monotheist.) In other words, Judaism and Christianity as practiced today have no legitimacy, but are merely renegade corruptions of the true religion, Islam.

Maybe Adam Gadahn is angry with me for describing him a couple of years ago as he appears in an old photo: as a “pudgy, long-haired American kid who appears to be locked in a desperate, losing struggle to grow a beard.” Adam, I see from more recent photos that you have won that struggle, for which I congratulate you. In your larger struggles, however, you will not prevail. Thank you for your invitation to me to become a Muslim and wield my sword against the enemies of Allah. But I’m afraid I must decline. While I appreciate the fact that becoming your “brother in Islam” might afford me a measure of personal security that I do not enjoy today, some things are more important than that. I cannot and will not give in to violent intimidation, come what may, and I do not want to live in a society that bows to such intimidation.

I believe that societies that respect the equality of rights before the law of all people, including women and religious minorities, as well as the freedom of conscience, are superior to those that do not. I hope that such societies will be able to summon the will to resist you and your “invitation” in all its implications before it is too late.

Meanwhile, Adam, I have an invitation of my own for you: I invite you to accept the Bill of Rights, and enter into the brotherhood of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. My invitation does not focus on my religion, although I invite you to that also, but rather on a framework within which people of differing faiths can live in peace, harmony, and mutual respect – provided that none of the groups involved cherishes supremacist ambitions to subjugate the others.

I hope you will consider my invitation carefully.

A recent time magazine article “The disappeared”, relates the experience of an Iraqi who was kidnapped and held hostage for 5 weeks. The family finally had to pay 40000 dollars to get his release. The kidnapping is big business.

And this from Australia.

Imam justifies rape of unveiled women

Australian cleric compares victims to 'uncovered meat' that attracts cats

Posted: October 26, 2006

1:40 p.m. Eastern

Australia's top Muslim cleric rationalized a series of gang rapes by Arab men, blaming women who "sway suggestively," wear make-up and don't cover themselves in the tradition of Islam.

Sheik Taj el-Dene Elhilaly's comments in a Ramadan sermon in a Sydney mosque have stirred a furor in the country with even Prime Minister John Howard weighing in with condemnation.

The cleric also said the judge in the case, who sentenced the rapists, had "no mercy."

"But the problem, but the problem all began with who?" he said, referring to the women victims – whom he said were "weapons used by Satan."

One bit of good news, in a way, the young lady in Baghdad who has been able to be our eyes of life there, has made a posting to her blog-BAGHDAD BURNING-, so she is still alive though very discouraged, which was the reason she had not posted since Aug.

We will very soon have an election—what will the future bring? Be sure to vote, it is a privilege!

Always, HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

BOOO

2006-10-02T14:25:00.000-05:00

October 2, 2006
Autumn is here and the trees are beginning to change color. The goblins are trying their wings in readiness for Halloween. We see geese flying south and when Bill and Peggy were here they went to the waterfowl refuge near Great Bend and got pictures of the Canadian geese and also the white pelicans. Also, we note fewer birds at our feeders.
September was my natal month and October is our anniversary month (63 Years). I should probably change the personal information on my blog. September slipped by without a posting. We are very happy to have had a visit from each of the clans this summer and we were able to move along some of the extra stuff, with instructions to not bring it back!
We are starting back on our vitaband exercise class this week. The instructor is back after being out of commission for most of the summer due to a motorcycle accident.
We are really into the political drumbeat season. It is important to be able to express a choice and this off-year election is more importent than some. Not only for this election but it is laying the ground work for the coming general election in 2 years.
I wonder if the Middle East will ever be able to develop a ballet rather than bullet governance. I just finished the book “Future Jihad” by Walid Phares. It is a good book and explains the nature of the concept of Jihad. The last paragraph of the book:
“In trying to warn, understand, and propose the best possible policies to avoid the rise of future jihads, I seek to contribute to an effort of reasoning so that the future Earth will be more peaceful than ever. It is going to take the hard work of many courageous people to ensure a happy ending to this millennial quest for conflict. Many visionary people in the West and many more brave people in the Muslim world will contribute. This will decide if future jihads end up with mushroom clouds around the world, or if peace, democracy and freedom mushroom worldwide.”

I am concerned about the author of the BAGHDAD BURNING blog. Her last posting was Aug 5 and she doesn’t go 2 months without posting, even when there is little electricity etc. She is very discouraged as she wrote in her last post “Is it time to wash our hands of the country and try to find a stable life somewhere else?”
Over the years she has been able to give insight into the life and living conditions which is not available through the main-stream media. You can access her blog using the hyperlink in the side bar of my blog.
The theatre and the symphony seasons are starting and we will enjoy those. We continue to enjoy the library. Mary is more independent with her new walker. I purchased a new Sony micro stereo outfit with CD and cassette drives. We enjoy the music on it and also I can send music and podcasts to it from my laptop computer. So we are all set to enjoy the winter. I am still trying to stimulate interest in computing here at Drury place.
Trust that this finds everything well with you and yours----until the next time, HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

BACK TO SCHOOL

2006-08-20T13:44:00.000-05:00

The last of August is the time when school terms begin again. The teachers in our family are getting ready and here in Salina the classes have begun or will Monday. We have teachers in our family in both the elementary and highschool level and we are proud of all of them. Education is as important as the basic needs of food, clothes and shelter, and I guess that in this time of turmoil around the world ond should also add security.

An excerpt from the “BAGHDAD BURNING” blog

Since the beginning of July, the men in our area have been patrolling the streets. Some of them patrol the rooftops and others sit quietly by the homemade road blocks we have on the major roads leading into the area. You cannot in any way rely on Americans or the government. You can only hope your family and friends will remain alive- not safe, not secure- just alive. That’s good enough.

In the Israel- Hezbolla fighting there is a cease-fire and at least the possibility of a plan to cool or resolve the conflict. The UN and the Europe forces may fill the vacuum and eparate the two sids and the Lebanon army become active in the region—time will tell. Poor Lebanon was pulverized and will take years and a lot of money to recover. In the mean-time Hezbollah is making more converts by dispensing money from Iran. Also Iran has test fired several short range missiles! This is to let the region that Iran is the emerging power. Fanatics require and enemy.

The last two weeks CSPAN’S Q and A progams showed the opposite ends of Islam—Akbar Ahmed stating the Islam is peaceful but admits that there is great need within the community to combat the radical elements, Robert Spencer on the other hand arguing that Islam is inherently warlike and to hate the west etc is a requirement. Pod casts are available but it is evident that there will have to be a change within the Islamic community. We can not do it from the outside. In the meantime we will have to hope that the plots like the one to blow up airliners from UK to US will continue to be thwarted.

I just finished reading “Founding Mothers”. Bless the ladies! We would never have founded this country, a beacon to freedom and liberty, without them.

We are doing quite well here at DRURY PLACE. Mary got a 4 wheeled walker with a seat and this makes it a lot easier for getting around. She feels more secure and if she does get tired she can rest on the seat. Yesterday, we made a test run to take it to the library with us and it just barely fits in the trunk of our little Escort Ford car. She has taken it and walked up the grocery store. She feels more independent. I picked up a book at the library “Julie and Romeo Get Lucky” by Jeanne Ray. It is a fun read.

