Tour of Missouri - 2009

This past weekend affirms what I have been considering for a while....Missouri is the greatest state in the Union. We are in the heart of America, I believe we have the most shoreline of any state, we touch more states than any other state, we get all the seasons and we have a very nice balance of urban and rural, and we can grow good tomatoes! But all those things don't make us the greatest state, it is the people of Missouri.

Our family made a big circle going counterclockwise around the state over a four day weekend, visiting friends and family along the way, state parks and KC and Stl. If we missed anything it would probably be that we didn't get that far south, but we'll save that for another time. Here are a few pics from the trip (with commentary, naturally!)

We spent the first night with friends on a farm northeast of St. Joseph, MO. Boys with Luke and Allie McCrea.


Visiting cousins at Uncle Keith and Aunt Emma's house in Harrisonville, MO. Isaac, Kate, Ethan, Daniel, Carson and Benjamin. (Dan and Kate are named after their beloved great grandparents, Dan and Katie Kauffman)

The two above shots were taken at Ha Ha Tonka State Park. Visiting the old castle ruins and behind us in the family pic is a 300 foot drop off and one of the largest springs in the State of Missouri-feeding a branch of the Ozarks.

Boys will be boys - Osage Beach, MO

A city park at St. James, MO (In addition to nice parks, St. James boasts four wineries-come by 308 Duff for a sampling!)

A little spelunking? Why not. Meramec State Park, MO

7:00am, Oct 19th- 42 degrees F. We came, we saw, we camped. Toasty warm in the North Face sleeping bags!!
It was a good trip.

Spanish Rally

It is not often that a group of 1,000,000+ people get together for a common cause. And when that does happen you would think it would make news headlines all over the place at the major news networks....
According to the BBC, over one million Spanish citizens gathered this weekend (Oct 17th, 2009) to protest the Spanish government's move to liberalize the country's abortion laws. Currently Spain is one of the few modern nations to have strict laws on abortion. The new law would open access up for abortion for birth control and even allow girls as young as 15 to get an abortion without parental consent.
The theme of the weekend was "each life is important" and with the entire Spanish population at a little less than 50 million citizens, that is a pretty good showing for the Spaniards. This is interesting for us in the States as well, especially since a recent October poll found that now half of Americans oppose abortion in all or most cases, which is up significantly from last year.

Way to go Spain rally attenders. I knew that tasty wines and tapas were not all you had to offer the rest of the world!

1973 NCAA Wrestling Championship

Iowa State's Chris Taylor (right) looks over Jim Hagen of Oregon State in the heavyweight class of the 1973 NCAA college wrestling championships.
(Associated Press File Photo)

As it probably goes with many proud fathers, I look at my three boys and wonder what sports they might excel in in the future. It kind of runs in the blood on both sides of our family, skipping myself of course ;) , (my grandfather played tailback for the UCLA Bruins and Jamie's dad, uncle and brother were all NCAA wrestlers) so we have high hopes for little Isaac, Daniel and Benjamin. Although I plan to be very cautious with too many organized sports at too young of an age, kids need to have their freedom, and with that freedom comes creativity. It is still exciting nonetheless to dream.

We found this pearl a few months back in the Des Moines Register. It is a picture of the "gentle giant," Chris Taylor of Iowa State wrestling none other than Jim Hagen (Jamie's uncle) in the 1973 NCAA Championship. As you can see from the photo Jim was not a small individual, but he didn't look too big compared to the 425lb Taylor.

Jim Hagen lost the championship match. It is my understanding that after this match the NCAA limited the heavy weight wrestlers to no more than 275 lbs as compared to previously which was unlimited.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19930718/SPORTS11/50710012

Tough Wkd for Missouri Sports

Well it is Sunday evening and this concludes a horrible weekend for Missouri Sports, perhaps the worst in history. It all started on Thursday night when our family went out to watch the Mizzou game against Nebraska at my parents. Before we could watch this we had to watch the Cards literally give away the second game of the LDS to the Dodgers. This set a bad vibe for the night, and the Mizzou game in my mind.

Now my good friend Mike and buddies were at the rainy game, as was my brother Lance and company. I watched the game from the comfort of my parent's living room and I am just questioning some of Gary Pinkel's game management right now.... 1. Why, after Nebraska made their first touchdown of the night and the score was 12-7 Mizzou were we throwing in that nastyness? Why weren't we running and eating up the clock? Our defense was playing well and our punter is outstanding. But no, we had to throw. And a hobbled Blaine Gabbert threw an intereception that led to a touchdown. 2. Then later, with Mizzou down 8 with 6 minutes left, we have an opportunity to kick a field goal but instead go for it on fourth down and of course don't get it. Why not kick the field goal, be down five and give your defense a chance to make a stand. Even if we would converted the fourth down play, a two point conversion against Nebraska in that mess seemed just unlikely.

Of course the Cardinals lost the final game last night. Today the Chiefs made a good effort against Dallas but of lost in overtime. And then there is the Rams. The Rams are a discouraged NFL football team They are in a bad way, period.

