Home again........

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...........jiggity jog.

Just returned from an overnight visit with the missus up to N.C. visiting daughter Joy and her family. An early Christmas visit as they will not be coming down here to Georgia this year because her husband has a doctors visit scheduled for the 26th. He had surgery on his neck in September to fuse 3 vertebrae damaged when another driver rear ended the work truck he was in. Several months of preoperative doctoring and physical therapy gave no relief and surgery was the only alternative. He's doing well but still not 100% with a good bit of pain yet.

Don't you just love the excitement of young children (they are 8 (girl) and 4 (boy) years old) when they get Christmas presents they really love. I had more fun watching them last night than would have seemed possible to me. Really put me in the Christmas spirit, especially listening to them unconsciously singing Christmas songs as they played.

Today we got some much needed rain which made for a dreary and cool day.

I was a little anxious about leaving so late from their home since my eyes still see halo's around oncoming car lights at night after the lasix vision correction. But we made it mostly OK.

Well.........if you discount the fact that I didn't quite get slowed down in time to miss the second deer about 20 miles away from home. The Red Ram 1500 showed only a slight bit of damage to the front bumper, but I'll bet the deer fared somewhat worse due to being smacked at about 35 miles per hour by a 5000 pound truck and then run over by the wheels. By the time we got away from the little bit of traffic and found a spot to look for damage the deer was either off to the side where we couldn't find it or made it farther than one would expect. Glad it didn't happen on I 85 while doing 70 in heavy traffic and rain. That probably wouldn't have been a pretty sight.

We did see the result of 3 different crashes on the way home, caused no doubt, by the combination of speed and wet highway. No one hurt apparently but one sporty little car in particular won't ever see the highway again.

Hope you all arrive safely if you travel during the Christmas holidays.

The back deck

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I sit on the back deck after dark, watching the stars that manage to shine through the surrounding lights of houses and security lights. The air is warm and calm, belying the nearness of official winter only 9 days away.
Airplanes pass silently overhead from west to east, flashing their lights of white, green and blue.
She comes padding silently on bare feet to lean between my legs and rest her head upon my chest. Wordlessly demanding my attention, insisting that I stroke her head and neck, she is totally mesmerized by my touch, seemingly aware only of the touch of my hand and soft murmurs of affection, she arches her back and snuggles close as if to merge our two bodies into one.
We stay like that, enjoying one anothers company, the warm night air, the leafless white oak rising massive against the night sky, two tall thin pines standing silent sentinel by the back fence.
No irritating buzz of insects as in summer, only the distant bark and call of neighboring dogs. She has no hidden agenda, no ulterior motive........wanting only to be as near to me as she possibly can, touching and being touched. Love totally communicated, loyalty eternally pledged....peace surrounds us and calm washes over us like the warm waters of a jungle pool.

As I gaze into her eyes outlined in black against her white face......smoothing the hair behind her ears.............she looking lovingly back, then........

........licks my face.


Damn dog..........I think you need a bath.

The good thing about Grand children

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It is often said that the good thing about Grand children is that you can play with them a while, keep them a while, enjoy them a while, be frustrated that an eighteen month old can be so independent, spoil them, and then give them back to their parents.

We had a great weekend for watching the youngest. The temperature was mild (got into the 70's today) not too much wind. Her mother and father went deer hunting, also the paternal grandparents, so we were elected, or blessed, take your pick.

Unfortunately both the grandbaby and grand mother picked this weekend to be sick. Wife had a sinus infection and the baby a cough and runny nose.

This didn't seem to affect Callie's desire to play and generally keep us entertained. She played so hard it wore both of us out. Naturally drawn more to her grandmother (she sees me as the one that puts her to sleep in the easy chair) she proceeded to have to be fed, play with the etch-a-sketch, blocks, demand to be read to, play dress up with strings of beads and frustrate the pooch by repeatedly telling him "NO, NO Toto" (her version of Toby) and trying to keep her treats out of his reach. The poor wife was soon down for the count and had to lie down so it fell to me to be the host.

I'm here to confess that they don't make a vitamin B12 pill strong enough to keep up with her, but finally she was calling for her baby (doll) and milk.. Rubbing her eyes in frustration for they were disobeying her by trying to close. Took me the better part of half an hour reading, singing, rocking and finally just letting her cry to get her and I an hour and half nap, only to be awakened to be sent out for burgers for supper. Bedtime was another case of letting her get so tired that she couldn't resist the sand man.

E. T. Sullivan once wrote these interesting words: “When God wants a great work done in the world or a great wrong righted, he goes about it in a very unusual way. He doesn’t stir up his earthquakes or send forth his thunderbolts. Instead, he has a helpless baby born, perhaps in a simple home and of some obscure mother. And then God puts the idea into the mother’s heart, and she puts it into the baby’s mind. And then God waits. The greatest forces in the world are not the earthquakes and the thunderbolts. The greatest forces in the world are babies.”

I'm here to affirm that when it comes to resisting the wants and needs of a small child I'm always in that proverbial tight spot between an irresistible force and an immovable object. Sweet torture. And they do change me more than I care to admit.

We hear and read on a regular basis of someone abusing a child. I'm not talking about a little spanking to get their attention, which is sometimes necessary, but acts of cruelty so horrific that even I (who sometimes wishes the darkside wasn't so alluring) can't wrap my mind around it.

Just an ol' softy noodling at the keyboard here in the kudzu grotto.

The power of the internet

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According to THIS nbc has had a change of heart. The article says nothing about what was surely a massive amount of negative emails and phone call, but you know they didn't just suddenly grow a conscience or heart.

Middle America needs to realize the tremendous amount of influence we can have on public officials and life for good. The blog world changes everything.

