Bigger is Better, Right??????????
Definitely.


Seen at Roger's today.

Gratuitous Picture for a Thursday Morning-

Or Not.

Peaches............
Are getting ripe.

This is the first peach of the year.
Fresh peaches are one of God's little favors that he grants us.

This is the first crop from this tree. It's only 3 years old and the peaches are kinda small, but DAMN are they good.

Hopefully this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

Gratuitous Picture for a Wednesday Night-

Gene Logsdon Provides Some Info........
For us Small Holders and Gardeners -

What can I do with my Small Farm?

There's a nice list of resources there for ya from one of my, go to guys for advice on things. I've got a dozen or so of his books and would have more if I had my way. Yeah, he can get a bit preachy on some things, but the older I get the more I find myself agreeing with him on things I didn't a decade ago.

Think I'll add him to the links over there on the right.

A little more music for ya-


OK. Same song, different take-


I'm thinking there were a bit less intoxicants in the 1st version there.


And another Gratuitous Picture-

Night Shifting.........

Between working nights lately & the Summer doldrums the Blog updates just ain't been happening much. Haven't really been following news or the Net much either. Here's a few links of things I saw this morning when I came in from work that may interest ya-

From the, "We Pay Taxes for This Shit?" Department- Elderly woman asked to remove adult diaper during TSA search

"Her mother, who was in a wheelchair, was asked to remove an adult diaper in order to complete a pat-down search.

“It’s something I couldn’t imagine happening on American soil,” Weber said Friday. “Here is my mother, 95 years old, 105 pounds, barely able to stand, and then this.”
Yep, pretty sure I'd still be in jail if I was even nearby and saw this happen. Sonz-a-Bitches need a nut stomping for that shit.

Roger asks a very good question Here- Check out the picture and the rollover and you let me know if you can figure it out.

My almost Man Crush, Mark Steyn has a few words on Free Speech here-

Mark Steyn on Free Speech at the IPA from Institute of Public Affairs on Vimeo.

Read anything you see by this guy. You'll be smarter for it.

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting and informative article on energy hereThe Facts About Fracking
"The real risks of the shale gas revolution, and how to manage them."
"The U.S. is in the midst of an energy revolution, and we don't mean solar panels or wind turbines. A new gusher of natural gas from shale has the potential to transform U.S. energy production—that is, unless politicians, greens and the industry mess it up. "

Speaking of Greens and Politicians who can mess shit up - The Failure of Al Gore: Part One
"It must be as perplexing to his many admirers as it is frustrating to himself that a man of Vice President Gore’s many talents, great skills and strong beliefs is one of the most consistent losers in American politics."

It just gets better from there.


Gratuitous Summer Music for a Monday Evening-


Gratuitous Picture for a Monday Evening-
Hot dogs - Summer. Yeah, that works.

Been a busy Week..........

Have had Family here all week so I'm using that as the excuse for not getting anything up lately.

Went to the range this morning with the Father in Law and put a few rounds through the EvilBlackRifle and the PSL.

The PSL is one fun rifle to shoot.

There was a group of guys down from TheBigCity and one of them let us shoot his 300 WinMag. Damn. That thing could make a fella recoil shy pretty darn quick.
Hell of a nice set up and the scope alone probably cost more than my PSL.

Not jealous at all though. I can live without that recoil.
Sliced the shit out of my thumb shortly after that and called it a day.

Spent some time weeding the garden yesterday. Well, what there is of it. Things are not looking good out there and There's just not much to be done about it. When I'm done here I'm gonna go try to stick some beans into the mud out there and hope for the best.

The old faithful rototiller bought the farm last week. No fixing it when it cracks the case and starts puking out both the motor and drive case oil.
Oh well. I bought it used 10 years ago and got a hell of a lot of work done with it so I can't complain to much.
Soon. Maybe another week and the Peaches will be coming on.


Can't wait.

Black Berries won't be long either.



There's gonna be a ton of berries.

