"I believe that all roads lead to the same place - and that is wherever all roads lead to." ~ Willie Nelson

I am actually here in The Home Office all by myself. It's Thursday, March 14, 2018, and I keep looking over my shoulder to see if I am mistaken about being alone. Mr. Bentley is with the wife at the moment and I slipped away to work on today's episode. Slipped away. That's somewhat of an odd way to put it, but, it is the truth. On Tuesday afternoon we were able to drive across the metroplex to have dinner with our granddaughter and her mom. We had ourselves a most wonderful two hours of food, fellowship, and in being able to honor this wonderful young woman on her birthday. The getting there and getting back, not so much. I have often written about what has to be one of the most successful businesses around. The folks who make the orange cones they use to block off lanes on the highway system. Sometimes you can't figure out why they are there except for the huge backlog they inflict which has also made me wonder, what came first, the construction or the cones? And, we always have problems that you didn't expect. Right? For instance, there was a barge that hit one of the concrete pillars on an overpass bridge on I-10 back in early February. Guess what? They are still trying to repair that damaged support. The results? Backed up to Beaumont. Fortunately, it was our way back, not on our way there. We received excellent diversionary directions and found ourselves on a detour to Crosby, Texas and from there we were able to avoid that huge delay. I'm talking about vehicles as far as the eye could see. We were told the repair process didn't get started right away because they were waiting on bids. I told you. They were waiting on cones. Without the cones, nothing gets done!

When you no longer drive in the sheer madness of the freeway system in and around Houston, well, it can challenge your mental acuity. The travel there and back was nearly three hours. Welcome to progress! I actually didn't see any Slow Men Working signs. They may have purchased all of them over in Louisiana. You do know that is a running joke. I actually do remember when I first came to the realization of the joke. I saw a group of guys leaning on their shovels and the sign was right there amongst them. Slow Men Working. I chuckled because I could have come to that conclusion without the sign. Please don't write me. I am sure there are plenty of hard-working folks who do the roadwork that is obviously being funded far and wide. (I base that on the number of orange cones in case you were wondering. Which, supports my Cone Theory.) Traffic maneuvering has become almost like the weather. No matter how you get to where you are going, someone will invariably ask why you didn't go a different route. The wife did get a good nap on our way back. I always like it when she wakes up, sees where we are, and says, "Wow! We are already nearly home!" I think I may have mentioned to her that's how it works, but, I can't be sure.

I saw an excerpt from a hearing held by one of the House committees. The current darling of the Democrats, and the leftist world, a 28-year old self-avowed socialist, asked the CEO of a major financial institution shouldn't his company be held responsible for a particular pipeline spill. He was obviously puzzled but finally answered, "No. We don't build or operate pipelines. We only provide financing." When the backlash came because of her obvious disconnect from how things actually work she doubled down. She still thinks the companies that lend the money for a project should be held responsible if anything bad happens. This would be like the auto loan company being held accountable if you used the car to commit a robbery that you purchased with the money they loaned you. While most yawn, I will tell you these are the kinds of folks that could end up running our country. This is why it is good to know that God is in control. Somehow, a majority of the younger folks say they want to live in a socialist world while they can see Argentina, who chose that path, disintegrating before our very eyes. If they are watching, they certainly are not paying attention, or, as in the opening example, they don't have a clue. Just me. My opinion. Thank God He's got this. Amen. ....More later.