We ought to now email them and thank them for running the ad, and advise them that we will be watching their programing with a critical eye expecting them to cater to their base instead of trying to shovel their own ideology down our throats. We don't have to continue to eat shit and like it.

Intention

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Dr Wayne Dyer has a book out (out for a while now) called the "Power of Intention".

I've not read it but have seen parts of his speeches based on the book aired on PBS. (and you thought all I watched was Porn and Action Movies with Steven Segal or Chuck Norris) Ha.
Anywho as all who know me suspect, I don't have a real job, but I do piddle at things which I happen to have an interest in and enjoy. So.......i get up around 7:30 am most days. Occasionally a little earlier, (depends on how good breakfast smells)sometimes a little later.

This Phd (piled higher and deeper) suggests that there is a power of intention in the universe coming from God or whomever you prefer which intends for all people to have and do good. I have no idea whether he is right or wrong. I just know when I go out with the intention of having a good productive day, it seems to happen that I will.

I left out with the intention of going to pay a debt. (which I did) Along the way I stopped at a few of the places I frequent in my piddling, and as I did so I picked up about 2 lbs of silver, 1/2 lb of scrap gold and about 3 carats of fair diamonds. With these I intend to turn a profit.

Let's hope the Gods of intention are as nice to me as the Weather Gods, who intended that I have a nice sunny day...........and I did.

Hope you intend for your tomorrow to be a good one.

The day before

The day before....... we were contented enough. Work was picking up in many areas. New industries were being started to produce goods not needed or wanted a couple of years before. The government had many job programs available for those who wanted a steady paycheck. You might be building roads, parks or dams, but you had a job. Many still weren't able to say that. Farming as always was hard, grueling, sweaty work, but prices were picking up and if you didn't have too much debt or the drought hadn't run you off, you at least had a roof over your head and enough to eat......grown in your own garden.

Sure there was talk of trouble in other places, but we had the barrier of two vast oceans between us and them. Goods were sent, more promised, hopefully, that would be our contribution.

The day after.................we were at war. Out Pacific Fleet for the most part lay in ruins......smoking and sinking to the bottom of the harbor few had heard of. Men and even women were lining up to volunteer to go fight the foes of this country, and our politicians were united behind a president that had to make the most difficult decisions of his lifetime, and he rose to the challange............WE rose to the challenge.............

The challenge handed to us on Dec. 7th, 1941. A day that will live in infamy.........and honored memory for the valiant patriots that answered the call.

Today we live in greater wealth than those hardy souls of 66 years ago could have imagined. People, machines, industry, money, information move with speeds undreamed of a short time ago.

We have more of everything...................

......or do we?

Well that cuts it

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I am now offically on Owlgore's shit list as being a contributor to global warming.

They have apparently never walked under a forest covered with Kudzu and felt how much cooler the air is there. And when the kudzu is in bloom the lavender fragrance takes you away from the cares of the world and induces relaxation an such a sense of well being that actual cognitive thoughts begin to form in your brain and you realize that all these global warming nuts are full of shit for brains and will say anything to make you think that they are true conservationists and are going to save the world for the spotted owl.

Buncha freaking nuts

Taking action

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Taking action without thinking is the cause of every failure.

Your ability to think is the most valuable trait that you possess

If you improve the quality of your thinking, you improve the quality of your life......

...........Sometimes Immediately.

Shit.....

.....Now they tell me.

Family ties

One of the advantages of growing older is that you learn that most people don't expect you to hold your stomach in as far as you once did. (Not that you can anyway). The sand has a way of shifting and the cement settles lower and lower.

Another is that you have (hopefully) gained at least a little wisdom over the years, although after recording my experiences with frost and ice on the back ramp you would think I'd learned a little wisdom from that. Not so, however as my first step down it this morning dumped me unceremoniously on my ass once again, with my right elbow flung out to act as a brace, failing in that assignment and feeling all day as it it were dislocated. It's not, but lifting my arm above my floating ribs requires some help from the left arm. At least pain let's you know you're still alive.

Which brings me to the meat of the post at last.

One of the disadvantages is that you can lose contact with varied relatives for many reason, and then receive a call telling of one of your cousins who died today.

My dad came from a large family with 7 children. Maybe one of the reasons he and mom had 6. My Aunt Margret (his older sister) called a short time ago. One of my Aunt Mary Lou's children (she also had seven) died this afternoon. Cancer apparently. Of the Liver. Found earlier this year during a checkup for a hernia, he, having not insurance and money, let the disease take it's course. To, of course, the inevitable end.

Aunt Mary Lou lost her husband earlier this year. He was a Veteran of WWII and spent a year or two in German POW camps. So she has had her share of grief the last year or so.

If any of you feel motivated to, pray for her and her family. And then give a prayer of thanks for the family and friends around you. They may not be there the next time you think to look.

Tis' the season

Now that the tryptophan has finally started to wear off from the excess of gluttony Thursday past we can finally start working on the pre-Christmas rounds of snacking on all the sugary sweets that are served up by varied and sundry at get together's from now until New Years.

One of my all time favorite sweet things to eat are Sugar Cookies. These were always a favorite around the old home place at Christmas time and were always left out for Santa, along with a tall cold glass of 100% pure non-homogenized, non-pasteurized, fresh from the cows, that day, milk. My dad always called them Tea Cakes. For many years I would always make 12 or 15 dozen and wind up eating most of them myself, along with as much fresh dough as I could stand. Sometimes they're left on a friends doorstep secretly just before Christmas.

