100 Years Young.............
Well, almost 100 anyway.

Frank showed up at the ER one Sunday Morning about 8am. He was dressed in a suit, white shirt, tie and a fedora hat.
It seems that Frank had been having chest pain for 2-3 hours prior to arrival so I hustled him back into the ER and started doing all the normal stuff we do. Hooked him up to the monitor, EKG, IV, Oxygen and all that.

Now I spend a lot of time asking questions while I'm doing all this so I get an idea on what's going on, history, etc and some background as to what's really happening.

Turns out that, Frank is 99 years old, about 6 months shy of 100.
I'm already impressed because he's sharp as a tack, looks nowhere near that age and had driven himself to the ER instead of calling on EMS to come get him.

While gathering background info and health history, I learned that, Frank had taken Viagra the night before.
OK. I'm even MORE impressed now.
Frank had been a Veterinarian and knew his medicine and all that so he'd wisely stopped taking his Nitrate medicine 4-5 days prior to his big date on Saturday night.
Smart move on his part as mixing those can have some serious bad effects on the old blood pressure.
Like I said, Frank was sharp as a tack.

Well, the problem was that the exertion that resulted form the Saturday night encounter was a bit much and the Nitrates he needed to help weren't there. Bummer.

He wasn't bitching about it though. He'd taken a calculated risk and figured the chance of getting his ashes hauled versus not taking his regular medicine was worth it.
It seems this had worked out ok in the past and, as he put it, "What the hell do I have to lose?"

Basically, he was stable and just needed to get his shit back together and rest a bit. It was a pretty slow morning and He and I hit it off pretty well and shared a few laughs.
Till his son showed up.

Now his son was at least 75 years old and the first thing he does is starts in on old Frank about how stupid it is to stop taking his regular medicine and to be taking Viagra.

Frank just sat there and let the kid go on without saying a thing. And he did go on. And on. And on. Till I couldn't take it anymore.

I finally told, Junior to "Shut the hell up!" Junior got pretty upset about that and tells me, "But that could kill him!"
To which both Frank and I said, "So who cares!?!"

I took it from there and reminded junior that every Cowboy wants to die in the saddle and even if Frank did die, it would take the Undertaker a week to get the smile off his face. And besides, what real man wouldn't want to go out like that?
Junior got pissed and took off muttering and Frank and I laughed about it some more. Frank knew his Kid had his best interest at heart and wasn't mad about it at all.

All of a sudden, Frank leans over and says, "I forgot to tell ya the best part."
Of course, I'm all ears now and said, "Yeah, what's that?"

Frank replies, "My girl Friend? She's only 69 years old. I been robbing the fucking cradle!"

I damn near lost it. We laughed so hard that the Doctor came in worrying I was gonna start old Frank's chest pain up again. We sent him upstairs for observation and I never saw him again. Don't know if he made it to 100 or died in the saddle with blood on his boots or what.
But I'll never forget him.

Who wouldn't want to be like that?

Gratuitous Picture for a Wednesday Night-

Just Because............
I feel like re-posting these videos I made.

It really is like this. Normal folks have no idea.


It should be like this-


Yep, just a bit bitter tonight.

Gratuitous Picture for a Tuesday Night-

One For Barney and One For the Road.............

Congressman Barney Frank that is.

This sorry SOB is finally leaving Congress. It should be on the end of a rope, but he's leaving and I guess that's as good as we can expect.

Representative Barney Frank is representative of just about everything that's wrong with this country and is one of the architects of our current economic mess. I'll refrain from calling him a cocksucker only because it's redundant.

With any luck he'll get struck by a meteor or some shit shortly after he retires.

Here's another Frank with a song for Barney-


Don't let the door hit ya on the way out, Barney!

Gratuitous Picture for a Tuesday Evening-

Damn Sleep Cycle is All Screwed Up.......
It's damn near 2 am and I am unable to get to sleep. Night shifts will kick the shit out of your Circadian Rhythm.

Off to bed again. Hopefully I'll have better results this time.

Gratuitous Picture for a Early Tuesday Morning-
Swiped this from Wirecutter

Just Another Mucked Up Monday.........
Cold and wet here at the "GrumpyUnk Command and Control Bunker" today.
After working the night shift again this weekend, I slept through a lot of today anyway. Got the Stove fired up and things are nice and toasty.

The Holiday Season seems to have officially begun around the ER.
No, it's not the Christmas music playing everywhere or the non-stop "Sales Events" commercials on the tube.

