You Should Take a Minute and Read This........
Just a short post and story over at Fat in Indiana

MAY GOD BLESS THIS AIRLINE CAPTAIN:

He writes: My lead flight attendant came to me and said, "We have an H.R. on this flight." (H.R. stands for human remains.) "Are they military?" I asked.

'Yes', she said.

'Is there an escort?' I asked.

'Yes, I already assigned him a seat'.

'Would you please tell him to come to the flight deck. You can board him early," I said..

A short while later, a young army sergeant entered the flight deck. He was the image of the perfectly dressed soldier. He introduced himself and I asked him about his soldier. The escorts of these fallen soldiers talk about them as if they are still alive and still with us.


Go read the rest, it's a very powerful story. That's all I can can say.

I can't even begin to tell ya how reading this affected me. Not what I was expecting fer sure.

Memorial Day Monday.........
We will be observing Memorial Day here with little fanfare today.
To me, Memorial Day is not a day to celebrate and that's why I use the term, observing.

I try to take a bit and reflect on just what and whom we're Memorializing today.
Remember the long line of Veterans that gave all so we are able to enjoy the freedoms that we still have.

For now.

You may want to reflect on the fact that our current President is unable to find the time to follow the traditions of his betters and Honor those dead by laying a wreath at Arlington this weekend.

Good to see these guys picking up the slack for him.

They haven't forgotten and G-d bless each and everyone of our young folks in service now.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Here's where he was referring to-

"row on row".

Sweat Yer Ass Off Friday.......
Just a few weeks ago I was complaining about how the weather was cold and wet.
Once again, be careful what you ask for. Now it's Hot and Humid. And it started raining again this evening. Rained just long enough to raise the humidity to about 100% but not cool things off any.

I'm not sure how folks in the Deep South deal with this as a regular way of life. I don't think I'm tough enough to live with that high heat and humidity all the time. I'm sure you must get used to it or there wouldn't be so many folks still there.

This is much better than the cold and wet for the plants in the garden though. It's also making the weeds and the lawn - same thing, weeds - grow like crazy.

And I'm falling behind again. I can see that the next week is gonna revolve around killing a lot of weeds. Lots of hoe work coming up.

I spent the day today planting trees and picking strawberries.
These are both good things.

A buddy of mine came by early today and picked a couple of gallon Ice Cream containers full of Strawberries.
I went out about 5 pm and here's what I got.

That's 10 lbs of Strawberries there.
I had the Wife weigh them to see how much was there.

This is the 2nd picking I've made so far.

Between the wet weather, bugs, birds and working the last 2 days, there were a ton of berries that were bad, too. If I were able to pick every day this week I'd have gotten 2 more containers like this.

Gonna get some jam out of this bunch I hope. Looks like there will be berries for at least another week or 2.
Fresh Strawberries, like Beer, are a good reason to believe that there is indeed a God and that he love us.

There are other reasons too.

Yes, I plant flowers in with the Beans and Tomatoes.

See those Tomato cages? Old (as in, heavy gauge) fence wire. Picked up a couple of partial rolls of wire at an auction for $1 each and made cages from it.
Cheap way to make ass kick Tomato cages on the cheap. Keep your eye out and snatch shit like that up when it's cheap.

Hell, while were at it, here's a nice Delphinium picture.


I like having flowers around the garden. Not real utilitarian but it does make things a bit prettier and nicer.

Speaking of nice....

Lots of Pears coming on. should be a good year for them.

I don't know just what type of Pear these are but they sure are tasty. The Wife canned a bushel or so last year and they REALLY taste good about February.

Looks like we may get a decent Apple crop from this tree. We've never had a lot of luck with this tree & I'm not sure why.

I've got 5 more new ones planted and if this one doesn't start putting out a decent crop it's gone soon.
Maybe this year.

Took the picture a bit late in the evening and the flash sorta mucked things up. Oh well. Photography is not my strong suit. You get the idea.

I transplanted these Raspberries last year. They had just kinda hung out and hung on where they were planted before. It's pretty obvious that they like the new place. I have no idea why they responded so well to the move & if you do, feel free to chime in on that.

