Mortgage/Refinance Recommendation

I am sure so many people out there have had bad, or just onerous loan processes. With rates at all time lows, many of you may be looking at refinancing. I have been through several new home purchases and refinances over the last 25 years, and have been through the good, bad, and ugly.

Well, I just refinanced again with a sub-5% rate. And I have recommendation of a Mortgage Banker to use. I had no prior relationship and only have dealt with this person via email and phone. I found the banker via Zillow.com and I was blessed.

The gentleman is Alan Lacey with Northpointe Bank out of Michigan. He had the best rate/costs and that is why I chose him. What I could not know is how easy he would make the process. I will let my review on Zillow (below) speak for itself. Again, I have nothing to gain by this recommendation. No little gifts or benefits. I have no personal relationship with Alan. So this is as unbiased as it gets. It is solely based on my experience with him.

Alan was awesome. Easiest, most accurate, and most honest loan process I
have been through. He is pleasant, not pushy. He lets the fact that he has the
best product speak for him. He expedites the process, closed us quickly from the
start of the process. Several lenders would not let me lock a rate without
having the appraisal completed. With Alan and Northpointe I locked my rate
within hours of completing the online application. Also, Alan adjusted my
points/rate down automatically when the market changed before closing, a
reduction of $1,875 in closing costs for my loan. I got such a good rate that I
won't be able to use Alan again because I can never afford to let go of this
rate. Alan is a true professional who lets his product and his level of service
secure his long term business. I had some detailed questions about closing costs
a week after the close. He dug in and answered them the same day, even calling
the local title company that did the closing. How many mortgage brokers would do
that? I am telling everyone I know to use Alan and Northpointe.

The Midas Touch Has Its Downside

An out-of-the blue, should I say gold, thought by my 8 year old daughter Maria.

"You know that guy who everything he touches turns to gold?"

"Midas?"

"Yeah. It has got to be hard to blow your nose into a solid gold klennex."

Her mind just amazes me. She really thinks about cause and effect, but with weird twists. I guess reading Douglas Adams to her at bedtime has had some interesting side effects.

Hometown Favorite Book Signing Jan 23, 2009

Hometown Favorite by Bill Barton and Henry O. Arnold


I plugged this book in a earlier post and back doing the same for my friend Henry Arnold and Facebook friend Bill Barton. They will be hosting a book signing at the Barnes and Noble in Cool Springs on Friday, Jan 23 at 7:00 p.m. Chris Sanders will be joining them for this one. Check out the web site for exact address and phone number: http://www.barton-arnold.com/

It is a riviting story and a great message. If you have read the book already or have interest in reading it, be sure to visit the book signing for personally autographed copy including former Titan, Chris Sanders.

Bill Barton travels the world as a business partner with three companies that develop and sell products to nonprofit organizations, small businesses and large retailers. He received his MBA from Baylor University. A sought after speaker, he combines his business experience and passion for the spiritual life to motivate and inspire others. Bill lives in Tennessee with his wife and two sons.

Henry O. Arnold is a professional actor, writer, and director in theatre, film, and television. His original film trilogy, “The Word Made Flesh,” received two first place awards at the Houston International Film Festival and the Columbus International Film Festival. He co-wrote and produced the film “The Second Chance” starring Michael W. Smith distributed by Sony Entertainment. He wrote the screenplay for the first authorized film documentary on evangelist Billy Graham, “God’s Ambassador.” His has written 156 original episodes of the children’s show “Backyard Time” produced and distributed by the United Methodist Publishing House. “Tilly,” his stage play adaptation of Frank Peretti’s story of the same title was published by Lillenas Publishing. He co-wrote and produced the documentary “Kabul-24” for Sea Bourne Pictures based on the story of the capture and escape of eight western aid workers by the Taliban. He is the narrator for the two CD recording of “Jesus in His Own Words,” distributed by Total Content. Recently, he co-produced and wrote the screenplay for the documentary film “The Next Door” winner of the Portraits of Compassion national film contest awarded by the White House Faith-based Community Initiative Project.

Merry Christmas from Thoughts of Man

This man thinks about this angel often.

