Something a little different

I am not sure this fits all that well with some of the stuff I have posted before on this site.  I am am not sure it fits with the theme. Most of you know that the purpose of this blog was to recall some of the fine things and some of the funny things in 38 years of marriage.  But as some of you know I like to write and when my daughter Mieke was granted a full time job as a teacher in the 4th grade and when I found out her theme was "traveling through the 4th grade" I decided to write a story about a young man who endeavored to travel the country on foot.  The purpose of these stories is to educate 4th graders.  Mieke tells me the kids have learned some things from it and that is the goal.  I thought in case any of the readers have 4th graders that some of these stories might make good night time reading material so I thought why not.  Why not publish on this site some of the stories. So I do so with the hope that a few readers might enjoy.  I kind of bang these things out without much editing so please do forgive some of the spelling and grammar issues. Mieke reads them to her class.  This is my first attempt at fictional writing.  I think there is a show on TV "are you smarter than a 5th grader?"  Well go one grade below that and you pretty much have it. I have written 22 stories and Mieke tells me her class is really "getting in to them". Please permit me to publish them one at a time.  If you find them interesting read them!!!  If you do not forget them.  That is the deal.

Story 1-4 They get more interesting after this (trust me)

1. “A Sad Day”

I am sort of sad this morning.  I am sad about two things.  I was supposed to be in your 4th grade class this year and as you can tell I am not there.  So all the other kids got to raise their hand when their name was called and sure enough when you called my name no one was there to raise a hand.  By the way, I have question about that.  How did it get started that if anybody wants to say something they need to raise a hand?  It seems to me that that  might be better just to blurt it out but for some reason that is just not the way it works so perhaps you could give your class some idea of why this may be.  I have never really figured it out.  The other thing that is sort of sad for me is that somehow I have a strange name.  You see my mother’s name was Mary and my father’s name was Blain so when I was born they had this meeting and decided to and they decided to use a few letters from each of their first names and they decided to name me Blarry. I guess that would not be all that bad but so far I have never encountered anybody else with that first name.  Plus get this; my last name is McGarry so I have to walk around all my life with sort of a different name.  Is it Ok if I use my e-maiI to send you stuff?  Plus I would like if you and some of the kids in your class could send me something back once in a while.  I am going to take this huge trip.  I am sort of adventurous but when you have a name like Blarry McGarry what else might you expect.  For now just let me express my apology for not being able to be there today.  I promise if I had been there I would have raised my hand when you called my name.  I wonder if you could go a whole year without anybody just blurting it out without raising their hand. I think it will make your class better!

So here are my adventures.

Your friend Blarry!!!

2.”Hello Again”

So here is the way it is.  I am sure your students wonder a little about a guy like me wandering around the country.  Fact is that I am an orphan.  My parents, when they were alive, always had sort of adventuresome "demeanor" and by the way this is the word of the day.  They sort of taught me to wander around and when they were alive we sort of rambled from town to town and we never really did settle down.  So upon their tragic death I had a very important decision to make.  I could sell their stuff and take a huge trip or I could go to school.  Not sure how decided this but somehow I decided on the  trip. Of course I am not old enough to drive so I what I did is sold their stuff.  Got $5000 for this Ford wagon they owned and another $5,000 for the rest of the stuff.  Cash money.  I found a Meijers near by.  I bought a nice pack for my back.  Bought a tent, and a heating lantern.  And just about everything else I thought I could carry.  You know one thing I thought of is that I would need some really good shoes and for about $100 I bought this pair of one of the finest pair of boots you will ever see.  All in all the stuff I thought I needed came to around $550.  You know something Mrs. Mutschler the other thing I thought I would need is a good map.  And this is one of the nicest things that happened.  The clerk in the store saw all the stuff I was buying.  A gruff old guy behind me saw it as well.  And when I paid my money he kind of saw what I was doing and he stuck out his arm.  I will never forget this because he had a huge tattoo on his left arm.  He said "son, I want to buy you this map."  And he bought for me this $10 map of the whole country.  In his husky voice he said "those of us who like to wander need a good map and I want to buy this for you son".  You know something, it felt good.  It was the first time anybody had called me son in a very long time. Is it OK with you if I tell you about my traveling plans the next time?

