Rainy Thursday Morning .......

It's been raining steadily here all morning.

The Wife has left me here Babysitting a little 8 week old kid.

Nancy, Granny McRicktus Airhead Commie Pelosi, AKA "Sphincter of the House" is happy that Arlen- "Don't let the door hit you in the Ass"- Specter has come to the Dark Side.

Now she won't have to Explain Process.

"Specter's switch will give Democrats 60 caucus members in the Senate (assuming Al Franken wins his legal battle in Minnesota). That is enough votes to end debate on a bill and overcome Republican filibusters.

"Very exciting, very exciting for the American people, because now we can get things done without explaining process," Pelosi told CNN's Candy Crowley".

That Commie Bitch makes my brain ache.

Hat Tip to Chris Horton

Gratuitous Thursday Morning Picture-

More on a Garden for Surly ......
As promised, I'm gonna do a bit more on helping, Surly get going with a garden.

I'll give ya the standard disclaimer again - This is what has worked for me. There are as many ways to garden as there are Gardeners. Do what works for you and be happy.

I received an indignant email about my advice that one could use a little 10-10-10 fertilizer on a new garden of crappy soil to get a jump start on things.

This person thought I was all about being "Totally Organic". All things being equal, I go the basic organic route when I can. I don't have any problem with adding some non-organic fertilizer. Nitrogen is Nitrogen. If it uses a bit of petrol to make - Oh well.

I take the practical view that if it takes a bit of that to get you going and keep you in the game, so be it.

A 5 pound box of Miracle Grow will last you darn near forever if you just have a small place getting started and you can use the balance on your houseplants.

There is the option of making an organic tea type fertilizer. This works and works well. But for someone just getting started it may be a bit to much like work.

This is supposed to fun, remember?

When it comes to bugs in the garden I try to use the least toxic thing. Seven Dust is about it.

I have a recipe or 2 for making your own non-toxic bug spray, but I've never tried them yet. I'll try it if needed.

I honestly don't know a lot about most Chemical Bug Sprays because I don't use them. Never have.

I do know that a lot of insecticides are only a few basic molecules away from Nerve Gas and that's always kept me from wanting to keep that crap around the house.

I honestly don't know enough about this type of thing to give you an informed opinion.

I do know that I've never needed to find out.

Other than one year when I had Potato Beetles so bad I thought I was gonna go nuts, I don't generally lose enough to worry about it.

I'm not selling anything so I don't have to worry about there being a few spots on things or a worm in an apple or Peach.

We just cut out any bad parts and use things as they are. Most of the time it's not a problem

As I've mentioned here before, I like Roundup and consider it my friend. It's a great labor saving thing and I don't have any problem with using it.

I don't use it on beds in the garden & I don't grow Roundup ready Beans. I use it to keep fence rows clear and neaten up the place.
That's it. So I'm not a strict organic guy.

I think that if you continue to improve your soil by adding Humus and compost it'll get better and the plants will do better overall so you won't need most anything else.

I am trying to learn about Fruit Tree management in a spray free manner. I know that dormant oil spray & sticky traps work and so does Tanglefoot spread around the trunk of the tree.

I really need to get more involved with this stuff as some of my trees have taken it in the shorts from various Borers and other wormy little shit bugs.
I've been increasing the size of the Orchard and need to get ahead of the curve on how to keep the trees healthy without spraying the shit out of things.


That's what's nice about gardening. You can't stop learning. There is just to much to know and to many ways of doing things.

The web is a wonderful resource. There are a million places with info out there.
Take advantage of it.

These garden posts for Surly have been very superficial. Just enough to get started. There's just to much for me to write about in detail.

I am always available to answer questions if needed. Hell, if you have enough money, I'll even make house calls. It'll take a lot of money. Just so you know.

So unless I hear otherwise from Surly, that's about it on this topic.
I'll still bore the hell out of you with pictures of my cheesy ass projects and what not.

Speaking of -
The older Guinea Hens have begun to lay eggs.That's 3 Chicken eggs and the 2 in front are Guinea eggs.






Here's another shot of the Peony bush.









That's it for today, kids!

Headline of the Week .....
Either the Editors wern't paying attention or someone has a great sense of humor.

Either way this MSNBC Headline scores from 3 point range.

"Sex-Doll Threesome Man Gets Off"

I didn't even finish the story of some creep and his 2 blowup dolls in the parking lot of the Publix.

This kinda stuff is what makes having an internet connection worthwhile.

The Boss just called and it looks like I'm gonna go make a few extra hours today. See ya later.

Gratuitous Picture for Tuesday Morning-
Keeping with the headlines funny theme.

Proud of All You Bitter Clingers Out There ....
Say Uncle had a link to this story today.

Gotta love this shit - USA Buys Enough Guns in 3 Months to Outfit the Entire Chinese and Indian Army

"In just 3 months Americans bought enough guns to outfit the entire Chinese and Indian army’s combined. You also bought 1,529,635,000 rounds of ammunition in just the month of December 2008. Yeah that is right, that is Billion with a “B”. This is an evaluation of overall firearms and ammunition purchases based on low end numbers per Federal NIC instacheck data base. The numbers presented are only PART of the overall numbers of arms and ammunition that have been sold. The actual numbers are much higher."

Think about that.

In only three months.

One and a half BILLION rounds in December alone.

That must mean something. You figure it out.

Monday Night Picture -
Click to embiggen

More Monday Stuff .......
Even with all the wood still not cut and stacked to dry I feel pretty good. I don't usually get a hell of a lot done on Mondays after working the weekends so today was good.