Nope. Just like every year the ER was a non-stop crew of Suicidal Zombies, Attention Seeking Zombies and Overdosed Zombies this weekend.
Well technically speaking, Underdosed Zombies.
Real Overdoses do it right and they bypass the ER and go straight to the Morgue. Very damn few real Overdoses though and most of those are unintentional.

No, we see the ones who make, "Suicidal Gestures".

Oh well, that's the way it is. Sorta like the Geese flying North in the Springtime, the OD Holiday Zombie is just another sign of the seasons.

Damn, sometimes I forget that we only see a small percentage of the population and not EVERYONE out there is a fucking loser.
I have to remind myself of that occasionally.

Gratuitous Picture for a Monday Afternoon-

Quote of the Day...............

"Food is Power. We use it to change behavior. Some may call that bribery. We do not apologize." -

Catherine Bertini, Executive director U.N. World Food Program, in 1995

For some reason, this came to mind today. No idea why, but when oddball thoughts like this thrust themselves into my head it makes me stop and think.

In a perfect world, the U.N. would actually do good things for people and not for themselves.

Gratuitous Picture for a Friday-
Grow your own. Fuck them.

Black Friday Edition............

Well, nobody here got up at 0:DarkThirty to go fight the Zombie Hordes for those, "Just Gotta Have" special deals today.

It amazes me how this Giant Clusterfuck has taken hold.
Screw that. The wife made me do that shit once 10-12 years ago. Oh Hell No. Never again.

If they were giving away $20 bills I still wouldn't get into those crowds.

I guess this is where I place the obligatory, Steely Dan Video-


Do like that song so Black Friday is good for something after all.

Gratuitous Picture for a Friday-

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all.............
May you and Yours enjoy the day.

Kids and Family here at the "GrumpyUnk Command and Control Bunker". It's nice to be able to have 'em all together.

Later, we'll all gather round for the traditional, Arlo Guthrie Fest.




If you don't have a copy of, Alice's Restaurant, here ya go-



Have a great day, folks and if you're going out into the madness tomorrow, try to buy Ammo.

Gratuitous Picture for Thanksgiving-

So, I Got This Email From Karl Today...........

Regarding the ever popular, "Gratuitous Picture" feature here.

Karl sells Hats and he asked if I would feature one here.
Now these are Cool Hats.

So cool that when I first saw a picture of one, I snatched a picture of it and saved it away for possible use here.
So how can I refuse??

Yeah, I like it.

Now the cool thing is, They Are On Sale for under $20 Bucks.
I particularly like his sales pitch-

"The 99% Win
We bow to the victors, those 99%. We realize now that pursuing profit is an evil calling.

We have dropped the price of our Commie Obama hat by 33% in tribute to the masses and their sacrifices on Wall Street and elsewhere. Braving rape, lice, theft and mockery from the 1%, they slept so we could finally be equal.

We can't pay off their college loans, but we can go out of business by selling our hats at extremely low prices.

Comrades! Help us go out of business and have fun this holiday season."

Yep, that's a win.
So good luck Karl. Hope you sell a zillion of them.

And no, in case you were wondering, I didn't receive anything for featuring Karl's Hat here.
Not to say that I wouldn't like one. (Nudge. Nudge. Wink. Wink.)

Oh, one thing though, Karl.
The Gratuitous Picture?
It remains just a random thing and your hat doesn't get the "Gratuitous Picture" treatment.
Sorry Dude.

Gratuitous Picture for a Wednesday Afternoon-
Don't Do It, Karl!1!1!!!!

Over the Rainbow..............
A week or so ago, Dogboy, the youngest son, came by and I showed him this video of Tommy Emmanuel playing, Over the Rainbow-


Yesterday, the Little Shit shows up and plays me the song. Not like Tommy Emmanuel plays it of course, but a nice version of his own.
Damn, the kid needs a decent guitar.
He's got a ton of talent and could be really be good if he had a decent instrument and worked on it.
We'll have to work on getting him a decent guitar. Just NOT the way that I Got Mine!

Since we're on the topic of Guitarists and, Over the Rainbow, May as well toss in this nice Clapton version-


I put this Jeff Beck version up here before after seeing him do this song live, but damn, how can ya not show it again?


And because I'm a Giver, here's The Ramones version-

I gotta say I do like that.

Gratuitous Picture fro a Wednesday-

Graphic Illustration of Just What a .223 Round.......
Is capable of.