Continuing the Firewood job too. This pile is finished since the picture was taken and I've got a whole lot more to move and stack.


That pile there is about 18-19 feet long and 4' wide.
Judging by what I used last Winter, I've got 2 years worth cut and split now. It's nice to take a break from that chore for awhile. Well it will be when I get it all stacked.

And I better get my ass back outside and get after things or nothing is gonna get done.

Gratuitous Picture for a Thursday Afternoon-

Happy Belated Birthday United States Army.............
Not bad looking for 236 years old!
Yeah, I'm a few days behind on this, but what the hell? Better late than never.

Howzabout some old farts ripping it up on 7 string guitar?

Here's George Van Eps and some young whippersnapper playing a somg I heard my Father play a zillion times -


Check out Bucky Pizzarelli and the band here-


I listen to these guys and I am reminded of my Uncle Jack. He was an ass kick jazz guitarist who played a big fat Gibson L5 if I remember correctly.
He sounded a lot like Barney Kessel here playing, Misty-


Enjoy.

Gratuitous Picture for a Friday Night-

Cell Phone Phunnies..........
Because I am a Friggen Retard and not to be trusted with nice things.

I lost my damn cell phone a few weeks ago. It's somewhere around here, but damned if I can find it. So we put off using the insurance claim to get it replaced because I was pretty sure it would turn up eventually.

No such luck.

The Wife did the follow up claim stuff and AT&T had one at the house in under 24 hours. Pretty good service that is.
Of course, the SIM card that came with the thing is NFG and I have to go to the AT&T store to get it replaced. Not really a big deal, my damn fault anyway.

I was trying to set the thing up this morning and couldn't figure out WTF was wrong and why I couldn't get it to work.
That's not really surprising as I'm an old fart who hates dicking around with this kind of shit even when everything is working right.
My theory is that the Japs are still angry about us nuking the shit out of them in WWII so they make all that electronic shit as frustrating as possible so Grumpy Old Luddites like myself will Stroke Out and die.
Just a theory.
I won't go as far to as to say it's personal.

Yet.
But I wouldn't put it past 'em.

Oh well. I have some running around that needs to be done and the AT&T place is on the way so I can get one of the young'uns there to get the damn thing working for me.
Then I can start replacing all the info and numbers & that will be a treat.

And according to Murphy's Law, I will find the lost phone in a week or 2. After I spend hours of frustration figuring out this new one.

In other news...........
It's nice to see that the Defense Dept has finally gotten it's act together on this topic-





Available for download or reading Here.
H/T to House of Ryoga for stellar work on this.



In Climate News.........

Al Gore????
Kiss my ass you fat bastard.
Who would have thought that that big yellow thing would have any influence on weather?
Earth may be headed into a mini Ice Age within a decade

I hope these guys are as wrong as Al.
Global warming would be a hell of a lot better than another Mini Ice Age.
Read the whole thing.

Gratuitous Picture for a Thursday Morning-

My Guess? He's a Man Made Global Warming Believer.
Who should NOT be allowed to procreate.

Guy Martin at the Isle of Man...............

I don't know that I would like to do this - But I do know I would like to be ABLE to ride like this.



Part 2


Great on bike footage here.

Gratuitous Picture for a Tuesday Night-

Dead Skunks, Honeysuckle and a Big Bright Moon............
The dominant themes for the ride home from the ER tonight.
An absolutely beautiful night for a ride on TheBigBluePlasticMotorcycle.

Surprising number of skunks out there getting whacked by cars on the roads lately. Not sure what that's about, but they definitely have a fragrance all their own.
And the Honeysuckle? It's damn near over powering at times. That's not a bad thing as it's one of my favorite Summertime smells.
The Moon is almost full and made for a bright, wonderful ride home.

It's the little things like this that make living in the country worthwhile.
No matter what other goofy, bad shit may be going on or what kind of day you've had, a night ride like tonight makes you thankful for the little things.

Got the windows all opened up here at the compound and I'll sleep well tonight.