I notice that the Blogger blog program has been updated with more bells and whistles I have not made the switch yet but will probably do so before the next posting.

I hope that this finds all well with all of you.

Til next time---HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

DOG DAYS

2006-07-28T14:10:00.000-05:00

DOG DAYS

I always wondered why this time of the year was called the "dog days" of the year. So, using the trusty GOOGLE, we googled it. It is the 20 days before and 20 days after the star Serius, the dog star, is in alignment with the sun. Now the mystery is gone. I do not know if I feel better or worse. It was nice to think, " why is it called dog days?"

What a difference a day makes! War breaks out in the middle east. Or rather, it spread out or over with a vengance. It is hoped that it is not the fore-runner of WWIII. However in one way we were or are in WWIII, as the radical muslim movement is world-wide and it will persist until there is a change within the muslim world. As long as hate is preached, hate will be returned.

Dalai Lama quotes:

“Freedom is the real source of human happiness and creativity. Irrespective of whether you are a believer or nonbeliever, whether Buddhist, Christian, or Jew, the important thing is to be a good human being.”

“I believe in humanity and its level in a person is more important than his or her belief or faith.”

“My message is the practice of compassion, love, and kindness. Compassion can be put into practice if one recognizes the fact that every human being is a member of humanity and the human family regardless of differences in religion, culture, color and creed. Deep down there is no difference.”

Well, that is enough for “deep stuff”. For some levity a friend sent some jokes in the email.

This ought to make you feel better about your computer skills!
===============
Customer: Hi, this is Celine. I can't get my diskette out.
Tech support: Have you tried pushing the Button?
Customer: Yes, sure, it's really stuck.
Tech support: That doesn't sound good; I'll make a note.
Customer: No, wait a minute... I hadn't inserted it yet...
it's stil on my desk...sorry....

===============

Tech support: Click on the 'my computer' icon on to the left
of the screen.
Customer: Your left or my left?

===============

Tech support: Good day. How may I help you?
Male customer: Hello.. I can't print.
Tech support: Would you click on "start" for me and...
Customer: Listen pal; don't start getting technical on me!
I'm not Bill Gates.

===============

Customer: Hi, good afternoon, this is Martha, I can't print
Every time I try, it says 'Can't find printer'. I've even lifted the printer
and placed it in front of the monitor, but the computer still says he
can't find it...

===============

Customer: I have problems printing in red..
Tech support: Do you have a color printer?
Customer: Aaaah..................thank you.

===============
Tech support: What's on your monitor now, ma'am?
Customer: A teddy bear my boyfriend bought for me at the
7-11.

===============

Customer: My keyboard is not working anymore.
Tech support: Are you sure it's plugged into the computer?
Customer: No. I can't get behind the computer.
Tech support: Pick up your keyboard and walk 10 paces back.
Customer: OK
Tech support: Did the keyboard come with you?
Customer: Yes
Tech support: That means the keyboard is not plugged in. Is
there another keyboard?
Customer: Yes, there's another one here. Ah...that one does
work...

===============

Tech support: Your password is the small letter "a" as in
apple, a
capital letter V as in Victor, the number 7.
Customer: Is that 7 in capital letters?

===============

Customer: can't get on the Internet.
Tech support: Are you sure you used the right password?
Customer: Yes, I'm sure. I saw my colleague do it.
Tech support: Can you tell me what the password was?
Customer: Five stars

===============

Tech support: What anti-virus program do you use?
Customer: Netscape
Tech support: That's not an anti-virus program
Customer: Oh, sorry...Internet Explorer.

===============

Customer: I have a huge problem. A friend has placed a
screen saver on my computer, but every time I move the mouse, it disappears.

===============

Tech support: How may I help you?
Customer: I'm writing my first e-mail.
Tech support: OK, and what seems to be the problem?
Customer: Well, I have the letter 'a' in the address, but
how do I get the circle around it?

===============

A woman customer called the Canon help desk with a problem
with her printer.
Tech support: Are you running it under windows?
Customer: "No, my desk is next to the door, but that is a
good point.
The man sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window, and
his printer is working fine."

===============

And last but not least...

Tech support: "Okay Bob, let's press the control and escape
keys at the same time. That brings up a task list in the middle of the
screen. Now type the letter "P" to bring up the Program Manager."
Customer: I don't have a P.
Tech support: On your keyboard, Bob.
Customer: What do you mean?
Tech support: "P".....on your keyboard, Bob.
Customer: I'M NOT GOING TO DO THAT!

Hope that this finds all going well with all of you, as it is with us here in Salina, where it is hot, but not too hot; dry, but not too dry and the people are friendly.

HAF aka HAPPY DOC

GOOD OLD SUMMERTIME

2006-06-27T08:06:00.000-05:00

2006 IS ABOUT HALF GONE!!
The harvest is over and with varied results but there will be wheat for bread!! We have had some rain here so there is hope for the fall crops. All in all we have been lucky here. We have had no severe storms--erlier ther was a hail storm which dented cars and made a lot of work for the people repairing dents and also there is a lot of work repairing roofs. The east coast at prsent is getting too much rain so there is such a things as too much of a good thing! The 4th of July is almost here. The birthday of our coultry reminds us that establishing a new governance is a difficult job, as it is proving to be in IRAQ. I have been told that they can not say the pledge of allegiance in the schools now!! I do not know if that is rue but I wouldl not be surprised. We have gone too far trying to be "politically correct". The next 6 months will be given to a lot of noise by the politicians. None of them will do as much good as the effforts of Warren Buffet and the Bill Gates foundation with the non government money and effort. A friend has sent me an e-mail of a tribute to WW2 vets, who are disappearing at the rate of 2000 a day. I am enclosing the URL http://www.managedmusic.com/beforeyougo.html

We are well settled and happy with our new living arrangement. It is very convenient. It was time for us to make a change. Mary has decreasing ability, parfticulary since the last little stroke that shehad. We have been having tests run to try to find out what all is going on and perhaps we will find out something this week. Whether or not it will be anything that much can be done aboout.
I have just finished readng Madelein Albright's book "The Mighty and the Almighty". It is a good book and emphasizes the need that we need to have a better understanding of the cultures of other peoples to get along in this decreasing world. This is certanly true. I am now reading "The Tipping Point--how little things can make a big difference". This fits one of my favorite quotes
Wen a butteerfly flutters its wings
in one part of the world
it can cause a hurricane in another

The Theater closed its season with the production of "Cats". It was extremely well done. They will open the next season in Sept. with the p;roduction of "The Wizard of Oz"

The organizing of my art supplies and checking what I have is progressing and I have begun to practice trying to get a feel for the water and color and different surfaces. Also doing some reading and refreshing of techniques. What will happen will happen

You might check the recent post of the Riverbend blog from Baghdad. Access from the side bar..

