Future You Tube Cast— Map Looking

 I think I could lead it and get some viewers.

Blog it.

 Dixie Ault. Kind Sister, Faithful Woman, Mother and Friend

    I did not know her that well, but in many ways I think that I did. I grew up knowing her and all her kids. 

    An old family friend had just mentioned one her sons, Chris, one evening. She had passed the next day, or that is when I found out.

    I picture her in my memories from decades past: warm, loving, a great soul. 

    Her children bespeak part of her greatness. The eldest, Wayne, serve a mission in Japan, and moved to the DC area as a lawyer. Right? Then Chris, who perhaps stayed in Indiana and got into the coffin business. Right? Did he serve in Japan, too. I cannot remember. I thought that he was a wonderful baby sitter. Funny, classy guy. Maybe he served in Italy. Or was that Matt, who came next? I recall one of them showing photos and sharing memories and experience of the Roman peninsula.

    The last three I knew best. Tommy went to Taiwan. He loved it, he was blown away. He married a local girl from that island. Did he live in Paris, Illinois? Where I have family now? I bumped into him in Nauvoo, Illinois. That, maybe in 1997. Or 1998.

    April. A family and church friend who was my age. We hung out a few times growing up. She invited me to audition for a part in a musical our senior year. I made it and we did it. Amazing memory for me. Did she serve a mission? Hmmm. I think so? Man, my memory. Married and had kids. Like her brothers. Men and women of faith, like their mom and dad.

    Andy. We hung out quite a few times, upon him returning from his mission in Argentina. We later helped our friend Dave start up a charity. It did not last too long, But it helped some Guatemalan children have a better future.

    Dixie was part of our better past, present, and future. 

    She has now joined Curtis, another beloved part of my past, my hometown, my church, my life.

    Great and sweet memories trace back to the 1970s, and now on into the eternities.

    We love her, and everything that she was about. Family, God, church, and country.

    May we cherish her and her family forever.

Bryce is Coming Up the List

 There he is, tied at 68th all time. 388 career homers.

64.	Jim Edmonds (17)	393	7980	L	HR Log
65.	Manny Machado (15, 33)	392	8683	R	HR Log
66.	Graig Nettles (22)	390	10228	L	HR Log
67.	Johnny Bench+ (17)	389	8674	R	HR Log
68.	Paul Goldschmidt (16, 38)	388	9154	R	HR Log
	Bryce Harper (15, 33)	388	8164	L	HR Log
70.	Aramis Ramírez (18)	386	8986	R	HR Log
71.	Dwight Evans (20)	385	10569	R	HR Log
	Aaron Judge (11, 34)	385	5263	R	HR Log
73.	Harold Baines+ (22)	384	11092	L	HR Log
74.	Larry Walker+ (17)	383	8030	L	HR Log
75.	Freddie Freeman (17, 36)	382	9852	L	HR Log
	Frank Howard (16)	382	7353	R	HR Log
	Ryan Howard (13)	382	6531	L	HR Log
	Jim Rice+ (16)	382	9058	R	HR Log
79.	Albert Belle (12)	381	6676	R	HR Log
80.	Orlando Cepeda+ (17)	379	8699	R	HR Log
	Tony Pérez+ (23)	379	10861	R	HR Log
82.	Matt Williams (17)	378	7595	R	HR Log
83.	Norm Cash (17)	377	7914	L	HR Log
	Jeff Kent+ (17)	377	9537	R	HR Lo

He was at 84th when we checked in May of this year.

 Ten Notes from Saturday - 2026

    1. Prices of gas are too high, but have in many parts gone below 4.00 dollars per gallon. Yesterday in a distant county I paid 3.65.9, Friday. I drove there in order to be a character witness for a friend and colleague who is in a legal and family mess. I feel like I observed and learned a lot. I am always happier to see prices of gas per gallon some twenty or thirty cents less than I normally see it. I was in a smaller town; the courthouse reminded me of John Grisham novels. Small town souther fee.

    2. The United States has been getting low on munitions: missiles, bombs, and such. Iran has been hard to make capitulate. The current president blames the former U.S. president for giving missiles to Ukraine to combat Russia. The U.S. has to generate more munitions, which help stimulate the economy, but as of yesterday, our economy has some bad indicators, because the monthly jobs report yesterday showed the country has lost (LOST!) or gone down 23,000 jobs. And the summer has been really underwhelming and I cannot help but think that deporting immigrants and scaring them from going about, doing normal things like working and spending is hurting us.

    3. National Guard troops are roaming the streets of Washington D.C. There have been up to 5,000 there, They have assisted local law enforcent and emergency services, but I am not sure how effective they have been in their purpose. We like the National Guard. Some of us have it as a staple in our lives. As I write this.

    4. My son is to learn Portuguese. I wish to help here and there. My other son is learning Arabic. I would say he is fluent now,  but he will improve well now as he has an intensive program and a dedicated native speaking teacher. It is exciting and pretty amazing to me. I began my first classes in 1992. Before that I learned a few words from an Iraqi boy at church attending the scouting program, in which I had an assistant Scout master calling.

