Here We Go............

Today is the day.
Heading in to the hospital in awhile for the surgery. Updates will be at Not What I Wanted to Hear, Doc when ever I get my head screwed back on straight.

Thanks Folks!


Gratuitous Picture for a Monday Morning-

Saw The Surgeon Today..........

They're gonna cut me open Monday Morning.
Details on all of this cancer crap at -Not What I Wanted to Hear, Doc

Things are gonna be quiet here next week.

Gratuitous Picture for a Thursday Evening-

On This Day................
February 23, 1945

Marines Raised the Flag atop Mount Suribachi



Ugly ass Battle that one.


"Of the 22,060 Japanese soldiers entrenched on the island, 21,844 died either from fighting or by ritual suicide. Only 216 were captured during the battle. According to The official Navy Department Library website,“The 36-day (Iwo Jima) assault resulted in more than 26,000 American casualties, including 6,800 dead.”.........

Glad I never had to see anything like that.


Gratuitous Picture for a Thursday Morning-



And I don't suppose you can broach this subject without some Johnny Cash input on at least one of the subjects in that picture above.

There's Crazy and Then There's CRAZY..................
This definitely qualifies as CRAZY.


Feds: Ohio animal-rights activist offered $850 for random fur-wearer to be killed

"COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio woman who compared animal-welfare work to the liberation of World War II concentration camps has been charged with soliciting a hit man to fatally shoot or slit the throat of a random fur-wearer, federal authorities said....."

"You need to bring a gun that has a silencer on it and that can be easily concealed in your pants pocket or coat. ... If you do not want to risk the possibility of getting caught with a gun before the job, bring a sharp knife that is (at least) 4 inches long, it should be sharp enough to stab someone and/or slit their throat to kill them. I want the person to be dead in less than 2 minutes," says an email reprinted in the affidavit."

The Crazy Bitch was planning on watching the killing so she could then hand out flyers regarding animal cruelty to the onlookers.

Go check out the article just for the picture of Crazy Bitch from Hell.
I'm not even gonna into the whole, "She put it on Facebook?" thing.

Evil.
It's out there.

Gratuitous Picture for a Wednesday Afternoon-

Cool and Uncool Science Stuff............

First the cool -
Russian scientists regenerate ice age plant
"Experiment used fruit and seeds from a Siberian squirrel burrow that had been stuck in the permafrost for over 30,000 years

It was an ice age squirrel's treasure chamber, a burrow containing fruit and seeds that had been stuck in the Siberian permafrost for over 30,000 years. From the fruit tissues, a team of Russian scientists managed to resurrect an entire plant in a pioneering experiment that paves the way for the revival of other species."

This kind of thing amazes me every time I hear about it. Maybe it's the gardener in me.

The Uncool News-
It seems a "Global Warming Scientist" fraudulently obtained documents for the Heartland Institute (which I know almost nothing) and added a FAKE document into the mix and released the whole mess.
I just heard about this last night and didn't get time to follow up with it as I was shitting my guts out from the bowel prep for today's "Up the PoopChute Scope" that will take place in about an hour from now.

Here's a couple links for you to follow and get the story, which you can be sure will be ignored or twisted around by Big Media.

Statement by The Heartland Institute on Gleick Confession

Breaking News: Gleick Confesses

Heartland Institute Responds to Stolen and Fake Documents

I'm way behind the curve on this one it seems, but you can figure out WTF is going on from the above.

If anyone finds a good timeline synopsis of this whole story leave a link in the comments. Thanks.

Gotta run and get a tube stuffed up my behind.
Hey, a lot of folks have to go to prison to get that! I get to come home later.
Exciting times, indeed.

Gratuitous Picture for a Tuesday Morning-

Here's Something I had Never heard About Before..............
Which, considering all of the time I've spent reading WWII history is surprising.

The 5 Craziest War Stories (All Happened on the Same Ship)-

"Do you ever get sick of hearing about "the greatest generation"? For over 60 years now, it's been all "they survived the Depression" this and "they defeated the Nazis" that and "they never looked stupid in hats." Well, not everything the heroes of the 20th century did was pitch perfect. For example, the WWII destroyer USS William D. Porter was easily the stupidest ship ever launched. If ships were people, this one would be the kid who ate paste off a stick. And then almost killed the president by accident."

