From the East Wing, Smelling Lilacs, Recycling Pup Baby, ToothPaste Tax, A Good Teacher and Blaming Bush

Greetings to all, and welcome new friends to the East Wing.

April 15th came and went and so did another tax year. I’ve said it before but in many ways I’ve one of the best jobs in the world. Put in all my overtime the worst part of the year. January to mid April, now if ya gotta pick a time to work most day and night, pick the winter time, can’t do anything outside anyways.

Come mid April, the world turns green, and everyone’s wanting to go outside and play. I do. I walk in the sunshine with the 2girldogs. Sophia comes along. Now Sophia, she doesn’t walk with us, she walks beside us, ’bout 20ft or so to the right, always to the right. Sophia is never to the left of anything. Some habits are hard to break even when you’re just out walking in the sunshine, singing little sunshine songs. To the right, but never with us. We stop, she stops. We turn, she turns. Always maintaining that 20ft space. Guess ya just gotta give some cats room, on the right.

Now for everyone who wanted to know where to go to get the Giant Bullfrog Legs, it’s kinda like those mushroom hunters that’ll never tell ya the place they found ‘em, just give ya a vague hint. Well my vague hint is “at Southfork”. If ya look real hard, you’ll find ‘em. If ya go early in the spring, ya can hear the Bells of Springtime at Southfork too.

The Maple Trees looking south from the East Wing are leaving out so fast it seems I can almost see ‘em grow. Pretty site, watching leaves grow. Those little micro-factories getting ready to process chlorophyll.

I’m surprised some politician has not yet figured out some way to tax those tree leaf factories for polluting the air. We’ve forever been told how factories pollute the air, and after all, a by-product of these nasty little factories is oxygen, and we all know how much that pollutes the air. And besides, oxygen is what makes fires burn, so they could accuse the trees of being fire hazards I’m sure the trees will be covered in the democratic “cap and trade” bill currently being considered in the Senate.

Now that the new health care law is in affect with its tax on the use of tanning beds, it only seems right that we tax trees for polluting the air with that dangerous oxygen. And another thing ‘bout those trees while I’m thinking ‘bout ‘em, they are all sucking up carbon dioxide. I think they should have to pay their fair share. The more carbon dioxide those trees use the more they should pay.

But some of those little trees, well they need help, so maybe the government should give them a helping hand, such as extra carbon dioxide and in order to assure their growth, maybe force all big trees within ¼ mile to fall over, so the little ones can get more sunshine. Big trees have lived long enough anyhow. Its ‘bout time somebody stepped and started making decisions on who should life and who should die. Those big trees thing they got it made, well, we’ll show ‘em. That’s what the big trees get for voting with the cat.

Did ya hear ‘bout the new toothpaste tax scheduled to kick in July 1st? Ya, all tubes of toothpaste sold after July 1st this year will have a computer chip in the tube, when ya purchase the toothpaste the tube will be scanned with your SS Number into the chip.

Then each time ya squeeze the tube, the chip records and stores the data. Satellites are positioned to scan every residence in the country every 24 hours to collect the toothpaste squeezing data. This data in turn will be fed into the government high speed computers and monthly toothpaste tax bills will be delivered to your mailbox. For those people receiving any type monthly Federal Check, (24.22% of society) the toothpaste tax will be automatically deducted from your check. For the rest of us, well we have the option of pay by mail, credit card or direct debit. For those who may choose to pay one year at a time, in advance of course, a pound of flesh.

The East Wing’s in full and Beautiful Springtime Bloom. Lilacs, Crab Apples, Apple Trees, Peach Trees, Pear Trees. Red Bud Trees. It hard to tell which is the prettiest. I love ‘em all. Just walking in the yards of the East Wing makes ya glad to be living in the country.

Almost forgot part of the pretty in the yard. They came home, those pretty little springtime friends of mine, those pretty little dandelions. And from the looks of the yards, they must have invited new friends over to visit.
Stargazed for a while last night in the cold, real cold. It felt much colder than it really was, just the result of getting used to warm weather quick. I don’t look at the moon too much anymore, but last night was the ideal time to moon look. Only ‘bout 8% of the moon was showing, so that makes ideal viewing. It was fun, didn’t see anybody up there though. Tried to find the space station and sync in on it, but the space station orbit at that time was outside my range of view. Oh well maybe next time we stargaze.

One of the side benefits of having you come visit the East Wing is all the email I get each week. I try to answer all my email, but sometimes do get behind. Sophia, The Republican Cat, tends to push her email answering off on me, so I get even more behind, but I do appreciate each and every comment received.

