527- LADY GagGag!....BETTER YET, I'LL VOTE TAYLOR ALISON SWIFT For Our MUSIC'S TRUE AMERICAN HERO.....

A) Social commentary: I refer to "her" as Lady GagGag! Only in our America can a dodo rise up to take the $$$ from some fellow Americans. Yes, your choice. And my choice is to not listen and not buy anything associated with GagGag. One more question...at the recent new Yankee Stadium, who was she really representing, emulating? I see "SELFISH, SPOILED" written all across her GagGag bod!
B) TAYLOR SWIFT....she writes her own songs...she's a decent, great role model...she gives 150% in her songs and on the concert stage...she is kind and considerate to fans along the way and time...and she HAS NOT succumbed to thinking she was better than her fans!!
WOW!!!! TAYLOR SWIFT is THE one who deserves to be THE American success story, period....
Oh, we've NEVER seen Taylor Swift drunk and taking off her clothes in public at a Yankee's baseball game, in front of the crowd! You go, Taylor!!
C) An excellent example of the "power of celebrity"....more dumbing down of American society. I just cannot believe that Americans in our American society could be so dumb as to appreciate mindless persons in the spotlight??????

526- WHO CARES?....REALLY, WHO CARES ANYMORE?????

A) Our three American youth who, after a solid year, are still being held HOSTAGE in iran? I don't hear ANY outcry from my fellow Americans, especially the youth, for getting them freed? And I especially don't see and hear one single word from our White House demanding that our fellow Americans be freed! Do you? We have forgotten them! Remember the 444 days that a group of Americans were held captive in iran back in the late '70s???? Something is terribly wrong here, America! But the White House does have time to play golf...entertain rockers....
B) And those many Iranian youth and others who have been slaughtered during the past year? Did our White House step up and speak out, DO SOMETHING, anything, to help those Iranian youth in their struggle to become FREE? CAn YOU remember the 26-yr.-old who was shot last year and died, bled to death, in an Iranian street before our very eyes? Well, can you?
C) Again...WHO CARES?---------------------------

525- FREAKIN' vuvuzlas AT THE WORLD CUP COMPETITIONS???.....

A) OK, what is that sickening NOISE in the background at the World Cup competitions this month?
B) The vuvuzlas horns played by the 'cretins'...this group of disrespectful idiots in the stands have come up with a NOISE that iritates the heck out of just about everybody, especially the players. And have slid under the rules of the World Cup federation that allows the "support" of a team.
C) Social custom? Bull hockey! It's an utter lack of respect for millions of honored soccer!!!!! And, now, guess what the world will probably have to put up for years at any soccer match anywhere in our world? Idiots imitating idiots! It will become a social freakin' fad. Betcha....
D) CREATE A NEW RULE AND SEND THE cretins packing, NOW!!!!!!!

524- ARKANSAS...CAMPERS In The OUACHITA NATIONAL FOREST AWAKE To A FLASH FLOOD.....

A) Vacationing families camped in a remote Arkansas valley southwest of Little Rock...a flash flood.
B) When a child, a similar flash flood roared down from the mountains during the middle of the night in the North River Gorge of Augusta County, Virginia, a Girls Scout camp was quickly evacuated, girls and leadersgoing up the steep mountainside to escape, in the middle of the summer night. My parents drove, later, through the forest area that we had visited often over the years. This little boy, me, was deeply affected by the stories the adults related around me of a flood during the night. I remember seeing only one building left standing in the flat area below the Gorge---a white country church.
C) This week, in Arkansas, 6 children were...swept away. This story is very difficult for me.... Their souls are blessed..........

523- COOKING SKILLS...INTO "EYE-BALLING" MEASUREMENTS?.....

A) If you like to watch some of the "Food Channel" progams, and I do at times, some of the on-camera cooks who earn mega-$$$, take liberties by "eye-balling" all of their measurements. Do you?
B) Unless you have years of experience, suggest that you use the old-fashioned and tried cookbook methods and measurements for better results...works!

522- ABBY SUNDERLAND...FOUND...FOUND!!!!!