Your Friend, Blarry

Story 3

Rainy Day

Can I ask of you just a huge favor?  As you know my plan is to walk around the "perimeter" (word of the day) of our country.  I am sort of thinking I can maybe do around 30 miles per day. Could maybe do more but I think if I did I would get very tired.  Anyway I wonder if one or more of your students could do some research and see about how far I am going to need to walk.  I would like to get this done by the end of the school year and if it is true that I maybe will not be back on time I might need to jump a few trains and maybe pay for a few rides.  Now I am not talking Hawaii and Alaska here. Just what they call the main 48.  Plus if one of your students could find out one more thing.  When did Hawaii and Alaska become states anyway?  It just seems to me that they are so far away. 

Do you have somebody good at arithmetic?  I just measured how far I go with every step.  Do you have someone smart enough to measure how many steps I will need to take on this trip.  I go about 2 1/2 feet with each step. 

You see I bought this thing called a pedometer.  So at least I will know how many steps will be on this trip and I can sort of keep track of this.  This thing cost me about $20 so now with all the money I had to spend on the tent and stuff I only have $9,430 left.  I am going to have to be careful.  It is true that maybe I can pick up a job someplace and paint a fence or something but then I might not make it back in time for the last day of school.

I have all these decisions to make and I could use some help.  You told me you had smart kids in that class.  So before I leave I am trying to figure some of this stuff out.  Plus I could use a list of some things to be careful of on this trip.  I need some advice and I think you know how to get a hold of me, so if possible could you talk this over with your class and let me know your thoughts. i want to leave in a day or so here before  It gets cold and for this to work I have to be in the south before winter so I do not freeze.

Thanks,  Blarry

4.  Popping a Tent-

Thank you for all the help.  I decided something important.  Oh yes I left this morning but I decided it might be smart if I tested all my gear and tent and everything right in the yard of your school. So that is what I did. Before I left I put all of this stuff on the bathroom scale and it all weighs 35 pounds.  I am only about 100 lbs.  So I am becoming concerned about the weight. Sure enough on the 2 mile walk to the school two problems came up.  Even at the end of the 2 miles one of the straps started to rub a sore spot on my shoulder.  Plus these boots.  My little toe does not fit that good in them.  So here is what I did.  I went to the store on Baldwin and bought some cotton padding and instead of boots I bought  some really nice pair of tennis shoes.  I am going to carry the boots along for the rough days. 

Anyway I had something interesting happen when I put my tent up.  I lit the lantern and somehow the light brought in some large bugs.  Before I went to sleep the tent seemed to hum.  Somehow, when I lit the light I could see this large bumblebee. This thing was about the size of a small bird.  I am not sure these things sting but they sure do make a lot of noise with their wings.  No matter what I did I could not get this thing out of the tent so the bee and me had to sleep in the same tent all night.  I woke up the morning and checked to see if I had any welts from a sting but everything was OK.  I opened the door of the tent and the bee flew out. I am OK and so is the bumblebee.

My first day on the road I decided to head to Grand Rapids.  I am going to try and camp by the Gerald R.Ford Museum.  I think it is about 18 miles from here.  But I think I can make it.  I will give you a report on this when I am done.  Right now I just sort of hope the security guards let me set up my tent there and between you and me I hope they do not have bumblebees in Grand Rapids.

Blarry

One More to Store and Thanks

Over the time of this blog and some team work on Deb's blog it seems that you reach the point of reaching a time when you ask this question.  "Why are you doing this?"  What happens is this. As a family endures a traumatic event you look for a couple of things.  One of those things is that you look for some sort of therapeutic outlet just to vent feelings and for me one of those things has been doing some writing.  I thought it would be good to record some of the events of our lives. Those of you that know me know that I have always looked for some of the more interesting things that happen in life.  Also, the yearn for some outlet of the more humorous events in life.  There was a time when we all felt that the destiny of the disease that Deb has experienced all felt that the results would be fatal.  But recent evidence has lead me to a new spot. A large part of me now  understands and says that this cancer she faces can be endured and life can be prolonged in a way that we did not think before could be possible.

If there is a big unexpected event in all of this is the fact that Deb's body reacts very well with the chemotherapy.  When we first encountered this whole thing I can recall they gave us these choices.  The surgeon said we had three choices. 1. We could do nothing. 2. We could do only chemotherapy. 3 We could choose the combination of chemotherapy and surgery.   In our case, as it all turns out the surgery is what has caused all of the problems and the complications from that have had the result of lots of days of trial and many many days in the hospital.  Hindsight is 20-20 and I am not sure  we picked the right thing but if we knew what we do now I am confident that we would have chosen to elect the path of chemotherapy only.