This article is from Cracked.com which explains the writing style. This is a fabulously interesting story of a ship I don't recall ever hearing about before.
And the best thing about it is the story is true.

After reading this and checking a few other resources to verify it I can see why the US Navy never had much to say about the USS William D. Porter.
If I tried to tell you the story of this ship you'd think I was making it up.
H/T to The ONT at Ace of Spades for bringing this to my attention.

Since we're on Seagoing Adventure Stories.........
Read the Obituary on this fella-
John Fairfax, Who Rowed Across Oceans, Dies at 74
"He crossed the Atlantic because it was there, and the Pacific because it was also there.
He made both crossings in a rowboat because it, too, was there, and because the lure of sea, spray and sinew, and the history-making chance to traverse two oceans without steam or sail, proved irresistible..."

I remember when he did those crossings. My Old Man on hearing when he left to cross the Atlantic said, "That's a Crazy Bastard there." But not in a derogatory way. You could tell that The Old Man thought it was cool. Even if he expected to hear later that Fairfax had been lost at sea.

I bet he bought damn few drinks with his own money wherever he went. I know I'd keep buying as long as he was telling stories.

Gratuitous Picture for a Sunday Night-
The Trabant! East Germany's version of the Chevy Volt.
Only it didn't catch on fire.

Scary Smart...............

Check out this article on a 14 year old kid who became only the 32nd person to ever achieve a nuclear fusion reaction-
The Boy Who Played With Fusion.
"Shortly after his 14th birthday, Taylor and Brinsmead loaded deuterium fuel into the machine, brought up the power, and confirmed the presence of neutrons. With that, Taylor became the 32nd individual on the planet to achieve a nuclear-fusion reaction. Yet what would set Taylor apart from the others was not the machine itself but what he decided to do with it."

Having a kid that smart must be a hell of a challenge for a parent.

Fascinating story.

Gratuitous Picture for a Sunday Afternoon-
Taken by my buddy, KidK not far from here a few years ago.

Good for a Laugh Today.........
My oldest son, TherapyBoy is a major movie geek. A walking encyclopedia of movie trivia and whatnot.
Seems he got the idea to ask movie guy Kevin Smith for a little "Cheer up Dad" thing and here's what Mr Smith sent him back to share with me-

Note the little "Heart" at the bottom.

And yes, that did cheer me up.
Thank you Kevin!
(Click to embigginate)

I'll cross post this at Not What I Wanted to Hear, Doc too.

That's if I can figure out how to put a picture up using the Wordpress site. Still trying to figure out that all out.

Gratuitous Picture for a Sunday Afternoon-
This is why we ride motorcycles.

Stared a New Site.............

Dealing with this new Cancer Diagnosis.
Not What I Wanted to Hear, Doc

Seemed like keeping that to it's own place would be better than whining about shit here all the time.
I don't know. We'll see how it goes.

Gratuitous Picture for a Saturday Morning-

Thanks All and an Update...............
Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who dropped by to offer prayers and encouragement. That means a lot to me. More than you will probably ever know.
Feel free to keep the prayers going. I got a feeling that I'm gonna need em.

Went into work to get the paperwork started for any leave time I'm gonna need coming up. I am pleased to report that since that old Bastard that used to be in charge of HR retired it was much nicer experience than some of my past visits.
Funny how the whole atmosphere has changed since that prick left.
Quite refreshing.

My boss had already laid the groundwork for things and they had most everything already setup and just needing a signature.
So that was easy peesy.

Printed out a copy of the official reading of the CT scan while I was there.
Kinda scary reading that. Better in some ways. Worse in others.

Monday have a PET Scan scheduled and a Tuesday a Colonoscopy.

They'll be able to get biopsies from the colon while they are up there and that'll help figure out treatment.
From reading the CT report, it looks like they think the colon is the primary site. The bad news is there are some spots on the liver already. Not good.

The good news is, after they get the results from all this, they can formulate a treatment plan and I'll know WTF is gonna happen and when.

I may be shitting in a bag out the side of my belly by this time next week. Don't really know.
And that's kinda the hard thing right now, not knowing. Just have to wait and see I guess.

Like GI Joe says, "Knowing is half the battle".
I'll be able to get my head wrapped around things better once I have a plan.

Thanks again everyone.

