It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time!

On Sunday, a certain 7 1/2 year old attempted to make a plastic character fly by placing it on the handle of a shovel and stepping with all of his might on the head. It worked...sort of!

It's Good To Be Three!

For a special "half-day of school/Veterans Day" surprise, I took Colby and Ian to Eileen's Colossal Cookies store before we picked up Isaac from school yesterday. The cookies there are fantastic...as well as huge! Ian and Colby (surprisingly) chose red cookies and picked a blue one for Isaac.

Salute to our Veterans!

To: Our Veterans
From: Ian

Thank you to all who have served our country over the years in times of war and peace! We are proud of you!
Love, Isaac, Ian, Colby and Zane

Grandpa Jay Shaw- Army
Great Grandpa Arnold Shaw- Army (WWII)
Grandpa Steve Balyo- Navy
Great Grandpa Edward Balyo- Navy (WWII)
Uncle Rick Balyo- Navy
Uncle Marlin- Navy (Vietnam)
Ryan Kenneda- Marines
Samuel House- National Guard (Afghanistan)

To: Our Veterans
From: Isaac

Where's John Wayne?

So, Thursday a piece of our dog run blew off. Yesterday...the whole gate blew off in the wind.

The November wind has trespassed!

Crazy wind and tumbleweed infestation! I feel like we are on the set of a wild west movie! :) Here's the updated tumbleweed story from our local news!

http://www.kgwn.tv/_videos/pages/200811074657.html

Tumbleweed Trouble

Check out this interesting story from our local news...Hawthorne is the next street over from ours! :)

http://www.kgwn.tv/_videos/pages/200811060247.html

Nine Months!

This month, Zane's new trick has been pulling himself up on anything and everything that could possibly/remotely hold him (including, but not limited to Oquirrh, a moving vacuum cleaner and big brother legs).

Tonight, Colby said, "When Zane starts ta walk, I'm gonna ta build him a house!"...which is going to be very helpful if our house blows down in this Wyoming wind (part of our dog run gate blew off last night)!

At nine months, Zane loves his brothers, baths, the dog, cereal puffs, corn chowder and cars (to chew on) and he has just started thumbing through board books instead of just gnawing on them.

He does NOT appreciate mommy and daddy leaving the room and/or naptime/bedtime but... mommy and daddy sure are sleeping much better now that Zane is sleeping in a different room! It's great to be able to pick Isaac up from school without feeling like I'm going to fall asleep at the wheel!

Sadly, Zane's Hermit crab, one leg out crawl has morphed more or less into a regular crawl. Scott and I will miss that cute little thing!

When is My Check Coming?

Well, the results of the election are in, and I'm sure everyone has different thoughts and feelings regarding it. The article below sums up a good part of mine...

THE "I WANT MY MOMMY" ELECTION

I brought this up several months ago ... a slogan for this election. "I want my mommy." The phrase really says it all. This is not an election where the American voters were looking for someone to protect their freedoms. Instead, it was an election where people were looking for someone to take care of them. Self-sufficiency seems a bit old-fashioned right now. Why work so hard to be self-sufficient when candidates are falling all over themselves to provide the American people with womb-to-tomb or, if you will, cradle-to-grave paternalism. The voters who put Barack Obama into office bear little resemblance to the people who fought for independence 224 years ago. Colonists fighting for our independence actually left their bloody footprints along the icy roads of New York and Pennsylvania while marching to engage the British troops. Today we can't even drum up a decent plurality of voters who will vote for liberty, let alone fight for it.

This has been a "what's in it for me" vote. Are you going to give me health care? Are you going to make sure my job is guaranteed? Are you going to cover my child care costs? You aren't going to make me pay taxes, are you? How about all those evil rich people? Aren't you going to take some of their money away from them and give it to me? After all ... I work for my money, they cheated and stole for theirs. Make them pay their fair share of taxes. Me? I'm tired of paying any share.

The big question for me today is whether or not freedom, economic liberty and self-sufficiency can make a comeback in America. Right now it seems that a dismaying number of Americans think that they are owed a living; that it is the government's job to guarantee their economic security. Can we ever turn that around and return to a time when people accept the responsibility for their own lives and eschew the idea of using government as a tool of legalized plunder?

Several times in the last few day's I've mentioned the concept of "The Tipping Point." I'm using that term in the context of voting and taxpaying. Right now we are at the point where about 43% of American income earners pay absolutely NO income tax. I've been saying for years that if the Democrats ever gain absolute control in Washington we're going to see that percentage climb ... climb to over 50%. That's the tipping point. Imagine a political campaign where the majority of voters do not pay income taxes. Imagine a campaign where the majority of voters actually get a check from the government instead of writing a check to the government. Can you hear the Democrat campaign themes then? "Vote for the Republicans and they're going to make you pay income taxes."

In fact ... I've already developed the Democrat campaign themes for the next several presidential elections:

2012: "Vote for the Republicans and they're going to make you pay income taxes."

2016: "Vote for the Republicans and they're going to make you pay your own Social Security and Medicare taxes."

2020: "Vote for the Republicans and they're going to make you pay for your own health care."

2024: "Vote for the Republicans and they're going to make you pay for your own place to live."

Here we are my friends. We're at the point where virtually every voter out there understands that they can use their ballot as an instrument of plunder. For those of you who went to government schools, that means they can use their vote to take money away from other citizens. That would be the difference between a Democracy (rule of man) and a Republic (rule of law).

Reprinted from Neal Boortz's website. To see the article in its entirety go to http://boortz.com/nuze/index.html