personal battle

I really need to figure out what it is that I am going to do about this internal battle that continues to plague me. Everywhere I go I see children that are not of proper age and or weight restrictions being properly restrained in the back seat of a car. The demographics also are not of the matter. I see Caucasian, Asian, Latino / Hispanic, African America, Eastern Asian rich and poor. All the likes yet no matter what I still see this all over the place. As I was heading back to work from lunch I witnessed yet another incident where a young child (~ Age 5 / Girl) in the back seat of a Toyota Camry sitting up turned around waving at me as I am riding my motorcycle. She is jumping up and down from side to side all over the back seat. All the while the mother was on her phone chatting it up and attempting to drive the car.

I have seen too many car accidents where this is the case and a fatality occurs because of the neglect of the parent and an innocent child is now dead. Wake the FRACK UP people. Do something about it. Stop the madness and the innocent children dieing because you cannot make up your mind to either stop the car and take care of business and put the child in their seat like they are supposed to be, obtain the necessary child seat to properly restrain your child according to your local State and Federal Laws. There are even some States that offer free child seats as well as Hospital systems.

While my ranting and raving here may not do any good to those who read it I hope however that some people are now further aware of this and take the steps to further advocate the issue with those that need to be notified. Now by no means am I saying that people should go all vigilante or go to some violent extreme to those that are 1. breaking the law 2. putting their innocent child's life in danger and 3. pretend to be a officer of the law. Simply in a cool calm and collected manner inform the driver of the vehicle of the dangers, call your local law enforcement agency and inform them of the infraction that you are witnessing and provide them with the needed information so that they can take the necessary steps.

My full hopes out of this thing is to just ensure the safety of the innocent child who knows no better.

Camping @ Jordan Lake NC

So this weekend we went on our first of the season and first of a long time since last time camping trip. The whole family went. We got a new tent and needed to try it out. The weather was great and the atmosphere was also great. It was fun and relaxing and this also was a good dry run that was close to home just in case we forgot something major. So for the next trip we are wondering where it is that we should go. I sort of want to go towards the mountains so that I could do some Lake Trout fishing and I am not sure that B and the rest really know where it is that they want to go either. None the less I am sure it will be fun.

Tastes great and less filling.

Oh this was so good. A little too much on the pepper side of things but none the less very tasty......

Some good eats.

Ok, I am not the biggest foody out there but man oh man do I know a great steak, filet, piece of meat. We belong to a winter CSA this year and we go to a local farmers market all summer long and have been for at least two years now. At this farmers market there is a lady who does all kinds of meat products and she dabbles in fresh eggs and some herbs and such. Since buying our meats from her I have been taken back a fair bit and some what turned off of eating steaks or others means of meat out at a restaurant as I know that I can get a better one and make it just like I want at home. So I have sent her a couple pictures before of what I have done to the filets. I am now going to post some of them up here on my blog and am going to try to do this often. Every time I will prepare them a bit different.

This time I made a marinade of olive oil, some red wine, rosemary, thyme, Italian seasoning salt and mint. I let the marinade sit over night while the meat defrosted. As I write this my mouth is watering. Later tonight I will grill them. I will keep a water bottle handy to keep any searing flames down and also to keep the inside of the grill nice and moist. This helps to keep the moisture in while cooking. I do this with just about every type of meat that we cook on the grill as it can get very dry. I do this for Chicken, steaks, hamburgers, dogs you name it. Even with vegetables.

I hope you enjoy and come back for more later.

The start of a great garden.

Well as promised and it may be a bit late here is the start of the wonderful garden my lovely wife has started. She has been keeping an eye on it like a hawk.

Still wondering. How is it.

