Babe's Blog

We live in a "BIG" society.  Everything must be big.  Big houses-big cars-big boats-big toys-big everything.

I walk in the early morning hours--usually sometime between 4:30 and 5:45.  I reside in a 42-home subdivision south of Grand Island.  Most every morning four vehicles pass me between 5:00 and 5:30.  Their occupants, I assume, are on their way to work.  A petite young woman in at the controls of one of these vehicles.  A second SUV is commanded by another woman, probably middle-age.  Woman--probably 135 pounds driving behemoth vehicles.  And to where?  Where are these people going at 5:00-5:30 in the morning?  Probably not to their dental or law practice at this time of day.  What else is open at 6:00 a.m. but restaurants and convenience stores?  How can they afford to purchase gasoline on the wage one would receive for this type of job?

A third vehicle, a large diesel-burning pickup, departs from near my house.  This young man has a prestige plate indicating he is a NASCAR fan.  From the time he exits his driveway, down the three-fourth mile to the end of our street, you can hear the roar of this vehicle's motor.

An older man drives the fourth vehicle, another pickup, but not nearly as large as the young man's diesel-burning vehicle.

The mall and downtown shopping areas are 5-6 miles from my house.  I have a BIG older car (will never buy another one) that only leaves the garage a few times each month.  This older big car gets 22-26 mpg (depending on my speed) on the highway, so I assume I get around 15-16 in town.  Most of the above mentioned vehicles will probably not match the gas mileage my big car. 

Figuring $4.00 a gallon gasoline, actually it is only $3.79 in Grand Island, a  person would spend $4 or $5 a day, just to drive to work and home.

My job requires a 4 plus mile commute.  I made the trip on bicycle this morning after researching the safest way to travel this route yesterday.  Now I don't have to use the treadmill or bicycle at night because I have already ridden the bike nine miles on the roundtrip to and from work.

I have ordered a SMARTCAR.  It is 8 '8" inches long.  This car will join a VW Bug in one stall in our garage.  YES, a Bug and SMARTCAR can fit in one average size parking space in a garage.  The older gas burning car will remain in the garage, except on special occasions.

Big is not necessarily better, only more expensive.

ED BEGLEY, JR. is my idol!  As you can see, I'm certainly a "blue", in a "red" state.  Not many in this part of the country feel the way I do.

As I progress in my senior citizen status, I have become more aware of death.  Don't get me wrong, I like my senior citizen status.  Think of the alternative.  I probably think more of death now than I did when I was younger.

Recently a brother of mine died.  He was single, never married, and was a loner.  I was in charge of the disposal of his remains.  After talking with a sister and nieces, I learned that he had mentioned he preferred cremation to the more traditional burial.

His body was cremated.  I learned that the process takes two to three hours at a temperature of 1500 to 2000 F.  I had the opportunity to be present when his body was creamated.   I elected not to.

I have chosen to be cremated when I die.  I prefer this form of body disposal rather than have worms and other insects feasting on my flesh for years. 

Have you chosen a method disposing your body after your death?  You have a choice.  It could be tomorrow or hopefully, many decades in the future.

Clovis, California has a distinction they would readily concede to any other community/city.   One atlas indicates approximately 70,000 people live in Clovis.  The school district of Clovis has lost eight young men in Iraq and Afghanistan.   Six of these young men graduated from the same high school.  One family has lost two brothers.

And why?  Don't try to tell me it is better to fight them "over there" than here.  "They" are here.  They're just biding their time, waiting for the appropriate site and time.

If people from Mexico, Central American, South America and from anywhere else can simply cross our southern border on foot without being detected, it can be assumed terrorists have crossed this border.  I work with many immigrants and when a 57-year old overweight woman tells me she did not experience many difficulties in crossing this border, one could expect a robust 20 something terrorist would not have a problem.

