I’ve been slow to post anything lately as I’m still working through the death of my wife. Thanks to “The Chief” for making the bulk of new content here lately.
I’m sorting my wife’s treasures and purging a lot of them. She valued things in terms of sentimentality and not cash value. Sadly, granddad’s ratty leather briefcase and grandma’s old dish towels don’t mean much to me, and thus didn’t make the cut. Her children generally don’t want anything. None of the three children has offered to help go through any of their mother’s stuff. I’m left to either store what I think they might like later or chuck it out.
I have a huge amount of stuff to scan this next winter. Thus far, I have scanned over 26,000 images that need review. Most were scanned and the originals were scrapped. Frankly, almost all of this stuff is meaningless unless the kids decide to be parents, then maybe their past will begin to have some significance. But right now, they have no future or thought of perpetuating the species. (In fairness, one child is looking at adoption but that is different than having your own offspring.) The boys are seemingly content to spend their free time in front of small screens playing video games and having cyber friends in place of real relationships.
I have been fishing a few times in the last few weeks. I’ve caught trout in local rivers and bass in a local lake. I haven’t caught anything big, but I haven’t gotten skunked anywhere yet.
One project I’ve been working on is completing the railing for the deck. I bought the materials from Home Depot. Almost every box that has been delivered has been damaged. I have spent much time cleaning up the material so it can be used. I am still missing one box which should be delivered this week, or else I start complaining. I’ve been putting off the stair railing but may have to do that soon. (It’s the hardest so I have been saving it for last.)
I have set aside a small place near the front door for some photos of my wife. I’m lacking one more picture frame to complete this area. Meanwhile, the craft room is almost stripped bare, at least compared to how it looked before.
Th electricians have never finished the garage but I’m hoping that they will finish the job. It should only take one guy a day to finish what remains.
I’ve committed to connecting the upper stories of the house and garage. Hopefully my contractor can do the work as we discussed. I’m penciled in for August but that was before his daughter ran up $18K in medical bills. (The down side of not having medical insurance.) It was also before I decided to go to Ireland for two weeks.
Yep, I paid for a trip to Ireland. My wife made me promise to take a trip somewhere we would have enjoyed going together. I know I’m supposed to go because the recommended book to read prior to the trip is, “How the Irish Saved Civilization.” St Patrick is the best.
Editor’s Note: I was sent this blog post just before it was announced that Trump authorized bombing Iranian nuclear sites.
In wake of the Ukraine/Russia war and Isreal/Iran war, a lot has been made of “far left and far right” isolationism. Most of the media talking heads are shoveling a lot of bull shoot about this new ever-increasing policy. I want to clarify for the media and others who are uneducated about this policy and what it actually means.
Lately Bill O’Reilly, Chris Cuomo and several other talking heads have appeared in my “YouTube recommended videos.” On rare occasions, I will view these only to remind myself of why I made the smart move dropping cable. I watched both videos, they were about 20 minutes in length, and they are terribly misinformed. Isolationism does not mean that we pass on everything that is occurring outside the US. They both make a very bad take that “Iran cannot have a nuke … you guys think that’s ok?” The straw man argument is we need to join the war because the Ayatollah and mullahs are bad, and the world is better off without them. They are correct, Putin and the Ayatollah are very bad people, but where does the argument end? Kim in North Korea is bad too; so we should kill him off? The other comments are we are “safer” with these folks gone and de-nuclearized. Again, it’s a correct take, but how do we accomplish that?
Regarding isolationism and the Russia/Ukraine war, it’s actually easy to see why many are agreeing with that policy. Ukraine is not in NATO; they are not in the EU. Russia gave many indicators they were going to full scale attack, Ukraine ignored all of those. However, Ukraine has not been bashful about telling us and other NATO countries to pony up to help them defend. Why should we get involved here again?
Let’s just say we do get involved… Putin bad right? How many NATO allies are going in with us? Don’t answer that question, just think about it. If we go in, we better beat back Russia really quickly as we do not have the numbers to match them. Russia is old school grind-out the war foot-by-foot. They have disposable humans, we do not. Do not kid yourselves, Ukraine doesn’t want our weapons, Zelenskyy wants our boots on the ground. For a war we are not and should not be a party to.
The Iran/Israel war is similar. Sure, Israel is an ally, at least I think so. But how are we a party to this war? Iran did not directly attack us, sure they have proxies who have fired at our ships in the area, but never a direct attack. This is no different than Russia’s Wagner Group or even the USA’s Blackwater group from the Iraq war. They are third parties that keep themselves an arm’s length to avoid being a direct party to the attack. If Iran fired a missile at a base or ship of ours … it’s on. That’s not isolationism.
Israel has now decided they need our large bunker buster bomb to finish off the nuclear production in Iran. Again, I ask why are we needed here? Israel should have known about this before they attacked. This isn’t some WWE tag team match where they decide it’s our turn to enter the ring. Also how are they so sure we only need to drop a couple of these bombs? How will we know the uranium enrichment is really destroyed? Do these talking heads honestly think there are no air/ground defenses around this thing? It’s the Iranian crown jewel; they just leave it vulnerable to attack. Even after we do as O’Reilly says and “just drop a couple bombs” how do we know its totally destroyed …. Boots on the ground. Likely ours. Again, a forever war started because we had to remove someone.
Do not get it twisted, we have the world’s number 1 or 1b most powerful military, but we do not need to use it to show the force we have. We have much bigger issues to deal with. Again, why should our young people be sent to die in vain for wars we are not a party too?
Yep. Spain doesn’t want to spend more on defense because they want to waste it on social programs and green energy. Fear not, if needed, they got the USA’s phone number. We will bail them out with our military. Many other NATO countries feel the same way. Do not get it twisted as I said earlier, we will enter a war we are a party to, but shouldn’t other countries be pulling their weight? The Ukraine/Russia and Iran/Israel wars just seem like proxy wars to me.
