11 months in on this grand-dad thing.

Judson, my Ethiopian Prince has been in our lives nearly 11 months. He calls me 'bop' which is nearly 'pops' which is the name he'll be calling me. Every time I see him, I 'pop' my lips in a loud sound so he can associate me with that 'pop.' We go on rides in the Radio Flyer red wagon. Mostly I pull but some times he likes to pull or push it along. Although his vocabulary is about 20 words (at 17 months) he talks in his language in complete sentences... his facial expressions are priceless as he jibbers away in his complete thoughts. His diet consists of mostly vegetables, fruits, cereal and beans of differing types. He still does his bottle of formula but doesn't eat much meat. I don't think his mom is going to be exclusive with this... he gets fish some and every now and then some chicken. He also has had almost no sugar which explains why he eats his veggies and beans voraciously... ergo, all his proteins are covered. Once after his mom and dad went to Dairy Queen and brought home a blizzard and gave Jude some spoons of that sweet ice cream. Oooo - weee - oooo! He said "more, more, more" and "pwease", pwease." He'd never had anything quite like that. Pretty wise of him parents to keep him mostly away from sugary stuff. Nuff of that for now. I look forward to taking him to Mickie D's for breakfast and playing on the playground. I've already taken him to a volleyball game and to "Friday after 5." He has captured me completely and I enjoy him so much. I've always heard about what a pleasures of being a grandparent. I am experiencing it increasingly so.

Bailouts - Stealing

It is unconscionable that people are for stealing. A town in Alabama... population less than 194 wants 375 million dollars for stimulus.

"Through the various proposals, which include a renewable energy museum, scenic railroad, and vineyards, these small Alabama communities envision themselves becoming a cutting-edge demonstration project for energy sustainability and a hub for tourism."

Good for them. Go to a bank and borrow the money. Don't be part of the nation that forcibly takes money through taxes from one group of people and give it to another group.

Our people need to be educated that most congressmen define success as "bringing home the bacon." What that means is that they've stolen money from one group of people and brought it to their congressional district and redistributed the wealth.

This practice has got to stop but I fear it never will. Our populace is turning into a group that expects a nanny government to run their lives.

http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/stimulus/2009/01/08/why-a-tiny-alabama-town-wants-a-375-million-chunk-of-the-stimulus.html