Labor Day Weekend 2024

 Labor Day weekend is here and another summer is coming to an end. 

I have no plans for this Labor Day weekend other than to continue to lead my now solo life here at Casa Tipton-Kelly.

Pat continues to live and work at his home in 

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He has no immediate plans to move down here with me at Casa Tipton-Kelly. The K-1 VISA Application for us to receive permission to get married is still processing. That should take at least three months, maybe up to nine months to process. 

I'm still adjusting to live without Bill. I have my good days and bad days. Saturdays are usually the worst. Early Saturday morning is when Bill died. 

Bill stops by and visits me now on a regular basis via a blinking Christmas light in our living room. He was here last night. Do I sound like a crazy person? Oh no, I KNOW that is Bill. I feel his presence. He is comforting me. 

I am also comforted by the knowledge that it won't be too many years until I die and rejoin Bill's spirit and we will both be together in our true home, Heaven.

In the meantime I am comforted by the fact that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are on their way to being elected president and vice president of the United States and Donald Trump and his thugs will be finished once and for all. I hope I live long enough to see and enjoy that day.

Enjoy your holiday weekend everyone!

Butterflies Fly Free!

Butterflies fly free!

Recently birthed swallowtail butterflies feasting for the fist time on my butterfly bush here at Casa Tipton-Kelly here on this beautiful late summer Saturday morning in southern coastal Delaware.

What a week! Just finished watching almost all the hours of the Democratic National Convention. With the exception of a few times I dropped off into sleep (not because of the content of the convention but because I'm old), I thoroughly enjoyed watching the joy and the happiness that was washed over me from all those happy, diverse folks at the Democratic National Convention. 

Trump is toast.

Trump is finished.

The Republicans are finished. 

What a relief! 

Now I can sleep at night and not worry about what disaster I'm going to wake up in the morning because Trump is president. 

Here's my prediction for the final Electoral College votes:

Even you die hard MAGA fans, admit it. Who would you rather see win?

Trump knows he's going to lose.

Trump is melting down before our eyes.

The Dems are doing exactly the right thing, they are showing what a SMALL man Trump is.

Today is another one of those "Saturdays." This Saturday is the sixth month since Bill died early Saturday morning on February 24th, 2024. 

Bill was release from his pain and discomfort. My pain (grief) just began. And it continues. On a different level. 

I get some comfort that Bill occasionally contacts me by blinking on one of the Christmas lights that I have hanging up in the sunroom and living room. Bill used to contact me with the yellow light, now he does it with the purple light. His soul has progressed. Last night he contacted me again. Call me crazy but I know what I know. Last night I was out back doing a little late day weed pulling and avoiding mosquitoes and I got the telepathic message from Bill that he was going to say "Hi."

I came inside and sure enough the purple light was blinking. That was Bill. My Bill! I am blessed beyond measure.

Democratic National Convention 2024 - Let The Joy Begin!

The Democratic National Convention begins today in Chicago.

I have been eagerly anticipating this convention ever since Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race. Before he dropped out, I wasn't going to watch the convention. First I can't watch him talk. He doesn't actually talk now, he whispers. And then all the stuttering, and slurring, just too much for me to sit and endure. Joe never was a good orator. And he has a habit of ending some of his pronouncements with "No joke" or "I'm serious" (like he wasn't before)? 

It's over Joe. No joke.

Joe will be speaking tonight. Wasn't his plan to speak on the first night of the convention, that's for sure. Of course he'll be lauded as "the hero" for stepping aside for a younger candidate who would get the Democratic base fired up but actually he was pushed out. He knows it, and everybody else knows it but we will go through with the charade that Joe made "the big sacrifice" by deciding not to run again. Word has it that he is really pissed at Barrack Obama, Chuck Schumer and especially Nancy Pelosi for shoving him out the door. This is the problem with too many of our career politicians, they don't know when to leave. This isn't a just a Republican problem, Democrats are guilty of this too. Diane Feinstein had to die in office before she vacated her seat. And the most selfish has to be former Supreme Court Justice the sainted Ruth Bader Ginsburg who would not retire even though she has several serious illnesses. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is why this country now has a 6-3 Republican conservative political hack majority on the Supreme Court. Thanks for nothing Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

HOPE AND JOY!

