It rained today in the Valley of the Sun. There was even some hail mixed in, and if I had still lived back east I would have been heading for the storm shelter. Since everything in this subdivision is built on slabs, there was only one thing to do: enjoy the beautiful fury of a desert thunderstorm.

Then, I had to drive places.

Note to anyone wishing to drive here in the rain: The roads are SLICK due to a build up of oil and dust, since it doesn’t rain often enough to keep them clean. You will need to allow MORE distance between vehicles (that’s especially for you, Mr. “I have a four wheel drive jacked up to the sky and I can tailgate you with my foglights on”). You will also need to reduce your speed a bit. Yes, I know these two items are the EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT YOU WERE OBVIOUSLY TAUGHT but, like any behavior, the new rules can be learned.

Speaking of foglights – why do you have them on? There hasn’t been fog in the Phoenix Metro area since – well, since never, I suppose, because there is not enough moisture in the air (even when it’s raining!) and enough of a temperature differential between the air and the ground to suspend droplets. There really needs to be a law.

I drove across the valley twice, and up and down once, and saw more than twenty certifiable instance of obliviots behind the wheel. My personal favorite was the teenybopper girl behind the wheel of an Altima on my way home this evening from church. She was on the phone, her head barely cleared the steering wheel, the rain was coming down pretty hard, and she decided that she needed to turn into the gas station. Not bad, except she was in the middle lane, I was in the left lane, and the gas station was to the left. No turn signal, no mirror check, no shoulder glance – nothing. Thank God for protecting me, and giving me the reflexes and awareness of my surroundings. I hit the brakes, was able to swerve right, and she missed my right front fender by about two inches. She didn’t miss my horn, though. I’m pretty sure she heard that – she looked at me, all disgusted, like I was in her way. Well, obviously!

Two guesses on the nationality of the driver, and one guess as to the nation the car was registered in. (Hint: not the US of A. Think further south.)

No wonder Phoenix has some of the highest insurance rates in the nation.

Good news – I’ve been assigned a route, and I start with Monday’s deliveries. I’m really looking forward to being a productive member of society. Again. I don’t see how these leeches can stand not doing anything all day. I was busy with my job search, and I still felt like I wasn’t accomplishing anything. (Full disclosure: I did not collect any benefits while out of work. We were able to provide, with God’s Grace, and not siphon off funds needed for other purposes.)

At any rate, it looks like I’ll be shifting my time frame this weekend. This should be fun.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008!

Tag: Write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008

May I have the attention of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain, and anyone else with the temerity to run for President?

Thank you. Just wanted to let you know that you are going about this the wrong way. Telling the American People that you are going to change your ways if you are elected is not a good way to gain our trust.

Hillary – do you really think that this country has forgotten who was ramrodding the Whitewater affair?

Barack – how gullible do you think we are? OK, Ellison made into office, but that was just one state that got stuck on stupid last fall.

McCain – sir, your cards have been played out. War hero, former POW, history of service to the country – great! Time to retire. Let the next generation step up.

No, MAKE the next generation step up.

All Career Politicians – you should know that We the People are tired of being told we “don’t understand how government works” – really? Then why allow us to vote at all? Why not just declare yourselves royalty and never step down? Heck, you do that already, even when you get voted out of office you keep your nasty, sticky fingers in the national cookie jar anyway. With a few exceptions, there needs to be new blood in the running of this country.

That’s where the voice of the nation needs to come in.

The nation needs to rise up and be heard once again. The voice of the nation was heard when it was founded, and things have kind of gotten away from the “citizen statesman” ideal – now, you need to be born in the right family, or have the right trust fund, or have enough money to buy an election outright in order to get into office.

I am asking everyone who reads this to mention me to everyone you run into. Tell them, “Vote for Common Sense – Write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008.” Say this to everyone you meet – I do. Sooner or later, word of this will reach the right ears. Then, maybe the Career Politicians will be made aware of the fact that they are not representing us anymore. Actually, I’m pretty sure most of them already know that, they just don’t admit that they are in it for themselves instead of the country. If there were such a thing as an Honest Career Politician, he or she would admit that the don’t have the best interest of this country at heart when they are in session.

I, for one, am tired of being told that while my viewpoint is valuable, it doesn’t count toward anything. My representative (I didn’t vote for him, but since he’s representing my district, shouldn’t he be listening and hearing what is being said?) is tired of getting faxes and letters from me. Mainly because he believes that “normalizing” “guest workers” is vital for the continued success of this nation. I say amnesty in any form is bad news. He says these people are woven into the fabric of our nation – I say these leeches are sucking the life out of our entry level jobs.

