No Hat, Some Cattle.

There is a saying here in the west: "All hat, no cattle." It refers to a person who goes beyond wearing "casual western" clothes and goes overboard acting like a rancher or cowboy. Well there's no cattle herd on the Poorfarm but my dogs have two cows, and a zebra and a Tigger, a leopard and a sheep. Oh, and a new rooster.

Ming and Eddie don't play with the stuffies much but CAP does. Of course Eddie wants to get involved when Miss Priss has a stuffy.

Ming just mostly lays around. Her arthritis isn't getting any better. We had a nice big thunderstorm last night, though, and that got her moving. Every thunderclap brought a blizzard of barking and chasing around. The picture of her, the third from the bottom, is her laying exhausted after chasing the thunder off to Arkansas. It worked, too. Army Wife, Toddler Mom reported rain this morning.

It will soon be time to take the dogs to the lake, I think the water is still a tad cold but it's getting there. CAP needs to go to the lake and get a bath.

So, What Is This Arugula Stuff, Anyhow?

I must not get out enough. I don't know what this Arugula is or why it costs so much at Whole Foods. I suspect it is a vegetable, dunno why turnip greens isn't good enough for them.

Spring is well underway down here. Not many guys seem to be answering their spam e-mails as too many are wearing shorts outside. If those spam advertisements worked there would be a lot more guys wearing long pants.

So, Obambi is still ahead on delegates. I really don't understand the Donk's game. So, Hillary won Texas but Obambi got more delegates. How does that work, exactly?I just don't get it. Obambi hasn't won any of the battleground states and few of the solid blue states. He has won in some of the states where a Donk has the same odds of winning as I have of winning the next Mr. Universe contest. Oh well, I guess I don't need to understand them to vote against them. Hillary and Obambi are the only reason I'd vote McCain.

There is something really wrong with Yankees. Are northern Universities so hard up for talent that this William Ayers creature is on the faculty of Northwestern? It is sort of funny. There was some kind of misconduct so Ayers walked. In the kind of government he craves he would have got a pistol bullet through the head and an unmarked grave.

I don't remember ever showing pictures of the gun Linda Lou clings to, when she isn't praying. It's a simple S&W Model 60 LadySmith. Except for a little action smoothing and a Hogue Monogrip it is box stock. It was built after S&W's unfortunate dalliance with that Brit outfit, Banger Puta or whatever the name was, that cozied up to the Clintons.

We really wanted the Model 65LS, that six shot .357 with the three inch barrel, instead of the five shot .38 Special PlusP with the two inch tube. Unfortunately, although they were advertised all over, I still have yet to see one. Too bad, the 65 LS would be easier to shoot, being a little heavier, with a longer sight radius.

We waver on what we feed it. Sometimes the Cor Bon 125 grain PlusP JHPs, sometimes the Winchester PlusP 158 grain lead hollowpoint and lately, the Speer Plus P 135 grain Gold Dot Hollowpoint. We don't often mess with those Cor Bon loads, they kick like an angry Missouri mule. The most common is the Winchester. The holster is a Galco, inside the pants clip on.

Oh well, it's almost bedtime. AWTM has some more rain coming, it is pouring here and the dogs are doing their best to scare the thunder off with insane barking. It might be working, the weather is headed towards Arkansas.

Scattershooting, While Wondering About Aces And Eights.

Some years back there was a columnist for a Dallas Newspaper who wrote the occasional column call "Scattershooting While Wondering About...." I just bemembered his name, Blackie Sherrod.

Anyhow he would use that title when all he had was snippets, each not worth a whole column. That is where I am today so, thanks, Blackie.

Someone please explain how this Paris Hilton got so famous.She has no particular talent, she isn't very pretty as far as her face, she has the hips of a boy and no butt, combined with those huge plastic-filled hooters. Just what's up with that? If this is a sex symbol, no wonder the abortion rate is so high. It's a wonder the population hasn't entered monasteries and nunneries.

I am having a lot of trouble understanding how the "housing crisis" is Bush's fault. Let me get this straight in my head. The Democrats forced lenders to loan money to people with poor credit and spotty job histories because not lending lots of money to people was raaaacist and sexxxxxist and probably fattening. Then these folks didn't pay the money back. Meanwhile other folks kept getting home equity loads and spending the money on silly stuff. So, how is this Bush's fault?

When my Momma died we paid off the house and land before we did anything else. A lot of folks thought we were silly in doing so. My sister's husband bought some electronics stocks and they lost their shirts. Well, not quite but a few years later that money would have been real handy so they could escape California.

Yet, because the Donks forced lenders to give money to people who couldn't pay it back it is not just Bush's fault it is my dutyd yours, to rescue them.

I notice that The left is still mad about their mssiah being asked questions. I thought they were complaing about be silenced, now they demand that all questions must be approved by them in advance. Funny, though. Isn't McCain still getting flack from the left about Rev. Hagee?

I wonder why everyone thinks that Wild Bill Hickock had aces and eights in his hand when Jack McCall shot him through the back of the head. MCall was using an S&W .45 Schofield, I believe. The usual load was 28 grains of black powder and a 230 grain soft lead bullet. This bullet went through Hickock's head and lodged in the leg of a player 'cross the table. Hickock went down hard, breaking the flimsy table, the other playes dropped their cards and the rest of the deck was scattered. So, how did anyone know what cards Hickock was holding?

The only one who could have seen those cards was Hickock and he wasn't talking, being dead and all. Oh well, I'll just cling to a gun and pray some. Oh, the Jehovah's Witnesses dropped by this morning, I didn't talk to them, though, because Ming The Merciless was having hysterics. Or was it that I was too bitter? I forget.

The Leftosphere Goes Insane

I had the good sense not to watch the little get together between Clinton and Obama. There is nothing either of those two clowns can do to get me to vote for them. Well, maybe twelve million dollars, after taxes. I do live in Texas so it wouldn't mean much if I did vote for one of them. But that is it, 12 mil or no Donk vote. And I still won't listen to them.

I have enjoyed watching the lefty side of the blogosphere go gaga because the moderators actually asked some questions of interest to anyone outside a university campus or coastal large city. One thing that seems to be recurring through the leftosphere is the anger that anyone should question the cultural changes. Now, since there is only one faction of the Democrats pushing these changes, one would think they would be proper fodder for a Democrat debate. And, since it is the Democrats pushing these changes one would think that it would be proper for Republicans to argue against them.

Not so. According to the Stalins of the Leftosphere, only questions agreeable to them should ever be asked. And, since they won't give a detailed list in advance, this means, what, exactly? That no questions should be asked of their latest Messiah?

Another thing that surprises me in the aftermath of this latest "debate" is the attention given to someone called Andrew Sullivan. Ever since I have been reading blogs vast attention has been paid to this person, I do not know why. He seems to be the homosexual version of Paris Hilton, he is extremely famous although nobody knows why. I have never managed to sit through an entire piece of his writing. Anyhow, Andy is very unhappy that people vote in ways he does not approve. Oddly, though, there is nothing on my voter registration card saying that my choices must be approved by Excitable Andy. Perhaps that is a congressional oversight that will be corrected soon. Does a simple law solve the problem or will they need a Constitutional Amendment? Or maybe Andy should pull on his big girl panties and live with the fact that America doesn't agree with him.

Clinging to my guns.

I am trying to make sense of the hooraw over Obambi's talk about small town people clinging to their churches and guns. Well, I have real trouble over Donk's being considered the friends of the poor, anyway.

