Absolutely, although mine would probably be bored stiff. This kind of stuff does not interest her. Are you on sunrise or sunset side? Either would probably be spectacular. Myself, the Texas coast is always a sunrise. I'll bring a nice gewurtz and a good char for you. You can surprise me with the reds/roses. Here's a serving suggestion I've used for many years. For a finger food, serve braunschweiger on water crackers with a good blue cheese (Danish, Gorganzola, Stilton) accompanied by fresh sliced apple (preferably Granny Smith), grapes, sliced peaches. Also, a nice inexpensive champagne which has been opened and allowed to still makes an excellent accompaniment to seafood.

those are your two bottles. lol
one of my favorite things to do in the Fall, well was-I'm on the beach now-to hike up to an area above 7 bridges (one side of Pikes Peak system) and at treeline, uncork a good gewurtz. it's a swigging kind of affair, but within a blanket of golden aspen leaves and a slight chill to the rarefied air, we'd babble about all kinds of stuff, then pack the empty bottle away in our pack and make it down in time-to pick someone up from jr high. My husband's birthday was on Sunday-and that that was always his fav birthday celebration.
me-I go for a nice chardonnay. Cakebread if I'm picking. or a I think by your choices you'd go for this one Stueben sparkling. Made by Mt. Pleasant Wineries in augusta MO. uncommon's territory. also excellent fall wine enjoyment. the missouri vineyards grow german grapes. no Moselle river but the wide Missouri. Daniel Boone's boyhood territory. Slightly sweet red. hmmm. well, I'm not sure we can come together on that-but I'm happy to share an excellent porto and dark chocolate. Are our spouses invited? lol

I prefer a nice Rhine like Gewurtztraminer or Piesporter Michelsburg. A slightly sweet red works. too.

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I think you and I would have some interesting conversations were we ever to meet. I don't two bottles of wine would last long enough.

Interesting story and love the shotgun story. I have no doubt your father saw his hiring by the CCC as a lifesaver. However, the net effect was people were worse off. What if Roosevelt had done the right thing? YOur dad might have been able to send home $16 or $24 a month. Or maybe not have needed to leave home. Many of the CCC projects we all still enjoy(the brick streets in my hometown, the beautiful stone bridges in parks, etc.) but that time was much harder and better paying opportunities would have been had quicker if socialist solutions had not been instituted. Have you read "FDR's Folly?" It is a very good account.
In contrast, my grandfather was a rural mail carrier. While everyone else was reeling, he continued throughout the Depression era to receive his paycheck without incident (which they were very quiet about) and accrue handsome benefits. He was a frugal man, and they lived a basic middle class life for rural Iowa, and helped many in need, including taking in several daughters to "help" my grandmother with her children.
I'm thinking alot about this today, when government is all up in arms over the lives of federal employees when they haven't given a hot damn about all the private businesses that are struggling or have failed. I know there are federal employees who work extremely hard and serve us well, Dragonlady comes to mind, but the idea that during bad economic times the answer is for government to step up its own hiring and to whine when it feels a huge pinch? Just so.

I didn't say they shortened the Depression, I said they saved a great many people from starvation and destitution, one of whom was my father and his family. My grandfather died in Mar 1929 when my father was 15. As the oldest male in the family, he, with his mother, took on the responsibility for the other 6 kids. When my father turned 18, he was eligible to join the CCC. Believe me, the $8/mo he sent home was sorely needed. I am reminded of the story he told us of the old shotgun he had. He, and his two brothers, cut, split and stacked two cords of wood as barter for that shotgun. That shotgun put food on the table. I still have it. And it isn't going anywhere. There were a great many things which carry over from Depression era government programs which are no longer needed but it shows you the power of government programs to which people begin to think they are 'entitled'.

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New dance craze?

Agreed OA. I'm planning for the day the SHTF, because how could it not happen in my lifetime? Should have plenty of resources (skills & supplies) to make it to The Gulch.
-Bri

Hello soft_cheesebri8,
Good to hear from you. Yes you are so right. I suspect if it came to it, my wife would tough it out and learn to tolerate the fishing as long as she could wear gloves and use needle-nose pliers, but I would still have to do the hunting. Every year she is happy to see the venison go into the freezer, but she is not interested in how it got there. Oh well, she can cook it better than I. She also helps with the gardening. As long as the supermarket remains an option what we provide on the side is just for pleasure and for me a sense of security. If on the other hand the SHTF, these skills could be indispensable.
Regards,
O.A.

Sorry to hear that OA. Too bad they couldn't see the value in having those skills. There are plenty of other women in the world that hunt and are willing to bait their own hooks (especially because that's how you fill the freezer for winter). Hunger doesn't discriminate.

My grandmother had a 4-10 shotgun by her nightstand till the day she went into a group home. She finally succumbed to Alzheimer's... She hunted, and fished alongside my grandfather... I can't even find a woman in my family that will bait a hook today... I have taken several out on the lake with me. They like to reel them in, but they want me to bait and release... I suspect necessity would change that...