A) KEEP THE FAITH, ABBY, and everyone around the world who cares about this brave and adventurous teen!!!! She was on another adventure, alone, to sail around-the-world and didn't check in.....yet.

B) FOUND!!!...she was tracked and found overnight. There was a storm, with 40' waves, 2,000 miles east of Australia and Africa in the Indian Ocean. The sailboat's mast and rigging were snapped off, and she had no way to navigate, but they FOUND her withtwo tracking devices on board...a plane flew out, with little fluel to spare, and spotted her before the crew had to return back to the base!
C) Today, in this year of 2010, America and the world has a 16-year-old teen, girl, who is the essence of bravery and ADVENTURE! This guy loves ADVENTURE and taking changes on ADVENTURES, but never even close to the character of OUR ABBY SUNDERLAND!!
D) Abby's parents have six (6) other siblings in their family in thousand Oaks, California. You go, Abby!! What a person and what a teen, know what I mean?
E) Aussie, French and the USA are cooperating in getting to her, drifting in the ocean...those fierce waves have abated! may take another 20 to 30 hours to actually reach her in the ocean.
F) And, after she is hugged and greeted by her family and neighbors, I'll be that someone who will ask her if she will try the goal again, to complete the sailing mission all the way around....and, I'll wager that she says------YES!!
G) .......................Now some "nice" reporter is pushing that Abby was not prepared for the solo trip around the world, that her sailboat was not up to par for the journey. I need to ponder that for a 'spell.'

H) Check out Abby's sites:
1- type in google----Abby Sunderland's blog---
2- or----www.abbysunderland.com---

521- FATHER'S DAY 2010!...MY ALL-TIME FAVE FATHER...TWO OF THEM!......

1) My all-time fave Father's Day dad is---my late father, Melvin ('Bus'). He didn't complete his high school studies but was wiser than anyone you, or me, will EVER know.
2) And my paternal grandfather, Carl!! As a youth, when he went looking for a job, a craftsman, tailor, gave him the opportunity to learn the skill...and he did! For decades, my grandfather was an honored and respected person in his town, on a hill along Buttermilk Spring Road.
3) My grandfather, Carl, and grandmother, Willie. I honored them this month (May/'19) with a special written tribute, article, in "COUNTRY" magazine. It's a national magazine, based in Wisconsin, and has a subscription run of over 1 million copies each mailing. An average of four million (4 persons to a family) read the excellent 'rural' mag four times a year, with many all COLOR pics and real persons. You'll see it on many newsstands.
4) My father's duty to the family always came first! An early memory bank included hearing him, when it snowed, putting chains on the family car to make sure that WE would be safe going to school....waking up to the whiffs of his homemade biscuits baking away. We usually had a choice of "orange" or "red" biscuits. He had added orange juice or tomato juice to the batter to make them "healthy!"
5) My grandfather, Carleton, was a gentle, quietly intelligent and inventive. When he needed a part or better way of doing something, as he "tinkered" about in his shop, he invented it, created it from scratch!
6) Both had a special love of the CIRCUS, too. My father designed and built miniature circus wagons in his shop!
7) ...more.....

520- Did YOU HAVE A "GOOGI"?.....

A) Please ponder that for a spell...and you did!
B) This American social commentary thinker says YES! And parents, or parent, are the reason, handing the old custom down through the many generations of our American past. AND, by the way, that is, uh, neat!
C) After asking scores of parents, or a parent, over the years, my conclusion is that this custom has long been a private affair. AND THAT, in itself, is a terriffic social tradition to hand down.
D) It appears that no one uses the term of "pacifier", opting instead for a unique designation specially created for THEIR child or children.
E)

519- THE OIL SPILL and the WILDLIFE ALONG OUR GULF OF MEXICO COAST.......

A) Since munchkinhood, this guy has valued the out-of-doors and wildlife and how the entire plan of NATURE fits together....
B) When I pause a moment, during the past week and see the scenes that are now slipping through the contrived seive by BP, of brown pelicans, dolphins and hundreds of turtles and birds saturated with freaking OIL, tears begin to develop. Remember the unique and neat TV commerical about the land, once upon a time, with the Native American chief turning to face us, and a tear or three began to run down his weathered face?
C) It's 2010 for gosh sakes! Where are the leaders who are responsible for, federally, protecting us and our American shores? And what will happen if another one or group of fantically Islamists, vowing to kill us, succeed?....it's 2010 for gosh sakes!

