Posted under That's Life Columns
This is a reprint of a weekly newspaper column from the Independent Voice in Dixon, Ca.
Feel Free to Email: Tedhick@gmail.com
“As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point the wrong way.”
Misc. Local Eating Tips
The food scene is getting better. We went to Bud’s Pub Bar Restaurant Grill and Eating Place (whatever) over the weekend for breakfast and Linda, Trey and I really enjoyed it. You all know about A Street Deli’s food and we have Bud’s (less than a block apart) both with good breakfastesses (or whatever the plural is for more than one breakfast).
Add to that list the local American Legion’s Friday night fish feast and you have some good eats. The Legion’s dinner cost $12.50 for all you can eat deep fried fish, cold slaw, hush puppies and fries. Soft drinks are a buck extra and I think tap beer is like $2. For current or retired military, VFW, or Legion members it is only $10. It’s held at the Legion/Vet’s Hall on N. First Street every Friday from 5 to 8 pm and you can get take out. As word gets out more and more fish lovers are showing up.
While in Vacaville the other day we stopped in at the Umi Sushi place right next to the Brendan Theatre complex. We had some really good stuff, different from Mad Fish. The quality and quantity were both good…add this to El Pollo Loco and now there are two good places to pig out while in Vacaville. We pay our own way, unannounced, at all of these places and just pass on what we think is good…or bad.
WTF? In All Of My Travels…
You know in all of my travels from Minnesota to Oklahoma, to Florida, to Canada, to cruise ships, to even Australia, New Zealand and even Hong Kong, China and Taiwan…etc. People marvel at either me (or us) being from California.
Recently on a cruise ship to the Panama Canal we met a lot of people from the mid-west who were curious about “Arnold,” Gavin Newsome (mayor of SF), Pelosi (the biggest curiosity),
Feinstein, Boxer and people like Karen Bass, the speaker of the state assembly. The main questions were “How do people like that get elected?” Followed by, “Do they really have the support of the people?” I’m glad we’re not going back to the mid-west or someplace like Oklahoma or Texas for a while now that our Assembly Speaker black, female, radical liberal democrat Bass is going to run for congress…That’s not the problem. Her replacement is the first openly gay Democratic lawmaker/leader named John Perez who was selected to replace her…I simply, even with my ability with words, would not have the answers to any of the questions people might have about this. It will however, make it even harder for me to dispel the notion, world wide, that California is indeed the land of fruits and nuts.
Shocking Story Of Sacramento’s Finest
A successful California politician died and left everything to his devoted wife. She was a very good-looking woman and determined to keep his political machine alive, but knew very little about politics, so she decided to place an ad in the newspaper for a political expert. Two political guys applied for the job. One was gay and the other a drunk. She thought long and hard about it, and when no one else applied she decided to hire the gay guy, John, figuring it would be safer to have him around than the drunk.
He proved to be a hard worker who put in long hours every day and knew a lot about politics. For weeks the two of them worked and lived out of her big home, and the political machine was doing very well. Then one day, the politician’s widow said to the up and coming politician, “You have done a really good job John, and the campaigns look great. You should go to downtown Sacramento and kick up your heels.” The political guy readily agreed and went on the town one Saturday night. One o’clock came, however, and he didn’t return. Two o’clock and still no politician.
Finally he returned around 2:30, and upon entering the room, he found the politician’s widow sitting by the fireplace with a glass of wine, waiting for him. She quietly called him over to her…”Unbutton my blouse and take it off,” she said. Trembling, he did as she directed. “Now take off my boots.” He did as she asked, ever so slowly. “Now take off my socks.” He removed each gently and placed them neatly by her boots. “Now take off my skirt.” He slowly unbuttoned it, constantly watching her eyes in the fire light. “Now take off my bra…” Again, with trembling hands, he did as he was told and dropped it to the floor. Then she looked at him and said, “If you ever wear my clothes out on the town again, you’re fired.”
(P.S. – I didn’t see it coming, either).
The Olympic Gift To Americans
Wow…glad the Olympics are over. We were a slave to them while they monopolized TV. It was like friends or relatives coming to visit for a couple of weeks. You were glad to see them come and also glad to see them go…if you know what I mean…but I heard the German Chancellor gave its country’s Olympic Downhill ski medal to President Obama and said, “You are even more qualified for this than the Nobel Prize… for going downhill faster than our guy.”
