Image background - Grand Canyon Yavapai Point View - Clickable image.

Like millions of free Americans, today, The Better Half and I will be barbecuing outdoors. Our menu is ground brisket hamburger patties grilled and topped with a slice of Havarti cheese, lettuce, tomato and thinly-sliced onion, served in a hearty hamburger bun. On the side, we will have macaroni salad.

This cartoon, found at The Patriot Post, says all we need to know about the Memorial Day holiday.

Saturday, February 6, 2010 marks the 99th birthday of President Ronald Wilson Reagan, one of three great presidents whose birth is celebrated this month. Washington and Lincoln were born in February and it’s fitting that Presidents Day is also celebrated on the fifteenth of the month.

Image - President Reagan fielding questions from the White House press

Rather than trying to describe this great man to you on this anniversary, I’ll let him speak for himself by offering some of his most famous and endearing quotations.

On the second amendment . . .

“You won’t get gun control by disarming law-abiding citizens. There’s only one way to get real gun control: Disarm the thugs and the criminals, lock them up, and if you don’t actually throw away the key, at least lose it for a long time… It’s a nasty truth, but those who seek to inflict harm are not fazed by gun controllers. I happen to know this from personal experience.”

On entitlements and Government control . . .

“I would suggest that no one should have a vested interest in poverty or dependency, that these tragedies must never be looked at as a source of votes for politicians or paychecks for bureaucrats. They are blights on our society that we must work to eliminate, not institutionalize.”

“It is not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work - work with us, not over us; stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.”

On conservatism in politics . . .

“Our people look for a cause to believe in. Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors, which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?”

On American Pride . . .

“We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.”

“Why should we be frightened? No people who have ever lived on this earth have fought harder, paid a higher price for freedom, or done more to advance the dignity of man than the living Americans, those Americans living in this land today.”

And then there was always his sense of humor . . .

“Republicans think that every day is the 4th of July, while Democrats think it is April 15th.”

“You can tell a lot about a fellow’s character by his way of eating jellybeans.”

“Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.”

“Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.”

“I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I’m in a cabinet meeting.”

“Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.”

“Détente is what a farmer has with his turkey until Thanksgiving Day.”

From the 1992 Republican Convention . . .

“And whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears, to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty’s lamp guiding your steps and opportunity’s arm steadying your way. My fondest hope for each one of you — and especially for young people — is that you will love your country, not for her power or wealth, but for her selflessness and her idealism. May each of you have the heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, and the hand to execute works that will make the world a little better for your having been here. May all of you as Americans never forget your heroic origins, never fail to seek divine guidance, and never lose your natural, God-given optimism. And finally, my fellow Americans, may every dawn be a great new beginning for America and every evening bring us closer to that shining city upon a hill.”

And Finally,

“I know in my heart that man is good, that what is right will always eventually triumph, and there is purpose and worth to every life.” — Epitaph, Tomb of Ronald Reagan

Cross-posted at CB&D

Update: 15:31 - relaxing after Christmas dinner. As Holiday Cheermeister, it was my honor to carve the roast beast. All I can say to you vegan and vegetarians out there is, you poor bastards . . .

Clickable image.

For all you South Park fans, here’s Mr. Hankey, your favorite Christmas Poo . . .

HOWDY HO, KIDS!

Well, sorta like a couch potato football weekend. Watched NFL on Thanksgiving Day, college rivalry days Friday and Saturday. Looking forward to NFL Sunday tomorrow.

We actually didn’t just vegetate. The Better Half and I put up our Christmas Lights yesterday; that’s a lot of trips up and down the extension ladder. That, plus religiously taking walks after big meals gets a few miles on the old bones, at least.

The setup in the clickable image is the big 42-inch HD on the left and the 19-inch digital on the right. Both are fed from DirecTV tuners. Try out the clickable image feature. I upgraded the site with a home-grown image viewer feature.

The Better half and I took a ride down to Point Vicente today. It was a nice clear and warm Thanksgiving Day and a lot of other people had the same idea. The air was clear, the ocean was calm and you could easily see Catalina Island across the channel to the south. To the west south west, if you really tried, you could make out Santa Barbara Island, about 45 miles offshore.

It was also a nice day to jump in your Boeing Stearman open cockpit biplane and take a flight along the shoreline. I took this photo of the plane as it rounded the point near the Lighthouse. It’s painted in the original pre-WW2 Army Air Corps primary trainer color and markings.

This is Wikipedia’s summary of the Boeing Stearman Model 75:

The Stearman (Boeing) Model 75 is a biplane, of which at least 9,783 were built in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s as a military trainer aircraft. Stearman became a subsidiary of Boeing in 1934. Widely known as the Stearman, Boeing Stearman or Kaydet, it served as a Primary trainer for the USAAF, as a basic trainer for the USN (as the NS & N2S), and with the RCAF as the Kaydet throughout World War II. After the conflict was over, thousands of surplus aircraft were sold on the civil market. In the immediate post-war years they became popular as crop dusters and as sports planes.

If you have a pair of red-blue or red-cyan 3D glasses, you might be interested in a 3D picture of this very same airplane that I posted last month on the family blog. It’s a beauty. If you don’t have the glasses, the 2D version is here.