Gratuitous Picture for a Friday Afternoon-

The BigBluePlasticMotorcycle at Carhenge circa 2007

Bad News on the Medical Front.........
Got a call this morning from the Doc's office. Lab work done yesterday was funky. Go to the hospital for a stat CT Scan.

Good news/Bad news-
Good news- I don't have an ulcer after all.
Bad news- I have some sort of Cancer in my gut.

More scans and scopes over the next few days to figure out where the primary site is and what the treatment will be.

Shit.

That's all I know right now and I'm gonna be busy over the next few days getting all the tests.
I'll let ya know something when I figure out what's happening.

Guess I don't have to feel guilty for taking those pain pills after all, eh? I got a feeling me and Mr Narcotic pills gonna become real close friends in the future.

I'm just trying to digest all this in my head right now.
Talk to ya later.

Gratuitous Picture for a Thursday Afternoon-

Wednesday WTF???????????
All screwed up here at the GrumpyUnk Command and Control Bunker today. Saw the Doctor today about the continuing Belly Pain Problem. More bloodwork and she's scheduling me for a scope in a week or 2.
Good damn thing as it's gotten worse the last few days. Last night was a bitch and I've had to resort to taking more of the leftover from surgery Narcs than I care to. I told Doc about the Narcs and she said not to worry as I've had em for over a year so she wasn't worried about me becoming a junkie.
I don't like the damn things though and am reluctant to take em.

The Back situation is improving some. The TheraPissed/ChiroCracker has helped a bunch and the Xrays pretty well showed me why my back hurts.
I have a copy of them coming next week and I'll show ya then. Pretty crazy shit.

So basically, I've been sitting around the shack thinking about and planning Garden stuff the last couple of days.
Hopefully I can get the seed starting setup in order tomorrow and get started with that.

The Wife told me today she wants me to figure out a way to grow salad in the house through the Winter. Shouldn't be to big a deal to come up w/ something. We'll see.
----------------------------------------
Speaking of Gardening....

John Robb at Resiliant Communities had a short article on Simple First Steps yesterday that I found interesting.
The links in the comments were great and for the new Gardeners out there, I'd suggest checking them out.

The whole, Resilient Community idea is quite interesting. Don't personally know much about it yet, but I like what I see so far.
You may want to check it out.

OK. Enough for now. Got very little sleep last night and I'm tanked. Tomorrow.

Gratuitous Picture for a Wednesday Night-
Someday soon I hope my pantry looks like this.

Chicken Nuggets?????????????

Just saw this over at Kerodin's place.


Preschooler’s Homemade Lunch Replaced with Cafeteria “Nuggets”

RAEFORD — "A preschooler at West Hoke Elementary School ate three chicken nuggets for lunch Jan. 30 because a state employee told her the lunch her mother packed was not nutritious.

The girl’s turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, according to the interpretation of the agent who was inspecting all lunch boxes in her More at Four classroom that day."

They gave the kid some crap ass Chicken Nuggets instead of letting her eat what Mom sent and had the damn gall to charge $1.25 for that?
And just when did schools start inspecting lunches sent from home anyway?

Fuck me running. Oh, I'd be in jail fer sure over that kinda shit.
And people said we were crazy for homeschooling our kids.

This shit will only continue to get worse until people start taking steps to "Discourage" that sort of behavior.

Gratuitous Picture for a Tuesday Evening-

Tuesday News and Whatnot...........

Hanging out here at the GrumpyUnk Command and Control Bunker this morning checking out the InterWebs.
Can't do a hell of a lot more than that as I'm still of limited mobility.
So here's a few things for ya to peruse today.

The Feds continue to keep us safe from those Damn Evil Amish who continue to try and poison us all with real food-

Feds shut down Amish farm for selling fresh milk
"The FDA won its two-year fight to shut down an Amish farmer who was selling fresh raw milk to eager consumers in the Washington, D.C., region after a judge this month banned Daniel Allgyer from selling his milk across state lines and he told his customers he would shut down his farm altogether."

It must be those strange beards and funny hats.
That's only a halfway joke. The message is becoming clearer everyday that nonconformity of any kind is NOT gonna be tolerated much longer. The activities that constitute Suspicious Activity of all you Damn Domestic Terrorists out there now even include Paying with cash for a cup of Coffee. So maybe the funny hats and beards don't matter anyway.

