Been awhile since I've posted. Mostly forgot I had this blog. But, now that I've found again I hope to start reposting.

Later guys.

The best to everyone this Thanksgiving.

Carlin on New Orleans.

Been sitting here with my ass in a wad, wanting to speak out about the bullshit going on in New Orleans.  For the people of New Orleans... First we would like to say, Sorry for your loss.  With that said, Lets go through a few hurricane rules: (Unlike an earthquake, we know it's
coming)

#1. A mandatory evacuation means just that..Get the hell out. Don't blame the Government after they tell you to go.  If they hadn't said anything, I can see the argument.  They said get out... if you didn't, it's your fault, not theirs.  (We don't want to hear it, even if you don't have a car, you can get out.)

#2. If there is an emergency, stock up on water and non-perishables.  If you didn't do this, it's not the Government's fault you're starving.

#2a. If you run out of food and water, find a store that has some. (Remember, shoes, TV's, DVD's and CD's are not edible.  Leave them alone.)

#2b. If the local store has been looted of food or water, leave your neighbor's TV and stereo alone.  (See # 2a) They worked hard to get their stuff.  Just because they were smart enough to leave during a mandatory evacuation, doesn't give you the right to take their stuff...it's theirs, not yours.

#3. If someone comes in to help you, don't shoot at them and then complain no one is helping you.  I'm not getting shot to help save some dumbass whodidn't leave when told to do so.

#4. If you are in your house that is completely under water, your belongings are probably too far gone for anyone to want them.  If someone does want them, let them have them and hopefully they'll die in the filth.  Just leave!   (It's New Orleans, find a voodoo warrior and put a curse on them)
 
#5. My tax money should not pay to rebuild a 2 million dollar house, a sports stadium or a floating casino.  Also, my tax money shouldn't go to rebuild a city that is under sea level. You wouldn't build your house on quicksand would you?  You want to live below sea-level, do your country some good and join the Navy.
 
#6. Regardless of what the Poverty Pimps Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton want you to believe, The US Government didn't create the Hurricane as a way to eradicate the black people of New Orleans; (Neither did Russia as a way to destroy America).  The US Government didn't cause global warming that caused the hurricane (We've been coming out of an ice age for over a million years).
 
#7. The government isn't  responsible for giving you anything.  This is the land of the free and the home of the brave, but you gotta work for what you want.  McDonalds and Wal-Mart are always hiring, get a damn job and stop spooning off the people who are actually working for a living.  President Kennedy said it best..."Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

Thank you for allowing me to rant.

Subject: Robin Williams Plan

You may have seen this before, but it pretty much hits the nail on the head.

The Plan!
 
You gotta love Robin Williams...... 
Even if he's nuts!  Leave it to Robin
 Williams to come up with the perfect plan.  What we need now is for our UN Ambassador to stand up and repeat this message.
 
Robin Williams' plan...(Hard to argue with this logic!)
 
"I see a lot of people yelling for peace but I have not heard of a plan for peace.  So, here's one plan."
 
1) "The US will apologize to the world for our "interference" in their affairs, past & present.  You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo, Noriega  Milosevic, Hussein, and the rest of those 'good ole boys', we will never interfere" again.
 
2) We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany, South Korea, the Middle East, and the Philippines.  They don't want us there.  We would station troops at our borders. No-one allowed sneaking through holes in the fence.
 
3) All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave. We'll give them a free trip home.  After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of whom or where they are. They're illegal!!!  France will welcome them.
 
4) All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days unless given a special permit!!!!  No one from a terrorist nation will be allowed in.  If you don't like it there, change it yourself and don't hide here.  Asylum would never be available to anyone.  We don't need any more cab drivers or 7-11 cashiers.
 
5) No foreign "students" over age 21.  The older ones are the bombers.  If they don't attend classes, they get a "D" and it's back home baby.
 
6) The US will make a strong effort to become self-sufficient energy wise. This will include developing nonpolluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in the Alaskan wilderness. The caribou will have to cope for a while.
 
7) Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel for their oil.  If they don't like it, we go some place else.  They can go somewhere else to sell their production.  (About a week of the wells filling up the storage sites would be enough.)
 
8) If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not "interfere."  They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need.  Besides most of what we give them are stolen or given to the army.  The people who need it most get very little, if anything.
 
9) Ship the UN Headquarters to an isolated island some place.  We don't need the spies and fair weather friends here. Besides, the building would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens.
 
10) All Americans must go to charm and beauty school.  That way, no one can call us "Ugly Americans" any longer.  The Language we speak is ENGLISH.. learn it...or LEAVE...Now, isn't that a winner of a plan?
 
 
"The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.'  She's got a baseball bat and she's yelling, 'you want a piece of me?'  "
 
 If you agree with the above forward it to friends...If not, and I would be amazed, DELETE it!!

