Friday, October 3, 2008. After picking up my brother from Phoenix Sky Harbor, we met TMBWitW and MEG at My Mother’s Restaurant for lunch. My brother and I then motored north to Flagstaff for LeaAnn’s service.

On the way north, interstate 17 passes through the Verde River Valley (the area is also known as Verde Valley, or Camp Verde – Gawfer, you know the area I’m talking about!). Going north into Verde, the interstate goes down a long and winding grade. The speed limit drops to 65 mph there, and I usually just drift on down with the car in gear, letting the motor take care of the speed. This time, however…

My brother and I had been talking, and the cruise was set between 75 and 77 mph. Dropping over the top of the grade, and easing down, the traffic as very light and the conversation was steady – not involved, but steady, if you see the difference. The car didn’t build up a LOT of speed, but by the time the grade flattened out, the speedometer was reading 82 as I flashed past the trooper sitting in the median.

Yup, got pulled over, as I should have been. We were slowing for the exit, to get sodas for the rest of the trip, and the tropper pulled onto the exit behind us, and gave us a light show.

I had my license and the car registration out, ready for him, when he introduced himself. He also asked for proof of insurance, and I couldn’t find the current card – but I did have to look through all the previous cards to make sure I didn’t have the current one (he even asked to see some of the previous ones).

“Mr. Cartter, the reason I stopped you was because radar clocked you at 82 miles per hour at the bottom of the hill. Now, the 75 mph zone doesn’t start up until another hundred yards or so beyond where I was sitting, but even in the 75 zone 82 is a bit fast. Now, if you will just wait right here while I run your information through the computer to make sure no one else wants to talk to you, I’ll be right back.”

My brother and I sat there and chatted about previous tickets we had gotten (believe it or not, we were kinda wild in our youth) until I saw the trooper headed back to my window with – could it be? thank you, Lord! – a clipboard in his hand.

“Mr. Cartter, I checked with the fifty states and you are not wanted in any of them…”

“Thanks for not checking the other seven…” slipped out before I could stop myself.

“…and two points for the Obama reference” he continued with a slight grin. “I have written a warning for you, to watch your speed and make sure you get a current copy of your insurance card in the vehicle. You never know when you’ll need it.”

My surprise was written all over my face, and I said “Thank you for the warning. I do apologize, I was talking to my brother, down from Salt Lake, and we were headed to our sister’s funeral.” I signed the warning, he gave me a copy, and we continued to the convenience store to get a couple of cokes.

When we got back in the car, I looked at the warning. The nice trooper had written it for 80 in a 75. What a wonderful example of God’s Grace, I thought. I deserved a ticket, I was waiting for the ticket, and instead I received a warning.

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

222?!?

Has it been a week already? Wow… time flies.

First up (on the random “top of the blogrolls” generator) is Texas Fred with a reiteration on his beliefs about where the WoT should have been, and why going where we did was a mistake. Good read. Oh, and he’s on his new server, too.

In case I haven’t made this clear before, Blackfive is the site for unbiased pieces on anything military.

cube has a piece up on the BLOG about He Who Must Not Be Middle Named.

Regular Ron shares his outlook on the possible shutdown looming in September on Old Right Daily.

Richard (At The Water) shows why he wants to get into digiscoping.

Samantha got the rough end of a conversation when trying to do the right thing.

Old Soldier has a bit of a rant on the money-burning habits of a particular sheik in the Middle East.

Brother Helms on Amazed In His Presence has a series of interesting entries…

GuyK cuts loose on the latest campaign ad flurry over on Charming, Just Charming.

Don’t visit Steve if you have a high jealousy factor of blue skies, clean air, gorgeous panoramas and abundant wildlife. I only go there to report his entries. And yearn to hike the same trails.

Doug reports on an Early Warning Station that is in place to overlook Israel.

Did you know that if you are White then you are considered to be racist? Simply for being White? Check out American And Proud Of It for details. (full disclosure: I am considered to be a bog-dwelling, racist redneck and infidel – and darned proud of it, too!)

