We finally know who the cadidates for presidet will be. The democrats have at least created a lot of excitement and this will be an important course changing election in November—whichever way it turns out. I think that there will be a much larger turnout than usual to vote and that is a good thing. We will probably be tired of all of the “noise” before it is all settled. The early elections of the nation—the late 1700’s and early 1800’s—with Jefferson, Adams, Burr, Hamilton, Marshall, etc—between the republican and federalist parties of the day became rather rough and we survived. The important thing is to vote—you can not bitch if you do not vote!
SIGNS OF THE TIMES! One of the residents’ grandsons was visiting here and was driving one of the new SMART cars. It was interesting to see one of them. It is a very small 2 passenger car with good gas mileage. Richard said that he has seen a number of them on the road in Europe. We will probably be seeing more of them –or other developments –spurred by the high cost of gas. The Smart car has developed almost a cult following with discussions etc on the internet. Richard was here visiting for a few days and he took us for a drive toward Ellsworth to see the wind farm which has been developed in Ellsworth and Lincoln Counties. It really is interesting to see the wind electric generators. In a way we are going back to the 1930’s before the days of the REA and some farmers then had windmill generators with storage batteries for their own electical system. At least it was some better than a kerosene lamp. An article in the local paper today reports that a rural homeowner has a permit to set up his own wind generator and will reduce the amount of power he takes from the grid and if he has excess will be able to sell it back to the power company.
General Motors is betting all of their nickels on the new VOLT electric car.
As a plus, on our trip to see the wind-farm we drove through Ellsworth. Rich’s car has “On Star” navigation, so we told it to direct us to our old home—216 Colo. Ave—and it did! It is hard to envision the database to be able to bring up the address in ELLSWORTH, KANSAS. It was a pleasusre to see the old home place and it has been modernized and has a 2 car garage etc. The front porch has been improved to be a concrete slab but the swing (more modern) is still hanging in its old place ---memories!
We have had a very active spring storm season, with tornadoes, thunderstorms and hail. In Salina we have been very lucky; we did go to the basement one evening for a little while because of a tornado sighted just west of town. One wonders what the hurricane season has in store! Mother Nature seems to be restlesss!
I will close this posting and send the very best wishes to all of you.
HAF AKA HAPPY DOC