Sticking It To Us
After the Germans on the get even scale, only the American Indians stuck it to us even more than the Japanese. They gave us tobacco and under their breaths laughed and said, “Take away our land and we give you this addictive gift to rot your lungs and degrade your society.” And then if that wasn’t bad enough they now take in more money than Toyota with their casinos. Now you can go to their places of higher losing, rot your lungs and lose your welfare, SSI and disability check all in one fell swoop…
But the emerging leader in the “Get even with the Americans” has to be Toyota. The Japanese never got over getting their butts kicked for their cowardly Pearl Harbor attack and the atrocities they committed during WWII…They’ve just been laying back and taking billions of our dollars for their superior products built with our know how and resources…all the time with a master plan. They said to themselves…”Let’s get America to buy the best selling car line of all time and build in death devices. Then let’s lie about it and talk about honor… (Dumb round eyes will buy it…they’ll buy anything foreign).” Then Akai ToyoDa (really hid his real last name huh?) apologizes and tells our US congress how “sorry” he and his nation are for killing our people with their defective cars while word leaks out they knew about the flaws the whole time but covered it up to maximize profits…Paybacks are a bitch and its seems like more and more we are on the losing end…We need to do something about this trend. Go on line and read “The World without the USA,” as Roxie Sanders said, “Everyone needs to read this.”
Former Mayor Passes
A small note read Richard Brians 67, died Feb. 6, 20101 who was once mayor of Dixon. He was a quite unassuming man who served both on the council and as mayor with dignity and was the son-in-law of (Pearl Harbor survivor) Frank and (Citizen of the Year) Kay Green. His passing was noticed by the current city council with a moment of silence…I can’t find anything that shows they sent anything or anyone to the funeral or they even lowered the flags to half mast for a week which has been the tradition since Councilman Joe Osterman died. Its not like we have that many former elected officials dying that current council can’t have enough respect for the office to honor those who once sat in their seats. I guess they at least ordered someone to send some flowers…somewhere.
Council Listened …A Little
At least the council listened and approved my recommendation for the appointment to the abandoned city treasurer’s post. Like the vast majority of the voters I was opposed to them appointing a person to the elected position instead of having it on the next soonest ballot…But if they were going to do it at least they picked the guy I asked them to consider. The only problem is the guy gambles with people’s money everyday…that what he does for a living.
Only a few people know I was within a couple of weeks a few years ago of opening a big name office in Dixon. I passed the tests, had my application for the SEC an Insurance License approved and ready to go. This was just before the wall street/economy melt down. They wanted me to tap in to all of the “old money” in Dixon figuring people would listen to me and invest where the company and I would suggest. Just before completing the deal I asked the regional manager what happens if we tell these folks, who trust me, to invest their life savings in XYZ and something happens and they lose everything. He said although unlikely it was just the risk they and we would have to take. For whatever reason, mainly a gut feeling, I decided to not do it…in retrospect a wise move Karma wise.
Anyway our new city treasurer will be under the gun for conflict of interest with both the city’s money and who he does business with, who does business with him and why…not necessarily a good thing huh?
Speaking of city matters…the rats are leaving? Like rats leaving a sinking ship two or the city’s man leaders, the city treasurer and a planning commissioner (and former city councilman) quit this past month…Both had good reasons.
The council didn’t listen or even respond to my email expressing not only my concern but that of many in the community of an appointed city official libeling and slandering a local small businessman. He tried to kill the messenger because he didn’t like the message, and signing a printed press piece as a Dixon “Planning Commissioner.” I emailed the mayor, vice mayor, councilman Besneatte and Ceremello and asked what, if anything, the council planned to do about this embarrassment. The only reply I got was from Ceremello saying, “You don’t really expect to hear back from them do you?” Yes I did councilman…sad to say I heard nothing else, which I guess puts a seal of approval on his unethical behavior. I understand Ceremello even asked for it to be council agenda item which was also ignored.
