Center Lake in Custer State Park

Monday would be Custer's last stand for Jay, Sasha and JoJo.

Fortunately, they packed a lot into their weekend stay, and being able to work days from the road while traveling proved to be a Godsend.

Sasha had to be at her virtual desk for the start of the work day at 8 AM, so she wasn't able to join us on a morning hike around Center Lake despite a relatively early start.

We drove over in two cars with a plan to meet at the parking lot for Center Lake.  It turned out the directions to that parking lot weren't clearly marked, and we didn't have cell service in that part of Custer State Park.  When our car arrived first, we worried we might have a problem meeting up, if there was a different parking lot for the hike, but that turned out to not be an issue.

As Mark Twain sagely wrote, "I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened."

Almost immediately, we realized we had another problem: a hiking trail that wasn't clearly designated, but we solved that too. 

In that case, we may have wandered in the wrong direction a time or two, but we circled the lake without losing anyone in our party.  One time in particular, Laszlo and I traveled downhill and looped uphill on the other side of the dam that drains into the lake, while Emma, Gina and Julie took a shortcut on the concrete that ran alongside the dam.  For iPhones keeping track, it would have shown we walked quite a few more steps and climbed more stories but ended up in the same place.

Emma's new hiking shoes performed well.  Gina bought them for her on Saturday in Custer because Emma didn't want to get her white Adidas dirty on hiking trails.

Emma had worked hard to clean those shoes that she'd selected for sleepaway camp earlier in the summer. She always takes special care in being well-groomed, but she also likes conquering the challenges and adventure of a hike once she gets going.

After the hike, we headed over to the Visitor's Center to watch that great IMAX movie about the park narrarated by Kevin Costner.  Julie and I enjoyed it so much in 2016 that we wanted to be sure as many people in our group as possible saw it, returning the next day with Darlene and Brooks.

As soon as we had cell service, however, Jay was on his phone working.  He opted to stay outside with JoJo to take care of some phone calls and emails rather than accept Julie's offer to watch our "granddogger."

After the movie, Jay's Range Rover headed back to the hotel with not only JoJo but also Gina and Emma.  Gina and Emma don't like being in a car any more than the bare minimum.

Laszlo, Julie and I drove around the wildlife loop in Laszlo's car.  Five years ago, Julie and I were overwhelmed by the large herds of buffalo and other animals we saw, but whether because it was a warm day or some other reason, they weren't as plentiful this day.  That's not to say we didn't see wildlife, which we did, including the friendly donkeys.

Emma watched JoJo for most of the day, allowing Jay and Sasha to focus on work, and when Uncle Jay gave her $20 for dog-sitting, that made her day.

Darlene, Brooks and their Pomeranian Teddy arrived late that afternoon, and Gina had planned for the occasion, setting up a nice spread of fresh vegetables, crackers, dips and wine on a green tablecloth in one of the cozy outdoor spots.

Jay produced cans craft beers for he and I, but all too soon he, Sasha and JoJo had to hit the road for Denver, where they planned to spend the night.

They would literally be working their way back home, spending days online in the virtual office and then driving in the evenings to their next stops.

That evening, Brooks asked where there would be a good burger.  Our first thought was the place we went the first night, Black Hills Burger and Bun Co., where our Double D burger had been huge and delicious, and Gina's hamburger salad looked enticing, but with Teddy coming, we opted to return to the outdoor dining at Pounding Fathers Mount Rushmore Brewery.

This time, we were forced to sit in the downstairs patio of the Tap Room, because our usual balcony area was full.  The Tap Room had a different menu than the upstairs menu, notably lacking their best meal, Tatanka Steak.

Unfortunately, service was terrible on this occasion, taking twenty minutes to get water and then a long gap before the meals arrived.  The hamburger Julie and I split, however, tasted great. Brooks opted for meatloaf sandwich that he said was good.   I don't remember what others had, although I think Darlene had deep-fried Corn Fritters, which I sampled and didn't like. The photo of Mount Rushmore Brewery at night was actually taken by Jay on one of the prior two evenings there.  

Jay's Other Photos of Center Lake Hike

Jay's Other Weekend Photos

13 Virtues and the Holidays

Writing about Benjamin Franklin's 13 Virtues began with taking a class on Benjamin Franklin in preparation for a family Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania, carried through Christmas in California and into the New Year in Montana.

For the record, Julie and I spent New Year's Eve quietly at home in Big Sky, watching The Spanish Princess and  Alias, puncutated by a Greg Gutfeld holiday special.  The highlight was a Skype call from Gina, Laszlo and Emma, whose smiling faces always make for a happy celebration.

