As I age, I tend to get up earlier and earlier in the mornings. I do not have trouble sleeping and, in fact,  usually fall asleep within minutes of my head hitting the pillow. Five hours currently seems to be the optimum amount for me.

Besides being fully recharged after just a couple hours – I savor the early morning (anywhere from about 2:30AM till about 7:45) . It’s almost as if I have the world to myself and can do some mental housekeeping without the anxiety of distraction. I can safely assume I will not be assaulted by texts or phone calls; no one really expects me to respond to social network messages or e-mail; my kids and friends don’t require my attention. It’s peaceful.

This morning as I was waiting for my ritual americano to brew – I was struck by the abundance of food in our kitchen. My wife likes to keep our fruit tray full with ripe colorful fruit and it was that tray and it’s vibrant colors that first caught my attention.

I felt compelled to grab my camera a snap a couple pics and once I did; I began to notice, for instance, our convenience store display case refrigerator. It is huge and usually packed with everything from condiments (like 7 different flavors of salad dressing) to left overs from the preceding days, to gallons (usually three or more) of milk: no fat, low fat and skim.

I began to realize that I had not remembered to feel grateful in a week or more. At first I felt a flash of shame but soon realized that rather than waste too much time focused on shame it would be better to re-focus on what I had just re-membered: gratitude. Within minutes I was nearly overwhelmed (nearly to tears) with the fact that I am blessed with bounty and abundance.

Ada County Sheriff

It was a strange day in Boise,Idaho today – Steve Appleton died at the Boise Airport shortly after I dropped off a friend there who was flying to Washington, DC. When my wife texted me the news I immedi ately sent

a text to my buddy to see if he had landed safely. While I waited for his response, I called my wife to see if she knew any additional details. I had assumed that, even though it’s called Boise INTERNATIONAL Airport, we don’t have that many flights taking off at the same time and it seemed likely that Mr. Appleton might likely be on a commercial flight to Washington, DC. In fact it was not my buddy’s flight. Steve Appleton crashed his own plane for at least the second time and luck was not with him as it was for his first crash. For background and updates about this tragedy you can go to KTVB.com

All this happened as I was headed home from a wonderfully productive meeting with a client. I was all positive and optimistic one minute and the next I was sick to my stomach and pulling over to text and call my wife and my buddy to see if the tragedy had hit closer to home (anyone from Idaho getting hurt or, God forbid, killed is a tragedy felt by our whole state almost unanimously and instantly).

To add to my confusion and anxiety an Ada County Sheriff’s car came blasting around me as I was trying to pull over with his  lights and siren going full bore. He got a few hundred yards ahead of me and then stopped in the intersection of Lake Hazel and Maple Grove, jumped out of his car and scrambled into a flak jacket. A little distance beyond him, I could see a number of Sheriff’s cars lining Maple Grove and civilian cars lined up behind the commotion. At first I was grew anxious about my parents who lived right around the corner. I then reasoned that it was unlikely that my parents were in any danger because the activity seemed to be centered between their house and where we were. I figured it was not an accident due to the flak jackets. Truth was I had no idea what was happening and so I did my best to theorize as to the the level of danger I might be in because of my proximity to the action. I was curious, of course, but I did not want to get hit by a stray bullet while sitting in my truck an eighth of a mile from my folk’s house (or anywhere else for that matter).

I had my camera with me and thought I would try to telephoto in closer to get a better idea of what was happening (then I remembered I hadn’t brought a telephoto lens with me.) As I sat there looking at the Sheriffs through my camera – it struck me: we do not pay these guys enough. Like soldiers, they rush to the ‘front’ to ensure our safety and security and yet they do not make as much as the average over-the-road truck driver! How can that be right?

For most of my life, I have had mixed emotions about law enforcement departments and officers. I witnessed and experienced both good bad (especially when I WAS an over-the-road trucker). I have seen and heard much about police brutality and corruption, almost on a daily basis when I lived in New York and here at home (Boise) at times. But today I saw the other side of the coin – the shiny side.