Merry Christmas to all my readers! God bless you all and the Peace of Christ be upon you.

Santa Can Save You Money!

My eight year old daughter is wonderful, bright, good at math, and has a heart for God. She demonstrates a non-materialistic and financially aware attitude not often seen in children. A recent conversation demonstrated all of the above.

Maria had seen some kind of toy horse at store that she liked, one that was quite expensive (~$250), and she had expressed interest in this horse. We explained how expensive this was, especially given how much use it was likely to see once the novelty wore off.

A few days ago my wife was inquiring of Maria's Christmas list. Maria provided a short list of modest priced items. Bemused, Anita said, "I noticed you did not mention the horse you said you liked so much."

My very astute and caring daugher replied, "Momma, that is much too expensive. No point in ya'll spending money on that. Let Santa get it!"

Traditional Emotional Pornography

I found the two passages from the book, I Don't Want To Talk About It by Terrence Real, interesting. I decided to post in case anyone else did and to invite discussion; that is if anyone other than JMG reads this blog anymore.

In retun, what men have been promised is an appreciative, saintly wife--a whore in the bedroom, a kitten on the living room couch, a scintillating cocktail companion, and a damn fine cook and homemaker. This is not a mature relationship. It is what I have taken to speak of with couples as traditional emotional pornography.

. . . This vision precludes a few nasty realities, like the negotiation of another's needs, doing things wrong and having to learn how to do them differently, struggling with moments of profound loneliness. Society teaches neither member of the couple how to deal with the raw pain that is a part of any real relationship, because it does not even acknowledge the existence of that pain. Stuffed with such romanticism, neither men nor women learn to vigorously negotiate their differences, because true harmony is seen as obviating difference.

VU Gets 6th Win; Bowl Eligible After 26 Year Drought

Vanderbilt notched its 6th win of the season by winning 31-24 on the road in Lexington against the UK Wildcats. If not for 2 turnovers, untimely penalties, and two special gaffs, the game would have been a blowout. VU dominated the first half, rarely letting the UK offense on the field and holding them to 3 and outs. UK's 1st first down of the game was on a successful fake punt.

The win makes Vandy Bowl eligible for the first time in 26 years and guarantees at least a .500 record for the first time in the same number of years. I remember this last success well. I was a sophomore for the 1982 season in which we beat UT in the last regular season game for a 8 win season and securing a Hall of Fame bowl bid. I went to the bowl game with several of my friends in which VU lost a close game to Air Force.

Although the SEC has 9 Bowl tie-ins, VU needs 7 wins to lock in a bid in my opinion. It would also secure a better Bowl game. With a miserable UT team coming to Nashville this Saturday, we should get 7 wins if we play hard, protect the ball, and limit our penalties. Our last game is on the road at Wake Forest, a good team. We can win that game if we play with intensity and discipline. VU has a great shot at an 8 win season, and a decent shot at 9 wins if they stay focused and healthy.

Just how good is VU this year? Here are some facts:

* Vandy is 4-3 in SEC play which is the 4th best record in the conference. Only those 4 teams out of 12 have a winning record in SEC play.

* Only Alabama (11-0, 7-0 #1), Florida (9-1, 7-1, #4), and Georgia (9-2, 6-2, #10) have a better conference record.

*Notable teams below VU: LSU, Spurrier's USC Gamecocks, UT (3-7, 1-5), and Auburn. Vandy has wins over USC and Auburn and should knock-off UT this weekend. But they better show up and play hard because UT will.

D.J. Moore, our starting cornerback, and one of the best in the country, had an incredible game. He is multi-talented playing on offensive often and he is our leading kickoff and punt returner. Last night he caught passes for our first two touchdowns, intercepted a pass that lead to a score on the ensuing offensive series, and grabbed another intercepted at the end of the game that killed a game-tying drive by UK and preserved the victory for VU.

D.J. is a semifinalist for the prestigious Thorpe Award. The award is given to the top defensive back in college football.

A healthy Chris Nickson returned as our starting quarterback and looked much like his early season form in which he was 5-0. He too is an amazing athlete who has been sidetracked last year and this year with nagging shoulder injuries.

