For My girls

For a man, sons are special, they are miniature copies of you.. Or so you like to believe. A lucky man has at least one son. Everything you wanted to be is possible because with the wisdom you have learned, maybe he won't make your mistakes..

A truly lucky man gets daughters. They are all of the girls you have ever loved, even the ones that never loved you back... They share all of the traits of the woman you love and more.. The difference is, if you are truly lucky... They will always love you back..


For my girls, Manda, Saya, and Lissa Ree:

As time goes by

Life is funny.. When you are a child, you can't wait to grow up. Once you are grown, you wax nostalgic about your childhood.
In my current stage in life, I am nostalgic for the hectic days as a parent.. Well I am still technically a parent and will always be a parent. I mean, the time when Big Mama (Just a nickname, not a description) and I would run from football practice to soccer practice to choir practice. We would gripe and complain about the busy lives we had with four children. We would look forward to summer when there would be a lull.
Now our youngest, tiny dancer, is 17, and will be a senior in High School in September. A little more than a year from now we will be empty nesters.. We used to look forward to it. Like you did when graduating High School, but then 10 years later you miss those carefree days.. Our days weren't care free but Saturday mornings, all of the kids would come jump in bed with us. We originally got a king sized bed so that we could hold everybody.. Then I would get up and make pancakes (chocolate chip of course) or waffles. Friday and Saturday nights were movie nights, we would go down to the video store and rent a couple of VHS movies. We would then make pop corn, turn off the lights, and watch what ever the new release was.. Sometimes I would make root beer floats which was always popular.. They had to be IBC root beer and Breyers real vanilla ice cream..
For a short time in the 90's we decided that there would be no TV during the week, instead we read books to our children. I read Charlotte's' Web, The Hobbit,and the first two Harry Potter books to them. Big Mama (Just a nickname, not a description) read all of the Little House on the Prairie books. This all ended when #1 Daughter begged us to let them watch TV.. Seems she was somewhat of an outcast because she didn't know anything about any of the currently popular teenage shows..
So we gave in...
I referred to us as The Loud Family, based on a Saturday Night Live skit. Our house was always noisy.. Someone was always yelling, crying or fighting. Now the house is quiet..
We now have a granddaughter.. #1 Daughter's little girl.. She looks just like her mama.. She is coming to visit for a few days and Big Mama (Just a nickname, not a description) is delirious with excitement. I am too.. It will be nice to hear the patter of little feet in our now too big house..

If you still have young children at home, hug them kiss them and let them know that you love them.. Enjoy the mania that is your life with kids. Because before you know it, they will be gone, off to lives of their own, the house will be quiet, empty, and it will be too late..


I added this video after it was suggested by Big John..




Update, September 2, 2014; The passing of an era for  Big Mama (Just a nickname, not a description) and I. This morning was our 21st, and last 1st day of school... After all of these years, it was rather anti-climatic... I of course took a picture of our Senior as she walked out the door, and snuck one as she was getting into her little yellow truck to drive to school..

"Check Your Privilege"

White privilege (or white skin privilege) refers to the set of societal privileges that white people benefit from beyond those commonly experienced by people of color in the same social, political, or economic spaces (nation, community, workplace, income, etc.).^{[note 1][neutrality is disputed]} The term denotes both obvious and less obvious unspoken advantages that white persons may not recognize they have, which distinguishes it from overt bias or prejudice.^[1] These include cultural affirmations of one's own worth; presumed greater social status; and freedom to move, buy, work, play, and speak freely.^[2] The concept of white privilege also implies the right to assume the universality of one's own experiences, marking others as different or exceptional while perceiving oneself as normal.

"Check Your Privilege".. The new mantra of the whining left.... It is supposed to denigrate those of us that have achieved a modicum of personal success because we are either "white", or appear to be "white". I first heard this phrase several weeks ago when one of my daughters brought home several friends from college for the weekend. We were enjoying an evening of discussion at the fire ring of the Hacienda de Grande Hombre, when Tiny Dancer made a comment about there being no scholarships earmarked for only white students like those for approved minority groups. One of my daughters college friends said under her breath "Check your privilege". I don't think she meant for me to hear it.. I am fairly deaf, but I was closer to her than the other folks sitting there because I was getting more wood for the fire. So I decided to learn more about it. I found the above definition..