The nice warm weather probably had some thing to do with that.

I see the farmers out trying to get things prepped before the rain gets here. They'll be working the fields under the lights till the rain hits later.

Legalized gambling. I have a lot of respect for farmers. They have to plan a year in advance, without any idea what the market or the weather is gonna be like and just do it.

God love 'em.

If you have a bad year in the garden because of a flood, etc, you're not likely to starve or go broke. Not so for farmers.

I transplanted some Strawberries last Friday. The old Berry patch had become a mess after the long neglect of not gardening. There were still a few plants that have been hanging on though. These plants also have wonderful tasting berries so I transplanted them into two of the new 4x12' beds I built last year.



There's one of the happy little Berry plants there.

A lot of them are putting out blossoms now, but I'm gonna pinch them off to encourage more growth and runners.

Hopefully, I'll have a whole new bed prepped for them next year and can transplant them again and get berries then.

The Asparagus bed hasn't done to well this year. Not sure if the cold weather is to blame or what. That's another project for this Summer. Getting a bed prepped for more Asparagus, too.

I've got a butt load of seed that I'm starting for transplanting in the Fall. Assuming that I have the bed prepped. Hopefully, in 3 years I'll have a 50' bed of Asparagus.

Check out how things are doing in the HoopHouse -




Boy, those Maters like it in there. They're about 3' high now.

It's gonna take me awhile to figure out how to best utilize the HoopHouse, but I'm already leaning towards, Spring should be for transplants and Fall should be for season extension. If you already have experience with this kinda thing, go ahead and say, "Well Duh".
Or better yet. Drop me a comment and point me in the right direction.
Comments are good and always appreciated.




Here's some more HoopHouse pictures.

Lettuce - Spinach - Radishes- Big ass clump of Lettuce.


Here's a bunch of transplants waiting to happen.
Peppers, Cukes and Melons. Both Watermelons and Muskmelons.



I've really enjoyed this HoopHouse so far.
Not knowing anything about what I'm doing only adds to the, "Oh Wow" factor.

It's good to be out learning new things.

I see nothing but good things from this.

OK. Enough for today.
More on the Garden for Surly tomorrow.

Gratuitous Monday Night Picture ...


Peony. Opened today, but will be gone in a day or two.

What's Happening Around Here on a Late April Monday............
Spring has finally arrived for a day or so. It was almost 90 degrees out today. Being that this is Indiana, we could have snow yet. One never knows this time of year.

It's been a very cold and gloomy Spring up till just the last week. We were still getting down into the 30's every night just a week ago. But the warm weather has really gotten things get going.

I was worried that the Taters and Peas were not gonna sprout. Fortunately, the Peas broke through a few days ago and I saw that the Taters are busting loose today.


Here's one of the 3 beds I have in Peas. Approximately 4x16'

Here's a Tater just starting to peek through. This makes YerUnk very happy. They've been in the ground for almost 5 weeks. It only took a week of decent weather and night time temps above 45 to get 'em going.






I've been Lumberjacking some more, too. Dropped 3 trees last Friday and got them almost all cut up and cleaned up today.


Here's some of what's still laying around on the ground. I should have gotten it all cleaned up and stacked. Did I mention it was almost 90 degrees today?

Yeah, I just ran out of gas. No, not the chainsaws. They had gas. I'm the one that ran out of gas.

I should have taken a picture of the pile of slash that's been created from just a few trees. Maybe later.

Maybe a night shot when it gets torched sometime later would be better.

I'm gonna break this up into another post as I seem to have problems with posts that have too many pictures.

A Couple of Things to Read .........
Being the weekend, I'm off at work doing battle with the Zombie Hordes.
Here's a couple of things to read.
First one is an article on this Mexican Flu outbreak.

Mexico’s Calderon Declares Emergency Amid Swine Flu Outbreak

This is gonna be bad for YerUnk no matter how it pans out. The media is going to have the Zombies cranked up into a lather in a few more days and the ER will be packed full of people who have no need to be there, demanding that we "DO SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!"

Worse, if there's only one Illegal Wetback around who's carrying that shit, all those dumbasses are going to be setting themselves up as victims.
Thus compounding the problem.

It's ok though. Janet Napolitano, head of the DHS says crossing the border isn't really illegal. Tell that to my Widow if this shit should be anywhere near the 1918 style Flu.

One quote from the article -
"The first case was seen in Mexico on April 13. The outbreak coincided with the President Barack Obama’s trip to Mexico City on April 16. Obama was received at Mexico’s anthropology museum in Mexico City by Felipe Solis, a distinguished archeologist who died the following day from symptoms similar to flu, Reforma newspaper reported. The newspaper didn’t confirm if Solis had swine flu or not."

Think about that a bit. YerUnk and most EMS personnel are just hosed.

Next. Go read this -
"A little note to the people of the US from some GI"

This was posted over at the We The Armed Forum.

Draw your own conclusions.

Gotta run.

Surly's Big Garden Adventure....
That's kinda what it is. An adventure.
When I start new things I get all fired up and motivated to go whole hog. Usually driving everyone around me to distraction.

Hey, it's just the way I am. At least you're not here under the same roof so be happy.

We we're working on, Surly's Garden yesterday and figured out a couple of things.

One thing to remember about this. You can do it in whatever way you like. Odds are it will turn out well and you will be pleased and have some way better than store bought food.

And way cheaper too.

There are a lot of other reasons to do this too. But food is a good motivator on it's own.

Chris Left a comment on the last post about using Straw or Hay Bales for a bed. This is an excellent idea that I'd forgotten about. I've never done it so I forget about things like that.

