A good Saturday morning all; my morning White Castle diner coffee is still a treat! And we’re baaack.

Not back from Canada though – the Ports of Entry opening date has now been moved back to the tail end of September. We’ve missed all of summer. The new date, if it holds, might mean we’d catch the trailing end of the Fall Color season; anything later it’ll be cold winds, rain, and possibly snows. Northern Comfort has been a lonely place in 2020. Our poor little ‘Duck’ (Deux Chevaux) has not communicated with us the whole year. Even the extra day, 366 this year, is not helping. It’s a sorry state of affairs.

“’Mailgate’ is the most pathetic attempt to grasp at straws and deflect from policy that I have seen this election cycle.” ~ George Papadopoulos

Just an insight; India has no absentee or early voting. Their citizens all vote on ONE day, using their National Voting Picture ID. One billion people – very accurate results. Hmmmm?

This past week was the 100th anniversary of 19th Amendment, known as women’s suffrage, and was ratified on August 18, 1920. Unknown by me was the fact that Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 (big bucks for that time) for voting illegally in 1872. This week President Trump pardoned her posthumously on that anniversary date. Also, were you aware that all of these early feminists were pro-life? Anthony called abortion “child murder”.

Wang dang doodle – The craziness of our Chaos & Mayhem corner had gotten to Marcia. What to do? What to do? Then it hit home; we’d have a ‘wang dang doodle’; celebrate birthdays, and head for the Lodge at Hueston Woods. We had an amazing time. Swimming for the kids, Tevita taught Vai and Vili how to shoot his Cross bow at the Archery Range. We played Disc Golf, The Os rode their bikes, and I managed to walk close to 25 miles. What a weekend!

These shots were not a ‘one-off’, they hit dead center at 70-feet time after time! Did better than yours truly, much better.

Covered Bridge – The nearby (to Hueston Woods) town of Oxford is the home of Miami University. Miami is the 10th oldest University in the nation and the campus looks like it’s an Ivy League school. Oxford is lovely and Marcia and I managed to get to the town-square Farmers Market and ate some amazing Pub food. But that’s not all.

Just outside the city limits is their historic (1868) 3-story Black (Pugh’s Mill) covered Bridge. It’s one of the few still standing on location and on the original timbers. Very cool!

Police – We’ve all heard of the ‘whacko’ Defund the Police movement in too many crazy ‘progressive’ cities; New York, Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, and Austin to name some. As of late our city’s Council has swung a hard left and now it too can be viewed as the ‘City Clowncil”. 60,000 signatures were needed to get a ‘defund’ on our November ballot – they couldn’t come up with the required number. Yesss!

Keep in mind that after our 2001 riots, under Federal Court supervision a massive ongoing training and restructuring program of our police force took place. Currently the Cincinnati Police department is a national model. To disband this force is beyond nutty.

I believe that our local sage, Earl Pitts “Uhmerikun”, could shed a bit of light on all this business.

Beatles Concert – The Beatles were in town – 54 years ago. August 21, 1966 was the date and old Crosley Field was the place. It was the fourth American and became their final commercial tour. I was driving on Interstate-75 South heading towards Kentucky when I saw traffic slow down and a number of cars parked on the shoulder of the highway. I pulled over and asked who the Reds were playing; then was told that it was the Beatles Concert. I think I did hear (nearly) one complete number (splendidly mixed with passing diesel engine roaring) before Troopers moved everyone out of there – no fines were issued.

That day, they played a daytime show in Cincy (should have been on the 20th but changed due to rain) then on to St. Louis for an evening show at the old Bush field. Later it was reported that on the short flight between the two cities the lads talked and made up their minds to stop touring. Think that playing two shows in one day was the catalyst?

Fini – Happy Birthdays to Adrianne on Monday, and Sis-in-Law Sandy on Tuesday. Then Vaioleti will celebrate her big ‘last-before-teen’ Birthday on Saturday. I once read; “a (birthday) celebration isn’t complete without some reflection and introspection. Take the time to look behind you; the clues to your future are in there.”

Now that we’re back we’ve taken notice of a brigade of Census 2020 takers storm (well not really – ours tend to be more like turtles) through the neighborhood. Most knock on a door for a bit and wander off. Wouldn’t it be easier if they changed the census date and have the Census form as an add-on to the IRS Tax filing? I read where the completion rate to date is in the low 50%. I’d put odds on a much better rate with my idea.

26 Wildfires and a bad heat wave in California. Stay safe to all my family spread from north to south in the State; keep them in your thoughts.

Make it great week, keep the peace, stay safe, and be healthy! All Lives Matter.

Dirk