So Jon Stalnaker, former postmaster, looks like you are now free to slander whomever you wish, attempt censorship at will and then make sure you are libelous and sign your name not only as a Dixon Planning Commissioner but as a city paid bus driver too! Looks like Herr StalMaker has won the battle. I heard a rumor he will be teaching a class on peeping at people’s mail to make sure what they write is ok with him and book burning 101 at night school. I also heard the FPPC has been asked to look into the matter. #

Publisher Scholl doesn’t necessarily agree with a lot of the things he prints in this paper but will go to his grave defending our constitutional right of free speech (hell, I don’t even agree with some of the stuff Mike writes but I’ll defend his right to write and your right to write or complain about it)…and for that Herr Stalmaker shows contempt and like others within city government would have Dave and this paper censored to print only what they deem acceptable…Sound like anyone you know from WWII?.









Well…we missed two of the ports because it was so rough the ship couldn’t dock. We plowed through one storm with swells over 20 feet and winds of 70+ MPH. No big thing to us but many land lubbers from the Midwest got more than a little green. It really only affected walking, bathing, eating and sleeping. We were on deck 9 and you can see how the sea was as Linda is taking a picture of it from our room (PHOTO AT THE TOP).
as a decent hotel except all of your meals are free and you don’t have to pack and unpack your bags each place you visit.
members which you can ask to have removed if you do it right up front. We do and then we tip those who give good service and those who we liked. But all the food of every kind is available almost all of the time with unlimited variety and amounts. We learned to be frugal in what and how much we ate and actually came home a few pounds lighter…Some of the smaller whales that came on board left a lot larger.
over balding heads, little teeny swimming suits and pot bellies that make them look like pregnant guppies. The old lady blue hairs are out in force too as are the “English speaking crew members” that only their fellow crew members can understand.
unemployment runs about 75 per cent and all homes that can afford it have bars on the windows.
percentage of the millions of dollars taken in each day. There were over 40 ships going through the day we were there. The cruise ships paid between 45 and $60,000 each for the passage. Noriega pocketed a fortune and the country’s people are still dirt poor. The canal by today’s standards is just barely wide enough to accommodate big cruise ships…You can see Linda (photo at the left) about touching the edge as the ship goes through. The canal itself is an amazing piece of work started in the late 1800’s and finished in the early 1900’s only through the will of President Teddy Roosevelt. It is amazing that more than 30,000 people died making it, France started it and quit and then the Americans bought it for like 20 million or so and sunk another 580 million in to complete it to cut days off the trip from one ocean to the other. Why did we give it away? The true reason will probably never be known, but all that is known is we, the taxpayers really got the raw end of the deal…again. The photo at the right is of Linda and me with a copy of the IV going through a lock in the canal.
Jamaica, Linda’s favorite place just because of the way they talk…mon. The sign to the left kind of says it all. They warned us not to drink too much on shore, “Because they pour a lot heavier than you’re used to and you may not be able to find your way back to the ship,” only a couple of hundred yards away. From Jamaica (where we climbed the falls and took the little boat through 10 foot swells) we sailed a day to Fort Lauderdale, Florida and then flew home…we went from the tropical 90’s to the rainy 50’s in a short period of time. The flight into San Diego was in the middle of that bad storm and we got bounced hard for over 20 minutes…you know airplane hard, where you can hear the wings creek and groan. I’ve been bucked off horses smother than that plane ride. It was only because of our rough sea ride that it really didn’t bother us…much! We were really glad to be back in pretty much one piece with only a few bumps and bruises.

and his assistant were just convicted, in federal court, no less, of violating the rights of an individual. Their total fines and costs of 10’s of thousands of dollars were ordered paid, with taxpayer’s dollars, by our illustrious Solano County Board of stupid visors.) He arrived in town with his DA police squad and many area television stations to make this “huge bust”. He, of course didn’t know how all of the TV stations found out about it when the local jurisdictions hadn’t even been informed. With drugs, gangs and crime running rampant Paulson makes a big show out of saving puppies…a worthy cause no doubt, but it seems in the total picture of things, rather minor by comparison don’t you think? But it made good PR for him as the “tough on puppy crime” guy in California. Forget about robberies, rape, child molesters, drunk drivers, gangs, drugs and murder…our DA is serving the public the best way he knows how…this is the same guy who won’t allow our grand jury to sit as a criminal grand jury and instead has them only as a civil arm of the courts…This way he can decide who he will cut a break to “in the interest of justice” and who he won’t.