Will close for this posting but will try to make entries to the blog more regularly. In the meantime, the very best to all of you. HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

MAY FLOWERS

2006-05-13T08:47:00.000-05:00

The April showers came and the May flowers are blooming. Especially they are in the stores in flats to be planted for the garden, but this year we do not have to do that. We can just admire others efforts. The important thing about the rains is that the roof of Drury Place is fixed and there are no more leaks which is a joyous state of affairs for all.
Mary has recieved her new hearing aids as the old ones did not manage to make the move and probably got thrown out by mistake. She has to get used to the new ones and one of the tricks recommended is for her to read out loud for several minutes each day--this is to train her ear to speech etc. I think that she will read to Cleo and she will become the educated cat. We may introduce her to KOKO and YUM YUM who are the cats in the "Cat Who" book series by Lillian Jackson Braun.. We have been reading her most recent book 'The cat who dropped a Bombshell".
With the coming of the Summer, the Symphony season has closed. The last performance the last of April was "Carmina Burana". This was an outstanding performance and was presented with a choir of 200 voices and three soloists all of whom did an excellent job. The symphony as usual was superb. The English transalation was shown on the side on a small screen. The whole performance was a moving experience. The Motto of the Symphony this year is "Music that moves you" and this certainly did. It is a shame that so much effort goes into such a production and then after one day it is gone. As far as I know they do not make any recordings. The recordings do not "move you" like a live performance. The community theater will be presenting "CATS" in June. I have heard it said that one of the reasons that the muslim world is so backward is that they do not encourage the arts--music, art, etc. Even the prehistoric peoples created rock-art in their caves etc. Bill and Peggy have been having a great time exploring the rock art in the Seminole Canyon area of Texas.
I hve been having a session with some of the residents once a week on the computer trying to get some interest going here at Drury Place.
May is Graduation Month. Our youngest grand child, Corey and our oldest great grand child, Lauren, graduate from High-schol and grandsons Eric and Nick graduate from college. We will go to Corey's graduaion "open house" this afternoon and then tomorrow the graduation ceremony. Then she will be spending the summer working as a life guard and getting ready to go to Kansas University. She will be a 4th generation Jayhawker!
I have been looking over my art supplies and equipment and reading some to refresh on water color painting. I am planning to try to do come painting--will see how it goes. It has been probably 13 or more years since I have tried to paint.
This is Mother's day week end. We may be the only nation which has a special day for Mothers. It is approiate that we do honor the Mothers. The American Indian refered to the earth as Mother earth. We have not been taking the best of care or Mother Earth and Mother nature has not been very happy about it. Mothers are the nurturing force of the world and we learn to be "civilized" at our mother's knee.

The May 2 posting of the BAGHDAD BURNING blog is interesting. You can access it by using the link in the side bar of this blog. She has a different spin on things in Iraq. The Iranian infiltration in Iraq plus the inadequacies of the Iraq governance and police results in the Iranians having 150,000 Americans hostage in Iraq. Another site of interest is INFORMED COMMENT by Juan Cole. the address is www. juancole.com
The political posturing and retoric will be heating up between now and the election. I hope that some concrete improvement will happen in the middle east, but that is probably wishful thinking.
I guess that on that pessimistic note I will close. However, the day is sunny and very pleasant temperture. We will enjoy the day and hope that you all also will have a great day.
HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

APRIL SHOWERS

2006-04-07T13:24:00.000-05:00

The trees are blooming, the robins are here, so Spring is busting out all over.
We are settling into our new location. Mary says that we are never moving again. In the process of this move, by some unknown reason we lost some of Mary's summer clothes and her hearing aids. We have to say "huh?" a lot! I have a hearing aid but do not use it most of the time. It does increase the volume of the high frequency tones so I hear more clicks and clacks but there is some question whether that helps any. In the not too distant future we will get it checked out.
The living in the apartment is different but we are enjoying it. The people here are all great and friendly. The meals are good and quite ample. There are activities of one kind and another going on. We have put our 2 tower computers in the activity room and they are connected to my wireless internet connection in our apartment which appears to reach thru most of the building. I have started some instructional session and will get people "wired". Also they can prtactice and the the machines for games and text operations.
Ther in an exercise area with stationary bikes and a weight machine. However, we will continue with our vitacise band exercise program thru the Park and Rec. which we have been doing ever since we have been living in Salina.
The Drury Place Building has a flat roof and it had some leaks and we had a rain and some of the apartments got quite a bit of water! We had a little. The rooofers are here now and a new roof is being installed so we are hoping for not too smuch rain until it is completed. Then, it can rain a lot as we are behind normal in rainfall. The flowering trees however have been "doing their thing" so, there must be some moisture down deep.
Cleo has adjusted to the move. We find that there are severl cats who have brought their "cat moms" here. Cleo has not met them yet but DOMINO a black and white tom lives on the second floor as well as JETTA MARIE and SNOW. TOBY live on the first floor.
We really like our location, it is walking distance (we ahve haven't done it yet) to the grocery, pharmacy, bank and Wendy's and Dairy Queen.
We realize we are are very fortunate. Several of the people here have walking aids of one kind or another and there are 2 with motorized units to get around. Also there is a very spry 97 yr old who is very alert, straight posture and walks with a firm steady gait and takes the stairs with no problem.
I had a small skin cancer on my forehead removed this week. It was quite small and was totally removed.
If you are reading t his, check the "BAGHDAD BURNING" link in the side bar, the April 2 posting is interesing.

Best wishes to all HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

MOVING ON

2006-03-06T15:02:00.000-06:00

No blogging occured during February as the month was spent in "MOVING ON" . We have moved to a reitement facility. The name is "Drury Place" and the address is 1000 Schippel Drive Apt. 120 Salina, Kansas 67401. The telephone number and the e-mail remains the same as it was. The process of downsizing to get into a one bed-room apartment took some doing. We got rid of the couch and got a love seat, changed the TV for a thin LCD model etc. Anything smaller and getting rid of unnecessary STUFF enabled us to get the ob done and now we can begin to live "normaly". We hve a small kitchen which will not be used very much because 2 meals a day are furnished. There will be much less house work for Mary to worry about. Even the laundry is reduced as they do the sheets and flat work.
The people are all very friendly and helpful and we will like the new living situationl. The location is good in that we are in walking distance to Wendy's restaurant, grocery store, post office, bank and eveN a liquor store (which we will not need). There are acitivities going on at different times.
We have vowed to not accumulate so much stuff and will ask 2 quetions, where can it go and do we need it!! Mostly anything coming in--something will go out.
Cleo, our cat, was able to be moved with us. She had a lot of boxes etc to explore but mosstly hid under the bed for the first 3 days, but now is out and about and demanding attention and telling us what to do in her singular regal way. We are glad that she could come with us. I was surprised that they would alow small pets but I think tht it is a change for the better in the thinking of geratric management. Some people have been here at Drury Place for 8 to 10 years. One gentelman here is 97 and very active and walks with a spry step. We do see a wide variety of walking asstive units, some with wheels and baskets etc. One person hs been here for 10 years and has a motorized unit.
I have just finished the some 800 page book by Doris Kearns A team of rivals. I has a lot of details in about Abaham Lincoln's :Presidency. It also gives a lot of insite into the living in America during that time. I recomend the book if you have the time.
I think tht the last couple of postinge of the Blog Baghdad Burning are of interest. She tells about the life in Baghdad and one gets a feeling that is not available from the mainstream media. It is a hectic time for the people there. The link to the blog is on the side bar of my blog--just cllick on it.
We have placed our two tower computer machnes in the activity area in the basment of Drury and have them connected and operatng. Hope to get some interest in learning some computing and at least they can be used for some games. I tested one out yesterday and plalyed a game of checkers and won which may be the first time. I have a chess program which I have not installed yet. I plan to get a wireless card nstalled ad then they can have internet access using my connection. I tested and the signal from my transmitter in the apartment reaches into the basement, so we should be able to make it work.
This brings you all up to dae as to the happenings to us. More at a later time.
Sending best wishes to all HAF AKA HAHPPY DOC

