Outlaws, Outrages and Outright Lies
Wandering Soul Blog
The amber glow has faded,
On mountains crowned in blue.
As shadows cross the valley.
A single light shows through.
The sleeping hunter rises,
Eyes piercing through the gloom.
Dark shadows slowly creep,
The valley to entomb.
The evening breeze is cool,
Wafting through the trees,
The tired day must slumber,
To put the earth at ease.
The blue horizon lingers
Like a fading flower,
For one more precious moment
At the twilight hour.
LDT Feb 9, ‘26
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Thirty-nine Ford, Forty-eight mill,
zippin’ along up Milk River Hill.
That motor was fine, a two-thirty-nine,
the paint didn’t shine, but damn it was mine.
Five window coupe, three on the tree,
pull out the choke, then turn the key.
Hydraulic brakes to get her to stop,
worn-out shocks to get her to hop.
Open the windshield with a pipe wrench,
that would remove the cigarette stench.
Bicycle tube to hold the trunk down,
it’s all that I need to get me around.
The radio was a Superheterodyne;
it picked up KOMA, with music so fine.
The tires were old, and rotten, I’m told,
it had water in the gas that I stole.
Once I decided to find my own way,
I hit the road; I just couldn’t stay.
Past the wheatfields out on the plain,
racin’ the wind and a passenger train.
Saw the Rockies up there ahead,
I mashed the gas, and on I sped.
About this time, I’m feelin’ real good,
V-8 a-purrin’ under the hood.
When it broke down outside of Fairfield,
my mechanical skills were never revealed.
I left her hissin’ water and steam,
that was the end of my motorin’ dream.
Oh, how I miss that little old Ford,
drivin’ along with the gas pedal floored.
LDT Feb 7, ‘26
That car belonged to my brother Virg, and my Dad before I got it. Someone put a bigger, 1948 engine and column-shifted transmission in it. I left Glasgow at the end of the Summer of 1960 and picked up cousin Mike in Fort Benton. We were headed for Glacier Park when a water pump pulley broke off. We left it in the gas station attendant\’s backyard and took off hitch-hiking. By the time I got back, someone had stolen the battery. I sold it for $25.
The car had an enormous trunk, much like the Moonshiner car in Thunder Road. To get a little more speed out of it, I soon learned to push hard on the rotten floorboard. That gave it another 20 MPH.
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I grew up as a free-range kid,
There were no rules for what I did.
The folks cared not where I would roam,
They just hoped I’d make it home.
If they’d known I’d erred somewhat,
They’d have probably whipped my butt.
I skated when the ice was thin,
Never saying where I’d been.
Shot Magpies with a BB gun,
Skinny-dipped, just for fun.
Threw snowballs at an old cop car,
Tried to run, didn’t get far.
We smoked our cigs behind the barn,
And figured it would do no harm.
We stole apples from the neighbor’s yard,
But when he caught us, we worked hard.
My report card said it all,
Conduct made my grades to fall.
I played hooky with my crew,
Even tried some home-made brew.
Took a joyride in the truck,
Got it stuck in the muck.
We put Aspirin in our Cokes,
Even told some dirty jokes.
I don’t know how we survived,
But somehow, we all thrived.
I hope you had a life like mine,
And it all turned out fine.
There isn’t much that needs un-did,
Glad I was a free-range kid.
LDT Feb 4, ‘25
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The Biography of A Civil War Cavalryman
Trooper DwLay: The Biography of a Civil War Cavalryman
I have decided to publish the biography I wrote on our ancestor, Reuben R. DeLay. It is a bit rough, as I have no editor, and I had decided to write a piece of historical fiction based on his life instead.
Things haven’t worked out as I planned. I was making steady progress on the novel when vision problems stopped me cold at 44,000 words. Meanwhile, I lost three of my cousins, Dayla, Mike, and Mary, while I was writing it. All were descendants of Reuben DeLay. I never got to tell them about this incredible man’s life. I feel I have to tell the story now, before I lose any more of you.