We can sit it out. Doing so doesn’t make anyone pro-Kremlin or pro-Iran, that’s a retarded take. I can personally guarantee the war mongers in the media such as O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, and the war mongers in congress; Lindsay Graham (r) and Richard Blumenthal (d) wont be offering to lead the charge on foot. However, they will dutifully send in your kids or grandkids to get the job done. All to stop a nuke that our own Intelligence chief claims Iran does not possess nor are they wanting to possess.
It was going so well. The deportations, DOGE, law and order returning, no involvement in foreign wars, inflation cooling down, and the Democrat Party reeling like a swimmer drowning in a lake (or a passenger in the car with Teddy Kennedy).
Then Trump nuked it all. To be very honest I am not sure why. There are many things he has done, I will list them all.
Tariffs. This was and is felony stupid. He essentially became a “trade war Hitler” and declared war on the world and unilaterally raised tariffs on everyone. He had no plan…. actually, that is going to be a recurring theme of this blog. China raised tariffs on us, and so did many other countries. China stood up to us and showed the rest of the world how they could as well. Sure, he saved face with a couple trade deals, which we know nothing of the details other than “we won!” Color me a skeptic, until proven otherwise. Raising prices on goods, services, and clothing and telling people to have more kids is an oxymoron but I do not expect most of his followers to understand that. However, it has made for fun theatre watching; Sean Hannity and a host of other so-called conservatives defend him. Look it up people. It’s a far-left protectionist policy, but do not let facts get in the way; it may confuse the MAGA boot lickers.
Trump v Elon. Again, really stupid. I understand the point of DOGE and Elon was to find multiple trillion dollars to cut/save in the budget. This was always going to be an uphill climb. To Musk’s credit, he did find several things to cut. Then Trump went full nuclear when Elon said the “big beautiful bill” would raise the debt by circa 4-5 trillion. I do not know the relationship these two have now, but it was a nasty public spat that was so unnecessary. One thing is Elon called Trump on the carpet for something real, conservatives have known all along, Trump has no problem spending our money, he did it big time last term. Again, what was the point of this spat?
Trump v Jerome Powell. Did you know Trump appointed Powell? Yeah, I know “that was so 7 years ago… muh, MAGA!” Did you also know he is a lifelong Republican? Again, those pesky things called facts. Folks, Powell and the Fed’s job is not to cut rates to juice the stock market, nor is it their job to cut rates to zero so you can get low interest loans. It’s a hard job, they need to curb inflation. Saying you are going to fire him, unless he capitulates to your desires is wrong. Saying you are going to name yourself Fed Chair, even if in jest, is straight out of the far left “no king’s” protest. Powell is not perfect, but could we maybe not treat the US as a 4-year series of “The Apprentice?”
The Iran/Israel conflict. I blame Trump here for refusing to stand up at all to Netanyahu. I would have publicly stated “Bibi, this is your war and conflict, we are sitting it out.” Instead, he did the opposite, and his recent words tell me, we are already involved and likely going to drop the bunker buster. So much for being antiwar, huh? Interestingly enough India and Pakistan had to stand down, but this is ok? MAGA had a large isolationist contingent, we shall see what comes out of this.
His Big, Beautiful Bill. It is taking on water. The far-right hates adding to the deficit part, and center right wants SALT changes. He refuses to move even slightly. As a result, the tax cuts are stalled. He better get ready to work with a Democrat Congress because the tax hike will happen on his watch if they are not extended.
Greenland/Canada 51st state BS. I have had many a MAGA wannabe tell me its trolling or funny, too bad no one else finds it so. Oh, by the way, check out Canada’s election results. You add them as another state(s) to the Union and we will never have a Republican president again, ever. Greenland? He spoke about this during his first term… why and how come? They are sparsely populated, 45k at most. We do not need it. They do not want to be under US rule. It’s honestly this type of stupidity that makes people long for Joe Biden and no drama due to him being in poor health shape. This type of trolling when we have wars going on, inflation, homeless issues, and rioting is dumb.
Not calling Governor Tim Walz after the assassination of 1 representative, and attempted assassination of another. MAGA: muh, Tim Walz bad, he’s dumb democrat from blue state. Sure, but guys, the optics mean a lot here. It doesn’t matter if the shooter was; left/right/white/black/Cuban/Mexican/Asian, what matters is a phone call. Touch base, say how sorry you are, and reassure the governor that the suspect is charged federally. Seek the death penalty, and make sure the death part is carried out as soon as possible. I understand they were rivals and not so nice things were said, so I guess we carry a grudge into infinity? Be the bigger man. Trump made a big deal out of the person who was killed when he was almost assassinated, yet he wants to ignore this? Again, make a call, optics. Also make it clear it’s not open season on lawmakers who you do not like.
Everything was going so well and then he started all these unnecessary battles, with his own people by the way. As much as I liked Trump and voted for him 3 times, he is starting to more and more look like a deranged, angry, white male. This is playing directly into the democrat’s hands. I know one group of people famous for yelling “Allu Akbar”, when they want to end their life, why did Trump?
Folks, you all likely remember Colin “Iraq has WMD’s and we have proof” Powell. He made those comments to the United Nations. Then like the chameleon, he is changed his stripes to keep a job with the Obama administration.
This blog is going to point out that the action Israel is taking is no different from what we did following the 9/11 attacks.
