Richard Craig, Author at GraceAndWorks - Page 37 of 60

Happy 4th of July. Let’s make some fireworks today. Are you a “Right Winger”, “Left Winger”, “Middle of the Road Winger”, “Chicken Winger” or a “Turkey Winger”? For today it doesn’t matter. Are you Republican, Democrat, Independent, Muslim, Mormon, Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, Atheist or something else? For today it doesn’t matter.

What does matter for today is–think for yourself!! I’m tired of some left wing or right wing journalist, radio personality, TV commentator or anyone else trying  to tell me what somebody said or what they meant. Let’s get this out in the open–I’m not a fan of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump!! I will say this though, if this is the best America has to offer for a President, we have SERIOUS problems.  I’m a college graduate and I think I can figure out what someone said or did not say, if I listen to them. What I can’t figure out is, why can’t American citizens, without being given biased opinions from some right or left winger, figure out what is best or who is best. Have we stooped so low that we can’t even think for ourselves. I certainly hope not!!!

Everyone seems to be so concerned about the Presidential election that they forget about electing Senators and Congressmen/women. What could the Obama administration have done if congress and senate hadn’t said NO to some/most of what he wanted done. A constant struggle!! What if this same thing happens for the next four-eight years? Will we still blame the President for everything gone wrong? Or will we finally see that it may be the people in Congress or the Senators that are the problem?  It is my take on this that if we don’t do some house cleaning in Congress and Senate, it really doesn’t matter who the President is.

Now let’s talk about President Obama. Has he made some mistakes? Yes, who hasn’t? The Affordable Health Care isn’t perfect and it needs some tweaking and the National debt is atrocious. Good luck to the next Administration with these two things. He inherited a war we should not have been in, saved the auto industry, saved the banking industry, the housing market is good once again, the stock market has come back to almost 18,000 from around 7,000 (Dow Jones), the price of gasoline is down to $2.25-$2.50 from around $4 and the unemployment rate is down considerably from where it was. Not bad for an administration that has fought and struggled with Congress and Senate for 8 tears. Good luck with the next Administration on doing the same or better.

God tells us to pray for our leaders. Why can’t we do this, instead of continually complaining and being non-supportive? We need to be careful this year about what we want as a nation. Think for yourself and do your due diligence to vote for the best people to run this GREAT Nation for the next 4 years. That includes the President, Congress, Senate and all the way on down the line!!

Now let’s celebrate the 240th year of independence of this GREAT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and have a good time!! Let’s also send a prayer to God to keep all safe that fight for our freedom!!

Do you know the difference between a fairy tale and a reunion story? A fairy tale starts off “Once upon a time”–A reunion story starts out “This ain’t no BS–Do you remember…..?”

Saturday and Sunday, July 18th and 19th, we celebrated the 50 year  reunion of 1966 class from Dix, Ne. Dix is a small town in Western Nebraska with a population of about 350 in 1966. We had a whoppin’ 15 graduates that year.

The trip started Friday from Las Vegas and Friday night we stayed in Grand Junction, Colo. Saturday we drove into Denver and finally found the Hyatt where we were staying. We were actually early for our check-in, but, I “Sweet talked” the desk girl into getting us a room.  We get all checked in and found our reception room where everyone was getting together and start the stories. And WOW did the stories ever get started. The first thing that started was that I got someone’s room instead of them. Oh, well–I told Paul I would sell him the rights to it and that started the things rolling. We had dinner planned for 7:00 and it turned out wonderful. Steak was one of three entree’s available–yep that’s what I’m talkin’ about–DELICIOUS!! Gary Gustafson made the arrangements for the rooms, food and hospitality at the Hyatt. Good job!!

After dinner we went back to the reception room and let the stories roll. We talked about Halloween and what happened. Well we moved machinery out into the streets, upset outside toilets, had the police chase us and once even had someone threaten us with a shotgun (He was serious enough to shoot warning shots). We talked about hunting pheasant, duck and geese. I lived on a farm about 2 1/2 miles west of Dix and we had a creek running through it. The creek got dubbed Craig’s Creek and is still referred that way today. It was on the flyway for ducks and geese, so we had some really good hunting. Craig’s Creek then led to stories about the ice skating parties on the creek. We also had a big meadow that Dad would flood in the winter with the creek water and create a huge skating pond. We had huge bonfires made from tires and wood. Oh the fun that was had by all. Lots of stories about our sports enjoyed by  all and especially Coach Montag, who was in attendance, and coached our football team to the first state rating (6th) in school history. Track records by the girls track team. Basketball stories form junior High through High school and on and on we went.

Sunday we had a breakfast buffet and more stories. Sunday night we settled in and watched the final game of the NBA championship game that the Cleveland Cavaliers won and upset the Golden State Warriors. Oh, and of course, we had pizza brought in.

Of the 15 classmates, 2 have passed on–David Allison and Jim Easton. 2 couldn’t make it and the other 11 enjoyed the weekend. Those in attendance were: Gary Gustafson and Wife (Colorado)–Gary Marks and Wife (Iowa)–Susan Southard (Montana)–Marlene Lockwood (Michigan)–Janet Gunderson and Hubby (Alabama)–Rick Craig and Wife (Nevada)–Chuck Kugler and Wife (Virginia)–Betty Peterson and Hubby (Nebraska)–Judy Peterson (Nebraska)–Jim McKinney and Wife (Nebraska)–Jerry Williams (Colorado). And of course Coach Montag.

Monday morning Peg and I went to Estes Park and enjoyed the afternoon and evening. Yeah we made our $100 stop at the fudge shop and had pizza at Bob And Tony’s. Tuesday we drove over Trail Ridge, through the mountains and stayed in Grand Junction. Wednesday we made it home. The end to a FABULOUS trip!!

Prayers are need for Jim McGowan, his wife and Gary Marks as they deal with health issues. Thanks.