We thank thee O God for a prophet!

I just learned that President Gordon B. Hinckley, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, passed away tonight at 7 pm. How grateful I am that he gave practically every day of his life in service to others. I am also grateful for the wonderful example he and his sweet wife, Marjorie Pay Hinckley, who passed away in April of 2004, have been- and always will be- to me. What I know and have learned from this generous, loving, couple will be with me forever. I know that President Hinckley was a prophet of the living God. I'll bet he is so excited to be with his wife once again. I greatly appreciate the Hinckley family- children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren- for their unselfishness demonstrated by sharing their parents with us for most or all of their lives.

"Carry on. Yes. Our theme will be to carry on the great work which has been furthered by our predecessors." - President Gordon B. Hinckley, when asked by a reporter what the theme of his administration would be as president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Thanks President Hinckley! We will.

BYU also created a slideshow to honor President Hinckley. View it here.

There's something very cheesy going on...

Today I went grocery shopping. If I were an investor- AND had known how high cheese prices were headed, I'd have invested in it. I stood paralyzed in the aisle... no cheese today. I think that the dairy farmers are taking a page out the oil industry's book. The 2-lb. bulk brick of cheese (which is usually the cheapest) was between $9 and $10. That's nearly $5 a pound! 1/2-pound bricks were about $3. True, milk prices are a little higher than normal- but ice cream was about it's usual price, but the cheese... the cheese! My mind flashed back to 1990 when I could buy a pound of Colby cheese at a little butcher shop in Arizona for about $1.69. Being a creative thinker I pondered my options:

1. Buy cheese... and get ripped off. A dairy herd in Wisconsin or Cache Valley is probably strutting around in a heated barn and getting rub-downs after each milking in special cow-spa built with their new profits. The dairy herd's owner is probably on a Caribbean cruise or heli-skiing in Switzerland.
2. Don't buy cheese. :( Be creative and put something else on the sandwiches, pizza, and Mexican dishes the next two weeks.
3. Protest! Go home and blog (cry) about it.
4. Buy ice cream.
5. Compensate by buying something else from the dairy group. Hmm... I had just passed up the cottage cheese...
6. Buy ice cream. Oh- I already mentioned that...
7. Visit Macey's grocery store later in the week in Clearfield (8 miles away) to see if the economic cheese inflation-thingy has spread beyond Kaysville.
8. Instead of going cow-tipping, go cow-milking at midnight tonight and make my own cheese. Wait- too cold for that.
9. Visit Logan and go to the cheese factory in order to hoard free cheese samples.
10. Visit Wisconsin. It's probably plentiful there since the dairy farmers are all back to work due to the fact that the Green Bay Packers just lost the game that would've put them in the Superbowl... wait! That explains it! Green Bay in the playoffs = lower cheese production = higher cheese prices! I take back what I said at the beginning- whatever you do- I would no longer suggest you invest in cheese stocks right now! Let's just hope that relief from high cheese prices is on its way in the coming weeks. This may influence my vote in the upcoming election. I wonder what the presidential candidates have to say on the subject. Does anyone know what the stock exchange symbol is for "cheese" or "dairy products?"

I wished the headline for this post had been, "I smell a rat!" At least that would mean that there was cheese nearby. :)

Just for fun- something Mac

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Corporation, loves to give a presentation about twice a year to "wow" us with the latest Apple products. These keynote addresses are usually over an hour and Mr. Jobs really gets wrapped up in them. Just for fun- a fellow at www.creativebits.org edited down his latest 90-minute presentation to 60 seconds- giving us just the essentials.

Check it out at this link that my brother sent me. They have a little fun at his expense- especially concerning his choice and over-use of adjectives. Maybe if he cut our all of the adjectives it would only be 60 seconds long.

I was considering the idea of finally buying an iPod- maybe in the next year or two, or wait until the iPhone's capacity gets a little bigger, the price comes WAY down, and it's available for the Verizon network. Well, this may mean that it'll be 4-5 years before I get an iPod- or never. :) Maybe when I get a car new enough to have an MP3 plug-in or iPod connector.

Okay- gotta get to work on my tile- then go start up the snowblower once the flakes stop falling. It's beautiful outside!

The Farmer in Me...