Another favorite was Fruit Cake. Many disparage the noble Fruit Cake, but I've always enjoyed it. Homemade by my mother (my dad liked it made a month before and soaked in rum) was of course the Gold Standard, however, in a pinch the Claxton Fruit Cake made in Claxton, Georgia will suffice. For nigh onto 3/4 a century they've dedicated themselves to this gooey delicacy.

The best cake for the Christmas season and the one that lingers upper most in my memory was the Japanese Fruit Cake that my Grandmother made. More like a traditional cake with nuts, raisins, and Coconut in either a 3 layer or 4 layer style, this single thing most means Christmas edibles to me.

I very rarely these days get to enjoy one. Grandmothers and Mothers pass on and if your bride considers it too much work............well, you do without. Not having a tree or lights up is no hardship since we always travel to our oldest daughters home for Christmas and her siblings have there own families and homes now. We all get together to feast, open presents, talk about hunting or the good old days. But something always seems to be missing.

Perhaps it's the cake.

Ooooohhhhhh!!

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You know you've eaten too much thanksgiving turkey when your back starts hurting under the left shoulder blade and then the pain moves to just right of your left nipple and you start wondering if you're old enough to have a heart attack. Then you count 'em up and decide that of course your are. You try to determine if you have eaten sufficiently healthy all of your life and the answer comes back.......Of course not. I mean come on.......all of those biscuits and gravy......the country ham and all the porkchops with the fat left on for the added taste.

You start taking your pulse......trying to determine if it's just a gas bubble or maybe a muscle twitch.......after all you did walk to the mailbox yesterday instead of letting the truck roll back 100 feet, get out, walk 20 ft across the road and back, then drive back up the drive.

No pains in the left arm...that's good.....take a couple asprins and some Malox. Maybe a little nap will help.

Come on sweet darkness, do your worst. Hell holds no horrors I haven't already experienced or imagined. If there is no hereafter it won't matter and if there is all will be forgiven.





(Burp)




Thanks God

For those who may have noticed..........

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.......that I don't seem to have as much to rant about as in days of yore, you're right.

When I, after almost 6 years of service to my country, returned to the family farm, I noticed almost immediately that I had lived in a thermos container which had been tossed out, along with the other trash, onto a planet somewhere in a different dimension that was a passable imitation of the dimension I'd been raised in, but, was as different as night and day.

This may have had something to do with the large amounts of TCP which was spewed into the atmosphere in America while I was away, or the copious amounts that emanated from the pores and clothes of most of the enlisted men (this being before some wise ass came up with the idea that women could do anything more than be clerks and camp followers, with the exception of nurses, who were automatically made officer material and so, hopefully, wouldn't mix with the Hoi Poli, and could successfully hump a 60 lb rucksack with the best of them.)

Whatever the reason, I had landed someplace strange.

A land where an ever increasing percentage of the population wanted........NO.....demanded that government should take more and more responsibility for their pathetic little live and especially the education and daily care of their pathetic offspring. Where the old saying that "those who can't do.......teach but you by god better not hold my kid responsible for actually learning anything of substance, nor expect we the parents to have any control over them. But, you better not lay a hand on them if they decide to rape a 8 year old girl on the bus. You should have taught them better.

Anyway, I just don't have it in me to rant on and try to convince others that there is a better way.

Besides, there are so many others who can elucidate the problems more literately and eloquently than I.

Fred is back. Go see what he has to say HERE.

Fall Road Trip

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Today was one of those almost perfect fall days. It started out a little cool, just enough to require a light jacket, with a turquoise blue sky, and that crisp clean snap to the air that makes your blood stir with just a hint of desire to travel to the hills.



The weather has been so dry this year that the leaves are sure to put on a show. We had a little rain the other night and wind the next day so we need to go soon before the leaves are past their peak.

I've been installing plastic totes to the gutter downspouts so we can catch what little rain we can to water the dog and some of the young grass we've planted. 350 gallons each from only 3/4 inch of rain. I have two more 250 gallon each I'll place at one end of my new shop building.



So we set our course (the spouse, the pooch and I) up Hwy 441 to I 85 to Hwy 11 in South Carolina. We motored through Seneca, S.C. towards Clemson, home of the tigers, then north towards Salem on Hwy 130. (Had I known I could have just stayed on 11 most of the way up we could have shaved probably 30 minutes off the trip.)

The absence of cars along our intended route made this a distinctly pleasant trip. Much better that following everyone else up through Clayton, GA on Hwy 441 to Franklin, N.C. I can't abide crowds and especially crowds of idiots in cars.

Shortly after entering North Carolina we turned off to the right to the park, which is a part of the Nantahala National Park.

The first thing that surprised us was the fact that even though the weather has been below freezing up there, a couple of Rhododendron bushes still had blooms on them.



Beauty endures forever, even if it is a feeble reminder of the glory of days past.

The foliage on the trees above us contrasting with the blue sky put a little spring in our steps, aided of course by the pooch wanting to pull us up the trail.



The views from the overlook were still incredible though the water going over the falls is probably less than 25% of normal.



When seen at its full flow the noise is a roar that envelopes you and holds you enthralled. Todays noise was a pleasant background to the rustling of leaves and an occasional bird call.

We clambered down the 154 wooden steps to a lower vantage point ( I know, I had to climb back up). From the picture try to imagine the Cataract that would be falling if the full width of the gorge was filled with water.



Aided by our faithful pooch (who kept encouraging us up the steps) we retraced our steps to the top.



Part way down we sat for a few minutes just enjoying the view over Lake Toxaway



and raising our eyes to the heavens to witness the beauty that nature can provide even in times of need



And so home where I snored in the big black recliner while the minute hand circled the clock a little more than once around.