Israel, like the USA, believes full well that a known adversary (Iran/Iraq) has enriched enough uranium to make a nuclear weapon. Sure, the narrative is helped that both countries essentially refused the UN/Nuclear commission from doing a full inspection. The problem is…. Colin Powell and our intelligence was wrong. Big time. As a result, it was a mess in Iraq and it remains so. Our standing in the world fell as a result… but you don’t care about that. We let the military industrial complex win. Just like what is happening now in Iran. Yes, I will admit Iranian proxies in Yemen, Gaza, and Lebanon have been pestering Isreal for years. They have had enough. I do not blame them. However, their strikes on Iran, including their nuclear facilities, will end up backfiring. I, for one, do not trust that Iran has enough Uranium to create a nuke. Sorry, I do not buy it. Yes, their behavior toward inspectors is bizarre but Israel and US fully believe that they have nuclear capability so does the inspection even matter at this point?
I guess the point I am trying to convey is W. Bush, John Bolton, Dick Cheney, John McCain, and Lindsay Graham knew the time was nigh to move in on Iraq, so they did. Israel, in my opinion, has a similar group of warmongers who knew their time was coming up, so they decided to make a move as well. What I do not like is the US claimed they were staying out of it; yet there are reports we moved 40K rockets/missiles from Europe down to Israel. Also, it appears we have war ships on the way from other parts of the world to assist with defense. We did help shoot down rockets/drones fired by Iran into Israel. Like it or not we are a party to this conflict.
The other part of the issue in Iran is Israel lacks the weaponry to inflict damage on the actual nuclear sites. One thing highly important that Netanyahu overlooked is he needs bunker busting bombs to hit the enrichment facilities. These are located deep underground and are heavily fortified. Israel, as stated, does not have that bomb, the USA does. The USA also has bombers in the area capable of delivering said weapons, and the bomb is likely not far behind. Again, they need to draw us into the war to get the result they want. But until then I guess Israel just flies sorties over Tehran and other parts of Iran bombing missile and military garrisons. Another, forever war.
There is only 1 real downside to this war. Removing the Ayatollah is a big mistake if we go down that route. Yes, he is a bad man, a butcher, use any term you want to describe him, but in reality, he is a paper tiger. His saber rattling of wiping Israel off the planet was just that. Israel, in about 4 days, has crippled them militarily. Sure, the Ayatollah may be bad, but is removing him the key? Did we learn no lessons from Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, or Syria? Who replaces the Ayatollah? Is it a better or worse group? Also, by bombing like we or Israel have done is just setting up future generations to hate the USA and Israel.
However, score one for the warmongers and the military industrial complex. They still have backers here. Hopefully, we are not drawn into this war in any meaningful way, we do not need to lose more young people as a result of a bunch of 70 plus year olds who think war is a great thing for the economy.
You may have seen the footage from over the weekend and bleeding into the work week about anti-ICE rioting in the Los Angeles area. It’s a sad situation but again the democrats continue to screw up.
Folks, Trump is by no means perfect, and I do have some issues with the deportations he is doing. Mostly how they are doing them. Look, I have no issue deporting the bad guys, I’m talking criminal illegals. Frankly. round those folks up 7 days a week for all I care. The issue I have is caught up in the madness are non-criminal illegal spouses and children having done nothing wrong.
Let us be civil for a minute or two here. There are folks who are here illegally, and that is wrong, but they also do the jobs many an American refuse to do. What is missing from our society is an easy answer. Give illegal, non-criminals a window to become citizens. Not an indefinite window, call it 120 days or something. Then go ahead and round up all the rest. I say this with compassion because the guy pushing a lawnmower, the guy in front of Home Depot looking for an honest day’s labor, work is not the problem. The criminals are. To be honest, neither the GOP nor the democrats have ever laid out any sort of plan to help alleviate this issue. It has led to a very nasty underbelly of society where we have a class of people living in the shadows, avoiding detection. These folks clean our houses, landscape, roof, construction jobs etc.
So do I agree with the riots in Los Angeles? Hell NO!
In America we are a society built on freedom of speech and the right to “peacefully” protest. What is going on in LA is anything but. Sure, it may have started with ok intentions, I understand the idea of ICE agents actively looking to “deport anyone brown” is very stressful even though it isn’t true. The problem is these “protests” tend to attract a lot of bad actors…. Really bad actors.
If you haven’t been paying attention, first good, secondly the scene devolved into chaos quickly. Rather than being peaceful demonstrators, the anarchists smashed cinder blocks and were throwing them at ICE agents and the police. They tossed motorized scooters at the police, threw Molotov cocktails at the police, and burned vehicles, both the public’s and the police’s. The situation quickly turned into where the police were in full riot gear. Trump even used a very obscure law to call up the CA National Guard to quell the violence. Gavin Newsom and Rob Bonta reacted by suing the federal government…. Sheesh.
The protests have shown no sign of slowing down. It’s a full-on left vs right issue like anything else in our country these days.
One thing I do have to ask is this, why do the democrats always seem to defend the most unlaw abiding, whackos? Let’s be honest, pull a permit, organize near the City Hall. Maybe have a march while not impeding traffic. Throw/hurl/set ablaze nothing and your point likely gets across. At last glance, an Apple Store, Adidas store, and a few others were set ablaze and looted. Martin Luther King Jr. Rosa Parks, and a host of other civil rights leaders are turning over in their graves. They didn’t endorse any of this hooligan type of behavior. As for that New York Post writer who was shot with rubber bullets, sorry that happened but when you are actively participating in an angry mob when the guys with badges and guns say disperse, I would follow said orders.
The scene looks like something out of a third world country, not America. Get your point across peacefully, these rioters are not the guys you want to associate with. In addition, we now have a DA in Los Angeles County who is tough on crime…. The days of mostly peaceful protests and “just expressing themselves,” appear to be over.
Folks, I’ve not only seen “The Beekeeper” with Jason Statham but even bought the DVD of the movie. The only reason that the movie works is that Jason knew where the evil datacenter was so he could burn it down. Sadly, I didn’t have this information.
