You better be good for goodness sake!

Merry Christmas all! It has been a busy month but we are finally winding down as Christmas day approaches. Finals, Christmas concerts and plays, shopping, and lots of travel for Jeff surely wore us all out. But now the kids are out of school for two weeks and we can spend our time baking, eating, baking, eating, wrapping gifts, and doing a little last minute shopping. This is the fun part. We hope that all of our friends and family have a blessed Christmas and take a little time out to be grateful. Being grateful is the cure-all to all of life's let downs and headaches. It puts it all into perspective. Talk with ya'll next year.

November Update

Hey Family and Friends,
Though life has been rather routine, thought I'd post a family update.

Jeff: Busy, busy man. Jeff had a recent business trip to Phoenix where he had a nice visit with cousin Amy and family. He also had a recent day visit to Detroit which he found rather depressing. He saw big plants with empty parking lots.

Ashley: The picture above is Ash with the Heisman trophy. It travelled to Atlanta to spend the evening with the St. Pius football fans as a fundraiser for a faculty member's family who is dealing with the stress and expense of battling cancer.

Ashley, her friend, and I are off to a Kings of Leon Concert tonight. These tickets were for Ashley's birthday. She is very excited. It also looks like she'll get to go to a hockey game with Dad on Thursday night- Atlanta Thrashers vs Pittsburgh Penguins. They'll have to rough it in the skybox. It's all business, you know.

Reagan: This girl is becoming quite the basketball athlete. I didn't realize how much she's grown until I saw her on the court with her team. She's almost the tallest which comes in handy when playing defense. Reagan took a hard fall on her knees during the last game but got back into the game during the second half after a brief recovery period. They won by about 20 points. This is very refreshing, because last year, wins were not so forthcoming.

Julie: Our new greyhound advocacy group, Leaving Tracks, Inc. is now awaiting 501c3 approval by the IRS. We raised $1100 at a yard sale benefitting our group and have already made a donation to an adoption group in Macon. We are close to selecting a logo and then will begin website design and content. We also hope to get business cards and brochures printed in the next month or so. Our first general membership meeting is planned for mid-January. There are a number of people interested in becoming members so we can't get things up and running fast enough.

I can't wait to see my Oklahoma peeps in early December. First priority, Duran Duran; second priority, family. Just kidding. I hope my siblings will come see me at Mom's! We could have a tree decorating party and help Mom get a jump on the season.

General:
We enjoyed Mom and Pop Skelton's visits in October. Their RV is about as big as our house. We thought that maybe Ashley could practice driving it, but somehow it just didn't happen. Jeff took a day off, and it so happened that Reagan had the same day off from school, so the five of us went to the magnificent Georgia Aquarium. Where else can you see baluga whales, whale sharks, and pet anemonies, starfish, and sting rays?

Tonight is the first night we'll go below freezing temperatures. I know our family in New York and Colorado have long since had chilly weather.

Dogs are doing fine. We pulled out their doggy coats this morning.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We love and miss you all.

Julie speaks on Greyhound advocacy

I've been fortunate enough to be invited to participate in the start up of a new greyhound advocacy group that we are calling Leaving Tracks. We are still in the process of filing our articles of incorporation and 501c3 but are busy getting this baby launched. I will be Treasurer and am looking forward to using some of my accounting brain cells. They've been shrinking over the past few years.

Our mission statement is:

Through education and advocacy, Leaving Tracks works to expose the senseless destruction of countless animals by the Greyhound racing industry, inform the public of the inhumane treatment of Greyhounds as both a direct and indirect result of the sport, and promote change that will ultimately end dog racing. Until such time Greyhound racing no longer exists, we believe every Greyhound born as a result of the racing industry is entitled to adoption as a loved companion. To that end, we will support Greyhound adoption efforts by assisting Greyhound rescue organizations and educating prospective adopters about the unique characteristics of the breed and the keys to a successful transition from racing life to life in a home.

The group that some of us still belong to and volunteer with, is focused on adoption only, but our goal is to eliminate the need for the countless adoption groups around the nation. As long as there are places to dump injured, sick, unprofitable greyhounds, there will be overbreeding for greed. And adoption groups are only able to rescue a modest percentage of the unwanted population.

Here is a link to an informative, non-threatening site, that provides a status on all of the dog tracks currently in operation in the U.S. and updates on current pending legislation.

http://www.greyhoundnetworknews.org/

Jeff's economic update

I usually consider rhetoric of bipartisanship as chaff and an omen of bad political tidings. Well, I was not disappointed when both candidates called for bipartisan action to address the looming economic crisis and we got a government "solution" to what was portrayed as Wall Street's mess. The ink was not dry on the "new deal" before the candidates were tripping over themselves to get in front of a camera. Obama has a tirade on capitalism and the virtues of income redistribution as the fix. Meanwhile McCain thinks he is in Vegas and ups Obama's ante at every turn. Sadly predictable and orchestrated for our easy consumption. The both deserve failing grades on leadership.

For anyone interested in understanding why the billion dollar bailout won't work need only watch John Stossel's 20/20 episode last week. Economics is about freedom and free will, not economist picking winners and losers. We are in this mess precisely because of government. Namely - cheap money and easy loans. The Fed kept interest rates too low and government backed loans from Fannie and Freddie skewed markets. Owning a home became more than our exercise of our natural right to own property, but instead became a political imperative and guaranteed investment in our financial portfolio.

There is no easy fix and finger pointing from McCain and Obama is not productive. From best I can discern, Fannie & Freddie should be shut down and Wall Street's bankers should not be allowed to pawn off their bad decisions on the taxpayers. Alternatives might include allowing HUD to make low interest loans to first time home buyers of modest means to buy modest homes. (If that is deemed a worthy activity of government - which I strong doubt.) For our banking friends, a dose of the same medicine they dished out to our neighbors in South America during their banking crisis might be more appropriate. Economics 101: No free lunch.

But, then again, this is Washington, D.C., where the lobbyists buy lunch!

A Portrait of Fall