Definition of Opinion:  A belief or conclusion held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof.

Please be respectful to others with differing opinions. 

Mary Powers (Evans)

Jim Coats

Mary and others.   As if you needed more recommendations.  The Kent Family Chronicles by John Jakes.  Starts in France in the mid-1700's I think and the main character moves to America and changes his name to Kent.  The series follows the Kent Family through the Revolutionary War to WWII, as I recall.  I read these in the late 70's, I'm pretty sure.

It's an 8 book series and you get totally involved with the family and their exploits.  Some major historical figures pop up in the books.  The first couple of books were made into movies starting with The Bastard.  This was back in the day when I felt I had time to read and wasn't going 7 days/week with my job.  I remember this as being one of the best series I have ever read.  You might Google Kent Family Chronicles for a little insight.  I used to sit outside in a chaise lounge under a tree and wind up reading a few hundred pages (of paperbacks) at a sitting.

Jakes also wrote a Civil War Trilogy (North and South) which I think also became a movie.  I read those books, too.

I REALLY like this interaction between classmates.

Mike Lorts

My mother-in-law was a voracious reader. I would take her to the library Saturdays and she would turn in about twelve books and check out twelve more. While she gathered her books I would get her a hot dog and drink from Costco for her to take home and enjoy. It was a weekly ritual. I hit the jackpot when I married Sylvia, because I also was blessed with a spectacular mother-in-law.

Katie Baribeau (Moore)

Jim, I agree.  This is fun.  The problem, now I want to meet most of the people I've been sparing with.......LOL.  
 

Mike, what a nice thing to say about your wife and Mother-in-Law.  
 

Mike Lorts

Katie,

Your story about the woman helping less fortunate people with everyday expenses was heartwarming. In the later part of his life Andrew Carnegie made it his goal to give away most, in not all, his wealth. Today we have very wealthy people attempting the same goal. Ordinary people with ordinary wealth can make a difference to those in need. I will always remember the Sunday I was helping with the offering and and written on the outside of one envelope under amount were the words "NEVER ENOUGH".

Frank Wiley

I was enjoying myself today when a frequent thought came back to me while skiing.  I thought once again about the Army in Europe especially at the Battle of the Bulge.  When skiing people can escape from the cold any time they want.  Those Patriots suffered in miserable conditions just like the Patriots in the Revolution, World War 1, and Korea.  We are all very lucky to have been born in the U.S.A.!!

Mike Lorts

Frank,

AMEN!

Dennis Moran

I have had a day to digest the IOWA caucus event.... Idiots out wandering around ...  seems to be the best Idea to describe the event. Partners, this is just one event and no one was swearing .... what happened?

Im sure someone is from or lives in IOWA so I'm sorry for doubting any group of people who believed in politics as interesting and will venture out of their warm homes to visit and sit with a group of like minded soul.

General thoughts:

I LIKE MAIL IN BALLOTS.... a great idea.no stamp needed.

Whoever is telling the waves of US visitors you can go to the land of milk and sugar and charging them $ 6,000 with terms should win the advertising awards (CLIO ) 

NEED TO FIX THE BOARDER PROBLEM...come on congress get your act together....not right to have any president do a temporary fix ....none have and none will.

TEACHERS NEED LIVING WAGES... they teach reading, writting, arithmatic and my favorite recess. They spend mucho time with kids who have multiple problems  ....it it should be better than a living wage.

ELECTIONS if your not sure its right then use the court and after the court desides which

way to go then its official...the right person is the winner.

just for the fun of it you vote for both the President and Vice President....highest vote is the Pres and next highest is the VPres.

Yes it would of been Biden President and Trump Vice-President......wow what a dony brook that would of been... so two seperate elections and you can't run for both President and Vice President

TWO TYPES OF ELECTIONS; PRIMARY AND GENERAL

Start counting the ballots as they come in... that way ones vote is already registered.....No revoting..if you didn't vote right in the first what makes us think a second time will be better,

voters names have been verified for living and dead prior to being sent out....no need for a place to go to vote in person.... if after 4 years you haven't figured out who you would want to be your representative then your shit out of luck.