How about the Canadian border?   A video taped production shown by a Canada media company showed how easy it is to cross the Canada/U.S. border carrying a device the size and weight of an explosive that could do considerable damage to a U.S. target.  This device may not bring down the Twin Towers but could have created havoc on many installations.  Bringing this device into the U.S. required three men.  One drove the car to within a few feet of the border.  A second man alighted from the car and stepped into the U.S. where a third person was waiting in a second vehicle only a few yards away.  A fourth man did accompany the group on this trip, but only to record this event.  One of my morning coffee group tells the story of being on a snowmobile in northern Minnesota when his host indicated they had crossed into Canada.   They crossed back and forth across the international boundary several times that afternoon without seeing an immigration official.

So, "they" are not here.  We are fighting them "over there."  Yeah, sure, and I wonder how many more Clovis young people will lose their lives before we "win" this war "over there."

Returning home from Colorado this past weekend, I traveled Highway 14 from Ault to Sterling.   This is a distance of approximately 82 miles.  It has a posted 65 mph speed limit.  The road is in good condition.  I set the cruise control at 67 mph.  I did not pass a vehicle and no vehicle passed me until I was a few miles outside of Sterling.  This one car was the only vehicle that passed me for my entire time on Highway 14.

Highway 29 runs from Harrison (pop. 270) in the extreme northwest corner of the state to Mitchell.   One evening about 8:30 p.m., I left Harrison for the trip to Mitchell, a distance of 56 miles.  I did not have to dim the lights on the car I was driving until I was a few miles north of Mitchell.  Not only did I not pass a vehicle or have a vehicle pass me, I did not meet a vehicle for approximately 50 miles.

So for those of you, who battle traffic every day in your community, think of the traffic people are enjoying on Highway 14 in Colorado and Highway 29 in Nebraska.

My surname can be found on several tombstones in the rural community in which I grew to adulthood.   Upon perusing of these tombstones, one can readily see that the male gender of this surname did not live to be really old men. 

One year ago today my brother died.  He was 69 years 4 months old.  We had spoken less than a year prior to his death, he wanted to break the 70-year-old barrier.  He had mentioned every male with our surname had died in his 50s or 60s.  Those buried in this cemetery included his  grandfather, father and uncles.   His mother and several aunts had died in their 60s and 70s. 

My brother was cremated, according to his wishes.  Since he never married, I handled his estate.  Not an easy task, especially when no will was located. 

In a dark moment occasionally, I wonder when I will die.  I sometimes question if their is a Heaven.  But then, I still say prayers.  I don't attend church regularly but during my early morning walk, I connect with a spiritual power. 

What do you suppose there is after death on this earth?

I occasionally have coffee with a group of male senior citizens.  Most of these men are retired professionals--school administrators, teachers, salesmen, an artist and the like.

There political views are red--way to the right of red.

Consider their reactions to the following two situations. 

'So?' was Dick Cheney's response on national television when told that two-thirds of Americans do not support the war in Iraq.  He went on to argue that polling should not dictate the war's conduct. 

That Chuck Hagel has been a terrible senator for the state of Nebraska.

In regard to Cheney's statement, the consensus of the group was the United States needs a strong leader(s) and Cheney and Bush provides us with this leadership. 

The group was very critical of Hagel.  Based on the feelings of this group, Hagel would not have had a chance to win reelection.  One person even said he should be a liberal senator from New York or some other such liberal state.

I don't expect everyone to agree with my views.  I tried to explain my views on the war one day and was meet with a little ridicule and a lot of silence.  I questioned as to why we entered this "war."  I thought I would appeal to their conservative spending habits. I mentioned the U.S. is spending a billion dollars (that's with a b) every two and one-half days on this "war."  The comment most directed to me that morning was "better to fight them over there, than here."

When I hear the comment, "better to fight them over there, than here," I think of how easy it is to cross either the Mexican or Canadian borders.  When one of my ESL students told me he went back to Mexico to get his seven-year-old son and wife to bring them to this country illegally, and they all entered this country with many other illegals without any difficulty.  Then why can't a healthy 20-year-old terrorist not be able to cross into the United States as well?