Now for the good news! Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have arrived in Chicago. The enthusiasm is off the charts for Kamala and Tim. We as a country are so relieved to finally have a reason to vote for Democrats. I have to admit at first that I wasn't sure about Kamala, I didn't think she was serious enough but the last three weeks have proven me wrong. 

SHE IS PRESIDENTIAL

She looks presidential.

She walks presidential.

She talks presidential.

And she can handle hecklers.

Speaking of which, the demonstrators are out in full force in Chicago, determined to disrupt the convention. I remember watching the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. Or should I say "The Riot In Chicago". They were the anti-war demonstrators. Those had a reason to demonstrate because they didn't want to be drafted into fighting stupid war in Viet Nam. I was glued to my TV set watching those horrific scenes on my black and white TV. I was so angry the way Mayor Daly and his Chicago thugs (the Chicago police who literally rioted) handled the demonstrators. I'm no Lefty myself and I would have went to Viet Nam if I was ordered to when I was in the Army, in fact I had that option but I turned it down (I got out of the Army after a three year enlistment from January 1960 to 1963 and was offered $1,300 to extend my service for a year as a warrant officer communications intercept - I would be in the back of one of those helicopters intercepting communications on the ground - after I heard what happened to the survivors of those helicopters crashes (private parts cut off, stuffed in mouth and dead body tied to a fence as an "example"), I decided not to accept the "offer".) My apologies for being so graphic but that was the real world back then, maybe gives one the context of what being in Vietnam was really like). 

Back to the Democratic Convention, the other Democratic luminaries like former president Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton will also be speaking (I'll probably skip those speeches too, Bill is always so pleased with himself and Hillary is......just boring) but the Big Event is Wednesday when Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz speaker accepting the nomination (isn't he great?)

and then Thursday when Kamala accepts the Democratic nomination for president of the United States. Not only will she be the first woman president of the United States but she will be the first black woman of southeast Asian (Indian) descent. 

We're in historic times folks. I am so happy that I am alive to experience all of this. For too long I thought this was our fate. Thank God we avoided this mess.

This is OUR "Project 2025" folks, the new First Couple in the White House this January!

August 2024 Update and Political Rant

If I ordered this T-shirt will my body look like this? People want to know. I want to know!

Time of an update of the going ons here at Casa Tipton-Kelly these lazy, hazy days of summer 2024.

The good news is that I am settling into a new routine here at our my lovely home here in southern coastal Delaware. Of course I still miss Bill but I am coming to terms with living without him in my life for whatever years I have left on this planet. Not so easy when one has spent his entire adult life living with someone else. Except for a brief year and half year period after I got out of the Army in January of 1963 I've always lived with somebody. First my family, then my Army buddies (hundreds of them)! It's going to take some getting used to living by myself. Of sure Bill stops by for the occasional "visit" or I should say his spirit does. But I'm by myself now, occasionally interrupted by a once of twice a year visit by Pat. Even after Pat and I get married I'm not sure Pat will live with me full-time. Pat has always lived by himself. And I do get on his nerves after about a week. So there you are.

I've been keeping myself busy, in addition to regular maintenance of Casa Tipton-Kelly (a full-time job) by becoming more active on the social media platform "Threads." I was on Twitter (now "X") but Elon Musk has ruined that platform with all the ads and hateful bots. I'm sick of it. "Threads" is much nicer. 

I'm also closely following Kamala Harris's presidential campaign and The Orange Liar's meltdown.

I'm loving both! Oh I remember so clearly my birthday November 9, 2016 when Pat and I were in Philadelphia for our annual fall visit to our friend Don McK. That had to be my worst birthday ever. I fully expected Hillary to win the presidency but due to our f_cked up election system (Electoral College) even though Hillary received millions of more votes than The Convicted Felon, Trump won. I could not believe it. The next four years of his chaotic presidency just about did me and much of this country in. Just to contemplate another four years of The Traitor running this country, I can't do it. This year Kamala and Tim Walz are going to win BIG or as the Convicted Fraudster likes to say "bigly." Watch for a major blowout this year where even states like the former Republican strongholds of Ohio, North Carolina and yes (are you sitting down?) Florida will vote for the Harris/Walz ticket.

Harris/Walz - that's the ticket!

