Memorial Day Post

Hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day!

I would imagine that if you're reading this blog, you're probably more likely than the average Joe to take a moment today (or any day, for that matter) and think about the brave men and women who have given their lives in defense of our country.

Its easy sometimes, to think of such things in the abstract. To make mention of it and not have it really register that these are real people, with real lives lost and real families left behind in the devastation of losing a loved one.

I put some images together with a song that I think hits to the heart of that loss. Tim McGraw performed the song "If You're Reading This" at the CMA awards in 2007. This is the live version recorded at that event...

This song gets to me no matter how many times I hear it, so if you're a weepy old fart (or fartlett) like me, consider yourself warned:

If You're Reading This
written by Tim McGraw, Brad Warren, Brett Warren

Lyrics:

If you're reading this
My momma's sittin' there
Looks like I only got a one way ticket over here

I sure wish I could
give you one more kiss
And war was just a game we played when we were kids

Well I'm laying down my gun
I'm hanging up my boots
I'm up here with God and we're both watching over you

So lay me down
In that open field out on the edge of town
And know my soul
Is where my momma always prayed where it would go.

If you're reading this I'm already home.

If you're reading this
Half way around the world
I won't be there to see the birth of our little girl

I hope she looks like you
I hope she fights like me
And stands up for the innocent and the weak

I'm laying down my gun
Hanging up my boots
Tell dad I don't regret that i followed in his shoes

So lay me down
In that open field out on the edge of town
And know my soul is where my momma always prayed where it would go

If you're reading this, I'm already home

If you're reading this
there is going to come a day
You move on and find someone else and that's okay

Just remember this
I'm in a better place
Where soldiers live in peace and angels sing amazing grace

So lay me down
In that open field out on the edge of town
And know my soul is where my momma prayed that it would go

If you're reading this If you're reading this I'm already home

Random Stuff...

We got together this Saturday out at my Folk's farm for a combination Father's Day/Mother's Day get together with my Parents and my Sisters. My Daughter and her Family couldn't make it due to prior engagements. Its hard to get all of us together several times during the year all at the same time - for birthdays, holidays, and such. Everyone's schedule is pretty jam packed.

Normally I work Sundays, so both Father's Day and Mother's Day tend to be difficult for me to pull off. We opt for a combined celebration scheduled for whenever the maximum number of our family are available on a lot of these occasions. We do it for birthdays too in August, since three family members have birthdays that month. Works out pretty good most of the time.

We went out a little early, 'cuz my Dad's Donkey needed her hooves trimmed. We also managed to squeeze in a little fishing in their huge stock tank...

That's typical of the dozen or so bass my Mrs and I landed in the hour or so we had to fish before family events kicked in. Nothing huge, and neither of us caught "Bob" this time, but really fun fishing anyway. We had intended to go to the shooting range on Monday since we'll both be off work for Memorial Day, but we're thinking now that we might skip the sure-to-be-crowded shooting range and opt for another longer fishing trip instead. We'll see...

When our whole family had arrived, we packed up and drove over to the small town of Caddo Mills, Texas. Theres a place just south of Caddo Mills called Lafayette's that has some really good Catfish. The Frog Legs were the best I've had in a long time too. Lots of places cook the crap out of them and its like eating tough frog jerky. These were moist and meat and rich.

Its hard to beat having the enjoyment of catching fish, and then the pleasure of eating fish, all without the hassle of cleaning and cooking fish :)

In other news... the vines that I transplanted to the big cast iron bathtub planter beneath our bedroom window, thinking they were Hyacinth Bean plants that had come up "volunteer", turned out instead to be Morning Glories.

We have a cattle panel trellis in the old cast iron bath tub that allows us to grow climbing plants in front of our bedroom window. I was a little surprised to see the Morning Glory blooms the other day on the vines that I had been thinking were Hyacinth Beans. I really don't mind though. These will fill in and block the sun just as well and the blooms sure are pretty. You can see them both from the yard, and when you look out through the window of our bedroom in the mornings.

Remember my Blueberries in Potentia that I mentioned last March?

