Mystery Fridays revisited

Just finished Mystery Friday week six. I have already received several emails regarding the ridiculousness of this week's mystery. I couldn't agree more.

Instead of reading the mystery, we went through the warm up activities for the past two weeks. The kids like this and actually found the words useful. This is worthwhile. But that damned mystery. Whoa.

*****

Kristie and I leave at three today for the cities. My uncle's funeral is on Saturday. We are going down with my sister and dad. It will be some good family time.

It should be an interesting ride though. My sister, who has built herself up into a very successful businesswoman (she has her own business which develops safety plans for schools and industries), is a very, very conservative republican. Up until Bush Jr's latest term, so was my dad. Kristie and I tend to lean toward the liberal democratic side of things. So our conversations should be interesting.

I love my sister and respect her greatly for what she and her husband have accomplished. They worked their way up from having nothing (they worked as dairy farmers for over a decade). Then my sister got a secretary position with the Red Lake County Highway Department. Since OSHA was instituting new policies (and heavier fines), they needed a 'safety' person to get them in line with the regulations. They gave that duty to my sister. She worked hard at it and made it into a very lucrative business of her own now. This allowed her husband to quit dairy farming and just go into beef. They have really made something of themselves. And for some reason they have become republicans.

She thinks that if anyone works and saves like they have, they too can achieve the American dream. This is at the root of their republicanism. But I don't believe hard work and saving are always enough to achieve the American dream. For instance, my sister was very lucky to be in the right spot at the right time to get assigned as the 'safety' person which led to her business. I wonder if they were going on 20 years of dairy farming if they would be so staunchly on the side of the republicans.