Happy Winter Solstice

Picture was taken five years ago at this time of year and is what we have to look forward to next year.

As recently as a few years ago I would have no problem wishing people a Merry Xmas, then the wingnuts on Fux Noise and the Christianists started their "War on Xmas". Being a contrarian I don't take kindly to being told there is only one way to go about this holiday season.

Whatever way you celebrate the season, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!

Mixed Metaphor

Would you let somebody that doesn't know 'shit from shinola' 'polish that turd'??

Funny how the mind works, yesterday I was listening to Dolly Parton singing about you don't know "love from shinola" and my mind automatically said that should be 'shit from shinola' and then 'polish that turd'.

How Big A Box Do You Need For A Camera Card??

I have an antique digital camera. We bought it summer of 2004, so it is over 5 years old. It has 3.2 mega-pixels with a 10x optical zoom and 3x digital zoom. Also it has a viewfinder like on a 35mm SLR and a LCD monitor and you can use either when taking pictures. New cameras have at least 10 mega-pixels for even the cheap ones. My camera works good for the type of photography I do and to replace it with one that has similar features would cost more than I am willing to spend just to get more mega-pixels.

Anywho, recently I decided I needed new cards for it in case the ones I got when we bought the camera were to go bad. When we bought the camera, it came with a 16mb card and we bought a 128mb card. Looking around in the stores, the smallest card I could find had a capacity of 1 gig. My camera will only take cards from 16mb to 256mb. Went online and found the website for the camera and discovered that they had the best price for the cards. So I ordered 3 cards that were 256mb. Yesterday I received them. Below are photos of the card and the packaging and the box they were shipped in.

This is one of the cards on the box it was in. The card is less than one inch square and about 1/16 of an inch thick.

This shows the card in front of my coffee cup with the boxes the cards came in sitting on the box they were shipped in.

Another view of the boxes. After ordering the cards, knowing the size of the cards, I expected them to be shipped in an envelope.

Sniveling Cowards And Outright Liars

I am getting tired of listening to the bullshit and outright lies coming from the Republican'ts or as I usually call them the FuckingRepublicans (they have been fucking me my entire adult life, therefore the name)!!! The other day this Liar elected from Texas, Joe Barton, was saying we didn't dare bring prisoners from Git-Mo to a prison in IL or anywhere in this country as that would be unsafe for the country. The Sniveling Cowards have been saying this for the past year, not because there is any way the prisoners could escape or cause any real damage if they did, but because the Sniveling Cowards don't want the prisoners in a courtroom in this country where the truth about the torture the Sniveling Cowards advocated and allowed to be carried out would be revealed during the course of the trials!!

While MSM was saying the prison was a maximum security prison, Liar Joe Barton called it a minimum security prison. I googled the prison and came up with this from the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Thomson Correctional Center
Opened:
Capacity: 0
Level 1: Maximum-Security
Adult MaleAverage Daily Population: 0

Thomson Correctional Center is the parent institution for the following location(s):
Thomson Minimum Security Unit
Level 7: Low Minimum-Security Adult Male
Average Daily Population: 144Total Average Daily Population: 144
Average Age: 0
Average Annual Cost Per Inmate: $43,803.00

Thomson Correctional Center is a safe maximum-security environment. Prison design, movement patterns and programming options will allow a strong community of order to be maintained. Inmates will be monitored under constant armed and electronic surveillance. Education, mental health services, recreation and skilled development will be available to inmates as mandatory and or voluntary programming options. These choices, under professional guidance, are opportunities for inmates to enrich their lives with the tools necessary for successful living.
Thomson Correctional Center is a Level 1 adult male maximum-security facility comprised of 1,600 cells and eight housing units. The facility also has a 200-bed minimum-security unit. The facility is 146 acres and consists of 15 buildings, totaling 625,000 square feet. Construction in the cell houses is pre-cast, reinforced cement walls. The facility is enclosed by a 12-foot exterior fence and 15-foot interior fence, which includes a dual sided electric stun fence.
Currently only the 200-bed minimum-security unit is open with no opening date set for the main complex.

While there is a minimum security prison there, there are 1,600 beds available in the maximum security prison. Before bringing any Git-Mo prisoners there, they would add more fencing around the prison to make it even more secure!!