During the runup to the '92 elections I was voted in as a Republican Precinct Chairman. I had gone to vote in the Primary and had asked to go to the Republican Precinct Convention. The election official said we weren't going to have one, we didn't have a Precinct Chair. Then she asked me if I wanted to be the PC.

I said sure, why not. So she took my name down and asked the next Republican to come along if he, or she, was willing to write me in. Well, someone did. So, I was unanimously elected, one vote for, none against. I was reelected twice and then resigned to move out here to my retirement home.

I have mentioned before that I spent my life working a job where no reasonably honest man grows rich. During this time my wife has always driven the nicer car. Not that she is snobbish, it's just that if one of us gets stranded on the road it would be better that it be me than her.

Now, once I became a Republican Precinct Chairman I started having to go to political get togethers. Many were at wealthy Republican's homes. So I'd drive up in my used and abused old car, the one with the driver's door held shut by a refrigerator hasp and bolt and the kids parking cars would look rather oddly at me. But the wealthy Republicans never did. I'd sit among women wearing a wedding set worth more than my yearly wages, wearing my only "wedding and funeral suit" or, sometimes, blue jeans and a western shirt and my opinion was just as welcome as the words of the guy in the bespoke suit and three hundred dollar shoes.

Oddly, though, when I had to go to some function like the Election Judge training where there were both Republicans and Donks, the Donks never missed a chance to look down on someone less wealthy.

So it is with the people trying to say that Obambi was just talking about small town folks voting "against their economic interests. So, I live between two small towns. These Donks think I'm voting against my economic interests to vote for lower takes and to keep my guns. Oddly, Teddy Kennedy does not give up his trust fund. As a matter of fact the Clintons donated Billy Jeff's old underwear for the tax deductions. I know of no Democrat that pays more in taxes than they absolutely have to, and I suspect that Donks work harder than Republicans to avoid takes. How many Republicans take a tax deduction for used underwear? Or is it that the MSM would hide that to protect the Republican's reputation? Somehow I doubt that.

The reality is that Republicans want to lift people up. Democrats want to keep people dependent on them. The Democrats do not like the poor, they just want to use them.

I must go cling to a gun now.

The Most Important Post Of My Week

I can hardly imagine that anyone who looks in here (aside from the odd relative) doesn't keep up with Army Wife, Toddler Mom. In case you are that unimaginable reader please go here.

So, Did The San Francisco Bozos Scare The Chicoms?

I spent much of today driving around. I heard nothing on the car radio about Tibet being free. I reckon a bunch of poor smelling yahoos did not frighten the Chicoms. Imagine that.

Funny, it seems that the Sadr bunch of loonies is seriously considering putting down their guns. Seems that they have had some trouble staying alive after getting the US and Iraqi military mad at them.

So, what is the score? Good vibes, zero people freed. The military, 50 million. No wonder the good vibes types hate the military.

I had to drive up to North Dallas today, to get the stitches out of my face. Well, the stitches on the surface. The Doc put those stitches that dissolve under the skin for the rest of it. Anyhow I seem to be healing well. Very little pain, that's always nice. I like as little pain as possible.

I saw some storm damage on my drive, a new portable building in pieces, although I don't think it was fastened down at all. It wasn't there a couple-three weeks ago, then it was sitting in an otherwise empty field last Wednesday and now it is scrap. A school bus shelter torn apart and lots of shingles off some roofs. The radio was talking about five Salvation Army crisis vans out giving coffee and snacks to emergency crews in the DFW area. I saw none of that kind of damage but that's weather. Linda Lou, Captain Fatbob and I drove through Oklahoma City after that last big batch of tornadoes and we saw where it looks as if God's own bulldozer drove through neighborhoods with no damage at all only yards away. That was May of '99. Interstate 35 ran right through it and it is elevated through some of it so we saw it real well.

That was a trip where Linda Lou tried to kill us. On the way north we were just ahead of the storms, all the way to Emporia, Kansas. That is where we stopped for supper. We had never been to a Cracker Barrel Restaurant and store before then. So we ate and then Linda Lou had to look at every single thing in the store while the storms caught up. We drove the rest of the way to Topeka at about thirty miles an hour on the freeway, in blinding rain and constant lightning. It would have been interesting had we been struck by lightning, that was the trip we took to bury her father's ashes next to her mother. Two dead people, a dead dog and another one turned to ashes. We would have made the Weekly World News.

Free Tibet. How?

I'm surfing around and see where the Lefties in the Bay Area are doing an "action" on the Golden Gate Bridge to free Tibet. I'd be interested in knowing how they plan to do this. It's not like any agency but the War Department, and then the Defense Department, ever freed anyone. And they really do everything they can out there to prevent the Defense Department from doing anything.

Tibet is the perfect cause for those clowns. They can point to their desire for a free Tibet while doing everything they can to prevent the young men and women from freeing the people in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Suppose we got the Congress to authorize another half dozen divisions in the Army, as well as like increases in the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps and used that increase to try to free Tibet. Assuming we had a path to Tibet, which doesn't look easy to get to. How long would it be before "Bush Lied!" No blood for yak butter!"

See You On The Other Side, Chuck.

Chuck Heston is dead. I can't say I ever met him, we exchanged waves at the NRA Convention, once. I think it was in San Antone, although it's been so long I wouldn't bet big money on it being there or someplace else.

Heston was a Democrat back when Democrats were not thrown out of the Party for loving America. Like Ronald Reagan he didn't leave the Democrat Party, the Party left him.

I never cared about The Apes movies, or Moses or Ben Hur, I liked his westerns. Will Penny, Major Dundee.

Heston stayed married to the same woman for sixty-four years. Several folks on the 'net ave mentioned that they'd like to hear the conversation when Heston meets Moses. I just hope he stops on the foot of the Rainbow Bridge and pets the criters what are waiting for us.

I'll see you there, Chuck, maybe we can do some plinking.

Don't Get Into A Knife Fight With A Surgeon.

I had that little outpatient surgery to remove the small skin cancer near my eye Wednesday. It is an interesting procedure that I hope y'all will forgive me for not wanting to do it again real soon. I had thought that the Doc would simply remove surface skin. Nope. I didn't get a great look but he cut out enough to completely submerge a single ought buckshot. Then the nurse's aid bandaged it up and I went back out to the waiting room and read and drank coffee for about an hour and a half.

This was all done under Novocaine. That was what I worried about more than anything, a certified nurse's aid so close to my eyeball with a needle the size of a Zulu spear.

While I was sitting there a lab worker was examining the lump of flesh ripped from my face. Most times the Doc has to cut two or even three times to make sure he gets it all. Since I never did get half as purty as Momma wanted me to be I told him to cut a little extra. Who'd notice a scar on this face?

Sure enough, it worked and he got all the cancerous cells out on the first try. So then he did some fancy sewing, that "thread" that dissolves because it is under the skin and followed that by some extra fine stitching on the skin flap over the hole. I should end up with a very thin and fine scar shaped like a "T" with the more or less vertical part most of an inch long and the crosspiece about half that. With the stitching as tight as it is I doubt anyone will notice in a year or two.

There is a little pain, not bad. I take a Darvocet at night but I don't think I'll need them much longer, I'll switch to Tylenol. It does itch, though. I had some old Cortisone cream for bug bites around, I just spread some on it, we'll see if it works.

Anyhow I am now cancer free. I look like I took a jab in the eye from a young Sonny Liston but it's not the first black eye I ever had. Although at my age one would think I'm done with that.