See what I mean about the weeds taking off? The Corn is gonna be over run if I don't get on top of that soon.
Drives me nuts when I know that I HAVE to get a particular job done soon but that's just how it is and you'd think I would be used to it by now.

But overall things are coming along. Everything is behind schedule but still doing ok and I guess you can't complain about that.

I do know that a, "Sweat Yer Ass Off Friday" now is gonna be worth it come January.

One more picture.

More Tomatoes, Peppers and home made cages.

Note the fence wire strung on the posts in the right side of this picture.
More of that $1 fencing providing an area for the cukes to climb on. Growing things in an upwards direction increases your usable space tremendously.

See ya Monday!

Busy Days Here........

Not much posting going on. Lots happening here at the "GrumpyUnk Command and Control Bunker" right now.

I've got a ton of projects going on that all seem to be needing done at once and work has scheduled me a couple of extra days this week to boot.
Don't like to complain about that as the extra money is surely needed to help move those projects along & I'll be heading in there shortly to save lives and all that.

Here's a couple of pictures of the garden and such
Peaches.....

Happy Bean plants.



New Baby Chick saying, "Hello".



Fat Hen in by the Motorcycles & soon to be crapping on the garage floor.

Is This For Real?????????

What I mean is, Have any of you heard or read up on S510? and is it as bad as this article says it is?

It's midnight and I just got home from work. I saw a comment on a site I go to that mentioned this and followed the link. Is this "Little Boy Crying Wolf" bullshit or is there something to this?

I have no idea at this point and I'm tired as hell and I ain't gonna go looking tonight.
So if any of you readers or passerby's know anything about this, sound off in the comments. I'll be researching some tomorrow but I have a pretty busy week scheduled and, if this Bill is as bad as it looks at first glance, we better be getting with the program and taking appropriate actions.

At first glance this looks bad. Check out the sponsors and who voted for this House version of it.

Ok kids. Your help is appreciated on this matter. Please let me know WTF is up with this.
Thanks!

Gratuitous Picture for a Very Early Monday Morning-

2 for 1............
It's always been my rule to plant 2 trees for every 1 cut.
This afternoon I decided to get back at the job of thinning out a stand of trees that runs along the creek behind the Compound.

Now I'm waaaaaayyy ahead on the 2 for 1 rule so far as I've planted 25 or 30 trees here in the last 2-3 years already.

I dropped 5 trees today. Fortunately, I didn't have any problems like the last one I dropped.

Actually, things went pretty smooth. I got 4 of 5 topped out and cleaned up before I ran out of gas.

No, the chainsaw had plenty of gas. I ran out of gas and just had to call it quits for the day.

But I now have a nice area cleaned out and already have trees coming to replace the ones I drooped today. Pecans and English Walnuts.
I've not had real good luck with Nut Trees in the past and I don't understand why that is.
There are plenty of folks who have been eating Apples and Peaches for years from trees I've planted at places I've lived in the past.
Nut trees? Not so good.

I'll just have to keep trying I suppose.

None of the trees I cut today were very big, 12 - 18 inches is all. But every bit of firewood will be worth a lot come Wintertime.
I still have a few BIG trees that I'd like to drop, but frankly, I'm a bit shy on tackling them after that last big one. Even though it was a case of internal rot that caused me problems and not something I could have known, I'm still a little leery as of yet.

That'll probably change eventually.
As I have a small place I need to find a source of firewood for the future. I've got a couple of places in mind and have to get over to speak with the owners.
Wish me luck.

I saw a truck full of sawlogs go by the house yesterday but never saw them going back. That's always been a good source. Those guys are after the big logs and leave a huge amount of wood lay afterwords. Not a lot of tree cutting going on right now, between the weather and the economy.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get in to glean the leftovers of any work being done around here.

As much as I hate it, I'm gonna need to get another saw before to long. The old Homelite XL is a hell of a cutting tool, but it's getting worn. I can see needing an upgrade soon. The Poulin is only good for glean up. Just not a real cutting tool. Not a knock. It's been a heck of a reliable little saw. But it doesn't have the oomph to really do real wood cutting duty.

That's it for tonight. My ass is tired.

Gratuitous Picture for a Thursday Night-

Sunshine This Morning..........