The Sniveling Cowards have since 9/11 been telling us to be afraid, be very afraid of the terrorists who hate our country. Like we had to go after Saddam Hussein because he had WMD's. How in the hell was he supposed to get them to this country to cause any damage??? Load them on a camel and haul them here??? I could go on and on with the ways they want us to be so afraid that we are constantly shitting ourselves, but I would have to up the dosage of my blood pressure meds.

These Sniveling Cowards are always spouting such utter Bullshit that I wonder if they even have a nodding acquaintance with the truth in these matters. Or is it that they don't care as they figure their base is too dumb to check to see if what they are saying is true or not??? If I were a member of this party of Sniveling Cowards, I would be so ashamed of being a member that I think I would have to wear a full Burka when out in public so no one would recognize me!!

Did I mention they are a bunch of Sniveling Cowards and Outright Liars????

Doonesbury

I wasn't going to say anything about Tiger Woods as that would be beating a dead horse. The MSM has been worrying away at him like a dog with a favorite bone. Then I ran across this cartoon.

I Knew It Was Too Good To Be True

The Old Lady spotted a post about this on a blog and mentioned it to me, so I thought I'd check it out. It does sound attractive, stare at large breasts for 10 minutes to equal 30 minutes of exercise. (I guess you'd have to double the time with small breasts.) I'm all for healthy things and this sounded right up my alley!!

"According to the New England Journal of Medicine, "Just 10 minutes of staring at the charms of a well-endowed female is roughly equivalent to a 30-minute aerobics work-out" declared gerontologist Dr. Karen Weatherby."
Dr. Weatherby and fellow researchers at three hospitals in Frankfurt, Germany, reached the startling conclusion after comparing the health of 200 male outpatients - half of whom were instructed to look at busty females daily, the other half told to refrain from doing so. The study revealed that after five years, the chest-watchers had lower blood pressure, slower resting pulse rates and fewer instances of coronary artery disease.
"Sexual excitement gets the heart pumping and improves blood circulation," explains Dr. Weatherby. "There's no question: Gazing at breasts makes men healthier." "Our study indicates that engaging in this activity a few minutes daily cuts the risk of stroke and heart attack in half. We believe that by doing so consistently, the average man can extend his life four to five years."


The above has been confirmed to be an Urban Legend. Damn!!!!!!!!!!! Found several references to this when I googled "Staring at breasts reduces heart disease", but upon further checking found out it is an urban legend and Snopes.com says it is false. According to Snopes.com this has never appeared in the "New England Journal of Medicine" but a similar article has appeared twice in "Weekly World News" in May 1997 and Mar. 2000. We all know what a fountain of information that is, isn't that where Faux Noise gets their stories from???????

I was going to put up a picture to illustrate what kind of exercise this would be, but what's the point if it's not true???

Global Warming Hoax

By Mike Luckovich at the AJC.

More Holiday Lights

Once again, I was disqualified from my neighborhood's "Best Decorated House" contest due to my bad attitude!
The Kid sent this to me, I love it!!

Ice

Hearing all the stories about the snow in the Mid-West and New England today and then finding this cartoon inspired me to post it.

Bags

This would be even funnier if it wasn't so true!!!!!

Global Warming??

Do fat Global Warming Deniers taste as good as walrus?????????????

Paddleball Theory

The Big Bang Theory is well accepted by most rational thinking beings. What has been kicking around in my head for quite some time is this: What if there is more to the Big Bang Theory than just a big bang and expansion of the universe?? What if eventually everything loses momentum and slows to a stop?? Will gravity then take over and cause the universe to contract back to one big ball of stuff and the process starts all over again???

Sorry It Took So Long

Recently I've been thinking about when I was in the Southeast working as a migrant aircraft mechanic some 25 years ago. For a while I was in Alabama and then here in Atlanta working at Charlie Brown Airport. (That's the actual name of the airport.)

Anywho, I was living in motels so most of my meals were in restaurants (like Waffle House, hey I was trying to save money, so I ate cheap) or fast food places. The one thing that sticks in my mind from that period is how many times I heard the phrase, "Sorry it took so long" as I got handed my food order. Even at Krystal Burger, which is the Southern version of White Castle.

Now, 25 years later, I seldom hear that when I go out to eat. I don't know if the service has improved or if they no longer care and have stopped apologizing.