Now they are Blueberries Realised :)

I'm able to pick a good handful every morning and every evening. I'm putting them in a baking pan that I keep in the freezer as I go along. When I'm all done "harvesting" from my single bush this year I'll use the blueberries to make a Blueberry Buckle.

What's that, you say? .... You'll see.

All in good time. :)

Robot Apocalypse - One Step Closer

Via Geekologie, here's two clips that show that Skynet is getting the physical part down pretty quickly..... Once they become self-aware its every man (and woman) for theirself :)

First, an agile walking robot. Remember the little scampering buggers in Minority Report? Pretty soon these guys will be just as fast. Just imagine them with skin burning lasers mounted....

And here's an airborn robot that looks like it could get to you pretty much anywhere:

The Heart of the Euro-crisis in 2:44

H/T homoescapeons

They don't offer Video Embedding, so you'll have to settle for a link.

It's really very funny. I'd even say it was hilarious, if only it wasn't 100% true. We're staring down the barrel of an economic shotgun, and there are so many fingers on the trigger.....

And not only are we attached at the hip to this mess, there are lots of folks in Washington right now whose Wet Dream it is for us to pattern ourselves even more closely to the idiots in Europe.

Girl Friday - 05/28/2010 - Danneel Harris

This week's Girl Friday is someone I've only seen act as a result of my Mrs' TV viewing habits. She is a fan of One Tree Hill - a WB TV series about a bunch of highschool/college kids who apparently have WAY too much drama in their lives even though they are all uniformly attractive....

Aside from seeing this young lady occasionally via that show, I've not caught anything else featuring:

Danneel Harris

Danneel is actually her middle name. Ms Harris was named after her Great Grandmother "Elta" - which I actually think is a much cooler, vintage sounding name. She goes by Danneel, though, so that's what we'll go with too.

The Real Good Stuff

2/3 of everything that makes life worth living....

The other 1/3 being, of course, my Beloved (yet camera shy) Wife :)

Stop and smell the... Dahlias?

I don't know if these actually have any scent at all, since I don't have a sense of smell, but I love the way they look. My Wife has never commented on the smell, so it probably is similar to Zinnias in that they are unscented for the most part.

We have another Dahlia that is a lighter pink, but it's inbetween blooms at the moment.

This last shot is just a common thistle that I took by the roadside last week. Even weeds are pretty in Texas in late spring/early summer :)

They can put a man on the moon...

.... But they can't make tobacco that won't kill you.

Saw this ad that appeared in a 1935 edition of Modern Mechanix magazine, via the Modern Mechanix blog:

I love old ads like this, but they sure make me wish I could fire one up. I especially yearn for my pipe, since I was particularly fond of a bowl of Burley Light in the evening with a cup of coffee.... I had a really nice bent briar pipe that I loved...

Damn it.

It doesn't help that my personality makes it impossible for me to do something "just a little bit".

Sometimes I Wish I Was A Kid Again...

But most of the time, not so much.

What the hell is the deal with the shoes hanging from power lines?... I see this all the time here.

All three of these pictures were taken within a few blocks of my house. I'm assuming that someone took someone elses shoes and pitched them up there.

As a Joke? If so, it ain't funny for the person out a pair of sneakers. Is it the work of a Bully? That would suck even more 'cuz each time the victim of the prank had to suffer the initial humiliation of getting his shoes taken away, and then the walk of shame home in their socks where they'd have to relive the moment while telling their folks what happened to the missing shoes.

I think every guy, and possibly a lot of girls, had to deal with a bully at some point growing up. I had my share. For the most part they would pick a softer target if I stood up to them. If not and it came to blows, then even if I lost the fight I hurt them badly enough where they didn't want to mess with me anymore.

Not once did I have anyone swipe my Keds and flip them up over a power line, though.

As much as I hate the sometime effects of the ravages of time on my body... I really wouldn't want to go back and deal with all that pre-teen and teenage crap. Especially not these days...

Imitation = Flattery?