Before I recap my experience, please note that I am leaving a few “tells” out of my account just so the bad guys don’t know the specifics of everything they did wrong lest they fix their scenario.
On Facebook, I received a friend request from some guy I never met before. His name was Dean. Dean runs a Christian Singles website. A guy in my church knows Dean personally and I have no problems with him. In fact, right after I joined the website, the guy from church gave me the contact information for Dean.
Dean’s website is Sovereign Grace Singles. With a name like that you should expect that it is oriented to folks from the Reformed Baptist tradition. I do not claim to be Baptist, but I do claim to be Reformed. I decided it would have less crap on it and be more likely to be populated by real people than Match or eHarmony.
Anyway, I put my shingle out, so to speak. Low and behold, this babe that was 20 years younger than me strikes up a conversation. So did a gal about my age. (For a guy like me to be contacted by not one but two females on the same day is kind of an ego booster.) I responded to both, but the younger one was really trying to set the hook. She ended up wanting to correspond via email. (Dean’s website doesn’t have a mobile app and its communication abilities are about 20 years behind the times.) Email was an upgrade to chatting compared to what I was trying to use.
Right out the gate, I get two photos of this gal in a sports bra. Going to the gym has never been my thing but I guess some of the younger set is ok with this. This was a little unusual. And yes, her profile photo was modest and staged to look like a selfie.
The conversation was also out of kilter. The profile made it clear that the woman was a second language person but even given that, her speech was not as it should be. Whenever I asked for details, my questions were ignored or deflected. Other times the answers were just weird.
Here’s one example. Her profile stated that she liked live concerts. I asked for some examples of the type of music that she liked and what live concerts she had attended. The question was initially ignored. I asked again and was told that she was going to see the Kingston Trio, but her mom was too sick, and she decided not to go.
The Kingston Trio? Really? Aren’t they all dead and buried? I looked it up on the internet and they are scheduled to play Oakland, California and Reno, Nevada and then they are off to Michigan.
This female claims to live in Bakersfield and she can’t name any music group she has seen but says she wished she could see the Kingston Trio! Think about the logistics to get from where she lived to a city hosting the Trio. Oh, the next day she said she didn’t own a car. In California? After 22 years of living there? That is ridiculous. Most welfare recipients and illegals own a vehicle of some sort or have access to one.
The story she told was full of holes and inconsistencies. It was clear that she never lived in California and was not writing me from the United States.
The second day she sent me photos in her workout outfit.
Both sets of photos were fakes. These were either wholly made via Artificial Intelligence or enhanced by it.
At this point, I called Dean on his personal cell phone. We talked for about half an hour. He could not believe me when I told him what was going on. He was in denial and tried to make it my fault. I gave him a few examples of why I thought this person was a fake. He was reluctant to believe this was happening. After pressing my case, he finally agreed it was possible, at least remotely.
The third and last day, I was sent a video. She claimed she had hurt her foot and was staying home from the gym. A few hours later I got a flawlessly focused 37 second video of her working out. The video was edited and was stripped of audio.
If you look at the video, it was clearly made in a hotel room. Entry door, bathroom door on the left, and small lounge area on the right. The lockset on the door is not standard either.
The lady is beautiful. Heck, I don’t think Jeff Bezos could land this fish without some effort. What would she see in me?
Oh, I look up the brand of socks that she is wearing in the video. $25 a pair biking socks from Turkey.
I sent Dean the workout video. He wanted to know how I got that. Like I requested it or something? Anyway, he suspended her account and asked for verification info on where she worshipped and who her pastor was. Immediately, she went dark. I have not heard from her again. I doubt Dean has either. (Dean late said he had not.)
Folks, the experience was surprisingly emotionally manipulating and hurtful. It was somewhat rewarding to flip the script on them and try forcing them to produce her in the flesh. It did give them pause but they still tried to go forward with the mom is sick and I need money thing. I didn’t continue to respond once she refused to get the plane ticket.
Lastly, if she had flown up to see me, I would have delivered her into the waiting arms of the ladies of my church. I pushed for certain dates to insure that would happen.
I’m trying to calm down and get my head together. Meanwhile, I’m making progress on the house and looking for a few vacation opportunities.
Oh, as to why I posted the photos and video is in case someone does a matching search on the Internet and gets a hit on the photos. If you do, please let me know. I’m sure a good story will accompany the discovery.
My initial comment here is that I have actually done this. What I have done will be different than for you but the principles that I express here will be helpful.
First you need to understand what the person was using as their main points of identity. In a world of two-factor identification, this is important to start closing accounts online. Apple or Microsoft or Google and perhaps Facebook are what I would consider the usual suspects. (Leave these accounts for last.) Also, knowing the PIN to get into a person’s cell phone is a must. Typically, this is a four-digit number.
Banking and Money
Start with financial stuff. Freeze the debit or credit cards. Close any accounts tied to a person’s bank. Amazon, PayPal, Venmo, eBay, etc. You don’t want anyone draining the bank account while you are doing other things.
Please note that bank accounts can create terrible experiences for spouses, trustees, and relations. Financial institutions will often freeze accounts, want to see a death certificates, and be made aware of a clearly defined successor to any accounts. My wife and I have a Trust and that removed a lot of obstacles in this area. My former next-door neighbor let her husband handle all the bills and when he died, the banks and credit cards froze all the liquid assets. She went over six weeks just to get control of her checking account. Meanwhile, no bills could be paid, and she couldn’t buy any food.
Subscriptions
Cancel subscription services: Netflix, Disney Plus, Discovery Plus, Max, Kindle, etc. Do this even if you want to keep them. Redo any streaming accounts in the name of a living person.