Especially if you allow your unconventional views to be filmed for TV.
Doomsday Prepper Declared Mental Defective…. Government confiscates his Guns
"Just days after appearing on the National Geographic TV Show Doomsday Prepper, a prepper from Tennessee has been declared Mentally Defective and his guns have been seized by the government. The Prepper, David Sarti is a character to say the least, but his story is somewhat disturbing and should be a wake up call for everyone."

I did not see this show, so I have no idea just how goofy this dude really is, but TV is NEVER gonna show preppers in a positive light and it surprises me that anyone would willingly put themselves at the mercy of the film editors and expect to be shown as anything but BatShit Crazy.

With the Election Season coming on strong now the Bullshit Factor, which seems to have a default setting of 7 or 8 anyway, is soon to start maxing out the dials.



But don't you worry, President JugEars Hussein Obama has an answer to that problem-
Obama To Unleash “Truth Teams” To Counter Negative Coverage

Yes, I know they tried this same BS a couple of times before without much luck, but trying the same lame ass shit over and over is just what these folks do. It must be easier than actually telling the truth and fixing problems or something.


And for you History Junkies out there.......

Life on the front lines: Extremely rare colour photos of U.S. troops before and after D-Day show World War II in brand new light
"Extremely rare and striking photos of the days leading up to and after the historic D-Day invasion have been put on display, nearly 70 years after World War II's dramatic turning point."

These are nice and there's sure to be a bunch more of them available eventually. I'm looking forward to seeing them.

Gratuitous Picture for a Tuesday Afternoon-

Interesting WWI Discovery...........

German soldiers preserved in World War I shelter discovered after nearly 100 years
"Twenty-one German soldiers entombed in a perfectly preserved World War One shelter have been discovered 94 years after they were killed.

The men were part of a larger group of 34 who were buried alive when an Allied shell exploded above the tunnel in 1918 causing it to cave in.

Thirteen bodies were recovered from the underground shelter but the remaining men had to be left under a mountain of mud as it was too dangerous to retrieve them."

Fascinating find in France during a road construction project.

A nice collection of pictures of the site
here-

I'm a geek about this kind of thing.

Gratuitous Picture for a Monday Afternoon-

Interesting Quotes From a Catholic Bishop..........

Via Gateway Pundit today-

“I strongly urge you not to be intimidated by extremist politicians or the malice of the cultural secularists arrayed against us.”
-Bishop Daniel Jenky

I've been kinda confused why Obama threw down the gauntlet and chose to deliberately piss off the Catholics now with the election season and all. The timing just seems odd. These folks don't do anything randomly, so there has to be a reason for it.

Bishop Jenky had another quote that can be embraced by not just Catholics, but all of us-

“Have faith! Have courage! Fight boldly for what you believe!” he said. “I strongly urge you not to be intimidated by extremist politicians or the malice of the cultural secularists arrayed against us.”

Take that to heart, Folks.

Gratuitous Picture for a Monday Afternoon-
A reminder here.

Indiana Patcom Coming in May....................


H/T to Walter Zoomie for the above graphic!

After the recent successful Patcom in Texas, China decided it would be a good thing to try and organize a meetup here in Hoosier Land.

Location TBA. Looks like it'll be in Southern Indiana, just not sure where yet.

This will be an opportunity to meet new folks, have some good eats, just kick back and cuss & discuss whatever you're thinking about with some like minded folks.

So if you can arrange those days off work, come on down. I think these sort of meetups are a good thing.
Craig is having one down on the Coast of Texas in March. And I've seen notices for both Ohio and Pennsylvania events in the works.
TL Davis is organizing a national meetup April 28-29. Location TBA.
Hope to see some of ya at one of these events.

Or organize one in your area.

Good Video here from Wild Bill-


OK, gotta go make the donuts and fight the Zombies in the ER.

Gratuitous Picture for a Saturday Afternoon-

We're From the Government and We're Here.............
"To make sure you never get your life back together."
Warning - Harsh Language coming up.

Feds pursue suicidal vet
"The federal government broke a promise, according to the lawyer for a Navy veteran facing criminal firearms charges after he called for help on what is promoted as a confidential suicide prevention hotline"....