DO AWAY WITH PARTIES.. don't need a national group to decide the issues, you know whats needed and vote.

Less television with artificial costs that benefit only the station not the people,  No phone calls...mail out brochures paid by the individual and his/her election committee.

Dennis.

PS.  have TV stations run cartoons instead of debates. i haven' t seen quick draw magraw in awhile or foghorn, leghorn....I say son.....

Bill Bonfield

Hello Classmates,  I have to write because I totally agree with Jim Coats about liking this interaction.  I last wrote when I had a factual disagreement with Mike Kelly about Trumps proposed tower at 24th and Camelback but have followed for years because this little forum seemed like a microcosm of America.  Just when I thought you all were going to self destruct in a hurricane of hatred and vitriol you actually pulled it together and started acting like fellow citizens.  Maybe there is hope for America.  Our country was founded on the idea we didn't want a king telling us what we could believe or think or how we should spend our money.  The alternative is for everyone to respect each other and make decisions together.  There will always be libertarians and autocrats and everything in between but in the idea of America everyone realizes they can't have it totally their way, the goal is to find common ground and respect there is a reason for the extremes and try to listen and understand emotionally even though we may intellectually disagree. This way of being is what people fought and died for not specific solutions like sealed borders or socialized medicine.    I hope this doesn't sound arrogant in any way but wanted to say I'm proud of you all and feel a little more optimistic about our country this morning.  PS  after my last post there was speculation about who I am.  Yes, I did go to Monte Vista and raced Greg Youmans and how many of you remember we raced bare foot.  No one had sneakers then, we went barefoot all summer.  I graduated from Camelback a year early and was in medical school at Northwestern at 19yo, which was too young in retrospect.  My parents died when I was 20 and Northwestern let me take a year off and saved my place to make enough money to continue. Tuition to Northwestern Medical School then was $720.00 per quarter! I didn't know it but the govenment was drafting every other year of graduating med students then so my whole class was drafted and myself, now a year later, was not.  I am a psychiatrist. I did my residency at what used to be Good Samaritan.   Was medical director of the state hospital, Phoenix South CMHC, and St Lukes hospital as well as the medicaid carveout now part of AHCCCS and lived and practiced in Charlotessvile, VA and Baton Rouge, LA as well.  I'm retired as Chief Medical Officer of United HealthCare Behavioral Health and hiding in Hidden Hills, almost to Fountain Hills. I have a wife, daughter and son-in-law.   Camelback was great and its fun to hear the memories and stories.  Go Spartans.

Jim Coats

Bill Bonfield.  How about that!  I knew you were a Dr., but, of course, lost track of you.  Looks like you had an eventful life.  My memory of you is:  Tall, slender, bookish and my arch enemy at the Spelling Bees.  I only won one time, but I think you were more successful.

I really like your words in your post:  ".....The  alternative is for everyone to respect each other and make decisions together."  You probably have a bit more pull than me.  I wish you would pass that on to the Executive and Legislative branches in D.C.  If they got the message.....that would really be something!

I do not remember you being a sprinter, but memory fades.  In fact, for some reason, I don't remember Greg Youmans as being real fast.  Who I do remember is Jack Breese in 8th grade, Bobby Elliot, and Ted Mullen.  They were the fast ones that I remember.  There was an outlier...Jack Fowler...a mysterious kid who showed up one year and was good at everything and fast.  Only there 1 - 2 years as I recall.

Racing, playing, running barefoot at Monte Vista.  Yep!  I remember that.  Especially when I got a foot full of bullhead stickers.  Miserable!  Do you remember in 3 - 5th grades when we played British Bulldog?  One person in the middle of the field and when he/she said BB, the masses would run and try not to be tagged before they made it to the other side.  Whoever was tagged was also in the middle for the next run until it was down to just a few kids.  There was one guy....Shannon Ivers (deceased) who was GREAT at broken field running.  That was one slippery kid.