I combined a lot of Ben Franklin's life story along with his Virtues linked below.  Perhaps of more interest, they also include personal photos and events as we went through the holiday season, and occasionally there's some connection between it all that's actually logical.

Humility

Temperance

Silence

Order

Resolution

Frugality

Industry

Sincerity

Justice

Moderation

Cleanliness

Tranquility

Chastity

As stated at the outset, Franklin's concept was to focus on each of them for one week at a time in hopes that it would become a habit carried forward and practiced without conscious effort.

While we might think looking back at his life that everyone who met him must have considered themselves fortunate to have had the privilege, not everyone loved him.  He could be quite persuasive, which left some feeling they had lost an argument, no matter how much Franklin may have been seeking the best possible solution.

I would have thought only 21st Century anti-American historical revisionists would dislike Benjamin Franklin.  Even so they would have to acknowledge he had been a great man of his time, but D.H. Lawrence basically trashed Ben Franklin's entire life story as creating an unrealistic expectation that any average American could accomplish anything.  Mark Twain joked that in living such a remarkable life, Frankliln made the average boy's life miserable because the lad's parents would inevitably hold Ben Franklin up as an example to be emulated when the boy would rather be having fun playing with his friends.

I skimmed quickly through Benjamin Franklin's truly remarkable life story in my blog, and I highly recommend The Great Courses class I took if you want to learn more.  His personal papers have also been preserved in 40 volumes and counting, which you can access on line at The Papers of Benjamin Franklin (franklinpapers.org), if you want to go to the original sources.

There's much more to know, including the final years of his life when his negotiations in Europe played such an integral part in our country's independence.

Winning American independence from England was not nearly as simple as Julie and I escaping Governor Newsom's ever more restrictive policies by driving to Montana for the New Year.  True, we didn't do more than take an evening stroll through town on New Year's Eve, but a few days later we were able to experience the simple pleasure of listening to singer-songwriter Josh Moore perform live while having a burger and PBR at Acre, a casual eatery in Big Sky.  The next evening, we celebrated our 35th Wedding Anniversary by enjoying delicious taco salads and Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling at Alberto's, just around the corner.

Anyway,  getting back to history, we may think of our break from Great Britain as something of an isolated incident, though we know the colonies required the military aid of France.  As such, we had a treaty with France which required that they also reach a peace agreement with England, and that's just one entanglement.

The American Revolution was in some ways part of a World War that Ben Franklin's brilliant statesmanship helped stop from becoming more widespread.

France and Spain saw the rebellion of British colonies in America as an opportunity to attack their long time nemesis Great Britain while her military was distracted.  They planned a sea invasion, which the wild waters around the British Isles foiled.  The failure revealed to both France and Spain how inept each other's military had become under centuries of aristocratic rule.

Worried France might become too strong if she defeated Great Britain, Catherine the Great of Russia,  offered to act as mediator in negotiations between Great Britain and the British American colonies that would become the United States.  At that time, England still held New York, but Empress Catherine II suggested ceding New York to a new country of New England in exchange for Great Britain keeping the southern colonies, which had agricultural resources of far greater value to the British Empire than the fledgling industries of the north with all their taverns fullof hot-headed rebels.

Stirring the pot, Great Britain suggested Russia expand its Empire across the Pacific to challenge Spain in California and South America.  What a different world that would have been, if Russia ruled the American west coast from Alaska all the way down to Tierra Del Fuego.

Remember, at that time, Spain still ruled Florida as well as most of North America west of Louisiana and western South America, while France owned the Louisiana territories that swept up through the midwest.  The Western Border for the newly created United States was also part of these negotiations, many years before our "Manifest Destiny" would play out with the continental United States ruling everything between the Canadian and Mexican borders.

Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, the son of the illustrious Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa, feared Russia, which was a potential military threat to Central Europe, wielding too much power on world affairs, so he also offered to mediate.

Benjamin Franklin's deft negotiations often put him at odds with not only the Brits and French but his American negotiating team members John Adams (who became the 2nd President of the United States), John Jay and Henry Laurens.  Ben ignored advice from the Continental Congress that he deemed countreproductive.

Franklin had an assistant who was revealed to be a spy for Great Britain.  Instead of firing him on the spot, Franklin rationalionlized that the man was competent at his job, and then Franklin used him to allow certain information to leak to Great Britain before he told France, in order to soften up negotiations.