    5. Artificial Intelligece is a thing, according to the book Nexus by Yuval Harari and now the Coming Wave by Mustafa Suleyman. I used Gemini to ask it about myself and how I would blog. A couple were pretty spot on, but many of them made me out to be some business guru. That was weird. How to be a decisive decision maker. Is AI on crack sometimes? It is possibly as the aformentioned think: perhaps the robots and computers are devious, prevaricating, and might be plotting our demise. More later. We hope.

    OPEN Challenge the Devilish, diabolical bots and algorhythms?

    5. I have enjoyed setting the scene to people that I know about Saddam Haftar in current day Libya. Details and happenings that are hard to make up. Hafter, the father, with his big Virginia connections. 17 properties. We have probably driven past them.

    6. The Nationals have won a little since that seven game swoon, dragging them below .500. The White Sox are hanging in there. 

    Who really cares about baseball? My daughter's friend from San Diego does! Go Padres! Hang in there, Mariners. And the other nevers: Milwaukee, who else? I have written about them before.

    7. My childhood friend reached out and told me he is trying to get IU home game football tickets, and will attend with two other longtime friends and church members from Bloomington. They are B-town born and bred, like me. Although, perhaps Chris moved on permanently, while Rob did return a bit, like me, later in his twenties. But he was married, unlike me, the former "raging bachelor". Chris at work reacts funny to that notion...

    "Are we fighting?" That is hilarious. Brian says we need a laugh track to understand my jokes and humor.

    8. What else? Fires in Spokane, fires in Spaina and parts of France.

    9. Anything from Latin America? Political issues in Brazil, between leaders like Lula and Bolsonaro.

    10. Africa, Asia? The Marshall Islands? That came up at work lately.

    Okay, that is enough for now.

    Never.

    Love you.

 Books I have Written -- Counting Them Down

    Today I told some co-workers that I have written about five or six unpublished books. Is that true? Yes, I think so. With this blog alone, one could separate topics and themes and get a few from them. I may have written some three thousand pages alone, possibly. We would have to sort all that by topics.

    But the books that I will count not online, mostly, are:

    1. The book about Mexico.

    2. The book about Afghanistan.

    3. The first seven chapters of Omer and Rayen.

    4. Some journals. Not really to be published. Ever, maybe.

    5. Maybe some scattered papers could make one.

    Then, from the blogs (there were Foxpsorts ones, maybe retrievable through a way back machine, plus Artistic Musings, which is mostly short entries,) I or someone else could create.

    6. Obituaries, Eulogies, and Thoughts about Folks and Some Things No Longer Alive

    7. Meanderings about Indiana sports. Football ups and downs. More downs. Same with basketball, baseball, soccer.

    8. Talk and hopes about BYU sports.

    9. Thoughts and feelings about things non-sports.

    10. Poems. I think I have written enough poems to fill a book. Some come from random pages around the house, which my wife can sometimes find.

    Yeah, I think those could all be books. To be published. Soon. Or never.

 Arraez goes to the Phils; Nats are Sliding

    The trade deadline came and went. I check on today's game with my Nationals of DC agains the Philadephia Phillies, a team that has three former Nationals that I (and even my son) have liked and followed: Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, and Kyle Schwarber. They are doing all right as a team. The Nationals have beeing doing okay, but lately got a four game sweep by the Braves, and are now shuffling. They gave up a decent Luis Garcia to the Yankees for some pitching prospects.

    I have admired Luis Arraez for the years that he has been an outstanding hitter in the major leagues. A few years ago I thought he had a chance to hit .400. This has been unheard of and not been accomplished since Ted Williams, the Splendid Splitter, way back in 1940. Only a few players have come remotely close to hitting that well. Perhaps Wade Boggs a few times with the Red Sox, and Tony Gwynn with the San Diego Padres. In the 1970s George Brett nade it to .400 in July. But no, things did not stay that way.

    Who can touch Ted Williams these many decades later? No one. 

    But maybe Luis Arraez. That would be cool. Call me the eternal kid at heart, but I would like a hitter to do it. And, for many years now, I would like Bryce Harper or Juan Soto to march up the home run list and beat out the all time home run hitters. Time will tell. Maybe Kyle Schwarber, a former Indiana alum, the way he crushes it. To catch Albert Pujols, or Alex Rodriguez, or Babe Ruth, or Hank Aaron, or even the best (and potentially worst), of all time, Barry Bonds.

    But anyway... 

    It is a team game, and the Nationals are starting a disappointing slide. My American league team White Sox are doing all right.

    Why do I or anyone else even care about baseball, and home runs, and batting averages?

    They are distractions, and perhaps do not count as the important things like my career, or my son on a mission for the Lord going to amazing places and learning from and teaching wonderful people in a far off place, or my daughter dealing with the sickness and mortality of her best friend, or romantic interest. Or my other children, or so many other things that I should care about. 

    But, baseball is a constant, and kind of poignant and beautiful, so I care, still. Even though I know that I should put more time and attention into other great things, perhaps that have more import in the long run.

    Sure.

    But here we are.

    I blog this, and I blog it. Blog on. As I have said many times in the past.

Pictures from the Old World. Made in 1972. Released in 1988.

    I told a group of some 30 people it was my favorite film, but I could not remember its name.

    I have re-watched it; now I am not sure. I have lots of favorite films. Each one has its virtues.

    None are perfect.

    What did this movie bring?

    I will have to think and write more about it.