"Duvall, a Persian Gulf War veteran, was despondent and contemplating suicide after being evicted from his apartment in June, according to his motion to dismiss filed in Roanoke federal court. He wandered the streets of Blacksburg, sometimes sleeping on the ground.

Among his few belongings, Duvall carried a homemade gun consisting of a short length of pipe with a cap allowing a nail to serve as a firing pin for a shotgun shell. Duvall built the device for the sole purpose of taking his own life, according to his lawyer...."

Now this poor guy is already homeless and depressed enough to build a weapon to kill himself with. But he has his shit together enough to make a call for help to a, Confidential VA Suicide Hotline hoping he can get his head turned around.
The local cops show up, he gives them the device and he got to spend a few days in the Psych Hospital where they got him hooked up on meds, got him a councilor for follow up, he even got a new job and a place to live.

Guy gets a new start and things are turned around for him. That's a win right?
Well, it should have been till some Rotten Son of a Bitch in the U. S. Attorneys Office decided he shouldn't get that opportunity to resume a normal life-

"The same call for help also brought trouble. Duvall first was charged with a misdemeanor – carrying a concealed weapon. Then the federal authorities stepped in.

Duvall now faces four federal felony charges with a possible punishment of 40 years in prison. All four charges are based on the one crude homemade shotgun. Duvall is accused of possessing an unlawful destructive device, possessing an unregistered firearm, manufacturing a destructive device and possessing a destructive device without a serial number."

Now just how big of a CockSucker do you have to be to make the decision to destroy a
guys life like that? If you read the article, you'll notice that there are no names associated with the U S Attorneys Office there. That's wrong. Whoever the ShitStain was that made the decision to prosecute this poor fella should be punished.
Not just lose his job punished either.

At the least he should be shunned and ridiculed by decent folks everywhere whenever he leaves his house.
True justice would involve a tire iron applied to multiple joints repeatedly and with force by a big Strong Marine Vet.

Damn, this sort of shit just sets me right the fuck into orbit.
How many Vets with problems are gonna see this and just say, "Fuck it." And then just go ahead and kill themselves instead of making that call for help?
One can only hope that Karma gets off his ass and lays a bad case of Rectal cancer on this slimy Little RatBastard ASAP.

That's the Eric Holder Justice Department in action for ya.
William Shakespeare had it right a long time ago -
"The first thing we must do is kill all the lawyers"

Well, at least some of them.
H/T to Say Uncle

Gratuitous Picture for a Friday Afternoon-

Friday Tab Clearing Here.............
Here's a few things for ya here while I Veg out and deal with this Back Pain today,

From the Department of Smart Diplomacy comes this-
Israeli fans beg PM to hold off Iran attack over Madonna show

"New Facebook group asks Prime Minister to postpone any plans to a strike of Iran's nuclear facilities until after the Queen of Pop's planned May 29 visit"

I don't want to see Israel or the USA attack Iran right now. I can see Israel being concerned over Iran having Nukes, but the US is more worried about Iran trading oil w/o using the Reserve Currency, The Dollar. Don't believe any BS you hear from Washington that there's any other reason for attacking Iran.
It's all about the money.

Speaking of Security......
The TSA once again keeping us safe from Wheelchair Bound Women-
All Your Toothpaste are Belong to Us!
"Now understand, Deborah Leigh is about four and a half feet tall. She can walk maybe fifty feet unassisted because of knee injuries she sustained in the Army (second to last cycle of WAC's before they phased them out.) She's in an airport wheelchair being pushed by an airline attendant."

Your Tax Dollars at Work. Damn if I don't feel safer.

Since we're on the subject of Law Enforcement-
To Protect and Serve

"A phrase long-used by local police authorities and often written on their patrol cars "To Protect and Serve" used to mean that they were there to 'protect and serve' the citizens. The public.
- From criminals.

Now that criminals are running things, the paradigm has clearly changed and it begs the question "To Protect and Serve who exactly?"



Yep, things have changed a lot since I was a kid.

From the, "I have Seen the Enemy and He are Us" Department, we get a glimpse into the future if the Nanny Leftists have their way-


But hey, it's for the children's safety.

Some great Quotes gathered at Roger's Place
A few example-


"In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress. -- John Adams

If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.-- Mark Twain

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself. -- Mark Twain

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. -- Winston Churchill

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. -- George Bernard Shaw............"
There's more.