Even Texas is in play this year but I don't think quite enough. If Texas starts voting blue like California the whole Electoral College manipulation is out the window. The Republicans are going to have to come up with another way to cheat in the election. The Republicans are fighting a losing battle because every minute in this country, we are becoming more diverse.

Governor Tim Walz with Pete Buttigieg

We are no longer a dominated Christian White Man dominated party and we are the better for it. 

That ain't the Trump plane folks, this is Air Force Two! There is a movement happening here folks. We're witnessing history in the making. You'll tell your grandchildren about this moment.

This morning I ordered my Harris/Walz 2024 hat. This is going to take some courage for me to wear it around here in Sussex County Delaware, MAGA country. And remember my neighbor Bob M. is MAGA. He's got his Trump flag out hanging by his garage door next to his American flag. I'm not going to hang a flag but I will wear my hat, not to put anything in his face but I want people around here in MAGA country to know where I stand. Trump and his MAGA thugs have intimidated us long enough. I like the way the Harris/Walz campaign comes right back on the Trump campaign and their lies. No more Michelle Obama "When they go low, we go high" crap. How did that work out for us Michelle? I say hit the f_ckers right in the face every time they come out with their lies. Trump is already having a public meltdown over the fact that he isn't running against Biden and instead running against a smart black woman who isn't going to take his shit. I am so looking forward to the Trump/Harris debate. That is if Trump doesn't chicken out because he is deathly afraid of strong black women. 

Buckle your seatbelts boys and girls, the next few months are going to be fun. And this year for my birthday, I am going to celebrate......bigly!

Why My Saturdays Will Never Be The Same

 

Bill and "Sparky" December 1980

This Saturday morning I finally realized why I feel bad every Saturday morning. 

For the past six months, every time Saturday came around I just felt down. Didn't want to get out of bed. 

I couldn't quite put my finger on why I felt so depressed. Now I know, Bill died early Saturday morning (12/30 AM on February 22nd, 2024). Now I know why however remaining Saturday's I have in my life will never be the same because my sub conscious reminds me of the greatest loss in my life, my Bill died.

In the almost six months since Bill died, I do have more days when Bill and is absence from our home, isn't constantly on my mind. Each day does get a little better but I know now I will never be the same the rest of my life. I love Pat and look forward to when we're married and he (perhaps) lives here at Casa Tipton-Kelly full-time but still, after living with someone for almost sixty years, and especially the last forty years where I took care of Bill, I feel like half of me is gone forever. 

Bill and I not only loved one another we had a great symbiotic relationship. I took care of all the "outside stuff" while Bill took care of the house. When he started having problems at work, I encouraged him to take early retirement at fifty-five years of age and just stay home and take care of our house, which he did magnificently. Bill was an excellent handyman in addition to being an electrician by trade. And perhaps most important of all, he loved me unconditionally. A love that never wavered in the fifty-nine years we lived together. I miss that love, his love for me. Of course I will always love him even now that he is gone into the spiritual world. Oh yes, I do believe there is "life" after life. Bill's spirit didn't die. Are you kidding me? Bill's spirit was one of a kind, that kind of spirit lives forever. Perhaps Bill was my guardian angel come to life during his time on earth. What I do know is that he came into my adult life just as I was starting at twenty-two years of age. And he stayed for almost sixty years. I would have had no life without Bill and his love and support. 

I do get some solace knowing that Bill's suffering is done now. I hope he is reunited with our five Pomeranian pooches, his parents, his favorite half brother Jimmy Brown and especially his love before he met me who he had to break up with because his mother found out about then, Charlie Brown. So many "Browns" in Bill's life, which is interesting. Bill's real father died at twenty-one years of age in an automobile accident when Bill was only a year old. His mother got married again to a Normal Brown. That's where the "Brown" came from in his family. Of course his step-father didn't like Bill and was physically abusive to him. That's why Bill quite school and left home to join the Army in 1946 while he was still a teenager. 

Bill is in Heaven now. Not the man made Heaven fed to us by the religious dogma of the Christian church but the real Heaven that our spirits live in between our incarnations here on earth. I know Bill is happy now. And from reading up on the spirit world by a writer who does hypnotherapy, he probably isn't in pain from missing me as I am from missing him. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again and again. I look forward to the day when my spirit is reunited with Bill, as I know it will be but for now I have a few more years (I hope) to live and I plan to be very happy with my best friend from Canada, Pat.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Cowboy Ron - Fifty Years later

 

Me, Yesteryear's Old Time Photos Rehoboth Beach, DE June 2024

Me, July 1974 Provincetown, Mass

July of 1974 I made my first trip to Provincetown, Massachusetts.  I had heard so much about "P-town", the "gay paradise." 