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation recently ran a program which showed employees of the CBC--an announcer and a cameraman stepping out of a car and crossing from Canada into the United States.  The announcer was carrying what was a deactivated explosive device and the cameraman had his camera.  They walked to a nearby road and were picked up and were quickly into America's mainland.  Fortunately these three individuals were not terrorists.  How many terrorists have used this method of obtaining entrance into the United States? 

I know everyone would not convert to my way of thinking on the war.  But I would just like an open dialogue.  I lost some sleep one night.  One evening I heard a pentagon official respond to the then 3000 plus deaths and the 20 some thousand wounded and even to the fact that some soldiers were blinded.  His response was "well as far as we can determine only 60 to 70 soldiers have lost most of their eyesight."  I closed my eyes for maybe a minute.  Try closing your eyes for a short period of time and just think if you could never see again because of a "war."  As he said, only 60 to 70 people will be blind--he should have added for the next 50-60 years.

So you can see (no pun intended) why I am BLUE in a really, really RED state.

We arrived late afternoon in Vienna from Slovenia.  The night before we had made reservations at a hotel near the train station located in the south part of the city.  Vienna has three train stations from which travelers depart for various parts of Europe.  By the way, Paris has five train stations to accommodate rail travelers. 

The two men in the tourist bureau apparently had had a long day.  They did not supply us with much help.  Most tourist bureaus have excellent resource personnel.  I went out on the street.  It was a maze of streets interlocking with each other at different angles.   Cars, trucks and streetcars were all fighting for position.

I approached some people on the street.  Either they did not know the way to the hotel or they were limited English speaking people.  Finally I located a man who spoke near perfect English.  He informed me to take streetcar 11 and get off at the third stop.  Then we would have a short walk to our hotel.  Once again the information provided over the internet underestimated the distance to the hotel. 

Our hotel was a three-star hotel.  It was clean and as we found out later the hotel served an excellent buffet breakfast.  The hotel was located on a busy street, just a couple blocks from a shopping area.  Two subway entrances were within a five minute walk of the hotel.

We were able to see many outstanding sights in Vienna.  They included the Anchor Clock, Belvedere Palace, Burgtheater (National Theater), Danube Tower, Hofburg, Ring Boulevard, Schonbrunn Palace, Spanish Riding School (as in Lipizzaner stallions), St. Stephen's Cathedral and Vienna Opera House. 

I suppose my favorite sight was the Cathedral with its magnificient view of Vienna and area. 

One major difference between Austria and the United States is their music.  Classical music is played everywhere--in stores, cafes, on streets, and even in bars.  Classical music is really evident during the holidays.  Before we left the states, I checked into attending the opera one night while in Vienna.  It is expensive and many performances have been sold out well in advance of our December departure.  I believe the main reason I declined purchasing tickets was the fact that we would be traveling with a 25-inch suitcase so our attire for attending one of these operas would not probably have been appropriate.  Concerts were held every night between the middle of December and January 7.  There were three concerts New Year's Eve Day.  The Vienna Hofburg Orchestra celebrated three concerts on New Year's Day at 11:00, 16:00 and 19:30 hours.

We traveled by subway throughout Vienna.  The subway system was great.  Most European subway systems provide an excellent method of transportation.

I would certainly recommend Vienna as a city to visit when you tour Europe.

We arrived in Ljlubljana in darkness.  The three of us checked into a hotel, very expensive, near the train station.  That night we went to the hotel's Internet room and made arrangements to stay in a different hotel for the remainder of our stay in this city.   

When we arrived at the second hotel, we showed them our reservation which had been made on the Internet through Travelocity from the lobby of the first hotel we had stayed in.  The cost was in euros, but amounted to $147 American dollars.  That night we decided we wanted to stay another night in this second hotel.  I approached the pleasant young clerk and inquired if the $147 rate would be charged.  He immediately sought assistance from a hotel manager.  A large man appeared.  Not jovial in nature, he said in his broken English, something about 10 percent being taken off the walk-in rate.   The walk-in rate was $229 a night, so he was quoting me a price over $200 for the room, a room we rented for 50-some dollars less the night before.

