Tag: United States

Lewis and Clark depart; This Day in History

One year after the United States doubled its territory with the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark expedition leaves St. Louis, Missouri, on a mission to explore the Northwest from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.

Even before the U.S. government concluded purchase negotiations with France, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned his private secretary Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, an army captain, to lead an expedition into what is now the U.S. Northwest. On May 14, the “Corps of Discovery”–featuring approximately 45 men (although only an approximate 33 men would make the full journey)–left St. Louis for the American interior.

The expedition traveled up the Missouri River in a 55-foot long keelboat and two smaller boats. In November, Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian fur trader accompanied by his young Native American wife Sacagawea, joined the expedition as an interpreter. The group wintered in present-day North Dakota before crossing into present-day Montana, where they first saw the Rocky Mountains. On the other side of the Continental Divide, they were met by Sacagawea’s tribe, the Shoshone Indians, who sold them horses for their journey down through the Bitterroot Mountains. After passing through the dangerous rapids of the Clearwater and Snake rivers in canoes, the explorers reached the calm of the Columbia River, which led them to the sea. On November 8, 1805, the expedition arrived at the Pacific Ocean, the first European explorers to do so by an overland route from the east. After pausing there for the winter, the explorers began their long journey back to St. Louis.

On September 23, 1806, after almost two and a half years, the expedition returned to the city, bringing back a wealth of information about the largely unexplored region, as well as valuable U.S. claims to Oregon Territory.

via Lewis and Clark depart — History.com This Day in History — 5/14/1804.

Me? I think Lewis and Clark’s journey is right up there with the first landing on the moon and perhaps the greatest adventure of the 19th century…

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Happy Mother’s Day

“Without mothers, there might be stars

but no one to wish upon them

No lips to kiss, no hands to hold

No eyes to gaze upon sunsets gold

Without mothers, there might be a moon

but no harvest for which to light

No songs to sing, no voices to raise

No flowers to soak up the sun’s gentle rays

Without mothers, there might be love

but no one to hold it, and it might just slip away”

via Happy Mother’s Day « Positively Positive.

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Women’s Top 4 Wishes and Why Men Should Grant Them

“Since venturing into the world of Men’s Top 4 Wishes and Why You Should Grant Them, I have been talking to women about their relationship wishes.  And it seems we are in a pie in the sky world. But who says that women shouldn’t be reaching for the stars?

In my own research through the years, I have found that women are a faithful group, as confirmed by talks with W. Bradford Wilcox, Ph.D., a sociologist and director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia. He says that just 14 percent of ever-married women reported an extramarital affair over their lifetime as compared to 22 percent of men.” Go to the source to get the wishes: Women’s Top 4 Wishes and Why Men Should Grant Them | Psychology Today.

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Hopeful Starlets, Los Angeles, 1946

Want more? Hopeful Starlets, Los Angeles, 1946 | Retronaut.

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Transcontinental railroad completed; This Day in History

The ceremony for the driving of the golden spi...

“On this day in 1869, the presidents of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads meet in Promontory, Utah, and drive a ceremonial last spike into a rail line that connects their railroads. This made transcontinental railroad travel possible for the first time in U.S. history. No longer would western-bound travelers need to take the long and dangerous journey by wagon train, and the West would surely lose some of its wild charm with the new connection to the civilized East.

Since at least 1832, both Eastern and frontier statesmen realized a need to connect the two coasts. It was not until 1853, though, that Congress appropriated funds to survey several routes for the transcontinental railroad. The actual building of the railroad would have to wait even longer, as North-South tensions prevented Congress from reaching an agreement on where the line would begin.

One year into the Civil War, a Republican-controlled Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Act (1862), guaranteeing public land grants and loans to the two railroads it chose to build the transcontinental line, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific. With these in hand, the railroads began work in 1866 from Omaha and Sacramento, forging a northern route across the country. In their eagerness for land, the two lines built right past each other, and the final meeting place had to be renegotiated.” via Transcontinental railroad completed — History.com This Day in History — 5/10/1869.

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Anticipation

Anticipation | Pops Digital

Anticipation | Pops Digital.

