Individualism

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Today as I made my rounds between getting my ears lowered and running up to he foothills I had a great time playing with the new GPS unit. Yes......I finally got a detailed map of North Georgia and parts of North and South Carolina downloaded. I can see where I am at all times.......whether it is within 200 feet ( accuracy to within 10 or so feet ) or on a map of the United States. Topo information is available at the 1 mile level. Gonna do some Geocacheing soon as well as locating prospecting areas.

This level of technology is amazing to me. While by no means an oldster........I've been alive since shortly after the jet age commenced to the point we are today. I wonder if I'm using this thing to pinpoint myself.........is anybody else watching. Don't have any reason to think they might. I'm not the only cracker out here with a deep distrust of the powers that be and express it. Just something to wonder about.

I was over in Walhalla, S.C. (coincidentally the place where I was wed 40 years ago)visiting with a nice Vietnamese lady. It's interesting to know people of different cultures who think much the same as yourself. Proving nothing I guess except that we all are basically the same no matter where we were born.

Later in Toccoa, GA I was buying some scrap when this ol' guy pulled out a chain and locket which he wanted me to test and buy if it was real. Although it looked like a cheap fake, we determined that it was 18 kt gold. Inside there was this picture.



We figured the locket was probably about as old as the picture appeared. ( I would show the locket but, it unfortunately is being being separated into it's molecular components even as I type this. Didn't realize I'd be writing about it.

I have to wonder what the old boy in the photo (and it appears to me to be the better part of at least 100 years old) would think of the advances in technology that have taken place. From automobiles to whatever miracle you wish to think of that exists today. What would he think for instance of the ability to do heart bypass surgery...... much less the ability to do it from outside the body using what amounts to robots which use minimally invasive techniques. What would he think of molecule sized machines which they will one day inject into a persons blood stream to cure.........whatever.

What would he think of the train of thought that we are not sovereign individuals....... but considered property of the State to be manipulated at will by the powers that be? I have no clue............just curiosity......which is not likely to be satisfied since I have no time travel device.


Today was one of those weird days for visitors. I had hits from London, Bucharest, Romania, Brazil, Italy, Dubai, Rio de Janeiro, Israel.........as well as from Washington State to Florida to Maine.

It would be interesting to read how people from those other countries think of topics like Individualism, personal liberty and freedom and how they think they have or have not those things where they live.

Oh well........if I were a better writer they might choose to comment. If I were better educated and more widely traveled I might have personal experience with them to judge by.

I hope someday they will comment. The world seems to be shrinking as information travels faster and faster. Somehow in too many cases it doesn't seem to be bringing us closer together.

Just scratching an itch here in the Kudzu Grotto.

A matter of Allegience

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Surprise.............I'm back.

Nothing like a few days of not posting to cause the itch to start.......to pontificate, to lecture.......to rant a little..........to ponder......well to tell you the truth I wasn't thinking of much at all.......just doing a little vegging out because .....well I had nothing better to do.

Cold.....it's been. A couple of days where it barely got above freezing. That may seem like a spring day to those from northern climes, but to we thin blooded.... aristocratic.....lay about southern types......it's just this side of hell freezing over.

Which brings to mind the question.......Is Hell exothermic ( gives off heat ) or
endothermic ( absorbs heat ) ?

I've lived long enough to have seen several presidential political campaigns go by. I've gotten all excited about some of them......in the end disgusted with all of them. My enthusiasm for trying to change the direction of the impending avalanche has just turned to a kind of jaded ho hum, here we go again.......a choice between bad and worse. I held out a bit of hope for Fred Thompson.....hey, a guy that old and ugly with a young beautiful wife and child has got to have something going for him........and he could lay out a compelling case for turning back to conservative values. Alas......i fear it may be too late.

I have stated many times that when I was sworn into the army and again when sworn in as a warrant officer, that I took and oath which I don't remember being released from.

That being said.......I have to consider if it's still binding......or if the ideals have been so throughly trashed as to have no further effect.

For a time now, I have begun to consider myself more an anarchist than patriot.

When a society ceases to be worthy of support, it is reasonable to withdraw support. The time, I submit, has come. You may feel differently.......that is your privilege and right.