Hope your weekend was all you hoped it would be.

i get all bothered

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if I don't post something on this blog every few days at least.

Sundays post was a have to, because I'd just watched "We were Soldiers once" on TV. The completion of that title is of course "and young". which we were. I've always been embarrassed that some movies touch me more than I can let on and I have to shed a few private tears. Always have but we were raised to not cry or let anyone see.

Yeah, foolish I know. Goes with the "and young".

Of course I'm still sorta young to my way of thinking. When you intend to remain in this stage of life for 192 years, almost 58 is pretty young. Sorta like a hobbit. I'll begin to feel grown up about the time I reach eleventy one.

Been sorta hard to see the computer screen since Thursday when I put my precious vision into the hand of a certain colorful doctor here abouts and his bevy of attractive blond headed assistants and had interlase lasix surgery on the baby blues.

When I was still in short pants (which I never wore, so this is a bit of literary license) I had 20/15 vision in both eyes. Came in handy for spotting flies on the inside of the cockpit bubble. Since having to wear glasses for reading was a bother I thought I'd get all modern and everything and take advantage of the Star Trek technology available today. I'm proud to say that I again have 20/15 in the right (for distance) eye and 20/20 in the left (for reading) eye.

Just not at the distance which any reasonable person would sit from a computer screen. So everything on the panel is fuzzy. They say it will improve, but, as ever, I want what I want, right now.

I was glad of the Valium they gave before the procedure. Both of them. Should have made it 3 or 4 since I still hated having them fool around with my eyes.

The ironic thing though is that as misty as I get watching movies such as the above mentioned, I seem to have something known now as Dry Eye syndrome. There has to be a problem for everything so the pharmaceutical companies can continue turning out massive quantities of heretofore unheard of remedies for brand new problems. Now if they'd only come out with better pills for the nosies in my head.

But I'm much better now doc, just keep those electrodes away from the kudzu grotto.

No Words

They're for the most part meaningless.

Just Tears.

And a remembrance that for every minute of every hour of this 24 hour period, 40 young men, and some women, of all races, creeds and colors, died in a far off distant land that was our war.
And so many others in other wars that supposedly protected or furthered the interests of this country.

You may not recognize them on the street, they look much as you or I, but if you could see inside their eyes, for only a brief moment, your outlook would be changed forever.

A most heart felt thank you to all Veterans who served, some to the last drop of devotation within their hearts, and especially to those who remain.

Thank YOU.

Fall

Is beginning to really look like it around these parts.

Some of the leaves are starting to take on that dying golden tint



and will soon be all over the yard and in the gutters.



Down to almost freezing tonight, they say.

Makes one appreciate the flannel sheets on the bed.

Soon we'll be fighting to see which one of us can use the pooch to curl up next to our back.

At last.......

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........after much lifting, nailing and stretching, and once placing too much trust in a 2 x 6, which led to falling off the top and having the same (now broken) 2 x 6 knock me out on the way to the floor, I have the storage building to the point where I spent the weekend filling it half full of Stuff I hadn't seen for the most part in over a year. Which leads one to wonder what the hell I need all this for. Well, I did find a TV that I didn't remember we had, but obviously I didn't have a crying need for it. It does give me room to walk around and look at all the stuff I probably don't have a real need to possess. But It's mine, by damn and for the minor cost of renting a storage unit for 4 years I now have it right out back.

Still not quite complete,



Less than half the "stuff'



Another less than half



After I get some electricity out there I'll be prepared if I'm regulated to the dog house. Well, except for plumbing. I can always keep a roll of Charmin out back of the building on a stick.

Life, Liberty, Property

"God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it."
Daniel Webster

Far be it from me to try to argue with Ol’ Daniel, I'd just add that sometimes you have to love it more than TV, weekends, Nascar, or life.


I particularly like this speech

Tears of the Sun

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Just watched Tears of the Sun on DVD for the umpteenth time. We got a "new to us" JVC 55 inch TV for $150.00 Saturday. Moved the old 36 in. in to the old grumps room. The funny thing is that both of these sets came from the same guy. First he gave up the 36 in. because he was getting the bigger set. Now he's upgraded to a 62 in. plasma flat panel TV. Can hardly wait till he gets a full wall theater sized TV.

Perfect timing for the dish network to give out for a couple of days, hence the DVD.

All ways get a good feeling after watching this movie. It stars Demi Moore's ex husband, Bruce Willis. The funny thing is that I know there are really people like that serving in our armed forces. And that's a good thing and I'm really thankful that they are there.

Pray for their safety and protection. I will.

Bushed!!

No, I haven't been assaulted by the President, or anyone else for that matter.

It's just that in a 14 hour day I drove 400 miles, had 5 business meetings ranging from 10 minutes to just short of an hour.

I think I'm going to have myself a sticky bun, with a glass of milk, lick the sticky off my fingers and go to bed, where I'll put on my breathing mask and have dreams of flying a P-51 over the fatherland on the lookout for Stuka’s's or ME bf 109’s.

Thinks I hate

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Things I hate include, but are not limited to,

1. Bureaucrats who forget that they exist to serve the PEOPLE of this country.
2. Politicians who forget that they are supposed to serve.......(see above)
3. Lawyers who work to get around the guarantees and protections of the Constitution and Bill of Rights of The United States.
4. Bankers who feed us bullshit and keep us in the dark about the fact that our current money (Federal Reserve Notes) is backed by nothing and has no intrinsic value whatsoever.
5. AND ALL OTHER BOTTOM FEEDING SCUM SUCKERS WHO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ALL THE ABOVE.

Having cleared my spleen of that, I'm of the firm opinion that if we as individuals would help one another like we are supposed to. I mean really care for one another, there would be much less want in this country.