Below is a link to the book on Amazon. I recommend the Kindle version, because I will be updating/editing it from time to time. If you get the print version, you will forever be stuck with errors, like Fort Sumter, spelled with a p.
I expect to recover enough sight to read comfortably sometime in March. When that happens, I will resume writing the novel. It will cover the same ground as the biography, to include Bleeding Kansas, the campaigns of the 3rd Iowa Cavalry, and Reuben’s capture and life in Confederate prisons. The novel will offer my view of what he might have seen, thought, said, and done during a very tumultuous part of American history. If you are interested, I could use some help in beta reading or editing both books.
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Thanks,
Larry
Vote me off the island, I’ve had enough of this,
The chaos and confusion are things that I won’t miss.
The whole damn show is scripted, the bullshit never ends,
Oh, how I miss the time when we could all be friends.
The drama isn’t real, so what the hell’s the deal?
He lied about the “steal”, that was his big reveal.
Canada is not a state, that Gulf is “Mexico”,
I have half a mind to tell him where to go.
We don’t need no arch, our Center’s named for John,
Who cares about the tariffs when our Civil Rights are gone?
They fired all the experts and put in syncopates,
A page from the playbook of sleazy autocrats.
Show them all your papers, or they’ll lock you up,
He staged a phony contest and won the Silver Cup.
If you dare to cross him, you’ll get put on a list,
And if he disappears you, he’ll say you are not missed.
He’ll sue you or indict you, cuz he never gave a shit,
About the Constitution that was so wisely writ.
Vote me off the island, it ain’t working out so well,
He can wear orange makeup on his way to Hell!
LDT Groundhog’s Day, ‘26
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He grew up down by the slough.
Where fishing’s good, the swimming too.
A rope we hung from a cottonwood,
Swinging wide from where we stood.
Barefoot hikes through the woods,
No never dids and never shoulds.
He took the lead with all us kids,
Busting mutton, like Casy Tibbs.
Then came his love of every sport,
He was pretty good I will report.
Tossing footballs, Little League,
Never seemed to show fatigue.
On the field, he did his bit,
His time at bat, for sure a hit.
He gave me lessons, how to box,
Truth be told, he cleaned some clocks.
Shooting baskets, ten below,
Underneath the moonlight glow.
At the hoops, he was a whiz,
Making layups was his biz.
He always gave the game his all,
And never, ever hogged the ball.
Then came that day in Sixty-One,
Gone to Glasgow just for fun.
He took a walk around the town,
A mixer truck ran him down.
We knew not if he would survive,
But we didn’t figure on his drive.
For weeks, he lay smashed to mush,
But he was one tough young cuss.
He nailed his Levis on a wall,
And proclaimed he’d walk by Fall,
He labored through the pain and hurt,
Shaking off the blood and dirt.
On the court, he labored hard,
No crutch would ever be his pard’.
From the bench, he cheered the team,
He’d never play, it would seem.
The game was close, state tournament.
The Blue Ponies were victory bent.
Then the coach called, “Time-out!”
From the crowd, there came a shout.
And we could tell from the din,
Who the coach was putting in.
No one cared about the score,
We saw the winner on the floor.
We all were glad that we came,
Because Mike Thill was in the game.
LDT Jan 31, ‘26
In memory of Mike “Otto” Thill (1944-2025)
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Re: Combined Federal Campaign 2026
The latest outrage of the tЯump administration is an attack on charitable giving. That’s right, his hand-picked Director of the US Office of Personnel Management wants to end the Combined Federal Campaign. The CFC is the government’s way to enable military and civilian employees to give through payroll deductions. The reasoning for this action is questionable. If the CFC is cancelled, it will hurt hundreds of important local and national charities. Since this may be my last opportunity to give through CFC, I made sure some “Woke” charities got some of my money. These include a women’s health organization and an immigrant rights group. In addition, I have written the following to my Senators and Representative to express my concerns.
