William Roddy

I didn’t feel so well today. But it was a good day anyhow. Dalia is like a child in her new surroundings, puttering, cleaning, buying this and that. She’s fun to watch and be with. One of the reasons we were able to make a better deal on this house was the fact that the [...]

The day was listless, cool, and blue. Dalia went shopping, I Tweeted and toured various windows. She came home, happy, with lots to show me. Then the sun sunk silently, like a stone, without fanfare tonight. Just to show us it could. Now, the darkness is full of coolness, fine silky breezes, tiny far-away sounds. [...]

Two days ago, when we went out for lunch, I met two Korean war veterans and a Vietnam veteran. Yesterday, I met a veteran of the US Navy. It makes me feel proud, less alone, to know that there are others out there whose lives were shaped by the wars of their early years. It [...]

My first cousin, and friend, Lonnie, and I, have been having just an absolute blast emailing and texting each other. He is so cool and I just love him. And the goldmine for me is the vast collection of information he sends along. Pictures, writing, all kinds of stuff. Today, he also sent me some [...]

Some F-18s, from the nearby Naval Air Station at Fallon, flew into the Reno International Airport last night. We heard them come in. We can see the airport through the binoculars from the deck and other windows. But I missed the jets. And then the repair guy came to hook up the water thingy on [...]

Anyone who knows me knows I’m a computer nut and a Linux freak. But I have to say, this new 17″ MacBook Pro Dalia bought me for a 15th Anniversary present is a magnificent machine. It was very cool that we got to be in the new house and celebrate our 15th anniversary here, Aug [...]

I’m not trying to be an author here. I’m just typing as fast as I can, straight off the top of my rather muddled head. So if this doesn’t come out as perfect prose, it never was intended to. I just hope that, now that I’ve gotten back into making a few entries, you get [...]

Having lived in the redwoods for decades, and then moving to a small town called Quincy, California, which was at the base of fir and pine-covered mountains of the Plumas National Forest, we have always been surrounded by trees. That’s a good thing, but it can be more than a little claustrophbic at times. In [...]

Almost three weeks ago, we moved to a great house with a magnificent view near Reno, Nevada. Reno’s not the quaint little cowtown is used to be. It’s metro population is almost a half-million, a real cultural bastion, but also with places that will out-Vegas Las Vegas. It took us all this time to get [...]

The Painting: a view of America

In September 1966, Ezra Taft Benson delivered a speech in which he said, “I spoke face to face with Nikita Khrushev, and he indicated that my grandchildren would live under communism. “After assuring him that I expected to do all in my power to assure that his and all other grandchildren would live under freedom, [...]

Honoring SSG Sal Giunta, Likely First Living Medal of Honor Recipient Since the Vietnam War

Ten Russian deep cover spies have been arrested in the U.S. An eleventh is still at large. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10442223.stm http://email.foxnews.com/t?ctl=4CAA:975264F238CA4ACFCD2526FC8FFE7B6C& Numerous times, I’ve pointed out that there are currently more Russian spies working in the U.S. than there were at the height of the Cold War. These 10 constitute only the tip of the vice-berg. The [...]

Thomas  Sowell  -  “While it is true that you learn with age, the down side is that what you learn is often what a damn fool you were before.”

Some people are about to sum up things in a way we can understand them. This quote came from the Czech Republic. “The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of [...]

Waziristan is the beautiful lawless land of Pakistan, where tribal chiefs are the rulers, and where national government has little say. This is a know Taliban-al Qaeda sanctuary. Southern Arizona is a magnificent part of the U.S., so much so that there are several major national parks and two national monuments there. This is land, [...]

The Star Spangled Banner Lyrics By Francis Scott Key 1814 Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight, O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket’s red glare, the [...]

So the government as much as admitted today that it can’t control — CAN’T — AN 80-mile stretch of the U.S./Mexican border, that it has become a no-man’s land (reminiscent of the lawless areas of Pakistan) where drug wars and illegal aliens do as the please. And they so much as admitted they’re powerless in [...]

When I first saw the video of North Carolina Congressman Bob Etheridge (D-Lillington) , I thought to myself, If this man was unable to hide behind the office of congress, he would be nothing more than a thug, picking on the smaller, the weaker, the vulnerable. A predator. Then it occurred to me that this was probably [...]

I have a dear friend, Andy, who’s suffering in the hospital. I ask you to pray for him, and for his loving wife who will not leave his side, nor falter in her support and love for him. Health for Andy. Strength for Dee. Please. Thanks.

I was lucky enough to go to a cool high school with a lot of really excellent classmates. Since the Internet allowed reconnection, several friends I went to school with have contacted me. Today there was a bumper crop of emails from some of them, and I enjoyed every one, including one from the son [...]

Feeling fragmented tonight. Actually, all day. It’s the kind of feel I get just before I find out something has gone horribly wrong in the world, get word of it, but not quite digest it or know immediately where it fits. Something’s up. I know it. I can feel it. A day or two away. [...]

A dear friend from Florida, Pat, also wrote an e-mail saying she missed the posts when I didn’t put them up. I really, really didn’t think anyone ever read them, let alone, cared. I’m so flatter I’m blushing. Thanks, Pat, and anyone else who might be reading that I don’t know about. (I have the [...]

Real violence is chaos. There’s no pretty dancing, posing, offering the other guy to take the first shot. I got my first lesson in that reality when I was about 12. We were playing basketball in a public gym, where people of all ages came to throw together teams and play for fun. An argument [...]

There are several post-apocalyptic movies currently running, among them, ‘The Book of Eli,’ and ‘The Road.’ They’re not the shiny heroes-take-all movies we’re used to seeing. They paint a rather grim picture, which is more likely to be the case. So tonight, the hair stood up on the back of my neck when I was [...]