Tom, I am behind you all the way, buddy.  Do not under any circumstances confess to anything.  Here are the reasons why.

If you have ever owned a Nissan Murano you know that every time there is a 5 degree fluctuation in temperature the tire air pressure light goes on.  One or more of the tires will have lost air pressure due to change in outside temperature (cold weather phenom). Tell me that a company as big as Nissan isn’t more qualified to work with air pressure than a football ref with an AutoZone tire pressure gauge.  Did he check Andrew’s ball’s PSI or just yours?  If both, then did he use the same aforementioned tire gauge on both sets of balls.  Did he lick the needle before insertion into each ball( question of cold air on spit) or did he just initially lick it and use it on all balls or did he check more than one ball between licks.  I can definitely see some problems here.  When the balls were checked initially were they in an indoor facility?  When they were subsequently checked had they been outside in the cold weather for any length of time?  Possibly 2 quarters of a football game.

Now I can see where you might have insisted on the equipment guys keeping your game balls at the low end of the spectrum.  No problem, no foul.  Who in the wide world of professional sports could hold you responsible for the weather lowering the PSI during the game.  What were you to  do? Sit on them like a hen hatching her eggs.

Do not let them look at your Iphone.  They are only trying to find some selfies of you and your gorgeous wife.  Do not give them that pleasure.  They need to buy the magazines just like the rest of us guys.  By the way, Buddy, Congratulation on scoring that little draft choice.

As far as the asterisk is concerned, well with your millions, your record, your apparent life then I would go down and have an asterisk tattooed on my forehead.  Wear a toboggan when you out fancy, actually you do that anyway, and when going casual, then just flaunt it.  No one looking at your record is going to take the time to look up what an asterisk means.

Dont be too concerned about what you read in the papers.  They have to sell those things.  Lowering air pressure in your balls is a minor thing.  If they lined up all the guys in the NFL who have done something shady you would be so far down the line that no one could find you with a telescope.  Keep chunking those passes downfield.  Keep that gal of yours happy cause you wont ever get another one that good looking.

Chuy the fan

They are at it again.  Yes, they are tired of being oppressed by the white establishment so they are going to burn down a few of their neighborhood stores, steal their neighbor’s cars and burn them and generally become lawless citizens.  It is much like the 3 little pigs telling the big bad wolf. ” you aint blowing our house down, cause we burned it down ourselves” .  Nanny  Boo Boo.  Does the wolf give a damn how your house came apart?  He got you out in the open and didn’t have to do a thing.  He just had to sit back and watch the little pigs set themselves back a decade or so in their march to justice and equality.

Will the establishment rebuild the city of Baltimore?  Yes.  Will it be a better city?  No.  Why?  Because they are going to have to spend the taxpayer’s money to rebuild something that was already there instead of building something new.  Instead of progress they will be involved in recovery.  Will the city be able to entice new businesses to come into certain areas of Baltimore and open new stores where others have been burned out?  I damned sure wouldn’t go there to seek my fortune.  What would fire insurance cost per month on a building that is being erected on a lot where the previous building was burned in a riot?  Oh, lets open a liquor store down there where the riots were.

I heard numerous people state on TV last night that the rioters and looters were just people who were fed up with police brutality, lack of jobs and opportunities and other social ills.  They werent grieving for the young man who died while in police custody.  They were just fed up with oppression.  I don’t believe that for a minute.  They were thugs, thieves, unsupervised high school students, etc, etc.  They can blame their situation on anybody but the problem is with themselves.  They lack moral fiber.  They lack a work ethic.  They lack desire.  They simply think it is easier to hang around on the streets and do nothing but bitch about how bad off they are.

I have long advocated that the USA needs a civilian work training corp like the CCC’s of the depression era.  An organization that can train people while working on the infrastructure of our nation.  Give some disadvantaged young people some of the things they desperately need.  Work ethic, purpose, skills. etc.  These riots could give us an opportunity to get something like this off the ground.  Let judges offer those who are so intent of ruining their cities an opportunity of doing good instead of going to jail.  20 years in prison or 5 years in our training program.?  20 years lying around getting prison tattoos or 5 years learning how to be a heavy equipment operator or a surveyor or an electrician or brick mason.  You would get a uniform under both scenarios, you would be fed but the thing is, the prison uniform and food just wouldn’t be as good.   You couldn’t change into your civies if you were in prison.  You can’t go out on Saturday night if you are in prison.  The pay is not the same.  You can’t build a better place to live if you are in prison.  You languish instead of flourish.