I doubt anyone outside my industry will think this is as funny as I do, but everyone else will just have to indulge me for a moment.. It plays off the stereotype, but it makes me laugh anyway :)

That swift move at :28... I've lost count of how many times I've done that going around a corner too fast :)

You see, the thing about stereotypes that no one wants to admit is that there's an underlying element of truth to them. People don't just pull stereotypes out of their ass at random. Something inspires or influences them to develop into widespread generalizations. Its the element of truth to the stereotype that makes it funny. I see myself and my co-workers in this commercial and I think its funny.

These days there are certain areas where its "OK" (ie Politically Correct) to stereotype, and some areas were its not. Its OK for people to stereotype Me in this commercial because I'm a Male White Dogcatcher and everybody is generally OK with however we're portrayed. Its even "Safer" if the person doing the stereotyping is part of a special protected group. If you happen to be in one of the groups that is untouchable as far as stereotyping goes - you pretty much have free reign to stereotype anyone and everyone at will.

Try flipping it around on them, though, and you'd better get ready for some wailing and gnashing of teeth.

You shouldn't "judge" someone based solely on a stereotype you have of them. You should be able to acknowledge what's happening right in front of you, though. You shouldn't have to ignore the truth for the sake of Political Correctness.

Miss USA Observations

I don't generally follow the Miss USA pageant drama, beyond seeing the picture of whoever the current winner happens to be after the fact while reading the news and thinking: "Hey, she's pretty." My disinterest in the pageant has increased exponentially since Donald Trump took over operations. Something about him just rubs me the wrong way....


Last Sunday a new Miss USA was crowned. There's been lots of hub-bub about the new gal, so I thought I would blab a few of my random observations.

Observation #1

Rima Fakih is gorgeous. My personal tastes ran more toward Miss Oregon, Kate Paul:

Or perhaps Miss Louisiana, Sara Brooks

... but that's just my own personal preference. Rima Fakih is definitely a head-turner.

I know, I know.... judging women based on their physical appearance is "demeaning". Miss USA isn't a "beauty contest". It's blah, blah, blah-blah, blah....

If women are walking across a stage wearing bikini's and stilleto heels, I'm allowed to objectify them a little bit. Which brings me to...

Observation #2

I've heard several foil hatters spout off about our current Miss USA being a Muslim "spy", a terrorist, and any number of other bizzare attributions.

Seriously, people. What I would like is for people to come to this country, be proud of their heritage, but buy into the American Experience. Assimilate into OUR culture a little bit. Don't expect everyone else to acclimate to YOU... That's what we want, isn't it? Leave whatever nuttiness that exists in your ex-homeland BACK THERE. Learn our language. Embrace our culture.

We want them to BECOME AMERICANS, and not just on paper. We want them to raise their kids as AMERICANS.

Look at Rima Fakih:

Is she not the poster-child for someone who has completely assimilated into American Culture? Can you imagine an image of an independent Lebanese Muslim Woman that would irritate the Taliban, Al Qaeda, or Hezbollah MORE? This isn't some shrouded, burka wearing, second class citizen.

Rima Fakih is an AMERICAN GIRL. And I love that.

Observation 3

You've undoubtedly heard the question and answer portion of the pageant featuring Miss Oklahoma. If not, look it up on Youtube. I was thrilled to hear Miss Oklahoma's answer. Do you know what made me even happier?

The fact that the crowd started immediately booing the "judge" that tried to set her up with the controversial political question- even before he finished asking it. Its a beautiful thing when the liberal leftys get their face shoved in the fact that a TON of people don't see things from their skewed perspective.

Observation 4

Guys, have you seen this picture?

Tell me that I'm not the only one that saw this pic and immediately thought:

"Now.. Kiss".

What?...

Yeah, I guess you could say I can be kind of a pig sometimes :)

Girl Friday - 05/21/2010 - Donna Reed

I was channel surfing the other night, and "Shadow of the Thin Man" was on TCM. This was the third in the Thin Man series of films, and not one of my favorites. I prefered the two previous films made in the 1930's, but there's really no such thing as a "bad" movie to watch Myrna Loy in - so I watched a while.

I had forgotten that a future Movie and Television star had made one of her first appearances in this film, back in 1941. She played a secretary, as she often did in her very early film efforts. This week's Girl Friday is:

Donna Reed

Now days, not many people think of Donna Reed as a "hottie". If they remember her at all its from her stint on the Donna Reed Television show back in the 1960s, or her fill in as Miss Ellie on the TV show Dallas. But if you travel back to as early as her role of Mary Bailey in "Its a Wonderful Life", and even farther than that.....