518- OUT OF NECESSITY....MY FIVE (5) BLOG CONTENTS Are NOW UNDER MY COPYRIGHT PROTECTION!.......

A) Why? So much of my original style of writing and research presentation sets it apart...thanks for understanding.
This simply means that you'll need, please, to give credits to moi!...thanks.
B) I DO try to give credits to others, too!!!
C) July blogs for 2009!...you are welcome to check back to last year's July BLOGS on personal adventures, people met or in audicence and experiences during the years----every single one, that means every single experience and adventure IS T-R-U-E! If you see me in person, out and about, ask me to describe any of them...thanks. That 'squires view" blog is #342!!!!!

517- DO YOU REMEMBER "Summer Camp"?...I LOVED IT!.....

A) Every inch of my summer camp days were spent at Camp Bethel near Fincastle, Va.! You are invited to think back to your own memory bank as I progress with mine......
B) 'Hillside' was a rustic, wooden, covered on top only, assembly place built up the side of a wooded hill. Way back, ron rascal carved my name, and then girlfriend's name, up high in a wooden after. Years later, a memory trip back searched and found it...again....a tiny tear or three....
C) 'The Old Dining Hall'...was beside the edge of a small lake, surrounded by trees. Can still "see" someone ringing an ancient dinner bell outside beside the double-swinging door that "SLAMMED" every time someone went through without catching one or both. There were assigned seats at simple homemade picnic tables inside.
D) 'The Rec Hall'...made of river stones and still there. I learned to place 'Four-Square' in there, and how to skillfully play 'table tennis' (ping pong). And to SWIM with assuredness, even being a lifeguard one summer.
E) Shhhhhh...one night three of us slipped away, across a fence to a pond filled with a frog or three. We brought a couple back and added to the lights-out rustic cabin's ambiance....
F)

516- OUR 'MEMORIAL DAY' 2010........

A) Bagpipes..."Amazing Grace"...dualing bugles.....
B) This proud American cannot, will not, forget my experiences when last visiting our Arlington National Cemetery, along the Potomac River. I had paused by the JFK burual site, then walked on up the hilld to the Tombs of the Unknown Soldier. The scene is, forever, etched in my memory bank...quietness....respect...reverence. Then, I strained to hear a note or three of a familiar piece of music. And walked in that direction. A burial had taken place, and, as I moved closer, the music became more evident.
D) Off to the left, in a small woods, were the familiar notes of 'Taps' by a lone bugler. A second or three later, to the opposite side, hidden from my view, the same notes began...dualing. This AMERICAN, unabashedly, began to have a tiny tear or three stream down my face, with an everpresent light breeze moving across from left to right. Far off, to my left, across the River, I could make out the form of the memorial to Thomas Jefferson...and the very tall, pointed obelisk memorial to George Washington, glistening white in the sunshine.....
E) And another experience....at a football game in C-Ville, during halftime, the entire halftime was buzzing with chatter, 'cause our Wahoos were ahead!. And then "it" spread rapidly throughout the entire sunny, fall afternoon. Somewhere, hidden to me, a bagpiper began to prime and then play "Amazing Grace", to honor our fallen American soldier. Almost to the a second, the HUSH 'frozen' the chattering scene, for the bagpiper continued on with the familiar tune. This native Virginian looked around and noticed hundreds and hundreds of fans and players and cheerleader instantly either place a hand over their hearts or lower their face a bit. Even little children....
Once again, something inside of me swelled with AMERICAN pride inside. I shall never, ever, forget that scene that afternoon in a crowded football stadium at our University of Virginia in...C-Ville!! YOU GO, WAHOOS.......

515- OUR ONCE PROLIFIC AMERICAN CHESTNUT TREES!...WILL THEY EVER MAKE A COMEBACK?.....