We will have to watch a month of media coverage and finger-pointing concerning whose fault this was, who should have done what and when and nothing will be accomplished. Our leaders will tsk, tsk, for a while and kick dirt and generally raise hell about the situation but nothing will be done.  It will lose front page coverage quickly because something will come up involving one or more of the folks running for office.  There will be a scandal about something someone should have disclosed but didn’t.  We will lose interest.  The folks who owned the liquor store wont lose interest but they wont get back what they lost either.

Tell the wolf he doesn’t have to blow, its gonna fall down by itself.

Gary

My wife watched the Diane Sawyer interview of Bruce Jenner last evening and I caught snippets of it on my trips to the kitchen.  I am not sure I heard anything that I had not already surmised.  Bruce has some emotional problems: some relationship problems and some might say he is nutty as a fruitcake.  He went into great detail about his desire to dress as a girl during his formative years.  He liked wearing dresses, headscarves, etc.  Even in his days as a decathelete he wore his hair in a bob.  All that is alright I guess.  I have some suggestions that he might have tried.  An Indian outfit is kinda like a skirt and the indian headdress is almost a headscarf, if you use you imagination.  Maybe he should have just always volunteered to be the Indian chief in a game of cowboys and indians.  I will have to tell him that marrying into the Kartrashian family certainly didn’t help in his attempt at gender identity.  That bunch will denut you quicker than a range rider in a Louie Lamour novel.  I cant imagine the fight that must have gone on between him and the old lady of the clan about who used the mirror first in the morning.  She claims she was stunned about Bruce’s revelation.  B/S.  Wasnt it a clue when Bruce applied blush in the morning?  Were his lips always so puffy pink?

Go ahead and get the operation, take the shots, do whatever it takes to get the transformation complete.  I can promise you it will not make you a very good looking woman.  You can wear all the skirts and high heeled shoes you want but your are gonna be a guy in a girl suit.

Now, here is a request to all the females I ever knew, if you and I ever had a date, of any kind, please do not reveal at this point in life that you secretly wanted to be a guy.  If I ever saw you at Boulder Courts swimming pool in your swimsuit, please do not make the revelation.  If you ever dated any of my friends, mum is the word also.  If you and I ever shared a locker room, do not tell me now that you always wanted to  be a girl.  We are too damned old and too near the end for you to make such a revelation.  Gut it up and live the rest of your life as God made you.  I just dont need any surprises.

GC

Corpus Christi was the center of the Tejano music world this last weekend.  The first of, many I am sure, Fiesta de la Flor was held in remembrance of the late great singer, SELENA.  This was her home and the place she was killed.

The city was inundated with as many as 50,000 fans.  A festival venue was set up in the downtown area and rides were furnished for those who could get tickets.  Needless to say, it was a sell out.  I did not attend.

I remember the day her fan club president killed her and that, truthfully was the first time I had ever heard of her.  I have spoken to many who were in the same cloud of darkness as I was about the “Flower” of Tejano music who lived in our midst.  If we had only known.  Shortly after her death her father built a museum here in town and truthfully I had never seen a soul at the facility until Friday of last week.  People were parked for 6 blocks trying to get in to the museum.  A local benevolent had erected a statue of her down town on the water front and that has been a pilgrimage site for years.  They have to repaint the left breast of the statue about every 6 months as people seem to rub the paint off that particular spot.  I have seen the statue a couple of times but did not fondle it in any way.

Hero’s and heroine’s  are good things.  They are good for the people.  Some show qualities of leadership, love of our nation, and various traits that are beneficial.  I have never been too much in love with entertainers as anything other than entertainers.  I liked Elvis, have been to Graceland, but I didnt buy a t-shirt nor do I own a black velvet painting of the “King” of rock and roll.  My hero’s are people a little closer to home, my father, my grandfathers, men of the community who led our nation in a recovery process after WW2.  (mothers, grandmothers also).  Men and women who survived the great depression and the dust bowl days of the 30’s.  Those people are worthy of being legends.

Gary

We had a reunion this last weekend.  We missed those of you who could not attend but understand that we cant always do what we want, when we want to do it.  You are forgiven.  Those of us attending talked until the point of not having much else to say and then we went to bed.  Going to bed is influenced by the fact that this was our 54th year since graduation.