Yeah... I'd have kissed her too.

Donna Reed always embodied a classy kind of sex appeal. She was the girl you could lust after AND bring home to meet your Mother.

New post about the old post

One of the things that's been keeping me busy during my non-working (is there such a thing?) hours is the replacement of my backyard fence.

When my Mrs and I first moved into this house back in 1994, we threw up a hasty picket fence in the backyard with every intention of replacing it in a couple of years. It was built from economy grade whitewood picket fence sections, and we didn't even bother to paint or stain it. The main purpose was to give us a bit of privacy in the backyard and also to keep Dreyfus - the Rottweiller we had then - from scary the crap out of anyone walking down the alley.

Of course, the road to hell is paved with good intentions and 16 years later that old fence was still doing its duty - albeit just barely. I'm replacing it with good quality pressure treated 6 inch wide dog eared pickets, which look much nicer. I removed the old 4x4 fence posts by cutting them off flush with the ground with a chainsaw. The old post bases won't be visible when I'm done since the new fence is built along the same lines as the old. This worked out really well, until I got to the last post along the back of our property.

Circumstances did not allow me to just cut this post off like I did the other and just dig a new hole nearby. Power lines, cable lines, and other old bases from previous fences made it necessary for me to get the corner post entirely out of the ground and re-use the existing old hole for my new post.

That's what I did most of yesterday afternoon and evening.... that, and curse a great deal. This is the post after I got it out of the ground:

It took me two 3 ton hydraulic jacks, a pry bar, a shovel, another 4x4 post, a steel plumbing pipe, about 20 gallons of sweat, and all my patience to get that bitch out of the ground. The black pipe you see near the top of the picture is a 1 inch steel plumbing pipe that I bent the crap out of trying to coax the post and concrete ball out of the gound.

I think I read somewhere that I was supposed to hire an illegal alien illegal immigrant undocumented worker to do this sort of thing, since I'm a white US citizen and we're not supposed to be willing to do this sort of thing. Guess I'm just a non-conformist.

I hate that post with the burning hate of a million suns.

The last of the post for the back stretch are in the ground with the concrete curing so that I can finish (hopefully) that section tomorrow. Its raining today, so I guess that part worked out pretty much perfectly.

Ammo Heads Up! .380 ACP at Aimsurplus

Aim Surplus has .380 acp on sale right now for $16.95. Its made by Prvi Partizan, out of Serbia. I've not shot their .380 stuff, but I've put plenty of Prvi through my K31 and its good quality stuff. This is brand new, brass cased, 94 gr., non-corrosive boxer primed ammo - 50 rnds to a box.

Hurry, if you're needing .380. I long for the days when I could buy .380 all day long for $10 a box.... but I'd bet that these days Aim won't have any of this ammo left at that price for long. I've already placed my order this morning, along with the usual 100 rnds of 7.62x39 that I habitually order whenever I'm getting something else.

Don't bring a water bottle to a knife fight...

Everything is fine here in the land of Paladin.... I've just been busy with work and projects around the homeplace. I promise to come back to posting closer to the weekend.

I had a brief moment and thought I would point you to yet another illustration of how restricting guns won't eliminate violent acts by crazy people who want to hurt you:

BEIJING – Men with knives burst into a Chinese college dormitory and slashed nine students in the latest violence in a country shaken by a recent string of rampages at schools. Wednesday's pre-dawn attack did not fit the pattern of earlier ones. Instead of a lone man targeting young children, at least five men targeted students in their teens or early 20s. And while China is still struggling to find a motive behind most of the recent stabbings, the latest appeared to be in revenge for an earlier confrontation between students and villagers.

The attack showed that repeated efforts to increase school security across China can still fail.

The official Xinhua News Agency said two students were seriously hurt. One's hand was cut off.