Finally, before this gets too long....We love Hidden Hills where you live and thought of buying there in 2004.  We wound up at 11143 N. 140th Way in Paloma Paseo and were there for 9 years.  It is the last house at the North end of 140th Way sided on the West by a 30' deep arroyo and backing to the mountain that divided us from Ft. Hills.  We actually "bought the lot" (the house just happened to be there) because we fell in love with the location and it was the biggest lot in PP and the only one with a 150' driveway.  

I'll close now.  These 3 fingers are tired.  Good to hear from you, Bill.  Maybe come to a Beer Summit sometime.

Michael Kelly

Bill Bonfield  My brother told me about you right after I was discharged from the Army in 70, He was working as a kind of Security Guard/Patient Attendant in Phoenix, as a way to make money to pay for College, and he had a patient try to escape who was big, burly, and suicidal. He had broken away from other Attendants and my brother Mark had to try a stop him from escaping and according to my brother, was headed for a window to dive through to escape or commit suicide. My brother tackled him, and they wrestled on the hall floor and Mark used the only method he hit upon using to get the big bruiser to quit wrestling, or he knew he would lose control, and the bruiser would escape. Mark is quite an innovative Soul, and so he as he would use on me when we were growing up, began to tickle the bruiser on the bottom of his feet. This was effective, the bruiser could not help himself and began laughing. The other attendants helped detain him and the emergency was over. During his time working at this Facility Mark mentioned meeting you there. Wondering if you remember meeting my brother there. Mark lives in Las Cruces, NM now and is retired from the US Post Office. 

Maybe Ive asked this question before, but I'll do so again. Does anyone know good places in Arizona for Fly Fishing for Trout. Because of the heat there I wonder if there are any spots for Fly Fishing south of Prescott, Az.? Many years ago when I lived in Arizona attending College, I used to Fly Fish in the Salt River below the Saguaro Dam because the water was fairly cold, and ran pretty fast in spots. That may not be available to fish anymore.

I think that out of all the Books Ive read, and that includes Louis L'Amour's Westerns, Stephen Hunter's :Swagger Family Action/Mystery/Law Enforcement Novels, and many others, the Book "1776' by David McCullough is one of the Very Best. This Book is about George Washington, and the Colonists Army, who crossed the Delaware River on Christmas in Flat Boats loaded with soldiers, horses, cannons, and wagons to stage a battle that evening when they knew the Hessians that the British had hired to fight their War for them, would be heavy with Food and Drink from celebrating Christmas Day, Many of the Colonists had no Boots, or Shoes and in Sleet, Rain, And heavy Snow used Rags tied on their Feet to lessen the freezing temperatures, They invaded Trention, New Jersey, and routed 1500 Prussian Soldiers stationed there on Christmas Night. After crossing the Ice Filled Delaware on Christmas Day, the Colonists landed their boats, and marched 10 miles in Freezing Weather to reach their destination. People saw them, but could not beleive that they were doing it. When you want someting enough, hell itself cannot stop you !

Quite a Heritage and a Mark to Measure up To for Us who are the Inheritors of the Fruits of such Desire to Be Free from Slavery by the Crown. These Men were not Willing to have their Country taken away from them without a Real Fight and Proved it. 

Mary Powers (Evans)

Like Earl (12456) and Bill (12477), I am pleased with the lower temperature on this Forum and thankful for everyone's efforts to turn it down.  I agree with Jim and Katie, that I'm really liking these interactions.  Thank you Jim and Mike K for your most recent book recommendations, and have put them on my TBR.  I agree about interesting and informative David McCullough books; I haven't read 1776, but have read John Adams, The Wright Brothers, and Johnstown Flood.  I'm game for what Katie suggested in 12468, all of us reading a non-political book. 