There is an added bonus, too. Those bales are gonna break down and form compost eventually. And as I have had all my kids trained to say - "Compost is your friend.

We'll get to that in a second. There are a couple of ways to use bales. Hay or Straw, doesn't matter.
You can use them as the outside perimeter, which I think is how Chris meant it. This is a low budget starter till you find something to make a permenant bed.

I remember an old article in, Mother Earth News, before they became a huge, "Oh my God! We're all gonna die!!", Global Warming, propaganda rag. Back when they we're much more useful for real, everyday ideas.

Anyway, this guy took bales of straw and made a solid block of them.
Took what good soil he had, added some compost to it and made a growing surface in 5 gallon bucket sized piles right on top.. He then planted his Tomatoes in the dirt and let 'er rip. Took 2-3 years and the bales rotted down, improving the crappy soil underneath.

Doesn't sound like it's too feasible for Surly, but I toss that out for others who may read this.

And if you have ideas? Please sound off. What I'm saying here is only how I do things. Definitely NOT, the Gospel according to Unk.
Keep that in mind. There are a zillion ways to garden. Most of the time, they all work.
Sometimes, nothing works well.
Weather, Bugs or Critters can play hell on things. Just the way it goes.

Like I told, Surly, those years where everything goes right? Rare. And you remember them.
It's great when it happens, but not what you can count on all the time.

Since Surly isn't Homesteading on the plains 100 years ago, if he doesn't have a great year his kids don't starve in March.

Major bonus points for that.

So let's go back to his Crappy Soil problem.
What to do? You can import some. Which, if you're building raised beds and have a small area, you'll almost have to do. There are exceptions, but not if your soil just sucks.

Options? You can import as small amount as you can get by with and start there. This is assuming raised beds. You can till a flat area and add a little fertilizer and go from there too. No Soil cost.
A little 10-10-10 fertilizer is cheap and you can get started for very little.. Scale is the only thing that will change that.

And for a lot of folks, this is ok. I've done it several times in several places.

But when taking the long view?

Say it Kids - "Compost is your friend!"

If you take the time and put in the work, you can make almost any soil better.
Time is the big thing.
If you add enough Humus to any soil it will get better. And better and better.
Your plants will be healthier.
They'll grow better.
They'll resist pests and disease better.
You"ll like it.

Remember this. Most of us can't come up with enough compost right off the bat to make a big difference.

Even if you have Horses, Cows, or like me, chickens, all that crap needs to break down and be usable first.

And that takes time.

Google up "Making Compost" and I'm sure you'll get a zillion methods and descriptions to follow.
I'm pretty sure that most of them should work. You can get real motivated and make compost a bit faster. Maybe those ads for 2 week compost from the Tumbler work. I quit trying a long time ago.

Go ahead and do that Google search. Pay attention to what to use and what not to use in your pile.

Surly doesn't have the option I do.
I give the Chickens and Guinea Hens just about everything most folks will put in the compost pile. They turn it into compost for me. It still takes awhile though.

Get used to that idea.

I was fanatical about making the "Perfect" compost pile for awhile.
Then I realized, it all broke down eventually anyway.
So I started just throwing things in the pile and not worrying about it.

Then I just started tossing it right on the garden and letting it rot there.
Worked just as good as far as I could tell.

Again, I believe in, No, I damn near demand that you make and use compost in one form or another if you're going to garden.
I'm not gonna spend all day telling you how to build that perfect pile. I don't think it matters. As long as it gets on the garden, composted or not, it's gonna help.

The Chinese have been using Nightshade as compost for centuries.
Nightshade is composted human poop, BTW.

It must work. There's a BILLION plus of them.

So much for that old saying - "Eat shit and die".

Yeah, Apparently it doesn't work that way.

Matters not. The bottom line is you can take crappy dirt and turn it into good soil if you work at it.

Have a friend with horses -AND- a front loader on his tractor?
Do what you have to do to get hooked up with that source.
Six pack, twelve pack, Oh hell, whatever. You can always brush your teeth later.

OK. Whatever works for you. (Send your wife if you have to).

Part II - Any organic matter you throw on your beds is first - MULCH.
It'll become compost later, but it has a very valuable job till then.

Just like compost - "Mulch is your friend."
Especially with raised beds.
One of the good things about raised beds is the improved drainage. It really helps - Until the weather gets hot and it doesn't rain for three weeks.

Then your beds get as dry as a popcorn fart and your plants wither up and look like some kid Sally Strothers is pitching for on the National Geographic Channel.
"Unless you help....Blah, Blah, Blah"
Same effect, but not so bad as long as those kids aren't in your neighborhood.
I'm sure Mulch ain't too high on the old priority list if that's the case. Be glad you're not wherever Sally's at.

Mulch has many virtues that are important.
It keeps the soil from drying out and water available to your plants.
It keeps the roots cool in really hot weather.
It becomes compost as it does all this.

And most important?
It keeps the weeds down!

I don't know about you, but I hate weeding. Mulch, piled on thick will smother the bulk of the weeds. This makes the whole gardening thing so much more enjoyable. That it is so good for things only makes it better.

Straw and hay are both great mulches. Except you generally have to buy them.
Grass clippings work wonderful. Be careful not to put then right up close to your Tomatoes at first. They get pretty hot the first week or so and can harm plants. They break down quick and give a Nitrogen boost to your plants too.

So if you bag your grass and set it on the curb to be hauled off? DIE HERETIC!!!

OK, that may be a bit harsh.
One of the best and most overlooked sources of milch is Leaves.
Most of us have trees around. Trees drop leaves every Fall.
We rake 'em up and either Bag them or burn them right?