Before I moved to Wisconsin, there were two times in my life that I witnessed a sunrise; once in Montauk, NY and once in Newport, RI. There are few things in life [for me, anyway] than witnessing a sunrise from total darkness to a glorious sun over the water. Now that I live in Algoma, I can have that pleasure every day if I like. Althought Lake Michigan doesn’t have the same salt tang as the Atlantic, the sunrises are every bit as beautiful and no one does a better job of bringing them to you than Bill Pevlor at Pops Digital…

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…on Taking One Day at a Time

More Melody Beattie…

“My best friend was going through some tough situations in her life. I was in the midst of a hard stretch too. We didn’t particularly like the things we had to do in our lives. We talked about our feelings and decided that what we were going through was necessary and important, even though we didn’t like it.We expressed gratitude for our lives.

“It’s still a dreadful time,” I said.

“Brutal,” she said. “I guess we’re back to the old one­ day-at-a-time approach. We’re so lucky. What do people do that haven’t learned that gem?”

There are times when we can look at the stretch ahead and like what we see. Taking life one day at a time is still a good idea, even when things are going well.

Taking life one day at a time can be particularly use­ful when the road ahead looks dreadful. We may not even know where to start with some challenges. That’s when taking life one day at a time is essential.

“I’ve been using alcohol and other drugs every day since I’ve been twelve years old,” I said to my counselor years ago in treatment. “Now you’re telling me I need to stay sober the rest of my life. Plus get a job. And a life. How am I going to do that?”

“One day at a time,” she said. She was right. Sometimes I had to take life one minute at a time or one hour at a time. And all these years later, it still works.

Value: Taking life one day at a time is the gem we’ll focus on this week.” via May 8.

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Mr. Todd’s Wild Ride

One of my favorite rides at Peninsula State Park in Fish Creek, WI…

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PSP [Peninsula State Park] Walk


My wife and I have been ‘power walking’ and thanks to Endomondo, I know that we’ve done 92.38 miles since we started our program and did just over 50 in the month of April at a 4mph or better pace. Yesterday, we did our walk at Peninsula State Park in Fish Creek, Wisconsin one of the prettiest spots in all of Door County. Click images to enlarge and you’ll see what I mean…

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What’s in the McRib?

What’s in the McRib? via ilovecharts

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…on Taxes

The New Yorker – Cartoon of the day. For more from this week’s….

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…on Time and Importance

Little Prince's Rose at the Museum of The Litt...

“It is the time you waste on your rose that makes your rose important” (The Little Prince) via “It is the time you waste on your rose that makes your rose important” (The Little Prince) – tribe.net.

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What is a CAFO and why should I care?

This post may appear to be an off-topic rant, but it’s closely related to my main theme of ‘health’ and quality of life…

Part of my story…

9 years ago, my family and I left Aurora, IL in the Chicago suburbs primarily around the issue of quality of life. The year we left, there were 25 homicides in Aurora; 2/3rds due to gang-related violence and the remainder due to domestic violence. Every year 2-3 kids would get hit by a stray bullet and with 5 boys at the time, I felt the odds were against me. After a long journey, we ended up in our ‘paradise’ — the Town of Pierce in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin… It was at our annual town meeting that I first heard the word CAFO or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation… Continue reading “What is a CAFO and why should I care?” →

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There Are Good People Out There

Here’s a good story for a Sunday morning…

“The media is filled with stories of “bad” people—people to be feared. By watching the nightly news one would assume that our world is populated by people who would rather hurt than help us; who would go to great lengths to avoid lending a helping hand.
Fortunately, we know better.

My husband and I, along with our twin sons, have spent a total of four years cycling the Americas. We’ve pedaled 27,000 miles in all, including a three-year journey from Alaska to Argentina that spanned fifteen countries.

Wonder how many “bad” people we encountered in three years, 27,000 miles, and fifteen countries? I could count them on one hand.” via There Are Good People Out There [BLOG] « Positively Positive.

Follow the ‘via’ link to read the whole story…

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On Simplifying…

“Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

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Remember to Take Care of Yourself

Cover of "The Language of Letting Go (Haz...

Here’s a moral with a story from Melody Beattie…

Jenna started dating a new man. Like many women, she was a little frustrated with all the losers that had come along before. She thought she’d put this one to the test. She wanted to see how good he’d be to her.

So when he called her up and asked her what she wanted to do, she told him she thought he should take her on a little trip.

“Hawaii would be nice,” she said. “You get us the tickets. And find someplace nice for us to stay when we get there. I don’t want to be in a cheesy hotel.”