What a nice change! I was up early this morning and enjoyed my morning coffee on the porch catching some sunshine.

It didn't last and by 11:00 it was back to cloudy again and it looks like rain now. Oh well. I enjoyed the sunshine while it lasted.

I did get some grass cut around the "GrumpyUnk Command and Control Bunker" and things look a bit better now. Most of the place is beginning to look like a hayfield but that's ok.

Gratuitous Picture for a Thursday Afternoon-
Barber Motorsports Museum picture. Cool pair of Jawa's.


As always, click pic to enlarge.

From the Unintended Consequences File.......

Arizona dares L.A. to carry out boycott

"The spat over Arizona's new immigration expanded Tuesday as a state official dared the city of Los Angeles to follow through on its new boycott by agreeing to give up the 25 percent of electricity that city gets from Arizona sources."

Arizona tells the LA City Council to go, "Eat shit and die. In the dark."
I'm pretty sure this idea never even occurred to these morons when they were voting on this, "symbolic Action."
Ya gotta love it.

On the Medical front...

Mayberry brought this to my attention today - Handbook suggests that deviations from 'normality' are disorders
"Today's DSM defines "oppositional defiant disorder" as a pattern of "negativistic, defiant, disobedient and hostile behavior toward authority figures." Symptoms include "often loses temper," "often deliberately annoys people" or "is often touchy."

That's just charming. There's no way this could be abused. Right?

From another Post article on this subject-
"But perhaps more important, the outcome will help shape which emotions, behaviors, thoughts and personality traits society considers part of the natural spectrum of the human persona and which are considered pathological, requiring treatment and possibly even criminal punishment."

Oh hell yes. What could possibly go wrong?

I thought it was a good thing to "think outside the box. March to a different drummer" and all that shit. Guess I was wrong.

And here's a glimpse of the future under our new ObamaCare- Woman dies from toilet brush stuck in her backside

Hey, it was only in there for TWO YEARS before they figured out that just maybe there was something wrong.

"It was two years before Cindy, who was in constant pain, was able to convince doctors that the thin serrated plastic handle was stuck in the flesh of her bottom.

By then what should have been a routine procedure to remove it had become much more dangerous because the handle had become embedded in her pelvis."

Government health care. Everything's turning up roses.
She ends up dying because it costs money for an xray on her original ER visit.

Coming soon to a country near you!

Gratuitous Picture for a Wednesday Night-

Garden is Almost There........

The Sun actually came out today! Only for about 20-30 minutes but it was a damn nice site to see.

It's been so wet and gloomy lately the wife has been keeping me on suicide watch.
Not really but it would be nice if it would dry up a bit. I would like to cut the lawn.

The pasture and areas around the barn? It may not get cut again.
That's what happened last year. It never dried out enough to cut. I'm just not gonna worry about it either.

Corn, onions and beans are up. The Strawberries would be producing more if we had some sunshine for them, but I'm gonna have berries, so I don't wish to complain.

Planted more beans, salad fixins and peanuts today. Finished making cages for tomatoes and strung cable for grapes and berries.

It's nice that things are starting to come along now after being behind. I should get some pictures of the chicks for ya. There cute as hell.

The neighbor had an 8'x10' deck that was built across the creek wash out and partially collapse last year. She needed it out of there and I spent most of yesterday afternoon tearing it apart and hauling it off.

Got some real nice treated 2x10's and and a boatload of spindles, decking, etc for the effort. And got to help her out, too.

Next week, if the weather cooperates, the stove and chimney gets set. I'm really looking forward to having that thing in and working.

Busy time of year & that's a good thing.

Gratuitous Picture for a Wednesday Evening-
From The Cliffs of Insanity

Hey Al Gore........
I got your "Global Warming" right Here Bitch.

"The Space and Science Research Center (SSRC), the leading independent research organization in the United States on the subject of the next climate change, issues today the following warning of imminent crop damage expected to produce food and ethanol shortages for the US and Canada:

Over the next 30 months, global temperatures are expected to make another dramatic drop even greater than that seen during the 2007-2008 period. As the Earth’s current El Nino dissipates, the planet will return to the long term temperature decline brought on by the Sun’s historic reduction in output, the on-going “solar hibernation.”