I remember as a kid being shocked when I saw a picture of my grandmother,as a young woman, with a gun in one hand and dead rabbits in the other. I was told they had to hunt for food in those days. Not exactly sure now why I was so surprised.

Perception was not reality, regarding Roosevelt in many ways...

I should Jung and Freud to this

that was fun to read aloud. I disagree with your first premise. There is no evidence that Roosevelt's ABC agencies saved anyone in a net sense. The policies lengthened and worsened the Depression.
"Progressive" attacking of the Constitution was alive and well preceding the Civil War. see this article:
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/...
I would add the GI Bill was wildly successful for colleges-so following WWII, record numbers were graduating from liberal arts colleges, who before might not have financially swung it. Those colleges were already steeped in the German philosophical camp of Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Marx, Brecht. But that influence started in the 20's with german scholar immigrants. Most private colleges had religious endowments-so they were already susceptible to ignoring natural rights philosophically. (Conservative and Progressive)
To be honest, the hippie "generation" represented a minority. These movements come from minorities which is why Progressives are so worried about the Tea Party. The tea party is going to need to get its head around natural rights first, if it intends to save the Constitution.

Excellent analysis johnrobert2, My grandparents were of the same generation as yours and I learned more about the realities of the world and what to prepare for from them. I pressed for information as a young man when speaking with my grandparents as to why they always went to so much trouble gardening, freezing, canning, fishing and hunting, etc. when the supermarkets had everything... My parents were of the generation that my grandparents wished to spare from such hardships. Consequently my parents did not want to think about it, or find it necessary to educate us, thinking we would be spared . My mother still living wants to hide her head in the sand and avoid facing the possibility that it could happen again, and for her sake I hope things don't turn bad while she still does. I miss talking with her mother (my grandmother) she was an inspiration and without complaining about what she endured she always encouraged me to keep reaching for my goals. If she could survive the depression, I could surely thrive under better conditions...
Lacking more of those voices I fear too many are totally unprepared and unafraid. That portends a recipe for disaster.
Regards,
O.A.

Very interesting! Good read. Thanks John. :)

No kidding!! Sickening

Yep, he has three years on me. ;-)
Now, my dad was born in 1933, my mom in 1937 and my stepmom in 1932. Dad was the baby of 15, so nothing got handed to him, other than hand me downs. Things weren't just discarded because of boredom. Their usefulness was wrung out and then adapted to something else. My stepmom told me that she had her shoes for 4 years, they were bought large, then handed down to her sisters. She never threw anything away that she could use. She washed baggies out and reused them. Nothing went to waste. EVER. My parents were strict with me, (I was primarily raised by my mom), and she was a disciplinarian! I had a sore bottom more than once. But I never repeated the same offense twice. I wish I could have met my grandparents from Italy. I would have loved to have learned what they left behind, what they felt they could do in America. Sigh...

That should be required reading for everyone. Thanks John. Its hard to imagine how difficult it was to face the depression and then World War II. I think we need to remember the old saying "don't fix the blame, fix the problem".

I antedate both of you by almost half a generation and my answer is this: Our grandparents were hardened in the crucible of the Dust Bowl days and the Great Depression. The alphabet days of Roosevelt's New Deal were all that saved many from starvation and destitution but it had the deleterious effect of accustoming people to the siren song of living off the government. At the same time, those who administered those programs became addicted to the sense of power they enjoyed in the distribution of largesse and the opportunity to enlarge their fortunes by graft and cronyism. Then came the world war and the enlargement of the bureaucracy to fight that war, none of which went away when it was over. The subterranean rise of the socialist/Marxist/communist strata, playing on the cupidity of the masses, began to make serious inroads into society when the greater part was exhausted from the cataclysm just ended. You might note that almost none of those involved in this breaking down of foundations actually had a part in the physical battles but were safely at home insinuating themselves into positions of indirect influence.

Our parents were shaped by a different set of molds, or rather, lack of them. Our parents were treated to a paroxysm of insulation because their parents did not want their children to have to endure what they had so they were nurtured in an atmosphere of permissiveness with little real discipline. This manifested itself in the Beat generation, the Hippie movement, culminating in the morass we find today regarding moral laxity and lack of principled behavior. All because two generations ago, a generation decided to hand over its responsibility for raising its children to others because they felt they deserved the respite. Others were only too glad to assume that responsibility and teach the children their belief system. There you have America on the half-shell, ready to be served up as the appetizer to an orgy of tyranny and despotism, for the strictures of which they are totally unprepared.

I didn't say I was an eyewitness. Born in "64 myself.

(Well... I wasn't born yet...but I get your point.) And I ask myself that everyday. HOW?! I wish my grandparents were alive...I'd have a bunch of questions.