There is nothing quite so satisfying as gardening. Except perhaps canning. As a young boy, I used to spend much of the summer working in both my father’s garden, as well as my grandfather’s garden. At the time, I didn’t much care for it. I would rather have ridden my bike. Over time, I began to recognize the different types of plants, and how to care for them. I learned the secrets of insuring that your tomatoes don’t crack, and how to fertilize individual plants. My grandfather passed away eight years ago, but his garden lives on.
My home is right next door to my grandparents, and I have taken over the garden plot. It is 2,200 sq ft of the rock free, rich deep soil. Grandpa worked it for decades, removing every pebble larger than a ping pong ball. The garden has an irrigation system that Grandpa engineered, making watering free, and easy. I usually try to get my garden planted by May 15th. However, with the cold weather this year that is either caused by global warming, or President Bush, it has just been too cold.
It was a stretch to get it in over the weekend. Up until last week, we were still having nights with freezing temperatures. However, I did not want to wait any longer, as our growing season is short enough as it is. I planted 20 tomato plants, cucumbers, zucchinis, about 15 pepper plants, beats, and beans. I was going to also plant corn, but my parents decided they were doing that this year.
Their garden is 100 yards from mine, and is nearly twice as large. I counted nearly 50 tomatoes in Dad’s garden. Between the two of us, we will have enough salsa to feed an army.
The other night I went to a cottage meeting. While there, a particular gentleman stood up to speak. This fellow began by making some good points. In the course of expressing his thoughts, he happened to mention a speech he had given the week prior at an event I had attended. I recalled the speech clearly, but had not realized that this was the same man who had given it.
Within a single moment, my impression of the individual fell through the floor. At the same time, my openness in considering his points vanished. I lost respect for his cause. Not because of what he had said that night in the cottage meeting, but because of his earlier speech. It is a good lesson in not putting your foot in your mouth, so to speak.
I have put my foot into my own mouth on many occasions. I am sure there are a vast plethora of individual out there, who discount everything I say, because of one moment or another of passion or immaturity. I hope that I can avoid such moments in the future.
For the last few months we have been working on the construction of a new office building for my business. It would be nice if all contractors always showed up on time, if deliveries came when needed, and if everything went as planned.
Unfortunately, contractors are late, generally for legitimate reasons, deliveries don’t always come for reasons out of their control, and nothing ever goes as planned. But the construction project goes on. The building now has plumbing, and electric. Just hoping to make our July deadline.
Jason Chaffetz who is running for the congressional seat in the third district, here in Utah, has received a lot of positive momentum since coming out of convention just shy of 60% of the vote. Everyone loves to be associated with a winner, and Mr. Chaffetz is proving not only be a winner, but also to be right on the issues. With these qualities, it is not hard to understand why he is resonating voters.
In an effort to stop Chaffetz’s momentum, Chris Cannon and his team appear to have made a strategic decision to put their resources into informing people of the fact that Jason Chaffetz lives two miles outside of the 3rd district boundaries. They are careful to always say that this is ‘technically legal’, using language that suggests that there is something wrong, or suspect, implying that Jason is taking advantage of a loop hole, and that if his actions are not a rules violation, then they should be.
‘Rules violation’! Hmm, that is an interesting term, but a topic for another day.
What I want to focus on is in this post is why Mr. Chaffetz would choose to run in the 3rd district. And, How far is two miles anyway? Firstly, why is Jason Chaffetz running in the Third District? I do not speak for him, and my comments are mere supposition. However, I would suspect that it is because he lives in Utah County.
Utah County makes up the bulk of the population of the Third District. All but a small sliver of Utah County belongs to the Third District. That sliver was cut off, and assigned to the Second District. A district which they are separated from by a massive mountain range. Thus, Politically Jason Chaffetz belongs to the 2nd district, but culturally, and emotionally he belongs to the community, which is mainly apart of the third district.
The real question is this. How far is two miles anyway? Lets put it into perspective.
The high school that I attended as a youth was nearly four miles from my home.
The high school my children will attend is 2.5 miles away.