So this is now my response if I ever hear the phrase spoken again.. I am planning on using another of the left's favorite phrases designed to stop all debate.. "First world problem".. The only reason, in my opinion, we have the time to debate inane topics  like "Gay Marriage", "Climate Change", "White Privilege", and Donald Sterling's "Racism", is the fact we don't have to struggle to survive. We aren't fighting dysentery, cholera, malaria, and starvation.

As for having success based on skin color.. Maybe it is a "little" correct. For instance, I had it drummed into my head at a young age, that if you want success and the things that success brings, you have to work your ass off. Is that because I am white? I don't believe so, but it is cultural. People from China, Korea, and Japan ( I don't use Asian, because not all people from Asia are culturally or physically similar to these groups) are more successful, on average, wherever they have migrated than either the natives or other immigrants. Is that Racial? No it's cultural. Are all "whites" successful, no, in fact there are probably more "whites" on Government subsistence than any single minority group. There are sub sets of "whites" that have a cultural work ethic, where large numbers of them are successful. Because they work at it, and sacrifice personal wants and desires for that success.There are also subsets of other groups that are equally successful. Why are black immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean more successful on average than American born blacks? The legacy of slavery and discrimination here may be an excuse for the success of African immigrants but not those from the Caribbean, they to were slaves and suffered from racial discrimination. It has to be cultural. These black immigrants succeed regardless of their skin color. It also has to do with Family. Those children born into a Two parent household, regardless of race, are, on average, more successful than children that are raised by a single parent. Further, the number one predictor of childhood poverty is a single mother. This is also somewhat cultural or has become so in recent decades because it has become more acceptable in society as a whole.

I recently took part in an email string started by a friend. It was commenting on the recent NFL draft and Michael Sam. One of the participants, a gentleman from California, that has what appears to be a Japanese surname, whipped out the "White Privilege"  in response to My Big Brother's (MBB) statement that he, nor did most people he know really care about an individuals race, religion, or sexual proclivities, it was performance that really mattered.

I tried to respond in his and my defense, but truthfully, while my response hit all of the points, his was much more eloquent:-

What I love, is when people confuse "White Privilege"with "White Guilt" (the only explanation I could come up with for reelecting El Duche). While I don't take umbrage at being described as a "White Guy" (understandable considering the source), I was wondering exactly when my family earned its "White Privilege"? Was it when my Mother's parents (predominately Cherokee, with some black and white mixed in) got running water for the first time, in 1968, or when my Father's Grandparents left the Comanche reservation in the early 1900's to earn a living instead of depending on the government to provide one....  Probably, when I finished paying off my Student Loans, eight years after graduation from college. I would have probably been able to pay them off sooner except I was enjoying the economy of another Democratic hero Jimmy Carter. But what does it matter?.....we are doomed until a majority of Americans regain their ability to apply critical thinking to our  Nation's problems, instead drinking the Kool Aid and of doing what "feels right".

I have since found this interview of USA/RET Col. Schlicter as it appeared on Fox News. Here is his take on white privilege..





"White Privilege" is just another point to be used by  the "poverty pimps" and the grievance industry to gain political power from the underclass and uninformed of this country.