A friend at work sent an e-mail to all of us bout a farmer, some puppies, and a little boy (see at the bottom of this post). When I read it I pictured the farmer standing at the fence with the little boy. I don't know what it is about farmers and farms- and maybe I am the only one that feels this way- but something inside me either IS or WANTS TO BE a farmer. Maybe it was growing up with cows and lots of other miscellaneous animals in 'Farmington' (of all places) that causes me to connect with farms and farmers. I must admit that when I "bought the farm" to build the house I am in now, that standing on the soil and looking over the old Rigby Edge-End Farm was probably what tempted me to do so. The farm feel and smell (I swore I smelled that sweet-manure-dairy smell) is what made me do it. It was my second visit to the lot- I had come with my brother, Kimball, to get his opinion. It was then that I made up my mind. I also must admit that I felt guilty demolishing and removing all that was left of the old farm (required by the city to get a building permit). I will not rest until I have written a short photo-history of the place.

We had a discussion some time ago as a family. It was started by my brother and sister-in-law, who asked if I considered myself as one who "grew up on a farm?" I'll let you decide...

I remember feeding our first five Hereford steers when I was in kindergarten and first grade. My dad had bought them to raise and sell for beef. Afterwards we had about four milk cows: Rose, Polly- who loved apples, Cocoa, and Susan. Susan, the biggest Holstein milk cow I have ever seen, gave us 10 gallons of milk each day- about 5 gallons each milking. In comparison, Rose gave my dad 5 quarts each milking (by hand). My oldest brother milked Susan using a milk machine and my brother Richard and I washed out the milk equipment.

We also raised several calves for beef. The first two were owned by my two oldest brothers- a Holstien and a Jersey. Then came Ralph (belonged to my brother & I) and Chester (my own) and two or three others that were born to some of our milk cows. In addition to the cows I estimate that over the years we had about 3 geese, several ducks and chickens, lots of cats, and a dog for a little while. If being a farmer meant selling your product- we produced milk, beef, and also sold hay from an alfalfa pasture purchased by my father in west Farmington. I think that the only purpose the eggs served was to feed the local varmints- skunks and raccoons that lived around. We even raised a litter of raccoons at one time. They were a lot of fun.

What do you think? Do these experiences in our growing-up years make our home a little farm and our family farmers? Farmers are unique- there is something pure and wonderful about them- making their living straight from the earth and nature itself. It is a great title- and I don't know that I would consider myself a farmer, but would consider myself lucky for the experience that my father gave us to work on fences, with animals, and to buck hay on to the old '66 red Dodge and then ride home on it (about 15 feet up) with Ribsy, our springer spaniel, next to us. I was on top of the world.

Thanks, Debbie, for sparking my thoughts!

This one you may of heard before I had but the lesson was a good reminder for me. - Debbie
A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the 4 pups And set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the eyes of little boy.
'Mister,' he said, 'I want to buy one of your puppies.'
'Well,' said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck, 'These puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money.'
The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer.
'I've got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?'

'Sure,' said the farmer. And with that he let out a whistle. 'Here, Dolly!' he called. Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur.
The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight.
As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something else stirring inside the doghouse.
Slowly another little ball appeared, this one noticeably smaller. Down the ramp it slid. Then in a somewhat awkward manner, the little pup began hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up...
'I want that one,' the little boy said, pointing to the runt. The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and said, 'Son, you don't want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would.'
With that the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down, and began rolling up one leg of his trousers.
In doing so he revealed a steel brace running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially made shoe.
Looking back up at the farmer, he said,
'You see sir, I don't run too well myself, and he will need someone who understands.'
With tears in his eyes, the farmer reached down and picked up the little pup.
Holding it carefully handed it to the little boy.
'How much?' asked the little boy. 'No charge,' answered the farmer, 'There's no charge for love.'
The world is full of people who need someone who understands.

Pictures courtesy of the National Archives website from the "Picturing the Century" galleries I and II. Check them out- some awesome photos. Click on the two above to see the large versions- they're even better full-size.

Mitt will make a "blunderful" president!

I loved Bamamoma's comment to my last post:
What do you say about all the mis-speaks Romney has done? Admittedly, they aren't huge things but put together it seems to point to a guy who is so eager that he inflates the truth at times ("I've been a hunter all my life" or "I got that bill passed" or whatever). Do you think the American people can overlook that?