The Doc that does this surgery does no other kind and he stays quite busy enough doing it. I have no idea what this cost my insurance but I bet it is easily well into four figures, even though it took way under an hour, except for the waiting around. I got there at eight AM and was walking out at noon.

All I can say is wear a hat big enough to shade your face.

Look Who Followed Me Home, Ma! Can I Keep Him?

Eddie has a new pal. The puppy from across the street followed him home and Eddie wants to keep him. During nice weather when we have Cochise' Apache Princess safely in the back yard we like to leave the front door open so Eddie and Ming can go in and out when they please.

There is a problem with that, now. Eddie's new pal is very much like a teenage boy. You parents will bemember how they always head straight to the refrigerator, Well Eddie's pal head straight to the food dishes.

Worse, this puppy is a thief. A stuffy thief. Linda Lou was not paying attention and I went out and found four stuffies out where they aren't supposed to be. Stuffy Thief!

In other canine news CAP has turned into the Mud Monster. That one broken sprinkler head turns that area into a mud hole. The two Pugs avoid the mud, Princess revels in it. She is a very smart girl but she does have a doggie brain, not an adult human brain. This means she does not realise that her Momma won't let her in the house covered in mud. So we don't let her in except about an hour or two before bedtime.

Oh well, payday I'll buy another sprinkler head and beg the plumber neighbor I have to install it. Sirloin steaks were on sale and I put several in the freezer, that might just do the trick.

We're Not Dead!

Nobody here at the Poorfarm is dead, or even sicker than usual. I haven't been posting because our Doctors have decided it's test time. My rat poison levels have been wonky, nobody knows why. My Coumiden/Warfarin that my cardiologist has me taking has been swinging my blood thickness levels all over so I'm driving up to Greenville to have my blood drawn more often, Linda Lou's Doc has a bazillion tests for her and I'm having various tests, too. So, since we live way out past Resume Speed, Texas, I'm spending lots of time staring through the windshield.

Anyhow, so far, so good on the various tests.

It doesn't help that I am way past bored with this election. Just who decided to start this election in 2005 and can we beat them with shoes?

A Contest

So, I was wandering the intertubes and found a contest for "America's Favorite Mom". I think it was SondraK's Knowledge Is Power. Anyhow one of the nominees is Patti-Patton Bader, known outside her family as the woman who started Soldier's Angels.

Mrs. Bader isn't in the best of health, I do not see how she manages to oversee the Soldier's Angels workings but she does. I remember the days of no mail. Here is a woman who is working hard to end those days.

I'm not real big on telling folks what to do. I'm retired, you know. Still, this is someone worth a few minutes of effort. Please click on the link, go through the sign up hassle and vote for her. Then put the site on your bookmark list and vote every day. After all, otherwise someone might put a Cindy Sheehan type up there.

Happy Easter, Everybody.

I should have taken more pictures of the bunny Eddie stole. Speaking of the stolen bunny it did belong to the grandkid across the road. He was very happy to get it back.

I thought about taking a lamb picture but CAP has torn the lamb stuffy's ears off.

So, instead of stuffed animals I will merely say John 3:16.

Old Dog Pictures

We have had so much rain this last week that I have few new dog pictures, mostly already posted in pot roast posts. Speaking of pot roast, I'm still eating it. Mmm, pot roast. About out of veggies so I just had a plate with fancy crackers and lots of spicy brown mustard.

Anyhow, most every time I went to take pictures of CAP, she was a mud monster. Since any dog owner knows the joy of a muddy dog I skipped taking pictures and just went back into some of the last couple years in the computer.

The top two pictures are of me and two dogs that have gone to The Rainbow Bridge to wait for us, George and Captain Fatbob, the Black Pug of Doom. We still miss them.

The rest are of the three dogs we have now.

What Do They Teach In Law School?

Dear Washington:

So I am very late in commenting about the Heller case. This is because I cannot understand how on earth all these educated people cannot seem to understand simple English. It would be one thing if the United States Constitution had been written in Sanskrit, then there might be some confusion.

What is amazing is a bunch of lawyers trying to figure out what "the right of the people" means. It takes a lawyer to argue that "the people" really means the National Guard.

Just as amazing is that bunch of clowns arguing over "shall not be infringed". Excuse me, shysters but those are some very simple words. They mean the Feds should only keep their noses out of it. And, yes, that means sawed off shotguns and full auto. Who are the people? What does "shall not be infringed mean? That whole crowd, lawyers, judges, politicians, reporters, all of them, and the bunch of misbegotten "educators" who taught them ought to be hit on the head with a sock full of sand and sent over a waterfall, naked. There should be bears below that waterfall.

This is much like the government and lawyers arguing about freedom of speech. "Congress shall make no law." Now I'm just a poor ol' country boy but I have a pretty good idea of how many laws "no law" is. And yet we find people jacked up for words all the time. Government schools are brimming with rules about what words we may use.

Oh, Peter, you don't understand, they say. I understand quite well. What I don't understand is how that whole crowd can claim to be so smart while being unable to understand one and two syllable words. If Congress and the courts want to change the Constitution to allow for the suppression of some guns, fine. There is a way to do that. Amend the Constitution.

Someone PLEASE go to the law schools and find those classes that say "no law" and "shall not be infringed" really mean "whatever law we want" and close them.

I swear, as soon as someone goes from being a Mr. to an Esquire the IQ drops some 85 points while the arrogance triples.

Love, Peter

Five Years

What was that graffiti? The Marines are at war, America is at the mall. I may not have the wording exactly right and I certainly don't want to denigrate the other Services. Still, we can rephrase it, the military services of the United States of America are at war, America is at the mall is apt.

I don't know nearly as much as I should about this war, although I know more than most of civilian America, just because I read some MilBlogs. Trouble is, I filter this war through my war. In that I am much like the libs, they view everything through the prism of Viet Nam. I want to win, though.

The military of today is far different from my day. Although my Branch took very few draftees the draft was central. Many young men joined the Air Force, Coast Guard and Navy to avoid getting into the Army. Young men joined the Marine Corps because they did not want to fight next to unwilling conscripts and young men joined the Army because a three or four year enlistment would buy a slot in a school that would avoid the infantry. So the conscript mentality was pervasive, even among volunteers. After all, these were the days when a SGT. would go to a formation and say "I need three volunteers, you, you and you."

Today's military is far better educated than in my day. Today there are Sergeants with advanced degrees, the chances are very good that those who are saying that only the ignorant join the service do not have the education that those "ignorant GIs" have. In my day there were lots of Master Gunnery Sergeants who had only a GED high school equivalency. They did, however, have a massive vocabulary of ugly words. After all these years I still struggle to avoid those words.

We did not even think about women in the Service, there were some in the medical and clerical jobs but a guy in a line outfit could go months without seeing one close up. Our racial attitudes were far above those of the civilian world but I would imagine not near what they are today. I still recall my first day in boot camp when a Hispanic Sgt. started hollering about the nerve of this blank-blank-blank wet**** trying to join his Marine Corps, the black Sgt. screaming at that %@#& n*****, Sgt Cohen cursing that hebe, etc. By the end of boot camp were were not black, white or brown but green. This actually worked fairly well in line units, the racism was in the rear.

What I am trying to say is that I don't really understand this war. The Administration is doing a poor job of explaining it, the media lies, all I have to go on is the MilBlogs, not all are in favor of this fight. Still, I support it. I have only one thing I can go on, the reenlistment rates. The young men and women reenlist at more than the quota. One thing that has not changed since my day is the unwillingness to stay in a losing game. The troops say that what we are doing is worth their sacrifice. Since these men and women are betting their lives, the least I can do is back that bet.