If you listen to the advocates of "Common Sense Gun Control" laws, you would think that a society virtually devoid of guns of any sort wouldn't have this sort of thing happening at all - much less with alarming regularity. That's why I don't listen to them. You also have to consider that the Chinese don't have anything like the freedom of the press we enjoy here in the West. The fact that we're hearing ANYTHING about this sort of activity means you can count on the fact that it's probably pretty widespread.

You can also file this under the "things we do to make ourselves FEEL safer - when they actually don't" :

On Wednesday afternoon, more than a dozen children of mostly elementary school age gathered at the Chang Zhen Martial Arts Center in Beijing and practiced defending themselves with book bags, umbrellas, notebooks and their bare hands.

"It's fun," said Amanda, a tiny 8-year-old with a bobbed haircut.

The 90-minute class ended with a mock classroom attack. Holding high a lightweight knife with a dull blade, instructor Zheng Yibian charged into the middle of the room and pretended to start swinging. The giggling, shrieking children threw book bags, umbrellas and a water bottle at him and ran out the door.

One mother, university professor Shen Caiyi, said the class can at least give her 7-year-old son more confidence.

"You can't always rely on others to protect you," she said.

You're absolutely right Ms. Caiyi. You can't rely on others to protect you.

I'd also point out that your 7 year old won't be able to protect himself against a crazy, knife wielding adult by using a water bottle.... but I don't want to wreck your delusion.

Battsetseg isn't happy with the Global Warming thus far...

No, this is not an early edition of Girl Friday.

This is Battsetseg. She's a Mongolian herder who is one of many who suffered this past winter under the coldest temperatures in 60 years. If she doesn't look too happy, its because her family lost half of the animals in their herd this winter, with most of the remaining animals suffering from ill effects due to the bitter cold and heavy snowfalls.

How much do you want to bet that the newspapers and TV talking heads will fire up the Global Warming fear machine as soon as this summer's temps get up above 90 degrees somewhere?

Wu Huanming didn't get the memo

I read this story last Wednesday online, but I've been so busy with work and Home Improvement projects that I haven't had time to comment on it.

Seems there's a rash of violent attacks going on right now over in China. Specifically, people are flipping their gourds and going berserk in elementary schools - killing and/or injuring the kids. The Police have stepped up security measures at the schools, but the incidents just keep happening.

"Well," you might think, "Clearly they need some common sense gun laws to protect the children."

China has banned private ownership of guns since the 1940s.

"So... it must be that the perpetrators are getting their guns from outside the country. Probably, from the same folks that supply the Mexican Drug Cartels? Everyone knows this sort of thing could be avoided if we could just find a way to stop the flow of evil firearms.... its just common sense."

Nope.

As is previous incidents, this nutbag didn't need a gun to carry out his mayhem. He somehow found a way to do bad things without "high capacity" magazines, flash suppressors, folding stocks, or special "cop killer" bullets.

He used a cleaver to chop at his victims.

The assailant, identified as 48-year-old Wu Huanming, entered the kindergarten and killed school administrator Wu Hongying and a student on the spot, then began hacking at the 18 others, according to the city government's statement.

There were around 20 kids at the school. He managed to kill 7 children and 2 of the adults - all without the apparently not-required firearm. He injured most of the other kids... Here's a little girl that was lucky enough to just be injured in the attack, who will thankfully recover.

There have been 5 separate incidents like this in China recently, resulting in 17 deaths and many more injuries. Officials have begun to "train" citizens to engage these crazy blade wielding murderers, so that they can hope to stop future attacks before so many kids are killed. Here's a shot of them being trained to confront the blade swinging psychopaths with sticks and some strange looking hoop-on-a-pole contraptions.

Yeah.... that looks effective. There's nothing like a good hula-hoop drill to take your mind off the fact that you have no real way to defend yourself against homicidal maniacs.

My favorite quote from the story comes from this Genius:

"The perpetrators have contracted a 'social psychological infectious disease' that shows itself in a desire to take revenge on society," said Zhou Xiaozheng of Beijing's Renmin University.

A "social psychological infectious disease"? So he's basically saying that this Dude caught the crazy disease, like you or I would catch a cold, and that's what made him kill everyone? If only the use of hand santizer were more widespread, tragedies like this could have been avoided.