My friend, The Lovely Livey, is in need of some new wheels. Or at least newer than falling apart around her ears old.

I propose a raising Livey a newer vehicle fund. Not many people read me, but if the idea was passed along, who knows what might happen.

Check out her blog, iffen you don't like her you don't ever have to visit again.

It'll be interesting to see where this all leads.

Or am I a Pollyanna in the Kudzu?

Does anybody know...

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.....anything about silver plate flatware?

I picked up a partial set of National Silver Co. AA Plus spoons, forks, knives plus a few other pieces from another maker today?




Have I found anything, or did I waste my money?
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Look into the light.

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That's supposedly what they'll tell you when you're having laser vision correction done.

Went to a short seminar tonight to see what the procedure consists of and how much the cost might be. I'm tired of getting a new eyeglass prescription and 2 months later my eyes have changed so that one eye is fine and the other is starting to blur or feel like it can't keep up with the other.

I can remember when one of my sisters got contact lenses and the doctor couldn't fit them in his office because she became hysterical when anybody got close to her eyes, then she got one in at home and immediately it worked it's way to the top of her eyeball and mama and I had to hold her down to get it out. Sorry Sis. I know how you feel about anybody fooling with your eyes. I'm the same way. When they had to measure the pressure on our eyeballs in the army I wanted them to give me Valium or let me get drunk first. I hated that shit!

Nowadays the ophthalmologist uses machines to map your eyeballs and vision. The results are input to a computer which plots exactly what needs to be done to give you better than perfect vision. All the doctor has to do is keep you calm with drugs and eye numbing drops and talk you through the procedure which expensive machines do in less time than it takes to tell about it.

At $2500.00 per eye, each one of which is completed in less than a minute, they can afford to have a couple of half million dollar machines and a host of cute female assistants hustle you in and out like cars on an assembly line.

All that medical stuff on Star Trek in the 60's is almost here. I'm just looking forward to the day when they can transplant brains like McCoy did to Spock. About the time I'm drooling and trying to remember how to put on my pants they can just scoop mine out and replace it with some jock's that couldn't keep his foot off the accelerator and tried to make it around Dead man's Curve.

We Got Some Rain!!!!!!!

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Hooray, Hooray!!! we got some rain early this morning while I slept. About 3/4's of an inch according to the rain gauge on the oak stump.

Yesterday while we were expecting rain I cut one of the downspouts and routed it into a 350 gallon tank. When I looked out this morning it was nearly full. Over 300 gallons from just one downspout.. Had I had 3 other tanks as I plan to, I would have about 1000 gallons of free water to water the yard, flowers, even put in a small goldfish pond if I were so inclined.

Makes one think of all the abundance that we just ignore at our peril. Cities are feuding over water around here. Seems that if the government wanted to do something constructive they would build more public lakes, even smallish ones, for the times of need.

Didn't some wise ruler once save Egypt by storing up for the lean times?

I'm no greenie, in fact I find most of them sorta foolish whining about why the government doesn't do something, when if they would only do something themselves they would accomplish more good.

We were supposed to get rain

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It would be an answer to lots of prayers here abouts. I went through a couple of years drought back when dairy farming, and it was bad. I didn't think we were going to survive for a while. We had to buy hay from Wisconsin at what we thought were outrageous prices. But we made it.

This drought is much worse. Total outdoor watering bans in most of the surrounding counties.

An eternal optimist, I plowed and seeded my yard last weekend.

It looked like rain this morning. I worried that Home Depot wouldn't be able to bring out my building supplies. All we had was dust.

I started me a small storage and shop building just after lunch.

Before picture:




By supper time:





And the morning and the afternoon were the first day.

It took them long enough.

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To confirm what Carl Sagan told us 20 years ago.

The speed of light is 186,282 miles per second in a vacuum. I've never been in a vacuum, but, I was once in an altitude chamber with the air sucked out to simulate being at over 40,000 ft above sea level. Then we took our oxygen masks off to see if we could tell when we noticed anything like passing out.


I was doing real well up to about the 4 minute mark when they told me to put the mask back on. I heard the words, I knew what they meant, but I was incapable of acting on what I knew and was told. Thankfully the government doesn't like to let all that money they spent on junior birdmen go to waste, and they put my mask on for me..

If aliens ever suck all the oxygen out of our atmosphere, we'll just quietly keel over dead thinking everything is hunky-dory as our lungs keep expanding and contracting until the brain shuts down for good.

But back to this article. Apparently anytime we look up in the sky we are looking at the past. The more distant the object the further in the past we're looking. If we find Proxima Centauri in a telescope we see light beamed earthward over 4 years ago.

Some say that pictures from the Hubble Telescope show galaxies 15 billion light years ago. Are they still there? If we could travel faster than light would we arrive where they are supposed to be, to find only rubble, the results of inter-galactic warfare perhaps?

Einstein's theories supposedly tell us we'll never be able to break the light barrier. I prefer to think that anything the mind of man can conceive, man can achieve someday.

Does this contradict what bible believers think, that the earth is only 6000 years or so old? It always strikes me as a little arrogant for anyone to claim to know the mind and will of God in as much as it relates to his purpose for us. If intelligence is the glory of God, shouldn't we best be trying to obtains as much of intelligence as possible? It strikes me as a little demeaning to think that an intelligent creator would want us to sit around on clouds singing hosannas for eternity, or to never discover how to travel to the farthest reaches of space one day.

Or should I pull the Kudzu up over my head in an effort to hide from his wrath?

Lord........what fools .........

.
........we mortals be.