And a great time killer also seen at Roger's place .
Old Auto Brochures-

I can spend hours looking through this sort of thing.

The Internet.
Where your spare time goes to die.

That New Clinical Study On "Anti-Government Phobia"?????
It's fake.

The first thing I saw on the web this morning was a link to
Study: Distrust Of Government A Mental Disorder at Breitbart TV.

I just couldn't buy this shit so I did some looking around.
Yes, there really is a "Journal of Clinical Psychiatry". They didn't have anything on this topic, but that's not unusual if this study was in the latest issue.

How do I know it's fake?

Here's the give away- The Authors Name?
Ivor E. Tower, M.D.
Say that out loud a time or two. If I'd have been paying attention and noticed that up front I'd have saved myself a few minutes on the search engine.

I knew this was to over the top and didn't meet the smell test.
Don't embarrass yourself by falling for this shit.

Yes, I know there WAS some sort of study published a few years ago that labeled non-liberal/leftist types as crazy bastards. I'm not gonna go searching for that right now thank you.

OK, that's my Public Service Announcement for the day.

Gratuitous Picture for a Friday Morning-

My Daughter Has a Birthday Soon...........

Maybe she'd like one of these-



Looks like it has all the TactiCool accessories except the required scary black finish.

Even has the Zombie Close Quarters Chainsaw Attachment.

I'll have to ask her about this.

H/T to Ace where they say this came from Guns & Gardens
I've never heard of them before, but with a name like that it's gotta be good.

Gratuitous Picture for a Thursday Night-

Good Afternoon Campers...........
Spent the entire day at a work related event. Other than being confined to a chair which made my back hurt something awful, it wasn't a bad deal. Usually, these types of events are real groaners that require massive amounts of self discipline not to smirk, snarl, yawn or show other obvious signs of contempt for the entire agenda.

I actually learned a whole lot of things that can improve my work life and probably reduce stress related to that.
So that's a win.
I can be a hard headed SOB at times, but I'm not a complete asshole and I'm smart enough to recognize it's a win/win situation when I can do things that will make my life easier and make the big bosses happy at the same time.

Healthcare has been a Crazy Train of change over the last few years and it's been tough trying to figure out just what the hell is going on at times and even tougher trying to figure out where it's going. That's not really changed any and is likely to get worse. The good news today was I was presented with some strategies that will at least make it easier for me to adapt.
There are financial incentives also. And that's a good thing and a sure motivator for most folks.

I was lucky that they seated me at a table in the back of the room as I spent a lot of time standing up to ease my aching back.
Saw the new Chirocracker/TheraPissed yesterday and the xrays indicated that yes, things ain't great, but they ain't as bad as they could be.
They worked me over pretty hard and I've basically felt like shit since. I go back tomorrow afternoon for another appointment and I will have to ask him about that.

Expect things to be a bit spotty around here for awhile till I get my shit together some. I hope you understand that I just haven't been able to focus to well.

Gardening season is coming on fast and I really need to get myself fixed. Seed starting will commence in a couple of weeks and my plan is to have a bit more garden stuff for several folks who have been asking about that.

If you've been around here for awhile, ya know how much I like the garden thing and I believe it's something that will become more important to more people as time goes on. Food costs are rising way more than most things (other than fuel) and don't appear like they're gonna go down anytime soon. You can grow a hell of a lot of veggies in small spaces and containers. So even if you don't have the time or desire to put out a big garden and can, freeze or dehydrate all of what you don't eat fresh, you should begin growing something in the spaces you do have.

Gardening is like most any other skill and it takes time to learn. Which makes me think about all of the Prepper folks out there who buy a #10 can of Survival Seeds and toss it in the closet and feel that they are all ready to go if TSHTF.
Just ain't like that.
That's something I should make a separate post about and will in the future.

I should quit now as the pain pill I took is beginning to make me ramble and even on a good day my thoughts have a tendency to stray from the topic at hand.
Re-reading what I wrote so far, I should have quit a ways back. I'm already rambling.
Good enough then.

I'll let EC show ya what real rambling is all about.
Probably my favorite version of this song-




Gratuitous Picture for a Wednesday Evening-
It won't be long.

I'm Sorry Yer Granny Froze to Death...............
But Al Gore would not lie about Global Warming.