The officer that pulled into the intersection stepped out his car with purpose and while donning his flak jacket immediately began stopping traffic to keep innocent people from getting hurt. He was did not appear to be cross or angry or intimidating in any way – he was authoritative and in control. He was professional and focused. I could see him taking in the situation and determining his area of responsibility even at this distance from the action. He was there to assist his brothers-in-arms and to protect me and the rest of the public; he was there to serve. To enable him to be present and accomplish his immediate mission – he put on a flak jacket. None of us have to wonder why – we know: Mortal Danger was present in the immediate vicinity and he was our shield. Others soon arrived similarly protected, but for a few minutes, that officer was solely in charge of our safety and security.

What is that worth in terms of dollars? How much would you require to stand between a bunch of strangers and a distraught person with a loaded gun?

In that moment, I became convinced that our society is going backwards in regards to our community goals and priorities. We vote with our dollars and where we put our money. I understood why some officers become brutal or corrupt. How frustrated would you be if you put your life on the line for others and those who judged criminals and executed the law set them back on the streets. When would the frustration of making less than 1/100th of a percent of the salary of an average professional basketball start getting to you and tempting you to think about at least a couple of ‘easy dineros’ on the sly?

What would our society look like if we paid on a scale commensurate to the service one does for others? What if our police officers, soldiers on the battlefield, firemen, teachers, counselors, real farmers and people who work in orphanages and old folks homes were the highest paid workers? What if the guys on the ground felt appreciated by the wage we paid them and that wage reflected their self sacrifice and commitment to the greater good? What if that wage was higher than the average Wall Street player or Teflon politician? High enough that the temptation of corruption would be silly to them; high enough that they would not easily bend the law and justify it because of their frustration with not feeling compensated or even appreciated?

I think it would be different…. better.

Boise Police department

When I discovered that I had been the victim of apparent ‘jockey boxers’ – I let out a heavy sigh (they even took my owner’s manual!) and did what one is supposed to do in this situation: call the cops. Actually, I didn’t go inside and call the cops immediately, first I went on Facebook, found the Boise PD Facebook page and complained my heretofore safe and secure community. Whoever administers the page immediately replied that I should go their official website and fill out a police report. RRRRRiiiiggghhtt… that’ll be time well spent, I thought. Well…. it was.

The detective, as it turns out, found my stuff. Well – they found a lot of stuff and a number of people involved. Turns out I was actually robbed by a girl. I don’t know why that surprises me but it does. I think most if not all girls are law abiding, community building, nurturers – apparently not all of them are.

The few minutes it took for me to fill out online police report did not seem very effective at the time but once the ring was broken and the garages full of stolen items recovered – their was my little Garmin GPS, complete with the serial number I had so anally recorded when I bought it and included in my police report.

Garmin GPS

In the past I have often been heard lamenting the Boise Police Department (usually coinciding with a ticket of some sort being received) but from now on I will be telling this story, mainly because I am amazed. It’s like when someone actually finds a note in a bottle washed up shore or you clean out your winter coats and find a forgotten $20 bill – it was a wonderful unexpected surprise. Thank you Boise City Police.

Night Fall by Nelson DeMille

Read this book in 2 days. Ex-NYPD detective John Corey now works for the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force and along with his FBI wife Kate Mayfield he embarks on a journey to find the truth about a 5 yrar old case (an actual true event) – TWA Flight 800 which killed 230 people off Long Island, New York. John (DeMille’s) sense of humor and intelligence in this story is both sharp and insightful. This was my favorite book so far this summer.

Finally was able to put this book down after 3 days. It is an action packed, espionage thriller by author David Baldacci.  Although it has a copyright date of 2005, it is a story that could just as well happen today.

What I really like about the story is it’s plausibility. The scenario that Baldacci sets up is complex and yet simple at the same time.

I love spy novels and this one will rank as one of my favorites. I am hoping there is or will be a movie made of the story. My casting prediction for “Oliver Stone” (one of the main character’s nickname) would be Morgan Freeman. I could see him and hear his voice in my head as I was reading,

You can see excerpts from this wonderful novel (and buy it at a huge discount by using my link below to Amazon.com. I think I would earn about $0,25 if you bought it – but hey!

25 cents is better than no cents at all!

My buddy Cody and I know it’s too cold but day after day, week after week – the pleading wears us down. This past weekend we gave in and decided to let the kids see for themselves that it was just too blasted cold. We launched the boat and they got in about about 3 hours before the arctic breeze and the sub zero water temp had them pleading to go home. The kids had fun before hypothermia set in and we were able to snap some pics:

Dirt Bikes and Family Dinner are made for Sundays!
(Click thumbnail for larger image)