Here I do not mean to urge crime or counsel treason, but to suggest quiet renunciation of the national disaster. Ask yourself how much of American life pleases you. The schools are run by fools to manufacture fools, government grows more intrusive by the day, and culture is determined by the triple cloacae of New York, Hollywood, and Washington. Freedom withers, not only in the ominous encroachment of police powers, but in the loss of control over schools, church, hiring, daily life. We are no longer our own. The United States is not the country we are told it is, and not the country it was.

If we look critically at our government and culture and feel that small bit of disgust.......the bile creeping into our throats like it tends to do when we smell "chitlins" cooking and realize that we'll be forced to eat them like it or not.....do we labor to turn aside the avalanche......or warn the town folk below......or just try like hell to get ourselves out of the way. After all, we can't help the survivors, unless we ourselves survive.

Let me suggest that one owes loyalty to one's family and friends, to common decency, and to nothing else. Render under Caesar what you must, keep what you can, and swear allegiance to nothing. Not just a corrupted government.....but a corrupted culture.....a desperate consumerism.....a society which is beginning to smell a little like that 'possum lying alongside the road for the last week.

We can begin with the seemingly small things. For example, do not imagine that you are under an obligation to marry, or to have children, or to raise them as the government requires. Procreate if you choose, but only if you genuinely want to procreate. It is not your job to perpetuate a civilization that is daily less deserving of perpetuation. Also........if you are not willing to wait until you are financially able to support a family.....and willing to stay and do just that with all that entails ......DO. NOT. HAVE. CHILDREN.

Never let the government have your children. Once they are had, your responsibility is to them. Teach them at home. Hire your own capable teachers if you must. It's interesting to consider that there still remain in this world, countries where you are not forced to fund an academically retrograde moral cesspool and then to drown your children in it.

I for many.......far too many years.....labored to have more and bigger, until it started falling down around my head and caused me to wish just for an end......
....of everything, especially the constant striving and worry........looking for the light at the end of the tunnel and never seeing even the light from the onrushing locomotive.....which would at least have brought surcease.

why should we tie ourselves to THINGS ?

The price of freedom is poverty: freedom grows as your needs diminish. Do you really need the huge house in the fancy neighborhood? The price you have to pay is more than just money.......it's entrapment in that high paying job with long ours and maybe working for a boss that you come to hate with a mind warping hatred. Of course, you will need a new expensive car ( sort of a motorized phallic symbol ) and a retirement plan that may be jerked out from under you just before you need it.
This, we are told, is the American Dream. I fear it has become so.

Learn to work the system. Ask not what you can do for your country, but what it can do for you—you ought to get some of your taxes back. They're going to take at least half of what you make and spend it on things you'd never pay for yourself. They will give much of it to useless bureaucrats, much to various forms of welfare, use much to bomb countries you may have no desire to bomb, and much to force upon you services, such as horrible schools, that you do not want.

Remember.........life is meant to be enjoyed.

You will still read of the rot and running sores of a declining culture, but it will bother you less. These things are your problem only to the extent that you feel yourself to be part of the society that produces them. Don’t fight the government, as it will win. Don’t try to reform society, because you can’t. Laugh at it. Live well. Read much. Love much.

Gooood Morning

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BLOGOSPHERE

It's a right coolish 27 degrees here outside the KD (Kudzu Grotto) hacienda. Grey and cloudy with a slight breeze.

I've had my Granola cereal and vitamins, anti-depressants and anti-prespirients , so I'm good to go somewhere. Just got no good idea of where that will be.

I still trying to get the GPS unit loaded with maps. Wouldn't you know it......I had to go back to wally-world and buy another program and a SD card. Another $150 and hopefully I now have everything I need........except for a good manual to follow. That's where they get you on electronics....all the extras you need. I still need that 5th grader to follow me around.

When I get it all figured out I'm going to the N GA mountains and try it out.....along with the metal dowsing contraption I made to see if I can locate some placer gold. At least it will get me out of the house and get a little much needed exercise. I'll probably need to get some grease zerks implanted in my knees so I can lube them up.

I see that Bill Clinton couldn't stay awake at a MLK remembrance in spite of the loud ranting about how the poor people of color are getting such a shitty deal in this country. Maybe if their heroes were George Washington Carver or Bill Cosby instead of P Diddy or other hip hop thugs they might accomplish more.

