“When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not Guilty'.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

Good Tuesday morning and welcome to August 30, 2016. As you well know, the folks who do their best to keep the highways repaired are always behind. That's here in our own country. I read something last week that made me laugh out loud. (Not lol.) It seems there is a border crossing in Russia that is so bad that vehicles often are damaged just trying to drive through. This presented huge problems to those trying to get their goods into the country. This included the major illegal black market moving of goods brought into a nation to resell to a people starved for basic foods. One of the largest of these illegal operations has to do with fresh fruit. Here's what happened. The roads were so bad, the criminals all got together and paid to have them fixed. Now, how in the world do you like that? This could end up being part of the solution to our pothole problem. You do know that I am kidding, however, with all the issues involving governmental waste and corruption, it may end up being something considered. Of course here in our state, we have toll roads on steroids as the answer to financing road construction. One particular politician who was first elected to the state house and then the senate and is now one of the most powerful leaders we have, well, when he went to Austin he said something had to be done about this runaway toll road system. He talked about the difficulties it posed to those who aren't able to afford to pay the tolls. Guess what? A few years later he said that it appeared there would never be another roadway built in our state unless it was a toll road. There you go. Now the poor people need a GPS, which they can't afford, to make their way through the maze that constitutes what's left of non-toll collected roads. I often hear the term organized crime bantered about but I'm not exactly sure who best carries that moniker. You know. If the shoe fits.

I say that as someone knowledgeable on the subject. We very recently put a toll road tag on the wife's car. I resisted as long as I could because I consider it to be in some ways a case of highway robbery. Pun intended. (We already pay highway taxes, etc.) But now we can sail along to our destination lighting up those collection sensors as we go. We were on one the other day to go across the metroplex for an event and it dawned on me that the automatic toll collectors are set up to collect money. You knew that already? I'm talking about the spacing. Since the new toll roads are unattended it gives the revenue optimizers the opportunity to maximize the flow of traffic. Right? Think again. Revenues! Now that we have that toll road tag, what's next? Could my flip-phone be in danger of losing its role in making and receiving calls? I get a little weary of folks thinking I must be a walking museum of early telecommunication devices. "Hey, mommy, look, that old fellow has some kind of toy phone." Toy phone my foot! I can call Timbuktu on my toy phone if I want to. Yep. It is a real place. (According to Wiki, Timbuktu is a historical and still-inhabited city in the West African nation of Mali, situated 12 miles north of the River Niger on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. The town is the capital of the Timbuktu Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali. It has a population of over 50,000.) I could call there. Just so you know.

I know some probably think my life is mostly like a human version of Trivial Pursuit. I would likely have trouble arguing one way or the other. I've always been inclined to observe things. Even as a little somewhat precocious kid I noticed things and processed them. That's how I know I have several volumes locked up that were filled up before my dad passed away in January 1954. As Ralphie boy would have said it, "One of these days Alice, one of these days!" I think some shrinks call them suppressed memories. Occasionally, something seeps out. I remember my older brother Jimmy and I going with dad by car to visit his people over in Georgia. Our food was in a brown grocery paper sack. Jimmy and I took turns trying to sleep on the back seat. I can remember trying to lay down on the floorboard but it had that big hump and it stayed very hot. I can't be sure that I remember all the cousins we saw because I've seen too many of the photos. That's always the question. Is it a real memory or is it based on the photos you've seen? Oh well, I would like to say there's more to come but we can only wait and see. Just think, I might even have something new to report on. Now that would be something. Have yourself a wonderful rest of the day and I will see what I can come up with for our next visit. May God bless us all is my prayer. Amen. .....More later.