Lousy Shots

Yesterday was the anniversary of Pearl Harbor and that is a somber moment. It reminded me of a lighter moment that happened when I was working as a migrant aircraft mechanic. In '87 I was working at Hickam Air Base which is next to Pearl Harbor. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor they also attacked Hickam Field as it was called back then. One day on our way back to work after lunch, the leadman pointed out a couple of buildings as we drove by and said, "Those buildings still have pock marks from the bullets when the Japanese attacked." One of the guys said, "They were lousy shots. They didn't hit any of the windows!!"

More Monkey Butt

After doing the post where I mentioned Anti-Monkey Butt powder, I recieved a comment from someone who works for Anti-Monkey Butt with a link to this video.

'Tis the season, so enjoy!!

Deep East Texas, Whatever

Spent Turkey Day and the weekend in Deep East Texas. Kinda like BFE only in Texas. Discovered a remedy for an ailment I had never heard of before. Anti-Monkey Butt powder to get rid of Monkey Butt. I guess if you are sitting on your ass all day sweating your ass off, your ass could turn a lovely shade of red like the monkey on the bottle. It also comes in Lady Anti-Monkey Butt powder in a pink bottle.

A comment on the drive there and back, there are some remarkably stupid drivers on the road these days. I only hope they don't take out someone else when they reach the scene of their accident!!!

That Damn ACORN Again!!

Auto Repair Manuals

I'm feeling kinda ripped-off. Recently I bought a Haynes Repair Manual that covers the Jeep pickup I bought last summer. After getting it home and removing the plastic shrink wrap, I looked over my purchase. The reason I bought the manual is that I need info on how to repair and maintain the Quadra-Trac transfer case on the Jeep. The only how-to on the transfer case was on how to adjust the linkages to the transfer case and how check out and repair the vacuum switch on other Jeeps. It also has some info on replacing some seals and the speedometer gear. As for the info I wanted on the inner workings of the transfer case, it said, "Overhauling a transfer case is difficult job for the do-it-yourselfer. It involves the disassembly and reassembly of many small parts. Numerous clearances must be precisely measured and, if necessary, changed with select fit spacers and snap-rings." Then it says to either remove and replace or take it to a transmission shop for overhaul. Like I'm going to take the truck to a transmission shop when I only paid $400 for the truck. (I found an invoice in the glove compartment from the 90's for a transmission shop to replace the transfer case with a used one. Total for used transfer case and labor was over $400.)

The repair manual I bought.

I got more info on the transfer case from JPMagazine on-line. I learned that I don't need a special Jeep tool to determine when the chain from transmission to transfer case needs replacing. Drain case and open inspection port, push chain up with screwdriver, if it moves more than a half inch, replace.

I have bought several Haynes Repair Manuals, for Ranger pickups, for Escorts, for my F-150, for Dodge Shadow and one for Datsun 200SX. I also have other repair manuals, a Chilton for 1979 Plymouth Volaire (or as we call it, LT's revenge, I didn't know how much my father-in-law hated me until he gave me that car), one that covers cars from 1972 to 1979. A couple of Motors Repair Manuals, one covers cars from 1964 to 1970 and one that covers 1980 to 1986. Years ago I picked up a Jeep shop manual for Jeepster Commando at a yard sale.

I think what is frustrating me is my inability to find the info I need to fix the truck. I know I need to replace the chain, but I would like to know more about the inner workings of the transfer case. Also a vacuum line diagram for the transfer case controls would be nice.

Transmission Woes

Picture taken in Oct, not last summer.

Last summer UP on the Tundra I had my neighbor and his son rebuild the transmission in my pickup. When the transmission was taken apart, this is what was found .

It looks like at least 1/8 of an inch or more wore off as the two pieces rubbed against each other.

The picture above shows the part in two pieces. The part is supposed to be one single piece like the picture below where I placed the broken piece where it should be.

I had ordered what we thought was all the parts needed to rebuild the transmission, but when this was found, wound up ordering more parts, this one and a couple of others that were damaged by the metal shavings from the broken parts rubbing together.