2006-01-21T16:00:00.000-06:00

=Jan 20 2006
OUT WITH THE OLD AND IN WITH THE NEW!!
The new year has started and we hope that it will be more peaceful and with fewer disasters than 2005. This is a time for me to wish all of the viewers of this blog and very happy new year and best wishes for all of your endeavors.
Here in the middle of Kansas we have had very little winter weather and it is approaching the end of Jan. As with much of the mid-west we are in need of moisture, but we have not had the prairie fires that have been so bad in TX and OK.
I have been lax in making postings to the blog. We are in the process of making changes in our living situation by moving into a retirement living facility. The process takes time and making decisions during the downsizing process. I am very pleaed with the facility, we will have our own apartment and no yard work and very little cooking, as two meals a day are provided. There will be adjustments but I am looking forward to it. The process of getting things ready for the move is slowed down by having to read over old things that you have tucked away and nearly forgot about, It is good to see them again. I have found pictures that were lost, re-read old newsletters, reunion booklets etc which have broght to mind many memories of old friends. Also it is somewhat startling to see the names and pictures of class mates who are now with us only in spirit. I found a Haiku that I wrote on the occasion of a class reunion.
"Old high-school memories
Flowed like well-aged golden wine
Laughter, fed the heart"

We start our mornings with quotations of the Dalai Lama, we were given a day calendar for Christmas, A recent quotation--
The three R's of life
Respect for self
Respect of others
Responsibility for all of your actions.

I am reading a book about Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Title: TEAM OF RIVALS The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.
It is good but big and filled with a lot of information--not real fast going. I need to split up reading time with frivolous, so went to the library today a checked out a Rita Brown book with Sneaky Pie cat and her friends.

I am cutting back some on my involvement with the senior center computer program. I will spend more time with Mary and transportation etc. She has started on some physical treatment session to see if her strength. balance and endurance can be improved.
We were surprised to learn that an old school mate from Ellsworth High is moving into Drury Place about the same time that we will be moving there. Once we get settled I hope to get out my brushes and do some water coloring, it has been probably 12 years since I have wet a brush so we will see what happens--hope for what some call "happy accidents".
May the wind be at your back and the sun on your face
AF AKA HAPPY DOC

WINTER SOLSTICE

2005-12-17T11:33:00.000-06:00

I note that it is almost a month since my last posting to the blog. I am believing the adage that time goes faster as one gets older. I have be convetings some VHS tapes to DVD discs and then hve been makeing copies of the DVD's to give to family. The Salina library technology section hs the equipment to do this. I do not have a DVD burner athome. The Nero software at the library did not always work as it shold so I have had to ;make several sessions, but it is grat to have the capability. It is a great asset for the community.
In our lab at the Senior Center we are hoping that in the first of the year we will be able to get broad band connection, which willbe grat for the classes and workshops.The winter solstice is 4 days away. The erth will begin its tilting to increas the length of the day and warming the northern hemisphere. Mother nature decided to prove to us that she still controlls the seasons and this morning there is about 5 inches of snow on the ground! When we go to the library today, I am signing up for a Kansas library card, my old one is out of date. This card allows access to several databases for research--genealogy etc and even the world book. Also, there are some 12000 e-books, so we wil be preparedshold we have to "hunkerdown" until Spring--which is unlikely.
I have added a couple of links to the side bar of this blog. One is a link to Thomas P M Barnett's page and blog. He has information on his thiking and analysis of the world problems. The other lilnk is to "Baghdad Burning" which is a blog by an Iraqi young lady who has been publishing for some time and she gives insite into what it is like to be living conditions they have--limited electricity etc. Her analysis and report of the recent election is interesting. It is amazing that 70% + of registered voters voted, This is better than we do in the USA! The Google "news" link is also ther and clicking on onay of the links will take you to that site.
I question whether the huge oil storage fire in England was all an accident and that the Jihadists did not have a hand in it. Regardless, the international terorist network has to be defeated. The book "The Wests last Chance" by Tony Blankley likens the threat as equal to the Nazi quest for the world in the late 1930's. Probably, the Senate's blockage of the Patriot Act is not the way to do it. In WWII we had to come together and also to temporarily restrict some priveliges to be able to mobilize to get the job done.
We send our very best wishes to all, not just for the Season but for the whole year-and more.
AF AKA Happy Doc
PS. The link to Baghdad burning may not be in the side bar
The URL is:www.riverbendblog.blogspot.com

THANKSGIVING

2005-11-18T10:11:00.000-06:00

The golden leaves are now gone and the trees are bare. Large piles of leaves are on the parkings for the vacuum machine to come along. We have mulched all of ours as we ususlly do so hopefully are adding more back to the soil. Of course running the mower adds a little more carbon (5 pounds per gallon)to the atmosphere so you can not win every thing but one does what one can!

I have finished reading Thomas P. M> Barnetts new book "BLUE PRINT FOR ACTION" which is a sequel to "THE PENTAGON'S NEW MAP". I am making my book notes on the book the main part of this blog. Also at his web page (www.thomaspmbarnett.com) you can get mor information and listen to audio recordings of some radio interviews and also his blog etc. I thought that his writings were inportant enough that some time ago I was promted to write my one and only letter to my congressman suggesting his book should be read--I did not get an answer--perhpas the folks there do not read!

