August Oil Expenditures

August may be vacation time for many people, but our reliance on foreign oil didn’t take any time off. In August alone we imported 355 million barrels of oil and sent $25.2 billion overseas – the most spent on foreign oil out of any month this year…. We are digging ourselves deeper into a hole every day and our economy and security are suffering. Contact your representatives in Washington – This is very very important they are voting right now on Natural Gas, Exploration and many Energy Bills.

I put this same comment on Facebook and it did not elicit one single response.  People on FB talk about tattoos, what personality and all sort of other nonsensical trivia but never comment on the real deals.  Worse is that very few will ever take the 20 minutes to send an email to their representatives in Washington.

Chicago

We were up early this morning at 0600 and off to Chicago at 0700.  When we arrived at daughter JKM’s house she was not quite ready but we finally got the truck loaded and were off to Lincoln Park to her new apartment.  It was 20 miles up there on US41 and a few jigs and jogs past Navy Pier and about an hour drive.  Parking is pretty difficult to find but we managed a place real close to the apartment door.  The only problem was that the apartment is 4 floors up and there was a lot of stuff to carry up narrow hallways.  The worst was the bed mattress and box springs.  The back porch is a beauty an overlooks a nice quiet garden below.

We drove back to the old apartment in Whiting and loaded up the truck with items to be returned to PL.  The new apartment is too small for all the three floors worth of furnishings.  We arrived back at home about 1945 and about 300 miles later.

Now we are watching hulu.com.  Adios.

Sunday Sail

What a great day sailing!  We hit the lake about 1200 hrs and with all sails raised we went no where fast towards the WSW.  After about a half hour we saw some ripples on the water and headed for them.  The breeze picked up to about 7 knots from the NW.  I tightened her up a bit more towards the West and trimmed the sails.  After a minute or two we were going about 3.5 kts or better.  This tack was held for an hour or more and we were gaining on Moon Dance who was way out there.

I was sort of playing around with the wind and I tacked to the NE and then tightened her up a few points and we got 3.9 kts out of a 7.2 kt breeze.  This heading was taking us to a point just south of Holland.  It seemed like kind of a cool direction to go and with the waves less than a foot who could complain?  Certainly not the First Mate who was sleeping like the dead in the athwart ships bunk.

After an hour or so I changed course for a beam reach or slightly aft and held her until it was time to turn to the south to go back to port.  What a great day in great weather and seas.  We were back at the slip at 1700 hrs local.

Dead Heat

I just finished Dead Heat by Joel Rosenberg.  This is a good one – again.  I have read all in the series but this book concludes this series of characters.  Rapture occurs at the end of the book but is spell binding from beginning to the end.  Here is the url for the book

The week that was & Labor Day Weekend

The friends we were going to have this weekend called and cancelled.  I made afew more calls and no one is available so we are going it solo this weekend.  The weather is simply marvolous and is expected to remain throughout the weekend.

We went to Crain’s to pick peaches but the apples were not ready yet.  Peaches will be finished in a week or two.  We missed most of the blueberry season as we were cruising.  We have also had Raspberries for the past two days.  As I grow older I find I like them whereas I absolutely did not when I was younger.

SAM & I went to the Aviation Board meeting on Tuesday and there was a large crowd of county council members.  I was very gratified to hear what they had to say – the group seems to be professional acting and responsible.  We were there to discuss the FBO & Airport Manager functions.  I wanted the positions to be kept separate and distinct but I guess that is not going to happen.

A Response to Shirley.

A very good speech to stir the heart.  I too like Sarah for the reasons enumerated in the video.

I also celebrate the diversity that the left and right political camps bring to our dull existence.  Can you imagine a world where everyone thought and acted like everyone else? However, I am sort of tired of the hate messages spewing forth from both extreme right and left though: It offends my spirit and weakens me.

One thing age has taught me is that if I feel this way then there are millions more like me.  Hopefully, we can resurrect the fundamental decency of Americans like us as I believe that most people can actually think and recognize propaganda for what it is – darkness descending.

Here is the YouTube video that prompted this blogline:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmEE61iVhCA&feature=player_embedded