The problem I had with the truck is that the transmission would overheat in stop & go city traffic or construction zones on the highway. Also it had poor acceleration and was getting to where it didn't want to back up and would not spin the tires in either direction. While city driving caused problems, I could drive long distances on the Interstates and highways with little or no problem. After the first problem with the transmission in city driving, I drove almost 700 miles to Tejas with no problem and back again. Had more incidents with overheating in city traffic in Hot-Lanta (some want to ban using the term Hot-Lanta, but they are only talking heads on one radio station). Because it didn't overheat at highway speeds, decided to try and make it UP to the Tundra, so my neighbor could fix it. I would rather give him the money than get ripped off by a repair shop.

Now the truck performs like it did when I bought it. (The performance still sucks, but not as bad as it did before the transmission was rebuilt.) Before it wouldn't spin the tires on dirt even if I power-braked it. Now, I don't need to push the accelerator pedal down as far on take off.

Social Communication Continued

Follow-up to yesterday's cartoon.

Redneck Xmas

A friend sent me this in an e-mail and I thought it was cool, so put it up here. Don't know if this is Rudolph or not!!

Doh!!

I Want One!!

Seeing as we are moving back UP on the Tundra next year, I think this would be perfect as my next car!!!

What Is It??

Last year when construction on this project started, I was wondering what it was. Before there was an old stretch of two lane concrete highway from the 50's where the row of stakes are in this picture. At first as they hauled away the old concrete and hauled in dirt and leveled it, I thought maybe it was going to be a small roadside park with a few picnic tables. Not so.

In the middle of each of the black squares a tree is planted. Not sure how many, didn't count them, but there are a lot. Notice the dead trees, they brought in dead trees and planted some and placed others around the area in some artistic plan.

Found out this year that this is a replacement wetland. Some developer wanted to build on some property that was classified as wetland and this was done to replace it.

Kenny???

This picture was taken UP on the Tundra on Oct. 8, 2009.

Google

H/T to Darius Whitplume's Tumblr where I stole this. I think this sums up why people use Google.

Another Award, Thanks

MRMACRUM at Lost in the Bozone has passed on an award to me and I am very thankful for it. There are times when one hopes to get some award or memento of recognition and when it does come, it's a surprise.

MrMaCrum said he gave this to me for the following reason: "Just cuz he shares a Mainers dislike of strangers in his driveway." This is not a regional thing. One reason I dislike strangers coming up my driveway is that when I see a car coming, I think, "Oh good, a friend is here and we can sit and bullshit and have a cup of coffee." Or tea, one friend no longer drinks coffee, he drinks tea. But when they turn around in the yard and leave, you wonder why they drove in??

This one has rules of engagement. Simple rules thankfully. I am requested to pass it along to four other blogs I feel are deserving of recognition. Simple in the request maybe, but not so simple in the execution.

I have to agree that passing it on is not easy as so many blogs have already received this award. But here goes:

Gadfly and Dan'l at The Future Was Yesterday, not sure what the title of the blog means, but sometimes they make me laugh and sometimes they make me think.

Yellowdog Granny for her Stumbles and general attitude.

Nan at All The Good Names Were Taken, for her insight and humor.

Perfect Present??

I think I found the perfect present for The Old Lady!!!

The Old Lady doesn't like snowmobiles for several reasons. 1. They are noisy 2. They are smelly 3. They shit beer cans!!!! That is three of her top reasons.

I had snowmobiles back before they became winter crotch rockets. Anyone who says you don't get any exercise on a snowmobile has never got bogged down in deep snow. Which is why I gave up on them, they would not go in snow like I would have liked. They got so you could only use them on a packed trail or a road and what's the point of that???

11-3-09 Added a link to RoadsideAmerica.com which has a couple of pictures of this trap. On the sidebar there are local motels listed, but not the one in the town where the trap is, they are all in the two towns 6-7 miles up the road.

Flu Masks

For those worried about the Piggy Flu and are not able to find masks in your local stores, here are a couple of alternatives. The captions are in Spanish, but probably say when regular masks are not available. The question I have about the one below is, are those jockey shorts or panties??

This one below allows you to share with a friend.

More Horsey

This cartoon kinda says it pretty well.

Healthcare

Sometimes the simplest way is the best.

A Couple Cartoons from Horsey

These cartoons are by Horsey at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

This one would be funny if it wasn't soooo true!!!

Ditto this one!!!