By Popular Demand!

So, Pamibe wanted the pot roast tricks. Well, here they are...Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

First put a mess of flour on a plate or in a large paper sack. Liberally sprinkle salt, pepper and garlic powder on (in) it. Now take a good sized chuck roast and dredge in with the flour/spice mix or drop it in the bag and shake well.

Now, repeat with a Boston Butt pork roast, usually somewhat smaller than the beef roast. Note: No one will kill you for skipping the pork if you happen to be Jewish, Muslim or some other religion that has pig-phobia. Do not trim the fat off until the cooking is complete.

Now sear the roasts on both sides over high heat. This doesn't do anything but make the outside of the roasts a little prettier and may be skipped. Put the roast(s) into a good sized roaster. Fill the roaster with water about one third of the way up the roasts.

Cut up a large onion and a couple of potatoes. You should have several bags of frozen stew vegetables, in addition. Given a choice I like PictSweet but frozen vegetables are, after all, frozen vegetables. You will want the total weight of vegetables to be somewhat more than the weight of meat. If you have extra carrots or celery in the fridge, here is your chance to get rid of it. For instance I don't have the teeth to eat raw carrots anymore but the dogs love them. However, too much carrots in their diet leads to messes on the floor so half the bag goes to waste. Not this time!

Add a couple of bay leaves to the water, sprinkle some more garlic powder on, a little sage, any other spices that sound good on the spur of the moment. Cover and put it in the oven. Now, leave it alone. Just don't let it run out of water. It needs to cook for three-four hours. Now trim the excess fat off the roasts and call the dogs.

Serve with Crescent Rolls, brown and serve dinner rolls or your other bread of choice. Since the kids are long gone this one cooking session is a weeks worth of meals for us. Note that you can put individual meal sized bags in the freezer and microwave a real supper. I am not sure how long this lasts in the freezer, I like this stuff too much for it to last long enough to go bad. It's a good deal for the chaotic modern working family that is real lucky to have one or two sit down family suppers per week. Make this, freeze individual meal-bags and everyone gets a good meal at his or her convenience.

Who Likes Pot Roast?

So I did a little cooking yesterday. I have been trying to figure out why Linda Lou's pot roast didn't taste anything like my mother's for decades. Not the pot roast but the gravy. Finally someone posted a recipe showing the roasts being floured before cooking. Aha! The bad news is that I am now the pot roast and stew cooker. Aw, well, I have plenty of time. I've always enjoyed cooking, not in the foodie sense, you'll find no fancy stuff at Chez Shaking. Pot roasts, stews, soups, beans, steals and chops. Yum.

Now it was Linda Lou who taught me about putting a pork roast into a pot roast. So, I can't complain. Even if I could, I wouldn't, she has a gun.

We have big storms just west of us, they should be here by mid-afternoon. They've canceled all flights out of D/FW Airport. I'm close enough to Dallas that we get our television and most of our radio from that area. So, because most of our weather down here moves from southwest to northeast I get the National Weather Service Emergency Alerts while my weather is still nice. Then by the time the weather hits me, the radio doesn't say anything. About an hour or two after the warnings stop, I batten down the hatches. Right now they are still breaking into Rush every time he starts getting interesting but they get back to the show just in time for commercials.

Rush is on, talking about Obama. I'd rather he talk about Heller v DC. I'm awfully tired of this campaign already. Just exactly who decided we need a two year presidential campaign?

I had to go to the dermatologist yesterday to check on how the mass murderer pills are working. See, while I was at the office for the warts and skin cancer I asked about that juvenile acne I still have, even though I'll turn 61 years old near the end of the month. There is a pill that actually causes the oil glands to stop their overactive secretions. The trouble is, it can cause serious side effects, including birth defects, depression, rage, etc. I had to promise to not get pregnant, donate blood. I had to promise to report any unusual rage or any depression. Well, so far, so good. This pill is supposed to be taken for five months and the effects on the oil glands last forever. Although at almost 61 my forever is shorter than many.

Anyhow, only four months left. Just in case the bad side effects happen the readers are invited to make a list. I'd hate to just waste a good mass murder. That is what I hated about those mall and school shootings. Couldn't they find a Code Pink meeting? Anyhow, post any suggestions in the comments. No promises, though. I'd rather avoid being a mass murderer, I have a sneaking suspicion that mass murderers have a tough time getting into Heaven.

Update, just before naptime: I just read that Obama's speech bridged the gap. Yes indeed. It bridged the gap between far left and extreme left.

Just Another Day In Golden America

I am watching the hoo-raw over Obama and the Rev. Wright with a certain amount of amusement, having no desire to vote for a Donk, anyway. Of course I'd like to have had a chance to vote for a Republican.

Here is my view, if anyone cares. Well, it is my view even if nobody cares. I have grandchildren that I have a certain amount of affection for. There is an unknown, but significant, percentage of the world's one and a half billion Muslims who are willing to go to any lengths to either kill or force them to believe in an alien and unforgiving religion.

This Obama fellow has spent some twenty-odd years listening to someone in his own church pulpit damning white folks. Now my grandchildren had no more say over the race they were born into as the Rev. Wright or Obama. I know of no one who had that say. Some of us were born white, some black, some oriental, etc. Some born into wealth, others into poverty. Those of us who were born into "Golden America", no matter the race or economic situation won life's lottery. Everyone in America can't be A Rockefeller or a Kennedy but there are only a couple of steps to take to avoid the grinding poverty of the third world. Step one, leave the dope alone. Step two, take advantage of the free education. Three, don't make babies until married and employed.

That is it, three simple rules. So, Donald Trump might not call if he needs a billion or so but you won't be in dire poverty. Now our kids went to public, integrated schools. Our kids were not the ones beating up black kids who tried to do well in school for "acting white". Our kids were not the ones getting tenth grade girls pregnant. We saw very few white crack dealers in the hood. So, who was it beating up the black kids? Who was it getting tenths graders pregnant? Who was it selling crack? (Hint: It wasn't the Jews.)

It is time that Rev. Wright set his sights on those who are killing the black community. Now this hurts Obama precisely because he is trying to be President, ie Commander in Chief. As much as the fringe left tries to deny it, our children and grandchildren are in danger. Just who is going to take the chance that the next Commander in Chief hates the white kids? Maybe this preaching has nothing to do with Obama. Maybe it is entirely unfair. Can a parent or grandparent take the chance?

In other news it was a pair of meat-related holidays over the last weekend. Friday was that guy answer to Valentines Day, Steak and bj Day. What? Ask your mother what that means, kid. Anyhow, I got neither, by the time I'd remembered it the menu was already planned.

Now the next day was a bit better advertised, Saturday was Ieatapeta Day. I Eat A Tasty Animal for PETA. I made it simple and broiled a sirloin steak with a baked potato. I also got a Boston butt pork roast and a chuck roast out of the freezer to cook today as a big pot roast. But the steak was so big I ate it two days before it was gone. So, tomorrow will be the pot roast. I also got four pounds of frozen stew vegetables, a couple of big yellow onions and some extra potatoes and carrots. I'll flour the roasts and cut up the potatoes and onions and dump the stew veggies around the roasts, pour in some water and bake for three hours or so at 350 F. The house will smell good.