TITLE: BLUE PRINT FOR ACTION A future worth creatingAUTHOR: THOMAS P.M. BARNETTlibrary no. 327.73contents:1.what the world needs now Understanding the Seam between war
and peace. A department for what lies between war
and peace. Barnett's A to Z Rule set for processing
politically bankrupt states2. Winning the war through connectedness Connecting the middle east and the
world. creating the new rule set on global terrorism3. Growing the core by securing the east Locking in China at today's prices. In the
Future, America's most important allies will be new
core states. The Trains's engine can travel no
faster than its caboose.4. Shrinking the Gap by ending disconnectedness The coming choices. Tipping points in
the journey from the Gap to the Core. Essential
building blocks for shrinking the gap from within.5. We have met the enemy The resumption of history and the latest
enemy. The convergence of civilizations. The
world made one or just nonzero.This is a sequel or continuation of his earlier book
"The Pentagon's New Map"FUNCTIOINING CORE' Those parts of the world that are actively
integrating their economies into a global economy
and that adhere to globalization's emerging
security rule set. Old Core--America, Europe and
Japan. New Core, whose pillars are China, India,
Brazil and Russia.NON=INTEGRATING GAP: Regions of the world that are disconnected from
the globl economy and the rule sets that define its
stability,--The Caribbean Rim, Andean South
America, virtulayy all of Aftica, portions of the
Balkans, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Middle East
and most of Southeast Asia. The main goal and effort of globaliztion is
th "shrink the gap". The military needs to revamp its self into
a war-making component and a peace keeping,
nationbuilding component--post conflict activities.
Thes SysAdm part needs to be just as important as
the warmaking as far as funding etc. In time
should have cabinet level representation.
(?replace Homeland security) To shrink the Gap need to replace hunger. "The
most telling example of misplace funding priorities
is seen in what the Core currently spends on
agricultural subsidies to its own farmers versus
what it would ned to spend to eradicate hunger
inside the Gap....Because we don't facilitate agricultural exports
from the Gap to the Core, we inadvertenlyl lock
many of those nations into long term dependence
on commoditis as their main exports, delaying their
industrial development. The less connected these
states are to the global economy, the more likely
they are to fall into conflict and instability. Spend 10 billion on SysAdmin reconstrucion work
inside the Gap and you'll save the global economy a
good 2- billion or more.

We enjoyed an excellent performance of the "MIKADO" last noght and we will seen the play "The Odd Couple" this Sunday. I have been woking of some power point presentation for use at the Senior Computer learning center and also at some of the Elder living centers. So far, only minimum progress being made in the living centers as many fee that they are "too old" or do not want to try as the machine is too frightening.

Hope that you all have a great THANKSGIVING, we truly do have much to be thankful for.
AF aka happydoc

LEAVES OF GOLD

2005-10-08T14:52:00.000-05:00

The Fall colors are beginning. Trees are turning gold and yellow. We do not have many reds--none yet. We have had a lot of butterflies at the zinnia and marigold plants but with begnning to have some cooler temps they are decreasing and continuing on their trek to Mexico.! Witht the beginning of Fall the winter season of the theater and symphony has begun. The theater has performed "Beauty and the Beast". They did a good job. Mary is not into fantasy but it was very good production. The symphony had as its first production of the season, Beethoven's 5th. and the guest performer for the production was Tracy Silverman playing a "strange" instrument--the electric violin. I had never heard one and it can make a lot of different sounds, however and few of them sound like a regular violin. It does go well with modern music so we had a wide variety of musical experience.
With Fall comes football which takes up a lot of the news and ink in the paper as well as TV time. I am sure that it is very popular but I can not get very interested in watching it on TV. Our grand-daughter, Kirsten, who lives in Durago has been playing ladies Rugby footbal, which is more straineous that regular footbal. She did not get it from her grandfather. I have a problem getting on the treadmill and walking as much as I should. Always easy to have an excuse to not do it and be involved in something else.
Let us all hold our breath for the 15 of Oct. The date hopefully of the Iraq referendum on the constitution. I have just finished the book "Night draws Near--Iraq's people in the shadow of American War", by Anthony Shadid. The author is an Arabian-American journalist who has lived in Iraq befor, during the war and after the war and with contacts and friends he has known and met gives a very good reporting of the feeling of the ordinary citizen. We have done some things right but also manythings poorly or wrong. The Infra structure was broke and as some have said it is ot a problem of re-building--it is a problem of re-creating. The author also gives a good reporting of the influence of the religion and of the mosques. He knows the language and the culture .
Of course the problems are not limited to Iraq--bombing in Bali, etc. A book that I have not read as yet, "THE WEST'S LAST CHANCE--will we win the clash of civilizations?", written by Tony Blankley was exerpted in the Washington Times--the newspaper that he is an editor of. "The threat of the radical Islamists taking over Europe is every bit as great to the United States as was the threat of the Nazis taking over Europe in the 1940s. ....The radical Isllamist ae able to rationalize concessions to mofernity with ancient-sounding mumbo jumbo while still sounding like authentic fundamentalists, the only true voice of Islam.
The Nazis overwhelmed german society with these methods 70 years ago. Thjer is bulding evidence that the radical islamists are moving ever more successfully down the same path--particularly withing the younger generations in Europe and , to a lesser extent, in the United States."
The Washington Times is a good newspaper available on the internet--register but it does not cost.
The last posting of "Baghdad Burning" blog--www.riverbendblog.blogspot.com of OCT 3 has an interesting take on the feeling of some regarding the referendum. Of more concern for many is how to live with the problems of scarcity of electricity-transportation, gas, security, food etc.
To change the subject--I have been making some audio-video files using "snagit" as training files--it works quite well. We are trying to get some action going in the Senior living facilities for people to get connected to computing. So far, only minimal success.
Well, I have rambled long enough, I note that it hs been about a month since the last posting--so much for every 2 week plan.
Hope that this finds all in good health and spirit
HAF AKA Happy Doc

GREEN GREEN GRASS ALL AROUND

2005-09-05T13:44:00.000-05:00

HI ALL
With the rain that we had in August the grass is more like spring rather that the beginning of Fall. Usually the grass is dry and brown by the end of summer but this year we are having to mow every week and the old saying tht you can seit aroung and watch the grass grow is true!
OF COURSE THE MAJOR CONCERN AND THOUGHTS AT THIS TIME IS THE PLIGHT OF THE POOR PEOPLE OF LA. AND THE SOUTHERN COAST. tHE HAVOC OF KATRINA CAN BE HARDLY FATHOMED. Communities and business, large and small are rallying, but it will be lears if ever that things can be back to "normal" NORMAL will have a different meaning after this . A semi trailer truck left Salina today filled with water and supplies to LA, I do not know how many "bloggers" here might be in the region but there will certainly be many stories of both heroism and despair, and emotional scars running deep. It was thought that we might be getting some refugees here but it is now decided that they willnot come to Salina but to larger cities (I do not know that larger cities are better!).
The $3 a gallon or more for gas may start the country to begin to think about conservation, lower carbon output which iin the longrun might have a beneficial effect on the climate and less destruction..
I just finished reading "The Bell Curve" book. The authors theory is that much of the world's trouble is at the base related to the intellectual capacity of the people, whether by nature or nurture. One thing is certain the re-inventing the Scopes MAN/MONKEY trial is not good evidence of a high intellectual capacity and Kansas is right in the middle of that. Perhaps with the genome projects and reserch we can find some way to improve the intellectural capacity and everyone could take a pill and all problems would go away. Like Dorothy we could follow the yellow brick road from Kansas!
We are trying to develoop a program and interest for computing in the senior/reitement living facilities. I got a laptop computer and am developing some powevpoint presentations to take out the to the locations. I also got SNAGIT AND DUBBIT software which enables stilland video capture from the computer and adding audio if desired. This has good presentation and training potential. I have to learn how to use it now!
This months Atlantinc Monthly magazine has an article on President Lincoln and his depression. It also hs the ideal that perhaps the psychological state of Lincoln also was what enabled him to persevere and guide the country at the time and prevent the breakup and free the slaves.
Time does get away and the posting of the blogs does not happen as regular as it probably should . Best wishes are sent to all
HAF AKA HAPPYDOC.