So we've got dead skunks...


And Honeysuckle Roses......

That's Django Reinhardt playing guitar for you youngun's.
Listen to that guitar work and then think of this - He only had TWO fingers on his left hand that were fully functional.
Yeah, total badass he was.
Read that Wiki link on him. Amazing fella Django.

Oh hell. Since we seem to be featuring fabulous musicians on this song, may as well include the fella who wrote it, Fats Waller -

Yep. That dude could play.

I could listen to Django and Fats for hours. If you're not familiar with them, just keep going on the YouTube there.

Gratuitous Picture for a Late Sunday Night-

Just Another Day in Paradise..........

Just got home from the ER. I swear, even after all the years I've been doing this people still continue to amaze me with their stupidity.
I'm fairly well convinced that 90% of the population should not be allowed out of the house without a leash and a keeper!

Drunk and stupid. Overdosed on drugs. "Hey Y'all, watch this!" injuries. And one poor bastard who found out he's got a brain tumor tonight. Yeah, I felt sorry for him. He was the only one of the bunch who had a job and a life.

We've got a saying in the ER - "Dumb Asses live forever and nice guys die of cancer" and damn if it ain't the truth.

I'm finding it harder all the time to not wish the some, Stephen King type virus that only targeted DumbShits would make an appearance and clean up the gene pool some.

Wishful thinking on my part.
Oh well. As long as the .gov keeps supporting this herd of worthless eaters I don't have to worry about having a job.

Gratuitous Picture for a Saturday Night-

Had an Emergency Cardiac Stress Test Tonight...........
Courtesy of three Whitetail Deer who decided it was a great idea to saunter out into the road while I was riding TheBigBluePlasticMotorcycle home.

The dumb bastards walked out and just stopped right there in the middle of the road.

Fortunately I was paying attention and saw them in time to haul in on the brakes and slow down.
Yes, I was going to fast for night time around here.

Scared the hell out of me but it was a good reminder for me to go slower when the Sun goes down.

And the free Stress Test indicates that my heart is not to worn out.

Of course, my "Pucker Factor" pegged at 10 and I damn near pulled the seat cover off when my ass cheeks did the tighten up.
No harm done and that's good.

And the only Skid Marks were in my shorts.


Gratuitous Picture for a Wednesday Night-
Did you know Barbie turned 50?

Videos From Theo Spark..........

Theo always has cool shit at his place.

I'm not really sure if both of these aren't faked.
Doesn't matter. Cool as hell either way.





Back to the garage for more maintenance work on the BigBluePlasticMotorcycle.

Gratuitous Picture for a Tuesday-

67 Years Ago Today. The Normandy Invasion..........

The largest Amphibious Landing Ever

Here's a nice Photo slideshow
Honor these few who are still alive.

Night Shifting Again...........
Worked the night shift last night. It's been awhile and I'd forgotten my, love/hate relationship with working nights.

I love the autonomy and the camaraderie. I hate the way it screws up the rest of your life and sleep cycle.

The way things are going though, it's likely that I'll be working more of them and I'll just have to learn how to adjust again. Could be worse. I worked nights for a lot of years and it hasn't killed me........Yet.

Gonna head South to the Big City tonight with KidK and see this guy play-


Don't know if he's playing solo or will have a band with him. Doesn't matter, should be a good time.

Tons of projects and things going on here. Some of the garden is in and some of it is still to wet to mess with. May or may not get get some beans in there if it continues to stay dry.

Been moving and stacking firewood, cleaning up shit around the place so it doesn't look like a hillbilly hovel, etc. Got a list a mile long of things that need done, fixed, purchased and whatnot.
No money to do most of it right now, but we'll do what we can do and get at it as we can.

As we used to say in the Army - "It's good to have a mission."

Gratuitous Picture for a Friday Afternoon-

Gasoline Price Increased 55 cents Yesterday........

WTF is that about?

Gratuitous Picture for a Thursday-