The rain is slightly hindering the preparations for our annual 4th of July party, but the weather for tomorrow is looking good, so that’s all that matters! Hope everyone has an enjoyable holiday weekend!

Swing on over to the Buffalo Central Terminal web site for some photos of yesterday’s wine festival!

Oh how the liberals love to point to Canada’s socialized healthcare system as being the North Star for us to navigate by. Canada’s system has big problems, though, ones which are easy to see and predict, yet hastily ignored by those looking to feed the Hutt of federal government. However, it’s hard to ignore the fact that one of the founders of Canada’s socialized medical system has now admitted that their system has failed and is “in crisis.”

“We thought we could resolve the system’s problems by rationing services or injecting massive amounts of new money into it,” says Castonguay. But now he prescribes a radical overhaul: “We are proposing to give a greater role to the private sector so that people can exercise freedom of choice.”

Castonguay advocates contracting out services to the private sector, going so far as suggesting that public hospitals rent space during off-hours to entrepreneurial doctors. He supports co-pays for patients who want to see physicians. Castonguay, the man who championed public health insurance in Canada, now urges for the legalization of private health insurance.

In America, these ideas may not sound shocking. But in Canada, where the private sector has been shunned for decades, these are extraordinary views, especially coming from Castonguay. It’s as if John Maynard Keynes, resting on his British death bed in 1946, had declared that his faith in government interventionism was misplaced.

What would drive a man like Castonguay to reconsider his long-held beliefs? Try a health care system so overburdened that hundreds of thousands in need of medical attention wait for care, any care; a system where people in towns like Norwalk, Ontario, participate in lotteries to win appointments with the local family doctor.

Years ago, Canadians touted their health care system as the best in the world; today, Canadian health care stands in ruinous shape.

No competition and inefficient government bureaucracy does not a better system make.

HT North Coast Online

Since Derek is a member of the “Crew” (I’ll let one of them explain in a comment what exactly that is), he thinks it would be fun to help me out in the delivery room with some of their more famous chants. I’m not entirely opposed to this, as I want to laugh as much as possible during labor. (I’m thinking this might help it all along quicker. A girl can hope, right?) We were even thinking to borrow the bell so when baby pops out, Derek can ring it. “One! WE WANT TWO!!” But then I’d have to kick someone in the head, cause there is only one baby in there.

So this is a general shout out to the Corner Crew to post any and all chants/cheers you might think appropriate for the delivery of a baby. Derek has expressed interest in the “Geek Chant” and “Wheaties” as well as the opposing team Goalie heckle for that last long push…. “Skate, skate, skate skate, skate….stand, stand, stand……..SQUAT…..BABY!!” (The baby part is obviously added for our own purposes here.)

What fun we are…..this kid’s in trouble!

This was the first time this year we really got out for a geocaching adventure. We hadn’t yet made the time to even find the caches hidden near our house, so that was our mission today. We found our first one quickly, couldn’t find our second attempt, and then found six in a row.

Included in those seven finds was my 100th geocache. It may sound like a lot, but dedicated geocachers can find that many in a month. We enjoy geocaching, but we prefer to play the game when the mood strikes. Some people feel compelled to try and find a cache whenever they pass near one. With the massive number of caches that exist out there, we’d never get anywhere on time!

Anyways, 100 geocaches found is still a milestone! I still think that a GPS is an excellent purchase because of it’s versatility. It’s great for finding the nearest restaurant, not getting lost on road trips, saving gas by finding the shortest route home, and even to play this little game called geocaching, which takes you to all sorts of little niches out there you would otherwise never see.

There literally was only one red daisy out amongst a sea of white ones. Made for a decent photo.

Update: This photo now for sale on Dreamstime

I just had to give kudos to my Hubby for finding an easy way to transfer music to my Philips PSS110 Shoqbox.  Maybe the most confusing and annoying MP3 player around.  (Sorry Dad, who works for Philips now).  But perhaps that is why they stopped supporting the damn thing.  After literally hours trying to figure out how to get music off of it and then back onto it, which has been draining in the past, he found a freeware download that makes it easy as pie!

My Husband is wonderful and has really been putting up with a lot over the past 6 months with my pregnancy.  He should be sleeping in a separate bedroom by now, or drinking heavily.  But he has persevered and is even more wonderful than ever before.  I just wanted the world to know that I do notice all the things he does through my bigness and crabby temper that comes from me being huge and 6 months preggers.

I LOVE YOU DEREK!!! 

My marigold photo on Dreamstime had it’s first sale! My first photo ever sold! I think that makes me a professional now.

My wife and mother-in-law worked together to create this awesome piece of cakey goodness to celebrate Father’s Day with!

Democrats everywhere are salivating over Japan’s new policy to fine people with waistlines over 33.5 inches. I fear this is the type of thing we have to look forward to in neo-liberal Obamanation.