ENERGY

2005-08-02T14:12:00.000-05:00

i labeled this posting ENERGY. As we wind down ths Summer with the dog days Mary and I could use some ENERGY. However the title does not refer to personal energy but is related to the notes on the book "The end of oil" wich I will include.
The computer lab is not active during the month of August--time to get some things caught up etc however. I have made a couple of power point presentations but need some improvement. I have used the library tech center's machne to transfer VHS tape to a DVD. I have transferred some old family movies and some family reunions which I will try to duplicate and then share with the family. I have more that I want to get done. Mary is reading "1776" by David McCullough and likes it very much. we are looking forward to the coming Theater and Symphony seansons.
It is impressive how the British have rounded up the terrorists and in a very short time. I think that their secret service is probably better than ours.
Trust that this finds you hale and hearty and COOL AF AKA HAPPY DOC
BOOK NOTES 12:46 PM 8/2/2005
"THE END OF OIL" by PAUL ROBERTS
Energy and power are inexorably intertwined and

since the industrial revolution energy translates

into hydrocarbons (oil, gas, coal). One of the

striking statistics in book is that for every one

gallon of gas used--5 pounds of carbon are

released!!! The carbon dioxide can not be

cleansed as fast as it is produced, so there is a

global warming and it can not continue especially

as the worlds' energy need will increase

dramatically as the "third" world progresses to

develop and thereby use more energy.
...the warming trend in less than a century has

shown 15 percent shrinking of the polar ice caps, a

ten inch rise in the sea level and widespread

retreat of glaciers, ...longer, more severe droughts,

warmer winters, more floods and hurricanes, the

spread of tropical diseases.
...climate change is not an equal opportunity

disaster....a half-degree change in temperature will

alter the monsoon patterns that now provide much

of Asia with critical rainfall and will reduce crop

yields and displace tens of millions. With even a

small temperture change, more than twenty six

million Bangladeshis would become refugees. As

many as twelve million people would flee Egypt,

while more than twenty million Indians would be

force to migate.
Given the anticipated growth in worldwide

population and economic acivity, most

climatologists believe that even 550 ppm carbon

dioxide is impossible ceiling to impose on an

energy economy that is still even partly reliant on

fossil fuels. If were to have any chance in

stabilizing at that level, it means divesting

ourselves of fossil fuel sometime during the next 4

decades....we must begin developing new energy

technologies and deploying them on a massive

scale in the next twenty years.
Gas being a cleaner source may be a stop-gap to

buy a little time while cleaner and renewable

forms can be developed, Wind -- hydrogen -- clean

nuclear, solar.
The other major factor will be for a change in

life style and conservation of energy use. This

may be a hard sell ("after they have seen Paree!")

but will be important. I listened to a BBC program

where they made an inventory of the energy use of

an English middle class family and compared with

an Indian probably upper class family and the

English one would have to reduce their energy

consumption by two thirds to equal the Indian

Family.

DOG DAYS

2005-07-18T11:37:00.000-05:00

We are entering the DOG DAYS of summer. Cleo wonders why there are not CAT DAYS? However I guess that all of the other days ARE cat days. She tells us when to get up, when to feed her, when to get on her perch and look out the door, and when to be combed. The grass is brown, the daisies are gone, the chiggers are ready to attack in the grass, the light of the day has a different appearance and "feel". and of coarse the temperature is hot . Being spoiled Americans, however, we contribute to the imbalance of the planet resources and rate of utilization and somewhtat guiltily enjoy air-conditioning. I trust that we will lnot be as stupid as the EASTER Islanders. The book "COLLAPSE" is very interesting. I will append some notes to this blog. Currently I am reading "THE END OF OIL", recommended by my grand son , Zach. The book is very interesting.. Well, HARRY POTTER is alive and well and the main benefit for humankind is that he has inspired countless kids around the world to READ.. This is great. I noticed that it was released in about 50 languages and even in Braille! There are many areas of the world however that the kids do not have access or money to be able to enjoy a book. The "ROOM TO READ" program tries to do what it can to help . www.roomtoread.org -- establishing libraries, schools, publishing in native languages, scholarships for girls etc. "100 million school age children in developoing world are not enrolled in primary school"
My projedt for August is to convert some of the old VHS tapes to DVD. The new tech center of the library has the facility to do that and next week we will be having a meeting to learn more about it. This is a part of the effort to downsize, organize, and eliminate. and simplify!!! This is at least a year project that Mary and I are committed to.. Wish us luck!
I will append some notes from "COLLAPSE".

BOOK NOTES
COLLAPSE--How societies Choose to Fail or

Succeed--by Jared Diamond see other book notes

by same author "third Chimpansee"

This book is a study of the societies in the past

that have disappeared (Easter Island, Pitcairn,

Anasazi, Maya, Ancient Greece, Norse Greenland),

and of some that were able to adapt or change and

survive.
Societies failed because of one of more of 5

factors
1. damage to environment (usually by people)
2. climate change--temperature --drought
3. hostile neighbors
4. decrease in friendly or supporting neighbors
5 societies response to its problems

The full title of the book should be "Societal

collapse involving an environmental component ,

and in some cases also contributions of climate

change, hostile neighbors, and trade partners, plus

questions of societal responses."

The parallels between Easter Island and the whole

modern world is chillingly obvious. Thanks to

globalization, international trade, jet planes, and

the Internet, all countries on Earth today share

resources and affect each other, just as the

Easter's dozen clans. Polynesian Easter Island

was as isolated in the Pacific Ocean as the Earth

is today in space. When the Easter Islanders got

into difficulties, there was nowhere to which they

could flee, nor to which they could turn for help,

nor shall we modern Earthlings have no recourse

elsewhere if our troubles increase. Those are th

reasons why people see the collapse of Easter

Island society as a metaphor, a worse case

scenario, for what may lie ahead of us in our own

future.
In the study of modern societies the author refers

to Australia, China, Haiti/Dominican Republic.
....the world cannot sustain China and other Third

World countries and current First World countries

all operating at the First World levels. ...My best

case scenario for the future is that China will

recognize that its environmenetal problems pose

an even graver threat than did its probelm of

population growth. It may then conclude that

China'a interests require environmental policies as

bold, and as effectively carried out as its family

planning policies.
....these past and recent reappraisals of values

were achieved despite being agonizingly diffficult.

