October 30, 2002
The above Mother Goose and Grimm matches my new cat Smokie. Smokie was a pound cat but he is of Russian Blue descent. He is gray with silver over the dense gray coat. He hid Sunday night when I brought him home and also Monday but Tuesday night he came out and watched Jim and me play chess. I had a tooth extracted yesterday first thing and then I took Smokie in to the vet, the vet said that he had been malnourished and not well kept. I plan to change that!!
I was supposed to get my new camera today, but I got an e-mail instead, they had trouble with my mailing address and someone held up sending it out. It should be here Friday now, and I hope to upload a bunch of pictures Monday!!
Dad and Betty are coming over for my birthday Friday!! They plan to take me out for dinner and then stay for Fiddlers. I had planned to go to Amy’s for Christmas but Darren now has that time off from work so they will be going off on vacation.
October 24, 2002 (updated)
2nd e-mail from Don:
Is this happening in Afghanistan now?… disarming a mine or UXB… (the
picture is priceless if you haven’t seen it)
Don
E-mail from Donald:
http://www.menwholooklikekennyrogers.com
You’ve got to get your picture up there.
Don
IBM Enterprise Storage Solutions – ISV Interoperability
Phone: (408) 256-8594 (T/L 276-8594)
Fax: (408) 256-9006
Cell: (408) 718-6527
October 23, 2002
E-mail from David:
Grampy David having fun with two of his grandkids.
October 21, 2002
E-mail from Susan and Al:
Subject: Where do you buy your gas???
Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia. Just buy from gas companies that don’t import their oil from the Saudis. Nothing is more frustrating than the feeling that every time I fill-up the tank, I am sending my money to people who are trying to kill me, my family, and my friends. I thought it might be interesting for you to know which oil companies are the best to buy gas from.
Major companies that import Middle Eastern oil (for the period 9/1/00 -8/31/01).
Shell……………. 205,742,000 barrels
Chevron/Texaco……. 144,332,000 barrels
Exxon /Mobil……… 130,082,000 barrels
Marathon…………. 117,740,000 barrels
Amoco……………. 62,231,000 barrels
If you do the math at $30/barrel, these imports amount to $20 BILLION!
Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil:
Citgo 0 barrels
Sunoco 0 barrels
Conoco 0 barrels (but see below for their investments in Saudi!)
Sinclair 0 barrels
BP/Phillips 0 barrels (but see below for their investments in Saudi!)
Hess 0 barrels
I do not think that the above is the whole story,
| 1. The price of oil was not $30 through that period, it is only about $15 now |
| 2. We also purchase oil from Iraq – through Russia! |
| 3. Oil produced by the US and our allies amounts to 11 million barrels per day, we consume 51 million barrels per day, therefor (78%) comes from “people who are trying to kill me” (should we cut off our nose to spite our face?) |
| 4. See below for the new contracts SA is preparing; I think all oil companies have designs on SA and buying oil from those companies listed above serves to help their investments in SA as well!!! |
During the first 10 months of 2001, Saudi Arabia supplied the United States with 1.6 million barrels per day of crude oil, or 18%, of U.S. crude oil imports during that period. Saudi has the largest oil reserves and among the lowest production costs — around $1.50 per barrel — in the world. Saudi Arabia’s proven natural gas reserves are estimated at 219.5 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), ranking fourth in the world (after Russia, Iran, and Qatar). Thus, in May 2001, Saudi Arabia selected companies to participate in the huge ($25 billion) “Saudi Gas Initiative,” the first major reopening of Saudi Arabia’s upstream hydrocarbons sector to foreign investment since nationalization in the 1970s. The Initiative aims to integrate upstream gas development with downstream petrochemicals and power generation, and is seen as the key to Saudi Arabia’s entire foreign investment strategy. Companies selected for the three “core ventures” under the Gas Initiative are: 1) South Ghawar: Exxon, Mobil, Shell, BP, Phillips; 2) Red Sea: Exxon plus Marathon and Occidental; 3) Shaybah: Shell, Total, Fina, Elf, and Conoco.
October 18, 2002
Finally, Pictures!
Could there be a more proud Grandfather!!!
Sarah enjoying her new train.
Sarah sharing her train with Jim (sorry about the shadow Jim!)
Sarah getting measured, she looks tiny by me! (note the sketch of Titanic done by Roger Bansemer in the case!)
Sarah enjoying her first horseback ride.
Sarah petting goats.
Amy and Sarah enjoying Roger Bansemer’s real caboose.
The train.
Betty out on Carl’s boat for a sail.
October 16, 2002
A friend sent this:
I hate it when this happens! 🙂
Happy Halloween!
P
October 15, 2002
What an incentive to get another digital camera! The photo shop’s machines were broken and they could not print from the negatives nor give me the pictures on disk as I had requested! They said maybe tonight! This from a one hour place!!
Amy had made me a wonderful meal on Friday night. We went to the store and got 2 pounds of salmon. I did not know that would be so much! Amy cooked it up (recipe below) and we made three meals of it, it was very delicious; Amy is a great cook!!!