Warmal Colding strikes Europe: record cold snap kills hundreds; thousands trapped by "heaviest snow... ever recorded"

"Bosnian authorities on Sunday used helicopters to evacuate sick people and deliver food to thousands of people who have been cut off by the heaviest snow the country has ever recorded... Across Eastern Europe thousands of people were digging themselves out from heavy snow that followed a weeklong cold snap that has killed hundreds."

Until Glaciers grind things to a frozen wasteland dust the AGW crowd will not give up on this shit.

It's sad to see a religion die like this.

Gratuitous Picture for a Monday-

Monday At The Shack.............

Hanging out, Whining and moving slow this morning.
Thanks to my coworkers carrying my worthless ass this weekend I didn't have to do anything that made my already bad back worse.
That's not to say I feel any better.
I don't.
But at least I didn't screw things up worse dealing with the endless supply of fat bastards who refuse to help you when they need to move from point A to point B.
Let's have a hand for the weekend crew!

I feel like ass having to rely on others to literally, do the heavy lifting though. Oh well. Ain't much I can do about it at this point. Seeing a new ChiroKracker/Physical Therapissed this week in hopes that they can get my ass on the right track again.
Let's hope so.

Enough with the whining. The sun is out and I need to go get some of that shining on me.

Gratuitous Picture for a Monday-

Friday Afternoon Around the Shack..........
I've been sitting around the GrumpyUnk Command and Control Bunker pretty much all day today.
I did get out and take the trash for a ride to the recycling/dump in the LittleBlueTruck and got the last of the Christmas shit packed up and out of the way in the garage at least.

Other than that I've been sitting around trying to deal with the pain in both my back and my belly and I finally broke down and took a pain pill which killed the pain, but also any thought of getting anymore chores done today.
Can't get much done when you can't think straight.

So I've been sitting here looking at things around the Interwebs and figured I'd share a few w/ ya-

On the Educational Front here's something that reinforces what my brother, Shop Teacher Bob has been saying for a LONG time-
Shop is Not a Four-Letter Word
Yep, someone has to be able to make things and fix shit.

With Indiana passing the Right to Work Law a couple days ago, there's been a lot of BS about just what that means. Here's an interesting article from a guy who seems to know what he's talking about-
A Former Union Thug’s Take On Right-to-Work: What’s Right & What’s Not…

Since I'm the only guy I know who got Black Balled out of a Union for not wanting to commit arson, I'm not exactly a staunch Union supporter.
It's a pretty good story with a happy ending though and I'll have to share it with ya sometime.


Quote of the Day-
'When your currency is backed by “the full faith and credit of” your government, and nothing else, and your government goes broke…your currency is not far behind. In the regular world, issuing paper money with nothing behind it is called “Counterfeiting.”....'

From an Article by Russell Longcore, How Will The American Economy Die?

It will certainly die if something isn't done to get spending under control - yesterday.
Fer sure things are not getting any better so you should be thinking about what you can be doing to help you & yours.
Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Whether it's Proverbs, Aesop's Fable or the Boy Scouts, having a plan and preparation still makes sense.
Got Garden???

Gratuitous Picture for a Friday Evening-

Wasted Days and Wasted Nights..............
Today was wasted for sure.

I forced myself to get up after only 4-5 hours of sleep today hoping I can at least get my ass in tune w/ the daylight and get some work done around here tomorrow.
Stumbled around in a daze most of the day.

One good thing was the weather was beautiful and sunny. I spent quite a bit of time just sitting on the back steps sucking up some much needed sunshine and felt a hell of a lot better for it, too!
Maybe tomorrow I can get after all the chores that I've fallen behind on.
Gotta be careful as my back is still all dicked up and my newly acquired stomach ulcer has been a day to day thing.
The new meds that the Doc started me on last week are helping, but not completely yet. I see the Internal Med Doc in 2 weeks and he's gonna want to scope me from both ends.
Yuck. Not looking forward to that, but belly pain sucks ass so I'll do what he says.

I haven't had a beer in a month because I'm afraid of it making my belly hurt, so you know it must be bad!

Let's let the Late Great, Freddy Fender sing it for ya all-


And since we're at it howzabout some Merle?


Charlie Daniels? Sure-


Let's finish up w/ another one from Merle-


Gratuitous Picture for a Wednesday Night-