A) A natural history commentary: suggest you type in "American Chestnut Foundation" ('google') and uncover some neat background on the American chestnut before we proceed...thanks.
B) In our early 20th century forests, especially in the East, American Chestnut trees were the strong, straight and TALL trees in the woods. The saplings were sooo determinted to raise to the sunshine, they had to be tall and grow sturdily.
If you ever drive through our National Forests, you'll sometimes discover, looking carefully, still-standing chestnut zig-zag fences protecting what once was a cabin or mountain farmhouse...after all these years!
C) Your grandparents remembered roastin' chestnuts over an open fireplace. As a matter of fact, isn't there a neat CHRISTMAS song about "....roasting chestnuts on....?"
D) They are, ever soooo slowly. Our American chestnut is being "mixed" with a succesful blight resistant chestnut from another part of the world to create one that is going head to head to battle the blight that devastated our American chestnut decades ago!!
E) Next time you're out and about our Virginia's Blue Ride mts. and Appalachians, Blue Ridge Parkway, NOICE the old wooden fences still ambling along the two-lane roads in those mountains.....betcha they're the pre-blight American chestnut fences...betcha! NOW YOU KNOW.....

514- A TINKERER MY GRANDFATHER CARL and FATHER MELVIN WERE!!....

A) A bit of personal social culture...what is a TINKERER?..a 'shop'....a 'shed'? Only an earlier GUY or country GUY should know!
B) Both designed and built simple "shops", 'sheds' or garages out back to into and "tinker" within their own private world...an 'escape', both being expert craftsmen...tailors!
C) Both liked to build 'thangs' out there...to 'putter' around...to 'tinker'...little thangs, but always the aim was to have their own little space to do it, by themselves, away removed from the madding crowd. Both had a fascination, so did I, with the circus. So, my father would design and build little wooden models of circus wagons. He even bought, later, an acre of wooded, mountain land in Deerfield Valley to 'get away' and tinker.
The other gender, by the way? Have, as yet, uncovered NO women to have ever 'tinkered!'
D) 'Tinkering' seems to have disappeared in our current society! And seems not to be passed on from father to son anymore. What a shame! Hey, this guy still carries on the tradition of 'tinkering' that my grandfather passed on to my father to me. But it now goes on at my typewriter and computer space!

513- "LEVERAGE"...WHEN "THE END JUSTIFIES The MEANS" Is NEEDED!.....

A) Example: you have a problem with the owner, who is, you feel, taking advantage of you. LEVERAGE means that you check with the local. or state governments, and find out exactly what rights you have with the situation! Then, you, with personal strength, 'confront', with a witness, and expect changes FOR your rights. You, therefore, gained LEVERAGE by doing your homework and confronting the owner. I do not respect the title of "landlord."
B) "The end justifies the means!".....the philosophy HAS TWO SIDES to it! Throughout history, some people and groups have used it to justify their own hideous returns, like Stalin and Castro and maybe even some people you know! BUT....the other side of this issue can use the GOOD for GOOD results/ends! You need and want a good car....you work for it and the end is....A GOOD CAR! You want a home....and save and work and use your smarts to earn a mortgage for THAT home!!!!
C) SEE? Two sides, like a Virginia quarter!

512- "T-SHIRT READIN'"...A SOCIAL PHENOMENON In Our AMERICAN SOCIAL CULTURE!!....

A) Yes, I know that 100% of you do it...that's checking out what's printed on that T-shirt coming towards you! And how many of you, during these warmer months, LIKE to choose and wear somethin NEAT yourself? C'mon, admit it....
B) This guy does, and has for some time. This week, I just had to purchase a 1969 "WOODSTOCK" 'T' on sale for $10 at good ole 'James Cash Pen-nays.' Little did I realize, honest, that many, many people of all ages would stop and ask me where I got it! It was fun....
C) A few years back, at 'Tar-zha', I found a brown-colored 'T' with pics of the FAB Four' on the front. To this day, every time I wear it, many people even yell out, from a distance, that the 'T' is NEAT! That includes widdle kids and all ages up to grandmothers.
D) Yes, the power of a printed 'T-shirt' is an American social phenomenon that's been out and about for years! I 'triple-dog dare' you to rummage through your clothes drawers, maybe iron it a BIT, and wear one of your faves this warm weekend...otay? And I also bet you that most of you have taken good care of your fave ones, too, over the years. Some of mine were purchase back in 1907....1907? My friends, and Sarah, claim that one of my attributes is a...a sense of humor! Et vous?
E)

511- The "GRAND CANYON STATE", ARIZONA!...27 CHEERS For GOVERNOR BREWER!!!!!.....