You know why teenagers can’t start out at the bottom and work their way up? Because some illegal invader is willing to lie, cheat, and steal to get false papers and then work for minimum wage for the rest of his life, and the employer will gladly never give a raise. And that entry level position is now lost to the legal citizen forever.

You don’t see teenagers mowing lawns for spending money anymore – because the illegal invaders are doing it for less than the teenager would.

Politicians, wake up. You are selling this country down the Rio Grande and not even listening to the watchmen on the towers.

America, wake up! Don’t let them continue on this path – or we will lose this country and no one will be the wiser. Think about that the next time you have to “press 1 for English.”

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008!

Tag: Write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008

OK – things are getting into somewhat of a routine. TMBWitW went back to work this morning, after maternity leave and vacation. She has been dreading this day, when she has to go without holding her daughter for nine hours. I don’t blame her. MEG is the most beautiful baby ever, and I’m not just saying that because I’m her Dad. I mean it:

I got a concerned call from Gawfer on Friday, while the three of us were in Kingman visiting our cousins. He asked if I was OK, since I hadn’t been active on the blogs all week. I told him I was fine, and I appreciated his concern. In the process of being approved for a contractor position with the Arizona Republic combined with finally getting the new pulpit completed, I didn’t have a lot of time for anything else.

What’s that? You want to see pictures of the pulpit?

This is the pulpit before any color was applied. The base material is 3/4″ maple ply, with hardwood trimming from Home Depot:

The nice thing about hardwood is that when you add color like I did, it blends the poplar and the maple very nicely.

Back view:

Lectern view:

Ignore the mess in the background – I was working on my back patio.

I used Vermont Maple base color from Minwax:

Lectern view:

This project started out as a refinishing of an old pulpit. The original piece had been stored in an outdoor location, under a roof extension, and covered with a tarp. One thing about beautiful wood and water – the latter will eventually find the former unless someone is very vigilant. No one was vigilant, so it soaked up a lot of rain, even in this desert environment. Combined with the fast drying action, mold attacked most of the structure, and sanding the old finish revealed large patches of deep damage. The old one was made of eastern white oak – beautiful, and I cried when I saw the mold. I was able to salvage some of the parts, and after talking with the Pastor, it was decided to use a carved grape motif and a Celtic cross from the front of the old pulpit. I did a face sand of the salvage pieces, retaining the old finish in the relief sections. These were incorporated into the face of the new pulpit, and the whole thing got a clear coat:

The contractor position with the paper is delivering bulk quantities to store fronts and racks; this takes place between midnight and 6 am. This allows me to watch MEG during the day while TMBWitW is at work, God is Good! and He allows us to keep MEG here at home instead of putting her in daycare. Parental supervision is best!

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008!

Tag: Write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008

I’m a slacker. I missed last Friday. And this Friday, I am not in town. TMBWitW, MEG and I are visiting relatives up north.

Go here. Buy a shirt, wear it on Fridays, and declare your support for the troops.

Diet update: This morning, I weighed 221. For those keeping track, that’s five pounds in two weeks. I’ll keep you posted. Gotta look good for the Presidency!

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008!

Tag: Write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008

Mary needs some help.

Seems she has gained the interest of a pervert, a slimeball who goes by “OS” on Blogspot. Please read her entire post, and help out. It requires clicking on a link she has in her post, and flagging a blog as having objectionable material.

Blogspot has a very bad record here – they do not seem interested in protecting the first amendment except when it pertains to child pronograpghy. (Yes, it’s spelled wrong. I don’t need that type of reader.) That’s why you don’t see the surf bar at the top of my blog – I’ve blocked it, so that you do not have to be exposed to a random blog that may contain material that is objectionable.

If you would like to know how to block that bar, drop me a line. My good friends John and Sues helped me out on that, and I will pass it on to any who would like it. By the way, Sues and John also have another site, Warriors For Innocence. They have a lot of helpful information there to protect your family and your children.

In other news – the week sure disappeared on me. Mike and Cimarron are well on their way to Idaho. The custom cabinet shop never called me back. I have been accepted as a contractor to deliver bulk volumes of the newspaper. That starts probably next week, and it’s an early-morning job, so when I am finished I can watch MEG while TMBWitW goes to work, that way MEG doesn’t have to go to daycare. We played live in service yesterday evening. The pulpit is almost finished. I have in my possession quite a few business cards with my campaign information on them – if you would like to have some to pass around, please drop me an e-mail and I’ll get some to you. I haven’t been keeping up on my reading of the blogs, so I have some catching up to do there. I’ve got a few projects on the burners – I need to get some shirts available, and bumper stickers, and whatnot – I’ll let you all know when that happens. I’m trying to get the attention of the community channel, for a local interest story (how many communities have a write-in candidate for President?) and that’s not going anywhere.

I think that’s all for now.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008!

Tag: Write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008