Update, just before bedtime: I notice that many people are worried that the Obama/Wright mess will strengthen Hillary's bid and that she will be stronger against McCain. I doubt it. Hillary might be stronger among some segments of the Donks than Obama but if she is the nominee many black voters will sit out the election. Since no Democrats wins a national election without a ninety percent black vote, plus the other usual suspects McCain will win easily. If he can convince conservatives to vote for him. That won't be easy but McCain has no one to blame for that but John McCain.

What Does Every Shepherd Need?

The last time I went shopping for dog food I found a new stuffy. Cochise' Apache Princess is a pure blooded German Shepherd. I always look at the stuffies and this time I found a lamb. Every shepherd should have a sheep.

Eddie fights CAP over the stuffies, I've never seen a Pug herd a lamb before but Eddie does. CAP does not realize how much bigger she is, when we first brought her home Eddie was bigger. This is also why Ming The Merciless chases CAP away from the food dish or the treats. Ming is not interested in stuffies, she only wants her bed and first chance at the treats. One of these days I'm going to stroke out laughing at CAP running 'cross the room with her tail between her legs and Ming right behind, barkin' and growlin'.

In other news I am not customer number 12 at the Emperor's Club. I tried to figure out what a $5500. fling for Spitzer would equate to in my income level. How many diamonds does the girl rate if I'm waving around the whole seven cents? Good Lord! I don't care how much money they had, if I were blowing some $80,000.00 on a little bit of the ol' slap and tickle Linda Lou would be sitting in this room reading my reloading manuals because she's already shot me with every one of the 3,000 rounds I have loaded on hand. She'd be looking to load some more to shoot the larger pieces. Eighty Grand. Good Lord, I couldn't afford that much Viagra. There is truly something wrong with rich politicians. We need a new rule. Anybody in politics has to take some kind of anti-Viagra and only his wife has the antidote. Don't quite know what to do about Barney Franks. It would also work for that toe tapper. 'Course as odd as most political families seem to be, I don't know if the wives would appreciate that kind of change. Eh, I ought to stick to dogs.

Evil Boosh!

So I'm sitting around reading because I have nothing in particular to say and I notice that the lefty blogs are all about that evil Boosh !!!!11!! trapping innocent little Spitzer with the Patriot Act and his illegal wiretaps.

The laws that got Spitzer had nothing to do with the Patriot Act, the wiretaps were all nice and legal, too. I have no idea what the lefties will do when Bush thanks God and comes home to Texas in January '09. They are having so much fun being persecuted. They are so brave, standing up against the evil Boosh!!!11!! Their dissent is being stifled, they are beings silenced. We know they are being silenced because they are on national TV constantly telling us how they are being silenced.

Poor Susan Sarandon and her boy toy, how can they get any rest having to constantly be on the news talking about how they are being silenced. 'Course I'm just a country boy, I always thought that when you are being silenced you should, I don't know, maybe shut up.

I'm enjoying the screeching from the Left about some Republicans voting for Hillary. Of course that Koz guy had told his groupies to vote for Mitt in Michigan since the Donk primary wouldn't count. Oh, and for the exact same reason that Limbaugh wanted folks to vote for Hillary. Yet the lefties are crying.

Ever notice that the lefties like to go on and on about how they are so brave, standing up against the evil Boosh!!!11!!! and his administration? Funny how their guy, Clinton, sent tanks against a bunch of religious wierdos down in Waco, then had all the evidence that wasn't burned buried. Remember that steel front door? The one that the news photos showed only bullet holes from the outside, none coming from inside? Sorry, folks, the Clinton Administration killed Americans. Then jailed the few survivors, on damned flimsy evidence. Not that I stay up nights worrying about that crowd. I told the kids back then to never get involved in a church where the leadership is decided by gunfights. But still, The Democrat Administration burned children.

The left is so brave. Well, right up until someone comes along killing daughters for not being good Muslims. Then they start screeching about the evil Boosh!!!11!!! After all, honor killings are their culture. Watching my grandchildren grow up in freedom is a big part of my culture but somehow my culture does not matter.

Oh well, I'll try to post some dog pictures soon.

So, What Is The Fight All About?

So we seem to have a big fight going over who, exactly, is going to control the Democrat Party. We know the Clintons did control it. During Bill's tenure they lost Congress and a ton of governorships but the Clintons got very wealthy. Bill, of course, came up in Hot Springs. Bill and I are of an age so a look at Hot Springs in our youth will show a city wholly owned by the Mob. Unlike most cities Hot Springs did not belong to one particular Family, instead it was kind of a vacation spot for OC types. It was also a place where many of the famed Prohibition and Depression Era gangsters hid out. Owney Madden ran the town for Meyer Lansky of New York. Lucky Luciano was arrested there, sent back to New York, tried, convicted and jailed. Eventually Luciano was turned loose in Sicily during WW2.

Bill's stepdad and uncle were both on the edges of this group as was his mother, if only through her gambling. Once Bill got active in politics his first big financial backer was a "businessman" named Gabe Crawford. Bill's uncle Raymond worked for New Orleans Mafia Boss Carlos Marcello.

So, the Clintons were a wholly owned subsidiary of the southern Mob and did right well by themselves. Now Hillary wants her turn at the trough. It is possible, I suppose, that Hillary never knew about all this. It is equally possible that Bill Gates will give me half his money.

On the other side of this fight for control of the Democrat Party is Obama. He is pure and clean as the wind driven snow. Elected as a State Senator in Chicago and, as we all know, no Democrat in Chicago has ever been connected to The Outfit. Except the ones who have been elected.

The Democrat Party machinery is controlled by people controlled by The Outfit. Period. Young Mr. Obama got his start financed by people with dirty money. Rezko is only one, of course but he is very telling. Rezko got rich helping Obama get elected, then got richer with Obama's help. That letter Obama sent, helping Rezko get the permits and funding for a poor folks housing project is a case in point. One would think State Senator Obama would be busy enough taking care of his own district but he had time to worry about dirty projects in another district.

Obama is as dirty as any other Chicago pol, and that is very dirty indeed. No one gets the help of the Dem machine in Chicago without The Outfit.

The chances are real good that Clinton or Obama will be the next President. McCain is not going to have to eager support of the base of his Party. So, who will be the power behind the Presidency? The Outfit or the southern Mob?

Update: What on Earth is going on in New York? Spitzer is a Democrat. Democrats do not get caught in sex scandals, they steal. It is us Republicans that get caught in sex scandals. That's the rules, Republicans get caught in sex, Dems steal. Deviation from this rule is not permitted.

Loud Noises In The City.

So we have a recruiting station bombed early this morning. It's only a matter of time before these idiots, whoever they may be, hurt or kill someone. It looks as if it was a small charge of black powder in a GI ammo can, so there would be some big chunks of steel flying around.

Aside from the danger, this really annoys me because I shoot black powder. We already have uncomfortable levels of red tape to go with having black powder, along with considerable expense. Depending on where one lives we are limited on the amount we can have, as far as I know the maximum amount for a private citizen is like 25 pounds. That sounds like a lot, there are only about one hundred 12 gauge loads in a pound, though, so 25 pounds is only about a season's worth of powder for one cowboy action competitor.

Many people who live in cities have much tighter restrictions. You see, unlike smokeless powder, black powder in an actual explosive. Smokeless just burns, real fast but it's still a fire, not an explosion. So most places that sell smokeless powder don't sell black. What with the licencing and insurance rules the cost of a jug of black is almost double the real price. So, I buy my powder by online order either from Graf and Sons in Missouri or Powder, Inc. in Arkansas.