I visited with my late friend Bob McCamley. I had planned to spend the week with him at a place called "The Ranch".  I knew P-town was VERY gay and even though both Bob and I are gay we didn't want to be with the.....how should I say this?  The stereotype swishy gays.  Well, what a surprise we had. "The Ranch" clientele was just that. Very gay. ULTRA GAY.  Not for us, thank you. All that "her" and "she" pronouns used in place of male pronouns. 

We spent one night at "The Ranch" then the next day we found a room at "Bob's Motel" on the outskirts of Provincetown.

Me sitting in the back of my friend Bob McCamley's pickup truck at Bob White's motel on the outskirts of Provincetown, Mass July 1974

The new accommodations were much better. Not so "ultra gay".  More like normal people who just happened to be gay. Thank you. By the way, if I'm offending anyone gay who is reading this who takes umbrage to my descriptions of "ultra gay", that on you friends. I use the "he" pronoun when I refer to a male and "she" when I refer to a biological woman. 

Well, the vacation still didn't work out quite as I had planned it. Bob immediately met "Brian" from Vancouver Canada and that was the last I saw of him. I was on my own. 

I did run into Bob and Brian in town one day (they were on their way to one of those singing piano bars which I hate, Broadway tunes "Annie! TOMORROW! TOMORROW!" I asked Bob if he could spare an hour or two to have his picture taken with me at one of those old time photo places that often show up in tourist destinations like Provincetown. Much to my surprise he could spare an hour (no more) and we had our picture taken. 

Me and my friend Bob McCamley 1974 Provincetown, Mass
(yes, he was a little annoyed that I took him away from his boyfriend Brian to have this picture taken)

After the photo was taken Bob took off with his paramour and I didn't see him again for another several days. I think he and Brian did grant me a lunch with them but otherwise I was solo for the remainder of our vacation in the fabled P-town. I didn't meet anyone nor did I partake in anonymous sex but I did thoroughly enjoy the ambiance of Provincetown which is beautiful, especially escaping from the heat and humidity of center city Philadelphia where I lived at that time. Subsequent years I visited Provincetown by myself except for three occasions when I took someone else with me. Of course they took off too, shortly after our commuter plane from Boston landed at the Provincetown airport. Remember that Bob Murphy and Brad Corrill? Yes, they were the two. I paid for their way too but that was my foolishness. I should have known better. Three times? Yes, I took Brad with me twice, once stiffed wasn't enough for me. 

You might ask why didn't Bill go with me?  Bill didn't want to travel to a gay resort. No way, no how. I did convince him one year but he wouldn't leave his Best Western hotel room. That was his one and only time visiting Provincetown. 

I hope to visit Provincetown one more time before I check out of this aging human body and return to the Spirit World. I'm pretty sure I can talk Pat into going with me. And I'm pretty sure he will stay with me and not go running off with someone else once we hit the ground in P-town. That's what I love about Pat, he likes being with me and I life being with him. Now Pat isn't one to go to a "gay" place either, he feels as I do with all that "gayness". That's for others to swish it up. And I'm happy for them if that's their thing. It's not our thing, thank you. 

These days I have a small group of friends mainly as a result of my advanced age (82), and.......well I guess it's all because of my age. Eighty-two year olds don't make many new friends now do they? No problem though, Pat and Glenn (Pat, he from Hamilton Canada and Glenn from Cathedral City California) visited me this past June where we had this old time photo taken of some serious old timers.....us!  And you know what folks?  I'm having the best time of my life now. 

Glenn, me and Pat June 2024 Rehoboth Beach DE

You know when I was young I used to make fun of older gay men, and the bars they hung out at ("wrinkle bars"). At that time in my Foolish Youth I would express out loud to my friends "What in the world do they do with their lives?" Now that I'm one of THOSE OLD GAYS I know. As Noel Coward famously said "Youth is wasted on the young." I was on of those foolish young folks. Oh boy, if I knew then what I know now. But then it's not supposed to work out that way is it?