While this post could and probably would be used as evidence of my own "White Privilege", which I find ironic because while I appear white, in another more strict racial society, I could be considered Indian or even black.. At one time in this country, you were considered black if you had only 1/64 black heritage.
 I have attempted to figure out my American Indian heritage, not for societal gain to "get what I can" as a member of an approved minority. I am just interested in American history, and my families' history is not uncommon for someone that can trace their heritage back to colonial times. My English/Irish Ancestry dates to 1750. I have tried to determine all of my genealogy, the lack of good records makes that difficult for my maternal ancestry because for the most part they were dirt poor.. I can only go by what I can find and what I have been told, but there are so many 7/8ths, 3/4s and 1/4s that the last time I tried, I was called a liar for not breaking down the fraction to it's lowest common denominator. I will list the fractions that I know at the end of this post.
There is one pointer of my American Indian heritage that can't be denied. One of my four children was born with a "Mongolian Spot" birthmark. It is a birthmark that appears like a bruise on the backs and buttocks of new born infants. It occurs in those of the following Racial groups; SE Asians, Pacific Islanders, American Indians, and Mexicans. In fact, it appears on approximately 80% of new born American Indian babies. To my knowledge, there is no SE Asian, Pacific Islander, or Mexican heritage in my family...

My Approximate American Indian heritage. Irish and English heritage are based on Surnames only

Maternal Great Grandmother - 7/8 Cherokee-1/8 Black - it may be as much as 1/4 black or as little as 1/16 black. She was poor and lived on the Oklahoma Cherokee Reservation and records are sketchy. I do know that her grandfather was considered a "Mulatto" of Cherokee and black ancestry.
Maternal Great Grandfather - 1/2 Cherokee- 1/2 Irish (Irish Surname)

Maternal Grandfather - 1/4 Irish - 3/4 Cherokee/Black(?)
Maternal Grandmother - 1/2 Irish - 1/2 Cherokee

Paternal 2x Great Grandfather - 1/2 Comanche -1/2 White (Quanah Parker, Mother Cynthia Parker was captured as a child from the Texas frontier)
Paternal 2x Great Grandmother - unknown Comanche Woman who was 1 of  the 25 wives of Quanah

Paternal Great Grandmother - 3/4 Comanche -1/4 White
Paternal Great Grandfather - 3/4 Comanche - 1/4 English (English Surname)

Paternal Grandmother - 3/4 + Comanche - remainder white
Paternal Grandfather - 1/4 Cherokee (Mother 1/2 Cherokee, Paternal Aunt of Will Rogers) - 3/4 English (English Surname)

Debunking the Gun Show Loop Hole myth

Leftist scream that the Gun Show loop hole must be closed. According to them, all you have to do is show up at a gun show with a wad of cash and you can walk away with an armload of firearms to be used for mayhem. That is the premise of the "Universal Background Checks" they are demanding. Actually as this video taken at the America's Gun Show in Dulles VA (just outside the Washington DC Beltway near Dulles Airport) you are still required to pass a background check. In fact as one of the vendors states, the VA State Police are on premises in order to assist with the background checks. You have two options, you can have each vendor do the check, or you can get one from the State Police upon arrival.
The other thing that the Leftists want in the "Universal Background Checks" requirement is that if I were to sell a firearm to a friend, associate or family member, that I require that they get a background check. My judgement and knowledge of the individual's character doesn't matter. As a responsible firearm owner I can't be trusted.

No one left behind

So I have used the excuse that I am older, and that while hiking, I used a Nalgene bottle for several years (they contained BPAs which have been shown to increase estrogen). As an excuse for why I am more likely to get "Misty" now..
 This short video made me get misty and then "Dude, I shed a tear". This is about the recovery of Marines left behind during WWII. Something that touched home for me was that one of the gentleman I hiked with as part of the BSA, was a retired Marine. He dedicated his life after the Marines to recovering the bodies of Servicemen from where ever they may be. It was important to him that none of them were left behind. He traveled all over the world, but he made sure to get back in time to lead our BSA Venture crew on a hike. Even if he only had 2-3 hours of sleep on the couch after getting home from a 13 hour flight. The Kids, both in the Venture Crew, and those who had lost their lives in foreign lands were important to him. We both had to bow out of the Venture Crew for various reasons, but he is still making sure that his other kids get home..

May god bless Bruce (Rocky) Harder, USMC(Ret),
the United State Marine Corps
the Individuals who make it their life's' work to ensure all of our "Kids" get home
and the United States of America...