Jenn has the McCain ad posted that rips on Obama by comparing him to other media-made darlings.

John Starley has an excellent piece up regarding the spending habits of Congress on Fire of Liberty.

Good Thought of the Day over on Andrew Tallman’s blog.

Akinoluna reflects on what five years is.

BZ has a question for those who still think in America regarding Mr. HopeyChangieness on Bloviating Zeppelin.

Go on up to the tab labeled “All Blogrolls Here” and run down the list. I’m sure you will find something to comment on!

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, Time, Inc. is a bunch of weasels, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

TMBWitW and I were working on cleaning up the “office” here in the house. Earlier, it looked like a war zone. There was a play pen stuffed with toys, there are two desks (one for the computer, one for the peripherals), there is a set of storage shelves built out of 2×4’s and 3/4″ plywood, and there are the remnants/beginnings of an HO scale model railroad stacked here and there. All in a room that is 11×13. The whole thing was supposed to be the railroad room, but that got sidetracked. (get it? railroad? sidetracked? i kill me … )

Anyway – I got distracted while glancing through the e-mail. Good discussion over at Texas Fred’s place and at Bushie’s place. Jump in the discussions, I think it’s going to be a long comment session.

I also got invited to become a member of the editorial staff of Reject the UN. I accepted.

So, the office is in disarray, about to be taken off-line for rearranging and a general cleaning, the play pen has been stored, and I’m tired. TMBWitW and MEG are both napping – I probably should, too.

In fact, I think I will.

Have a good weekend!

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

My regular readers may remember that I am … well, getting older.

Recently (OK, yesterday) I took the very large step of trying to get back into shape – no, seriously! – by starting my running regime again.

For those of you who have some medical training tucked under your belts, rest assured that I did not jump right in and run five miles. No no, I started out nice and easy, with about a half-mile or so. (Apology to Texas Fred – in our chat on YIM yesterday, I mentioned three quarters of a mile, and I measured it last night, turned out to be shorter than that.) I did manage to make the run yesterday morning in just a tick over five minutes (great – ten minute miles from a guy that used to run three in fifteen minutes. i have a long way to go) and again this morning in 5:10. This morning’s slower time I am chalking up to lack of practice, but my left knee is really letting me know I haven’t done this in a while. My thigh muscles are screaming, and of course my shins are wanting to convince me I have splints forming.

However, I wasn’t wheezing and huffing nearly as much as I was yesterday. I think I managed to blow out all the dust and build-up that was in my lungs – haven’t hacked things like that since I quit smoking. (funny side-note – i would run the three miles in fifteen minutes right after finishing a cigarette, and would light one up at the finish line. i was stupid. i have smartened up a bit since then)

I am very happy to report that on neither run did I stop and walk – I chugged right on through.

My plan is to work on this distance until it’s down to about four minutes, and then I’ll start increasing the distance while maintaining the time; once I get to running five minute miles I’ll start working on distance again.

Now, pardon me while I go ice my knee…

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

[GRAPHIC PHOTOS INVOLVED]

In the interest of full disclosure, and I wasn’t going to show you at first, I must admit that yesterday I pulled a pretty bone-headed stunt.

For those not familiar with the safety rules of a table saw, keep in mind that one of the most important rules is that you have control of the wood on BOTH sides of the blade at all times – meaning the tail side, away from the rip fence (if one is being used) and the stock side (the side between the blade and the fence). Failure to maintain control of both pieces could result in the stock piece either jamming between the blade and the fence, or, in my case, being grabbed by the blade and spun back towards the operator at a very high rate of speed and lethality, also known as “kickback.”

I was not in the correct position for handling the piece I was cutting; if I was the kickback would not have happened. I was using the table saw for a cut that I should have grabbed a circular saw for – and I paid:

Keep in mind this picture was taken well after the oozing and everything had stopped. The shirt I was wearing has a nice high-speed wear pattern on it, too. Oh, and this was a glancing impact, since I wasn’t directly behind the blade.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!