Photos, Documents, and the like
Once you close the financial accounts, you need to start unwinding the stuff on the cell phone. Archive photos, email, text messages, documents on the phone. Also, check the “cloud storage” from Google, One Drive, Dropbox, Apple, etc. Put what you want to keep on a PC or laptop. To access Android data, you can set up Blue Stacks on your computer. Then you can access copies of photos, text messages, contact lists, etc. It takes patience and computer skills to do this.
Concerning text messages, they can be backed up and copied to a PC; however, they are completely unreadable without restoring them to another cell phone or using third party software. I can see them in Google Messages via Blue Stacks but can’t print them, which is really frustrating. I found third party software that can print them but the text message file from my wife’s phone was over 4 GB, and the software can’t handle such a large file without crashing.
Facebook
The easiest account to close was Facebook; however, it takes some thought and preparation before you act. First you need to decide if you want to delete the account or have Facebook archive it. Either way, the contents of the account can be downloaded. This includes all photos posted, friend lists, and other stuff. Deleting the account is easy but there is another option. You can give control of the account to someone else. In the bowls of Facebook settings, it is possible to designate anyone on the friends list as a beneficiary. (Of course, FB calls this by another name.) The designated person can then go to their Facebook account and report that the person died. Before doing this, you will need a scanned copy of the death certificate. Fill out a simple form, again buried in the bowls of account settings, and be sure to attach the death certificate.
Reporting the death of a Facebook person and subsequent approval will lock the deceased person’s account, archive the account, and affix “In Memory of…” to the top of the FB page. This also givs the beneficiary control of the account. The beneficiary can post on the account, back it up, or delete it.
Root Accounts
There is a good chance that all or some phone data is backed up on Google, Microsoft, and/or Apple servers. Deleting these primary accounts will end any hope of data recovery. Use a tech savvy person to do this and then do a factory reset to the phone.
Final thought, Samsung no longer has their own cloud storage; instead, they piggyback it onto Microsoft’s One Drive. I am not clear if this is a stand-alone backup or part of the disk space allocated to Samsung users. Without a valid email account, you may not be able to access the data anyway. If you are extra paranoid, keep this in mind.
Have fun doing this. It took me a week and I’m not totally done, just at a comfortable place to stop … for now.
I guess I’m anti-Trump now right? You know the right-wing folks who worship the ground he walks on. The same folks who endorsed Lyin’ Ted the first go round. Now, Trump can do no wrong in their minds. I’m not anti-Trump, I just want to point out some things about this new Air Force 1 jet “donation.”
First, the existing Air Force One has to be over 30 years old or close to it. The president and other dignitaries fly on this jet. Frankly it may no longer be safe and is likely at/close to the end of its useful life. Simply put, I do not want anyone of importance on that jet any longer. We need a new one.
Why don’t we have a new one?
Well, Boeing got the contract. It was very likely “no bid” due to Boeing being the “American manufacturer” of airplanes. Boeing, as per usual, cannot complete a project on time and on budget, so it’s delayed delivery of the new Air Force One for a very long time. (I think it was supposed to be delivered during Trump’s last term.) Who knows? With that company’s track record, it may not be ready until 2050. Even if it is ready, will it be safe? Again, look at the track record recently.
Why am I calling it a mistake taking a “free” Air Force One?
Optics. William will tell you I am a big optics guy. Don’t tell me it’s free or you got a great deal or the best deal lay out the actual cost. There is something else going on here in my opinion and I do not see how I can be wrong. I hope I am …
Why?
I simply do not trust anything out of that part of the world. Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Yemen, Oman … doesn’t matter to me. They have so many petrol dollars they can play all over the world as far as influence and investments go. A rumor circulating the interwebs was Qatar was paying now AG Pam Bondi $119,000 a month as a lobbyist years ago. A month! Some of these countries even blockaded Qatar for a while due to their alleged ties to terror organizations. While the blockade has ended, I do believe most of these Arab nations have been funding proxy attacks on the US forces and Israel. Sure, Iran is behind them as well, but I think these countries want instability in the area.
Why instability?
The US has a very large air force base in Qatar. Al Udeid airbase is where we stage most of our Middle East operations. If we were to attack Iran or another terror group in the Middle East, it would be launched from there. Qatar is an oil rich nation that really doesn’t have a military, they rely on us to defend them. As a result, we get to use this airbase. We also use it to attack many groups funded by these nations such as the Houthis, Hamas, and Hezbollah to name a few that are active in Yemen, Gaza (or Palestine I guess) and Lebanon. I fully believe these nations fund the terrorists, so we stick around to provide defense here.
A $400 million plane for a defense agreement? Really?
No, not in the slightest. There is a lot more to this than meets the eye. I think it is interesting that now President Trump wants the sanctions removed on Syria. Granted NATO ally Turkey led a coalition to overthrow the government of Syria, but that was very recent, only a couple months ago. Now we are going to lift all sanctions? Turkey is a Muslim nation like the others I named above, in my opinion they look out for themselves far before they look out for others. Case in point; Turkey has supplied Ukraine with drones for use in the war but has also not abided by sanctions against Russia. They are very much like these gulf countries in that they play on both sides.
Let’s be honest here, how much do we know about Syria’s new government? We know nothing, it’s to soon. Like any government that is overthrown, we always assume it’s for the better. That is rarely the case.
I also think this has implications for Israel. This could be bad or good depending on your thought process/ideology. It is very odd timing that the last “American hostage” was released by Hamas later that day after this “deal” went down. I say odd timing because I think Qatar spoke for all Arab countries with that jet …. I think Bibi Netanyahu is about to fire his last missile/attack into Gaza. Those countries are getting tired of him and Israel, but specifically his warmongering policy. I think there will be a resolution here soon.
