Happy 250th Birthday, America!

You must see <Marco Rubio's July 4th Message>.

As true and inspiring as that is, the question remains: how much longer can we survive? 

There's been much conjecture on this subject lately as clearly their are societal forces at work hell bent on destroying this country as founded.

And why is that?

You need only read what our founding fathers said on this subject, 250 years ago:

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.

"Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.  

"It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

    - John Adams, 1st Vice President and 2nd President of the United States of America

"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.  As nations become more corrupt and vicious they have more need of masters."

    - Benjamin Franklin

It is self-evident we are no longer a unified people characterized by morality and religion.

Instead we have largely splintered along party lines: R vs D.

We are indeed a deeply divided nation; witness the D's current fascination with DSA (read: communist) candidates.

A recent CNN poll highlights this schism:

93% of Republicans are proud of our country and celebrate its founding, history and direction.

D's on the other hand are ashamed of being an American.

This should come as no surprise if you take an honest look at our past; D's are regularly on the wrong side of history:

D's are the party of slavery - Republican Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in 1863.

D's are the party of segregation - post-Civil War, they started the KKK, authored Jim Crow laws and opposed civil rights for black Americans.

In his 1963 inauguration speech...

...Governor George Wallace pledged "segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever".

D's are the party of killing babies in utero.  In a 2025 gallup poll, fully 83% favor abortion, whereas 77% of Republicans are pro-life.

D's are the party of insurrection.

Remember Covid restrictions in 2020?  Public gatherings prohibited to prevent the spread of Covid - but not for BLM / George Floyd riots.

CNN (in)famously described the looting and burning of buildings as "fiery but mostly peaceful" protests.

And most disturbing of all, D's have become the party of anti-semitism.

While "from the river to the sea" has become their party's motto and they elected a Jew hater as mayor of New York, God's Word affirms His continual blessing for Abraham and his descendants:

³ And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

    - Genesis 12:3

The only remaining sane member of that party <recently condemned this alarming trend>.

Their lust for power has been divorced from all moral underpinnings, so it makes sense they now embrace the overthrow of our constitutional republic in favor of communism.

Will they succeed?

As has been noted through the years by different men in various forms, the gist of our answer is contained herein:

"For evil to succeed, it is only necessary for good men to do nothing."

So Happy 4th of July!

And remember: if you want more of them in a free country for you, your children and grandchildren, vote your conscience.

Our journey from full time employment into unexpected retirement continues...

...and we're seeing God's hand in this more and more each day.

In our mind there were at least another 2.5 years to work and grow our retirement savings.

Even so, we decided to get a jump on things and find a financial advisor.

We prayed about it, talked to several advisors, and strongly felt God was directing us to Alex Bos of Edward Jones here in Holland, MI.

Alex is a young guy but he impressed us with his knowledge, honesty and enthusiasm.

Thinking we still had plenty of time, we went ahead and rolled most of our 401k into an Edward Jones IRA.

With Alex's help we also sketched out a blueprint on how we could transition from working to retirement.

Little did we know we'd be putting that plan into action this quickly, and we're still working through some details - we're rolling the last of our 401k into an EJ fund this week - but Alex has been solid with his help and guidance.

Our new adventure continues, and there's one change to which I'm adapting quickly:

No more Monday blues.

For this 23 Skidoo, we're answering the question on everyone's lips:

Karen, Karen, lovely maiden, how do your gardens grow?

hydrangeas in bloom

first black eyed susans of the season

yuccas still hanging on to their blossoms under Marilyn's watchful gaze

ditto in the courtyard

foxglove making their 1st appearance

and my personal faves, gorgeous orange tiger lilies

I'm reminded of God's Word from Proverbs 16:9 -

⁹  A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps. 

It's clear God is directing our steps, and for that we are very thankful.

later, mcm fans...

It's 22 Minutes Of Your Life...

...<and worth every second.>   

It's very rare for a political speech to be worthwhile, let alone memorable, but this is both.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio's speech at the Munich Security Conference is one for the ages...an instant classic and "must listen" to understand Trump's clear vision on foreign policy and the future of our NATO alliance.

Rubio received a standing ovation for this speech, and well he should have.

It is the most eloquent enunciation of the joint history, shared values and continuing bond between the United States and Europe ever given by a US diplomat.

He notes correctly that "...our home may be in the Western Hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe".

Emphasizing our roots, he recounts our origins from the Italian explorer who "discovered" the new world and brought Christianity here, to the English settlers from whom we got our language and system of laws.