He had enough money in the bank. The trip, she thought, would be exquisite and luxurious. She envisioned the first-class air travel, the limos, and the home he’d rent complete with maid service and a cook.

When the day of the trip arrived, they took a taxi, not a limo, to the airport. And when she boarded the airplane, he led her back to coach. When the flight attendant came around asking if people wanted to rent movies, her boyfriend shook his head and went back to reading his book. She had to dig out the four dollars to pay for the movie.

She sat scrunched up in her seat, all the way to Hawaii. When they got there, he took her to a time-share condo. Then he drove her in the rental car to the grocery store and said, “Pick out what you want to cook.”

Throughout the vacation she spent a lot of time stewing in her head, but when they got home, she decided to give him one more chance.

So when he called her up and asked her what she wanted to do Friday night, she said she thought a movie would be nice. She hung up the phone, then dressed up and did her hair. She thought maybe he’d take her to a nice theater.

He picked her up, then drove to the nearest Blockbuster. “Go in and pick out whatever video you’d like to rent,” he said. “Do you want to watch it at your place or mine?

The moral of this story is twofold and simple. The first les­son is if you know exactly what you want, you need to spell it out clearly. The second is that it’s better not to expect people to take care of us. Even if they agree to do it, we might not like how they do the job.

While it’s nice to have people love us and do things for us, it’s better to plan on taking care of ourselves.

God, help me remember that it’s my job to take care of myself.

Source: April 18: Remember to Take Care of Yourself | Language of Letting Go

Hmmmm…

Lately I’ve been learning a lot about expectations. I think the simplest way to avoid disappointment is not to have them. Or, as Melody points out if you DO have expectations “you need to spell it [them] out clearly” or be prepared to meet them yourself…

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You are Responsible for You

More from Melody Beattie:

We can delegate tasks, but we can’t delegate responsibility, if the responsibility is really ours.

Sometimes, it’s normal to delegate tasks to other people. We may hire people to do certain things for us. We may engage in contracts with a therapist or a healer to help us work through a certain issue. But the responsibility for which pieces of advice we follow, and the decisions we make in our lives, ultimately belongs to us.

It’s easy to get lazy. We can let a friend, an employee, or even a skilled therapist begin making our decisions for us. We can listen to what they say and blindly take their advice. Then we don’t have to take responsibility for our lives. If the decision doesn’t work out, we can say, “You were wrong. Look at the mess you’ve gotten me into. I’m a victim, again.”

Yes you are. But you’re a victim of yourself.

We can listen to advice and let other people help us, but if they’re helping us do something that is our responsibility, the ultimate responsibility for the decision still belongs to us.

Get help when you need it. Delegate tasks. But don’t give away your power. Remember you can think, you can feel, you can take care of yourself, you can figure out your problems.

Don’t get lazy. Don’t give away responsibility for your life.

God, help me remember that I am responsible for me.

Source: April 17: You are Responsible for You | Language of Letting Go

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Enjoy the ride…

Visual Inspiration: Enjoy The Ride!

The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time

Any fool can do it

There ain’t nothing to it

Nobody knows how we got to

The top of the hill

But since we’re on our way down

We might as well enjoy the ride

via Secret O’ Life Lyrics – James Taylor.

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On understanding…

“O God, help us not to despise or oppose what we do not understand.” ~ William Penn

via Anderson Layman’s Blog: On understanding……….

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Are you living up to your full potential?

Potential

“The potential of an average person is like a huge ocean unsailed, a new continent unexplored, a world of possibilities waiting to be released and channeled toward some great good.”―Brian Tracy

It is generally believed that the average person uses only about ten percent of their potential. That is to say that the average person could be ten times more productive and successful than they currently are. Studies done at Stanford University Brain Institute are even less flattering. They claim that the average person only uses about two percent of their full potential. No matter which figure you agree with, it is clear that we perform far below what we are capable of.

According to Abraham Maslow we are consistently “selling ourselves short.” We concoct all kinds of reasons to rationalize and justify our poor performance and lack of success, ignoring the fact that we all have the ability to develop far beyond anything we have achieved so far.

Source: Are You Living Up to Your Full Potential? [BLOG] « Positively Positive

Go to the source for 3 ways you can start to reach your potential…

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On focus…

“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” ~ Alexander Graham Bell

via Today’s Quotes: @MarWilliamson Focus On What’s RIGHT!.

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