A Discussion About Dogs

As you may have gathered from past posts, my young daughter pretty much can get me to do most anything she wants. Last night she came downstairs right before bedtime (perhaps the cutest time of the day for little kids, with their little PJs on) and hopped up in my lap.

"Daddy, we need to have a discussion."

I was intrigued. "Okay, what do you want to discuss," I asked.

"I want a dog. For me. And I want it to sleep in my bed with me. And I want it to be all mine."

We just found out the other day that we're going to get to stay in Seattle for another couple of years. The last obstacle is out of the way for getting a dog. Now the only question is what kind.

I came home from work the other day espousing the benefits of a smallish dog breed, the American Eskimo. Guy at work brought his in one day. Looks like a nice breed. My wife had other ideas.

"I want a big dog," she said. Notice where my daughter gets her matter-of-fact tone of voice.

"Like a lab?"

"No bigger. I'm thinking a Great Dane or Irish Wolfhound."

She's taken the leap from big to gi-normous. Between two teenage boys and a 100+ pound dog, I'm cringing at the thought of the grocery bill.

Canoe Trip From Hell

George recently wrote of his exploits on a hiking/camping trip in SC. I read this and had to chuckle. It reminded me of a canoing/camping trip my brother-in-law, a friend of his, and I went on about 13 years ago.

My brother-in-law Bill came home from work one day (we were staying with them in Oklahoma while I went through C-17 school) with the crazy idea for this canoe trip over a weekend. We would pack up our stuff in the canoe and paddle down the mighty Red River to a highway overpass in Texas, where our wives would pick us up. Sounds great, right?

The problems started almost immediately. We dropped the canoe and loaded it up with our stuff at a convenient spot. We three grown men hopped in and, with cavalier waves to the wives, started off on our journey. We got about 100 feet before we hit the first sand bar, our canoe grinding to a halt. We had to get out and pull the canoe to a deeper part of the river. This went on like that for the next 6 hours. See, the Red River is really a river in name only. There's barely any water in it. Tough to canoe when there's no water. It was like paddling in the rain gutters on the side of the road after a light rain.

We hiked/paddled/hiked/paddled/hiked/paddled all together for about 12 hours before we gave up, walked to a nearby farmhouse, and called our wives to come get us. They laughed and laughed. Lewis and Clark we were not.

George, at least you guys saved face and made it to your car.

Thoughts on VP Debate

Listened to the first part of the VP debate on the way home last night and watched the last half with the wife. My first reaction was that Palin had not done all that well. Biden sounded pretty good. Though I still don't agree with the socialist/wealth distribution/fairness message, he did deliver it well. After the debate ended, I sat back and reflected. Perhaps I expected too much from Palin? She did deliver a solid performance and, I believe, held her own against a guy who's been doing this sort of thing for 30+ years. She's had, what, two months? The more I think about it, the better I feel about how she did. No knockout punches, but a solid showing.

Bottom line, which of the two candidates reflect my beliefs in where I think the country needs to go. Parties aside (believe it or not, I'd vote Democrat if it was the right person), who is the better man to lead this country? Who has the better message? It just blows my mind that people just don't see that the "tax the rich and give to the poor" mentality just doesn't work. Biden talked about fairness. What's fair about taxing a person more who's done well through his/her own blood/sweat/tears, who's taken advantage of every opportunity given, who's taken a chance and had it pay off. Why should that person have to pay more (percentage-wise) in taxes than the person who does not get paid as much? Does the rich person enjoy more government benefits? Is he/her more of a citizen?

I've been disappointed with the Republicans the past few years--gov't spending is through the roof. I like McCain's message of fiscal responsibility. I can't spend more than I make (well, I can for a while). Why should the government be able to? Chuck, I think Dave Ramsey would make a fine Sec of the Treasury...what say you?