Shrillary and Hussein are still Calling each other names. I can't seem to get enthused enough to care about this year's collection of candidates. My feelings run more along the lines that it's time to just hunker down and take care of ourselves and close family and friends and hope that better times will eventually come back........when we finally wake up........sorta like the Latvians did in the late 80's.

OK.........time to let the dalmation off her chain to run around the back year. She has a back corner she likes to do her business in and will likely be quivering in anticipation till she gets to run down there.

Stay warm or at least find some one to snuggle with.

The Day Dawn is Breaking

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Well, actually it broke some time ago...........I just slept right through it.
The sun is up and bright........the air is clear as only a cold winters day can be. The turquoise blue sky is empty of anything except an occasional bird flitting from one potential feeding ground to another.

The pooch, having a bladder the size and capacity of a thimble, begged and pleaded till I, giving in, let him out and walk with him. Shudda worn a coat........my nipples popped out so I worried that they might get frostbite......exposed skin quickly chilled to meat locker conditions.

Finally he watered two blades of grass and fertilized a half dollar sized patch of winter killed Bermuda grass.......scratched like he was a big dog and took off to the front door like a cat was after him........leaving me......my hands in my pockets..... to shuffle quickly after.

My apologies to those friends farther north......but it's colder than a witches tit in a brass bra around here. Wish I had a wood stove or fireplace...........

I am Not

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Smarter than a fifth grader.

I can put my pants on right the first time....button my own shirt.....even tell time using an analog watch.

BUT

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to start up the new Magellan Triton 1500 GPS unit. Oh, I can turn it on.......even tell if the battery is charged and if I'm receiving a satellite signal. But do the instructions give you a 1,2,3, step by step explanation of how to get every thing up and running, with all the maps downloaded.


WELL, HELL NO!

And to put the icing on the cake the MFing technical support 800 # is closed till start of business on Monday, and the online support system doesn't even recognize that they make a Triton 1500 yet.

This just pisses me the hell off.

Do not pass go, do not collect $200, do not have a get out of jail free card, do not attempt to work an electrical product made in the last 10 years without a fifth grader by your side to draw you pictures.

Just Damn, Damn, Damn

The Blonde solution

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Aaahhhhh.........a nice stimulating warm shower
.........a tall mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows on top......

.........I'm good to go.

Wow! Yesterday's post could be considered a bit of a downer........although probably not news to those who keep up with such things. The LDM (left dominated media) have been letting us know how bad the economy is under the Bush presidency every since shrillary started denying she was going to abandon the good folk of her home state of New York and run for president. (Lack of Capitals intentional)

Looks like even the wealthy may take a few hits from their friendly lending institutions.

Don't feel bad for them. The truly wealthy wouldn't have gotten in that position in the first place because they know the 5 laws of money. The Nouveau Rich may learn them the hard way.

My sister sent me a cute email today. Thanks Sis.






Subject: A blonde and her shoes



A young blonde woman was driving through the Florida Everglades while

on vacation. She wanted a pair of genuine alligator shoes in the worst
way, but was reluctant to pay the high prices the local
vendors were asking.

After becoming very frustrated with the attitude of one of the shopkeepers,
the young blonde declared;


"Well then, maybe I'll just go out and catch my own alligator and get a
pair of shoes for free!"

The shopkeeper said with a sly smile; "Well little lady, why don't you
go on and give it a try?"


The blonde headed off to the swamp, determined to catch an alligator.

Later in the day, as the shopkeeper is driving home, he spots the same
young woman standing waist deep in the murky water, shotgun in hand .

As he brings his car to a stop, he sees a huge 9-foot gator
swimming rapidly toward her. With lightning reflexes, the blonde takes
aim, shoots the creature and hauls it up onto the slippery bank.

Nearby were 7 more dead gators, all lying belly up.

The shopkeeper stood on the bank, watching in silent amazement.

The blonde struggles mightily and manages to flip the gator onto its back.


Rolling her eyes heavenward, she screams in frustration;



"DARN! THIS ONE'S BAREFOOT, TOO..."

I can tell that joke because before my distinguished slivering hair became so distinguished it was a dark blonde color.