Mike Lorts

I recommend visiting the Museum of the West in downtown Scottsdale. One year they exhibited Barry Goldwater's personal photographs. It has a number of exhibits showing various aspects of the old west. I usually visit 2-3 times a year.

Jim Coats

Mike Lorts

Mike K,

What a great story about your brother.

David Rainwater

Mike K. And others, I can highly recommend the National Cowboy Museum in OKC.  My daughter works there and showed us around (for free).  In the kindness of people file, I wanted to post an incident today.  We lost power last night and had a 2" thick sheet of rotting ice on our steep driveway.  A neighbor drove by and asked if we needed any help.  I said no (puff puff) and he drove off.  10 minutes later 4 teenage boys came with shovels and helped me finish the job.  To be young!  One of the kids had bare feet in flip flops and is casually walking on that incline while I'm taking my careful steps.  They never took a break and I needed several rests!  Well we are now safe and sound (and warm) in town with power and internet thanks to those boys.  

Mary Powers (Evans)

In a snow/ice story similar to Dave's great post, we were vacationing in a mountain town in a rental house, enjoying lovely sunny winter weather.  The evening before we had to leave, the most beautiful sparkling snow came down, covering the evergreens, and also, unfortunately the hill on the road outside the house.  In the morning, we left the house, and promptly rolled back down into a snow embackment and were hopelessly stuck in an unfamilar town on a remote side street.  Luckily a fellow spotted us as he drove by and managed to get us out.  When I effusively thanked him, I said I hoped we hadn't kept him from his errand.  He said he was on his way to chemotherapy!  Imagine stopping for a totally unprepared stranger while dealing with cancer.  The kindness of strangers that we can never repay except to pay it forward.    

Michael Kelly

There's another Book that I really enjoyed reading, and it is entitled "The Time It Never Rained" and it is by a Western Writer named Elmer Kelton. Elmer never wrote about anything that took place outside of the State of Texas, where Elmer Kelton was from. This Book is uniquely about the experiences of the modern Family Farmer/Rancher. It is an excellent Read. I almost went out and bought a Straw Hat and Overalls after reading it. 

I don't know how many of you know about the large protests that are taking place in Europe. Germany, Netherlands, and two other European Countries are being actively boycotted by the Farmers, who are blocking all the Freeways with their Tractors, and dumping large mounds of Manure on the Freeways, to block any transportation. From what I have heard, the Countries are going to increase Taxes once again The blockades are also concerning water rights. I believe that some more sinister motive is provoking all of thiis, for to control large groups you must control their Food and Water. Yet we don't hear a thing about this in our News and I have to ask myself why not? This is another reason to continue for Us to look to real sources of  provocation of discord, rather than deal with surface differences. 

Enjoy reading ""The Time It Never Rained".

Michael Kelly

Governor Jefff Landry of Louisiana states that the State he Governs just passed a Law that calls for all the Agencies in the State of Louisiana to calculate the costs of all services rendered and prices paid to service the needs of Illegal Aliens for taking care of them, and these will be tallied up and sent to the Federal Government for payment at the end of the Fiscal Year with a demand for Payment. He says the Taxpayers of :Louisiana should not, and will not be expected to Pay for Something they never got a chance to Vote for, and the State will not allow the overburdening of State residents for funding this huge influx of new illegal aliens by increasing their Burden in the form of Taxes.

Frank Wiley

Mike K. (And everyone else) I have recommended it before but, "To Rescue the Constitution" by Brett Baier is excellent if you Love American History and the Founding Fathers.  Another reason Washington attacked on Christmas Eve was that the British troops were in Philadelphia over Christmas and most were actually staying in residents homes (much to the dismay of the residents)  Washington was really worried about two things.  One was that the Colonists/Future Americans had not had a victory in the War yet, and Second was that at the end of the year the money would run out to pay the troops and he thought his Army would leave when they weren't being paid.  Many of the Colonies were starting to lose faith that the War could be won.  Because of that Victory the Colonies sent money and almost all the Troops stayed and fought on.