DIE HERETIC!!!

You run the mower over them and save them.
That's like money in the bank for the garden.

Save them. Period.
Bag 'em. Rake them into a big pile and put a tarp over them so you don't lose them. Cruise the streets after dark and steal the ones that other Dumb asses put on the curb.
This works with grass clippings too. (Make friends with people who bag there grass. As long as they don't spray a bunch of shit on them. We'll get into that Monday or Tuesday.)

Whatever it takes.
You want to save leaves. You're crazy if you don't. Did you kick back the leaves in a heavy forest and look? I'm not even gonna tell ya. Just go look.

OK. Let's review.
Site Selection. Lots of Sun is Good!

If you're going to make raised beds, find something to make them out of or get containers of some kind.

If your soil sucks, you may have to spring for a little soil or compost. Maybe both.

Compost is your Friend! Make it somehow but remember it takes awhile.

Mulch is your friend! You almost can't get too much mulch. I really doubt that it's possible. Unless you're using concrete mix.

That's enough for tonight.
If you guys knew how slow I type you'd know what a labor this is.
Mom always told me to take typing in High School.

Gratuitous Picture for a Friday Night -
I'm pretty sure this isn't how the Trojans did it.

Another Link Addition .....
I added Chris Horton's Mindful Musings to the linkage under the "Gun Blogs and what not" category.
Smart guy and it seems he's back to regular posting now.

He left a good point in the comments regarding the Garden for Surly that I'll hit on latter.

It's an absolutely beautiful morning here in Southern Indiana and I have to decide between getting on the lawn mower or getting on the BigBluePlasticMotorcycle.

Maybe if I get my ass outside and cut some grass now, I can ride this afternoon.

That's a thought.

Gratuitous Picture for this Morning -
one of the coolest bikes ever.
V-8 Guzzi with Dustbin Fairing.

Look Out! He's Got a Garden!!!!!
Well, not yet.

In the comments below, The Surly One expressed a wish that I do some more gardening posts. Like the rest of us, He's on a tight budget and wants to do as much as he can on the cheap.

This is always an admirable idea. Even more so now as the cost of food continues to climb. It ain't coming back down either, it's gonna get worse. So it's smart of him to be thinking ahead.

I'm addressing this stuff to him, but anyone could benefit from having a garden. So if you have questions about things, ask.

I haven't seen his new place yet so I can't make any specific recommendations here. But going on what he told me about his soil, it basically sucks. That's what happens when they build a new house nowadays. They clear off the building site and strip most of the top soil away doing it. You get a new house with crappy soil and have to buy the soil back.

Remember that if you plan on building or buy a house that's less than 20 years old.

He communicated that he would like to use raised beds to avoid tilling, and keep it manageable. You can make them look quite tidy and fit in most anywhere with any kind of landscape. I really like them for most things.

So, where do we start?
Site selection I suppose. You're gonna want a place that gets, at a minimum of 7-8 hours of sunlight. That's not really enough, but if that's all you have then try it. You want as much Sunlight as you can get so make that your first priority when locating the garden. Move the swingset or clothesline if you have to. Most things just won't grow well with less than 8 hours of sun. The more, the better.
Try to keep your layout oriented in a North to South direction. I have no idea why I forgot this when building mine. It's not a critical thing, but it will make it easier to get good sun on things with out shading them later on.

Depending on how much room you have, leave room for expansion later. You can have beds tucked into spots all over the yard if it fits your design or just fits what you have. I find it easier to have stuff as close together as practical, just so you don't spend all day walking from place to place. One of the benefits of gardening is the quiet time out there, if you're a fat ass, lay it out so you have to walk. I look for efficiency personally. You still get that quiet time, but you can utilize it better.

Surly has a problem of crappy dirt and not wanting to buy a dump truck full of soil. The good news is he's only talking about a single small bed this year. He suggested an area only 2x8'. That's pretty small and I think he'd be better off going 4x12, but that's ok.

First things first. What are we gonna use for building a raised bed? Some folks don't use anything. Just mound it up and go. I tried that and didn't find it worked to well with my inner Teutonic sense of orderliness. The soil gets spread around and it messy.

You want a box of some kind. Here's where your creativity comes in. I've used all kind of things. I recommend having one at least 8" deep.

Concrete blocks - They're cheap. You can almost always find people who will give them to you for free if you ask. Seems like everyone has a stack of them behind the garage.
They work well, but they aren't the prettiest thing. I've got 3 beds now made from blocks, but they ain't nothing fancy.

You can buy lumber, but that's expensive.

Scrap and scrounge time. Scrap pallets can be taken apart and they're another freebie. Most businesses have 2-3 leaning against the outside walls asking to be given away.

Where Surly lives, he should be looking for Dunage Lumber the Truckers use. It's usually 4x4 and hardwood. (Ask Cuzzin Ricky.) Sure, it'll breakdown in 4-5 years, but big deal it's friggen organic. That's a plus in the long run. Besides, it gives you 4-5 years to find something else.

I saw a hell of a nice bed made form red clay field tile set on end. That was a freebie too. He got a whole truck load for hauling them away. Looked nice too.
Scrap steel, Big rocks, Hell, even small trees cut down and stacked, log cabin style. You name it. This is where the creative part comes in.

Surly only wants to grow a couple of Maters, Peppers, Onions and some Herbs for now. Maybe he'll re-read the Tater post I wrote awhile back and opt for some of those too.

Soil is gonna be a problem if you don't have any of your own and need to build a bed.