Dad had quite a scare, a salesman (Dino Neptune) from Tropical Roofing, Inc. came by and told them he had videotaped the roof of their home and found that there were holes in it. “It needed a new $65,000 roof” he said. Betty got them down to $4,957 and signed a contract for them to apply a new “single ply membrane roof”. The contract included a 25% “liquidated damages” fee if they “breached the contract prior to the work beginning”. They got suspicious, so dad looked at the roof himself. There were no holes. Dad had a friend come and check it again; no holes! They had been hoodwinked. They filled out the form and cancelled the contract. Thank goodness this state has a law that requires contracts to have the three day cancellation period. The roofers prey on those who are not able to check roofs and such themselves!! The roof is less than 6 years old and is in perfect condition.
I had a CD explode in my CD player yesterday! All of a sudden there was a noise like a pistol shot. It smelled funny as well. I opened the door to the CD and pieces of plastic fell out! I had to take the entire CD player apart to get all the tiny pieces removed. When the CD exploded it sheared off a small piece of the tray, but it all worked fine afterwards!
October 14, 2002
We had a great time with Amy and Sarah!! Pictures to come – they are being developed and will be done tonight – I did not get the digital camera, still using throw away ones! I did get some video, but that is analog and I cannot put it on the web. Someday I will get back up with the times. Amy and Sarah got to go to the Zoo and the Aquarium. We also went to Roger Bansemer’s for him to take pictures for the portrait and to Dad and Betty’s for a party and to see the slides from their recent trip to Ireland.
Sarah loved the train I made for her. David’s pieces of mahogany were incorporated as the roof of the engine and caboose; thanks, Dave. Sarah learned right off how to couple the cars. She coupled them herself and assembled the train without our knowledge on the round glass table. Around and around she went! She went faster and faster until the train flew off! Each day she would see the train and say “choo choo”, then pass out the cars for everyone to play with or couple it up and run it across the floor. I was so glad she liked it!!!! I hope the pictures came out.
Betty Joe got to meet Amy, Sarah, Dad, Betty, and Amy’s mom and stepdad all in one weekend! She found them all to be very very nice, but was glad when it was over!
October 7, 2002
Raymond Leopold, who was the “Winston man” model in cigarette ads from 1978 to 1980, filed a federal lawsuit in Little Rock, Ark., in April, demanding $65 million from R.J. Reynolds because he is so torn up with remorse and stress at the role he played in creating smoking-related illnesses in people who were influenced by his ads.
Betty and I had a great sail with Carl Tilly on Saturday, he has a wonderful boat! On Sunday I went up and picked her up and we went to an art show, then to see a movie. I went home and cleaned the place, getting ready for Amy and Sarah! Betty has made a spinach lasagna for dinner tomorrow when they get here!
This is the beginning of the sixth year I have kept up this Herrick Home Page. Time for some new material! Anyone help?!!
Darrell wrote:by Rush Limbaugh, March 11, 2002 I think the vast differences in compensation between the victims of the September 11th casualty, and those who die serving the country in uniform, are profound.
No one is really talking about it either because you just don’t criticize anything having to do with September 11th. Well, I just can’t let the numbers pass by because it says something really disturbing about the entitlement mentality of this country.
If you lost a family member in the September 11th attack, you’re going to get an average of $1,185,000. The range is a minimum guarantee of $250,000,all the way up to $4.7 million.
If you are a surviving family member of an American soldier killed in action, the first check you get is a $6,000 direct death benefit, half of which is taxable. Next, you get $1,750 for burial costs.
If you are the surviving spouse, you get $833 a month until you remarry. And there’s a payment of $211 per month for each child under 18.
When the child hits 18, those payments come to a screeching halt.
Keep in mind that some of the people that are getting an average of $1.185 million up to $4.7 million are complaining that it’s not enough.
We also learned over the weekend that some of the victims from the Oklahoma City bombing have started an organization asking for the same deal that the September 11th families are getting. In addition to that, some of the families of those bombed in the embassies are now asking for compensation as well.
You see where this is going, don’t you? Folks, this is part and parcel of over fifty years of entitlement politics in this country. It’s just really sad.
” Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.”-Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.
Every time when a pay raise comes up for the military they usually receive next to nothing of a raise. Now the green machine is in combat in the Middle East while their families have to survive on food stamps and live in low rent housing.
However our own US. Congress just voted themselves a raise, and many of you don’t know that they only have to be in Congress one time to receive a pension that is more than $15,000 per month and most are now equal to be millionaires plus. They also do not receive Social Security on retirement because they didn’t have to pay into the system. If some of the military people stay in for 20 years and get out as an E-7 you may receive a pension of $1,000 per month, and the very people who placed you in harms way receive a pension of $15,000 per month.
I would like to see our elected officials pick up a weapon and join ranks before they start cutting out benefits and lowering pay for our sons and daughters who are now fighting.
“
| 2002 | Dad’s | February 2 |
| 2003 | John’s | 1st week in May |
| 2004 | Donald | |
| 2005 | David and Jean’s Housewarming party, Pocomoonshine Lake, Princeton, Maine | |
| 2006 | Darrell & Marilyn | |
| 2007 | Dan | |
| 2008 | Sue and Al |