GO DORES! I will be cheering you on to win #7 on Saturday.

Mission Field: The American Male

See update to this post at the end.

There have been some interesting discussions at Phil Wilson's blog post, Question of the Day: Moral v. Political.

In the context of these posts, I provide a disturbing passage I ran across this morning.

In a country in which 135,000 children take handguns to school each day, in which every fourteen hours a child under the age of five is murdered, and homicide has replaced automobile accidents as the leading cause of death in children under the age of one, few boys escape a firsthand acquaintance with active trauma. Once issues of race and class are considered, the picture grows even bleaker. There are more college-aged black men in prison than in school. And the leading cause of death in black men between eighteen and twenty-five--one young man in four--is murder. More than the childhood diseases we spend millions combating, more than accident or natural disaster, violence is the number one killer of boys and young men.
-- I Don't Want to Talk About It by Terrence Real; Ch. 5 "Perpetrating Masculinity", pg 113. Fireside 1997.

I do find it troublesome that while the so-called moral majority (an arrogant classification in my opinion), and the Christian right, spend much energy and resources fighting abortion and homosexuality, we are not vocal about epidemics that are killing our young men and women and contributing to the very problems we say we want to eradicate. Are we even aware of this epidemic?

I invite discussion from my readers.

Update: found this gem in the same book previously referenced.

Recent studies indicate that boys raised by women . . . do not suffer in their adjustment; they are not appreciably less "masculine"; they do not show signs of psychological impairment. What many boys without fathers inarguably do face is a precipitous drop in their socioeconomic status. When families dissolve, the average standard of living for mothers and children can fall as much as 60 percent, while that of the man usually rises. When we focus on the highly speculative psychological effects of fatherlessness we draw away from concrete political concerns, like the role of increased poverty.

Sad Day in the Literary World

Michael Crichton, Author, Dead at 66. Nov. 4, 2008

One of may favorite authors, Michael Crichton, passed away yesterday after a private battle with cancer. He was a very prolific author, screen-writer, and producer. Almost all of his novels, million sellers each, were made into film.

Most people, including the article linked above, claim The Andromeda Strain as his first book. However, the first book was actually A Case of Need written under the pseudonym Jeffery Hudson while he was still in Medical School and published in 1968, winning the Edgar Award in 1969. It was one of his best novels in my opinion. It really covers the abortion issue very well from multiple angles.

He attended Harvard College as an undergraduate, graduating summa cum laude in 1964. Crichton was also initiated into the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He went on to become the Henry Russell Shaw Traveling Fellow from 1964 to 1965 and Visiting Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom in 1965. He graduated from Harvard Medical School, obtaining an M.D. in 1969, and did post-doctoral fellowship study at the Jonas Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, from 1969 to 1970. In 1988, he was Visiting Writer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [Wikipedia, Michael Crichton web entry, Nov. 5, 2008]

An interesting fact: Crichton was just under 7 ft. tall.

Hometown Favorite

Hometown Favorite by Bill Barton and Henry O. Arnold


I highly recommend this book. I could say much about it, but I don't want to give away anything.

It is a riviting story. For Christian readers, it is better than The Shack in my opinion. Much better writing and much less overt from the religious standpoint. I am not trashing The Shack, I just liked this book better, and it can stand alone as a great book outside of a Christian theme.

For those not interested in Christian based reading, it is still a must read. The story will grab you and hold you; Grisham-esque. I have include a video trailer for the book as well as the Amazon link.

Henry O. Arnold is a friend whose family I have known most of my life via Otter Creek. He is a professional actor, writer, and director in theatre, film, and television. He co-wrote and produced the film The Second Chance (starring Michael W. Smith). He wrote the screenplay for God’s Ambassador, the first authorized documentary of evangelist Billy Graham.

Barton-Arnold website

We Were Sold a Lie and Bought It

POST UPDATE: If you would like to get physically ill over this issue, please read this article, Congress Opens Hearings on Financial Meltdown which descibes Lehman executives liquidating company cofers into their own pockets, literally in the same breaths in which they are pleading for government rescue.