Say Uncle linked to this excellent post yesterday- Why you do not want to get shot with an M16...(Warning: Disturbing photograph)

Yes, there are a few Gnarly photos, so if you're the sensitive type (Wussy) don't go there.
I found it quite interesting and informative.
Serious, Blow Out Exit Wound photos say- "Damn, That's Gonna Leave a Mark!"

Makes ya rethink the whole, "The .223 is a Pussy Round" thing.
At least at close range anyway.

Not that I'm gonna volunteer to go catch one at long range either.

It's Cold and Wet here this morning and I'm heading out to the barn to do a bit of clean up and organizing.
Enjoy your day.

Gratuitous Picture for a Tuesday-

Interesting Info for Y'all With Those High Tech Phones............
Via Michael Yon Pocket Spies-

"Meanwhile, those smartphones that so many of us carry are tantamount to carrying hostile spies in our pockets. If the battery is charged and in the phone, the phone is a homing beacon whether it’s on or off. Now add services such as Facebook, and those excellent phone cameras with geotagging, and there is a combination for disaster."

This is pretty interesting stuff. I don't have one of these smart phones and after reading this I don't see myself going out and getting one any time soon.

This also makes my dislike of Facebook just that much stronger. To intelligence gathering agency's like the KGB, CIA, Homeland Security, NSA, etc, Facebook is a wet dream. There's a Cray Supercomputer churning through Facebook, Twitter and all of the other, Social Networking sites out there right now.

Just got me thinking about this.

Gratuitous Picture for a Tuesday Morning-

Monday Morning it Was All I'd Hoped it Would Be.............
With apologies to the Mamas and the Papas-


This weekend in the ER was a trip. After all the years I've been doing this shit, I have never figured out what it is that makes some days overwhelming in the sheer numbers of people that show up and other days are low volume and low impact.
Probably never will figure out what it is either.

Saturday was a total Zombie Shit Fest of the highest order. Last night? Not so bad and a damn sight better.

Yesterdays theme was, "I'm Having the BIG ONE".
A BUNCH of folks decided to have Heart Attacks yesterday for some reason. Strange, but as an ER nurse, it's good to be able to do real ER stuff for folks who need it and not have to be distracted by overwhelming numbers of Zombies demanding freebies and narcotics.

Gotta go in for some- MANDATORY!!11!!11!! -Training on the new computer system in a few minutes. Hopefully this setup will be easy for an old fart like me to pick up on.

Old Dogs, New Tricks sorta thing. I gotta use it so I want to figure it out right off the bat.
We'll see. Wish me luck.

I really hate the, "Everything is- MANDATORY!!11!!11!!"- mindset that seems to have infected Admin though. That whole attitude has spread through the whole place over the last few years.

I haven't gotten any Warm Fuzzy's from the Admin folks in a long time. Oh well.

Gratuitous Picture for a Monday Monday-

Because We Want to help..............

It still amazes me that there are people in the USA who look to the EU as something to aspire to and emulate-
EU bans claim that water can prevent dehydration

"Brussels bureaucrats were ridiculed yesterday after banning drink manufacturers from claiming that water can prevent dehydration.....

EU officials concluded that, following a three-year investigation, there was no evidence to prove the previously undisputed fact.

Producers of bottled water are now forbidden by law from making the claim and will face a two-year jail sentence if they defy the edict, which comes into force in the UK next month."

I love the part where it took them 3 FRIGGEN YEARS (of government funded study or tax dollars) to come to this erroneous conclusion.
And in true dictatorial fashion, they impose jail time on those who
1) State a completely true fact
2) Disagree with the morons who came up with this shit.

It's good to see that they are being ridiculed, but I didn't see anything about them rescinding this horseshit or where any of those responsible were strung up on a lamp post.

From the the - "It takes a Village to Steal Your Child" school of thought, comes this,
via Radley Balko - Your Government-Taking-a-Child-Away-From-Her-Parents Story of the Week
Follow the link there and get furious.
Yep. They're smarter than you and they will do whatever the hell they want. Including, Stealing Your Children.
Christmas is coming. Make a list and check it twice.

Gotta run & get my shit together for work.

Gratuitous Picture for a Sunday-

National Ammo Day is Today............

Of course I had forgotten that till I was reminded of it this morning HERE

I am heading off to work shortly and won't be able to stop and get ammo today so I hope the 2 bulk packs of .22LR I bought last week will suffice. Hell, I will buy some ammo next week too!




Buy some ammo and make Chuck Shumer cry.

President Obama Once Again Shows How Much He Cares.........

About Job Creation and Energy Independence.
Just like the Keystone Pipeline Project I mentioned the other day, the Obama administration has decided that 200,000 jobs in Ohio aren't really all that important.

