40 years ago today

Thought that going to work felt a bit different today...happy anniversary to me...two score years ago was the birth of Mr. RMP.

39 years...

Today, marks 39 years of bringing home the bacon, painting the electrons, and becoming Mr. RMP.

Too close to home

That's my excuse!

I received this message from c8 today: Click here

Rest in peace

My dad, Reed H. Walker passed away last night, February 19, 2013. Love you, Dad...

10 February 2013

Good book

...beans affect me a different way...Love, love, love this girl. She brings a smile to my life.

1001 uses - the versatile iPad

Thirty-seven years

100 years for RMP...and to think today I've been around for more than a third of them...37 to be exact!

Singing Valengram

I received this wonderful singing Valentine from c8. The last 5 seconds are Maddie's contribution.

Click on the link below to hear it.

Valentine Message 2012

cs = Crankshaft?

See what happens when you make bad decisions...don't have a grandson with a dog collar.

Mr. & Mrs.

New couple starting their life adventure together. Love you two.

Union worker

Saturday, we were having a barbecue at Kenzie and Brig's. cs wanted me to get some ice out of the cooler for the drinks. c8 was sitting on the cooler. I asked her to move so that I could get some ice.

Hold on, I'm on a break, was her reply.

Words I've heard

Chest or Drawers?

Plan A or Plan B?

Plan A or Plan B, either way, today marks 36 years of bringing home the bacon and keeping the lights on.

U scream, I scream explained

c8 and cs were eating ice cream together in the next room. A while later, c8 comes running in to tell me, Butz, I count to ten. 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 and then my brain goes away!

Say what?

Toots, and I eat the ice cream and then it hurts my brain. We count to 10 and then my brain goes away.

Oh, I get it - the brain freeze.

Yeah, the brain flees.

Comic relief

The Man said

First, let me give a little background to bring you up to speed.

From day one, (ever since c8 was born) cs would tell c8. The man said… to get her to do something that she was fussing about or didn't want to do — i.e. The man said that you should eat your carrots, The man said that you need to put on your shoes, etc.

Our BYU ward has started reading the Book of Mormon. Every day we are to read 3 or 4 chapters. We have a schedule to complete it in 100 days — our last Sunday of the Winter semester. I have been reading it (along with the narrator, Bruce Lindsay) on lds.org.

c8 had spent the night last night. It was time to take her back home. cs had gotten her ready and told c8 to tell me to Come on and let's go. c8 came into the room as I was just finishing up a chapter in the Book of Mormon. It just so happened that the chapter ended with a vocal, Amen!

I suppose I wasn't moving fast enough for c8's satisfaction, because she said, Butz, let's go. The Man said, Amen.

The Man in Red

The man in red made his appearance for the year. It was a hit with the little ones.

Thanksgiving festivities

You can call me Hoke

When I got home from work today, cs wanted me to take her to the credit union to cash some checks. jl had the car and wouldn't get home before closing time.

Okay, but hurry, I want to get back home. I've got some things to do. So, I took her to the credit union and waited while she did her banking.

As soon as she got into the vehicle, Now, take me to WINCO so that I can do some shopping.

Yes'm Miss Daisy and you can call me Hoke. Would you feel more comfortable in the back seat?

Sign of the times

It's been said that only intellectuals live in DC. Judging by their parking signs, you need a PhD. They have signs for when you can park on the street and what day of the week.

We failed the first night…we've got the $100 ticket to prove it. One of our group actually saw a posting that had 5 signs on the post.

3222 13th Street NW

Here are some more pics of our accommodations while we were visiting Washington DC. This is the front of the Brownstone. There was an apartment below us. You climbed the steps to get to the front door. Unlocked it with a combination lock. Stepped into an entry way where you opened the combination lock on the door to get into the apartment. Up a flight of stairs to the kitchen and family room, then up another flight of stairs to the laundry and bedrooms. The bedrooms all had skylights.

This is a view from the balcony of the upstairs bedroom of the backyard. My guess is that it's 30' X 80'.

View of the neighbor's yards.

To the left:

…and to the right.

Chillin' @ the Whitehouse

No visit to DC would be complete without callin' on the Prez. Unfortunately, he wasn't at home, but the lights were on and the door was open…so we helped ourselves to takin' a look around the place.

White House porch

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington DC — part deux

Today we hit the National Gallery of Art and to satisfy my numismatic cravings — The Bureau of Printing and Engraving. We saw some interesting things at both places.

Here is a sampling of the Art:

Beauty & the Beast

The artist is Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527-1593). His paintings were portraits of people made of painted fruit, vegetables and other assorted items. He has a couple of paintings that looked normal upside (right side?) down, but when they were turned around it showed a portrait of a person i.e. The cook showed a platter of meat but upside down it looked like a chef. Check out his stuff here.