I hope they get life in prison. God is going to have a place for these theives in hell. Their abject greed is going to ruin millions have lives. And they don't care. This is not a credit crisis, but the act of evil, greedy men.

I said in the original post, it is an intelligence crisis. Our country is facing a moral crisis, pure and simple. World Com, Enron, just the tip of the ice berg.

Original post:

I am so angry at our Congress and our Senate right now.

They pushed a bad bill through that will saddle fiscally responsible taxpayers with a huge anchor that is tied to our financial future. Thereby creating more financial distress, not alleviating it.

Worse, they sold this bail out with fear--fear that the market would crash. So the bill passes and immediately the market crashes. I think it is a result of the smart people knowing what this bill really meant. I don't think it would have crashed as bad if it had not passed.

Anyway, the sell by fear was a lie. Thanks for nothing Congress. You promised us the market would stabilize by the passing of the bill, but it did not. It went the opposite way. But you now have want you wanted, an unsigned check for $700 billion from the American taxpayers.

When will this country rise up and stop living in fear? We have been knee-jerk reacting to fear since 9/11. And the Bush administration has been leading the charge. This type of behavior is only hurting us and we don't learn!

In the meantime, I am being flooded with internet ads, TV ads, and mass mail marketing hounding me to take advantage of easy credit.

Credit Crisis my rear end! We have an intelligence crisis. And that crisis is going to undo this once great country.

Vandy delivers on Game Day -- Big Time!!!

The Vanderbilt student body, the University, and its fans delivered for the Game Day telecast. The Game Day producer said it was one of the best atmospheres they have had.

More importantly, the Vanderbilt football team stepped up and delivered amongst all the hype, in the spotlight, and on ESPN in prime time. They beat then #13 Auburn 14-13. The Commodores move to 5-0, 3-0 in confernce play. They're #1 in the SEC East, #13 in the AP Poll, and #14 in the Coaches' Poll.

It was a huge win for this program.

After giving up 13 quick points the first quarter, VU shutout Auburn the rest of the game and put up 14 points against one of the best defenses in the country. I know one better though, Vanderbilt. VU has had only 10 points scored on them in the second half this year, and that by only two teams. They shutout Auburn for the final 48:09 minutes of the game!

For a great breakdown of stats, see the post Vanderbilt-Auburn Report Card at Conquer and Prevail.

Best line by a sportcaster this weekend--Lou Holtz on College Breakdown. The question being discussed: "Is Vanderbilt a legitimate contender for the SEC Championship. After one of the sportcasters made his case for no, Lou Holtz replied: I couldn't disagree with you more if you were my wife!

Best signs on the Game Day broadcast (set up on the Commons on the Vanderbilt Peabody Campus):

You people are blocking the Library

I got my GED at Auburn

Phil Fulmer ate my second sign

The Geeks shall inherit the Turf

Thoughts of Jefferson

My blog friend, JMG, has an interesting post, Domestic Violence?, about a bill just passed in the shadow of the financial crisis. I think this bill would have been hotly debated in the press if not for financial crisis news. I encourage everyone to look at her post.

In response I have posted a few thoughts of the man Thomas Jefferson which may be applicable. I have also included quotes pertaining to the financial crisis. These are especially troubling -- we never listened.

Government Rule and Force

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.

Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people.

Present Economic Woes

Delay is preferable to error.

Never spend your money before you have earned it.

I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.


I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.

VU Gets Prime Time Exposure

Vanderbilt at 4-0 sits atop the SEC East at 2-0 in the Conference. Only two other teams, Alabama and LSU (West div), are undefeated in Conference play.

Vanderbilt's hard work and Coach Bobby Johnson's system of building depth and a fundamentally sound football team over a long term are paying dividends.

Vanderbilt moved up to #19 in both the AP and the Coaches' Poll on Sunday. Even better, ESPN Game Day, the hottest football broadcast in college sports is coming to the Vanderbilt Campus this Saturday. The VU v. Auburn game will be broadcast during the prime time college football window Saturday evening.

This should greatly improve the coaching staff's ability to recruit. Having several prominent players in the NFL, including Jay Cutler, the starting QB for the hot Broncos adds even more icing on the cake.