Obama USDA delays shale drilling, up to 200k jobs

"President Obama's United States Department of Agriculture has delayed shale gas drilling in Ohio for up to six months by cancelling a mineral lease auction for Wayne National Forest (WNF). The move was taken in deference to environmentalists, on the pretext of studying the effects of hydraulic fracturing...."

"Speaking of the WNF gas drilling, one environmentalist group spokesman suggested that moving forward with drilling "could turn the Ohio Valley into Ozone Alley," even though Wayne National Forest already has nearly 1300 oil and gas wells in operation."

Ohio, is one of those big, "Battle Ground" states and I would hope that someone there would be bright enough to remind those 200,000 potential workers about this come 2012 and election time.
Silly Bastards.

Gratuitous Picture for a Friday-

How Crazy is This??????????

Turf War? Glendale Bans Fake Grass

"GLENDALE (CBS) — The city of Glendale is imposing a ban on artificial grass. Notices are going out to homeowners whose front yards are covered in turf...."

Now why the hell would they do this?

"City officials say the concern is related to the plastic and chemicals used in the artificial turf."
Well, I should'a known.

"When asked why the fake grass would continue to be allowed in backyards, officials had no answer."
Which means it's just horseshit all together and there really isn't any good reason for this.

Rope. Tree. Regulators- Some Assembly Required.
Silly Sons-a-Bitches just can't leave people the hell alone.

Gratuitous Picture for a Friday-

Busy Day...........
Just realized I didn't even get on this computer after checking the email early this morning.

My bad.

But I got a whole hell of a lot done today at least!
Cold and clear out there tonight. Got the stove fired up and it's nice and toasty in here.

Listening to this song as I write this-


Jimmy Page deserves all the praise he's gotten over the years. Musically, this song is as sweet as it gets and showcases how melodic he could be.
Beautiful song.

Gratuitous Picture for a Thursday Night-

The Sun Came Out Today.........
Thank Goodness.

It's been rainy and overcast here for a few days. About all I could take of it, too.
Damn, that shit is depressing.

Got a bit of chores done outside and cleaned up some of the mess from the heavy winds that have come through here.

Spent the rest of the day in a book and doing some inside chores.

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny & that's a darn good thing. Damn gloomy weather depresses the hell out of me.

Gratuitous Picture for a Wednesday-

Miscellaneous Bullshit to Think About...........

Worked the Night Shift this weekend and wasn't worth a shit yesterday. Woke up way early this morning so here ya go. Some interesting things to read.

Scary, thought provoking article-
The Truth about Violence
"Just as it is prudent to wear your seat belt while driving, it makes sense to know how best to respond to violence. In fact, it is overwhelmingly likely that some of you will become the targets of violence in the future. The purpose of this essay is to help you prepare for it."
You may not agree with everything said, but you should be thinking about this.

I have heard rumors of this for years. I hope it isn't true-
CIA Continues to Hide Evidence on Vietnam Era MIAs
One has to wonder: Would they really leave those guys there? Scary, cause I know the answer already.

(The above links via - Remus at The Woodpile Report)

Gratuitous Picture-

Ya Have to Wonder After a While............

Just why exactly our President is sabotaging the economy?

WireCutter notes another great example of Obama's genius here-
Yeah, he's all about jobs and lower fuel costs, all right.

Check out the links there.
Amazing.

Update- Here's some more info on this story for ya
"Morning Bell: How President Obama Killed Thousands of Jobs"

Gratuitous Picture for a Tuesday-

In Case You Were Wondering.......

Sex With Animals Can Lead To Penis Cancer: Study
"If you're searching for a reason not to have sex with animals, add this to the list: It could give you penis cancer, according to a new study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

The authors found that men who have had sex with animals were twice as likely to develop penile cancer as those who stick with their own kind."

I suppose there are folks who may need to know this.
Hopefully, it's a small group.

Gratuitous Picture for a Tuesday Morning-

Interesting Developments..........
Involving Israel?

On the medical front- Breakthrough: Israel Develops Cancer Vaccine
"In a breakthrough development, the Israeli company Vaxil BioTherapeutics has formulated a therapeutic cancer vaccine, now in clinical trials at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem. If all goes well, the vaccine could be available about six years down the road, to administer on a regular basis not only to help treat cancer but in order to keep the disease from recurring."

Let's hope this works.