One good thing I have noticed in Big 12 football is it looks like the balance of power is starting to even out (even if a little) between the North and the South. For a good many years the North was nothing but a pillowfight. And the South not only dominated the Championship game but most of the interdivisional games. I think this is starting to change a little. Now don't get me wrong, Oklahoma is very dangerous as a 19th ranked football team and Texas is good. The only problem is how did Colorada not only hang with them, but lead most of the way thru that game and seemed to only lose when Hawkins Jr. started throwing interceptions? We'll see.

Next week, Oklahoma State for the Tigers. Maybe we can go down and surprise them like they surprised us in that major upset in Columbia last year.
Go Mizzou.

Confession is good

Alright, confession is good for the soul........ I am a wanna-be mole killer. This realization came to me the other day when, after awaking from a very restful sleep, I remembered I had a dream that my two loyal dogs and I were killing moles. Yes, it is true. Now I would describe some of the details of this dream, but I am afraid the gore could possibly lead this post to be R-rated.

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Those of you who have experienced moles probably can empathize with my situation. Moles just leave grass death and destruction in their wake. It is horrible. I have been fighting them for two years now. I have won a few battles (I think I have four confirmed kills), but I am not winning the war. Last year the moles attacked my flanks and worked in curious and discrete ways; behind fences, in the shade 0f trees, etc. This year it is a full blown frontal attack on the beauty of my front yard! That's not right.

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I like the traps and they have produced all my confirmed kills, but some moles are too smart and dig right around them. My latest attacks have been personally dubbed "operation shock and awe." I first run water full blast through a hose down into their tunnels for about 30 minutes. I then take that same hose and hook to the end of my tail pipe and gas them for about an hour. You would think this tactic would kill moles, but it only seems to enrage them and the next day I find more destruction than ever! It is sick.

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A few weeks ago I was having a discussion with my neighbor. We were sharing mole-war stories and learning from each other's tactics. He then told me that someone he knows (who will remain nameless), caught a mole with a "humane trap" and proceeded to take it out to Long Branch State Park and set it free.............................................:( I thought about making a citizen's arrest for crimes against the common good.

Yes, confession is good. I am a wanna-be mole killer.

Call a time out!

Whew!, It seems just like just a little while back President Obama was the greatest thing since sliced bread according to the approval polls. Even folks who polled that they oppose many of the President's policies still gave him high marks on the approval ratings. Everything Mr. Obama touched seemed to turn into gold a year ago. He could walk into a bakery and delicious rolls, breads and scones would just pop out. Now it seems like that bakery is producing a lot of burnt bread. Not just the burnt taste, but it seems like the administration is having a difficult time getting the recipes right.

The latest bad recipe was President Obama's failed bid to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago. Now I am sure that a great many people have put hard work to promote Chicago. For me, the first time I heard about it was last week and the only additional thing I knew about it was that while the president was flying across the world to help secure this bid, a local Chicago newspaper poll showed that half of Chicagoans didn't even want the Olympics! Bad timing, bad recipe.

Unfortunately, all this also looks like bad leadership. According the the latest Rasmussen report, President Obama approval index is tracking -10. This failed Chicago thing can not help that a bit. It will probably drop a couple more points.In a basketball or football game there is definitely that thing called momentum. When momentum is obviously not in one's favor, it is time to call a time out. Maybe even make some personnel adjustments!I think there are many Americans who are beginning to wonder a little about things. Our money is dependent on foreign investors, we don't produce widgets quite like we used to, the government seems to produce more problems than helps, and others. So where do we go from here? I don't know, but there seems to be too many liberals in power right now. Where are the real statesmen? The Democratic party needs there own "Ron Paul" to help rally their moderate reflective thinkers.

Bird huntin' at Uncle Versies

When I was about twelve years old, my parents let me purchase a jam box. You know the one I'm talking about if you lived in the 80's; it had the dual cassettes (with recorder) and all the bells and whistles on it for treble, bass, etc. Prior to the days of Cd's, Ipod and youtube, the jam box was where it was at for quality listening entertainment. I would even proudly take my jam box on the school bus to listen to occasionally.
One of the tapes I had (and I'm not sure where I acquired it or who gave it to me) was a collection of jokes by Southern comedian Jerry Clower from Yazoo City, Mississippi. I fell in love with this tape. If I had trouble falling asleep at night I would simply pop Clower into the jam box and listen away.
Jerry Clower's comedy is free from profanity and undeniably funny. A true classic. I read recently that after Jerry's death, a decade or so ago, someone claimed that Jeff Foxworthy was the heir apparent to Jerry as the country folks' comedian or whatever. Another person's commentary on this thought said "Foxworthy is to Clower, as dog feces is to apple pie." No offense Foxworthy fans, but that statement does ring with some truth, although I don't know if I would put it that strongly.

As with everything else, Jerry is now on youtube. The Bird Huntin' story is one among many...enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuBh2T-Tt2w