We have enough food to make the majority of us, if not obese, at least with a more than healthy layer of fat stored. We spend energy like it is de-valued instead of costing more every day.. We work overtime to the ruin of our health...... and families. We have at our disposal a wealth of time and effort saving appliances, and want more.

We're like the squirrel running out every limb of the hickory tree in the yard to make sure there isn't another nut that hasn't been checked.

Makes me wish sometimes to be a hawk, floating on the updrafts and currents, dipping and rolling with the pure pleasure of being alive to witness all that can be seen.

What will we see..........when we look back???

Change in the weather

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OK, OK, I know that I complain about every thing, but this mornings cooler weather has me drawing up and thinking about maybe a long sleeved shirt.

As a true blue son of the South, it takes my patrician blood a little longer to adjust to cold snaps than I'd like. A nice 75 degrees year round would be much more to my liking. Where's Noble Peace Prize winner Al Gore's vaunted global warming now?

You just know that the Noble Prize committee lost what very little credibility they had left when they hung that medal around his neck. About as much credibility as Britteny Spears winning Mother of the Year.

Old Alfred Noble's guilt for inventing Dynamite all those years ago has carried down through the years, causing great peals of laughter to ring out from thinking individuals around the world whenever they call someone like Jimmuh Carter, Arafat, or Algore deserving of that award.

Shivering like a dog passing razor blades here in 48 degree weather. Whatta wuss.

Just a little too DAMNED close

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We've been mighty dry in these parts folks. So much so that we're under a stage four or five watering ban. Which means that we're not supposed to wash our trucks or water our lawns at all. Course there may be exceptions if you have the money to have new landscaping put in. (for a 30 day period)

So it was with a grateful heart that I saw the clouds begin to build in the sky on my way home this afternoon. Even went through a couple of showers just north of town. They seemed to be moving closer to home as I arrived. They held off long enough for me to get into the house and settle down a little then started a nice slow sprinkle while I was in the back yard, which caused me to give a little prayer of thanks and welcome.

Just before supper I was sitting here looking out the window and wishing I had had time to unload the back of the truck, when KABLOOOWY right out in the yard a huge bolt of lightning cracked across the window with instantaneous thunder.

Seconds later I saw a cloud of red oak leaves fall to the ground and my tightened throat managed to croak out, "Shit, that hit something". Never let it be said that I am at a loss for words in a crisis situation.

I've never been personally struck by lightning, but, I have seen the destructive force that it possesses, having had cattle killed, equipment ruined and a quarter mile of barbed wire fence vaporized. I know enough to get in out of the rain and especially thunderstorms.

This was a relatively light strike as these things go. But consider that the following pictures are of a tree only 75 feet or so from where I was sitting.





Glad I wasn't out walking the dog. Needless to say he was looking for places to hide in the house and none of them were suiting him, so he was trotting around in circles, panting like a race horse.

Hope the tree doesn't die. Will know by next spring I suppose.

How old

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were you, when you realized you can barely change yourself, much less the world.

Fade to black.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aNuyNk8nro

We think that it cannot happen again.

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WARNING; NSFW OR THE SQUEAMISH


But history has always taught at least one thing.

Those who do not learn from it, make a great mistake that will inexorably lead to it's repeating.

Pamela has posted a Hitchcock Film suppressed for two generations.

Does it apply today?

It does if we allow the enemy to gain the strength and authority that the Nazi's possessed.

Evil triumphs, when good men do nothing to prevent. Thanks God for our GOOD men and women.

WARNING; NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. DO NOT WATCH IF YOU DON'T WANT TO CONFRONT THE DEMONS THAT LURK WITHIN US ALL.

It's Good to Know.........

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........That there are men and women like this
With all the blather about politics and war, evil doings, foot tapping Senators, kneeling interns, and which celeb is in rehab this week, showing off their shaved pudenda, or putting their big foot in their mouth, it's nice to celebrate determination, commitment and a drive to succeed at a task one sets for themselves.

It's too easy to dwell on the inane and senseless things of the world. Far better to think about the inspiring and noble things.

When all children think about is how their going to be the next NBA, or MLB superstar, or want to emulate the latest Hip-hop rapper or winner of American Idol and obtain wealth and ease with little or no effort to increase their intellect or the size of their dreams, we lose something that might have been.

How much better to seek to enrich and en-noble and leave, for a little while, the base and mundane.

Just my view from the Kudzu.

A train wreck once started

"A train wreck once started goes to completion.

And the policeman cometh. He cannot, I think, be stopped. The abolitions of the Bill of Rights, the ever increasing surveillance, the diminished recourse of citizens against the government—these are not business as usual. They have happened before, in bits and pieces, but now they become respectable. The CIA has always tortured people and the FBI has always engaged in illegal phone-tapping and political persecution. Yet in the past they didn’t want to be caught because consequences might follow. These are now federal policy, openly admitted. The government keeps records of the books you read in the airport. This is something different.

And it can’t be stopped. Actually it is wild and fun when viewed as entertainment. What a show: The United States is close to one-man rule. Congress is complicit, the Supreme Court a nursing home. No serious opposition exists. If Bush leaves office in 2008, the incoming president will continue the trends of today. The effects begin to show. People grow ever more docile, accustomed to intimidation, to searches without cause. Several writers of my acquaintance no longer question federal policy. They are afraid.

And we are going to see this show through to the end. In a dismal way it is funnier than Oprah."


I hope He doesn't go away for good, but if he does I understand. I feel much the same myself. Only I don't have the wherewithal to move to Mexico. Although if I could it would probably be Argentina.

Seems like we already tried this once.