Years ago I read a book by JFK. It was called "Profiles in Courage"  As I reflect on that I think I want to say that the way that Deb has endured some of these events fall someplace within the title of that book.  She is out tonight with a friend at one of the tulip time events.  She has followed to a T the advice of some of the people in the "cancer business" and that is, Live your Life!!!  In 4 more months we will reach the point of 2 years of working through this and very frankly if you would have been in those first diagnosis meetings you would have also said "no way."

Right now we face a a new round of chemotherapy starting as soon as next week.  As best as I can say we have some confidence that this will continue to have good results.  There are some new spots that need to be treated and the plan is to wipe them out.  This is not the type of cancer that goes away but it is evident that it is the type that can be treated and the hope is that it can be so for many more years. (Thank you for modern medicine)

What I am going to do is close down this blog. Any updates we have I will post on Deb's. I read through some of the stories from earlier on this blog and a few of them are good and a few of them I wish I had over, but they stand as they are.  If there is such a thing as Humor in a Storm all I can say is that I tried.  

Thanks for staying with us and for your many kind notes and expressions. In a way that you may never know they have kept the program going over here.

Stan the Man

Popes and Hopes

Hey it has been a while. I have been watching all of this stuff on the Pope and I just felt a little like writing.  In the reformed church that I belong to we do not get a Pope.  It is not that we do not deserve one. Someone along the way I think we decided we do not need one. Not sure all the reasons why but I suspect that Popes are kind of expensive.  Plus, we have not found anyone yet who looks like a Pope. I kind of noticed that the Cardinals were standing in line to cast their vote for the new Pope. I could not help feeling that you might pick any one of these guys and get about the same results. Somehow they all look like someone stole all their toys when they were young.  Actually, I think these guys must be pretty smart guys. I think they all know a bunch of languages.  No matter how you slice it we in the CRC and the Reformed tradition have to depend on all hope and no Pope.  At least I can think a little of what our signals might be if we ever did get to elect  one. I think the black smoke, white smoke, thing is a neat idea. I sense that if we would have to have a ceremony it would be something more bland. Like if the the choir sang "It is well with my Soul" we did not yet have a new leader but if it sang "Standing on the Promises"  we would all be out buying our pastor a pair of red shoes. Something like that.

I did hear kind of a good Pope Joke the other day.

The Pope flies in to New York for a conference and he gets picked up at the airport in the American version of the Pope mobile. On the way out of the airport the Pope taps the driver on the shoulder and says to the guy "you know since I have become Pope I have never driven a car and is there any chance that you and I could switch and you let me drive"?  The chauffeur says that he could get fired if he allowed this but the Pope argued that he was the Pope and the he would assure the guy that he would not get in trouble.  Anyway, the Pope gets out on the freeway and just floors this sucker and in a moment is going 85 and a cop pulls him over.  The cop get out of his car and looks over the situation. He radios the station and tells his boss that he thinks he has something really special. The boss reminds the cop that they just had a meeting on this and everyone who gets stopped get a ticket.  The cop argues that he senses this is above anything that has been talked about.  "Who do you have there says the boss?,  "Is it the mayor".  No the cop says, go a little higher.  "Is it a senator"  No still not high enough says the cop.  "The President?" ask the chief.  Still higher says the cop.  "OK than I give up, who might you have there"   The cop reports "I think it might be God because whoever this is has the Pope driving him around New York."

I have been watching on the History channel the series "The Bible". It is kind of interesting.  You know I kind of like watching the thing but have sort of noticed that the people of this era had some problems with basic grooming.  How did they do this area of basic grooming? I do not think that razors had been invented yet but some how the Egyptians all look pretty good and clean shaven and the Hebrews are pretty rough. Not sure what to make of this all but I have been looking around church lately for anybody wearing red shoes that can help me figure it out.  Will let you know when I close in on the answer. I kind of hope they do a thing on Jonah.  Fish stories are always pretty good.

Always a little humor in the storm. Is that not right?

Stan the Man

Election Day

So far I have tried to stay away from many of the political thoughts I harbor. I think though that most of you who can read between the lines can sense that I have been a pretty solid Obama supporter. I want to do a post before the election on some of the reasons I have for this. Keep in mind that one of the reasons I have done these post is for the purpose of having some record of all of the medical events of late. There is no secret that the health concerns that we have now take on our greatest concerns. At the same time it is hard to ignore the rest of life and for me I have always maintained an interest in what is happening on the national scene.