Have a great day everyone and if you want to gay it up. Go ahead! I'm going to take my daily afternoon nap now.

Kamala Harris responds to, stares down hecklers at Detroit rally during ...

Check it out folks!

Check out the masterful way Kamala handles the hecklers at her Detroit rally yesterday.

First she acknowledges their right to protest.  Then she says "I am speaking now." That should have been the end of the hecklers but they didn't get it. Then she laid into them. 

I LOVED IT! 

Kamala showed the strength that we want in our next president of the United States. 

I LOVE KAMALA!

Pack it in Trumpers, it's over. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will win in November and our great national nightmare will be over.

Donald Trump and his enablers will be assigned to the dumpster of history.

Gov. Tim Walz’s first speech as Kamala Harris’ running mate

Did you watch Kamala's introduction of vice presidential choice last night? WOW!

I have to admit my preference was Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, but the choice was Kamala's.  She has to pick someone who she can work closely with. 

I was hesitant about Minnesota governor Tim Walz, mainly because with all that white hair he looks like an old man (which I thought was what we were trying to get away from by pressuring Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race), but I am no longer hesitant about her choice of Tim Walz. This guy is fantastic!

There is so much to say about Tim Walz but to me his main asset is he speaks our language. He talks like we do! He doesn't talk "Washington speak." That was Biden's problem (in addition to all his other problems in his old age), Biden was in that Washington political culture too long. He was a master of the "Washington speak." Guaranteed to put you to bore you to tears after five minutes of hearing him speak. Walz talks like the average person. He talks like us! 

As I've often said, communication is perhaps the most important asset of a politician. Ronald Reagan was a master communicator. Pete Buttigieg is a great communicator. Not to keep slamming on Biden, but he was a terrible communicator. Not only did he stutter (which really puzzles me, why he choose a political career with that handicap). 

Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro is a great speaker. And of course another master was and is Barrack Obama. 

Most Americans, except most of the lifetime professional politicians, speak "regular talk."  While I'm on this subject, this is the way I write if you have noticed. I remember taking a course of "How To Write."  I didn't finish the course because it wasn't me. All those rules. It hurt my head. So I decided to just write the way I talk. And you know what, I'm a pretty good public speaker too. I still haven't found my two minute speech before both of the Delaware House legislative houses in support of marriage equality, but I've been told my presentative was pretty good. I wrote my own speech.  I write and talk regular "American speech."

Yesterday I watched all the speeches at the Temple University Center in Philadelphia when Kamala introduced Tim Walz to the country and world. 

I LOVED IT!

You know what folks? We're going to win. 

Trump and his MAGA cult is finished!

Pat and Ron Goes Viral!

Last week I completed the paperwork for Pat's K-1 VISA Fiancé Application. 

I mailed it to the State Department address. Now the process begins for our respective government's approval for me and Pat to get married.

This process should take from three to six months for Pat and I to get married. Once it is approved we have to get married within ninety days. 

I felt so good about finally completing this first step on the next chapter of our lives, I just had to share it with the world. 

One of the first places I posted this great information was on my social account "Threads." Look what happened! We went viral!

Over sixteen thousand "likes" already and still counting! What a wonderful feeling all the encouraging comments gave to me. I like "Threads". 

The last time I went viral was when a friend posted me and Bill's 49th anniversary on Facebook. That posting had over forty-eight thousand hits. Most were positive but there were some really nasty ones. Always surprises me of the amount of homophobia out there. The hate, much of it coming from so called "Christians" spouting their vile comments. Evangelical Christians I should say. True Christians don't act that way. But I don't want to go down that well worn road this time of good news.

Just in, Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her vice presidential choice. Good choice Kamala! I was worried she would choose Arizona senator Mark Kelly. Mark Kelly is a nice guy but Kamala needs someone who isn't boring. Remember who Hillary choose as her running mate? Of course you don't, because it was Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia. Nice buy but BORING. Tim Walz isn't boring. 

Fasten your seatbelts kids. This should be fun!

 

Josh Shapiro dunks on JD Vance: ‘The most inorganic candidate I have eve...

Well said Governor Shaprio!

J. D. Vance is a total phony.

Donald Trump is having buyer's remorse. 

Donald Trump and the Republicans are going to lose bigly this November.