As they say, "We'll see."

All of y'all that said, "Temperature changes don't equal Climate Change" can kiss my ass.
I TOLD you Al Gore was full of shit! But did you believe me?

Oh hell no.
Temperatures have been going down now for 2 years or more and it appears that they are going to continue to drop unless the Sun decides to start pumping out more heat sometime soon.

It's not like the Global Warming crowd ever got a bit hysterical about all the things that are caused by Global Warming. or anything.

Yeah. Just look through that list and see just what I'm talking about.
No agenda at all there. No sir, none at all.

It's a big G-dDamn world out there and NOBODY really knows why or how things do what they do weather-wise.

I do know that I'd rather see things warm up than cool down.
I'd rather have to travel to see a fucking glacier than have one sitting in my backyard, too.
It's not like that hasn't happened before.

I'm pretty damn sure they didn't show up because the friggin' Dinosaurs were burning to much fossil fuel back in the day.

I hope that things mellow out and don't fluctuate to much either direction. That would be nice. An extended cold period would play hell with a lot of things and people.
Just have to wait and see I suppose.

I damn sure wouldn't put all of my chips on Al Gore and his bullshit.

Gratuitous Picture for a Tuesday Evening-

Quick Saturday Thing.......
Blogger is acting all Hinky this morning and has ate this post twice so far. Maybe it'll work this time.

OK. It dumped the whole thing again. Out of time now. Wordpress in my future?

Held Hostage at the Compound...........

By a 12 pound terrorist.

The GrumpyWife, QueenBuffness is on her way to points South to visit and I'm here minding the shop.
She baby sits a infant of about 4-5 months age and being the nice guy I am, I volunteered to watch the little RugRat for a few hours this afternoon.

RugRat's daddy dropped Junior off and headed off to work but was back in only a few minutes.
3 of 5 lug nuts and the studs were missing from the left front wheel of his old Dodge Dakota truck!

That definitely qualifies as, NFG (No Friggin' Good) in anyone's book. So I tossed him the keys to my little blue truck and told him to bring it back in one piece and get his ass to work.

It's not like he can afford to miss any work. Hell, nobody can afford to miss work nowadays and you certainly don't want to be having attendance issues. Because we all know who gets the axe first in hard times and the slackers who can't seem to make it to work on time are at the top of that list.

I can wheel out the "BigBluePlasticMotorcycle" for a beer run later but I was supposed to go pickup some Crested Polish Chicks this evening.


I'm not to sure about bringing them home on the back of the motorcycle is such a great idea. I could wrap a blanket around the box I plan on using to transport them, but they're still pretty young and I think it might get to cold for them.

Monday is probably gonna have to do.

The little RugRat seems to like Duke Ellington. He was fussy as hell until I put the Duke on. He smiled and promptly went to sleep.

I'm gonna have to file that one away. I'm sure it'll come in handy.

Gratuitous Picture for a Friday Afternoon-
You know that fabric was not designed for that sort of abuse.

Big News Today .........

I ate the first ripe Strawberry from the patch today.

No. No picture. It was just friggin' beautiful and tasty and I ate it before I even thought about a picture.
No. I do not feel guilty because you really didn't need a picture of a damn Strawberry. You know what a Strawberry looks like.

Besides, I did that last year.
And not a one of you Ingrates commented on it either.

There are gonna be a shit load more of them coming on in the next week and then we'll be swimming in 'em.
Nice problem to have.

I've gotten most of the garden in and should have it all in in the next week.
Because I was a lazy shit and didn't start my own plants this year I had to actually buy a few plants today.
Shame on me but it just didn't work out right this year.

I went to a local guy who grows all his own stuff and is a real nice fella. That makes it easier to part with your hard earned money if the guy you're giving it to is not some jerk.

I had purchased stuff from him years ago but not in the last decade or so.
Cheap, nice plants and good conversation. Almost makes spending money worthwhile.
Almost.
I'm really trying to cut out spending on crap that I don't need so I can still afford to buy beer once in awhile.

I thought the economy was getting better?

Damn sure can't tell it around here.
If you take a drive around, it seems like the whole damn state is for sale. Every other home is for sale and more and more businesses are closed up with, For sale or For Lease/Rent signs in the window.