I'll be happy when...

We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another.

Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are.

After that, we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage.

We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, when we are able to go on a nice vacation or when we retire.

The truth is there's no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when?

Your life will always be filled with challenges.

It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway. Happiness is the way So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with ... and remember that time waits for no one.

So, stop waiting ...
....... Until your car or home is paid off.
....... Until you get a new car or home.
....... Until your kids leave the house.
....... Until you go back to school.
....... Until you finish school.
....... Until you lose 10 lbs.
....... Until you gain 10 lbs.
....... Until you get married.
....... Until you get a divorce.
....... Until you have kids.
....... Until you retire.
....... Until summer..
....... Until spring.....
....... Until winter.
....... Until fall.
....... Until you die.

There is no better time than right now to be happy. Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So work like you don't need money, love like you've never been hurt, and, dance like no one's watching.

TAPS

We in the United States have all heard the haunting song, "Taps". It's the song that gives us that lump in our throats and usually tears in our eyes.

But, do you know the story behind the song?  If not, I think you will be interested to find out about its humble beginnings.

Reportedly, it all began in 1862 during the Civil War, when Union Army Captain Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harrison's Landing in Virginia.  The Confederate Army was on the other side of the narrow strip of land.

During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moans of a soldier who lay severely wounded on the field.  Not knowing if it was a Union or Confederate soldier, the Captain decided to risk his life and bring the stricken man back for medical attention. Crawling on his stomach through the gunfire, the Captain reached the stricken soldier and began pulling him toward his encampment.

When the Captain finally reached his own lines, he discovered it was actually a Confederate soldier, but the soldier was dead.

The Captain lit a lantern and suddenly caught his breath and went numb with shock.  In the dim light, he saw the face of the soldier. It was his own son. The boy had been studying music in the South when the war broke out.  Without telling his father, the boy enlisted in the Confederate Army.

The following morning, heartbroken, the father asked permission of his superiors to give his son a full military burial, despite his enemy status.  His request was only partially granted.

The Captain had asked if he could have a group of Army band members play a funeral dirge for his son at the funeral.

The request was turned down since the soldier was a Confederate.

But, out of respect for the father, they did say they could give him only one musician.

The Captain chose a bugler.  He asked the bugler to play a series of musical notes he had found on a piece of paper in the pocket of the dead youth's uniform.

This wish was granted.

The haunting melody, we now know as "Taps" ... used at military funerals was born.

The words are :

Day is done.. Gone the sun.

From the lakes.  From the hills.   From the sky.

All is well.   Safely rest.  God is nigh.

Fading light.   Dims the sight.

And a star.  Gems the sky.  Gleaming bright.

From afar.   Drawing nigh.  Falls the night.

Thanks and praise.  For ourdays.

Neath the sun.  Neath the stars.  Neath the sky.

As we go.  This we know.  God is nigh.

 Many old timers from small towns where you could walk around the outskirts of town in 20 minutes like Bonilla, South Dakota, remember the good old days when things weren’t nearly as complicated as in today’s world of the 1990’s, when modern transportation for the times was by train, horse, foot, or by air as drunks were ejected from a tavern at the hands of the, what we call today, bouncers, to fly out the swinging doors and land in a street of dirt mixed with road apples (from under horses tails), doggy dumplings, and puddles of horses yellow rain. If the newly inebriated was blitzed enough, he never received the full impact of the fragrant innards released from the horses south end.

 The day Bonilla’s first car threaded it’s way through the sun baked to rock hard ruts as it rumbled and bounced through the streets, all kinds of things broke loose, including bowels to belly laughs. At the first notice of the strange sputtering noises from the car’s engine, dogs barked their warnings of territorial protection, horses lurched, jerked, and bolted in skittish nervousness or terror, and the towns’ people raced to the streets attempting to find out what the very strange racket was from. As dishes were dropped and shattered, cats flew in terror, and babies were left crying, one or two people exited the tub so fast that half the tub’s water went with them to find the source of the commotion in town.

 As the car navigated the ruts on Main Street at an astounding 2 or 3 mph and rocked and jerked violently from side to side as it’s wheels found their way from one deep rut in the road to another, left by the thin wagon and carriage wheels when the ground was soaked after a heavy rain and baked dry by the sun, horses near the rolling contraption would suddenly panic, and head in any unobstructed direction at a speed that would put a race horse to shame. Local drunks stood their ground in bravado and laughed their cabooses off at the sight of everyone else trying to avoid the horses in flight for their lives with dogs chasing them from natural instinct, and people hot on their heels to catch them before anyone was injured in the fray.