So I have a few thoughts. Here they are.  The first one is this.  I think that if Romney were to win I could accept him as our President.  I think he is a fine man. I think he is smart and I have thought that if he is elected I will be able to follow his leadership.  I think he is deep down inside a liberal thinker who has had to alter his position to appeal to voters.  If he is elected it is my hope that the country can unify behind his leadership and that we can put behind us the polarized nature we now have.  It seems to me that since Obama was elected that the opposition has been on a non stop mission to make sure he is not reelected.  As I view these events I often think that the nature of the opposition has the look of being quite unfair and one sided.  I notice a few more grey hairs on the head of our president.  I have noticed this also on presidents who have gone before him, so I am thinking it comes with the territory. I wonder sometimes if some of this has behind it some hints of dark racial history of which we are all victims in our country.  Nobody ever dares say that, but let me put it out there.  I would not state my feelings accurately if I did not put this out.

One thing that I have never questioned is that our existing president will win this election. A fine family, a scandal free support staff, fine skills with words, solid thinking skills, fine support in the global community, and a deep compassion for the average American on both the rich and the poor side.  I am very surprised that people are saying this is going to be all that close.  In my life I have not encountered a person who has done a better job in this position.  I have never really understood the people who oppose him so passionately. It seems to me that some sort of deep seated hatred exist and I just do not get it.  I opened this post with the statement that there are some things about Romney that I also like. But there are a lot of other things I like more about the person I will vote for in the morning.

Let me tell you a story.  Many years ago my first job was at the Country Club of Lansing.  The governors mansion was located on the border of that course.  At that time George Romney was the governor and for exercise he would come over and play nine holes with 3 golf balls.  I was about 14 years old. One time he had with him his son.  I do not remember it all that well but now I wonder now if that son was Mitt.  So if he does get elected at least I can can say I met the guy.  By the way what a name. So we have the choice between a guy who's first name sounds like a baseball glove and a guy who's name sounds like a guy from a far away place.  Only in America. Deep down I think this is what makes this a great place.  God grant me the insight to accept and support the outcome in whatever path it may take.  It is going to be interesting.

Stan the Man

Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes

I was watching a little kids show the other day and the kids where doing some exercise to a neat little song.  The song went "head and shoulders knees and toes, knees  and toes da da da da da da, and so on. The teacher was getting the kids to exercise and methodically touch these parts of the body in doing so.  I tried it. One thing I noticed was that touching the toes was getting to be a bit more of a challenge.  I think for many of us that I am not alone in this.  If I did reach the toes I was having a bit more problem getting back to the head than I can recall in past years.  I am turning 61 in a week or so. Kind of hard to think about, but it is the truth. The  birthday comes around election day.  (Nov 3)

So I have reported many fine things about Deb and her battle.  Today though I want to tell you a couple of things about her that has always kind of bugged me.  Sometimes, when we are riding in the car she can get a little commanding in the car control department. She does not like it when I leave the windshield wipers on when it is done raining.  She does not like it when I blame all the drivers around me for some rather dumb driving. Plus, she likes to play the radio.  I like it when it is quite. I kind of soak in the things around me.  I will say to her once in a while "I drive so much alone that when I have a hottie like you next to me in the car I prefer to revel in the thought of what people are thinking when they see me with such stunning beauty."  To this she always trots out a two syllable term, the first of which is what you all know as a male cow.

You know, the other thing that bugs me is that when we are riding, and when I go in to one of my quite times, she will interrupt and say this. "Penny for your thoughts?".  Now folks, I have always thought that how after 37 years she might think some of my thoughts were worth more than a penny.  I look for a raise. Perhaps when I turn 61 I will hear "nickle for your thoughts".  Not holding my breath, but something I have always hoped for.