We rehashed old memories, relived some times that were probably better forgotten but some of the tales allow the legends to continue.  Some tales were funnier retold than they were when they happened.

Try as you may, to forget or deny, that cliques existed in our time in high school, time has a way of overriding those silly thoughts we had as to who was cool and who wasnt.  When reuniting with each other you find that everyone has been successful as parents, some as grandparents and human beings in general.  You only remember the very best about your fellow students and that is well worth the time and expense it takes to attend a reunion.  I try not to miss one and hope that others will make an effort when another is scheduled.  You will be surprised how easy it is to slip back in the position of being a long lost friend, some one I call a “forever friend”.

Gary

The next year of so will be filled with more promises than a new groom.  We will be regaled with what can be done for us by the candidate and his/her party.  As all of us are aware, most of those promises do not ever come to fruition.

Our first announced candidate, Ted Cruz , is the darling of the Tea Party and has attained a following of people who think he is the answer to all our prayers.  He is a glib talker, even if he talks in a sing-song tone that reminds me of a religious counselor.  He was recently interviewed and asked why he was signing up for Obama care benefits.  His response was that he was going to follow the letter of the law.  interviewer haven’t you stated that you would repeal that law if you were elected?  If so, how can you now seek its benefits?  I believe in the letter of the law.  This is no answer.  This is a politician’s attempt at avoiding being caught in a situation that makes him/her look bad.  If he wants my vote he simply has to answer such questions in a simple straight forward manner.  No mealy mouthed political diatribe, just a clear concise answer.  Follow the letter of the law?  President must be natural-born citizen of USA.  Not a Canadian who has denounced his Canadian citizenship. I think we better get this problem ironed out before he gets too far into a campaign.  Is he even eligible?

Hillary.  A liar in the first degree.  I just can’t say enough things about her that would make me even consider her for president ? None of my reasons have anything to do with her being a woman.

I had promised myself that I would not use my blog for political spew.  I guess I couldn’t keep that promise.  I will now try to keep it at a minimum.

I am asking each of my readers to simply do some intelligent investigation about who we have running.  We have had a glib talking snake oil salesman for a president for the last two terms.  He was under-qualified for the position, possibly didn’t qualify to be president , and yet he got elected my the masses who thought they were on the road to glory.  Taking from me to give to you is not a concept I think the government ought to promote.  If I want you to have something that I have earned then I will simply give it to you out of the goodness of my heart.  All of us should live under that premise.  Give unto others, not be forced to do it.

Gary

I just watched a piece of news while having my dinner and was absolutely amazed at the stupidity of homo sapiens.  The news item concerned the possibility of Donald Trump running for president.  He was traveling thru New Hampshiere and one woman advised she would vote for him because he is so handsome.  I almost puked.  Have we gotten to the point that we judge our leaders as to whether they are handsome or beautiful.  Where in all that is holy are we going from here.  So far, we have Hillary and the Donald.  We have a woman who is so in lust with power that she would allow her husband to slander and embarrass her, their daughter, and our nation and not throw his happy ass down a flight of stairs.  To vote for Donald one might as well vote for Happy the Clown.

WE wonder why our nation is no longer respected around the world.  You dont have to think very hard to find the answer.  Just look who we elect as our leaders.

Jesus, take me now, pleae, before the Howdy Doody show comes back to television.

Chuy the disenfranchised.

I bought a new car yesterday.  This will now give me something to do for the rest of my driving days: I am referring to the reading and study of the owner’s manual.

My first car had a minimum of buttons on the dash.  I can recall a knob that engaged the overdrive feature, 2 knobs and about 5 buttons on the radio, and a light switch.  The high beam light switch was on the floor on the left side of the drivers area, where it should still be, and the horn was honked by a big round silver circle that was located on the steering column.  Basic, but effective.  My first car did not have the following features:  heated steering wheel ( if it is that cold, I am going to be home ), heated seats ( makes my butt sweat), DVD player ( I can’t watch cause it is in back seat) , warning system to prevent getting too close to car in front or rear of you (if I can’t see the cars I need to stay at home anyway), a video display that tells me how much air is in each tire (how do they do that?), a voice that comes on and tells me there is a flash flood warning in the area (Oh, that’s what that wall of water is that is coming down the gully off to the right) and a map that tells me where I am at and where I am going.  That little feature could come in handy when  dementia sets in.  I am not sure I need or really care to know what my average fuel consumption is on hilly terrain ( I can look at the gauge and see how far from empty I seem to be).  The one feature I am really glad did not exist when I was in my formative years is that “Northstar” thingy.  That damned thing is spooky as a haunted house.  Can you imagine being parked out at that second little road past the “circle” at the Pecos airport and have a thought about their being someone ( a real person, who can talk) who knows exactly where you are.  Not only does that lady know where you are, she can send you a map about how to get back to your date’s house.  Please go 100′, turn right at the mesquite bush, proceed 1/2 mile down the dirt road, etc, etc, etc.  Had that been available would the voice have felt compelled to call your date’s parents and tell them where you had taken their daughter?  I shudder to think of the possibilities.