On the other end of the spectrum. Remember that explosion at the Iranian military base last week?
Not sure about you, but I don't personally believe in coincidences -

Iran missile development commander killed in explosion
"An explosion at a Revolutionary Guard base in Iran killed a senior commander in charge of the country's missile development programme, the authorities have said, prompting speculation Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service was involved."

Nah. That's just crazy talk.

Gratuitous Picture for a Monday Night-

Hell of a Storm Here..........
Rolled in an hour or so ago.
Hail, Lightning and a short power outage.
Strange weather for mid November though.

It's been unseasonably warm and windy as hell the last 48 hours. Not gonna complain about 70+ degree weather.
Since that front moved in the temps have dropped a bunch, but it's still decent out there.

Yep, that damn, Al Gore has things all screwed up anymore.

Gratuitous Picture for a Monday Evening-
Yeah, you wish this was your dog.

On the 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month..........

The Guns Stopped Firing

Take a minute to thank a Veteran today.

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.



Post Update - Found this BBC video (somewhere) and just finished watching it. 4 parts and very enlightening.
YerUnk recommends it-

Birthdays and Anniversaries...........

First off, Happy Birthday to the USMC!
Interesting ceremony on cutting the USMC Birthday Cake at the link.
I did not know this.
Gratuitous picture of a Bad MoFo Marine, Chesty Puller -

Anniversaries- In my usual, "Ooops", day late on noting them way - Yesterday, November 9th, 1989 The Berlin Wall came down.
I had only been off active duty Army for 2 months when this happened. Remember sitting up all night watching the news and drinking beer in celebration.
Good times.



And Just for the Hell of it, Roger Explains it for us - The Debt Ceiling Explained

* Democrats don't understand THE DEBT CEILING.
* Republicans don't understand THE DEBT CEILING.
* Liberals don't understand THE DEBT CEILING.
* Neocons don't understand THE DEBT CEILING.


"Allow me to explain

Let's say, you come home from work and find there has been a sewer backup in your neighborhood.

Your home has sewage all the way up to your ceilings.

What do you think you should do? Raise the ceilings or pump out the shit?

Your choice is coming next November. Don't miss the opportunity."
I'm good with this explanation.

Gratuitous Picture for a Thursday Afternoon-
Swiped from Green Mountains Homestead

Good advice.

Good Ride Yesterday...........

Was out of the house on TheBigBluePlasticMotorcycle by 9 yesterday morning and decided I needed to hit the Ohio River.
Now there are 2 good ways to do that from here. One on the East of the Louisville area and one to the West.

If you're like me, fighting all the traffic and fucking Dumbasses around the Louisville Metro area just ain't an option so it's best to choose one or the other.

There are great roads to ride with either choice so you can't really lose.

I headed West and South and wound up here-

That road behind the bike there is the main drag and it just runs right into the river. Should have gotten a picture of the warning sign.

The restaurant I parked at is currently closed for repairs due to flooding this Spring. You can see the river looks like there's a pretty good distance below the elevation of this place, and you'd be right.

It's gotta be 25+ feet down to the current water level. I can't wrap my head around the volume of water it would take to bring the river up to where there was 4-5 feet running through the spot where my bike is parked in the picture.

A Barge was going by just as I pulled up-

I always thought that working on one of those would be a cool ass job.
Never occurred to me as a job option growing up in Northern Indiana though.

Here's a pic of the river taken up on the bluff in the parking lot of The Overlook Restaurant-


Nice view even if the crappy cellphone pic doesn't do it justice.

I rode the river for awhile and headed Northwest up to my friend, Michael Boone's place and spent an hour or so shooting the shit with him and his lovely wife, Patty.
He lives in a valley that is 3-4 miles off the pavement and is as pretty a setting as a guy could ever want.
Good people those 2.

Made the 60 mile ride home from there and hit the house shortly after dark, wore the hell out.
In a good way.
That may be the last good day of riding for this year so I'm glad I got out and spent some quality time in the saddle.
Did approximately 240 miles of beautiful 2 lane Southern Indiana roads and loved it.

Damn good mental hygiene that motorcycle is.
Working this afternoon so gotta go.

Gratuitous Picture for a Wednesday Afternoon-
Now you know what really happened.

Joe Frazier, RIP.........

Goodnight Champ and rest easy.

What a great fighter. Even he couldn't beat Cancer.

Spent the day out on the motorcycle and just now saw this. He'll always be remembered for being the first guy to do this-

All of my heroes are fading into the sunset.

It's Tuesday and Time for a Ride...........
Yep. Nice out there this morning and I'm heading off for a ride on the BigBluePlasticMotorcycle.