So, what to do? One idea is to buy some bags of soil at Home Depot and plant directly in them. Yeah, lay them on the ground where you plan to make your garden later and slice a hole in them and plant a tomato or 2 in each one. You'll need a little (Very little) fertilizer, but that's it.

Don't laugh, It works.

It's just another form of "Container Gardening". That's where I'm going here anyway. You can grow lots of things in containers and containers are limited only by what you'll use. Containers also give you the option of moving your plants if you don't have a good sunny spot. I personally wouldn't, "Take my plants for a walk" everyday. But if that's all you can do and are willing, Go for it.

At the end of the season, you can dump the bags into the bed you finally got together and be started for next year.

So, where we at so far?

We need a good site with plenty of Sun. Something to make beds from. Or containers to grow in. And a little dirt to get started.

We decided that buying a dump truck load of soil is NFG, but you're gonna have to buy a little for now. I'd spring 30-40 bucks for a pickup truck load of GOOD soil for starters. You can buy a few bags of composted manure for 2.99 each to help it and not be in for to much.

You CAN go and dig soil yourself if you know someone who'll let you and has a source. That would be great.

The soil problem is gonna be your biggest expense, even if you just buy a few bags and plant things in them. That's gonna continue to be a problem if you expand things, too.

You can help by making good soil. Tomorrow we'll see about, Compost.

Gratuitous Picture for this Evening -
Fertile Soil for Plowing.

Dream Interpretation Anyone ????

I had a dream that Keith Olberman pulled up on the road while I was out in the garden. He was driving an old 67-68 vintage four door Chrysler or Dodge, maybe a Monaco. A big old lead sled, anyway.

Had a suit and tie on like you always see him. Except that when I walked up to the car, he wasn't wearing pants.
Striped Boxers.
And those funny things that hold your socks up.

And he had a Big White Cochin Hen sitting on his lap.
Looked something like this one -

That's about all I remember, except it was weird as shit.

They say dreams mean things, but I'll be damned if I know what this could possibly mean.




Gratuitous Picture of the Day -
Keeping with the Chicken Theme.

Happy Birthday, Vadamir Lenin .....
Born today 139 years ago today.

Oh, and Happy Earth day, too.

I've been out digging and moving flowers for the Queen today. So I'm "Getting in touch" with Mother Earth here.

I've got a huge pile of scrap lumber, tree limbs, old fence panels and what not out back. I'm talking about a BIG pile. I also have a couple of old tractor tires, not those little front ones either, that need to go.

So later this evening I'll torch the whole thing off to celebrate Earth Day.

Celebrate Children.

Gratuitous Picture for today -

New Additions .....
To the Links over there on the right side.

We the Armed. A real nice Gun Forum, started by George @ Mad Ogre and some others. It's a growing place and full of knowledgeable people who are all pretty polite. Unlike a lot of forums.

Another addition to the Links is Oath Keepers. This is a fairly new organization aimed primarily at, Active and Former Military, Law Enforcement and EMS. But you don't have to be any of those. Their mission is to remind those of us who took the Oath of Enlistment just what it meant and that there's no expiration date on it.

I'm probably not stating this real well, so I'd advise you to go and check them out to see just what they are and what they ain't.
Here's the only media report I've seen on the Rally held at Lexington, Sunday.

"Oath Keepers Rally for Constitution on Lexington Green"

"A new patriotic organization called “Oath Keepers” was invited to join a Committees of Safety-sponnsored rally on Massachusetts’ historic Lexington Green to renew their oaths to support and defend the U.S. Constitution April 19, the 234th anniversary of the revolutionary war battles of Lexington and Concord. The Committees of Safety is named for the groups that organized in colonial America during the beginning of the War for Independence...."

These guys are doing important work.

OK. That's it for now.

Gratuitous Picture for this afternoon -
You know those little signs in the windows of Minivans warning of "Baby on Board"?

I'm pretty sure this isn't what they mean.

Reconnecting ......
Got a nice surprise today while checking me email. My cousin, who I haven't seen in quite awhile got a hold of me. Seems he reads my Brothers blog (Over there on the sidebar) and made a link from there to here.

So that's, what? 4 readers now?

Anyway, very nice surprise. We used to be awful tight and hung out together a lot. Sorta lost track as we got older and moved about.

My bad & I hope to rectify that soon.

Gratuitous Picture for today -
Concentration.

Excellent Ride Today ......
Out and about in Southern Indiana on the BigBluePlasticMotorcycle today.

Today was one of the first nice riding days where Global Warming wasn't keeping the temperature near, "Cold as Shit and Raining".

I got out about 10 am and rode till about 5pm. Nothing but backroads and 2 lanes through the hills and down by the Ohio River.

Beautiful. Sunny and around 70 degrees. Perfect weather for riding.

I made a lot of stops and talked to a lot of nice folks as I just leisurely took my time and enjoyed the day.
Put in close to 200 miles and never got further than 60-70 miles from home.

I stopped at Patriot Indiana and was smoking along the Ohio River when I saw this Big Ass boat coming. Turns out it was The Belle of Cincinnati heading down to Louisville for the big Thunder Weekend.
The picture I took with the wife's cellphone camera sucked, so I googled this one so you could see what she looks like.


Yeah. Pretty cool.

Overall, a very nice day and I needed it.

April 15th and Tea Parties for WingNuts .......

Once again. Pay up if you haven't already.

Lot's of Tea Parties out there today. I may go to one after I post this. Several co-workers were talking about this last week, but no one has returned calls today.

Maybe my deodorant needs an upgrade.