As I sit here this fine day that is partly cloudy and with lots of wind and just coming back from a MeMaw's birthday celebration. I wonder still how it is that I came to be who I am and what it is that I am doing these days. I know my father, not as well as I would like to know him but yet still know him none the less. What it is that I wonder is how it is that I am the way that I am and how it is that I think the way that I think and how my mannerisms are they way they are. I wonder why I like the things that I like and act the way I act. I still wonder if the reason I like to tinker on things more than anything else or like to do lots of different things is because that is how I perceive my father to also be. Having your hand in tons of different things and yet not an exact expert in any one thing. For instance one of the things that is different between my father and I is that he like beer and I do not. We both like wine, we both like / love flying, we both like to do all kind of different things and we for sure have opinions on all kinds of things. I do know that I am at least smart enough to not get into an argument with the man as I know that it will be an uphill battle and no one will win per say. We are both very strong headed that way. As I sit here writing this I am reminded of how much I miss him and just talking to him. Although we talk via technologies like Skype it is still not enough some times. He has this grandiose scheme to move to Canada far from civilization it seems to be on his own land and work it to feed a family and just live happy and content by him self. Although his thoughts are also to have me, my wife and two children also live with him. I know it would be the happiest thing for him for all eternity and I also know that it would just about drive me and my own wife to some happy spot but up the wall at the same time. I know that growing up I always have a missing link in my life for that "father" figure and until now it seemed that no one wanted to fill that role and be an active part of it. Now that I have it I am not sure what to do with it or how to handle it.

I know again that my thoughts and how I write are random and jump around but again remember the title? Random Very Random.

RVR.

Wet and Rainy Days.

It is March and it is wet and rainy. Yard is starting to get green, leaves are better forming on trees, birds are chirping more and the Sun is staying out later and later in the day. The wife has started our own little garden with all kinds of good veg. Right now it is just a pile of dirt with some sticks to keep the dogs out with some starter seeds and as time progresses we will have more to come. As it comes along I think that I will be posting pictures on a weekly basis but again may get side tracked by other things.

Reconnect

I have am sorry to anyone that may be following this site. I have been remiss on posting anything new in some time. I can say that I have been really busy here and there.

Me and the family have been visiting here and there as well as little vacations and day to day stuff. A few things have happened also. I have reconnected with another brother of mine that I had not seen in some time and a great man who I was fortunate passed away last Saturday February 19th 2011. We will all miss your wonderfulness Uncle Owl! We have always loved you and will continue to for ever.

Today's Dilemma.

So here is today's dilemma.... And I am sorry it is a bit long. While at the local Lowes Home Improvement waiting on the rest of the family to show up. I parked next to a spot reserved for Handicap parking. Up pulls a car of two adult persons and a child. They park in the handicap spot. No visible stickers are hanging from the mirror nor do I see the license plate at this time. After waiting a few and watching all persons get out of the car who are walking and moving about without the aid or assistance of anything I make the comment in a nice non mean way of " you know that is a handicap spot? " With this comment the person replied with " Yes I know, I am a disabled Vet and it is on the plate. " I reply with thank you for your service and I am a disabled Vet also. " This person was not happy with my comment or statement back about being the "SAME" as them. They proceeded to ask me if I was the "parking police" and I advised that I was not but was also trying to watch out for those that do require more space than the average parking spot. They were kind enough to tell me that " you caught me on a good day otherwise....." (mumbling happened there as I did not hear what the person said)

Was I wrong in making that comment? Was it wrong of me to make the statement I did based on the visible information I had at that time prior to being informed of the license plate? Was it still even wrong of me to think that a perfectly able body walking without the assistance of any canes, walkers, wheel chairs, prosthetic devices should be parking in a spot where someone needing more space to accomplish their tasks of parking and going to a store that needs to park in such a space?

I am not trying to be a jerk, I understand the need for such spaces for those that need them. I just fail to understand why a person that is fully capable of walking without assistance of any kind needs to park in a handicap spot. If anything that very person should be more understanding of those that do need it and not just park there out of convenience. Am I rambling on here or do I have an resemblance of a point worth noting?