During the first weekend of the NFL official season, VU had 13 former players on NFL rosters.

GO 'DORES!

Letter to my Congressperson: Bail out of the bailout!

This is a letter I emailed to my Congressional members. I encourage everyone to make their opinion on this vital matter known to Congress.

Dear Congressman,

I am opposed to the bailout plan and skeptical of any plan that protects or rewards those who were greedy, participating in fraud, or making poor, un-informed financial decisions, either business or personal. I am also very uncomfortable with the language in the bill that gives the Secretary broad, unchecked powers without oversight from other government branches and without any legal ramifications.

For over a decade our society has preyed on and indulged in easy credit, get something for nothing, short-sighted behavior, both in businesses and in personal decisions. This could not work and was a long-term disaster waiting to happen. It has happened.

It is time to pay the piper. I, who executed fiscal responsibility, should not have to pay for the greed and mistakes of others. I cannot afford to nor can my child afford it.

I feel it is immoral to scare people into accepting a bad plan. We did this with the Iraq War, draconian security measures, and Airport security laws. All of these were knee jerk reactions, accomplished little, and have cost trillions in total. We can no longer behave this way.

Finally, I have a serious problem with the targeted list of firms first in line for the bailout being the very firms that have just been put on a government investigation into fraudulent activities. The government is going to use my money to bailout companies they suspect my have fraudulent practices? Are my elected leaders serious? I appeal to reason on this point.

Sincerely,

Anthony W. Arnold

VU Moves to 4-0, gets Ranked

Vanderbilt won an intense, game on the road at Ole Miss moving to 4-0 and today is Ranked 25 and 21 in the Coaches and AP polls respectively. This takes the SEC to 6 ranked teams. Last week the SEC set a record for having 5 teams in the top 10 from the same conference. There is no doubt which conference is the best in football.

This was a huge victory for VU and they are doing it in ways that VU teams in times past have failed. They are finishing strong and creating turnovers instead of committing them. They had two 2nd half goal line stands, the last one to prevent the go ahead score by Ole Miss, creating a fumble as the Ole Miss runner crossed the 1 yard line.

They are also handling adversity with patience and confidence. In the first quarter Ole Miss made big plays jumping out to a large, quick lead on VU mistakes, but Ryan Hamilton returned his first of 3 interceptions 79 yards for a touchdown as Ole Miss was preparing a knockout punch. Hamilton earned National Defensive Player of the Week from the Walter Camp Football Foundation for his incredible effort.

Hamilton's interception return got VU back in the game and changed the momentum. VU overcame the early deficit to enter halftime tied 17-17. Given our second half performance this year, this is a great position for VU.

Vanderbilt has only given up 10 2nd half points this year and has significantly outscored its opponents after the 1st quarter. Ole Miss did not score after the 1st quarter last night, the second consecutive 2nd half shutout for the 'Dores defense. And we have depth. We are very dinged up but still winning.

Ole Miss hurt themselves continually with penalties while VU remained poised continuing to be the least penalized team in the SEC.

Huge test in two weeks--a tough Auburn defense in Nashville. Vanderbilt can capitalize on Auburn's offense and will have to do this to win.

GO 'DORES.

Big Night, Big Game, Big VU Victory

Vandy beats South Carolina (came in ranked #24)and coach Steve Spurrier for the 2nd consectutive year in front of a national, prime-time ESPN audience.

They played so hard in the 2nd half and earned their victory.

How many coaches or teams can say they have beaten a nationally ranked Steve Spurrier team in consecutive years? Not too many. Last year we won at South Carolina when they were ranked #6.

GREAT GAME 'DORES!

Nickson named SEC Player of the Week

Vanderbilt quarterback Chris Nickson was named SEC player of the week after rushing for a career-high 166 yards and two touhdowns and threw for 91 yards and another score in Vanderbilt's 34-13 win at Miami of Ohio last Thursday evening.

VU wins big, player of the week, UT lays an egg out of the gate. New and pleasant terrioty for VU fans.

Big game against South Carolina at home on prime-time ESPN this Thursday. All VU fans are to wear black to the game.

Can't wait. GO 'DORES!