Halloween

Some cartoons about Halloween from Cagle.msnbc.com

Fox

H/T to Crooks and Liars for the link to Cagle.com

Signs UP on the Tundra

The above sign was in front of the Three Lakes motel in Three Lakes. (I wonder if Lake Ruth, Lake George and Beaufort Lake had anything to do with the name of the place.) I couldn't agree more with the sign.

This one has quite the job description on it!!!

This one was at a gas station, grocery store that had been closed for several months. People living in the area had to drive at least 10 miles to get their cold beer or any beer when this store was closed. So having the place open again was good news for those in the area. Where my place is UP on the tundra I have to drive about the same to get a six-pack, twelve-pack, suitcase, or thirty-pack, but it has been that way for almost 40 years.

Driveway Signs

At our place UP on the Tundra, AKA "The Ranch", we would have a problem with a lot of traffic coming in starting in September. That is when various hunting seasons start (bear, archery deer and small game otherwise known as "bird season".) I know those driving into our place were hunting, the question is what were they hunting, small game or bear or deer or whatever they could lay their grubby little hands on. And later in the year we would have people coming in to steal Xmas trees, once it was a Sunday School teacher with his class. (A local bank vice-president who after he moved to another town was caught embezzling from his bank.)

Anywho, I decided to put up a sign to let people know it was private property. I think it was The Old Lady that got the sign and I had a metal post to put it on. I put it next to the road at about where the property line is, where the county road ends and my driveway begins. Never noticed any less traffic, in fact, there might have been an increase.

Since the first sign didn't solve the problem, decided to put up another sign, the one below.

That didn't even slow them down. For a time I thought about getting a sign from the Gempler's catalog that said in Spanish, "Caution these monkeys bite" in case they couldn't read Inglais.

Instead I made my own sign and at first used some small poles to make a tri-pod and attached the sign to it and placed it in the middle of the road. The sign is below and all three are now on the same signpost.

After putting the sign in the middle of the road, I found out it wasn't that they couldn't read, it was that they didn't know how to back up their vehicles. I found tracks where they had turned around on the one lane driveway!!

Later I attached my hand painted sign to the signpost, and it seems to be known over quite a wide area. Sometimes when I give directions to my place, I'll hear, "That the place with the Stay The ____ Out sign??" Also, I don't think we have been bothered by Jehovah's since I put up the last sign.

This Summer The Old Lady said I should cut down the weeds that were growing up and hiding the bottom sign, the one saying Stay******Out. Most of the stuff growing in front of the sign were blackberry vines and if the moose don't eat them I may get some blackberries next year, so I left them alone and besides most people know about the sign and stay out now.

Yooper In Crackerland, Again

Arrived back in Crackerland last night. Not much has changed that I have noticed so far. That opinion may change after I get out and about in daylight.

Looks like I will never get to swim in the pool here. They were working on getting it ready when I left, but it wasn't ready for use. Now the water in it is as green as Kermit The Frog.

Will get back to regular blogging after I get caught up on things; porn surfing on the intratubes, doing the mountain of laundry we hauled here from UP on the Tundra and some general decompression after over 2 thousand miles on the road.

Toilet Paper Ads On TV

Funny how Charmin went from Mr. Wipple and "Please don't squeeze the Charmin" to bears shitting in the woods. They also claim it won't leave little pieces of paper clinging to your fur!!!

Angel Soft has one where the guy spins the roll and uses it to sand the end of a board. That one reminds me of when there used to be a Co-op store and their brand of toilet paper. I swear you had to be careful how you wiped or you could end up with splinters.

Addendum; that Co-op brand asswipe was real John Wayne stuff. It was rough and tough and wouldn't take shit off anyone!!

English Is A Funny Language

Recently on PBS there was a promo where a guy was saying why he liked PBS. He pronounced "public" like pubic with a "L". That got me to thinking (and yes it did hurt) about the two words. They both start with the same three letters (pub), but those letters are pronounced differently depending on what follows the first three letters. The thing that makes English a funny language (not funny ha-ha, but funny as in weird) is there are a bunch of words where how the letters sound depend on the rest of the letters in the word. That can make it hard to read because you go back and forth on some words (especially those $4 dollar words). You think it is going to be one way and after you see the whole word, you realize it's different.

I don't know if there are any other languages where the sound of the letters change depending on what word they are in.