We all know that the United States gained independence, which led to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, where Ben Franklin was the senior member among many young men.  He and George Washington were the most revered members of that august body.

After five weeks of negotiations that seemed to be getting nowhere, the senior statesman Franklin stepped in to remind the representatives that the fact that they had gotten this far seemed to have been divine providence, and he suggested that they begin each day with a prayer to the Almighty in order to bless the proceedings.

It was from that point forward that some headway was made, as selfish interests softened.  Incredible as it seems, the Constitutional Convention did not leak any information about the negotiations.  At the end of the Convention, Franklin again stepped forward to suggest that everyone leave whatever objections they had to the Constitution in Philadelphia rather than point them out.  Without this statement, perhaps the agreement would have fallen apart before being ratified.  Our government leaders should seek to uphold this standard today.

In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a general Government necessary for us, and there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other. I doubt too whether any other Convention we can obtain, may be able to make a better Constitution. For when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men, all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected?

It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to hear that our councils are confounded like those of the Builders of Babel; and that our States are on the point of separation, only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting one another's throats. Thus I consent, Sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure, that it is not the best. The opinions I have had of its errors, I sacrifice to the public good. I have never whispered a syllable of them abroad. Within these walls they were born, and here they shall die. If every one of us in returning to our Constituents were to report the objections he has had to it, and endeavor to gain partizans in support of them, we might prevent its being generally received, and thereby lose all the salutary effects & great advantages resulting naturally in our favor among foreign Nations as well as among ourselves, from our real or apparent unanimity. Much of the strength & efficiency of any Government in procuring and securing happiness to the people, depends, on opinion, on the general opinion of the goodness of the Government, as well as of the wisdom and integrity of its Governors. I hope therefore that for our own sakes as a part of the people, and for the sake of posterity, we shall act heartily and unanimously in recommending this Constitution (if approved by Congress & confirmed by the Conventions) wherever our influence may extend, and turn our future thoughts & endeavors to the means of having it well administered.

Benjamin Franklin's 13 Virtues: Cleanliness (Christmas In San Diego)

"Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation."

--- Ben Franklin on Cleanliness

Other than point out that in Benjamin Franklin's time they spelled clothes differently, his description of Cleanliness seems very straightforward.

Certainly, Mom and Dad instilled this virtue within my sister and me through example.  Mom took a bath upon rising, and Dad shaved and then showered every morning.  After breakfast, they brushed their teeth, combed hair and put on clean clothes.

Darlene and I were expected to follow suit, though bathing was a nighttime rather than morning activity in our early years.  Of course, we all brushed our teeth before bed.

Mom did laundry regularly, so there were always clean clothes hanging in the closets or folded neatly in drawers from which daily wear was selected.

As a hairdresser, Dad didn't wear suits on a daily basis, but his suits and French-cuffed dress shirts were dry-cleaned to be ready when needed.  He looked very dapper for making Amway presentations to his downline network working weekend evenings.

Mom always wore attractive, fashionable clothes with accessories like scarves and jewelry, which I guess isn't exactly cleanliness but always made me proud when she would work at the school library or act as the "room mother" for my class.  I remember a little girl in my second grade class saying, "Your mother is so beautiful."  Now to a great extent that was Mom's loving smile and beaming countenance, but her well-pressed, immaculately clean clothing played into that.

What is not so obvious to those of us living in a time of hot and cold running water from bathroom taps, modern washers and dryers in our own homes, modern plumbing and sewage systems, regular garbage collection and modest energy prices to make it all accessible to the average American in the late 20th through early 21st Century is that it wasn't always this way.

Going back just as far as my parents' childhood, none of these items could be taken for granted.  Wealthy people like Mark Twain might have had access to early versions of modern amenities in the late 1800's, but my mother was born in a house without indoor plumbing.  Baths took place in a wash tub on the back porch, filled with water hand-pumped from a well and heated on a wood-burning stove.  That same wash tub was used by Grandmother to do laundry on the farm where work clothes got quite soiled with dirt and sweat.

Despite those hindrances, Mom's family was always neat, clean and tidy when not working in the fields, and even there at least early in the morning.

Back in Ben Franklin's time, bathing weekly would have been excessive for a pioneer living on the frontier.  If you're as old as me, you remember cowboys going into bath houses after a long dusty ride to get cleaned up, or perhaps Jim Backus as anold prospector in a Gilligan's Island fantasy, "I haven't had a bath in fifty years!"  Everyone within sniffing range replied, "I know."