I think the Tea Parties are just maybe the start of bigger things. Not sure about this yet.

Speaking of Tea Parties, does it seem strange that the Dept of Homeland Security decided to publish a report titled - Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment. only a week before the Tea Parties were scheduled? (link goes to Michelle Malkin)

This new DHS report is similar to the Missouri report I wrote about Here and even more inflammatory. Basically labeling anyone attending a Tea Party today as a "Rightwing Extremist" and someone who should have the authorities keeping an eye on them.

I particularly like the way they focus on Veterans as a potential threat.

You should download the PDF file and read the whole thing. I see this as a self fulfilling prophecy. These assholes in Washington are gonna keep pushing people, chipping away at rights and freedom and labeling them as undesirables until someone starts to push back. Then they can claim "See. We told you these guys were dangerous!"

And you know what? They have no idea just how dangerous the average person can be.
I see the Law of Unintended Consequences kicking in here if this shit keeps up.

No. I don't like the idea of that either so don't start. No one knows where things end up after the shit starts flying and I'm not real curious to find out.

But I can damn near guarantee that the Average, Rightwing Extremist American Joe won't be the one to start it.

Assholes, like the Shooter in Pennsylvania aren't average or normal, but that didn't stop the DHS from equating him with the 48% of the population who didn't vote for, The Messiah. Thanks. I really appreciate that.

The Pennsylvania Cop Shooter was not legally allowed to even handle a firearm since he was dishonorably discharged from the Marines and had a protective order against him. He was also a card carrying Neo-Nazi and that's the kind of shit they do. You will note how the DHS failed to mention his Nazi Stormfront connections in their paper.

Instead, the DHS painted anyone who opposes abortion, illegal immigration, border control, gun control, is a veteran, distrusts Washington politicions, believes in the Constitution, God and Jesus, bought one of the SEVEN MILLION firearms the NICS checked since November or voted for a Third Party Presidential Candidate to be a Fucking Soulmate with this little Nazi Shitheel who shot three cops.

And they wonder how anyone could get a bit paranoid when the government equates all the above legal activities with Extremism and Neo-Nazi Killers?

Self Fulfilling Prophecy indeed.

By Request.........
First of all, belated Easter wishes to all of you. Worked my regular weekend shift and was unable to wish you all that earlier. No problem, The promise held out by Easter is still good a day late. Or any day for that matter.

Ok. regarding the post title. I saw this video of Bruce Lee playing Ping Pong a week or so ago at Innocent Bystanders and it blew me away. I was telling a friend about it and he was like, "No. That's crazy. Nobody can do that."

For those of you who never geeked out to cheesy, Kung Fu Movies back in the 70's, you may have never really understood the fascination that FanBoys have with Bruce Lee. Watch this video of him playing ping pong, using NunChucks. It's scary that he was so coordinated that he could do this kind of shit and make it look easy.



I have a hard time believing that anyone could have the hand-eye coordination to do this-



Light matches thrown at you with NunChucks? That's crazy. I know all the goofy fight scenes in those old movies are highly choreographed to make him look good. I also know that there was a heck of a lot of talent and skill involved anyway.

But holy shit. Just how good do you have to be to be able to do this stuff and make it look so easy?

So here ya go, Mikey! Watch and be amazed.

Almost forgot. Gratuitous Picture for Sunday Night/Monday Morning -

Be Prepared.

So, How's That HoopHouse Working Out ??????
Glad you asked! So far so good.

The Lettuce mix that I seeded for the wife has taken off like crazy. I need to start thinning it out and making salads.



That's some Spinach going on the right side.

I had to reseed most of the stuff I put in. I tried using some REAL old seeds I had stashed.

I hadn't stored them properly and it showed when nothing germinated.
I was curious if they'd be any good. Now I know.

Think those Maters like it in there?



The Wal-oWaters are about 14" high. So you can see that this Mater likes it a lot in the HoopHouse.

Since this is a new experience for me, this year is a basic learning thing.

Next year I should be able to get things going in a more systematic manner and be a bit more productive.

The plants I have outside already in the W-o-W's are not growing a hole lot, but look pretty good considering how cold it's been.

A couple of Cabbage that did germinate from the old forgotten seeds.

That's Spinach growing alongside them. I eat the hell out of fresh Spinach.

The ability to grow cold tolerant greens is going to be good.

I'm curious to see how far into the winter I can keep the salad stuff going.
There's a lot to learn yet. I'm going to have to figure out some sort of organization, which happens to be one of my weaknesses, so we'll see how that works out.

I replanted the Peas outside yesterday and put out some Onions.

Not seeing any growth on the Taters yet, but it's been cold as heck since I planted them.

I'm getting Spring Fever bad. I even got the lawn mower out yesterday and cut the weeds in the front yard just for kicks.

Even took the BigBluePlasticMotorcycle out for about 3 hours yesterday.
Need to wash that thing. I don't believe I washed at all last year and it looks it. Was gonna do that today, but it's been raining on and off all day so I cleaned up the garage some more.

Ok, that's the Friday Update. Gratuitous Picture Follows -

“What’s to stop Ned from killing me in the next ten days?” ..........

The title above is a quote. Follow the link and read.

Here's the story & it'll make you stop and think some.

At least it should.

Gratuitous Picture -

Joke's On Me ......
In the comments to the post below, my brother, Chief reminds me of the time he, with the help of Alfred Hitchcock scared me so bad he made my hair stand on end.

It was New Years Eve and he and I were home alone.

Alfred Hitchcocks, "Psycho" was on & We were glued to the old Black and White Emerson TV.