If I buy my powder by the case of 25 pounds then the price is over nine dollars a pound cheaper than buying locally. So, it really bothers me having meatheads blowing stuff up that is not supposed to be blown up. Now I will admit, back in the late 50's and early 60's we blew up a lot of stuff, stumps and gopher holes, etc. Of course no one but us were ever endangered and the laws were a lot laxer back then. And nobody cared about an extra few holes out in the country.

I'd wager that the laws about possessing black powder in New York City are somewhat stronger than in rural Texas so obviously there will be some congresscritter going after my black powder instead of wanting to lock this clown up.

Eddie Inspects The First Wildfowers And His Stolen Bunny

We will certainly get more cold weather before summer but we already have the first wildflowers blooming. I thought I'd show some pictures and annoy my Yankee pals who are still in snow arse deep to a tall Indian.

Cochise' Apache Princess cannot understand why Eddie is allowed outside the fence while she is not. She is convinced that it is sheer animal cruelty that she doesn't get to run around. She does not believe me when I tell her about those who shoot big dogs.

If anyone cares to enbiggen that one pic of CAP standing by the fence they should realise that the wire is five feet high. She might grow into those ears.

Eddie is proud of himself. He went somewhere and stole a stuffed bunny. I dunno if he stole it from the grandchild of the guy that shot George, his new puppy (which puppy I have not shot) or the kids over on the next street back. Whatever, Eddie is a bunny napper.

In non dog news, it turned out that I didn't get the surgery yesterday, it was simply the consult. I don't understand all the medicalese but it turns out that I only have one little skin cancer. The other spots are just what happens when you wait to long to die young and leave a good lookin' corpse. Anyhow the cancerous spot is real small and it is the kind with no "roots", it's all on the surface of the skin. They will cut that spot out and then cut around it about a tenth of a centimeter and inspect that under the microscope and make sure they got all the cancer. If so, they sew me up and I'm gone. Otherwise they cut a bigger piece and then cut around and inspect, repeating as necessary, until it's all gone. If they get everything the first try it should take about two and a half hours, mostly just sitting and waiting, the cutting part is about fifteen minutes. Otherwise it's two and a half hours for every repeat. They tell me to bring something to keep me occupied while I wait. Someone send me a nice chubby girl with low morals. Anyhow, this all happens on April the second. I can hardly wait.

My Duty As A Citizen

Well, I went and voted, like a good citizen. The only election I really cared about was the Sheriff's race. For the first time in forever it is an open race, the Sheriff we have is retiring. Actually he seems to have retired some time back and stayed in office. Our Sheriff's Department is a major mess these days, they just can't hardly catch anyone. So I ended up voting for the guy that used to be an LEO, lost an eye, and started a now successful private business. Who knows, maybe somebody that understands law enforcement from the street level, management and money can do something around here. As of now the Deputies all feel like they're peeing into a strong wind.

I look forward to voting, it is the only way I'm sure who my Congresscritter is. I live on the very edge of my County and, it seems, no one can decide from year to year, just where the edge of my Congressional District is. Last Election I voted for Jeb Hensarling. He was elected. This time I voted for the incumbent, Ralph Hall. I did not move. I got no letter telling me that my District was changing. And the only campaign letters I got were from the incumbent Congressman, Sam Johnson. So, even Congress doesn't know who represents me. Yet Congress knows how to handle my medical needs. Sigh. I wonder who my Congressman will be next election. I'm just hoping it's still Ralph in the General in November. Eh, by then they'll have my corner of the county in Arkansas.

If it hadn't been for the Sheriff's Race I might have switched Parties and voted in the Democrat Primary. There have been two schools of thought there, to drive a stake through the heart of the Clintons or to vote for Hillary to try to keep the bloodshed on the Left going. I thought about it, in the end I just couldn't take the chance of getting Democooties on me.

In other news, if anyone has a spare prayer I am going in for some skin cancer surgery tomorrow. My Dermatologist (spell check says that's how it's spelled) says not to worry, I'm catching this real early and the MOHS procedure is the very next thing to infallible. I believe him. Still, that very word, cancer, is a frightening word. I'd like it better if the Doc had told me that I had a case of squirming baby puppies. Oh well, I know I'll be alright. It's just that word.

The amusing thing is that the Docs see my hat in the office, it is just a little larger than a waitress tray. Yet they always find it necessary to tell me to wear a hat. I show them my hat and they don't even blush.

Update: I forgot to mention that my ballot had everybody on the Presidential race, Fred, Mitt and everyone else that dropped out. It doesn't matter, all my guys lost. So, I voted for Duncan Hunter. I may end up holding my nose and voting for McCain in the general, I may not. I'm already tired of national Republicans telling me to vote for McCain because of the judges. Let me get this straight. McCain kept a lot of conservative nominees from getting an up or down vote with his gang of fourteen antics. So now I am told that I must vote for the guy who stopped conservative judges so that we will get conservative judges. Sometimes I hate politics.

The Donks And health Care

I try not to pay too much attention to what Democrats say. I have enough trouble with my blood pressure. Unfortunately Obambi is putting out commercials on the country stations around here and I don't always hit the button fast enough.

So, Obambi promises to improve health care by going after my insurance company and the pharmaceutical companies. I am only alive today because of Big Pharma. Oh, and that stroke I had? The one where I was in surgery, then intensive care and then in the hospital for most of a week? Yeah, that one. My out of pocket expenses were the valet parking when my wife visited. My insurance covered some, my secondary insurance picked up the rest.

Oh, and Democrats hate Wal Mart for some reason. It doesn't keep them from making money on the board of directors, but they seldom miss a chance to rag on Wally World. In the past few months I've been wondering why so many of my prescriptions have not had a copay. Well, it seems that Wal Mart has started charging only four dollars for a months supply of any generic medicine and most of my scripts are generic. This means that the cost has gone down to my insurance company and so there is no more copay.

Imagine that. That greedy capitalist corporation has single handedly dropped health costs more that the entire Democrat Party. Oh, and other big pharmacies have been following Wally World's lead. I haven't seen my cardiologist since I switched most of my scrips to Wally World so my blood thinners are still at my old Pharmacy. They, too have gone to four bucks a month.

Now I actually would have preferred staying with my old Pharmacy, I like the people and their service is somewhat faster. Thing is, we hope to do some traveling now and Wal Mart is everywhere. My old Pharmacy is just in Texas. So we switched so if I'm off in some strange place I don't have to worry about whether or not I have enough of my scrips to stay alive until I get home.

I really hope the damned Democrats don't kill me by fixing health care.

The Leopard Cub is A Good Conservative.

So yesterday I went to Wally World to try to replace the Froggie that Cochise' Apache Princess turned into a Democrat by pulling everything out of poor Froggie's head. No Froggies, as a matter of fact only one of the Hartz noisy toys left, a Leopard cub.

We got the ferocious beast home and Eddie T. Dog claimed him as his own, This is good news as CAP is the one that kills the stuffies in minutes. Eddie licks and chews, CAP rips and tears.

In other news we got the word from our daughter. Grandchild number ten is due on June 16th. He will be the ninth grandson. I do believe I've mentioned that we seem to run long on boys and short on cash. The kids have decided to name him Karson Andrew XXX. We are kind of hoping that it will be a little while before he becomes XXX, though. I've been too polite to suggest spelling lessons.

The dogs are looking forward to having another boy to play with.

