As country comedian Minnie Pearl would yell out; “howdeee”, and with that remembrance it’s the beginning of a wonderful Saturday morning. Coffee is already sitting on my desk next to me. Let’s get going. Good morning!

These are very strange moments in history indeed. Last evening Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Bill Clinton held a webcast; that in itself is not strange at all. What does make it beyond strange indeed was the subject; a discussion about “empowering women and girls.”

So, here you have an old guy whose name appears 27-times on the travel logs of Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Lolita Express,’ a guy who continues to be accused by a number of women of rape. He’s sitting with Harris who’s clawed her way into the upper echelon of politics with a pattern of fornication and then without qualm pushing her ‘lover’ under the bus. Harris who as Howie Carr famously quipped; started by “working under Willy Brown.” (Brown, at the time, was California’s most powerful politician)

So it’s team Clinton-Harris gushing at each other. Strange times indeed as shame appears to have taken a back seat in popular culture.

Spring Break – Parents working, kids out of school, Grandparent sitting around. It didn’t take long and a day trip was organized to the nearby National Museum of the United States Air Force. Vai and Vili took the offer and so we went off on what proved to be a delightful and exciting day.

I’ll let the photos tell the story. Highlights included the Wright Brothers’ canvas-on-wood first airplane. We talked about WWII and especially about the bombers and P-51 Tuskegee fighters as flown by the two friends and heroes who attended their school; names of people who they had learned about.

Vili especially was mesmerized by the B-52 bomber and the B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber (both aircraft who he and I had seen flying on video) and now could stand next to.

Scale could be grasped next to the massive B-36 “Peacemaker”and especially one of the tires of that massive machine. Seeing the 6 ‘pusher’ piston engines each with a 19′ propeller, plus the 4 jet engines is stunning.

They were awed being next to SAM (Special Air Mission) 26000, which was used by eight presidents — Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton.

The Apollo 15 module (our fourth to land on the moon), the Shuttle trainer, and the array of rockets, all were seen with wide eyes. Yup, a wonderful day it was.

Eggs – A few days ago I hunted for a YouTube showing fun rides in a little Deux Chevaux – this was owing to the isolation felt due to the lockout Canada has imposed and I so missed mine. I did find this great little couple-of-minute video:

Then yesterday on my walk the whole ‘egg’ thing came to mind as I reflected on what occurred the previous evening. I realized that I’d been totally amiss placing all my ‘eggs’ in the Trump Bandwagon during the last election.

This became crystal clear seeing our new President, able to embrace all and as described by others as; ‘a man of science’. My progressive friends had warned me time and again of my error, but only after last Thursday night’s masterful ‘presser’ was I convinced. Gone were the mayhem, the turmoil, and bravura I’d watched at Trump’s ‘pressers’. Last evening calm settled over me.

One specific quote will slide into the annals of history and be positioned amongst lesser pieces such as Lincoln’s; “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent” speech. Or, Kennedy’s; “Ask not what your country can do for you…” Biden’s was masterful and its superiority evident:

”So the best way to get something done, if you, if you hold near and dear to you that you uh um like to be able to, anyway”

To my Progressive friends, I hope that I’ll be forgiven and that under this newfound ‘heat’ of unity I’ll be able to anneal to where I should be. Yes I know I was warned, it just took time.

Walking – has become an amazingly enjoyable daily pastime for me. But, it’s also given me some insight. Most notably an insight in what these unaccompanied children must go through to accomplish their incredible feat of traveling to our southern border.

That child, let’s assume age 11 (old enough to allow them to set a steady pace). Walking 8 hours per day and at an average pace of 4 miles per hour every day of the week; it would take these kids 7 weeks to trek the 1,500 miles from Honduras. No days off and no getting lost and minimal food stops.

OK, so now the question is how are they really getting here? And doing this unaccompanied?

Fini – Derek and Kellen, are back in Zoom School. Here, Marin, Dinah, Vai, and Vili are finishing up Spring break.

• Baby Brother Art (aka; Marius) will be celebrating his birthday next week

• Marcia got notified that she needs to sign up for Jury Duty. Right now she’s trying to convince them that due to age she shouldn’t have to go.

• As mentioned, since I have no access to our little Citroën 2CV, I figured I’d cheer the team on any way I can.

• The Cincinnati Reds, the oldest professional major league team in the nation will start play this coming week. This town is crazy alive and every Health Department naysayer is worried; Covid don’t ya know.

• Talking sports, our new major league soccer team (FCC’s) new stadium is nearing completion and it’s pretty spectacular.

• RIP Jessica Walter. In her role as Mrs. Lucille Bluth on “Arrested Development” (one of my favorite comedy shows) which follows the life of a habitually dysfunctional family as the boozy matriarch was as good as it gets. Lines such as these:

Lucille: “Get me a Vodka on the Rocks.”
Jason Bateman as Michael Bluth her Son; “Mom, it’s breakfast.”
Lucille: “and a piece of Toast.”

• In our part of the country we understand that Carbon is a good thing; trees grow and crops do better. Even better, coal is cheap. Hence, where else in the nation could you get a Specialty Plate for your car like this?

• Mentioning Climate Change, these renderings showing what the world was like before our Neanderthal cousins invented fire. Yup, climate change is real, it’s happening constantly and we have little to do with it, just ask Mr. Sun!

• And, I thought I’d finish with this image of what it’s going to take to re-float the stuck container ship blocking the Suez Canal. Good luck!

Make it great week people, keep the peace, be happy, stay safe, and be healthy!

Dirk

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