The goose bumps rose at our next stop:

They wouldn't let us take photos at the locations that they were actually printing the money. The picture above is the new $100 bill that will be out sometime next year. We got to walk through a glassed walkway above the printing presses. They had a stack of $20 uncut bills about four feet high with 32 uncut bills to the sheet. The stack of money totaled $6,400,000.

There were two signs in the printing room that caught my eye: Free samples given out tomorrow (just my luck) and You think that you're depressed. I just printed my life time earnings in 30 seconds.

Great day and a great trip.

Let Freedom Ring

cs, myself and two other couples decided to go to Washington (DC that is.) If it was good enough for Mr. Smith, then by golly, it was good enough for us. We left on Wednesday, October 20th flying from SLC to Denver (flight delayed for an hour) and then on to Reagan airport in DC. The pilot slammed on the brakes as soon as we landed. (cs later informed me that was because Reagan airport has a very, very short runway.)

This was taken the day of our departure.

We landed around 11:00 pm (DC time). The airport was pretty much deserted. It felt as though the last one out turn off the lights and close the door type of feeling.

We got to our Columbia Heights Brownstone that we had rented for the week.

3222 13th St NW (Columbia Heights Area)

The next morning we started seeing all of the sights (I can't keep them in order, but I'll list all that I can remember): Library of Congress — saw the Gutenberg Bible and the ornate walls and paintings.

Holocaust Museum - very moving.

Washington monument (rode to the top and looked out).

Tour of the Capital building. Kennedy Center for dinner, then a Yo Yo Ma concert at the center. 3 encores.

Mount Vernon to see where George Washington slept. The house looked like it was made of stone, but it was wood, cut to look like stone. When they painted it they threw sand on the wet paint to give it the rough feel of stone. Also saw George's wooden teeth that are really made of hippopotamus ivory.

Several of the Smithsonian Institutes — saw the original Star Spangled Banner flag. Dorothy's ruby slippers. Fonzie's leather jacket. First ladies' inaugural dress exhibit and cs' favorite — Julia Child's kitchen. The Apollo spacecraft.

A night tour to see the Jefferson Memorial, the FDR Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial. We also saw the Korean Memorial and the Viet Nam Memorial. It was dark, but I was able to find my cousin's name.

White House tour. WW II Memorial. National Archives to see the Magna Carta, Bill of Rights, Constitution of the United States of America, and the Declaration of Independence. Drove past the Washington DC temple at night — beautiful.

Georgetown and rode a mule pulled barge on the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal. Saw the Washington National Cathedral and then out to Arlington National Cemetery to see the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier.

Molly & Nell

We've still got another day to see more and then head back home on Tuesday. Seeing all of the historical documents, monuments to the presidents and the war heroes, and the many, many quotes in stone and the many references to God and his help in forming this country makes me proud to be an American and grateful for the freedom that we enjoy in this great nation — the United States of America.

God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever. Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than these people are to be free. Establish the law for educating the common people. This it is the business of the state to effect and on a general plan. 

Thomas Jefferson

Miracle in Chile

Last night was another “aha” moment. The excitement and anticipation reminded me of 41 years ago, the summer of 1969 – watching the moon landing and waiting to see one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

My heart was in my throat as I watched the live feed on http://www.cnn.com/ to see the ascension to freedom of the first miner from the depths of the earth. It was equally striking. After being “underground” for 69 days…I can only imagine the horror of it all.

It was nothing short of a miracle. As one miner stated, To say there were 33 trapped in the mine is wrong. There were 33 men — and God.

I was glued to the screen as I watched one, two, three, then four men arise from the depths of the mine.

Miner #2 was especially joyful. Jumping around with excitement and giving abrazos to everyone within reach and turning around again to give the Chilean President another one, then another. He reached into his knapsack and gave several of the surrounding people a souvenir rock from down below, then he ran over to the crowd and led them in a cheer: C-H-I-L-E, C-H-I-L-E, C-H-I-L-E. The excitement was contagious.

As I watched the joyous reunions, I could only think of how that must be one small inkling of the joy that will be felt when we’re reunited with our loved ones on the other side after this life.

Morning conversations

c8 spent the night with us last night. First thing in the morning she told me: Butz, I dweamed and dweamed last night somethin’, somethin’, somethin’.

I asked her to repeat it several times before I got the gist of it.

Butz, I dreamed and dreamed last night, I dreamed a lot. I got to ride a merry-go-round.

A few minutes later, cs, fixes us some breakfast. I tell her about c8’s dream.

He’s an amazing man.

Who is?

Tom Cruise. He only has one leg you know.

What?!!!

Well, he wears a prosthesis on the other one. You’d never know.

Silence on my part.

I dreamed about it last night. It’s true you know. Do you think that I would have pulled something like that out of the air? (Grammar, slightly modified for the audience.)

Me…I’ve got nothin’ that can compete with that. When your wife is dreaming about Tom Cruise, one leg or not, the conversation is pretty well over.

Quote of the day

jl: I can deal with people…it's just that I don't like to deal with them that often…