So, it was a short night, and both a busy day and busy weekend lies ahead. Hence a slightly more criptic Ramblings. It was a hot week and after yesterday’s rain its quite a bit cooler. So, let’s get started!

Paragraph of the week:

“America is in a similar position to where it was in 1861, 1929, 1941, and 1968—only perhaps worse, given in all those cases, there was at least a president and Congress that identified and reacted to the crisis, whereas today our elected government is what caused the crisis.…” ~ Victor Davis Hanson, historian

To add a little gravitas to Dr. Hanson’s uttering, here are some ‘creds’. First, he’s a farmer. He received his B.A. with highest honors in classics and general college honors, from Cowell College, at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His PhD is in classics is from Stanford University.

Then to round out his background, here are a few of his ‘secondary’ bits; visiting Shifron Professor of Military History at the US Naval Academy. Visiting Professor of Public Policy at Pepperdine University. Presented the Manhattan’s Institute’s Wriston Lecture. Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution; his focus is in classics and military history.

So, when Dr. Hanson puts ‘pen to paper’ we just might want to pay a little attention!

Frabjous – adjective – delightful, joyous.
The night before last the young ladies of the family, Dinah and Vaioleti, went to bed full of frabjous expectancy. Dinah left yesterday for a regatta this weekend held in southern Tennessee. Two weeks ago, her 8-man boat got Silver in the standard 2,000 meter race and her 4-man boat got Gold at that same regional regatta.

Vai in ‘mucho’ anticipation of the school play put on last night, A Night of One Acts, which I went to – and was glad I did. Vai was part of the Crew.

A major difference is that since 2009 Clark Montesori High School has put on these plays under the name of EPIC Productions as a totally run by students event.

This means that students choose the plays, procure them, cast them, and the plays are then performed by, produced by, and directed by the students without teacher involvement.

The Plays — Four of them, ranged from hilarious, almost slapstick – A Tale of Two Balconies (Off the Wall Plays) which juxtaposed a Shakespearean Romeo and Juliet and a modern day R & J couple on the same stage to the more intense. In Romeo and Juliet both couples were ‘star-crossed’ and of course there came the disastrous ending.

One of the other plays, “A Slippery Slope” (Blue Moon Plays) was cutting edge and explored a current look at human sexuality. The setting was a science classroom in a conservative Christian Middle School. Two students had to give a report on the nesting behaviors of the same bird, the Albatross, but each gave with a different take. Pretty powerful dialogue, insights, and right vs wrong discussions.

Results: The 5K – The Matt’s 5K Pursuit, had me feeling pretty good about my effort. In my age category (walkers 60 – 99) we had 57 ‘chipped’ walkers and as the ‘elder’ of that category, I came in 9th overall.

Weather was great. I even got another walker (the runners were probably finishing by then) to take my picture pointing at my parents’ grave as we passed it.

The whole event (approaching somewhere between 4,500 & 5,000 people) couldn’t have gone better.

The Foundation which receives the profits works with regional Police agencies and their K9 units – 100 dogs placed and over the years $1-million raised which includes having temperature sensing and reaction devices in K9 cruisers. In appreciation 50 or so dogs and handlers were present and an exciting demonstration was put on.

As a bonus, for that morning I was probably at the very safest place in town.

Link to a short video from the start of the 5K:  IMG_0141

Happenings – This shortened Rambling is because soon I’ll be assisting with the logistics of Adrianne and Tevita’s move to their new home. Currently our truck is parked out front to keep space for the moving truck.

Tomorrow evening it’ll be a nice dinner to celebrate both Viliami and Jason’s Birthdays.

Fin –

• What is it with the middle of April as a period of disasters. April 15, 1865 President Lincoln was assassinated. April 18, 1906 was the the massive San Francisco Earthquake. April 15, 1912 is when the unsinkable Titanic floundered on her maiden voyage. April 19, 1993 was the Federal Bureau, the ATF, raided the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, TX. After a lengthy siege it escalated and a massive fire broke out resulting in the deaths of 76 people, including children. The Oklahoma City bombing (April 19, 1995). Not to forget the (April 20, 199) Columbine High School shooting, the Virginia Tech shooting (April 16, 2007), and the Boston Marathon bombing (April 15, 2013).

• Even the Notre Dame Cathedral fire (in Paris) occurred in mid-April April 15, 2019).

• Tax Day was this past week; remember that it was Cincinnati’s own, President William H Taft, who during his single term of office introduced a “TEMPORARY” national Income Tax in 1913. The original tax had a base rate of 1 percent with a first $3,000 exemption. This meant that fewer than 2% of the population had to pay. Where exactly is the difference between Joe Average today and the serfs of medieval times?  Yup, always trust government!

• On a lighter note, also this time period in 1968 Robert P. McCulloch bought the London Bridge for $2.4 million and had it shipped across the ‘pond’ to reassemble it in Lake Havasu City, Arizona

Ciao. Stay strong, Especially during this mid-April, keep looking over your shoulder. Be safe and be healthy.

Keep on storming the castle. Pray for Peace.

Dirk