Obambi's Dream World

Now it has been almost forty years since I took off Uncle's suit but there is something about Barry O's latest story that rings way false. He alleges that a now Captain, then Lieutenant, had most of his platoon rotated out before they went to Afghanistan and that , once there, they had to scrounge AKs and other Taliban weapons to fight.

Understand that this is the Army so they might have done some stupid things (although I am not supposed to insult the Army 'til the war is over, per orders from Linda Lou) but I doubt that even the Army would try to use a Kalashnikov in a firefight. The 7.62x39 has a very distinctive sound, far different than our 5.56 mm. There is also the little matter of green tracers instead of our red.

Even if my whole platoon knew that some of us were using captured weapons what would happen if the doo-doo got really deep and another outfit came to rescue us, or we needed Apache gunships? Just what would those rotorheads do if they came upon a firefight and saw green tracers coming from a position?

I don't know about now but in my day they'd light it up.

The only people I know of that used captured weapons were some of the Sneaky Petes, those boys in the Girl Scout Hats who would sometimes use them to sow a little confusion into the ranks of the Little People.

I could be wrong here, again my experience is rather old. I would, though, want names and duty stations of those telling me different. Otherwise this sounds too much like those "friends" that Dick Gephardt used to have.

I do not understand why the frontrunner of a major political party cannot find an old snuffy to vet the speeches.

Update: Just in case one is a literalist...There were no Apache gunships when I was in. My branch didn't even have Hueys, much less Cobras. Not that we weren't pleased to be where the Army helos work close enough to lend a hand when needed. Our birds still used piston engines, mostly, and our pilots didn't like to get too close to the loud noises. For good reason, it was like trying to fight a fire while wearing gasoline underwear.

McCain

So I was talking with my political advisors, Ming the Merciless, Eddie T. Dog and Cochise' Apache Princess and asking about the NYT story about McCain. All three asked what could I expect. McCain was the media darling when he was attacking Bush. Now that Bush is not going to be the nominee again and the media has successfully driven the conservatives out of the race they are reverting to form.

So, Republicans, how does it feel to know that you have let the New York Times pick your nominee? Did you really think the Times would stick with him? Oh, and Republicans? You can stop with the idea that I owe you my vote.You have been retreating from conservatism sine the '94 elections. You have been voting liberal ever since and trying to keep us is line by threatening us with liberals if we didn't vote for you. Understand this, Republicans, I owe you nothing. The campaign slogan of "we will not stab you in the back as deep as the Democrats!" does not inspire me.

In other news the dogs have created a Democrat voter. If you look carefully at the pictures you will see them with a Froggie. Well, they have ripped him open and removed all the stuffing from his head. As soon as Froggie's head was completely empty he quit saying "ribbit" when we pushed his little button and started saying "Obama".

So, Now She Is Finally Proud Of Her Country?

So, I'm minding my own business, not bothering anybody, when I read how Michelle Obama is, for the first time in her adult life, proud of her country.

Let me get this straight in my head. Here is a racial minority. A woman. She has an Ivy League law degree. She has had good jobs her whole adult life. Her Husband is a United States Senator with a fairly good chance to be the nominee for President.

Ms. Obama has traveled. She has seen how women live in other countries. She has seen how minorities live in other countries. And only now can she be proud of her country? She has children that are growing up privileged. And only now?


I am retired from a job that no honest man could ever expect to become rich. Honest men in foreign countries in my line of work live in small apartments and bicycle to work. I live in a paid for home on a half acre near the lake. My car is paid for. We are officially in the lower third of income levels here and I am writing on a (paid for) computer. Suppose Mrs. Obama was living where her husband's father lived. Suppose too that she were not wealthy. Would she have a good job? Would she even have all her girl parts?

There is something seriously wrong with liberals. Nowhere on Earth do the poor live as well as they do in America. Nowhere do the middle class live as well. Well, maybe Australia comes close. No where on this planet do minorities have the opportunities as they do here. Libs are always saying that patriots cannot see the warts on the USA. That is wrong. We see the warts, we also see the good. Libs can only see the warts. It is disgusting.

Exciting Finish

So, you watch the Daytona 500? I don't write much about NASCAR, if you understand the sport you don't need me to tell you about it and if you don't understand it nothing I say will do much good.

I am really glad to see Ryan Newman take the checkered flag, it's been a very long time. The Ryan Newman fans aren't like the Junior Nation, I don't know of may people who would have to worry about what to do with old tatoos if Ryan changed numbers. Still, he is a genuine nice guy. We don't see it much because he isn't always on camera but one could hurt himself laughing around him.

And Newman has used his engineering degree, too. Not many folks know more about making a car go fast than him. It was also a real pleasure seeing his team mate, Kurt Busch, matching bumpers and pushing him to the front like that. Busch, one of the sport's bad boys, acted like he might finally be growing up. That, too, would be pleasing. Kurt has so much talent, if he ever gets the maturity to go with it, watch out.

Anyway, almost everyone should be pleased, Junior Nation ought to be happy, Dale Jr.had a good finish, probably would have been better but for the miscommunication that left the 88 out on older tires.

About the only folks unhappy would be the Hendricks Motorsports fans. That team didn't do very well, just mostly bad luck it looked like.

Anyhow it ought to be an exciting year.

Durned Dawg!

So I got up on Valentine's Day ready to do various things. I fixed breakfast for my sweetie and got ready to go online to find out the day's news. Nothing. No intertubes.

So I went outside and found the problem, the place where the phone company guy had spliced the line together was broken. Now that was broken by the dog, specifically Cochise' Apache Princess. That wire is too high off the ground for Pugs to break.

So, $99.00 later the phone company repairman had the wire replaced. I was willing to try to splice it together but he had spliced in another type of wire and the colors didn't match.

So I never bothered to take pictures for Doggie Friday. Anybody want to buy a dog? I keep hoping this one will grow past the destructodog phase before I am homeless but I'm not taking bets.

Candles And Big Wax Spills.

Well, I am proceeding in teaching myself candle making. I was all set to go to my Cowboy Action Shooting Club's work day but Army Wife, Toddler Mom sent the bug that has them down through the internets and now I'll have to get better to die.

So, I was supposed to go help paint and rip the top off the blockhouse and then help hang the steel targets for today's shoot. Instead I stayed home and used tissues, mostly. And then I'd cough until I felt a little hairy ring in my throat, swallowed hard, and repeated.

It's really annoying, too. If I'd made the work day I could have had a practice shoot, for free. Instead, no. It's really annoying. I have a few boxes of those new (to me) sparklers, the ones that aren't on steel rods, and I have a bunch of those cut up into some shotgun shells, along with the black powder, wads and bird shot. If I have this figured right it should be very visually impressive. Oh well, maybe next month.

So, I have a few really impressive smelling candles, the problem is with the wicks. I don't know if the young lady I spoke to didn't know what she was doing or if I, somehow, misspoke but the wicks are too small in diameter for the size of my containers. It's more likely my fault.

Now I've made the candles work, by putting another wick in the bottom of the containers, I just stick the already made candle into a two hundred degree F oven until the wax is melted, plunk the other wick down and, viola! Trouble is, the old wicks are glued in the middle, already so the geometry is off. Oh well, it's experimental, anyhow.

I did try taking one wick off it's little metal tab or base and wrapped it round another wick and glued that in the bottom of one jar. That worked, nicely. That is what I'll do with the rest of the jars I haven't already glued a wick in, not many. Oh well, when I have the melting, wicking and fragrance down I'm buying a gross of jars. I'm looking hard at the 16 ounce Mason/jelly jars. These are five and a half inches tall by three inches in diameter. The wax blend I'm using, that will make a candle that really lasts.

