Ronald Reagan, A Great American

The Greatest President of  My Lifetime

I couldn't let the day pass without mentioning the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Wilson Reagan. President Reagan would have 100 years old today. Ronald Reagan was a man who came along when his country was in desperate need of a leader after the travesty that was the Carter Presidency. Ronald Reagan believed in the exceptionalism of the American people and he reminded us of that on a near daily basis. Because of this great man's optimism, the United States once again became a proud country. When the bad guys, like Russia, felt like they could jack with the US, Reagan was quick to remind them that we would kick their ass if it was necessary to the plot. "If you can't make them see the light, then make them feel the heat". Our adversaries around the world knew that Reagan meant business and the President's resolve was never questioned by those who would do us harm.

I was lucky enough to see the President make a speech at a layover in Roswell, New Mexico in 1982 (I think). There were hundreds of ordinary Americans on hand to hear what an extraordinary man had to say to us on that day. He did not disappoint. He told us how lucky we were to live in the greatest country in history, and then he reminded us that it was men and women just like us who made this country the envy of the world. Ronald Reagan had a knack of motivating ordinary citizens to do extraordinary things.

I could go on and link to all kinds of sources that would back up what I am saying here, but it's not really needed when talking about Ronald Reagan. We knew him and he knew us. He was us and we were him. I will link to one speech that clearly shows that Ronald Reagan was a man ahead of his times. If you can listen to this incredible oratory and not feel proud of this country, then I'll buy you a bus ticket to Canada or Mexico. 

"A Time for Choosing".  Download it and save it. You'll thank me later.

God bless Ronald Reagan and may God continue to bless the United States of America.

Best of Three States Plus One

This was first posted on August 20, 2010. And it's still damn funny. 

Toby 

A couple of days ago I wrote about impending doom a much overdue visit from my Mother-in-Law. As it turns out, there is a God!!!!, she had to postpone her trip by the Grace of The Almighty  due to car trouble. This turn of events caused  me to do cartwheels my wife great sadness and despair. I thought I was safe from all that is evil and wrong with the world. I.Was.Wrong. My weekend of sloth and gluttony has turned into The Weekend From Hell. I know you married guys are wondering, "How could a nice weekend of sloth and gluttony turn into a weekend from hell, when your Mother-in-Law is 200 miles away having car trouble and can't come to torture and degrade you visit?" Let me 'splain. Although I'm happier than a stoned fat kid at a McDonald's all you can eat buffet saddened my M-I-L can't make it, a fate worse than paying alimony to an ex-wife that married a plastic surgeon has befallen me. I.Have.To.Go.Back.To.School.Shopping.! But wait! There's more! I am (or should be) committed... to attend a baby shower! Don't get me wrong, as a father of four (ages 3-31, God help me), I love kids, I really do (especially with a little salt and mustard....rimshot). But, less than a month before my 54th birthday, I thought my days of going to baby showers were over! At least until my own daughters had babies. But my wife threatened me with unspeakable acts of violence asked me nicely to go, so I said OK. Upon further review, I never thought I'd miss my Mother-in-Law, but I do. Go figure. Anyway...posting will be sporadic, at best, today for the previously mentioned reasons. Rummage through the archives because there's lots mof stuff in there and I'm sure you'll find something that'll make you say to yourself, "That's 10 minutes of my life I'll never get back". But it's Friday, what a better way to kill time at work than to read some worthless drivel potential Pulitzer Prize-winning social commentary? Here are a few of my popular posts from the recent past:

•  Texas Tidbits : Fort Worth - Ah Luv Yew
• Plus One :Tennessee - The Volunteer State 
• Maine Minutiae : Fat Guy Convention, Sardine Drop, Bingo & Ed McMahon
• Colorado Chronicles : Colorado Springs

Aggies, School and Robin Hood - A Lineup You Won't Find Anywhere Else on the Internet!

I am going to be pretty busy today with Issy and her Girl Scout stuff and working to get my old computer up and running again. I'm not sure what's wrong with it, but I am gonna give it hell. The cool thing about that is that I don't have a monitor for it so I am gonna hook it up to the HDTV that Heather and I have in our bedroom upstairs. It's not a big TV, just 32", but it should be fun to use as a monitor. Now if Heather will only let me get Major League Baseball package on the computer. :)
I'll leave you with some the posts that caught your attention a while back and a I think they deserve a second look. And awaaaaaayyyyyyyyy we go!