Digital TV Update

Last Friday I found another signal and now have a total of 5 channels. Before I had 3 channels of PBS and now I also have CW and ABC. After the switch to digital, I did autoscan a few times with the antenna turned in the approximate direction trying get channel 5 with no success. Judging by their website, the reason I couldn't get their signal was because it wasn't there. Yesterday morning was kinda foggy and yucky and then became windy and the signal was breaking up. Most of the time I had a picture, but the sound would come and go. So, I made some more firewood as there were some trees within about 50 feet of my antenna and in the direction the antenna was pointing. Not sure if that helped or not, only time will tell.

Scanning for channels with my converter box was not easy. I was able to figure out how to do autoscan, but manual scanning wouldn't work. Nowhere in the book that came with the box did it say to scan manually that after you select a channel you have to press OK. I figured that out accidentally.

The problem is that when the weather is such that I don't feel like being outside, the signal is hit and miss. It's a good thing I have DVD's and tapes.

Retirement

I was going to do a post on retirement, but for some reason last time I got side-tracked with my last post.

Anywho, they say a lot of people have trouble adjusting to retirement. I have been getting ready for retirement my entire working life. The longest I have worked at one place is when I was in the military (3 years, 8 months and 7 days, that's what it says on my DD214) and that's because I couldn't quit. I did work at a ceiling tile plant for 5 years but I worked there twice with a 2 year gap between working as a carpenter. I left the ceiling tile plant the last time because they stopped using wood for their tile and I thought it was the beginning of the end. I thought the only reason the plant was located UP on the tundra (instead of in the cheap-labor South like the rest of their plants) was the supply of wood. They would have to ship in all the raw materials and ship out the finished goods. Well, the plant has gone thru a number of owners since then, but 30 years later it is still running.

I have had a variety of jobs. I've been a carpenter, migrant aircraft mechanic and a truck driver. Also golf course groundskeeper, K-Mart employee and an interment excavator. Been fired a couple of times, quit a bunch of times and a few times arranged to get laid off so I could draw unemployment between jobs.

I have a lot of gaps in my work history that I like to call Quality Time!! I figured out a long time ago that there is no company loyalty. They expect you to be an obedient, loyal servant, but they'll get rid of you in a heartbeat. What's really interesting is when an employer says it is employment at will and you say that works both ways. They go "What"?? And you say that while they may get rid of you at any time, you are also free to leave at any time!!

The only problem is that I haven't worked in so long, I don't know what I'm retired from!!! But with all the practice I've had, I should have this retirement down pat!!

New Post

Wow, my last post was the 200th post on this blog and I missed it. I hadn't been paying attention to the number of posts, but when I opened my dashboard, it said I had done 200 posts on this blog.

Life goes on UP on the tundra. Last week we had several rainy days and it was so cool that I didn't open any windows. The rainy days gave me a chance to burn some brush piles. I finally got rid of my old mobile home (the beaver puke floor and all other burnable stuff that wasn't salvageable went into burn piles), the only thing left is the frame and the metal siding and metal roofing. Now it is in the comfortable range, mid 70's. Hope it stays like this for the rest of the Summer!!

Work on the cabin progresses, installed a new window (replaced a 60 year old, drafty window with a new thermopane one), put in an outside outlet, and am about to finish putting up drywall in the bathroom. Had a problem with the water heater, the pilot light kept going out. It got to the point where it wouldn't stay lit even when the burner was on. I replaced the thermocouple and it has stayed lit since.

Now I should pick up a few things in town and head back up the hill and do something even if it is wrong!!

Summer UP On The Tundra

Summer has finally arrived UP on the tundra. I have been able to leave the parka in the house when I go outside and can even go out in a t-shirt except for the nasty biting flies of various types and sizes.

When the switch to digital happened, I wasn't able to get any channels. I bought a signal amplifier and that didn't help. Then I cut down a tree and I got three, channel 13, channel 13 and channel 13. The PBS channel now had three channels 13.1, 13.2, and 13.3. I cut down more trees hoping to get more channels and to get a stronger signal on the one that was coming in. Instead of getting a better signal, it now comes and goes. I probably need to raise my antenna higher as there is a hill next to my place in the direction of the TV stations' transmitter.

On the other hand, I have found a couple of new radio stations. The one from Thunder Bay, Ont. (across the big Gitchee Gummee) comes in better than the one that is only about 40 miles away.