One Man's Wilderness Post #2

A couple of excerpts from One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey by Sam Keith from the journals and photographs of Richard Proenneke. Alaska Northwest Books.1999.

Gleaming snowfields showed not a sign of a track. They would be blinding to walk across in the bright sun. And all those beautiful waterfalls, some dropping from the high buttresses like thin streams of molten silver and seeming to vanish in midair. Others along the creek below spilled in wide, bright aprons between banks as green as new leaves.

It is time to leave, so I picked up my walking stick. I had taken a long look into the heart of the high places and felt like a man inspired by a sermon that came to me firsthand, that came out ofthe sky and the many moods of the mountains.

I crossed the big pasture and took several sips of water from the trickles that made music over the stones--like a wine-taster not being able to decide which vintage was best. Down through the canyon with the rock-strewn slopes on either side and finally, just above where the canyon walls ran together, the triangular eye of turquoise that was the lake peered up at me.

A brief stop at the Eagle's Back, a dizzy jut of granite on the mid-slope of Falls Mountain. Climbing out on it, I stood feeling suspended over the entire upper lake that gleamed beneath in robin's egg blue. On the far side was the warm glow of logs that is home--the place I wanted to leave in the morning and the place I wanted to return to at the close of the day.
-- pgs 197-198

I broke out into the willows that grew around the edges of the cottonwoods. There were no fresh moose droppings or tracks. But then I came to a clump of cow parsnips freshly cropped and the grasses mashed around them.

Funny, I thought, I have never known a moose to eat this plant. I looked about. The
leaves in the cottonwoods quivered against the sky. Suddenly the brush to my right rustled and crashed. I spun, expecting to see the bull [moose] getting up out of his bunk--and every hair on my stabbed electricity into my skull.

A huge brown bear was coming head on, bounding through the willow clumbs not fifty feet away! His head looked as broad as a bulldoze blade. I threw up my arms and yelled. That was all I could think to do.

On he came, and I thought, "At last you've done it, nothing can save you now." I was stumbling as I retreated in terror, shouting.

I tripped and fell on my back. Instinctively I started kicking at the great broad head as it burst through the willow leaves. And then as he loomed over me, a strange thing happened. The air whooshed out of him as he switched ends. Off he went up the slope, bunching his huge bulk, climbing hard, and showering stones. Not once did he look back.

I was shouting, encouraging him in his flight. What seconds before had seemed so terrifying was now almost comical. What had saved my skin?

He must have scented me at the last moment. Until then I do believe he had me pegged as another animal and meat on the table. I couldn't stop shaking. The rest of the way down the mountain I lived those seconds over and over again. I was convinced that the ought-six would be standard equipment from this day on.
-- pg 199.

One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey

Sam Keith's book from the journals of Dick Proenneke (Pren-ne-kee) is one of the best books I have read. It is simply written in a parsimonious style that is still descriptive of the complexities of the man Proenneke is; and is descriptive of the complexities of a solitary, self-sufficient life in the Alaska wilderness. It is this simplicity of expression without loss of detail that makes Proenneke's journals so elegant.

Reading his journal motivates me to be productive and active but at the same time creates a sense of calm and peace . Proenneke is an extremely industrious man but who goes about his mission with calm purpose, a peaceful spirit, and with efficiency. He is creatively and mechanically intelligent to the highest degree, yet he finds his purpose in the simplest of pleasures of his surroundings: God painted views of lakes and mountains; flowing water; snow covered environs; and the daily lives and eccentricities of the Alaskan wildlife.

He revels in just being.

From his words, Proenneke is not a religious man, but he clearly demonstrates reverence in his love for life in the wild and the uncomplicated morality he lives out. This is succinctly stated in my favorite quote from the book.


Somehow I never seem to tire of just standing and looking down the lake or up at the mountains in the evening even if it is cold. If this is the way folks feel inside a church, I can understand why they go.

Man builds cathedrals that take lifetimes to complete to find a way to honor and worship God. Yet a simple man has captured the essence of true worship that a religious man should have.

This is such a great book for such an easy read. Efficient but grand just like Dick Proenneke.