The store I grocery shop at is 8.6 miles away
The stake where I live is 2.5 miles across
The Salt Lake Airport’s runway is 2.27 miles long
And the most important item of all:
The distance from Mapleton, Utah (Chris Cannon’s Home) to the heart of Utah County: 15.6 miles
I understand the need for the Cannon camp to slow down Jason Chaffetz growing momentum. Rather than looking for ways to attack Jason Chaffetz personally, it would be nice if Chris Cannon could instead focus on the issues facing both our District, and our Nation.
Earlier I blogged about Chris Cannon’s blog, and the fact that opposing voices were being filtered out in the comments. Many others who have had their comments deleted commented, sharing their frustration.
The entry appears to have had the desired effect. Cannon’s group is now approving all comment posts. At least for the time being.
I made a comment in response to an entry that Chris Cannon wrote on his blog. Unfortunately the moderators on the blog removed my comments. I was a little surprised that Chris Cannon feels it necessary to filter out any comments from those constituents who happen to disagree with his perspective.
I do appreciate that it is his blog. As such, he has the right to filter out opposing voices in any manner in which he chooses. My question though is, why is he afraid of the debate? He brings up a point, and then shuts down any thoughtful response. If my comments had been rude, or had they contained vulgarity, this would be a completely different matter.
Regular readers of this blog know that I never filter comments out. I for one am not afraid of differing opinions.
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EDIT
The attention that this post brought to Cannon’s blog, appears to have forced some accountability. Read the update here.
Very good times. Sometime I will blog about them. As much as I enjoyed that job, losing it was one of the best things that ever happened in my life. It forced me to move on. I was comfortable, and content. It is nice to feel a sensation of contentment. It brings a feeling of security, and well being. But contentment can also be damning to your personal progress.
Had I not been forced out of that job, I have no doubt that I would still be there. Why would I quit? Why would anyone leave a comfortable living behind? It would not make sense. I would be still be a consultant, and nothing more. I would not have had the business experience that I now have under my belt. Today I make more money in some months than I made the entire three years that I worked for Bridges. I own two thriving businesses, and have owned others. On paper I am a millionare. I retired for the first time at the age of 29. None of that would have happened if I had not been laid off.
After loosing my job, I was thrown into the midst of absolute hell. The next two years were a furnace of affliction that I pray I will never experience again. No job, a recession, and a daughter who was very ill, and whose mounting medical bills were eating my life savings, and then putting me into debt. There were days I could hardly breath because of the stress.
But those difficult times eventually eased up. My business began to succeed, my daughter became well, and I began to become more successful. I am many times more of a man than I was when I worked for Bridges. I am more confident, I am more capable, I am smarter, I am a better leader, and a better businessman. It was a great job, but I am glad I was forced out of it.
In December of 2002 I was laid off from a job that I really liked. It came as quite a blow, both to my ego, as well as to my sense of well being. For months afterwards I missed the job. I had enjoyed working as a consultant, traveling the country, and speaking to groups of educators. I also had bonded with my co-workers. A couple in particular had become good friends. I was treated well, and with kindness, by my supervisor, and by my the boss of my supervisor. At the time, I was green, and new to business, yet everyone was helpful, and understanding.
Now contrast that with Nation Wide Shelving. 16 months ago, I left my job as Executive Vice-President of Nation Wide Shelving. I have never regretted the decision. Many mornings I wake up, take a long deep breath, and think to myself, “I am so glad that I do not have to go to Nation Wide Shelving today.” I don’t miss the people, or the job. Not to say that they were not good people, because they were. But I did not bond with them in the same way. They did not become family.I have never looked back.
This YouTube video was brought to my attention by an individual who refers to himself as Andrew. It is an excellent debate between Jason Chaffetz, and Chris Cannon. In particular, I was impressed by the way that Jason Chaffetz stayed on point, talking about issues, while Chris Cannon went after Chaffetz, not on issues, but via personal attacks.
Tonight I had the privlidge of watching two of the three currently released Indiana Jones movies with my kids. I laid on the floor, and stretched out. Within moments I felt a giant ‘plunk’ as one of my kids dropped on top of me. Then within a half second two more of my kids dropped on either side of me, and all three snuggled in making themselves comfortable. I couldn’t see much of the movie, but I had my kids with me, and what could be better than that?
