Carl Crossman

The other day I went to Home Depot to get a chalk gun. The shingles around our chimney have a small leak and are in need of repair. Feeling kind of patriotic due to the fact that so many Americans were losing their jobs, I had resolved in my mind to buy a chalk gun made in America.

There was a wide variety of chalk guns to choose from, but all were made in china. Down, but not out, I headed home and went straight to my computer. After searching a “made in USA website”, I only got “no results found.” the more I searched, the madder I got. Time after time, “no results found”.

Finally, I had to smile. The result of my search certainly reminded me of all the good work our congress has done to keep American jobs in America. No results found…

Many years ago I had a good friend who I served in the military with. I was reminded of him when I found a picture of us together. We were really close for a long time, but I guess that somewhere along the way we lost contact. I wondered whatever happened to him and thought that I would try to look him up. I went online and tried a few search engines but never had any results. I knew that I would have to try a little harder to find him.

I called another friend that I know from work and he recommended a site called consumersguide.net. They specialize in people search reviews , and I was able to find a people search engine that actually worked. After I had typed in the information I knew about him, his name and address pop right up! I was happy to have finally found my friend. I would have never believed that I would have to go through so much to find someone.

I am glad that I was able to find my friend and we are now back in contact. He is doing well and has a fine family. I hope that we never lose contact again so I won’t have to search all over. Now that I have finished that task, I wonder whatever happened to the head cheerleader from our high school.

Australia is a funny place. I was reading an article about the gathering of the Cane toads. It seems the toads were imported from South America in order to eradicate Beetles in the sugarcane fields. They failed at that, but succeeded in making a pest of themselves.

Each year, the Aussies gather together and hunt the toads. They have made it into a contest with a prize for the winner. Once captured, the toads are put to death by freezing or carbon monoxide inhalation. With talk of placing a bounty on their heads, these toads are on the verge of becoming true outlaws!

Reading an article today about increasing airline security, I can’t help but think to myself “no wonder we’re broke”. Ever since 911, the U.S. government has gone way overboard with increased screening and gathering of personal information. Announcing even more rules today, they continue to waste our time and money in an effort to prevent “terrorism”, along with other illegal activity.

Personally, I much prefer that the government do not collect my personal information. Who has access to it? What can be done if someone decides that I am a threat to security?
I imagine it would be very tough if you were ever put on the list, it would take a miracle to get back off the list! I certainly do not feel comfortable with government agents pulling me aside and being grilled about what I am doing wanting to fly to Florida to visit my mom.

I say we learn to trust the people of our country. There will always be a few bad guys out there, and all the lists in the world will not stop that. Let’s use our time and money for better purposes than this.

One thing we really like to do is to camping. Every year, I take the entire family out to woods for a nice camping trip. We pack up all our gear and head out. There is nothing like the outdoors to have a great time and relax. The kids really enjoy hiking around and exploring the woods. There is no telling what kind of wildlife we may see. Last year we saw a lot of deer and I hope to see some more this year as well.

My wife likes to build fires. It’s one of her favorite things to do. She enjoys cooking the fish we catch and makes them taste very good. At night we usually all sit around the fire and tell stories. We also roast marshmallows and hotdogs for the kids. I am glad to expose the kids to the great outdoors. I think it is important that they learn to respect nature and camping is a great way to do just that.