 Seeing a war was about to start from the car’s first introduction to the community and the excessive agitation being caused by it, the driver soon shut the car off and waited for the mud to hit the fan. Fearing the wrath of everyone in town, the driver had an accident as he stood his ground to defend the newfangled car with the modernization and convenience it represented. With the uncomfortable accident he was carrying and the knowledge he was about to be in for the fight of his life as he was soon surrounded, the driver mustered up all the brass he could and started to point out the obvious advantages of filling a tank to feeding a horse in subzero weather and not getting your feet dirty and wet from the exhaust.

 As the excitement of a near doomsday subsided, talk around town that night ran the gambit of crude humor to lynching the car’s driver from the old cottonwood tree on 1st Ave. and Main Street and converting the useless carriage to a horse carriage or junk. Some wanted the wheels for their wagons and carriages, while others suggested the car be buried along with the driver, but nobody had the ambition to dig the hole.

 The women in town were on the side of the men about what to do. However, in their own secret groups, they nearly busted a gut in laughter at the day’s events.

Footnote.

 The old cottonwood tree still stands in Bonilla at the NW corner in front of the second oldest building in town, and the streets are still unpaved, but now are bladed with a road grader. On occasion, horses are used in the area and there is a hitching rack in front of the Old Elevator House on 3rd Street just west of 1st Ave..

Update.

 In 2003 the (then) Governer Bill Janklow had a state-wide clean up of South Dakota. Many old buildings and trees were torn down, including in Bonilla. At present Bonilla has less than half of the old buildings remaining and fewer than one-fourth of the trees still standing. The town now literally, looks like an open field.

Copyright © 1998 Ben Bartell

For years, the Chicago Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad passenger trains were greeted by an old man and his faithful dog at the Bonilla, South Dakota station. Both man and dog took pride in greeting the CM & SP RR passengers as they disembarked from the trains in all kinds of weather and at all hours of the day and night, often staying up into the wee hours of the morning to greet a late arriving train. With his dog at his side, the old man would go to the Post Office in the old James Hotel in search of information on late passenger arrivals, knowing that the Postmaster was waiting for the mail to arrive with the passenger train that was overdue.

With no family of his own to speak of, the old man was lonely and longed for the companionship of others. In reality, his dog was the only family he had and the two of them were inseparable. Even in death.

To lessen his loneliness, the old man would, with his constant companion at his heels, often spend time playing cards and socializing at the two story Old Elevator House with the crews of the town’s grain elevators who lived there. Other times he would visit with the guests or residents of the old three story James Hotel and talk with them about the latest news in and around town over a meal served up by the hotel.

On the long and bitterly cold nights of January with the strong Northwest winds and blowing snow making it unfit for man nor beast to be outside, the old man would occasionally remember his family and wish he could be with them. Sometimes he would remember the ladies who had been in love with him and showered their affections on him, and the ladies he had been deeply in love with. Other times he fantasized of being with one of the town’s prostitutes, but never had enough money, or one of the wives of the local well to do businessmen or town leaders--several of the married and well to do ladies would go to bed with a man who showed an interest in them to satisfy their frustrations brought on by their husbands indifference in bed--as a way of reliving his loneliness. At the Old Elevator House, which by the way had a reputation for being excessively cold in winter, the old man would bundle up in winter for warmth as he conversed with the men living there, while his dog laid in front of one of the wood stoves to keep warm as he slept. Their conversations touched on many subjects in and around the towns of Bonilla, Wolsey, Hitchcock, and Tulare, especially when one of the trainmen visited the Old Elevator House.

Sometimes the old man would buy a train ticket to one of the surrounding towns when he had the money, and sometimes he was allowed free passage on one of the trains as a favor from one of the trainmen he was friendly with. These out of town trips, sometimes with his dog riding in the baggage car, were a welcomed relief from his loneliness as he saw new faces and got to meet new friends while visiting with old ones. When the old man couldn’t bring his faithful dog with him on the train, his dog would stay very close to the train depot waiting for his master’s return.

The death of the old man and his dog was hastened when the railroad’s passenger train service faded into history. The last passenger train to stop at Bonilla was like a knife being thrust into the old man’s heart. From his friends on the railroad, the old man was one of the first to learn of passenger trains being discontinued and that his life on earth was nearing its end. While his friends knew of his love of greeting the passenger trains with his trusted and faithful dog, they never knew just how much this meant to him or of his well hidden loneliness. Deep down inside, the old man wanted no one to know how lonely he really was and did everything he could to hide it from the rest of the world, especially his friends. As the last train sat at the Bonilla depot waiting for the last passenger to disembark, the old man found it difficult to hide his sorrow, but put on a brave act in his greeting the passengers. As the last passenger got off the train, the old man could feel the tears welling up in his eyes. As the last train faded from view on its way to the next town, the old man stood there and watched the death of an era that meant so very much to him with his beloved dog at his side, knowing that his beloved passengers had forever forsaken them both against their will, to never return.