Had a lady tell me last week that she’s lived over 30 years in New York City and still misses the Northern Indiana Springtime. Most everybody thinks wherever they live is God’s Country. Well, looking south from the East Wing, I know of at least two votes for Northern Indiana. She’s not seen Lilacs in bloom for many years and still remembers the aroma of Lilacs in the Springtime.

It’s difficult to imagine a world without Springtime Blossoms, a world without green grass every where ya look, a world where dogs and cats don’t run free, where neighbors houses touch, where the front yard is concrete. Where the front yard is also sidewalk. City life.

All the springtime birds of the East Wing have finally calmed down, those who were looking for girl friends, and Lord knows there were a lot, have either found ‘em or gave up and went somewhere else to look. In either event, those remaining are now quite busy building nests and getting ready. Watching birds build nests is just one of the coolest things to see. Oh, if only we had that level of determination in our lives, well, we’d all be millionaires.

One of the neat things I do each year ‘round this time is to comb the Pup Baby every day and collect any loose winter hair that may be thinking ‘bout coming out anyway. Save this hair for a couple days and take it outside early in the morning, and place it in a good spot where I can see the birds reaction to such nest building materials. I saved Pup Baby’s hair for a week and put it out in the yard this morning.

By the time I got home from both church and taking my Mama out to lunch, most was already gone. The rest disappeared well before the sun went down. It’s kinda neat to think that some little unknown bird will be hatched in the softest of nests, and will grow up thinking that all nests are that way.

But what’s most cool ‘bout the whole deal is, I’m recycling Pup Baby! I think the Recycling Czar is gona be proposing a tax credit for pet recycling.

Did ya ever notice how the political types at the national level throw that term “tax credit” at ya every chance they get. Is that a way to ensure we vote for ‘em? A tax credit for buying a house, a car, windows, new furnace, new doors, becoming educated, insulation, being poor, refrigerators, being old, having babies, getting a job, losing a job, and this is just a very, very small sample of the tax credits available as the list seems to go forever. Who do ya think pays for these “tax credits”? We, as a people, are more and more looking for our government to hand us stuff, to make our decisions, to take care of us. Are we too unable to do so? I wonder.

I had an interesting conversation with a public school teacher the other day, a teacher who I consider to be one of the very best I’ve ever known, and I’ve known a few, said she was gona retire, and would be doing so with a feeling of disappointment in her life.

I was so surprised to hear such a statement that I had to press for an explanation as to why she felt that way. Her answer stunned me. It was not from what she’s done with her career as an educator, she’d loved every minute in the class room, and continues to this day. The disappointment is from the direction she’s seen society move into the future. She described in detail the difference between her current class and her first class. The changes in manners, language skills, social skills, respect for others, willingness to share, willingness to help others, satisfaction with home life, happiness, fears, respect for authority, discipline, violence, anti social behavior, were some of the things she spoke about.

In many ways this was one of the most freighting conversations I’d ever be in. I’d never heard society’s evaluation laid out quite like that. This coming from one of the very best teachers I’ve ever known took me back a bit to say the least.

Don’t think I told ya, she teaches the First Grade. She sees the babies that are coming into the education system at the entry level. Babies fresh from home, ready to start into the formal education process to allow ‘em to become productive members of our future society. Babies that have not yet had the time or opportunity to be corrupted by the ills of society. Babies under the tutelage of their parents.

Seems I recall somewhere I read that if ya really want to know what’s going on in the family, ask the youngest member. Anybody remember Art Linkletter? Made a living doing just that. Called a TV Show “Kids Say The Dandiest Things” They did, and they still do, especially to their First Grade Teacher.

Well Sophia The Republican Cat finally woke up from her catnap, after checking her email, she comes running at me with all fur standing. Throws an email on the keyboard, jumps on the back of the chair and says “what the %^$#^$@%#$ ya think ‘bout that?” (gona have to wash that cat’s mouth out with soap)

Seems Sophia had somehow had gotten hold of a secret email from one of the top operatives in the Chicago Political Machine, an email to the White House informing the President that they had worked out the detail logic which will allow the President of officially blame the Iceland Volcano Eruptions on George Bush. Such an announcement is expected by the Republicans at any time. But certainly before the thing stops putting out all the ash and bringing most all of Europe back to earth. It’s hard to travel in a sand storm. Impossible to fly in a Volcanic Ash Cloud.

As always, you company this third Sunday of April has been most enjoyable. Thank you for being my friend.

Stay safe in Iraq, be especially careful in Afghanistan Delta People

From the East Wing, Smelling Lilacs, Recycling Pup Baby, Toothpaste Tax, A Good Teacher, And Blaming Bush

I wish you well,
BobbyRay