Letters to Senator Kelly, Senator Gallego, and Congressman Ciscomani:
Sierra Vista, AZ 85635
October 6, 2025
Dear Sir:
The Combined Federal Campaign is in danger of being terminated by USOPM Director Scott Kupor. As you surely know, the CFC is the primary means for federal civilian and military personnel to donate to worthwhile charities. Since its inception by President Kennedy in 1962, it has raised well over one billion dollars. It is an efficient and effective way for government personnel to give to reputable and carefully vetted local and national charities through payroll deductions.
Director Kupor is now threatening to end this vital and worthwhile program after the current campaign. In proposing this, he cites some highly questionable cost factors associated with the campaign. His numbers are ridiculous. This is a simple and efficient payroll deduction program. As a retiree, I just made my 2026 pledges online. My input required virtually no effort by any paid federal employee. You can be assured of this because I did it during the Government Shutdown. While I was an active employee, most of the effort directed toward conducting the CFC was done as a collateral duty. Again, I ought to know. As a federal employee, I participated in running the campaign. While doing so, I made sure that none of my official duties were neglected.
Below you will find a link to Director Kupor’s preposterous reasons for wanting to cancel the CFC in the future, published under the heading of “Secrets of OPM”. In it Kupor states that, “….OPM is concerned about excessive administrative costs associated with the CFC, along with steadily declining participation, and it is evaluating changes to the CFC for 2026 (including whether to continue the program).”
I would hope that you understand the value of the Combined Federal Campaign and do your part in preserving it.
Sincerely,
Larry D. Thill
What You Should Know About the Combined Federal Campaign
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If I must be truthful,
Magda made good streusel.
Baked with mother’s pride,
Before her children died.
Her eyes like Heaven’s blue,
Her blood, so pure and true.
Standing by her man,
To carry out The Plan.
A Mother’s Cross for her,
Of right, she was so sure.
The lies became her truth,
And reason was forsooth.
She taught her kids to hate,
For them, it was too late.
The regime began to fall,
Hiding behind a wall.
This Mother of the Year,
Became so filled with fear.
She took them all to hunker,
Inside the Führer’s bunker.
And as the Reich did fall,
She killed them one and all.
Magda made good streusel,
If I must be truthful.
LDT Sept 22, ’25
Magda Goebbels was the wife of Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. She was portrayed as the ideal Aryan wife and mother. Before the War, she gave an interview with a German magazine where she shared her recipe for streusel. On May 1, 1945, she poisoned their children “for the sake of giving our national socialistic lives the only possible honourable end …”
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Captain William Monks was from West Plains, Missouri, where my Great-Great-Grandfather fought a battle in February 1862. A Union man, Monks and his family suffered greatly at the hands of Rebel bushwhackers and irregular troops. Escaping certain death in captivity, he joined the Union Army, spending the rest of the war fighting those who had driven him from his home and executed many of his neighbors. After the war, he became an assistant prosecutor. He brought his fellow Union survivors and his defeated Confederate neighbors together to rebuild Howell County, which had been devastated and depopulated by the War.
“God forbid that we ever have any more civil war. War is the enemy of good society, degrades the morals of the people, causes rapine and murder, destroys thousands of lives, brings misery and trouble upon the whole people, creates a government debt that our children will not see paid, makes friends enemies. God forbid that any more sectional strife ever may grow up among the people; may there be no North, no South, no East, no West, but let it be a government of the whole people, for the people and by the people. May the time speedily come when the civilized nations of the earth will know war no more; when the civilized nations meet in an international congress, pass an international law that all differences between nations shall be settled by arbitration. May this nation in truth and in deed become a Christian nation and every man speak the truth to his neighbor and adopt the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
— William Monks
After the War, Monks sued two of his neighbors who were part of the Rebel unit that captured him. They had verbally abused and promised to kill him. He won an $8,000 judgment, which allowed him to seize their property. They begged forgiveness, one of them explaining his actions as a ruse to keep the other Rebels from killing him. Monks forgave them and deeded their property back to their wives.