We had both pulled a kitchen chair up about 3 feet from the screen. Chief was leaning on a 2x4 laid across the arms of the chair he was sitting in. the 2x4 was part of a set of blocks that The Ol' Man had made for our little brother who was in bed already.

I had a Grape Nehi in one hand and a bags of Fritos in the other and was totally captivated. I was totally into it. "Oh Norman, you are one crazy ass. Yes."

Unbeknown to me, Chief had already seen, Psycho. I later figured out that he was leaning on that 2x4 not as a comfort asset either.

Now if you're familiar with that movie, you know that everytime Tony Perkins whacks someone, there is this piercing music score that just goes along with Knife being used in the scene.

Well Chief picked his moment well - the Detective was climbing the stairs and you Just Know he's gonna get an ass full of knife when he gets to the top of the stairs.

Now I'm already sitting right on the edge of my chair. Any closer to the edge and I fall on my ass. OOOOOHHHH, Here It Comes.

Sure enough, right as that poor bastards foot hits the top of the stairs, Norman Bates comes flying out with that big ass knife and the music hits that, Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!.........

And Chief SLAMS THAT 2X4 DOWN ON THE ARMS OF THE CHAIR and SCREAMS!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Grape Nehi Soda goes one way. Fritos go the other. I go Straight the hell up and levitate there for a few seconds while me feet are moving, cartoon like for an, "Exit Stage Right" move!!

When I hit the ground I looked at Chief and he wasn't laughing.

WTF????? He's got this, "Holy Shit"!! look on his face and THEN HE STARTS LAUGHING. Like a friggin' crazy man.

My hair was standing straight up in the air!!! It looked like a special effect from a movie. Straight up and waving around like wheat in the breeze.
It stayed that way for about 5 minutes too. I was even laughing after he dragged me into the bathroom to see it.

Unreal. Never seen anything like it since.

If I'd have had some kind of undiagnosed heart condition, that would have been the end of me right then and there.

Fortunately, that wasn't the case as I can still laugh about it.

Do something like that today and I'm dead as hell. No way I could take that twice. That would be the stress test from hell for someone my age.

But it's good to be able to laugh about this crazy stuff now. That's the stuff you remember and I guess that's what makes it good.

Gratuitous Picture for the Day -
Lee Marvin, just being his Bad Ass Self.

Happy Morris Miller Day!!!!!
What ?!?
You don't celebrate MM day?
Truth be told. Neither do I.

Only once did I celebrate it and that over 40 years ago.

The place I grew up on was an old farmstead. The house was built around the 1860's or so I'm told. It was referred to by the old folks as "The old Morris Miller Farm".

So I assume that was the guy who built the house and farm. Since nothing else around the area was named after him I guess he was a good guy (To have his name remembered) but didn't endow a shitload of cash to the local politicos.

Just a guess, but that seems to be the easiest way to get shit named after you.

Anyway, We kids were off school for Easter Break. Yeah, they called it that way back then. My cousin, Patrick had come out to the country to spend some time. I liked Patrick a lot & unlike me, he was a nice kid.

Like a lot of old houses, our house was pretty creaky and not all of the corners were set at 90 degrees and such. Lots of things will get out of plumb after so many years. The foundation and basement walls were these huge rocks, mortared together and It was dark and creepy down there.

In the room I slept in there was a big deep closet. Narrow as hell and at least 7-8 feet deep. A great place to hide from anyone who wasn't a family member.

One of the quirks of the old place settling over the years was there was a small crack between the ceiling and the closet wall.
Which was cool after dark if you happened to leave the closet light on at night. There'd be this faint glow up on the ceiling that you really couldn't tell where it was coming from as the crack wasn't obvious.

Which is what was happening on April the 8th, circa 1966 or so when cousin Patrick was there.

Patrick asked me about that glow and, me being me, I took it and ran with it.
"Morris Miller had been a soldier in the Union Army who left his young wife to go off and fight for President Lincoln............" That's how it started. I was working on the fly and told him how he'd made a sacred vow to come home to his wife no matter what happened.

Frankly, I don't remember quite what I told him. Either he'd gotten killed in one of the big battles on April 8th and his spirit had come home to haunt the place or maybe he'd died in "THIS VERY ROOM!!!"

Didn't matter.

The intended effect was achieved. I slept like a baby that night and Patrick looked like shit in the morning.

Yep. I was a rotten little shit.

But it was a great time for me and as far as I know, Patrick is still telling people about the ghost he saw way back when.

So, Happy Morris Miller Day!!

Gratuitous Picture of the Day -
White Trash Barbie.

Pay Attention Here and Learn Something ......
David Codrea @ The War on Guns (Someone you SHOULD be reading daily, along with his Examiner column) had an interesting couple of links about a fella named, Lance Thomas.

No, I'd never heard of him before either. Quite a remarkable guy. Seems that Mr Thomas, was a watch dealer and fixer upper of high end watches in LA, California. It appears that the big Rolex sign out front of his little shop became a magnet for the type of people who find gainful employment disdainful and Dirtbags being Dirtbags..........

Well, a number of these folks, quite a large number really, tried to separate him from his goods at gunpoint.

All of them lost.
Most of them badly. As in dead and it doesn't get any more bad than that.
Good interview and story here. He was shot 4 times himself in one encounter, but finished the job at hand.

Yeah, He seems like kind of a BadAss. But watching and listening to him he comes off as just a normal guy. But one with a determination level that is pretty remarkable.

Massad Ayoob, a writer I like a lot, has a very good examination of the whole series of gunfights that Mr Thomas has been involved in. Yeah, I said Series of gunfights and details the nuts and bolts of things and gives some good commentary that we can all learn from.