Yes, I think the plane was a bribe …. maybe not in the traditional sense but they bought a lot of influence.
In closing, ask yourself this fellow republicans/conservatives, if Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., Barack Obama, or Hillary Clinton accepting this plane, what you would say what? Don’t answer. You and I already know the answer. You would be outraged. I am willing to let this play out, but I think Qatar just bought one hell of a lot of influence with President Trump. And if there is one thing the Trumps love, its money/expensive things.
Recently you may have seen reports about the birth rate in the United States plummeting big time. But in case you have been living under a rock or just watching cable ‘til your eyes bleed, it’s getting bad. The unquestionable truth is Millennials and Gen Z are not getting married and those who do tie the knot are not having kids. It’s so bad Trump has floated the idea of a $5000 payment if you have a kid(s). Allow me to explain the position below, if you think everything is fine then enjoy your favorite sports league, political commentary show, drama series, or soap opera as it is likely going to start soon and you better not miss it! Remember you pay $300 or so a month for it… get your money’s worth.
Bloggers note: The numbers and figures I’m using here are a low-ball numbers, obviously different professions/vehicles/cost of living area’s will vary. It’s a point not a thesis.
Insurmountable debt: Let’s face it, that college mom and dad forced you to attend didn’t come cheap. You have damn near 6 figures in student loans. You just found out the Department of Education is not forgiving them, so you have to work. Oh, and it’s not a job that pays 100K; its closer to 50K if you are lucky. Then add in a car payment, with the rapid rise in costs due to (cough the plandemic, cough, cough) the payment is damn near $500 a month. Add in about $100 for insurance and that pay check is damn near spoken for. If you have credit card debt, and a great many do… some to the tune of 5 figures, that’s just gravy on top of this mashed potato mountain of debt. The wedding is not going to be free, neither is the kiddo by the way. Now imagine doubling that, ‘cause you know marriage.
Expensive housing costs: I’m not even talking about owning a home, just rent for an apartment/house. You are likely conservatively talking about $2200 a month here. That’s for a studio/1 bedroom type thing by the way. Oh, and that rent will go up by the maximum allowed a year, in my state its about 10% So yeah it gets expensive quickly. Again, this is just the cost for yourself and maybe your wife if she’s ok living like a broke college kid. Oh, and when you do have the child, you need another bedroom right? Check out how much that costs.
Day care costs: Let’s face it, the work from home blarney (cough plandemic, cough, cough) is finally ending. That means you cannot have the baby getting free daycare at home anymore. Get ready to face reality as daycare very conservatively costs $250 a week, likely closer to $350. Add those costs up and suddenly your rent looks cheap. Oh, what’s that you’ve got a second kid on the way!….grab the lube and your ankles this won’t hurt a bit. Don’t believe me, it’s not cheap.
Lack of maternity/paternity care: I’m not talking about getting 6-9 months off here, and not with full pay either. I am saying most businesses offer no or a laughable amount of time off for new mothers/fathers. A friend of mine gave birth and was told “report back to work within 3 days of returning home.” Yeah, she works as a dental assistant. Nice. Her boss even went a step further saying, “back in my day, the wife was a stay at home mom.” More on that horrific statement later. Again no one is saying both parents get half a year paid vacation… but maybe a little empathy here? Cite my household expenses earlier if you need more proof. The kiddo(s) are going to need regular checkups (quite a few) and will likely be getting sick a lot as daycare/preschool is essentially a virus petri dish, so you will need flexibility to take days off. It won’t happen as the system is set up now.
A second income is needed just to survive: The days of only 1 person needing to work are long gone, they are over. Again, cite my expenses above, and try doing that on a one income household. Oh, the kiddo is growing so you will have to constantly be buying new clothes, toys, car seats etc. Hopefully one or both of you have parents in the immediate area to help with the kiddos because you are going to need it. Oh, and by the way, the baby boomers have cut things back over the years, you are going to struggle just to get by.
Baby boomers ruined it: They compare the younger generations to themselves, they put themselves through school… news flash (not the cable TV kind) it was a hell of a lot cheaper for tuition and cost of living was much less. Benefit packages at work included ones actually decent, not garbage, bare bones health plans and crummy time off arrangements. They can afford a mortgage just fine because they locked in a cheap 3% mortgage rate, when they had no kids mind you, because they bought/refinanced 7 years ago. 50K a year used to be a good paying job, now its barely enough to tread water in this economy/world.
Trump’s $5,000 payment to people who have a kid is moronic: Let’s be honest here. The type of people attracted to this kind of thing will be folks at the lower socioeconomic end of the spectrum. I’m not just talking about minorities here and don’t we have enough single parent households as it is? A child born into a low socio-economic situation is very much likely to end up in jail or have a life on the streets. The parents are not going to consider this money to help the child they will do it to spend on themselves. Keep in mind $5000 is also not incentive to get the upper middle and upper class to have kids. Technically those are the ones we need to have kids, not the folks at the bottom of the spectrum.
Planned “Parenthood”: Aborting the number of babies we have been didn’t help at all. It actually hurt; it encouraged rampant sex without marriage. No planning at all, just fun, promiscuous lifestyles. Now we are living the end result of allowing numerous babies to be aborted on demand.
Reality is, this has been brewing for a while, increased costs for the younger generations, plus stripped out career opportunities added with bare bones benefits has caused this. Young people now are graduating with damn near $100k student loans, add in the $500 car payment, $2500 rent, groceries, insurance, incidentals and viola a perfect storm. Now imagine tying the knot with someone who owes roughly the same. Now you owe combined student loans that damn near match the amount I borrowed for my house, I got an asset, you got a sheet of paper! Have fun paying all that off while having a kid(s)? No surprise we are where we are. Baby boomers… you created this mess, hopefully one day we get out of it.