The old man’s dog had the feeling that things were not as they should be as the old man bent down to hold him tightly with a strange look on his face and tears in his eyes. Wagging his tail and licking the old man’s face, the dog did his best to let the old man know he was not alone and that the two of them would be together forever.

With no more passengers to greet as they disembarked from the trains, the old man became more and more depressed. Friends tried to cheer him up as best they could, but would often bring on the memories of the old days and depress the old man even more. As time passed, the old man spent more and more time at home with the only family he had, his beloved dog.

With the loneliness slowly eating away on his heart, the old man’s health deteriorated with the passing of time. No longer did he leave home to eat, but left home only to buy food to have at home. Many times the loneliness was so unbearable that he could not eat, even if he wanted to, only nobody knew of this because the old man had become a recluse. Not knowing what he did to cause the railroad to discontinue it’s passenger service, the old man would often blame himself and, occasionally, his dog. One day the old man could stand the depression no longer and in attempt to forget his loneliness, closed his eyes to sleep. He never awakened in this life, but some believe he awakened in another, to eternally search for his beloved passengers and to frequent the places he and his dog used to find comfort in while trying to seek out a new friend who could understand him.

No longer among the living, the old man and his dog have been seen walking the railroad tracks in Bonilla at night with the old man carrying a lantern in search of the passenger trains that are now a thing of the past.

Footnote.

Some old timers of Beadle, Spink, and Hand County’s in South Dakota, still remember the old Bonilla of years past when it had a reputation for being a wild and woolly town of 300 or so residents and the old James Hotel, Peterson’s Grocery, Bonilla Lumber Yard, and the Old Elevator House as local landmarks. Some may even remember the old man and his dog and their greeting passengers of the old Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad.

Bonilla, now a near ghost town with fewer than a dozen households, still has a few of the old buildings remaining and perhaps, the ghost of the old man and his faithful dog. Gone are the Bonilla Lumber Yard and the old three story James Hotel with it’s first floor Post Office--the front door of the old Post Office has been rescued along with some artifacts and parts of the old James Hotel. Still remaining are Peterson’s Grocery on the NE corner of 1st Ave. and Main Street, the original one story Land Office on the NW corner of 3rd Street and 1st Ave. and next door to the west, on 3rd Street, the two story Old Elevator House where a number of strange and unexplained things have happened in recent years.

Still structurally sound with it’s original wood shingle roof of nearly 100 years, the Old Elevator House (built about 1901) was a local haunt of the old man and his dog for many years. For nigh on 100 years now, the Old Elevator House has been through many good times and bad, survived all kinds of sever weather from the dust storms of the dirty thirties to record blizzards with twenty plus foot snow drifts, and has many secrets of the past within it’s walls. With the number of strange things that have happened here in recent years and not fully explained, could it be the past has found refuge in the present with an old man and his beloved dog still seeking the companionship of old friends he can no longer have by trying to communicate with possible new ones and still be cautious enough to avoid the possible rejection and heartbreak from those of us who are skeptical of such things as ghosts and things unexplainable?

Copyright © 1998 Ben Bartell

Late one very cold wintry night with the snow blowing a knock was heard at the front door. At the door was a young woman who was lightly dressed in clothing that was far too thin for the cold weather and was clearly very cold. Stating that she had not eaten in several days she was quickly invited in to warm herself and have something to eat.

The young lady was taken into the living room and given a comfortable seat next to the wood stove where she huddled to get warm.

The mistress of the house went to the kitchen to fix the young woman something to eat. As the mistress passed by the living room entrence on her way to the dining room to set the table she checked to make sure the late night guest was getting warm and comfortable. When the meal was ready the young woman was told to have a seat at the table and eat whenever she was ready.

When no reply was heard after a minute or so the mistress checked the living room thinking her guest had fallen asleep by the fire. Seeing the young woman was not there the mistress quickly searched the house thinking she may have gone upstairs to bed.

When a through search of the house failed to find the young woman the fresh snow outside the house was checked for footprints in the belief that she may have decided not to stay and had quietly left. Nothing was found.

• No one could have had gone out the back door without the mistress seeing them because they would have to pass thru the small kitchen and right by her.

• All windows were locked from the inside to help keep out the cold wind and were still locked.

• There were no tracks in the snow outside the front door nor had the outside basement door been opened as snow still covered it and was undisturbed.

The young woman was not to be found and she was never seen or heard from again.

This story was told to me by a local oldtimer, about what had happened late one night at the Okd Elevator House in Bonilla, South Dakota many years ago. This is supposedly a true story.