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Reuben and One Trick Pony (regular blog readers) have commented that they cannot see the first comment when they pull up the comment section.  I couldn’t figure out what they were talking about since I’ve always been able to see them as plain as day.

It occurred to me just now that I always use Mozilla Firefox as my web browser.  In 2007  the United States Department of Homeland Security recommended Firefox over Microsoft Internet Explorer because Internet Explorer had a number of security flaws and this made individuals and businesses vulnerable to attack.

So, I tried opening up www.danthomas.me in Internet Explorer and sure enough I could not see the first comment.  Aha!  Now that I know the problem I can contact Wordpress and find a solution.  In the meantime, I recommend Firefox anyway.  It loads faster than IE and is far more secure.  In fact, I’ve been Microsoft-free for 18 months.  I use a Linux-based operating system called Ubuntu and am completely happy with it.

Dibert Linux-Geek humor.

Ironman, by Chris Crutcher

Tomorrow I head to Franklin County High School in Brookville, Indiana to do my annual Ironman Presentation. My sister Beth teaches English at the high school and she has done this for the past four years.

Beth has the class read Ironman by Chris Crutcher.  Ironman is the story of Bo  Brewster a high school student  training for a triathlon while also in disputes with his father and football coach.   Along the way Bo is forced to enroll in the school’s anger management program, where much to his surprise he meets a wise old shop teacher and a group of supposed delinquents who inspire and support him further in his efforts. The novel culminates with bo competing in the Yukon Jack Ironman Triathlon.  The novel won the Best Young Adult Novel by the American Library Association.

The students at Franklin County High School students always enjoy reading this novel and my sister has them do various project associated with the novel such as compiling music CD’s that Bo Brewster might listen to while training, or posters that would inspire Bo during the Yukon Jack Triathlon.  The highlight of the project is the Special Surprise Guest (me).  I always bring my bike (Yellow Kestrel Talon)

Kestrel Talon

and a DVD of the Ironman events that I have participated in.  The kids have always been polite and have tons of questions about the sport of triathlon and the Ironman event and the training that is involved.  Seymour is unique for a town of this size with the number of people who are involved in the sport of triathlon.  Hopefully I can hear about a student who goes on to participate in an Ironman.

I also highly recommend the novel to adults and young adults alike.

One of my regular features in this blog is an item called “America Unchained” where I feature a small, independent business in the hopes that we get back to the idea of locally-owned, family businesses that focus on customer service and pride in product.

Look for the Rockford Ridge sign on Highway 11

I was helping simplybrent with his lawn mower today and afterwards we decided to visit Rockford Ridge Drive-In .  It had been a while since I’ve been there, but once I tasted the tenderloin it was like a long-lost friend.  The restaurant has a good selection of traditonal drive-in fare.  AND they come out to the car and take your order and then bring it out. Just like old times!

Craig Zickler, owner/chef created “The Big Cheesy” which is supposed to be the premier burger.  I went instead for my old stand-by the tenderloin.  We also had the potato wedges which were fried to perfection. (Simply denies that Craig created the “The Big Cheesy” because simply had one as a kid.)  I’ll leave that to the blog readers to fight out. The chocolate malts are hand-dipped and excellent. Hoosier food at it’s best.

The drive-in has an eclectic collection of hats, stuffed animals, and license plates nailed to the rafters.  You can find this unchained treasure on Highway 11 north of Seymour next to John Mellencamp’s childhood home.

Rockford Ridge Drive-In's eccentric collection of goodies. (Note my sleek Woodie in the background!)

The 15 men who gathered on February 18, 1978 in Honolulu, Hawaii could not have imagined the worldwide phenomenon that they would create by participating in the first Ironman Triathlon. This event is often credited with creating the sport of triathlon, but triathlons were being held by the San Diego Track Club as early as 1974.

The Ironman Triathlon was a combination of three long-standing events: The Waikiki Rough Water Swim, The Oahu Perimeter Bike Ride, and the Honolulu Marathon.  Gordon Haller won the first Ironman Triathlon with a time of  11 hours, 46 minutes.

Frank Day: one of the original Ironman finishers.

Frank Day's wife served as the crew for the Ironman. Here she makes a hand-off on the bike leg.

Paula Newby-Fraser holds the distinction of winning the most Ironman World Championships with a total of 8.

April 20, 2009: Ran 5.5 miles before work.  I really need to get a strategy together to get my 2-a-days in soon.

April 21, 2009. Rest day.

April 22, 2009. Rode 17.6 before work. Still very dark.  Crisp morning.

April 23, 2009. Rowed 55 minutes inside.  No child care available.