He lists the Scots/Irish frontiersman who pushed our borders westward and the German immigrants who transformed empty plains into the breadbasket of the world.

He remembers the French fur traders who settled the Mississippi valley as well as the Spanish vaqueros who embodied the rugged adventurism of the Old West.

And he reminds them of the Dutch industrialists who built our most important city and named it New Amsterdam, long before it became "New York".

In short he elucidates the significance of Western culture and puts to rest the lie that America wants to "go it alone".

Make no mistake; we will if we have to, but that's not the goal.

Our deepest desire is for allies who will be strong, independent, able to defend their countries and committed to the trans-Atlantic bond we have shared for centuries.

His follow up interviews and Q&A sessions emphatically underlined Rubio's firm grasp of the intricate nuances of international politics.

And then - by way of hilarious contrast - there was tweedle-dee...

...and tweedle dum...

...who inexplicably thought they belonged at this conference.

Apparently they didn't heed the "adults only" requirement.

The unintended result was <embarrasingly comedic relief>.

The incomprehensible word salads offered up by AOC in response to basic foreign policy questions about the China / Taiwan situation would make even Kamala blush.

Back when she first stumbled onto the national stage, I heard a pundit refer to her as "Alexandria Occasionally Coherent".

Clearly, those halcyon days when she may have accidently uttered a random sentence that wasn't complete bilge now and then are long gone.

She's proven beyond any shadow of a doubt she's dumber than a box of rocks, and now she's taken her act international.

Incredibly, Wretched Dimwitmer was worse: when asked what victory in Ukraine would look like, she humiliated herself by actually deferring to AOC as having more knowledge on foreign policy!

It was the equivalent of publicly confessing, "She may be an ignoramus, but I'm even dumber."

If they're the cream of the D crop, 2028 is looking fine.

Ok, let's play "What's Wrong With This Picture?"

Study it closely, and see if you can tell what's out of place.

I'll give you a minute to ruminate...

If you guessed "the jumbo container of Antacid Tablets because no one needs that many" - wrong!  I work in IT where a regular diet of stress and chaos is part of my job description.

If you guessed "the bag of green apples, because <God didn't make little green apples and it don't rain in Indianapolis in the summer time>" - wrong again!  In later years Glen Campbell was forced to bend the knee to the woke mob for spreading disinformation and was banned from both Twitstorm and Fakebook.*

If you guessed "that lazy cat laying on top of the bag of carrots on the counter" - O my...don't let Karen hear you.  I'll do you a big favor and pretend you never said that.

I can see you're struggling with this, so here's the correct - and may I say, quite obvious - answer:

The Aldi Hedgehog Birthday critter.

As everyone knows, in February you should only be displaying Aldi Valentine Gnomes:

Duh.

*it's possible this is balderdash.

Here's some excitement...over the past week we've gone from this:

...to this:

...which means I've been doing this:

To be honest I can't tell if all those days of swinging my hickories in the cold and snow actually helped or not.

Overall it's been pretty ugly with occasional flashes of competence, but either way I'm going to keep swinging 'em.

In spite of how it may sound if you're within earshot after one of my errant swings, it's fun.

No, really.

Fun.

My kingdom for some talent.

Let's all line up for some of that delicious 23 Skidoo, shall we?

Yummmmmmm...

a former co-worker (that's not him) who now lives in Florida...

...recently shared some of his daily scenery...

...as a reminder he lives in paradise and we don't.

but we do get to watch our babies

apparently our faux spring has met its wintry end

After 50+ years in the work place I've seen a lot of things come and go - ideas, concepts, fads purporting to be the new and exciting way to get ahead and achieve success.

Most of them were really just the same ol' schtick with a new label, though some did have value.

One of the dumbest I ever saw was during the online craze of the late 90's.

The so-called "new economy" was enthusiastically embraced by many major companies.

It centered on the "critical need for an online presence" and - miraculously - profit was no longer a necessity!

Who could have guessed <Al Gore's invention of the Inter-Web (scroll down) > would lead to such mindless frenzy?

To say the least, it was mystifying to watch this mania unfold as companies raced to throw money down the hole that became known as the "dot com bubble".

Hundreds of startups burned through multiple rounds of financing until - predictably - someone was left holding whatever was left of the bag at the end.

The "dot com crash" in 2000 saw internet stocks decline 75% from their high points and wiped out 1.75 trillion dollars of value.