• We Were All Aggies for a Day - This is the story of a decades old Aggie tradition that went terribly wrong on a November day in 1999, claiming twelve young lives full of promise and making a century old football rivalry a footnote (deservedly so) to the horror that had changed a University and twelve families forever.
• Toby Goes to School - I got some terrific reactions to this story about me being a guest reader at my 8 year old's second grade class. I had a great time doing it and it lead to a two part story. The link with the title in in it (Toby Goes to School) is the first part of this epic tome. Part 2 can be found here. I think you'll like it.  :)
• A Modern Day Robin Hood - The idiot in this post  is actually named Robin Hood. Unlike his namesake of hundreds of years ago, this guy ain't even a good thief. Check it out and have a laugh on me.

I may pop in later to let you know how things are going, but I really do have a lot to do to the old computer. I am going to install a new-ish Linux Distro, security software and maybe partition the hard drive and put Windows 7 Ultimate on it. I enjoy doing stuff like this. I always end up learning something new, which is a bonus for diving in head first into playing with computers. Oh, yeah....I may convert the old machine into a server, which would be a first for me. Wish me luck! And from all of us here at the Toby Dome, we wish you a great weekend!

Texas Tidbits: Hill Country Immigrants, A to Zink

I love the Hill Country of Texas. That comes as no surprise to regular readers of this blog. Take a trip through the blog archives and you'll see what I mean. Today, I return to the Hill Country by way of the written word. This time I actually have a specific reason for doing so other than fishing. I return to learn about my people - German immigrants to whom I may be related. Seriously.

A man whose name I'd never heard until a few minutes ago, had as much to do with settling Central Texas as anyone in the state's history. His name is Nicholas Zink. It was in 1844 that Herr Zink, a Bavarian native, was selected to head an effort to colonize the area around Austin with immigrants from Germany. In late 1844 when Zink and the new colonists arrived at the land grant designated for them, he quickly learned that the grant was smack dab in the middle of Comanche territory. He persuaded Prince Carl, who was the main man behind the grant, to relocate the new Texans to another place. The Prince agreed and Zink settled the area which became New Braunfels. Soon thereafter, Zink was put in charge of more than half the German immigrants headed for New Braunfels. After 1847, he built houses throughout the area and would in 1868 acquire the land they were built on, donating much of it to the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad. Nicholas Zink married three times, but sadly fathered no children. Thus, his legacy to Texas are the German American communities in the Hill Country. While few people, myself included, have ever heard of Nicholas Zink, he left a giant footprint on Texas and its German immigrants. I am cautiously optimistic that Herr Zink brought some my ancestors to Texas during his lifetime. At the very least, I have a clue as to where I can begin looking for some of my forebears. And that starting point begins with Nicholas Zink.

Excuse me while I head over to Ancestry.com. Herr Zink beckons.

Texas Tidbits: The Mexican-American War

Texas in 1836

We are getting to a very interesting period in Texas History over the next couple of months and I am really looking forward to posting about it. To be sure, some it I will have posted about before, but the events we'll be covering were of such historical importance to Texas and Texans, that they bear repeating, lest we forget. And with God's help, forget we won't.

One of the Wars that involved Texas specifically is one we really don't hear or read much about, but it was a significant event for Texas the new US State and for the United States as well. The end of this war brought about a realization of the doctrine of Manifest Destiny of the Polk administration in the 1840's. The idea of Manifest Destiny was to expand the United States from the Atlantic Ocean westward to the Pacific. The signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hildalgo in 1848 ending the Mexican-American War made that dream a certainty.

A little background; the Mexican government was still pissed about losing the Texas Revolution and the land that went with it. You gotta remember that in 1836 when Texas won its Independence from Mexico, it was a HUGE hunk of real estate covering present-day Texas and parts of Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas and Wyoming. So, the Mexican Army attacked some US troops in Texas and war on Mexico was soon declared by the United States. Long story short, the US won the War and as we know, to the victor belong the spoils. The spoils in this instance were the rest of the land west of pre-American Texas all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Manifest Destiny had been realized and the soon-to-be Western United States was born. That's the short version of the story of the Mexican-American War 1846-1848.

Texas History that awaits us includes the stories of Goliad, the Alamo and San Jacinto amongst others. We'll also look at the men and women of the Texas Revolution who fought and sacrificed so much so that they could live as a free people. I. Am. Stoked.

Texas Tidbits: Groundhog Day, Schmoundhog Day - In Texas It's Armadillo Day!