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As a son of the South, and having read somewhat more history than most of the great unwashed out here, I find my sympathies residing with the confederacy in the War between the States. Give the times and circumstances, and the knowledge that this country was a Union of Individual States, it seems reasonable that if compromise could not be reached a separation of that union should have been possible.

Despite that I'm glad that Union was maintained. We are a better country together than we would be as individuals separated.

With the increasing encroachment of government into every part and particle of our lives today I do not agree. We lose much when we try to shoehorn every person into a homogeneous mass all thinking, acting and marching in step with the orders of folk who have forgotten they were once us.

So while I have removed myself from the dictates of government to the limited extent that I am able, I find myself almost hopeful that these groups of dreamers meet with some success. If only to cause some few to rouse themselves from their NFL, WWF, look for the weekend to Parrrr..Tay opiated dreams.

Home from War

SAFE
.

Breakfast of Champions

.

Damn the cholesterol, bring it on.

Hot biscuits, Country ham, sorghum syrup and apple butter. Not homemade apple butter but good nonetheless.

Oh boy.......or girl

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Watching the granddaughter this week while parents on Pronghorn hunt. Picked her up from day care yesterday.

Crabby doesn't begin to describe it. would not sleep with out someone holding her. Finally put her in bed with me around 1:00 this morning where she slept till 6:00.

Worse today. Found sores on her mouth, which pain her very much. Doctor visit this afternoon if her grandmother and I survive. We will. Right now she is finally eating some cream of mushroom soup. Seems to feel a little better with a little something in her tummy.

Meanderings

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...My God.....
It was a day to be alive.


Sunlight
bright enough to illuminate
the corners of your soul.

Air
that penetrated
to the bottom of your lungs

a breeze
... to bring
the rustle of the leaves
and the twitter of birds
and scratching of squirrels...

into focus.


you could feel
the pulse of the earth
beneath your feet
as it leads...

ever deeper...
into the euphoria
of just being

it is.........

almost


...enough

Stories.............

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..."the story of our life is,.... in the end, not our life.......it is our story".

Changes

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Today we had one of those early fall, near perfect, days where the sky is a perfect blue bowl overhead, the air is clear with no haze, you can still wear short sleeves without being either too hot or too cool.

It was just a pleasure to be outside. It would have been better of course if I had been in the mountains walking beside a stream or overlooking a valley from the mountain heights, or cruising a winding road punishing the tires and brakes on the curves and switch backs.

Here in NE GA the seasons sort of sneak up on you in subtle ways until you look around and say in surprise "hey, this is fall", or some other season. Of course our springs turn to summer before the official date, and we can have tee shirt weather up until Christmas sometimes. Nothing as definitive as my sister's weather up in the northern part of Maine, but then, we're not likely to get snow in September or June either.

It's way too easy to not pay attention to the progression of the days and nights. We just had the harvest moon this week. When I was younger running the dairy farm clear nights with a full moon would catch me gazing up in wonder at the sky. And as the moon waned gibbous I'd remember that man once strode (well, hopped and shuffled) across the barren whiteness of our nearest neighbor.

Will the country that set it's flag on the surface of that old moon be the ones to go back and really claim it for mankind? Or will we trade our inheritance for a mess of porridge, and cower lest someone accuse us of not caring about the children?

Is this really radical??

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"Levees shouldn’t break. Bridges shouldn’t fall. The Detroit school system should not cheat three out of every four entering freshmen."

Stolen with h/t from Here.

Can we blame these things on politicians and bureaucrats?

Why should it take Sparrow’s company 10 to 12 months to get a new permit for something that was already permitted.

I rant and rave because, like most people, I don't believe we have to behave stupidly, and against our own best self interest. Either our own interests or our society's interests.

But WTH do I know. Pill time will be in an hour and shortly after that I'm sure I'll feel much better. Not as good as a fine Cognac, but I don't fall down as much either.

Very Easy

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It is very easy to rant and rave about all the things one thinks is wrong with the world today. At least for the part of the world that I've lived in all my life. Of course I have many years to look back and count the changes from then to now. Nearly 58 of them which I consider not too many, and my kids and grandkids can't imagine reaching.

Lord knows that I have done more than my share over the last 33 years. Once I left the army I entered a world that I didn't recognize when I returned. Some part of us always wants to live in the past, although that is never possible. All we have is today and a hope for tomorrow.

My hope for tomorrow has always been to see it be better than either today or yesterday. In order to do that we have to remember the past mistakes and successes and build tomorrow on the desire to make it better.

I have for a number of years been disgusted by the direction the political world is heading. It's kinda like coming in from the yard and smelling dog shit on your shoe.

Of course it could be said of me that my political stance is somewhere to the far right of Attila the Hun, or Timur-a-ling. So none of the announced candidates of either party have yet to do anything about the smell in my opinion. (And I stress that this is only my opinion, you can have yours, simply allow me the same privilege).

I watched this evening a recording of a speech made in Michigan recently. I link it HERE for you to watch, or not, at your preference.

Seems like we could use a few new Solutions in America. What we got don't seem to work all that well in a political sense.

You see..........

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.......you just tug gently here and the whole human DNA unravels into one long strand.





She's going to be a Scientist or Astronaut. I just know it!

We get to keep her next week while mom and dad are on a hunting trip to Wyoming for mule deer.
I taught her mom to shoot starting around age 3. She's taken more deer than me. Which wasn't hard considering I never squeezed the trigger on one.

My kids all just amaze the heck out of me.

Oh My

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What a day!

Up at 7pm because I forgot to put the cell phone on charge and it was still in the pants pocket at the foot of the bed when Don calls to ask what's going on.