Talk about a resounding rebuke to years of "irrational exuberance"!

In spite of mankind's many failed "get rich quick" schemes, God's eternal truth remains:

"By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches and honor and life."

    - Proverbs 22:4

That's a life plan you can bank on.

later, mcm fans...

Did A Little Telephonic Surgery...

...this week...changed out the T1 transmitter on my candlestick phone (like the above)...

...for a "bulldog transmitter".

Note the flatter, wider profile of the mouthpiece compared to the original protruding one.

Much better looking, IMO.

But the real reason for that change wasn't cosmetic.

The transmitter inside the black bulldog housing is a T1 element, same as the old one...

...but the old one was barely functional.

The new T1 works great and the quality of the audio that people hear on the other end of the line now is much improved.

Couldn't be happier with the outcome.

In addition I swapped out the metal subset/ringer box for this period correct wooden one:

Many thanks to Richard Rose, proprietor of <Ericofon.com> who supplied the bulldog transmitter, helped me with wiring the subset/ringer box...

...and provided lots of great information about antique phones in general.

If you have an interest in vintage phones - and if you don't, for crying out loud, develop one - visit his site, and its sister site <Memory Lane Telephones>. 

Great stuff at good prices.

You know what really excites me?

The month of March.

It's sad to have arrived at the age when the near proximity of a crappy month like March seems like a <raison de célébrer> but just think of it:

In a week we'll have escaped the armpit of winter!

a rare visible sunrise this month.  so far we've had snow on 20 out of 22 days.

And while it's true, March isn't much to write home about in terms of gorgeous weather, it's got one great big beautiful quality you have to admire:

It ain't February!

So full speed ahead to the time change, St. Paddy's Day, and finally, <Blessed Spring>! 

If that doesn't get you excited, you need to check your pulse.

In the "surely they jest" department, have you smelled the latest putrefaction oozing from the legacy media?

According to noted historian and arbiter of state approved truth, CBS' Margaret Brennan...

...the Holocaust was caused by - wait for it - free speech.

I kid you not.

Think about that for a minute.

This is not some obscure liberal moron (redundancy alert) ranting on X.

This is the moderator of an iconic - and in halcyon days of yore, respected - political TV show, Face The Nation.

So here we have what resembles an adult human being who...

* is allegedly college educated;

* appears to be of sound body, if not mind;

* shows no signs of being coerced;  - yet -

...actually claims on live TV that the state sanctioned slaughter of 6 million Jews was caused by free speech.

Don't believe me?

I almost can't blame you.  No one can really be that dumb...can they??

To see for yourself, turn fatuity deflector shields to max power, set phasers to stun, and proceed at your own risk: 

<check it out here>

You can be forgiven if you rushed the exits early; attempting to swallow Brennan's guano de toro causes severe asininity reflux.

The key part of Secretary of State Marco Rubio's response is this:

"Free speech was not used to conduct a genocide.

"The genocide was conducted by an authoritarian Nazi regime that happened to also be genocidal because they hated Jews...

"...there was no free speech in Nazi Germany — there was none.

"There was also no opposition in Nazi Germany.

"They were the sole and only party that governed that country, so that's not an accurate reflection of history. "

Seriously: how is this woman still employed?

Kudos to SOS Rubio for giving a calm, reasoned and intelligent response in the face of such profound stupidity and intellectual dishonesty.

Not sure how much lower the alphabet soup media can go but at the moment the prize for Biggest Dumbass Of The Year rests securely in the talons of Brennan and CBS.

Congrats, Maggie!

Thank you for publicly documenting your continuing descent into utter irrelevance.

Should anyone ever ask you, tell them yes, <It's A Long Way To Tipperary>.

In the meantime, let's 23 Skidoo:

atop the Omni hotel in New Orleans <10 years ago>

#1 grandson serenading the city

beautiful New Orleans skyline

It's kinda ridiculous to live in a state known for its winter sports activities and then complain about winter, and yet I often do.

So why do I live here?

Same reason most people live where they do - work and family.

We generally live where we make our money, and we generally make our money where we can be near our family and friends.

Even in today's age of hyperconnectivity that's made working remotely (often equated with remotely working) a reality, we still want to be close to those we love.

So I'm probably not going anywhere, in spite of my propensity to bellyache about the cold and snow.

Besides, I like whining...it's one of the few things in life I can still do pretty well, so there is that.

In the meantime, consider this truth from God's Word as you exit the AMC and re-enter life's fray:

later, mcm fans...