Twiddling time away

Here we sit in the county park near Thornton, IA, relaxing, reading and trying to surf.  (Our Internet is so slow that surfing is a pain.)   So it was time to break out a book and continue reading.  The current book is "Napoleon Bonaparte".  It is obviously written by a Frenchman and he left lots of French phrases in (with no explanations).  Needless to say, I don't speak French and I have a very difficult time following sometimes.

I have often wondered how Napoleon Bonaparte was elected, appointed or gained his power.  The book provides some interesting reading.   I'm in the middle of the book and there was one phrase that stuck with me.  I quote N.B.  "Liberty was the fruit of discipline; and the remedy for indiscipline was less liberty."  Napoleon was  really a military man and believed that orders originate from the top (the general at the top).  I'm currently in the time period where he is appointed to lead the government and so craftily (and slowly) changes the government to a dictatorship with Napoleon at the head.  I suspect that just as we've seen in some of our politicians today, Napoleon's personality was such that he got his way, the democratic process be dammed!  The people had just revolted against the monarchy and did not want a NON-representative government.  So what did they permit, but another dictator.

It is still hot and muggy here in Iowa and our air conditioner is getting a good workout.  Thank goodness for power to run the air conditioner.   Yes, we enjoy boondocking, but not in this kind of a climate.

Today we're moving to another local county park.  It is only 15 miles, but near where a cousin of Sandy's is in a care center.   We've been here 6 days and we were not conservative about our water use, so we need to dump the tanks and refill.  So why not truck on down the road a few miles.

Gene