Why The Name?

So I was asked yesterday why I called this blog Glimpses of Normalcy.  The answer comes from my wife.  You see, I am normal.  Just your run of the mill kind of guy.  I have a family, work, and try to be a good person.  I have values and standards.  I do my best to enjoy life and live within the framework of what is right and good.  The rest of the country thinks just like I do.  I am just like everyone else.  

My wife claims that I am nowhere near normal, but just about the opposite of normal, that I am strange and do things that no one else does. (What does that say about her marring me?) So this blog highlights things that I think and do that are the norm, allowing you to judge for yourself that I really am normal.

Example. 

This weekend there was a wedding reception for the daughter of one of our friends.  We all know that receptions suck.  They are really stupid.  They waste time and really only serve to perpetuate a long held tradition of having receptions.  No one likes them.  Even the bride and groom hate them.  Who in their right mind wants to stand in a reception line and met people they will most likely never see again when they could be on their way to a hotel.  They are an expensive ordeal and everyone is relieved when they are over.  Almost always you have to wear cloths that you can't wait to get home and change.  

As you know I have been attempting to learn Spanish for the past couple of years.  This reception was a bit different than the ones I usually try and get out of.  The groom and family were from Mexico.  They all spoke Spanish and siempre estoy buscando alguien que habla espanol.  So you see, this reception was worthy of being looked forward to.  I could eat a lot and practice my Spanish.  Who wouldn't want to go to this reception.  No, I didn't wait in the line to do the hand shake thing.  Yes, I gave a gift.  That is never the issue.

You ask what I did at my reception.  Well, I got on the mike and asked everyone to get in a single file line and my bride and I ran down the line giving high fives.  Everyone was so thankful to not have to stand in that crappy line.  If they wanted to talk to my wife they could find their way over during the evening.  Me, I hid out, waiting to get gone.  

In todays day and age the bride and groom don't even have to be there.  The can do a video that answers all the standard questions.  You know, where are you going to live, where is he from, do you have plans for a family, etc.  Then they can just put that video on youtube and be done with it.  I mean they are already registered at some department store, and they will ship to the couple.  No need to tie up half of a day with something that nobody wants to do.  

El Toro Negro

You cannot...

I want to vomit more often than not when I hear the news and realize what the president is doing to my Republic, where he is steering it.  

I know you have probably seen this before but I thought it worthy of repeating, so here it is.  It is often misattributed to Abraham Lincoln, but originates from William J.H. Boetcker, who was a minister who died in 1962.  Reagan quoted it in 92 at the Republican convention in Houston.  Someone should get obama to believe it.  It is very good.

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.

You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.

You cannot build character and courage by destroying men's initiative and independence.

And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.

El Toro Negro

Lovers of Liberty- A Must Read

So a lot of my post lately have been of a light nature.  Today I post something that hits me hard and to the core.  No, really!  I would hope that all lovers of liberty would read.

I am posting a link in response to the news about Gov. Rick Perry and the resolution in the Texas congress that he is supporting.  In essence (the resolution) sums up what I think we all should support, and lays out the reasons that we have gone so far over the edge. 

Take a look, especially click on the link that leads you to the actual wording of the resolution and read it too.

http://governor.state.tx.us/news/press-release/12227/

El Toro Negro

Livin' in La.

This post is not going to appeal but to a select few.  So, if you don't have a few minutes to waste you might want to wait until another time.

My wife's uncle got married this weekend.  I'm not sure if this make the third or fourth time, but this one seems to be going in the right direction.  

You would have to know my wife's uncle.  You think I am goofy, well this guy takes the cake.  I have know him for 15+ years and have never met anyone remotely like him.  He does the unexpected and says the unimaginable.  Overall he is a good guy and I like him.

His Wedding

He got married at his home in Baton Rouge (thus livin' in La.).  He has a nice house and yard and the weather was in his favor.  He hired a "band", a keyboard and drums, to sing, and they were really good, much better than my wife's uncle.  As you will see, he sang at his own wedding.  And not just sang one song while the band played, but sang, and played, and sang, and played, etc.  He was in his happy place.  A crowd that really couldn't leave without being rude.  They had to listen.  He loved it.  

The videos below are of several things.  There are two of the uncle, playing and singing.  I want you to try and think of what famous singer he reminds you of.  This singer couldn't sing all that well either.  A hint?  He died in a skiing accident.

The other videos are of my wife's grandparents house, also in La., and two kids playing at the wedding.  Enjoy!

The weekend was good, other than a little sickness.

El Toro Negro

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

After six weeks of hard work and constant care. here are the results of the Junior Livestock Show that three of my boys competed in this past weekend.  They took first, third and fourth place.  This all took place in the morning.

That evening there was an auction to sell the animal projects that made the sale.  The son that won first was more worried about the belt buckle that he got than the final price that his pen of birds sold for.  He is funny.  

Over all it is great to see the hard work (kids aren't taught how to work these days) of your kids pay off.  As a father I just hope that they remember these experiences and utilize what they learn from them throughout their lives.

El Toro Negro

So You Want to Live in the Country

As you know we live in a really small town.  719 folks at last count.  We enjoy most of the things that living here affords us.  Take peeing off the back porch.  There aren't many places you can live where you can walk out the back door and pee off the porch.  Quick, easy and it saves the 1.25 gallons of water it would take to flush.  

The other things include being able to take your gun and go for a walk.  The kind of walk that takes you over the river and through the woods.  You can really enjoy the wildlife and nature that abounds, and with the gun you can blast stuff.  Man, it just doesn't get better.

Having room to have a garden, plant fruit trees (Al Gore would be so proud) are easy to do with a little room.  Being able to see the stars shine brightly without all that light pollution.  The sweet smell of burning trash (wait, carbon offsets with the trees, remember).  

One of the things we have chosen to do, and have done for the past five years, is have our children raise show chickens for the local livestock show.  Read some of my past posts and you will know that we cull the flock down over the period of time that we raise them.  Then the day comes to pick the ones ("the chicken pickin'") that you will actually bring into the ring to be judged.

In chicken shows the exhibitor shows a pen of three birds.  There are several things that a judge will look for but the top ones are the size of the breast, length of the breast and the uniformity of the pen of birds.

 

In order to effectively pick your pen you will hang the birds upside down, side by side, by its feet, so you can feel the breasts of the three birds.  Sounds fun, right?  Remember these birds are upwards of 7-8-or 9 pounds.  Just watch your eight year old try and hold them up.  They work so hard.  When you are not feeling up the birds you tuck them under your arm, right side up, and let the blood flow to the right places again.

While they are tucked the business end of the bird is pointed out and away from you, but sometimes in the direction of one of your chicken holders.  Some of you may think it would be fun to have a pet chicken.  Just let me tell you that chickens are nasty birds.  That is what this post is about.  If you don't believe me just see the picture below of one of the recruits helping us hold that got crapped on.  She is a real trooper, never missed a beat.  What a woman.

I must explain a little bit.  The bird that did the deed was not the one she was holding, but the one I was holding, two or three feet away.  Get the picture?  Lets just say that there is a bit of pressure behind the behind.

El Toro Negro