My reply- and thanks for the opportunity to comment further on my impressions...
No- we should never overlook Romney's blunders. Don't forget Romney telling us that he "saw" his father march with Martin Luther King. I think he is making it sound like he was there, but he should have said, "My father marched with Martin Luther King." He experienced it as a family member, but not in person. I am glad the press is making him own up to every word he says. He is trying to claim every good thing done by any person he ever knew existed.

Romney is a politician- through and through- and that is his greatest weakness. He is almost too much into himself at times. Politics and government are only similar to an extent and one has to be careful about making promises regarding change, etc. Although I think a president can do a lot, executive power is different in business government. One can't just streamline production, market more heavily, lay off employees, or train staff to improve things. It is like comparing a dairy farm to controlling the weather.

I think it is funny when we attribute a good or bad economy on a president's influence. It's even funnier to see a president take credit for a growing economy. They can control only one of hundreds of factors.

Romney is so cocky that if he wins the presidency he'll be served some major humble pie in his first 2-3 years of being president. I look forward to it. But as I look at it- I'd rather have Mitt Romney blundering in Washington than Hilary. And if Mitt did a good job in the first 4 years the public would re-elect him. I am impressed with the job that John Huntsman has done in Utah with putting the economy first. A strong economy has helped him to finance everything else.

I like Obama's optimism and vision- though I wish it had a little more substance and experience to back it up. I think that he does not have as much experience from which to draw. We will definitely see more of him over the next 8-16 years. I would bet that he will one day win the presidency.

McCain's "words that never should have been said" over the years are much worse- "Bomb-bomb-bomb, bomb-bomb- Iran," (and then laughing about it), etc. is scary. I think he lacks the ability to... to... lead a country. He is too one-sided and lacks in diplomacy and he is flippant at times. I think he does have some ideas on campaign reform, etc. that DO need to happen in the U.S.

Huckabee is too compassionate (he'd be a good father or Grandpa!). I think he is too soft to be a president. He is the Republican version of Jimmy Carter. I like Jimmy Carter (great autobiography by the way) and I like Huckabee too. Not too impressed with his little religion jabs at Romney.

Presidential Predictions

As I've watched parts of debates there have been some thoughts that I'd like to share. These are my "Presidential Predictions" for the 2008 election from both parties.

Prediction #1:
Barack Obama will win the Democratic nomination. He is the only one who can beat any of the Republicans. Hilary Clinton only has a chance against the "lesser" Republican candidates. John Edwards would never beat any of the top 3-4 Republican candidates. Obama is the strongest choice. Hilary chose the wrong year to run. Obama has both the charisma and vision that she lacks.
Is it just me or does the press love Democrats? I can't help but notice that they (the press) are compassionate and optimistic when they speak with them. It seems to me that when members of the press are interviewing or questioning Republicans in debates that they are much more hard on them- asking tougher questions, are more pointed, etc. Democrats are babied when they are interviewed- almost as if they were lost children found in Wal-Mart waiting for their mom or dad to come and get them. Want a lollipop, Honey?

Prediction #2:
Mitt Romney will barely win the Republican nomination. We haven't heard the end of, "but he's a Mormon!" just yet. I think that is pretty interesting that some people freak out about that and also think that it gives us a little perspective on the religious prejudice that lingers in some. The press is partially responsible for continuing to bring up religion. Mitt is the only candidate in both parties that really has a complete plan- about which he can speak in detail. Sometimes Mitt is too rigid and focuses too much on issues and not people. A few other candidates are lopsided and running on only one issue. Mitt will win just as many states as the other front-running candidates and while he is at risk on coming in second place in many states, with McCain, Guiliani, and Huckabee taking turns being first by a few percentage points, he'll win the most delegates over time for the national convention. I heard that he has the most delegates already. I just read my e-mail after typing that last part and found out that Romney has earned more votes than any other candidate so far. The only way that the Republican party can beat Obama if he is the Democratic nominee is with Romney. I also don't think that McCain, Huckabee, or Giuliani would do very well against Hilary Clinton and think that the big-wigs in the Republican party already know that- as well as the press.

I look forward to learning more about the candidates as they campaign and debate. More details at Real Clear Politics. You'll also find on that web site the delegate count.