Oh West Point, Gettysburg, no wait, Oh Canada!
It's the week after Easter and I have a couple of days work to do at the CMX Expo in Toronto; Jackson has nothing to do this week, so I have a rider for the week. On the way out of NC we saw the truck shown below, reminded me of Chatham Mills in Pittsboro; good bologna and dog food! However I think I will stay with House Autry for my seafood breader.

Before we left Morehead Jackson made an appointment with an admissions officer at West Point. Captain Joseph gave us a good overview of USMA. Sorry no pictures, but a very impressive place. I'm really proud of Jackson for even considering a place like that.

On the way to Toronto we stopped at one of my favorite places in the world, Niagara Falls. Probably has to do with a 1960 (?) visit there with my parents, Dave, and Grandma. Absolutely beautiful.......

On Friday afternoon as we got ready to leave Jackson's new favorite city, we couldn't resist a shot up the CN Tower. Here is Jackson standing on a glass floor 342 meters in the air. We went on up to the highest observation deck at 447 meters. So that you don't have to go look up metric conversion, that's 1465 feet.Here's the view under Jackson's feet:
Here is yet another shot of Jackson at the NC monument in Gettysburg; we've taken this same picture before. This is the high water mark of the Confederacy and Great-Grandfather John W. Riley was there with the CSA Company B NC 47th infantry regiment.

As we left Gettysburg Saturday afternoon Jackson's proud Irish blood pressure got a little elevated as we saw yet another example of sterotypical bias; wonder where the leprechaun was?

Off to Virginia next week, top of the morning to you!
Oh, by the way, I know many of you read this just to check on the house; the painters started last week; the white ceilings really accentuate the height of the room! If only I had known they weren't white before, I might could appreciate them more. They made a big mess; I'm ready to get all of them out of our house.

And MY cypress ceiling is finished and looks great; trying to figure out what color paint to use on them................thinking fire engine red; just kidding, how about Ferrari red?

House pictures next week; I promise

March 21, 2008

Went fishing yesterday afternoon for the first time this year, sorry no pictures because no fish! Nice to be out at sea again, the water was 60 degrees and everything on the boat worked!
Here are some shots of the hardwood ceiling we're putting in the sunroom. This is something that I wanted during this project and I'm glad to see how nice it looks.
Here's how they are trimming the bottom

Jackson and I are off to Toronto next week, the tomb is empty, happy Easter

3/17/08
In between Texas and New England we went down to Sanford and Rockingham last weekend to see relatives and the best little grandson in the wide wide world. Enjoy the videos:

Lucy is fine, don't worry about the YELP!
No pictures of the house this week; they put tile, window casings, and pillars in; but I couldn't get in the room to take a good picture. More later, so stay tuned.
Speaking of pictures; Nell One finished her re-fit Saturday afternoon and is now ready for all types of battle, be it from the coastal marauding or aquatic species genre. One feature has been added this year, see if you can spot it; it's named after the best darn marine photographer in the business. Hopefully you'll see some shots from the High-Yo this year!
In NC all week! I'll have some more house shots later this week.

March 7, 2008
Been on the road all week, going to be gone all next week too. Won't be long before we'll be finished with the house and going fishing!
No pictures this week; we'll have some Cooper shots for the next post. However, for your reading entertainment, listed below is a good tax analogy picked up from Jay's political website:

Bar Stool Economics
I’ve heard the following story told many different ways (dinner at a restaurant, etc.), but I thought I would share the latest incarnate with you, for those that have never had the eye-opening experience this story many give you.Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that’s what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.
‘Since you are all such good customers, he said, ‘I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers?
How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share?’ They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so now:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings)
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings)
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings)
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings)
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings)
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings)
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
‘I only got a dollar out of the $20,’declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,’ but he got $10!’
‘Yeah, that’s right,’ exclaimed the fifth man. ‘I only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!’
‘That’s true!!’ shouted the seventh man. ‘Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!’
‘Wait a minute,’ yelled the first four men in unison. ‘We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!’
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, boys and girls, journalists, college professors, fellow workers is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction.
Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics, University of Georgia

Well said son, but don't hold your breath waiting for a major change in the tax code. Sorry,that's how Congress gets its power
John