But, in thinking about it........the young lady is the epitome of Americans......well not the leaches and race mongers, and others who haven't been broken from the teat yet.

On the one hand a very important segment of our economy is in very, very, very serious trouble. And because of it's importance, it has the capability of causing a great deal of pain to nearly every other segment of the economy.

But the Blonde took her frustration and did something positive with it. She by damned went out to work and started a business of killing 'gators. She hasn't yet realized that her shoes are there in multiples on every single 'gator she kills. They're just not in a recognizable form to her. Give her time and she'll realize that if she skins and tans the hides and then makes arrangement with a shoe maker to keep part of the shoes made she will have all the alligator shoes, purses, belts that she wants. Plus if she gives it further thought she might be able to sell the meat to a local restaurant and the claws, teeth or even the skulls to tourists who'd likely pay a pretty penny for such curios.

She might even learn enough to save up some of the money from the sale of all these things and buy her own piece of swamp in which to raise her own 'gators. Feeding them the leftover scraps of their late lamented cousins and any leftover scraps from the chains of restaurants selling prime alligator tail.

All this to say that there will be those who cry out for the government to help them out of this crisis. (And we see the Federal Reserve and even the European Central Bank doing all they can to staunch the bleeding from our financial artery.)

Make no mistake (I know that's hard. At least learn from your mistakes). Troubled times are coming. Winds are blowing a change in the air. Will it come soon enough?

Not for everyone, but, the watchmen on the walls are shouting at us.........waving their arms about in excitement. Do we hear what they are saying or do we just think they are trying to entertain us with their antics?

The hot chocolate is dwindling in my cup.......so is my enthusiasm for this evening.

We'll talk further if anyone is interested. Just address it to me C/O the Kudzu Grotto.

A Big Texas Cinnamon Roll......

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......and a diet Pepsi.........

One might get the impression that things are going well.......as I sit here in my bull moose patterned PJ's.

And it is quite........at least since I stared down the pair of Lab's two yards over. Well......I didn't so much stare them down as shine a laser at them until they stopped hanging over the fence barking at me as I sat on the back deck. (hardly worthy of that name being only 8' X 10').

I had to go visit the VA doctor for the quarterly interrogation as to how I feel the drugs are doing. (something she should probably be asking the people who read this drivel). We ended up agreeing that they would keep sending them if I promised not to do anything drastic or rude.

On the way back home I made a slight side trip to one of the mining locations I frequent............and the owner and I spent a pleasant half hour discussing the current sad state of affairs (and lack of same) in the local economy and around the world.

It seems that he has a new neighbor who also has a fondness for Crown Royal. (How many of you keep any of your valuables in a CR velvet bag?)?? If you do you just might be a redneck.

Anyway as they were thus engaged in lubricating their vocal cords, his neighbor......who by the way recently sold the bank he owned in Florida and moved up here to the NE GA foothills......opined that to his way of thinking the US economy had only a couple of years left until complete and total meltdown and chaos. To make things even worse his neighbor on the other side of him has recently published a book forecasting the same thing. You know............the sort of things that makes simple folk like us ask the unfortunately long overdue and almost too late question of "WTF do we do now??

This conversation led to much ruminating and cud chewing on my way home and I considered some of the possibilities that might be open to a boomer like myself only a few short years from drawing my generous old age pension due me for the at least 10 quarters when I actually did work for a living.....and paid taxes.

First, We baby boomers are a financial force to be reckoned with right now. We've worked hard and saved a little money and many have reinvested it by continually buying ever more expensive houses which we plan to sell.......make a fortune of of and live the high life ever after......once we pay the balance of the mortgage off.

Second, The housing market in my opinion was way overbuilt 3 years ago. Major mortgage lenders are going broke......er, um, .....I mean being bought out by even bigger major players. This is because it's getting damn hard to sell your house for what the county said it was worth a year ago. This may be influenced by the litterly thousands of speculative houses built by formally flush real estate developers who have had to give them to the banks voluntarily or be foreclosed upon. I've had bankers ask me if I'd be willing to buy one appraised at 245 K for less than 175 K. Of course they weren't willing to finance it themselves and many lenders are now requiring a minimum of 30 % down, in cash, on any investment property with proper assurances that you could make the payments out of current income before rents.