It does have a stereo system.  A good one.  With 13 speakers placed strategically around the interior of the car.  I remember installing a second speaker in my first car.  I was high cotton.  I think I will crank up the bass while I drive today, wear some dark glasses and tie a dew rag around my head.  When the gangs start chasing me for getting on their turf, I will just call that lady at Northstar and get the map to the police station.

Oh, and I am going to spend some time today trying to find the handle that opens the gas tank door and the hood.

Chuy (Henry Ford) Cowan

It is not the dishonesty.  Its not the distasteful life style with Bill.  Its the damned arrogance and her complete disregard for the people who she wants to govern.  People can do alot of things to me and get by with it but to treat me as someone who is unimportant and totally ignorant is just too much.

School was good at ole Pecos Elementary.  The teachers were normally mild mannered and helped with the transition from your home to the big world outside.  There were some who scared the hell out of everybody but they were actually good people.  All of us were terrified of the electric paddle chair that resided in Mr. Kelly’s office but I knew of few people who were actually mortally wounded by the dreaded contraption.  School days were just a series of new learning experiences.  However, I did have my favorite times during the day and feel that I am not alone in these choices.

I liked recess.  I liked it even though I was rarely ever chosen as the captain of any team that made up the sports we played.  Those who were chosen as captains remained the captains of every team for the rest of our schooling in PISD.  That is an unwritten law I guess.  If you are the first captain chosen then you are named for life.  I am okay with that. My ego never required stroking to that extent.  I just like to be on the team.  My favorite game that we played involved two teams at opposite ends of the big playgound.  In opposing corners there was a square marked on the ground and pieces of rubber hose were stored there.  The object of the game was to retrieve a hose from the opponent’s home base without being tackled and captured.  You were home free once you got to the square where the hoses were and I think you got to retrieve a member of your team who had previously been captured.  That game was fairly rough-house and I dont remember the girls getting to play.  However I do remember a couple of the girls who could have been excellent players had they been allowed.

I like lunch hour.  My Roy Rodgers lunch pail was carried religiously and contained gastronomic marvels.  Baloney and cheese sandwiches, a moon pie and a small thermos of hopefully chocolate milk.  No carrot sticks and celery in those days.  Just good ole carbs and sugar.

I remember and liked reading time.  Usually after lunch period our teacher would have us lay our heads down on the desk while she read to us.  I never actually went to sleep as some of my fellow students but remained rivited to the story she was reading.  The best part about this was the book was usually a book that was entertaining instead of being enlightening, such as a text book.  The Hardy Boys books jump to mind.  Nancy Drew, not so much, however, to be fair and politically correct she was the darling of many. I always thought this was a time for the student but determined later in life that the reading time was actually for the teacher.  A time of peace and relative quiet, where possibly she would recover and reorganize.  To wonder maybe why she had chosen this as a career???

Life cycles are funny.  We start life as described above and then we go into a period where we no longer get a recess, a lunch hour as we knew it then, nor a nap/book reading time. We hit the ground running early in the morning and hustle and bustle all day and go home to our home life.  Home life during this period is not a time of playing around the neighborhood but is a time of chores, etc.  Grown up things.  Now I am in the third cycle of life where things have swung back the other way.  I can now take a recess during the middle of the day.  I can sit in a park and dream of the games I played when younger and more full of pep.  I can eat a baloney sandwich and drink chocolate milk if I want and I can actually take a nap in the afternoon if I should so desire and the telephone doesnt ring.  No one reads books to me but if I went down to the book store I could buy or rent an audio book and then I would be in perfect harmony with my days in elementary school.  Oh, and I dont have to worry about Frank Kelly busting my ass with an electric paddle.

Chuy the student