I was sitting in church yesterday and the pastor had a good sermon.  Someplace in the sermon he told about the scene in the garden when they were coming to arrest Jesus. I think it was Peter who got out his sword and hacked off the ear of one of the Romans.  Jesus fixed it.   I think I have been watching too much Law and Order.  I started to wonder how you can hack off an ear without the sword doing some damage to something else.  I picture this as a descending blow that would also hit the shoulder area.  Then I thought some about what would have happened if the sword bearer got the whole head. As I thought I wondered a if Jesus could do heads.   I wondered about  if ears were in the game why not whole heads.  And it was not very long that I started to wonder if it was the whole head, if it was possible for Jesus to get it on straight.  (I think he can sometimes do good at this).  Anyway  that night I had a dream about this Roman with a real sore ear and a real sore head.  I think this is why Deb has concentrated all these years to get me to turn off the windshield wipers sooner and wants to play the radio a little more. It is just so hard for me to listen to these stories and not wonder about them on the way home.  I watched football that afternoon and with all of the violence I am kind of hoping that whole heads are in the realm.  Kind of wonder also why I like football so much.

It is interesting to me as I reflect on this that I often think we might be wise to take these and other writings from these ancient times in a figurative way more than in a literal way.  I wondered if  in that sense those stories might have an even greater meaning.  It seems to me when we might endeavor to think more about this we might reach a point of greater understanding.  Not sure all the reasons, but this is why I was thinking about head and shoulders, knees, ears and toes. Hoping the amputation thereof has the same scope on the big scale.

For now I think it might be best to pay lots of attention to the windshield wipers and let Deb keep the radio on.  Not sure all this is worth the nickle but if it gets you thinking it is worth the penny.  You can bet it on it.

Stan the Man

Rain Rain go Away

 It has been raining here lately. If I am not mistaken I kind of sense that winter is nearby.  Not sure I have met anybody that says I love these Michigan winters. I know people who are spring lovers, same for summer and fall, but never winter.  Of recent I have been listening  a little to the campaigns.  About the only way I fit in is that I think I could maybe write some of those Saturday Night Live spoofs.  So I think right now, how did I get the job I have instead of something like that. Not sure I will ever have the answer but I do find the campaigns for election range someplace between the comical and the hysterical   Wish it could be something else but I am not a big enough player is the game to change this all that much. So it is  It seems to me that recent days have been dominated somewhat by the rain.  Oh yeh, the Tigers are winning, the campaigns are winding to election day, preachers are still preaching, teachers are still teaching, but with all of this we are headed to winter in our state that is not always so good. It is what it is.


Been attending a somewhat interesting class at the church lately about the topic of heaven. It has been little while since I have thought about this all that much but some of the comments from the people in the class have been making me think a little.    On the topic of heaven, which is good to think about in the winter, I have some thoughts.  I believe at one time people kind of had thoughts about floating around for lots of years on a cloud with a harp. As time has past I think many people want to think of this more.  A few of people have found a way to make some money on the topic of heaven.  They reach and publish conclusions that we go here and there for a thousand years of so and then after Jesus comes back for the second time we go someplace else.  I suspect that the outcome will perhaps be someplace outside of what people are able to perceive.  This given, I am prone to not think about it all that much.  It will be what it will be.  One of the class members commented that it would be a place without sin.  I even thought about this.  That night I woke up and thought "there is nothing like a little sinnin once in a while".  With this thought I conclude this paragraph before I get myself in trouble.

Either way it is kind of an interesting topic.  Are you the same as me?  Do you open the paper and see the obit's and find more people around your age in these things?   Oh well maybe this is just me. In any case it does bring some reason for thought.  Have you ever had this thought?  Some things seem like they just happened yesterday and when you think more it seems like eons ago.  It seems like yesterday I was driving my bike to a little league game that I was going to play in. When I think again it seems like it happened in another century.  (Hey, come to think of it, it did.)  Enough of this.  For now,  I am just glad that some have figured our what is going to happen in heaven.  I suspect that they like the element of surprise because I think that is what they will get.

I find amazing the idea of churches.  Overall, I think they are good places.  When you think of it though the pastors of these places have the task of explaining God.  It seems to me that it is a truth that God resides in an arena  that falls beyond the mind of most of us. The attempts to lay a mind on these issues  have somewhat of a futile nature.   I have spent more than a little time trying to figure out which God I want.  Is it the one who deals the swift and mighty sword to the opposition.. Might I prefer the Ward Cleaver in the sky, who rewards His children when they are nice and reprimands them when they are naughty. Or might I prefer the something else.  I gotta tell ya that I have not figured this out.  When I do I will post it.  You can be sure.