I doubt Benjamin Franklin bathed only once every thirteen weeks, but perhaps as someone with many diverse projects and hobbies, he required an occasional reminder to tidy up.  He certainly couldn't run a successful print shop without keeping it regularly cleaned.  As mentioned before, individual letters needed to be placed back in the proper section, presumably clean and ready for re-use, or be "out of sorts."  Orderliness is a form of cleanliness.  Just ask a mom who sees toys strewn all over her son's floor.

In 1778, Franklin's contemporary John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, said in a sermon, "Cleanliness is next to Godliness."  Maybe so, but cleanliness also has compound positive impacts on our wellness.  The recent commands to wash hands every time we step outside of our homes may be overdone in this Covid-age, but most of us understand that washing hands before meals and washing our dinnerware rather than leaving it out for bugs and vermin to feed on just makes sense for good health.

It should be obvious --- but I will point out for those who don't appreciate what it is to be a member of Western Civilization --- that much of the world does not have this same access to modern technology, clean water and affordable power, so the challenges of cleanliness with naturally accruing health benefits attributed to living in a sanitary environment are considerably greater.  Lugging clay jugs to a distant water source and returning with considerably heavier filled jugs.  Boiling it over fire to purify it of naturally-occuring bacteria, but only after making a fire with dung as the fuel.  It's not the glamorous world some back-to-nature types seem to believe.

In any case, I managed to stretch this obvious topic of Cleanliness into a page of copy to accompany photos of our wonderful Christmas at the very clean home of my sister, brother-in-law and nephew.  Darlene made three huge dinners while we were staying with her, including a perfect Christmas dinner, with all the dirty pots, pans and dishes that entails, but after the meal, soon everything was neat and tidy again.

Allow me to share a few details of that Christmas dinner, which was truly exceptional.  To accompany the succulunt ham, Darlene made special sweet potatoes lended with bananas, oranges and spices, then topped with Alabama pecan pieces.  That was the best ham side dish ever.  King's Hawaiian rolls, scalloped potatoes, delicious salad with some kind of spicy dressing, asparagus and other items made it quite a feast.

For dessert, we each received a little "Glückschwein," a Marzipan Pig that is considered good luck for the New Year and may be the start of a new tradition for us.  Marzipan tastes a lot like almond cookies we used to get along with a fortune cookie at Lichee, a Chinese restaurant in Westminster where our childhood family would get quite dressed up, with Dad in a suit and Mom dressed to the nines, for an occasional Sunday family meal.

Darlene also made a Tres Leches cake, which only Billy, her hairdresser friend who joined us for the meal, was ready to eat immediately following the huge meal.  

Billy has joined us for family gatherings in the past.  He's a nice man who has no surviving family members.  As someone who worked years as a hairdresser herself, Darlene has a special place in her heart for people in that profession like Billy.  To some extent, he reminds me of Lowry, who worked at our dad's hair salon in Belmont Shores and painted the neo-Impressionist "Shady Brook," which hangs at the end of our hallway in our Redondo condo.

In this era where Billy's way to earn his livelihood in a salon has been jerked away by bureaucrats whose own lifestyles and incomes proceed unabated, his presence was a poignant reminder for Darlene and me of how this California shutdown of businesses would have crushed our own happy family had such Draconian responses to a virus occurred when we were children dependent on Dad's hair salon for our idyllic life in Westminster.  One year like this could have destroyed our family life for a decade.

As it is, our family certainly has come through this pandemic only slightly inconvenienced and in terms of flexible work schedules better off, but many small businesses have been destroyed.  We are grateful to have been spared, but none of us should forget that when politicians say sacrifices must be made, they rarely do anything themselves other than take a bow for making "brave decisions," totally oblivious to the devastation they cause by overreacting with measures that may have no more effectiveness than a pagan sacrificing a virgin to appease a volcano.

In another industry close to my heart, cruising and travel, Cleanliness has always been a key foundation of operations at all times.  In this Covid-era, cruise lines have stepped up to increase sanitation efforts, so cruising is now safer than ever.

As someone who made several transatlantic voyages himself and loved technology,  Benjamin Franklin would love modern cruise ships.

It's truly amazing how far sea travel has advanced from Franklin's time, much less since European explorers like Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo sailed small, primative ships dependent on winds to distant shores, including San Diego, where Julie and I enjoyed a stroll through Cabrillo National Monument one morning in Point Loma.

More to the point, Benjamin Franklin would be amazed by sanitation technology utilized by cruise lines in response to the Covid pandemic.  It takes Cleanliness a quantum leap higher.