....so.......

Third, your investment just went down at least 30%..........your 401K and IRA's got hit by the tech bubble for about half. Do you think this might make you tighten your belt a little thereby not stimulating the local economy because you eat out less, you travel less, you don't spend as much on luxuries and services. How do you think this makes your lawn care professional feel after all he has done to make your property look like a English garden. And let's not forget the undocumented workers that he used to pay in cash every Friday afternoon. Will your local businessman still be in business in five years?? What will this do to Tax Revenues? When the businesses stop pay where will they look to make up the shortfall? The property owners?? The concept of cutting unnecessary workers and services will never ever even enter their squirrel sized brains.

Forth, Will you be willing to continue to work much longer than you had intended to? Will you be physically able to continue to work. How will you ever be able to pay the increasing cost of the medical treatment you will need.........you know you will... if like me you love red meat, white meat and all those cheeses and wines the magazines tell you you must have. Perhaps those investment bottles of wine in the cellar can be used to season your squirrel or venison stew..........if you can afford the electricity or gas to heat it over, or the property owner doesn't shoot you for poaching and trespassing.

Of course all this is just the rambling of an over the hill, high school educated redneck who has experienced more than a few ups and downs...with the emphasis on the downs.

Others might have different opinions.......all of which would be welcomed here in the Kudzu Grotto...........if you can stand the sneering and jeering as we encourage you to get to the point dammit.

My friend John

I knew him as John........the uncle of a classmate.
When you're from the rural area around a small southern town everybody is related to someone you either know or are related to yourself.

Search my family tree in any direction and you're as likely to find a Doctor as a storekeeper or dirt farmer. From Preacher to property owner (where the property owned was humans)...........to a War between the States deserter who was hanged as a horse thief. One distant cousin traveled with the '49ers to Cali-for-ni-a and returned with a bag of gold.........then returned West and on the trip back died in Illinois at the start of hostilities.

All this to say that we might have been related........I have no idea. But John would come dove shooting every September after the silage was cut and the ground would be sometimes gray with doves.

He sensed in me a somewhat kindred spirit I guess.........I was fresh out of the Army and pissed at the government for telling me that to keep the farm my Dad worked so hard for, we'd have to pay tribute to Washington to the tune of $53,000.00.
John was divorced.......20 years older than me.......and lived in a 26 ft. travel trailer. He was pissed at the government for passing The 16th Amendment to the Constitution and the Federal Reserve Act of the same year.

Always a character, one of the first things John showed me was how to get a silver dollar to fit into a longneck 12 oz. Pepsi bottle and then out.........without bending the coin or breaking the bottle. Of course there is a secret to it which I cannot reveal lest I bring down retribution on my head from the Magicians guild.

In the mid-seventies this country got exactly what it deserved when it elected a South Georgia supposed Peanut Farmer as President. This denigrated both the honorable profession of growing Peanuts and the Presidency. Those who know, knew that Billy was the farmer and Jimmy was always a kiss ass politician. And not a very good one at that. When he kissed Komenia's ass by refusing to stand by the Shaw of Iran, they repaid him by turning him around, doubling him over and shoving the takeover of our Embassy in Tehran up his nether regions.......causing him to dribble down his pants and lose the next election.

This in conjunction with Federal Reserve policies led to the worst one year inflation of the last century and as a consequence the price of Gold jumped to $852.00 an oz.. An aberration which quickly corrected itself and stayed below that mark until just recently. An while there are companies out there touting gold as a great investment........if you factor in inflation over the last 28 years (which by the way shows that the current value of a 1980 one dollar bill to be approximately .05 of a dollar or five cents) you have to have a price of over $2000.00 to make gold worth as much as back then.

Don't get me wrong........I like gold.......I read somewhere that pure gold reflected the soul of God. Gold is described in the Bible as 'clear as honey' and if you look into a crucible of molten gold it appears to be transparent and at the same time reflects and image of you back to your eyes. Reflecting the God within us perhaps??

Of all of the images made of or engraved on Gold I think I like this one best:



Probably because Liberty has always been the lady I chased the most.......and have the greatest love for.....................

.........something very few of the current candidates for president have any love for......nor any desire to help any of us have more of.

John..............