I keep hearing all of this happy ass shit on the radio about how, "The economy is turning around!"

But I ain't seeing it.

What I am seeing is a lot more people putting out gardens in areas that have obviously been lawn for awhile.

Clothes hanging out on lines.

Extra Cars, Trucks, Boats, Motorcycles, etc with signs on them that all end in OBO.

Lots of empty homes with stickers of various types pasted on the windows and doors.

More and more of those empty homes are somehow catching fire, too.
Saw another one just down the road today.

Somehow I doubt that's a coincidence.

I'm not buying the big economic recovery story that I keep hearing about.

But I can't really do anything about it except try to do my best to beat it in the areas that I can.
That's why the garden has been expanded this year.
More fruit and nuts trees are being planted.
The wood burning stove will be installed completely in a week or two.
Two news chains for the chainsaw are in the garage.
The Beehives will be all together soon and ready for Bees next Spring.
There's a LOT of new chicks here along with some Baby ducks that, TherapyBoy bought me the other day.

Damn, Baby Ducks may just be the cutest damn things ever!

I'm slowly gathering fencing, posts and wire to upgrade and replace the rotten crap I have now. That is an expensive project and is gonna take more time than I would like, but that's just the way it goes.

Ya do what you can do, as you can do it, and that's all you can do.
Remember that.

If you get all pissed off about things you lose focus, which is what happened to me back in February.
That's why I had to go BUY plants today, instead of setting out plants I'd already started myself for a fraction of the cost.

Don't lose focus. It only cost me $15.00 today for the plants I could have started myself for $2.00 or $3.00 dollars had I had my head out of my ass and focused.

I've got a ton of seeds & a nice starting setup. Should have had my head on straight and planned ahead.
The good news is $15.00 is a cheap lesson.

You also have to remember to be thankful for things like, "Cheap Lessons." - That's the best kind.

And seriously, don't forget to be thankful for things like -

Baby Ducks.
Baby Chicks.
That first PERFECT Strawberry of the year.
Peaches on the new trees.
A wood stove that'll be in next Winter.
A huge crop of Blackberries and Raspberries coming on now.
A GREAT Wife. (31 years and counting)
The ability to still be able to go out and do the things that need to be done, even with the physical limitations I have now.
The good fortune to have Great Friends and and co-workers at a job I still have.
A GREAT trio of children.
A vehicle that runs and is paid for. Shit. 3 vehicles that run and are paid for.
(And one piece of shit British Motorcycle that is paid for but will probably NEVER run reliably! That's part of the deal and not a complaint. The British Motorcycle industry did not go out of business for no reason ya know.)

So Yeah. There's a lot of bad shit going on out there. Get involved. Vote. Call and write your representatives. Even if they don't want to hear what you have to say.

Do what you can do to minimize the effects of what these Commie Bastards are doing to you now and what they will do in the near future. Because you know it's just gonna get worse before it gets better.

In other words, work on becoming as self sufficient as you can in whatever situation you're in now.

I don't expect to be anywhere near self sufficient anytime soon. Not gonna happen.
But I do expect to be able to minimize a shit load of costs that, right now are going up fast and look to continue that way.

That's what I CAN do and that's what I'm focusing on right now.

Y'all think about just what you can do and if you haven't already, start working on a plan.

Remember what I said.

Stay focused.
Start with the basics and work up from there.

I think you'll find that things like, Baby Ducks will make it easier.

And remember this. It can always be worse. You could have been born in Zimbabwe.

Or New Jersey.

Gratuitous Picture for a Thursday Night-
Do. Not. Be. This. Guy.
You can ride either one, fella. Unload the one that doesn't talk back.
Dumbass.

Holy Crap!!!!!!!!!
I just saw this at Ace of Spades and had to post it here for y'all.




Wunderbar!!!!
Some ideas are so Craptacular that they just have to hurt!

Lions and Tigers and Bears. Oh My!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, Lions anyway.
Mountain lion confirmed in rural Greene County
This story was in one of the almost local papers Saturday and created quite a stir with the folks at work.

I've heard rumors of this sort of thing from time to time for as long as I've been around these parts and never thought much about them one way or the other.

