A repost from Facebook

They sent my Census form back-AGAIN!!!

In response to the question: "Do you have any dependents?"

I replied -
12 million illegal immigrants
3 million crack heads
8.5 million unemployed people
7 million in prisons
unknown millions in every state collecting welfare and/or food stamps with no intentions of ever working
... and 535 useless people in the U.S. House and Senate

Apparently, this was NOT an acceptable answer!!

Thank you Kimberly Loving Ross, this is quite astonishing when put in to perspective!

How proud are we? Damn proud!

(News flash: our daughter in law receives award from her publisher, Putman Publishing, Chemical Processing Magazine, Chicago, Illinois)....and the winner is:


Traci Purdum Receives the “Dazzle the Team” Award

I could easily give Traci a Dazzle the Team/Client award pretty much every week. For almost three years, Traci has consistently dazzled the CP team and our clients with innovative ideas, her working at all hours work ethic, her positive can do attitude, her willingness to try/do anything, her invaluable feedback (many times not agreeing with me at all), her attention to detail, her strong desire to make sure our advertisers and readers get the most out of their experiences, and being a total team player. Plus, you can always count on Traci’s infectious laugh on the phone and during meetings. Every time I speak to Traci about the need to solve a problem or ask her for ideas, she never lets me down. I could recount the numerous ideas and contributions Traci delivers on a daily basis…. but I’ll keep the list to a few highlights. Traci serves as our moderator for all of our webcasts (which more than doubled in revenue this year), helps our clients get the most out of their experience, and keeps clients and readers coming back; her Comical Processing cartoon idea lives on in several of the Putman properties; she just recently launched our new exclusive online columnists feature; she starred in one of our most successful lead generation campaigns to date (one of our client videos); she initiated our leadership podcast series, and she helps keep one of our more demanding clients satisfied and impressed. Traci, thank you again for all that you do.
Brian D. Marz
PublisherChemical Processing
Cell Phone (708) 404-3334Fax
(630) 467-0197
bmarz@putman.net

Poetry in motion

How proud can a person be of another person's accomplishments? In the case of Samantha Sampson and Canadian Guard...pretty damn proud!

Sam is a 14 year old riding student of my daughter Sarah and Canadian Guard is a 24 year old 1/2 Arabian-1/2 Saddlebred gelding who is owned by Ann Marie Burrows, a client of Sarah's.

Sam just recovered from ACL surgery, a soccer injury from last fall, and has only been riding again for a couple of months or so. She is quiet and determined, and she loves this horse. He was a former English Pleasure Horse, and then was sold to Ann Marie several years ago, and dropped down a notch to Hunter status. He is still pretty stylish as you can see!

"Guard" is sired by National Champion Al Marah Canadius. He is tall, dark and handsome, and Ann Marie lovingly calls him "Romeo" and she graciously lets Sam ride and show him. Sam's proud parents are Jeff and Traci Sampson.

He takes care of this young girl and she doesn't let him get away with any nonsense.

A pretty pair competing at their very first "Class A" horse show.

Proud as peacocks might be the words that describe how we all feel about this ribbon winning combination.

p.s. this pair now fully meet the requirements for "generation gap"!

Say Goodbye!

to this old white truck. We sold it via Craigslist
and the young man came to pick it up last night.
We sold it for about 1/2 of it's value. Let someone
else have it. We purchased it six years ago, put money
into it, put money into each year as a matter of fact.
We put about 10,000 miles on it in that time.

Tim mostly used it and he hauled stuff and delivered
stuff, moved stuff, stuffed stuff etc. with it.

Now, we have put more money into it, fuel pump,
brake lines and it is time to move on down the
road. We don't need it...and someone else did.

I wish that young man well. He was happy as he drove
down the driveway.

Good luck to you both!

Girlfriends...are the best friends!`

Ruthie is here visiting from Texas. She and her husband
"G" (G-man, a nickname he earned in the Air Force)
will be here for another week or so. The occasion is
sad, she came back to honor the one year anniversary
of the death of her youngest son Cliff. A somber visit to be sure.

We got together on Friday and made a trip to
Columbus to shop at Von Maur. It's not so much
the time spent shopping (in my case, not to be confused with "buying"). It is the travel time to and fro in the car. The time that we spend catching up on each other's lives. Oh, we send cards back and forth each month, and I know that she thinks of me, but she is the primary companion and caregiver for her husband who has had a couple of strokes (you would not know it to look at "G", but believe me, he has lots of impairments that are not visible).

Sometimes the strain of a stressful life can only be shared with a girlfriend. A girlfriend who has shared intimate thoughts and seen the real side of you...and that you still are friends in spite of each other.

That is how we shared Friday. I showed her things she might want to purchase that were on sale. We laughed and sighed. Tears came a little and smiles too!

We shall always have a special bond, Ruthie and me. Even the 2100 miles of distance don't separate our thoughts.
(photo of Ruthie, "G" and new grandson late last year, Mason was born to daughter Sonie)

"I want to be an astronaut"!

...when I grow up! That's Daniel dream at this stage of his life. He talks about it all the time.
His Dad is a pilot, so maybe it is a natural thing. Anyway, this past week, Daniel and his Dad went to Florida to the NASA Space Museum, Cape Canaveral etc. They had scheduled their trip to see the shuttle launch, but the date was changed and did not coincide with Kevin's vacation time. So off they flew to Florida and they had a wonderful time.

I applaud Kevin for taking his son to see the most famous space program in the world. I think back and thought it was a big deal to take the kids to Cedar Point.

I know...they loved it...but really, Cape Canaveral?

You get a big "star" on your chart Kevin...you are a great Dad!

We celebrate!

The Fourth of July.

For all the men and women

who died to give this right to me

I give thanks.