A) Virginians....READ and PONDER the FACTS...support our fellow State of Arizona and their Governor Brewer, please!
B) Remember....know the FACTS!...know the history!...DO NOT get caught up in all the misinformation being thrown at you, us, from the small group of LIARS bent upon arrousing and fomenting the thousands of uninformed, those ignorant of the hard facts!...do not be a lemming!
C) I ask you...how can a fellow American city or state stoop so low as to throw an ignorant-based boycott against OUR fellow proud State of Arizona?
D) Instead, I and others, are leading a "BUY-COTT" for ARIZONA...that's a "BUY-COTT."

E) When the Homeland Security secretary was asked if she had READ the current Arizona bill that she had been attacking, she said......"...no!"
F) When our U.S. Attorney General was asked if he had read the current Arizona bill that he had been attacking, he said....."...no!"
G) MISINFORMATION!...when the Arizona Governor brought out her State's new bill, an immediate and calculated "HATCHE JOB' took over with the 'opposition' to the bill every so quickly hitting in the streets, catching much attention from the liberal-kinda news media. Some 'group' instigated the well-planned histeria, like lemmings!
H) the prez, who didn't read the Arizona bill at first, immediately went public against it, making a 'joke', while State of Arizona foots the millions of dollars expenses for ILLEGAL aliens inundating their school and health system! That's it!!!!
I) At least two California cities called for their citizens to 'boycott' Arizona...that's the pits!
J) "OPEN the Arizona BORDERS" is what was yelled for a week or more!
K) And what IS the overall major problem with this entire mess? OUR federal government, according to OUR U.S. Constitution, is legally and MUST PROTECT our country as an entity, and that includes the border along Arizona.
L) A girls' basketball championship team From Illinois was told that they COULD NOT go to Arizona for an earned tournament, without an ounce of input from the girls and their parents. An Asst. Superintendent did it, saying that they "wouldn't be safe."
M) Well....Arizona has NOT received any Constitutional support with the HUGE border problem from the federal government, via OUR White House. Our prez has, in public, sided WITH one group, without knowing the facts and especially what the LAW says! And even played pals with a visiting head of state, not one of our own States....

510- "SMILE...YOU'RE ON DIGITAL CAMERA!"....

A) A social culture commentary...it's interesting, in a unique way, to observe the better gender, girls and women, when someone is around and is snapping pics of them. Recently, at a local university graduation, this historian and sociology person began to notice how EVERY girl and woman, when a pic was about to be snapped, assumed the now typical position----slight turn to one side or the other, slight bend in knees and a warm smile, with white teeth prominent. When two or more were in the same pic, they quickly synced with that same now classic pose described above!
B) Did I notice the guys assuming this pose? NO....
C) So, what does this mean? The female gender, once again, has developed one of their own distinct characteristics...this one of posing for a pic or three. It's all on the surface, period. You go, female gender!!

509- HEY, MR. MAN is....THIRTY!.....

A) The year was 1980....does anyone remember those 'chines that offered us a game called....can you say PAC-MAN? Ok, I admit to being slightly hooked on that game at a local 7-Come-Eleven! By the way, remember those free-standing games...long before the current hand-held "games." Let's see...uh, the Mario Bros?
B) When my beautiful little daughter, Sarah, would come for a weekend, we would stop at a 7-Come-Eleven and play PAC-MAN at the standup 'chine! And then get a Dr Pepper at the nearby fountain. Her fave TRICK was to push all of the soda buttons INTO my one Big Gulp cup.......! Then she would giggle....
C) WAIT!...was there ever a Mrs. Pac-Man?....yes.