Tundra UPdate

Yesterday morning (May, 31), when I got up, the ground and everything else was covered with frost. The temp was in the 20's and it was a good thing I hadn't planted anything in the garden yet. Most days I have to build a fire in the stove in the morning and a few times I have done a fire in the evening.

I did take pictures of the frost, but as I'm using a confuser at the library, I'm not posting any.

Hiatus, Again

My blogs will be on hiatus again for the summer while I take Charlie UP to the tundra where the summers are cooler than in Tejas. I may do a post or two during the summer. Last summer I figured out where I could get access to the internet. The local tribal college has computers in their library that adults can use.(No nasty Nanny programs.)

Best One Yet!!

This is the best one yet on my Redneck calender. I guess which body part it is rubbed on would depend on your gender!!

The "Snowbird Dog"

Last weekend The Kid brought her dog 'Charlie Lays In Shade' here. Next weekend I will heading UP to the tundra with Charlie riding shotgun. Charlie is pretty good at traveling except for the fact that given a chance he'll ride in your lap!!

Hamstermobile

People used to joke about econo-box cars being powered by gerbils in little wheels and the upgrade was to hamsters. What does it say when they show hamsters driving the car??

Personally I wouldn't want a car that is so small the hamsters fill the car!!

Jesse Ventura On Waterboarding And Cheney

Tried for the last couple of days to embed this video from CNN.com with no success. Got this from YouTube.

One of the things I like about Jesse is he isn't afraid to express his opinion. While I don't agree with everything he has to say, I agree with what he has to say on this video. I especially like the line about, "Give me a waterboard, Dick Cheney and one hour and I'll have him to confess to the Sharon Tate murders" Does that mean Charlie Manson was framed??

Notice how Larry King tries to keep Jesse from talking about how bad aWol was!! Something tells me Jesse does not care for either aWol or Cheney!!

Left Of Center And Below The Curve??

The Political Compass

Economic Left/Right: -7.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.54



H/T to Erudite Redneck for the link to Political Compass.

Let's just say I believe people should be able to do whatever as long as it doesn't affect other people in a bad way, but corporations are not people and must be regulated to keep them from destroying themselves and us in the process.

Looking At New Cars

For several months now The Old Lady and I have been kicking the idea of getting another vehicle around. At one time we thought about trading in the truck for another truck, one with a diesel engine. That was back when we were buying a travel trailer for bumming around when we retire. That deal fell thru so then we thought about just getting some econo-box car and keeping the truck we have as it is handy to have a truck to haul stuff. (In a couple weeks I will be heading UP on the tundra and will be working on The Kid's cabin, so will need the truck to haul materials for the cabin.)

Anywho, recently we had been checking out cars on-line. We liked the idea of getting a Ford Focus as it gets decent gas mileage and doesn't cost an arm and a leg to buy. (And GM cars just don't seem to fit right.) The Old Lady did an internet search on them and filled in a page to get a price on one. Within the hour the phone was ringing with a call from a local dealer asking if we want to come look at some cars. She set up an appointment for Friday afternoon, saying we'll just go look, we don't have to buy, we'll shop around.

Well, we'll be looking at this car for a long time. The payments will be for 72 months (Six Years!!) which at our stage in life can be a helluva long time!! Hell, I try not to buy green bananas!!They had several Foci on the lot and we took one for a test drive. After the test drive the salesperson asked how we liked it. The Old Lady said she liked it, but wouldn't want that particular car as it was red and would consider any other car as long as it wasn't red. (I concur.) Long story short, this is what we came home with, never having driven or even sat in it before making the deal.

One bright note, now I can finally listen to Oldies music (The Old Lady likes Classic Rock and I like Classic Country in addition to Oldies, modern country sucks because they sound like they are whining all the time usually about god) because the car has Sirius satellite radio which is free for 6 months to sucker you into paying for it every month. The on-air radio here in Hot-Lanta sucks big time!!

Redneck Joke

This reminds me of the old joke about a Redneck watching a commercial for Thermos bottles on TV. "It keeps hot things hot. It keeps cold things cold." And the Redneck says, "How do it know??"

Statue, David Before And After

Got this in an e-mail recently and thought it was amusing.


David returns to Italy

A bit of culture for a change! After a two year loan to the United States , Michelangelo's David is being returned to Italy .

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