April 24, 2009. Ran 8.0 miles. Beautiful day.  Weather is finally starting to  cooperate.

April 25, 2009.  5  hours of scything. (see post below)  If anyone thinks this does not count as a workout they can kiss my ass.

April 26, 2009. Rode 41.0 miles. Fanastic day!!! 80’s sunny.  These are the inspiring kinds of days I’ve dreamed about when riding on the trainer during the winter.

Dave Orlowski will return for the 30th Anniversary of the Ironman. This time with some equipment upgrades.

Dave Orlowski,who took third, did swim, bike, and run in these cut-off jeans.His trusty steed is a borrowed Sears ten-speed.

My friend Deryk hooked me up with a spiffy new scythe.  For the uninitiated, a scythe is the thing the Grim Reaper carries and is used to cut wheat or grains.  

Since we moved out to BFE 8 years ago, I have gone through 4 weedeaters.  We have some tough weeds.  The thick grass around our pond burns the motor out on weedeaters.  

Deryk works for Seymour Manufacturing.  Seymour Manufacturing started in 1872 making spokes for wagon wheels and then moved into scythes and then home and garden tools.  It is one of the only companies in the world still making scythes.

My new scythe has a lightweight aluminum snath ( the handle part) and will cut through tough blackberry brambles like they were butter.  It is easily re-sharpened with a Dremel tool and uses no gasoline.  Thus it is environmentally friendly and makes for some good exercise.  Give one a swing. 

On Wednesday morning I got a call at 6:02 AM from the Seymour Post Office that our geese were there.  I had a court appearance that morning, so I had to swing by there on my way to work and then take them to the office.   Live geese are shipped out via overnight mail and are two days old when they arrive.

Toulouse geese at 5 days old.

They were much bigger than I had expected.  At 2 days old they were roughly the size of the ducks at two weeks old.  These are Toulouse geese.  They are the largest domesticated breed of geese.  At maturity (two years) they will weight 25 to 30 pounds.  Since they are too heavy to fly, their defense is a good offense.  They will spread their five foot wingspan, hiss loudly, and charge at trespassers on their territory   They have strong neck muscles and can inflict a serious bite.  Luckily, they are extremely loyal to their owners.  As I stated in an earlier post, we got them to serve as protectors for our flock of chickens.

In terms of behavior, they could not be more different from the chickens  and ducks.  They are naturally curious and bold. The chickens will scurry from anything new, but the geese need to go check it out.  Later today, I am taking a couple to my children’s classroom for show-and share.

The flock of chickens are doing well and so far no casualties.

Toulouse Geese at maturity

As an investigator for the Department of Child Services, I often get the comment from people, “Ugghh! That has to be the worst job in the world.  I could never do that!” I have a very different take on it.  I don’t know of any other job where you can have such an immediate impact on the life of a child.  Someone needs to look into reports of physical and sexual abuse and neglect of children and it might as well be me.

There are six investigators in the Jackson County office.  We go on a rotation basis with reports. So, I get whatever comes in next when I’m up for a report to investigate.  More or less for the past six weeks I have looked into custody-related reports.  Most of those are bogus reports meant as retaliation by one of the parents against the other.  This is not only a waste of my own time, but a waste of taxpayer dollars as well. Yesterday was different.

Yesterday, I received a report that three children had been threatened with a gun by the stepfather and there was drug use in the home.  A witness had stated that the children had left the home after being threatened and sought refuge at a neighbor’s home.  I arrived at the scene with an officer from the sheriff’s department.  The stepfather’s left hand was swollen three times the size of the other hand.  There were shrapnel wounds and power burns to the the injured hand.  He had not received any medical care and was under the influence of drugs at the time of our arrival.

Not actual home, but representative of conditions.

There had been a fight in the home between the oldest sons and the stepfather.  They had been trying to protect their mother. Apparently, the step-father had attempted to load a bullet into the chamber of a rifle and there was already a bullet in the chamber.  When he tried to force the bullet it hit the firing pin of the first bullet and the bullets exploded into his hand.  (see my “Karma is a bitch” post)  Both of the parents had been “messed up” on drugs when this occurred.

The home conditions were deplorable.  Dog feces covered the floor.  The rooms were dark.  Lit only by dim bare bulbs.  There was barely enough room to travel from one room to another with all the clutter of dusty, unrecognizable objects.  The sheriff’s officer found a sizable quantity of marijuana and legend narcotic drugs.  It became obvious that the children would need to be removed from this situation.  To remove a child from a home is not a decision that we take lightly. We also need to have sufficient legal reason to remove a child and make them wards.

