Monticello Visit August 2022
We went to Monticello with some friends on the way back from our weekend our visit to Appomattox/Liberty University.
The Florida House in DC April 2023
I got to visit the Florida House in DC back in April 2023. Before that visit, I never even knew it existed. It had a great collection of art and history from Florida and they served awesome samples of fresh Florida orange juice.
Caledon State Park 2021
I took the family to visit Caledon State Park back in June of 2021 but I never uploaded the pictures here. It’s possible I didn’t have the blog here at the time. Anyway, here are few photos from the trip.
Old Rag Trip 2025 October
It has been about 20 years since I hiked Old Rag Mountain. Back then, the group I went with used to go in November to avoid the crowds. But now there is a new ticketing system and I got tickets to go during the changing of the leaves in October. Here are some of the pictures from that… Read More »
Florida Scenery Makes Great Background Images
So, I went to Florida several times in a couple of years and took a bunch of photos with my phone, and a new camera that I was learning how to use. I was able to get some OK shots and now the best of the bunch are here for you to enjoy. Zoo Tampa Lake Sumter The… Read More »
Thoughts On Moving Out of State After the Recent 2025 Gubernatorial Election
Introduction Virginians have elected Democrats to the governor’s mansion and the Attorney General’s office before but this year is different. The candidates are different, the Democratic Party is different, and the political climate in Richmond is different. The situation is so bad that I have had the very real thought of moving out of state in response to… Read More »
Thoughts On Income Assessment and Improvement
I’ve recently written some posts about evaluating income based on the number of household members and about assessing the cost-of-living to income ratio. It is more accurate to think about your income per person relative to your neighbors than to simply compare overall household income numbers. We also talked about the 50/30/20 rule that says that your cost-of-living… Read More »
Term Limits Just Make the Current Problems Worse
Congress has a low approval rating but if you think that term limits would fix this problem, then you’d better think again. According to termlimits(dot)com, 83% of Americans want term limits applied to the House and the Senate. Not only will such a move not help fix what people don’t like about Congress, it will make things worse.… Read More »
How Much Income To Live Comfortably?
I’ve been trying to find a cost-of-living to income ratio that will define the ability to be financially healthy (meaning: pay all your bills, save properly, invest properly, and stay out of debt). If you make $100,000/year but the cost-of-living is $100,000/year then you aren’t able to save or invest. When expenses arise that exceed the usual cost-of-living,… Read More »
Four American Secessions
Overview Some people have difficulty understanding the difference between the causes of the War Between the States and the causes for secession. To many, these are all one in the same. But they are not. There are actually two waves of secession in 1861 and they occurred for decidedly different reasons. The first wave started in 1860 when… Read More »