Monks had two daughters. Both married sons of Confederate soldiers.
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ENOUGH!
These are contentious times.
America has been polarized by hate and division..
We used to have responsible political discourse.
We listened to each other and politely disagreed.
Sometimes, that disagreement would lead to a great compromise that moved us forward to solve the problems of the day. The US Constitution was such a compromise. To gain agreement, one really horrible thing called the 3/5ths Compromise was added. slave states got 3/5ths credit in apportioning seats in the US House of Representatives for each slave they owned. Who among us would sign on to that today?
A better compromise was the Bill of Rights, the first 10 Amendments. States wanted these assurances before they would ratify the Constitution.
My favorite right enumerated in the Bill of Rights is the First Amendment. It gives me the right to voice my opinion without fear of retribution. It also gives you the right to tell me when I’m wrong.
I lived through an era of political assassinations. JFK, MLK, Medgar Evers, and James Meridith, to name a few. Each one broke my heart, but I was curiously unmoved when Governor George Wallace was seriously wounded in 1968. Why? I saw him as a racist who was running to overturn the hard-won progress in Civil Rights. Though I still don’t like him, it was awful that someone shot him.
We moved forward as a nation from these terrible events in the 1960s..
We came together to stand up for what is right. We got rid of a Vice-President who turned out to be a crook. Then we conducted a thorough bipartisan investigation of a President who had exceeded his authority and lied about it. We argued about big vs small government and found ways to keep the economy running while taking care of the least of us. Presidents from both parties provided us with good leadership and inspiration.
When 911 hit us like an atomic bomb, we quickly pulled together in a show of unity not seen since WWII.
Then, we let ourselves get polarized. We formed tribes, each accusing the other of being extreme. Some of the accusations were more true than others. We stopped short of demonizing each other for a while and the country continued to function for all.
In 2026 America fell apart. Those who wanted to blame all their problems on others found their champion. The country immediately became catastrophically divided. Too many of us learned to hate those who are different. The way we handled Race, ethnicity, national origin, and diversity had once made America a shining light. Suddenly, we were bitching about which bathroom to use. Hateful rhetoric was normalized because one man in a position of power used it. Fortunately, our guardrails held as he became increasingly despotic and self-serving.
The end of American democracy came on January 6, 2021. You might have seen it on TV. “Stop the vote!” “Hang Mike Pence!”
Those of us who foolishly thought democracy had survived that day were mistaken. A partisan Senate refused to hold the instigator to account. Four years later, the fools who followed his direction were pardoned.
Let me return to Charlie Kirk. He was a polarizing figure who seems to have angered some folks. He was even a target of criticism by such right-wing figures as Laura Loomer and Nick Fuentes. He was not killed by an immigrant, a Muslim, a Transvestite, or a liberal. Lower your flag if you wish. He deserves to be mourned. Let us not make his unfortunate death at the hands of someone who appeared to look a lot like him further divide us.
We have now arrived at the point where we have one party rule with a Unitary Executive. He is accountable to no one but his narcissistic self. There are no checks and balances. Those who love freedom and democracy are doomed.
The angst has generated a new wave of political violence. We should deplore all of it, not just when it happens to our champion. I fear our Unitary Executive will use these events to solidify his power. Hitler got the Enabling Act after the Reichstag fire. Don’t be surprised if elections are cancelled or the results overturned. This leader loves to declare a crisis so he can rule by Executive Decree. The court has put him above the law. He faces no consequences for destroying our decency, democracy or the Rule of Law.
Buckle up. We appear to be screwed. Hopefully, the next voice that is silenced won’t be yours.
On a personal note, my retina appears to be detaching, so this post may be my last for a while.
Godspeed America.
I hope to see you on the other side, but probably won’t live long enough to see a resolution to this nightmare.
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Larry
Outlaws, Outrages and Outright Lies