On Tuesday, April 22nd, my wife died. She hadn’t eaten anything in six days and was living on a few juice popsicles in the days prior to that. The last few days were a blur due to my lack of sleep, but I will recount what I can.
As always, this blog is more for me than for anyone else.
My father-in-law arrived in Idaho on the same date as my last update, Sunday April 13th so I will pick up the story from there.
He was here about an hour and then pulled me aside and said I don’t think she will make it to the end of the week. I told him that I would call the children. I sent out the “Bat signal.” Those who have seen the vintage 1960’s television show will get the reference. The eldest and her husband arrived the following day (Monday) and the middle child on Tuesday. Junior didn’t arrive until Sunday (Easter).
Monday, my wife (on oxygen at the time) got out of bed and refused offers of help to go from the bedroom to the couch in the living room. This was a distance of about 25 feet. As she neared the couch, she did a face-plant on the floor. The O2 line in her nose ripped open both nostrils. Blood was gushing from both sides of her nose. We stopped the bleeding by rolling up tissue and shoving it into both sides of her nose. Later she developed bruising around her right eye and nose. She looked like she had been in an MMA fight. Had she not quit taking blood thinners a week before, this would have been a disaster.
As I said, food consumption was about zero from this point forward. Once the daughter and spouse arrived, the son-in-law did make a food run. They bought mom sugar free popsicles! My wife took about one bite, and she was done. Yuck. That was the last solid food or food of any kind that she ever ate. Why in the hell anyone would think of buying sugar-free popsicles when you know these were the only calories she was getting is beyond stupid.
Anyway, the daughter and hubby did rent a car, so they went the next day to the airport to pick up the middle child.
After her fall, the wife was using a mask for oxygen. My wife has very labored breathing. She could say only a word or two and then would have to pause before trying to say another word. As the week went on, she began using hand signals to communicate.
Her SPO2 (blood oxygen saturation) began dropping. Normal readings are 95 to 99 percent. Hers was in the 80’s for a few days and then fell to the 70’s. Just for reference, a blood oxygen reading of 75 is the same as basecamp at Mt Everest (~17,500 ft above sea level). In her last few days, all readings without O2 were between 72 and 77.
Per the Internet, you should call 911 if you have a reading below 90. Readings like my wife’s begin to cause organ and brain failure after five minutes. On Friday or Saturday, she decided to refuse any more O2.
On Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights, I stayed up with her. Saturday night she was up from about 1 AM until just after 4. That night, I distinctly remember her saying, “Do all you do”
And me responding, “to the glory of God.”
This is something we said to our son every day before he went to school; up until we knew of his open rebellion against God in his last year of high school.
It was her heartfelt belief and one she tried to instill in our son. I know I cried when she said it. As it turned out, for the final time.
On Sunday night she was up from 1:30 AM until about 3. On Monday night I was up with her all night.
Her last night went something like this: She wanted to move from the hospital bed to the wheelchair about 11:30 PM. She said that she wanted to go outside. I wheeled her to the sliding glass door and then opened it. Per our weather station, it was 34 degrees outside. I told her it was too difficult for me to move the wheelchair outside. We looked out for a few minutes, and I remember closing the sliding door. Together we looked at the view. I said to her:
“There is our swing.”
“There is our deck.”
“There is our apple tree. “
“There is our yard.”
“There is our levee.”
“There is our town.”
“There are the stars.”
In her weak voice she said, “I am ready to die.”
I cried.
We then moved to the couch. I had to help her from the wheelchair to the couch. This was not too difficult since she had lost over 160 pounds during the course of this four-year cancer ordeal. I stayed with her. Sometimes I tried to give her medicine, sometimes I rubbed her back (the cancer in her bones and muscles caused her much pain; especially in her lower back), sometimes I was just her pillow. That was her favorite thing, just resting in my arms. Her breathing was labored. You could hear junk in her lungs that she was unable to cough it up. About 5:30 AM, her dad came into the house. I gave him a brief turnover and then went to bed.
The next thing I knew, he was frantically calling for me. I went into the Livingroom, and he said she is dying now. She would take a breath and then nothing would happen for about twenty seconds and then she would gasp again, followed by another long pause. After a few minutes of this process being repeated. She was very still. Tears welled up in my eyes. I told her that I loved her. She gasped again and then was still. A huge tear came from the corner of her eye and dripped down the side of her nose. Upon seeing the tear, I knew two things with certainty, first, that she loved me, and second, that she was dead. As this was happening, I glanced at my watch. It was 6:46 AM on April 22nd.
Later I was looking through her phone and noticed that she had sung at Carnegie Hall in New York City on April 22nd 2024. Yep, one year to the day from singing at Carnegie Hall she had died. Her death was three weeks to the day from entering hospice. At the time it didn’t seem so, but her death was rather quick.
Sheryl in Carnegie Hall April 22, 2024
Below are quotes from things that Sheryl had written about her cancer journey.
The first is an excerpt from a text thread with ladies at our church that were praying for her.
“Reading through all this, it struck me that suffering can lead to contentment and grace. Bill will sometimes sit down beside me as I am coughing or “suffering.” He will rub my back and say, “Poor Sheryl! My poor wife…! I stop him and say, “Honey, I’m am NOT poor! I’m so blessed! I have God, You, and so much support. It is amazing to feel His love in my life.”
“Suffering brings us to an acknowledgment of the wonderful blessings of His grace.”
Sheryl and Bill Tolson celebrate Valentine’s Day 2025
The next is a dream that she had back in February. In our 21 years of marriage, she only wrote down two dreams. This was the second.
My Dream 02/25/25.