I recommend you take a few minutes and check out the video and the Ayoob article. This isn't a new story and some of you may have heard of this guy before, but it was new to me so I thought I'd pass it on.

I'm pretty sure you'll learn something or at least see something that'll make you think.

Gratuitous Picture for this Evening -
The GrumpyUnk Troopers.

Overheard in the ER........
Coworkers response to the standard greeting of "Whadda you know?"

"A one legged Duck swims in a circle."

I like that.

Gratuitous Picture for Monday Morning -

Helpful Site For You DIY Types ......

I happened to find this today while cruising the web. This is a very nice site with whole lot of interesting reading and good, How To, Do It Yourself info on Small Farming, etc.

Journey to Forever
Online Library
The site is Huge. You could get lost in this place and that's probably not a bad thing if you have any interest in this sort of thing.

They have many entire books. I own this one - Handy Farm Devices and How to Make Them I think I paid $10 bucks for it and it was money well spent.

I have read several excerpts of Sir Albert Howards work before and always wanted to read more of his stuff. No Problem now. There are several books of his in the entirety on site.

I really wish I'd found this last Fall so I could have been reading this inside while the weather was bad. Oh well. Better late than never.

This is going to the top of my Bookmarked List as I can see it being a great reference in the future.

OK. In Other News........

I finally got the BigBluePlasticMotorcycle out for a ride yesterday. It's been over a month since I rode.

Wow. It was nice even if it was a pretty short ride. Good for the mind and body.
The weather turned to shit shortly after I left and I made it home just before a very nasty storm blew in.
I don't wanna think about being out in that kinda shit. I ride in some crappy weather sometimes, but my, Riding KungFu has gotten pretty weak and out of shape. I used up a lot of it on my last trip.


That was a cold trip. BUt I want to go back West again.

With the Financial mess I'm in from all of the accumulated medical bills, it's unlikely that I'm going to be able to take an extended trip of any kind this year.
Maybe I should apply for a bailout.

Oh wait. I really didn't grossly mismanage my finances or do stupid shit with crooked Government folks so I doubt that idea's gonna fly. Oh well.

I'm gonna have to change plans and adjust to the reality of how things are right now and settle for what I can do.

Which may be a lot less. That's ok. I'm happy doing lots of things that don't require the Rocky Mountains as a backdrop. The hills of Southern Indiana are a good place to do lots of fun things on the cheap.

I'm seeing more camping and fishing in the future. I used to fish a lot, but somehow I got away from it. I've got a shitload of fishing gear that's in serious need of clean up and maintenance, but other than that, it's mostly serviceable. Some of the rods will need replaced as most of them ended up getting caught in car doors.
That's what garage sales and Craigslist.org are for.

Gratuitous Picture for Today -
From The Perry Bible Fellowship Click to Embiggen

Couple of Things to See ......

I saw this over at Innocent Bystanders today.

There's no doubt that it takes a huge pair to do this, but even that is overshadowed by the Sheer Volume of Stupid required.



Serious "Oh Shit!" Stupid.
Like I always say, "Don't mess with Darwin."

Ok, I'll give him "Badass Points" for that anyway.
But for real, honest to goodness Badassery, check out - Sgt. Seth E. Howard
Genuine, Green Beret Badass that one.

And here's some good news for those of you with GM and Chrysler vehicles.



I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to Uncle Sugar running more things.
Hat Tip to - Chris Horton @ Mindful Musings

Gratuitous Picture of the Day -

Lucky Dog .......
Two of them actually. Mine and the neighbors.

The GrumpyWife has been told by the medical authorities that she shouldn't drive.

That means that YerUnk has been reduced to slave and chauffeur for her. This has crimped the BigBluePlasticMotorcycle time. It is Spring ya know and today would have been a good day to ride.

I had to hustle the wife to a couple of places this morning and then go see the Dentist myself for some more Extremely Expensive Dental Care.

So I wasn't in the best of moods when we got home this afternoon anyway.

I let the dogs out the back door to go do their Doggie thing and the neighbors big, German Shepperd came hauling ass over and tore into the big Boxer.
Never made a noise. Just came streaking at him like a missile and Big Boxer never even saw him coming.

Knocked that 100 lb Boxer ass over teakettle and was seriously getting started on tearing him a new one. I let out a yell and drew my pistol, fully intending to kill that SOB.

That's sorta when then they both got lucky.

He jumped off and back - Lucky for the Boxer.
The neighbor pulled into her driveway - Lucky for the Shepperd.

I fully intended to shoot the SonzaBitch and bury his ass out in the compost pile as this is the 2nd time he's pulled this shit. But since he hauled ass back home and over to where the neighbor was, I figured it was poor form to execute him in front of Her, in Her yard.

She's nice people and the dog belongs to her son. Dog got lucky twice.

My Big Boxer had a gash about 2'' on his side and several small punctures and scratches from the 5-10 second encounter. He's lucky I was there. That Shepperd would have kicked his ass and maybe killed him.

Considering the amount of damage sustained in the time involved, he got his ass handed to him as it was.

I sutured his side up on the kitchen floor with an assist from the wife. Yes, I keep that shit around the house.
It helps to know how to do things like that when need be.

Picture of the Doggie Damage


Note the suture materials on the side there.

This kinda knowledge comes in handy. Even if you can't sew someone up, you should have a good first aid kit.

That's today's lesson on that.

I sutured him up and he took it like a man. He's a helluva good dog.


Gratuitous Picture of the Day -