It seems that everyone is creating a blog lately.
I’ve been creeping around the internet recently, looking at different blogs trying to get some ideas thinking that I might start one myself. So….here goes:

I am 67 years old, retired, handicapped, (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) but stay as active as possible. I live in the Miami Valley of Ohio and love it here. The only thing I really dislike about it is the winter season. It gets cold and snowy here! I have seen it as cold as 10 below zero a couple of times, and have been told to expect to see 20 below upon occasion. ICK!

I have lived in quite a few states….Virginia, North and South Carolina, California, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, and Pennsylvania. I have no plans to move again.

I voted for Barrack Obama. I know that will surprise a lot of people that know me, or think they do, or knew me in the past, but things change. It is time for a change in our country, and I have high hopes for our future.

Politically, I consider myself an Independent. I vote for whomever I feel is best for the job, regardless of their party affiliation. My wife, however, is a hardcore Democrat, as is her 85 year old mother.

Marsha worked for a number of years on Capitol Hill and knows quite a few politicians, including Joe Biden, our Vice-President elect. She tells a story about him that I have her permission to share with you.

“For a year or two during the time I worked on Capitol Hill, I was in an office next door to Senator Biden. The Senator for whom I worked kept a huge candy dish next to the door. Quite often when Senator Biden was passing by on his way to the Capitol, he would stop for a piece of candy. Since the dish was next to the door, he didn't even have to come in. Most times, all we saw was his hand, snaking in and grabbing a piece, sometimes waving quickly before proceeding.

"I especially remember one time when there was a vote going on in the Senate chamber. My Senator was already there and had called me to bring a file to him. Just as I hung up, the door opened and that hand was moving toward the candy dish. Without thinking, I said, "Since you're going there anyhow, would you mind taking this file with you?" He nodded agreeably and waited. But then I had second thoughts and told him, "Never mind. I don't think my boss would like it if I used a United States Senator as an errand boy!"

It seems kind of ironic somehow that in all my years in Washington, DC, including 15 years on Capitol Hill, I never once met a President, Vice President, or anyone who later became a President or Vice President. But now that I'm back here in Ohio, someone I saw frequently for a year or two has become Vice President. The best part is that he's a good guy, very genuine and down to earth. I'm looking forward to the new administration. "