I think it might be right to say that as long as we hang around here we are not going to have all these answers.  All I know for sure right now is that it has been raining a lot, the trees have some nice colors, the snow will be falling soon, and life around here is improving a little on the health front. A few adventures, but nothing we cannot handle.  I guess that is about all I know right now.  No definitive answers, plenty of questions, and the daily task of dealing as best I can with what faces me now.

Stan the Man

Any Interesting Animal Stories?

I am not sure why I really wanted to post this.  It really does not have that much humor and it does not have that much storm but I thought it might be interesting to post this. Perhaps if you have any interesting things that have happened to you in the animal department you could relay a response and I will kind of pile up the stories and someday use them in some sort of writing.  (I will not use your name). You can tell that if I am writing about this that it is a good thing.  Don't have all that much now on the health front and folks let me tell you that is a good thing.

I think of animals right now because I had something new this weekend.  I was cleaning up a woodpile at our property up north.  At the bottom of the pile was some rotten 4' by 8' piece of pressed wood. I lifted this up to finish the job and underneath was one of the healthier den of blue racer snakes that I had ever seen.  One of these things was a really big guy.  They took off in true blue racer form.  I can first hand testify that they deserve their name.  I was not aware that snakes in our state could get that big.  I think these things eat mice and bugs so I did not feel a threat but I gotta tell you they did get my attention. Never been that much of a fan of snakes but as pretty proud of myself to not panic.  They kept coming back to check if I had put the piece of wood back on the roof of their house but I thought it might be wise to not do that.  Always kind of wondered about people that search out these things in the wild.  Some of them even to be fascinated by all kind of these creatures but for me they belong in the Bible and pictures and that is where they can stay.

Another pretty good story is about a year or so ago when early in the morning I woke up Deb and there were 3 bears on our back porch looking for a meal of birdseed.  A mother and 2 second year cubs.  The mother was pretty good sized and the cubs looked like they had consumed a few cupcakes as well.  They kind of hung around a while.  I am not sure if these things eat humans but I must admit that I kind of think about it when I walk around that property.  This mother bear was large enough that  one of my objectives to not become a meal.  I really do not think they like humans all that much but I have decided to not test the water on this one. I saw some bears again a couple of weeks ago and let me tell you that these things are fast when they go  to a run.  I think of  a bear skin rug in front of the mantle and someone asking, why is that piece of grey hair kind of stuck to the inside of the skin?  Not sure they are all that dangerous but my vote is for not taking chances.

Probably the most interesting story I have is about animals, is about squirrels.  It is true that I find these creatures kind of interesting.  We have a bunch of them in our neighborhood in Holland. Lots of oak trees and lot of squirrels.  We had a lady in the area that had one of these lawns that was always in the local news for being nice.  The lady of the house could not stand squirrels digging up the lawn
to bury nuts. She bought a trap. When the squirrels would enter the live trap she would try to give them swimming lessons but none of them ever learned how.  As the count piled up she kind of filled up the burial grounds around the house and as the ground got harder with winter she started to put these things in a bag in the bottom of her deep freeze.  The following spring she asked her husband to dump this bag in the middle of Lake Michigan on a fishing trip he was taking.  Only one problem. With the waves, these things started to wash up on shore. People that walked in the spring started to notice. Soon the DNR was called and soon after various theories about about the squirrels on  the  beach started to appear in our local paper.  All  kinds of ideas started to surface. One of the locals even suggested that  these things were swimming over from Wisconsin and not quite making it. I tried to picture this but was reasonably sure this with all the other theories was not on target.  Never did say much about this but always had some confidence that I kind of knew the origin of those creatures.  I think it is kind of a thing you do not say much about.

Of all the creatures. I find the humans to be one of the more interesting.  I am watching the Olympics right now and I find a couple of things interesting.  A couple of thoughts.  I am not sure the Queen would get a gold metal in the smiling department.  I also find it interesting about how many events there are.  Team events, double back flip events.  100 meter double backstroke and then 103 meter double backstroke while holding on to your goggles.  Anyway, I hope they have a lot of gold medals.  I do find the gymnastics kind of interesting.  It seems to me that some of the contestants fall in to the category of being "freaks of nature".  As time has gone by I have lost some interest.  Not sure why but it is true.  I think that the next Olympics I want to enter something.  Perhaps "oldest guy to pole fault over 6'.  After I win I want to visit the White House.

Well, that is enough for now. Send me your more interesting animal stories.  I promise not to use them unless I feel the need.  Feel secure in that.

Stan the Man