Look, you may not believe that people are capable of defending themselves effectively with firearms. You may believe that the Constitution of the United States was not written with the intent of protecting MY personal right to keep and bear arms. You may also mistakenly believe that guns possess some sort of inherent evil nature that overcomes peoples will to do the morally correct thing....

But:

Don't for a minute delude yourself into thinking that denying law abiding citizens access to guns, somehow makes us all safer. Crazy, murderous, bastards were finding ways to kill and injure people long before firearms were ever invented. They'll continue to do so with whatever means is at their disposal - even if there are no guns available.

One thing that "common sense" gun control does very well is make stupid, gullible people feel like they are safer, when exactly the opposite is true.

Girl Friday - 5/14/2010 - Aishwarya Rai

Ever wonder what the most beautiful woman in the world would look like? This week's Girl Friday is deemed by a lot of people (via several web polls) to be the most beautiful woman currently walking the face of the planet.

I don't know if I would go that far.... after all, I've not seen every woman in the world yet :) I certainly won't argue against the claim, though.

Aishwarya Rai

Aishwarya Rai is a former Miss World, who is now an Actress and Model. She is fluent in 4 or 5 languages.

Killer eyes, huh?

Another Odd Sign...

This one in the town where I ply my trade. It made me snicker the first time I saw it. I didn't think the term "Cougar" was as well known as it apparently is. Still kind of strange to see it in use as a marketing tool for an air conditioning service company.

"If you're a woman, over 40, who loves chasing young hot guys... we're the A/C company for you!"

RIP - Frank Frazetta

Frank Frazetta passed away today, at the age of 82. If you're not familiar with his art, you really should check out his stuff.

That's my all time favorite Frazetta piece. It's titled "Death Dealer". You might recognize this, and other examples of Frazetta's work, from the Album covers of the Southern Rock group Molly Hatchet. His art also came to symbolize the books of Tarzan and Conan the Barbarian. It was Frazetta's images of Conan that inspired the "look" of the Arnold S. movies.

Have a safe Trip Frank..... you'll be missed.

Creepy Sign

That's a sign that you see outside of Quick Trip Gas Stations in my neck of the woods. It's supposed to indicate a safe place for kids to go if they feel threatened or whatever, until their folks and/or the police can be summoned. Interesting idea.

It is just me, though, or does the actual sign remind you of a big White Guy reaching around to cop-a-feel on a little Black kid?

Just sayin'....

Sleep Overs and Flea Markets

My Wife and I had the Grandbaby over Friday night and Saturday, so her folks could have a night out and go to a concert. Sleep overs are fun now... since she's well into the stage where she sleeps like a log through the night.

We got up early and drove over the Bowie for the Flea Market. It was an awesome day. The sun was shining and the temps were mild. Bailey charmed everyone with her blue eyes and dimple. We even managed to find a couple of small treasures. I'll post pics later. I picked up a small cast iron stove door, with frame. Thought I might make some sort of small cabinet with it. I also picked up an antique battery tester that looks sorta like a ray gun. Has a wooden handle and a brass bodied meter/gauge. Don't know what I'll do with it but it was $5 so I couldn't put it down once I picked it up :)

Picnic fare was Dairy Queen steak finger country baskets and chocolate milkshakes. Bailey does this thing her Mom taught her when she eats or drinks something particularly good. She rubs her belly and you say "Yummy in your tummy?"...

She Grins....

I Melt.

After lunch we took Bailey home, and the Mrs. wanted to make a jump over to Bonham for their smaller fleamarket. It's not too far, so we ran over there even though it was late in the day. Didn't find anything of interest - short of some stunning wildflowers all along the way.

These pics don't do the flowers justice. They were so bright yellow that it almost hurt to look at them...

Girl Friday - 5/07/2010 - Raquel Torres

This week's Girl Friday features an actress from the early years of Hollywood.

Raquel Torres

Raquel Torres was a Mexican born actress who had a brief career during the early days of Hollywood's Golden Age. She's probably best known today for her appearance in "Duck Soup", a Marx Brothers movie made in 1933.

Raquel Torres passed away from a heart attack in 1987.