Old Guy, Gary P. Nunn and Bee Cave Bob***

After a day of fun, froth and frivolity celebrating Bailey"s 4th birthday, we can now focus on something more suited for adult conversation, Groundhog Day! Or in the case of talking about Texas, Armadillo Day!

In the true Spirit of Texas, a group called the Benevolent Knights of the Raccoon of Bee Cave, Texas, have their own tradition when it comes to predicting the end of winter/beginning of spring with a typical Texas twist. For brevity's sake, I'll call the Knights the BKR. The BKR depend on an armadillo named Bee Cave Bob. Bee Cave Bob beats the dog snot out of that damn Yankee groundhog named Phil when it comes to Spring Predicting. The BKR have a saying, “… in defiance of relying on the predictions of a groundhog in Pennsylvania, a foreign land have no relevance to Texas or Texans.” Ain't that beautiful? (NOTE; the armadillo is the state mammal of Texas-ed.) No less an authority than the Lone Star Meteorological Society has determined that Bee Cave Bob has been right an astounding 98.6% of the time. take that, Punxsutawney Phil! Bee Cave Bob does his weather predicting the same way Phil does - if he sees his shadow there will be six more weeks of winter. No shadow, early spring.

At 11:30 this morning in Bee Cave, chili will be served, the Armadillo Anthem will be played soon to be followed the Bee Cave Bob's weather prognostication at 12:30pm at the West Pole at the 98th Meridian in Bee Cave, Texas. It sounds like the Benevolent Order of the Raccoon are throw a shindig the way only Texans can.

For all you folks living in the Hill Country of Texas, this sounds like a great way to blow off work for the day and go have some chili and some fun. You can get more info on the goings on with Bee Cave Bob, give 'em a call at (512) 263-5286. Below you'll find a map of the area that may make getting to Bee Cave a little easier.

And, one more thing. God Bless Texas! And God Bless Bee Cave Bob. Kinda brings a tear to your eye, doesn't it?







***Photo from the Austin American Statesman Archives***

Bailey Turns 4 Years Old!

I am proud to say that today marks the anniversary of one of the proudest days of my life. It was on February 1, 2007 that I became a father for the fourth time, at the age of 50. Yep. Today is my little girl's fourth birthday. She younger than my grand children and is 25 years younger than one brother and 28 years younger than the other. Odd, huh? While I am up way too early, Bailey is sound asleep upstairs, her torso on the mattress of her toddler bed, her legs and feet hanging off the side. That child always finds the damnedest sleeping positions. Hell, if I thought I could sleep half as good as she does in the various states of contortion she ends up in, I'd give it a try myself. But,I digress.

Hello World

Bailey came into this world as silent as a church mouse, not a peep from her as I held her when she was a few seconds old. Did I mention that I was in the delivery Room when she was born? I was there with the whole event happening before my very eyes in living color. Doing that sort of thing today is common place. Guys see their kids born all the time, but that wasn't always the case. I saw my oldest son born in 1979, and all my friends held varying opinions of whether I was drunk (no, I wasn't) or crazy (yes, I was and still am). Back to Bailey...she was three weeks early and still weighed 8 lbs. 10 oz.! If she would have gone to term, the Doctor said she would have weighed almost eleven pounds! Today, as she hits her fourth birthday, she is built and acts just like me. All 3' of her is as mean as an acre of rattlesnakes when she gets mad, but otherwise she's a hilarious kid. Her comedic timing is better than any kid I have ever seen. Sometimes to her detriment.  Just ask her mother.

My other daughter, Isabella is now 8 years old and is "too old" to be Daddy's girl most of the time, but she still has her "Daddy moments". Unfortunately, Justin Bieber, school, Girl Scouts and little boys take up most of her time these days. But, Bailey still finds time to play and laugh with me despite her burgeoning independence. That makes me happy. Although I am considerably older than most fathers of four year olds, I can still muster up enough of the kid in me to to goof off with Bailey. For that I am grateful.

Daddy's Girl

As we celebrate her birthday today, Bailey is, right before our eyes, going from a toddler to a full fledged kid a little more each day. It's a blast to see what new stuff she comes up with every day, but it saddens me that she won't always be the rambunctious little girl I'll see in a couple of hours. She's growing up and I am growing old. Ah, but such is life. Dammit.

I thank God each and every day that he has blessed me with my Way-ba-boo-boo. I thank Him that she is healthy. I thank Him she is goofy as all get out, but I thank Him mostly that she is my little girl.