........Oh yeah.........The Athens SWAT team traveled 2 counties out of their jurisdiction at the behest of a crooked sheriff and shot him 10 times with automatic weapons when he came to the door of his travel trailer.

Another name on the list with Abraham, Martin and John.

Muley Sikes

Muley Sikes had one gold tooth,
An Elgin watch, and a porter's suit.
He hustled bags for fifty years,
And he worked the railroad line.

From overalls and cotton fields
To spit-shine shoes and rumbling steel,
His life was made to roll on rails.
And that suited Muley fine.

His old Pap never got so far as
Twenty miles from a sharecrop farm,
While Muley, he's seen shooting stars
From Denver up to Maine.

He loved the gentle, rolling sway,
The sound the lonesome whistle made.
He knew his calling from the day
That he first saw a train.

Muley was a railroad man,
From Portland to Miami's sand.
He knew that in this great big land
There's nothing like a train.

He'd tell the children stories
How the rails were laid by hand.
And they knew his name
From coast to coast.

Muley was a railroad man.
Muley was a railroad man.

He'd spend his off-days at the yard.
And he knew each engine there by heart.
He could have taken one apart,
But they never let him try.

He said, "We've all got a gift to use.
Some drive the train; some shine the shoes.
The engineer may get folks there,
But me, I make 'em smile."

He always spoke about the time
That Woodrow Wilson rode the line,
And tipped him twenty dollars, gold,
He carried 'til he died.

But he'd have praised the Lord
If someone laid a quarter in his hand.
God put him here to ride the trains.

Muley was a railroad man.
Muley was a railroad man.

Muley spent his golden years
Explaining throttles, wheels, and gears:
Caretaker for the train museum
At the Dallas County fair.

He'd tell you how the whistles blew,
The engines roared, and the cinders flew.
When he got to heaven, he just knew
They'd still be running there.

He lived to be a hundred-four.
He died in Ft. Smith, Arkansas.
Laid to rest in his porter's cap,
A double eagle for his fare.

And when I step off heaven's train,
He'll have my bags in hand.
With a smile and a "Yes, sir,
Right on time."

Muley was a railroad man.
Muley was a railroad man.

Muley was a railroad man.
Muley was a railroad man.


Courtesy of Dr. North

Ain't it funny

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...........how things have changed over the last few years. (Oh shut up, I know I qualify for the Denny's senior discount.....don't mean things ain't changed).

I always knew my parents loved me by the way they didn't hesitate for a moment to wear my little ass out if I deviated one step from the straight and narrow. (least if'n they say me........or a teacher.....or sister.......or neighbor ratted me out). Spare the rod and spoil the child was taken literally by rural Gwinnett County farmers in the '50's and '60's. And don't go thinking that only parents were seen as disciplinarians. Oh no! I remember my first week in Mrs. Venable's 1st grade class. Ricky Hall and I were chasing the girls on the playground at recess.......kissing them and making them cry.

FIRST of all Mrs. Venable whupped our 5 year old bottoms and then to add insult to injury she stood us up in front of the class and lectured us on why we shouldn't be doing that (for the life of me I can't recall her reasoning) then she had all the girls pass by and slap the fool out of us. Well....at least it caused the fool to wither and withdraw somewhat.........evidence being what it is, foolishness didn't totally abandon me.

Experiments to find out where the lines were drawn such as the above over the next few months and years taught me to be a little more discreet (sneaky) in the things I attempted.

Corporal punishment at a young age convinced me that there was probably no profit in things that could earn you capital punishment. Believe me when I say that a belting by a rednecked, strong as a mule, pissed off farmer (or even one administered by a slightly more delicate farm wife) will go far toward making one see the error of one's ways. If you survived adolescence they were willing to let you go knowing that they had done the best as they knew how.......the rest was up to you and the lord.

Which is not to say that they didn't care what happened and would help you all they could......just that you had to man up and take what came down the pike after that.

One of the most painful memories I have is the hurt I saw in my Grandfathers eyes as he talked about how much he wished he could have had more influence over my Father decisions and how much responsibility he felt when my Father died at age 46. Headstrong seems to run thru the bloodline even to the 4th generation.

Whence comes this maudlin cud-chewing you might ask. Well since you aren't here to ask, I'll just assume you did anyway.