DeWitt Bacon

This is a highly contested political season, but we don't need to tear each other down- I admit that I have sometimes been guilty of that. We are all free to express our opinions, but we don't have to be mean about them. Thank you, Bill Bonfield, for reminding us of that. 

I am a Constitutional Federalist, a registered Republican, and a Trump supporter- and I don't apologize for that. Others support other candidates, and that's your freedom. I ask that we all come together and be respectful. 

Frank Wiley

Bill Bonfield,  I'd like your professional opinion on the Homeless crisis and how it relates to the rampant drug problem?  Thanks!!

Greg Watkins

Jim Coats

Katie.  Great question!  I have thought about this often.

I am most proud of my enlistment and service in the Marine Corps.  It was only 3 years, but it was an eventful time.  Honestly, I wish I had not gotten out at the end of my enlistment because I was good at what I did.  But I was married to a beautiful, "almost" flower girl 2 years younger than me and she desperately wanted me out and for us to go home.   Doing what she wanted became what I wanted and we were married for 11 years.  We grew apart, but parted good friends and had the most uncontentious divorce I have ever heard of.  We literally walked hand in hand through Paradise Valley Mall and decided how we would proceed.

Once in a great while I will wear a Marine Corps baseball cap in public and occasionally, someone will thank me for my service.  It took me a long time to determine how to best respond to that kind gesture and then, about 3 years ago, it finally hit me.  When they say thank you for your service my response now is:  "It was my honor to serve."

Those 3 years set me on a path that I might not have otherwise traveled and I am thankful for every day.

Probably more information than you wanted, Katie.  I like your "proud moment."  I sure like the question and I look forward to other responses.

Michael Kelly

David Rainwater  I really do need to set aside time to go see the National Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City, OK for it is a remarkable place. As one example of what Cowboys did, is the preservation of the Buffalo. Charles Goodnight was a Cowboy who built a Ranch which was a place where the last known herd of Buffalo which had not been slaughtered, and  eliminated by the Freeze from the Great Blizzards in the 1890's. Goodnight lived in West Texas and then New Mexico where Palo Duro Canyon is located. Palo Duro Canyon was a place which due to its location, was a hiding place for the Comanche Indians. Quanah Parker was a Chief of the Comanches and his mother had been captured by the Comanches and became the Wife of the Tribe's Chief, who was Quanah Parker's father. The Comanches conducted raids across the State of Texas clear to Mexico, and in one of those raids Quanah's mother was captured. Quanah Parker became a friend of Teddy Roosevelt as they hunted together and created a Peace with the American Government.  I'm operating on memory with this so some of what I have related herein may not be entirely accurate. Feel free to correct me. The way our Government defeated the Comanches is by killing off their horse herds which was by trapping the Indians and the horses in Palo Duro Canyon. Once the Cavalry killed off the horses the Comanches could no longer hunt Buffalo which was their chief source of protein and it starved the Comanches out of the Canyon. The Story of Palo Duro Canyon was explored in the Book named "Deadman Walk" which Book is part of the Four Book Series including Lonesome Dove, and Streets of Loredo. Lonesome Dove, Dead Man Walk, and Streets of Loredo were all made into Movies. The Museum has many of the Paintings and Sculptures by the Western Artists. Joelle Smith the first woman Artist to be admitted to the Western Artists of America has had some of her paintings placed in the Museum. She was a very accomplished Artist, and gathered cattle with us in Nevada as she was an excellent horsewoman. I asked her how she got her start in being an Artist. She told me that she had drawn her first horse when 2 years old, and her parents encouraged her to pursue her Art from childhood and on. She had attended College, but always remained committed to her choice of the American West and the work of Ranches and the Cowhand as an artistic pursuit.