I shared this news with Marcia and Randy.  Randy immediately went to the desk and was told the cost that was quoted to me.  Randy then went to the Internet in the lobby of the hotel in which we were staying and made a reservation through Travelocity for the next night.  He then went to the desk and showed his reservation at $147 for the next night.  They weren't sure they could honor that price.  But Randy then e-mailed Travelocity and informed them of the situation.  Later that evening, he received a reply from Travelocity saying the hotel would honor the price.   When we checked out the same young desk clerk and manager were present.  They wished us a pleasant good bye, at least until we made our exit through the front door.

This was the first time I used the Internet to reserve rooms after we had arrived in Europe.  Occasionally, I will use the Internet to reserve a room for the first night and the last night on a European trip.

I will certainly use Travelocity on further trips after the assistance they provided for us in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

I knew when I planned this trip that Ljubljana, Slovenia, would be one possibility of where we would spend New Year's Eve.  We arrived in Ljubljana on December 30.  For where we departed the train, we had a walk of some distance to get into the station proper.  It was a dark and dreary early evening with snow flurries swirling around.  As we trudged in the direction of the station, I thought of some of the movies I had seen that had been filmed in Eastern Europe--dark--dreary--cold--snow--people dressed in fur hats--poor lighting--an eerie feeling.  This was what I was experiencing as I welcomed the warmth of the station. 

We made our hotel selection at the tourism office located in the railroad station.  The hotel's selection was made primarily because of the hotel's location.  It was close to the railroad station and the downtown area of Ljubljana.  It was a very expensive hotel.   We pulled and carried our luggage down the 6-7 blocks to the hotel.   The three of us were in one room with the three beds.  Supposedly, it was a four-star hotel.

The next morning, after a breakfast that was part of the hotel package deal, we decided to seek another hotel in which to stay. The breakfast was great.  Many European hotels provide a buffet breakfast with the room.  The breakfast is much more than the roll, bagel, juice, cereal and coffee that is breakfast in U. S. motels.   Usually some local delicacy is part of the breakfast offering, as well as numerous cheese samples and cold meats.  Eggs, bacon and other heated meats are also provided.  Numerous kinds of breads and pastries are also available.  All kinds of juices, coffee and tea are made available to the guests.  

We decided to seek another hotel for the remainder of our stay.  We went on the Internet and through Travelocity were able to locate another hotel a short distance away from the hotel we had stayed in the first night, at a price much more reasonable.

On New Year's Eve Day, we took in many Ljubljana's sites.  The museums, galleries and the castle on the hill were all visited.  The downtown square, many centuries old, was full of artisians and merchants hawking their wares.  We spent the early part of New Year's Eve looking and bargaining with these merchants.  We did make a couple excellent purchases, or maybe we were taken, who knows for sure.  It was great fun.

Once again a foggy, dreary night gave way to outdoor lights in the huge square.  At about 21:00 hours, four bands started playing at the four ends of the square.   There was a rock band, featuring mainly American music, a band featuring Eastern European rock music, the ever-present classical music orchestra and a band playing 50s and 60s music from America.

There was some public drinking but very few instances of public intoxication.  The main drink was hot wine--most of which was sold from vendors in the streets.  Ever possible kind of flavor was available at a reasonable price.  

As Randy and I made our way from one band to another, we saw a group of people asembled around a window.  We selected a place where we could observe what was happening.  Several artists were painting a nude model in the window of a store.  I thought this was something we would not probably see happening in Grand Island.  

At precisely midnight, 24:00 hours, 5:00 p.m., in Grand Island, the fire works display erupted.  From the square, from buildings adjoining the square and from the castle grounds, high overlooking the square, fireworks could be seen.  The fireworks were especially spectacular coming from the castle grounds, as fog had set in, resulting in an undescribable scene.

At about 1:00 or 1:30, New Year's Day, Randy and I retired to our rooms.  The fireworks continued throughout most of the night.  It would still be several more hours before the stroke of midnight would occur in the states.