I was standing with Bill and Dad and several other family members under a wooden gazebo surrounded by huge oak trees. It reminded me of the area around the Orinda house. I had my Jeep keys in my hand, and I got in the car and drove away to go to a Women’s clothing store tucked up in a heavily wooded fern-filled garden canyon. I had to park in a strange spot that was up a large branch of a tree.
The store was filled with many dresses and I picked a pretty floral one easily and put it on. I walked out the other side of the store. The door opened up on to a huge grassy, wildflower speckled lawn. Across the lawn were spread many tables with people all sitting around visiting and talking together. Behind them was some sort of large one story building. My thought immediately went to Grammie and Grandad’s backyard.
I walked onto a clear area of lawn and heard music beginning to play. I realized it was the opening notes of Climb Every Mountain, and I began to sing. My voice was full and perfect. I could feel the notes floating up into a sparkling blue sky as I sang. I knew I was singing to His glory! I knew this was His garden, His house! I hit the high note at the end with such perfect brilliance that it seemed to shimmer. When I finished, I could hear murmurs from the crowd, “That’s Sheryl! She’s here! That’s Nancy’s daughter! She’s Amy and Alvin’s granddaughter!”
I turned and headed further across the lawn where I saw my mom. She gave me a huge hug and said, “That was beautiful! I love you!” I said, “Mom! I can sing again!” She laughed and said, “Of course you can!” We walked over together to a gazebo area similar to the one I left earlier. I could see Bill standing there. I walked up, handed him the keys to the Jeep and said, “You will have to go get the Jeep. I parked it in a strange tree. I love you!”
And I woke up crying happy tears!
In Bonners Ferry, Idaho, we had a public viewing of Sheryl on April 25th and a funeral on April 26th. She was transported to Sacramento California on April 29th and was buried on May 2nd next to her mother in Elk Grove.
At her funeral service, I read her dream just as it appears above and then read the following.
Sheryl Tolson public viewing April 25, 2025
Remembering Sheryl
By Bill
I used to tell my wife that I married the richest girl that I ever dated. Having all of you here is proof that I was right.
Whenever my wife would complain about something I would reply, “When I get to be your age honey, I’ll find out.” Since I was a year older, this often got her upset, but I really had fun saying it just to get a rise out of her.
Last night we had our final date night. It was called a “public viewing”, but it really wasn’t. It was my last time to see her in the flesh. I wanted to spend one last evening with my bride of almost 22 years. It was bittersweet but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
She didn’t have much to say but that was OK. We remembered the excitement of meeting for the first time, our first kiss, the first time she let me meet her kids, of course this only happened after I had been vetted by a group of her most trusted friends. Then there was the night we went to dinner with Tommy and Kendall, and I proposed to her. It was December 7th, always a memorable date for us veterans of the US Navy.
We were married on Friday the thirteenth in a little church in Vacaville California. It was a hot June night in two thousand three and everyone was sweating. We took our wedding vows using the Church of England’s 1662 Book of Common Prayer where Sheryl was glad to say that she would “honor and obey until death do us part”. It’s no surprise that Sheryl kept her word. In turn, I promised to love her as Christ loved His Church.
Early on, we had a few rough patches along the way, especially the two miscarriages which were balanced with the joy of her giving birth to our son, James.
It might surprise you to know that I rarely ever called Sheryl by name. She was called by her titles “wife of my youth”, “my bride”, “mommy”, “honey”, “bride of love”, and things like that. In fairness, James was often called “the boy of love” and Bob the dog was our “love dog”. Love was just part of what we did. Oh, behind her back, Sheryl did get called “management” on select occasions, but I think that is allowed by the description of the Proverbs 31 woman.
During our marriage, there were many road trips that we took. Some were just for fun, but many were to find a new place to live outside of California. Our road trips were sometimes over five thousand miles in two weeks. We saw lots of country, but in the end, it came down to Bonners Ferry where we bought two acres of land in 2020. This part of Sheryl’s story most of you know, at least in part.
Last April, Sheryl went with a group from Bonners Ferry and sang at New York’s Carnegie Hall. It was a dream for anyone that loved music as much as she did. A month later she lost her voice and knew something was very wrong. It was then that she learned that the cancer was back with a vengeance. In the next months, Sheryl experienced many rounds of radiation and chemotherapy, but treatment was unsuccessful. Sheryl was placed in hospice care on April first and died three weeks later, ironically her death was on the one-year anniversary of singing at Carnegie Hall.
At the end, just a few short days ago … or was it a lifetime …she was gasping for air. It was clear that each breath might be her last. Crying, I told her that I loved her. She then struggled for one last breath and then the biggest single tear, that I ever saw, came from the corner of her eye and dripped down the side of her nose. When I saw this, I immediately knew two things, she loved me, and she was most certainly gone. It was 6:46 AM.
So, there I was last night, mulling over these and other thoughts. Mostly, I was just missing her. Trust me, I kissed her several times when I thought no one was looking; after all, it was our last date.
In the last few days, everywhere I look and everywhere I go, I see her or some memory of her. In marriage two become one but in death, the opposite happens. The oneness is violently ripped apart.
Today we send my beloved Sheryl off on her final journey, a journey that ends with her body buried next to her mother where she will await the reunion of her soul and body at the end of history. Farewell my bride. It was my great privilege to be married to you and I’d gladly do it over again in a heartbeat.
Sheryl’s Grave in Elk Grove, CA
Only a memorial service remains as part of the farewell tour of my wife and our marriage. What is next is beyond my ability to see. Yes, I have ideas and aspirations of how I might move-on in my life but… I’m old enough to know that what I want and what God has in store for me might be different ideas. Other than organizing the house, I’m not sure what follows. God is good and has a plan. Funny how these words sound familiar. Kinda reminds me of someone I knew.