When I met the three teenage children, I was surprised. They appeared to be more at home in an elite prep school than this dilapidated, unsanitary home.  They were polite, intelligent and cared deeply about their mother and each other. The oldest child had taken on the role of caretaker to the others.  What they described was a life of hell ever since their stepfather had arrived on the scene 11 years ago.  What he had brought to the home was a life of drug abuse, violence, and chaos.

Usually when we have to remove children from a home there is an awkwardness on the drive back to the DCS office.  In this case it was very different.  It was more as if we were going to King’s Island.  The kids were talkative.  Asking me questions about my Wagoneer.  Asking about the Ironman stickers on the back window.  Ultimately that day the children went to a very nice foster care home with foster parents who view this role as a calling. When we were loading their stuff into the van, the oldest boy turned around and shook my hand and said, “Thanks for looking out for us.” That is why I enjoy this work.

Last week I had a real pitty-party because I had some back problems.  Luckily, things are well again and I’m almost back on schedule.  Weatherwise, it has been much more cooperative.  Have I said in the last five minutes how much I hate Daylight Savings Time? I am an early bird and my morning trainings are still in the dark.

4-16-09 I made it to morning swim.  Swam 45 minutes (no I still cannot count laps  – some independently-wealthy blog reader feel free to buy me a lap counter to attach to the pool wall) and then did water running for 20 minutes.

4-17-09 Beautiful day!!  Ran 6.5 miles.  Working on form.  Trying to get a more relaxed stride with the strike more towards the forefoot.

Ironman Training T-Shirt

4-18-09 Another fantastic day!! I rode 38.6miles. Nice mix of hills and flats.  Rode in towards Seymour hoping to at least see some other riders. I’ve done most of my workouts this year by myself.  My training partners’ wives think I’m a bad influence.

4-19-09 Weather has turned to crap. I was able to run 9 miles and came home soaking wet.  Long runs are getting easier after shedding 10 pounds of winter weight.

I have watched and read with interest about the recent TEA Parties held both locally and nationwide.  TEA standing for Taxed  Enough Already.  It sure sounds great!!  I would be for less taxes. Bang the drum.  Sound the trumpets! Rhetoric-a-palooza!!!

Another crazy tea party.

Amid all the fanfare and shouting and rhetoric, not once did I hear either private citizen or politician step to the front of the crowd and say, ” I will give up_______!”  Or “I, personally, will sacrifice ________!” It is easy to decry taxation, but at what cost?

If taxes are cut, expenses must be cut as well.  What are YOU willing to give up?  I don’t mean a collective YOU, I mean YOU personally.  As Americans we have become accustomed to wanting what we want without wanting to pay for it.  The best analogy that I can think of is the compulsive gambler who has stayed far too long at the craps table.  Time to get up and leave the table and settle up.

I find it interesting that our own local, conservative newspaper will condemn the Stimulus Bill on the editorial page, but triumph funding for a local project provided by through the same Stimulus Bill.  We can’t have it both ways.

With that said, I agree that taxes need trimming. But I’m also willing to sacrifice. I’m willing to pay more for GREEN ENERGY.  I’m willing to support local merchants and forego Wal-Mart and Target to demand more American-made products on the shelf. I’m willing to volunteer more to reduce expenses.  I’m willing to let GM, Citicorp, AIG, Fannie Mae fail because out of those failures smaller, more efficient companies  will immerge and thrive.  I didn’t support the bailout under the Bush Administration and I didn’t support the bailout under the Obama Administration.

Are YOU willing to volunteer your time and efforts and be more generous in order that social services programs can be reduced?  Are YOU willing to organize and participate in a Neighborhood Watch program, so that police patrols in your neighborhood can be cut?  Are YOU willing to recycle all your trash and compost your scraps so that trash collection can be reduced?  Are YOU willing to volunteer at your child’s school to save on expenses?

It all begins with me (or YOU).

Chicks at one week.

As I posted last week, the Thomas family has gotten into the organic, free-range egg business.  We got our chicks that were one day old.  After one week they have nearly doubled in size.  They were all fuzzy last week and now they have feathers.  I am amazed when I go downstairs in the morning to feed and water them how much they have grown overnight.

All of the chicks are supposed to be hens. But, we have one little guy that has already shown signs that he is a rooster.  He stands on top of things and flaps his wings.  He also is considerably bigger than the other chicks.  When he thought I wasn’t looking, he farted and laughed at himself.

The kids are going to sell the eggs for $1.50 a dozen and keep whatever profits they make.  They have already decided that they want a 52 inch Sony High-Def Plasma TV.  Good choice, kids.