...They may inspire modern First World citizens

with the courage to make the most fundamental

reappraisal now facing us: How much of our

traditional consumer values and Fisrst world living

standard can we afford to retain?
...it won't be easier to reduce our impact, it won't

be impossible either....cause for hope is another

consequence of the globalized modern world's

interconnectedness. ...While the Easter Islanders

were busy deforesting the highlands of their over

populated island'''they had no way of knowing

that, thousands of miles to the east and west at

the same time, Greenland Norse society and the

Khmer Empire were simultaniously in terminal

decline, while the Anasazi had collapsed a few

centruries earlier, Maya society a few more

centuries before that, and the Mycenian Greece

2,000years before that. Today...we see, hear or

read about what hapened in Somalia or

Afghanistan a few hours earlier. Our television

documentaries and books show us in graphic

detail why the Easter Islanders, Maya and other

past societies collapsed. We have the oportunity

to learn from the mistakes of distant peoples and

past peoples. That's an opportunity that no past

society enjoyed.

2005-06-19T14:35:00.000-05:00

Queen Cleopatra delivers a Royal Edict
Posted by Hello

SUMMER

2005-06-18T10:46:00.001-05:00

Summer solstice minus 1 or 2 (I never can remember). The Swedes in Linsborg (little Sweden) will be celebrating. I almost made my deadline of posting every 2 weeks. The past two have gone by rapidly. Some of you know and some do not that Mary fell and broke a rib so we are operating with only one horse and a half. I have learned some new skills such as doing the laundry. Mary is healing but impatient and tired of hurting. I may not hear too well but I am faintly hearing the swish of the scythe of Father Time. We look at other living settings but are well situated where we are, we just havt to stay on our feet!
Presently, I am reading "COLLAPSE- how societies choose to fail or succeed" by Jared Diamond who also wrote "Guns, Germs and Steel" and "The Third Chimpanzee". He is a remarkaable mental giant . So far I have just got the story of the Easter Islanders, South Polynesian islands, Anasazi, Maya. I am sure that there will be some guidelines drawn for our own times. I will let you kknow in future posting. Grandson Zach commented to my last post on June 3 that he was reading "the end of oil" by Paul Roberts and he recommends it, highly. I suspect that it has to do with the hydrogen revolution, perhaps he will let us know more about it.
We are glad that the CLASS (Community Learning and Skills Sharing) program which was stopped because of funding problems is being taken over and sponsored by the library and will start up in September . They have hired a new director/coordinator. The new technology center at the library is top of the line with new computers fast internet, WiFi for portable, teaching area-with 10 work stations--design studio area to create DVD--copy VHS and slides etc.
Compuiterwise, I have been making a couple of POWEROINT presentations to use in our learning center program at the Senior Center.
Queen Cleopartra, the cat, has just made and edict from her throne (the chair which was supposed to have been mine) that you all must take care of yourselves and enjoy. We have a symbiotic relationship--she commands and I obey!
HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

TIME PASSES

2005-05-31T16:14:00.000-05:00

Where does time go? If we stand still will it come around again? I think that once it passes it is gone. A friend sent us an email with som interesting information of conditions in 1905. In 1905 just 2 years after my mother and father's marriage there were only 800 miles of paved roads in the country.I will try to be more regular in posting to the blog in the future. However good intentions alone will not get it done.
Taking care of the medical items first so more interesting things might come to mind. Mary has , with her new medical program from Mayo's has been having her blood pressure TOO LOW. After consulting with our Mayo contact the dosages have been reduced and she is better but further adjustments may still be needed. I decided that I would see what my pressure was doing and it got my attention because I did not have the divice positioned properly. However, even after doing it correctly my systolic pressure is higher tht they recommend so I have been keeping a record and have seen the Dr and some tests are in the works and I suppose that I will be put on som type of program.
Saline received quite a bit of good publicity with the GLOBAL FLYER, now it is a location for casting call for the TV series SURVIVOR. I undertand tht they interview about 800 people to come up witn 16 for the show. It is possible that the next segment may have a Salinian or at least a Kansan. We will hve to watch to see. The main Tv that I watch is C-span on the week ends. Even the French open this year is not of as much interest as Americans have not been doing well and the names of the participants are all strange to us.
The Rolling Hills Wild Life Adventure museum has opened and it is trly remarkable. All of the animals are in a natural habitat and there is no glass. There are also animated figures with audio. It should increas tourism and also attendance to the Zoo which is part of the same complex.
The library has opened its new technology section and it is state of the art. It has a bank of computers with internet and hi speed connection, a training room with computers and projection for classes, computers for business software. There are also 4 computers for searching library information data bases. Also a digitaldesign center for scanning, converting VHS to DVD or CD, slides to cd etc.
My reading has been varied, from Thomas Friedman's :The world is flat", Karen Armstrong's "The battle for God", Richard Miniter's "Shadow War" with some "fluff" such as "The Cat Who--". Have to keep up with Koko and Yum Yum.
I am trying to learn about Power Point to make up some slide show for the Senior learning center. I have a lot to learn. With time it seems to go more slowly!
I will try to be more regular in posting. I do want to let all know that it is possible to make comments and they will show up on my "Gmail" email in box. Just click on the "comments at the end of the blog and a dialog window open to make a comment and send it.
For now will close this but will send a brief note that new has been added--saves writing as many letters and can be utilized in other ways as one gets on to how to do it all.
you all take care A Flanders aka Happy Doc

Home in Salina, KS

2005-04-24T11:22:00.000-05:00

The trek home was by modern Plny express or stage coach route. John drove us to Bethany, Mo and the "Old folks" changed at the McDonalds "stage stop" and Phil drove and delivered us in Salina in time to see the youngest Grandchild and he friendds in their Junior-Senior Prom finery. I will not go into the "old days" when tuxes, limos etc were not part of the "scene". However it was fun to see the yong ladies and young men and of course there were doting parents and grandparents. The city and parents make quite a deal--all the high schools (3) have their parom on the same night and after their dinner they have a "lock in" at the mall with dancing, games, prizes etc. until morning hours--a safe and sane celebration!
Finally, we are un-packed and the mail sorted and we are about ready to resume our life here; including mundane things like laundry, mowing, spraying dandelions etc. Our cat "Cleo" has had a lot to tell us and we agree with her but do not know what we are agreeing to.
Mary has started on her new medicines and is soing ok. This is enough for this posting. More later
Happy Doc aka SENIORGEEK
aflanders_98@yahoo.com
haflanders@gmail.com

Mayo Experience

2005-04-15T13:30:00.000-05:00

The Mayo clinic covers a large part of the downtown of Rochester, Mn. The 2 major buildings are some 20 stories high and there are other smaller buildings and hospital which are all connected by subway corridors or by skyways so that people can move from on building to another. People come from all over to have their health p;roblems evaluated and for tretment.

This made me think of Hippocrates, the father of medicine, on the Greek island of Kos in the 400's BC. There, people came to be evaluated and treated. Much of the treatment then was only with simple measures and a certain amount of mysticism. The modern evaluations and treatment is p;erformed by doctors, nurses and technicians with the use of complicated machines using w-rays, ultra-sound waves and the "magic of 1's and 0'sof digitization. All the records and results of the tests are fed into the computer system. Every examining and consultation room has sits computer. The patient's record can be brought up and checked from any location.