Yesterday, as I stood in a shop, busily sorting and checking, the owner mutters "oh no", as I hear a young boy and apparently his grandfather come in.

"I'm gonna buy a play station" the boy proclaims.

"Whatcha looking for Cory?" the owner asks.

"I don't know yet but I've got $7.00".

Ben Franklin, in "Poor Richard's Almanack," put it
this way: "A child thinks that twenty dollars or twenty
years can never be spent." Actually, he said twenty
pounds, which was a lot more money in 1755. But you get
the idea. Money gets spent, and so does time.

"Oh you mean you want to buy a game for a playstation?"

"Yeah, a game".

I just keep on doing my thing with one ear cocked to the conversation behind me. I love enthusiasm in a young'un, and this kid was full of it. Loud.........you could have heard him the next block over, and I can tell that he's ripping up and down the game isle in search of what he wants.

"Whatcha got your cap on back'ards for Cory?"

"Cause I wonna".

"If'n youse my boy I wouldn't let you wear yore cap like that".

"My folks let me do whatever I want", proclaimed Master Cory.

Much more was said than I can tell here. Let me just put it this way.......

....Young Cory is going to have an abrupt awakening one of these days.. I just hope he or his parents start making better choices somewhere along the line........else we'll have another Democratic or Republican voter on the loose.......who'll believe anything the Socialist media and politicians tell him..

At some point, some people start looking for visible,
long-lasting value. Maybe most people don't. This is
because they recognize early that they are highly
replaceable and therefore insignificant. They never take
up the quest for significance because they see no future to
it.

As for my political leanings..........I'm a faithful follower of John Gault.

What a B.E.A.U-tiful day

70 degrees with blue skies and an occasional puffy cloud.

Wish to hell I'd have felt like enjoying it. I feel a little more down than that piece of dog squeeze you just tracked onto mama's new carpet.

The only upside is...............this is a heck of a lot better than the weekend.

But I still live. This is just to rattle the bushes a little so you know I'm still here captain.

Wanna Know???

Wanna know how the 2008 election will go?

Too soon to tell, but you might consider some of the opinions of Dr. Gary North.......


1. Most voters want government-funded freebies.
2. Voters expect other voters to pay.
3. The long run is the next election.
4. Government expands unless its budget is cut.
5. Voters do not want to cut budgets.
6. The bureaucracy is close to autonomous.
7. Elected representatives are soon co-opted by the
bureaucracies.
8. Money, sex, and power do corrupt.
9. Good-looking single women like to work on Capitol Hill.

Here is my conclusion: "The system will not change until
Washington's checks no longer buy much of value." Given the fact
that the Bank of England has survived since 1694, I am not
optimistic about positive change inside the Beltway.

Probably be more of the "Same O, Same O"

A new beginning

For some that's what the New Year represents. Of course you could say the same about every new day in which you wake up alive, but somehow it seems appropriate to link it to the turning of a calendar page.

And so.......we begin.

I finally obtained a little egg nog yesterday and I raise a glass of it in toast to the new day and old friends. (non alcoholic of course, because there is an automatic link between my mouth and a glass that switches on my elbow)

Today will find many of us nursing a small ache between our ears. I hope it's not too unpleasant in your head. The parades will be watched on TV or in person. Platters of snacks prepared for the bowl games ahead.

Here at the Kudzu patch the collard greens have already been cooked and only require warming. We'll have black-eyed peas in abundance with cornbread to make sure they all get onto the spoon. Possibly there will be some pork ribs or backbone to add flavor and fat. These are traditional new years grub........eating the greens is to ensure you have green in your wallet during the year, and the peas supposedly represent the coin you'll find in your pocket. The pork is just to make everything else taste better.

UGA is playing Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl today. I'll most likely not watch any of it, but will root for the Dawgs of course. Even though my time at UGA was short and not very distinguished, once you walk thru the Arch something happens to your DNA and you are forever a Bulldog. Go Dawgs.......woof, woof, woof!

What I will be doing.......like many a small business person.......is to back up files, check the balance sheets, and the P & L, get a start on working to begin work on the plans made for the near and longer term........and most especially taking a while to contemplate the blessings I've already received.

Hope your patch of Kudzu has a great time this year.