I see this as just one more damn animal that will be eating my chickens one of these days. Not much worried about it other than that.


(This is NOT the photo from the Indiana DNR. That photo is to damn big to put up here and I really don't know how to re-size it. Sorry, best I could do. Check out the photos at the link above and see the actual photos.)

There are wild Boar in the holler's around here too.

I'm not talking about feral hogs, but real honest to g-d boars. Just like the ones I saw in Germany.

The local story is that someone imported Russian Boars for a hunting club and they escaped or some shit. I'm not sure of the details as I've heard a couple variations of the story. Doesn't matter much as I have seen a couple of them up close and personal & they're not feral hogs.

Damn, I feel the urge to say "I'm Marty Stouffer and this is your Wild America"

I never saw Marty Catfishing before-

"Jimi Hendrix Slept Here"............

Reliving the good old days I guess.

Jimi must have had some serious MoJo.

I saw this picture while wading through This Gallery of Dumb-asses and their dumb-ass Tattoos.
It's a pretty interesting collection. Interesting in that, "I feel like I'm a spectator at a bad car wreck" sorta way.

Since we're on the subject of Tattoos.....

Here's a collection of Chicks with serious fucking Daddy issues.

Some of them ALMOST look normal.

But you can be damn sure things are NOT normal inside that head.

It's said that, "The eyes are the window to the soul".
One look at this broad and I believe it.




Others don't even try to hide the crazy. Which I guess is a good thing.
Especially for prospective mates.




She voted for Obama too. Charming.

I hope she's been neutered.

Monday Monday..........

Can't trust that day.


Not sure if I can trust the weather much today but I'm gonna try to get the bulk of the garden planted today if it doesn't rain on my ass.

Slow start here this morning as I slept in like a Welfare Whore & I'm already behind schedule.
That's kinda funny really. I seldom have a schedule and most certainly not on Mondays.
My ass is always tired after being in the ER all weekend with the Zombies and I don't generally get moving to fast on arising.
But the coffee is kicking in and I ought to get my ass out there and put some seeds in the ground.

Gratuitous Picture for a Monday Morning-
Gotta get breakfast first.

Happy Mothers Day.......

To all you Moms out there. I hope y'all have a nice day today.

YerUnk is off to the ER this morning to fight the never ending battle against disease and pestilence. And Zombies.

Mostly Zombies.

The rest of ya remember to at least call yer Mom if that's all you can do, because nobody loves ya like yer mother.

Gratuitous Picture for a Sunday Morning-
And take the kids out for ice creme today.

Friday Night Update.......

Quick note here. Busy day here today.
Coworker, Kid K brought his little Mantis tiller over this afternoon. Oh my! What a wonderful little tool. It's a little messy (threw a bunch of the new compost out of the beds) but that's not a big deal considering I was able to prep all of the raised beds in about an hour an a half.

And my back is none the worse for it either. That's a 5-6 hour job normally, with a hell of a lot more expended energy than the 1 tank of gas needed today.

Oh hell yes. I'm ready to plant now.

I got a hold of Autumn Ridge Nursery today about the trees that didn't make it through this last Winter.
No problem.

The lady said she'd get the replacements right out to me. Good service there.

Their prices are as good as anywhere and their customer service is great.

Can't be upset with that.

Hell, I ordered some more trees from them. For some reason, all of the nut trees didn't make it through the Winter.
Fruit trees? They are all looking good. No idea why it worked out that way. But they made it right w/o a bit of complaint.
Can't ask for more than that.

We've got baby chicks here that I should get some pictures of. Damn I love baby chicks.

It's the busy season and there's a lot going on right now so posting will be light till things slow down.

Just an FYI.

Best be planting your own gardens kids. You're gonna need them.

Gratuitous Picture for a Friday Night-


Ok. Maybe he didn't make "that" Hall of Fame.....

Just Lookin' Out for Y'all..........

I spend way to much time on this computer sometimes. But I do it because I care.

As I mentioned the other day this being Zombie Awareness Month and all, here's a nice, and functional, home decorating idea for ya.

Zombie Nightstand-

Brilliant design there.

I would think everyone would want one.

No, don't thank me. It's what I do.