"Pilgrim" Mary was checked by doctors, nurses and technicians and all of the mocern machins were used to evaluate her health. The end result is that she is doing ok except the high blood presssure needs to be brought under better control and to wear compression stockings for her varicose veins.

So, we are going home relieved and planning on enjoying and "keep on keeping on". We are returning home Saturday, Ap;ril 16.

For myself, I have had a relaxing time and able to do some interestsing reading and finding some new interesting books to follow up on. Also, I have been thinking about some special interests courses we could get together for the Senior Computer Lab.

Hope is all is well with all HAPPY DOC aka Alden

SPRING

2005-04-10T14:20:00.000-05:00

Hi all
Spring is breaking out here in the North Country. The grass is getting green and the trees are budding. I have not seen any flowers blooming yet but undoughtably they will be very soon. We had jonquils blooming in Salina when we left so I suspect that more flowers and trees are blooming by now.
I am glad to get some responses from the SENIORGEEK blog. I am learning more about the process. Apparantly with this program you have to register and have ID and password to enter comments on the blog.
Mayo Clinic is really an amazing place. Thursday and Friday we were there all day. Between seeing a couple of doctors and getting all kinds of tests, both Mary and I were pooped and glad to have Sat and Sun to catch up. This coming week we are scheduled thru Thursday and of course there may be some additional changes that may come up. We should really have the answers when we get through. Mary got up to go to BR Wed night and fell and sprained her knee some so we are using a wheel chair to go from one place to another. Everyone is so very helpfull and it is amazing that they can keep everything organized and on schedule for the appointments etc. They really have a great system and it is all done with computers. We did cause the Nephrologist Dr to be concerned when Mary told him in the history that she had been at Mayos in 1996, he looked at her clinic number and said that her number did not jibe so he went the computer and punched some and found that she had been issued a new number because she was Mary Elizabeth in 1996 and Mary E. in 2005 but he said they should have caught that and it would be corrected. They are proud of their system.
John brought home Thomas Friedman's new book "The World is Flat". It is very interesting. He to be the guest on May 1 "In Depth" program on Cspan 2. I think that we have not seen anything yet as to what the technology changes will be made in the next few years.
Ezra sent me this Url address which I thought was good enought to pass along-- there is good music with it so turn on the speakers.
http://www.andiesisle.com/Flowers.html

Until the next time, enjoy and smell the roses HAPPYDOC aka Alden

M minus 2

2005-04-05T10:25:00.000-05:00

Hi
I have just finished the book "American Soldier: General Tommy Franks". So, I have taken on some of the military lingo. M minus 2--2 days until Mary checks into the Mayo Clinic and perhaps we start to get some answers to some questions. In the meantime we have a relaxing and non-stressful time.
I mentioned the book reviews on CSpan "The end of Poverty" by Jeffery Sachs. I thought I would include some of the review which was in the Barnes and Noble Page.
Taking issue with international-development economists concerned mostly with capital and credit formation, Sachs urges an account of poverty that takes a multifaceted view of the kinds of capital the poor lack (health, nutrition, infrastructure, biodiversity, an impartial judiciary, access to knowledge, and so forth). While agreeing with those economists that private initiatives are generally more effective than state programs, Sachs also proposes amany-pronged, needs-based attack on the worst extremes of poverty that requires, yes, the rich to help the poor, but that is eminently practical and minimally pipe-dreamy-and that, he notes in passing, would help restore the reputation of the US and the usefulness of the UN in the world. A solid, reasonable argument in which the dismal science offers a brightening
prospect for the world's poor.
He maintains it is possible and we should have the goal of a world without war.

Another book which I want to read is "Collapse:how some societies choose to fail or succeed" by Jared Diamond

This past week-end the "indepth" session on C-Span was with Robert Kaplan He is a reporter and has traveled widely in parts of the world where there are troubles and has written 10 books--it was very good.
Until next time, probably next week, the best to all Happy doc HAF

SNOW

2005-03-29T09:41:00.000-06:00

Greetings from Minnesota
Last Friday we arrived in Rochester without any problems. The week before they had had one of the biggest single snow-falls; 20 inches. So, we were greeted with snow on the ground and cooler weather than we were used to.
We had a nice Easter. Nick and Sean came home from Mankato State University for the week-end. They are doing well and adapting to college life. It was good to see them and to visit with them.
Mary does not see the Dr for her first evaluation until April 7. In the meantime we are having a relaxing time with visiting, reading, TVing. John and Gail have ESPN etc which we do not subscribe to in Salina, so we have been able to catch up on some of the current tennis as the NASDEC 100 tournament is on this week. Most of the names have changed since we used to follow the tennis world. However Andre Agessi is still going and winning. He is a great example of "keep on keeping on" as at one point he had to start over with entering the qualifying rounds. We always enjoy the Cspan program on the week-ends as they have interviews and authors etc. One gets a lot of information about books to look into or at least to know about. 2 such this past weekend was "Mr. China ,a memoir" by Tim Clissold and "The End of Poverty, economic possibilities for our time" by Jeffery Sachs. Currently, I am reading "American Soldier, generan Tommy Franks".
It is great to have some email responses to my blog posting. I am learning more about blogs. We may try to have a special interest session on blogging in the Senior Computer program when we get back to Salina. Keeping all posted --- happy doc

Times of Change

2005-03-21T19:51:00.000-06:00

These are times of change; globally--seeds of representive governance sprouting,climatically--winter passing and jonquils blooming, and perhaps change in life-style and activity. Friday of this week, son JOhn is coming to Salina and taking the "old folks" back to Rochester, MN. for a visit. Originally this was planned to be just an Easter visit, but as my best friend has been having some health issues which have not been completely explained it is thought to be a good time to be checked at the Mayo Clinic. Especially concerning the significance of the patent foramen ovale and her cardiac dynamics and the "little strokes". There are also some other problems to be checked out. Our return and our activity in Salina is in limbo at present. I plan to communicate with the blog. A. Geek

GLOBAL FLYER

2005-03-04T17:06:00.000-06:00

Steve Fossett left Salina in the Global flyer aircraft Tues evening and returned to the Salina Airport Thursday at about 1:30. He had traveled around the world solo and without refueling for22,867 Miles and he had 1500 pounds of fuel left. It was an amazing effort and Salina was anxiously holding its collective breath until he landed. He was helped by a strong wind current, especially from Japan to Hawaii. see the Guardian reporters Blog.

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/cat_globalflyer.html

great link

2005-02-19T14:12:00.000-06:00

exceptional link
http://www.thomaspmbarnett.com/weblog/archives2/001518.html

Also, check his article on the new rule set availabel on the home page of www.thomaspmbarnett.com
Thomas Barnett is an orginal thinker and his book "The Pentagons New Map" is very worthwhile.

2005-02-18T14:51:00.000-06:00

HAPPY DOC AND BRIDE
Posted by Hello

seniorgeek

2005-02-17T20:41:00.000-06:00

Feb 17, 05 First posting . Spring is coming to Kansas, the crocus is blooming! Sure signs of Spring!