Some things for ya to consider-

Via SSI.



Think about this when you hear them report news on anything. It's all horseshit that follows the agenda of whoever it is they get the script from.

And more importantly, it's not what they report, it's what they omit that counts.
StormBringer provides a program of some of the players you should know in Obama's circle. Haven't seen these folks profiled on the major media have ya?

Angry White Dude reports on his trip to Sodom on the Potomac- "THE SEDUCTIVE BEAUTY AND HORROR OF WASHINGTON"
Very well written and thought provoking. I suggest you read it.

Speaking of Thought provoking -
Economics.
We're Boned.
The Collapse of Our Corrupt, Predatory, Pathological Financial System Is Necessary and Positive

We Won't Need To Extinguish The Government- They Will Do It Themselves

Wasted Bacon.

That dude can shoot.

OK, off to ride. Think I'll go down and see the Ohio River this morning.

Gratuitous Picture for a Tuesday Morning-

Bonus Video-

Oh Yeah, I Have a Motorcycle..........
Seems like forever since I rode it.

After working the night shift last night, I drug my ass out of the sack shortly after 1pm today. It took 4-5 cups of coffee before I realized that it was absolutely beautiful outside.

Well Hot Damn! Got my ass cleaned up, woke up and set up for a ride. Granted, it was 4 pm by then and even with the time change, it gets dark early now.

Got out and rode for awhile anyway.

Damn. Sure needed that.
It's supposed to nice tomorrow. I'm thinking that I should get my ass up and gone in the morning for an all day ride.

So, with that in mind, I'm off to sleep.

Gratuitous Picture for a Monday Night -
Pic From Green Mountains Homestead

Night shift, How Do I Love Thee......
Let me count the ways.

I have a job.
Yep, that pretty well sums it up. A whole lot of folks don't have a job, so I will be thankful of that.

I've been in a particularly grumpy mood lately and am trying to get away from that. That shit is not good for ya.

Gratuitous Picture for a Sunday Afternoon-

Stop With the Fake Whining and Outrage..........

Halloween and Zombies just go together. Quit the fucking whining over this -

It's Halloween, give me a break will ya?

As Roger correctly points out here- no one on the left thought there was a damn thing wrong with a movie about President Bush Being Assassinated. Shit, it was an award winner.

So fuck all, Y'all Whiny Bitches.

Gratuitous Picture for a Thursday Afternoon-
Friggen Hopium Smokers.

Freddie King Saying it For Me...........

Should be your thinking too-


Yep, to God Damned many people think they need to know your business. Screw that shit.

I used to trust a lot easier than I do nowadays. Shit, as much as it pains me to admit it, I really thought that The Patriot Act was no big deal when it was passed. Yeah, I read the whole damn thing and dutifully pointed out to folks all of the safeguards that were in there to protect us.

Ha! Joke was on me wasn't it?
Damn right it was.

Where are things going for us now? Just ask Freddie -
Yep, sure as hell.

How's that make me feel?
Yep, Tore Down-



I wonder if Rory's Souped up Ford will get us to a safe place?


Times coming where I guess we'll find out.
No, I'm not real cheerful tonight - or hopeful. Hope the great music helps some.

Gratuitous Picture for a Wednesday Night-
Sent to me from the Surly One

Leaf Cleanup and Gathering Time............

It's that time again. Time to gather up all of those leaves and get them piled up for mulch in the garden next year.
Like this-


Yes I've mentioned the value of saving leaves before.
They are a great garden resource and except for the time it takes to gather them up, they're free.
Great soil amendment as they break down, conserves water and suppresses weeds.

What's not to like?

I started yesterday and spent an hour or so getting the leaves in my backyard into windrows so I can rake them onto a tarp and drag them over to the garden area today.

I've got a new weed suppression system going in the main garden in between the raised beds. Wall to wall carpeting.
Yeah, I got so mad with the way things got out of hand this year I had to do something to keep the weeds down around the beds.
Their are 2 carpeting stores that gave me permission to snatch up the pieces of old carpeting they are trashing. Since they are both on the way to town it makes it convenient to stop and check it out.

I've got a good start so far & I think this is gonna work, too.

No reason I can think of why it won't work well on smothering weeds, etc. Easier than trimming and don't have to use RoundUp or some other spray shit.

We'll see.

Yeah, I was really hoping to find a shitload of 1970's Lime Green Shag carpet, but it just hasn't worked out.

That would have looked awesome on the Google Earth Photos though.

Gratuitous Picture for a Wednesday Afternoon-