Gratuitous Picture for a Thursday Morning-
Protection comes in many different packages.

I Warned You About This......

Back in January.

Obama Administration Makes Plans to Gobble Up 401(k)s

"The Obama Administration is making plans to take over the nation’s 401(k)s in order to bail out their union backers and their bankrupted pension plans."

Yes, these Sons-a-bitches are going to do this to you & you damn well better be bailing out of these programs now if you can.
Screw it. Take the hit from the fees and taxes and bail. Better a little now than none later. Invest it in something tangible.

Like I've always said here - "I am not a financial adviser". So don't depend on me to be your guide and savior on things like this.

But don't come bitching about how they raped you of your retirement either.

There just isn't enough money to keep things going as they have been. The unions are gonna be a hell of a lot higher on the the pecking order than you are.
Get over it and get to understanding the, "New Rules".

I wish I was wrong on this and I hope I am. But it ain't likely.

Gratuitous Picture for a Wednesday Night-

"I Been Workin' on the Compost".........

All the live long day....
Spent almost all day today as a heavy equipment operator.

Shoveling compost. The local Dept of Public Works has a deal going on right now where they are giving away compost. Damn nice of them, too.

The only drawback is you have to shovel it in the truck yourself. Now I'm not afraid of a little hard work but I am afraid of hurting my back which has been giving me fits for several months now.
I did ask if they had a fee for loading it and was given the standard "Liability issues" response. I laughed and pointed out to my truck and asked them if they really thought I was worried about scratching the paint?

He was a nice guy and I understand so I went to work loading up.

I made a total of 4 trips and got the compost all spread out in the garden beds that needed it. Which was all of them.

I really would like to have a dump truck full of that stuff. It took me all day to load and unload it but it was time well spent as this stuff is like gold to garden soil.

I got a line on a new source of Horse Dookie today too. My old supplier sold his place and moved and I've been looking for a new supplier since ......... who has a tractor with a bucket on it and will load it for me.

Man, it's so much easier unloading it from the truck than it is putting it in there.

But I don't feel to bad at this point and hopefully I won't be to stove up tomorrow.

It was a nice day all in all. Hope y'all can say the same about yours.

Gratuitous Picture for a Wednesday Evening-


The Chinese are some efficient SOB's. Never waste anything.

Just So Ya Know.......

May is "Zombie Awareness Month"
Wear a Grey Ribbon.

While we're on the topic of Zombies.....

Tam, over at, View From the Porch opined on, "The Zeds" recently with this bit of wisdom-

"Remember: If you are prepared for the dead to walk the earth in search of human brains, then a hurricane or attempted mugging is no big deal.

How ya gonna argue with that kinda logic?
Yeah, that's kinda what I thought.

Today is the Primary here so I have to go vote. I guess all the Zombie talk reminded me of that.
I'm off to go do my civic duty.

Gratuitous Picture for a Tuesday Morning-

Great WWII Carrier Video........

The Yorktown in the Pacific Theater.


One hour of color footage. If you're at all interested in WWII history you will enjoy this.

H/T to Theo Spark.

Gratuitous Picture for a Monday-

"I Caught a Troll.........."

TherapyBoy called a few minutes ago and relayed this story to me. Can't vouch for or verify it but I had to laugh anyway.

Seems one of his coworkers has a son with Downs Syndrome. I'll call him, Mike.
Well, Mike calls his mom at work and the conversation goes something like this-

"Mom, I caught a Troll."

"Uh, ok Mike. I'll check it out when I get home."

So 5-6 hours later when Mom gets home, she finds Mike standing proudly next to the closet just inside the front entrance of the house.

There is a high backed kitchen chair propped under the doorknob of the closet door.

Well, upon removing the chair and opening the door - She was greeted by a very angry Dwarf employed as a census taker!!

Like I said, I have know idea if this really happened or not. Doesn't matter as it made me laugh anyway.

I CAN see the whole thing as a scene in a Jack Black movie though.

Gratuitous Picture for a Monday Morning-
Geography........

Test Question For Ya............

Roger asks - What is the best engine ever?

I admit that I missed it & felt stupid after I saw the answer.

Gratuitous Picture for a Late Sunday Night-