The soy wax, with just a little real beeswax, does make a candle that burns and burns. I am going to have to buy a couple of melting/pouring pitchers, the old two saucepan country boy double boiler rig spills too much. This brings complaints from the kitchen management. And my reloading powder funnels don't work real well to move the fragrance oil from the big bottle to the one ounce bottle I use for measuring. And that fragrance oil stuff is WAY too expensive to be spilling. Oh well, this is a learning experience, right?

I have figured out what to do if the Democrats win this next election. I am going to buy a big bottle of the patchouli scented oil and sprinkle some on the deck and back steps. Then when they come for me the stench will throw off the dogs.


In other news, the thing that started this whole candle mess, that new bullet lube. I think it will work. I must melt down that fifty+ pounds of plumber's lead, add some tin and cast a few hundred .45 bullets. Then lube and and try it. Of course everyone acts like black powder bullet lube is some kind of rocket surgery or brain science. Truth be told, almost any wax/shortening or tallow mixture works. Just don't use pork or beef tallow for stuff you want to keep around. Once that lard gets rancid the stuff still lubes the bullets and keeps the powder fouling soft but it smells something awful. Now mutton tallow works and so does deer tallow. Me, I just use veggie shortening, the kind with no salt or butter flavor.

Okay, it is now Tuesday night. We had a big rain and thunderstorm last night.CAP is now a mud monster again. As usual we lost the phone and the internet until late this afternoon when the sun dried out the wiring. Seems that the phone company will not repair the kind of wiring we have and it will be some months before we can afford to replace it with the kind they do guarantee. Oh well, it's not like I talk on the phone. It does annoy me to lose the 'net.

We also lost the TV Satellite service. The annoying thing about that is that it is difficult to understand the East Indian accents of the tech support folks. We have it back now after much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Last, anyone with a prayer or good wish to spare can visit Tammi, of Tammi's World and see how her family is weathering the rough patch. I haven't been there yet today due to the internet problem but when last there I couldn't even leave an attagirl comment to my tall pal, her hosting company was having a spam attack. The nice thing about being a blogger nobody ever heard of is little to no spam.

Well that is my big week so far. I must go swallow a hairy ring now.

No More Politics For These Dogs.

The dogs have decided no more politics for a while. They claim it is bad for my blood pressure. They may be right. So I am going to play with the dogs and practice making candles and my new kind of bullet lube.


When, or if, the Republican Party wants to go back to it's conservative roots, they can call me. The dogs want me to write in Sunny Lucas for President. Suits me. We could save a lot of money with a Rhodesian Ridgeback mix in that office. I'm pretty sure the Secret Service bill would go down, ever seen the teeth on one of those critters?

The cost of Air Force One would go down, as we'd have to replace that big ol' jet with a small plane with a window for her to stick her head out. State dinners would be short and cheap. Even Science Diet is cheaper than that fancy stuff the human politicians eat. And think of the savings when we pay her in pork. Yes, and Sunny would give new meaning to the term "pork barrel politics". Just think of the Border Patrol under a Sunny Lucas Administration. Take a bite out of border crime.

So, in other news, I got the stuff to make a few candles. Unfortunately there is a problem keeping them lit. The wax melts and tuns over the wick and puts it out. I seem to bemember reading that this is a sign that the wick is too small. So in one candle I put it in the oven at 200 degrees F and when the wax was all melted I inserted another wick. Since the wicks are already glued in it wasn't centered right but it's burning well. So I am learning. I think I am going to have to buy jars, all in a bunch, from a candle making place instead of the flea market. The trouble with the flea market is each different size of jar needs a different wick.

Oh well, the lilac smells good and the candle place sent an ounce of a different scent oil, "clean cotton". It smells like fresh sheets, right off the clothes line.

I would take it as a favor if no one asks why the dog pictures are at the bottom. I did not change anything. Furthermore, don't anyone ask why the Bad Example Family Blogroll is visible when I access this on aol and invisible in Firefox.

So, Now What?

So, my state, Texas, doesn't vote until March fourth,but most of the people I would have voted for are out. Somehow that feels wrong. Worse, the one man I would never vote for is the Republican frontrunner. All those really smart people are telling me I must suck it up and vote for the man that has constantly stuck his finger in my eye because he is the conservative. He is for open borders. He wants to shut down Gitmo. He fought the tax cuts. He actively fought the conservative judges.

Um, that is my agenda. So, I must get behind McCain because otherwise someone who fought the tax cuts, wants to shut down Gitmo, , favors open borders and will fight against conservative judges will win.

Okay, I admit that I'm not the smartest guy in the world. But someone explain why I should work for someone who explicitly called me a racist because I want our border enforced. I have been compromising since the Reagan years, getting about the same promises from the Republicans that black Americans get from the Democrats. Just work with us through this one election and then we'll keep our promise. Except now they say we've beaten those nasty conservatives and they'll like it. Vote with us or you get a foul mouthed big spender, only this time it's no matter how you vote.

Well, I've had it.I'll vote for my Congressman, Jeb Hensarling did a pretty good job. I'll stick with John Cornyn. The rest of the Republican Party can compromise with anyone they want. If they ever decide to compromise with me, again, we'll talk. But as long as getting along with Democrats is more important than getting along with me, it doesn't look very good.

Battle For The Soul Of The Party

We might as well face it, we will probably lose the '08 election. The "country club" wing of the Republican Party have decided that McCain is their man and they will gladly lose this election if it means getting rid of those nasty Christian Conservatives. As lose we will if McCain is the nominee.

Does anybody besides McCain really think that the big Washington/New York/California media will back McCain in the general? Or will the media suddenly remember the Keating five? Will the media suddenly discover McCain's temper and foul mouth? Or will the media go back to form, hating anyone to the right of Vladamir Lenin?

There is a branch of the Republican Party that wants very much to throw the Religious Right over the side. Well, that is fine but be prepared to lose election after election. It is the Religious Right that mans the phone banks. It is the Religious Right that walks the precincts.

The Jurassic Park Republicans do not care about this election, if they can only rid themselves of us troublesome conservatives they'll suffer through four years of Obama or Clinton. One election means nothing if they can defeat those who fought against the McCain Kennedy Amnesty Bill.

The trouble is that McCain will not win, and in losing he will break up the big tent coalition. We will be looking at another generation of lefty governments as in FDR's time.

Berkeley, 1967

I spent the Spring and Summer of 1967 in the San Francisco Bay Area. I had a little bad luck and had a badly broken leg so they sent me to the Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland. Then I went to the convalescent barracks at the Treasure Island Base, both long closed now.

The actions of the present day Berkeley City Council come as no surprise. Once I was able to go on pass I I found a place in Oakland, very near the border with Berkeley that was on the bus line and had an owner that wasn't exactly careful about checking the IDs of us Marines and Sailors in uniform, since I turned twenty that year, that was important. Beer, in those days, was a major food group.

Sometime during that Spring the antiwar types got ugly. It became unsafe to wait at that bus stop alone and in uniform. Things were thrown and if a guy was on crutches or in plaster the peace and love types would physically attack him. Peace was important to them, so important that they always tried for the wallet, too. The trouble was when we were in uniform. If we wore civvies we were okay, trouble is we couldn't buy beer. So we tried to stay in groups.

Seems those young peaceloving thugs are all grown up now and on the City Council.