People who get up and started before 5am should have some kind of a restrictor plate put on their phone until at least 8am. It wakes us (or at least me since the wife gets up around 5 but is generally quite about it) up and forces us to start the day, which I like to put off as much as possible since I don't have to open my eyes, or think for that matter.

But I was looking forward to getting a check, which was overnighted????, from Dallas on Friday. Called post office. Nothing. Probably coming via Fed Ex or something. Called Dallas. Yes, Fed Ex. Got tracking #. In Gainesville probably arrive in afternoon, thinks I. So I can make the 100 mile round trip for the 2 hour meeting in Hartwell. Surely be here when I get back, again, thinks I.

Needless to say, it's not. Use tracking # online........not delivered due to incorrect address......WTH. Call Fed Ex. Attempted delivery to address from a year ago. Dallas used my old address............not like they don't know where I live since I communicate via mail with them nearly every week.

To make a long story short, while talking to Fed Ex I climb back into the truck and head out, balls to the wall for Gainesville only to decide about 15 miles up the road that it would make far more sense to have them send it to Athens so I can pick it up at 9am rather than make the 200 mile round trip tonight when I wouldn't be able to do anything with it anyway.

Ya see, even I can have moments of cognitive thinking. I just have to be faced with the prospect of a 4 hour round trip.

So my butt hurts from all the driving and sitting today. I'll hopefully never have to put up with drooping ass cheeks since I wear them off constantly.

Haig or Sun Tzu

If'n yo ain't reedin Kim yo r miss-n da boat. Here why I likes hem.

Him's a thanker!

Waxing Nostalgic

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Between my new kudzu header, courtesy of Lil Toni, and her new blog featuring an old antebellum home, I started noodling over some of the old houses of memory.

The first old plantation home I remember seeing and having a sad feeling about was about 5 or 6 miles SW of Braselton, Georgia. We used to go quail hunting in the overgrown fields surrounding it.

My dad loved to quail hunt. Well, I guess he probably loved hunting of all kinds. I can remember the second house I ever lived in. It was the house my paternal grand parents moved out of about the time I was a year old. We had been living in another house on the original Dunagan's Dairy Farm behind Alcovy Baptist church. We moved after my grandparents moved into the house they built up on the hill.

Mom and Dad had a fenced lot beside the house where the garden was tended. The hunting dogs pen was there as well as a chicken coop. I can remember that dad would fatten up and clean out the digestive system of the opossums he'd catch. There was a place to keep the snapping turtles, feeding them on milk soaked cornbread, he'd trap on the creeks and rivers close by. We might have been poor as far as money went but we feasted on the bounty of nature. I can't imagine what it must be like to know hunger. We live and lived in a nation of plenty........it's just that sometimes you had to go out and hunt it down.

Back to the old plantation house. As I said it was not far from Braselton, Ga, the town that later Kim Bassinger bought at the urging of her realtor brother-in-law, and later had to bankrupt on. (I doubt that he had to give back any of the commission.)

This old place was about a half mile off the paved road, and had been abandoned for long enough for it to start falling down around it's self. What had once been a large rambling two story wooden structure with a huge balcony across the whole of the front, had the porch collapsed and holes in the roof, the windows were all broken and the doors were ajar, looking like an old bleached skull, wondering where the rest of itself was. The grounds were all overgrown with kudzu which had begun to creep over the roof line, determined to hide the ugliness like a once great beauty drawing her shawl close about so you can only see glimpses of what used to be.

Many, many are the ruins of what once were dreams of young, strong builders of this country. Farmers whose children went to where the paychecks were regular and sure. Who had a fondness for the old home but neither the money or desire, or ability to keep something tax collectors were determined should not be passed down to future generations.

I've seen buildings in Germany which have been pretty much continuously lived in for a thousand years or more. Lived in, loved in, repaired, updated, housing generations of people from birth to death, they are sanctuaries for their occupants, except for the occasional war here or there.

We have many two, three, a few even four hundred year old year old structures, many of them designated historical landmarks. But for the most part, whats old gets discarded, bulldozed into oblivion, then paved or concreted over.

The natural order you may say. Perhaps? But I wonder if we're leaving a part of our soul behind in order to have the latest and newest?

Go give her some love

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Lil Toni has a new blog to showcase some of her pictures. She sho knows how to take a picture and tell a story. Go pay her a visit here.

Obama Floats Social Security Tax Hike

Isn't it amazing how many times in the past 40 years we've heard a politician, indeed most politicians, talk about how we need to fix, or improve our marvelous Social Security system in this country.

All talk, all want to raise taxes and none of them ever mention that what is paid in today is paid out tomorrow. If no SS taxes were paid into the system at all they'd probably not be able to pay benefits in a couple of months. This in spite of the so called trust fund, which in reality is a filing cabinet full of IOU's in Virginia somewhere.

Oh, I guess they'd still pay the benefits. All they have to do is print more Federal Reserve Notes. Do a little google search about the hyperinflation of the German Reichmark in the early 1920's. Or the Hungarian catastrophe of the 40's after wwII.

This while the congress critters all get a full pension after just a few terms, at their full rate of pay plus yearly increases for life and their spouses life, although I'm not sure who would get Barney Franks.

If you're old enough they send you a projected SS payment form each year showing how much you would get at age 62 or 65. Take a close look at it and then go read about the retirement plan Galveston, TX has in place. Then ask your congress critter why a county has a better plan than the whole country.

I really should know better that check on the news after 6pm each evening.

Government outrage

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We certainly ought not to just allow anyone to abuse the right to die and be reincarnated without proper government approval, no doubt in triplicate.

The government of China, which claims control of Tibet despite the region's vigorous culture of independence, announced in August that it would henceforth require Tibet's "living Buddhas" (special clergy believed to be continuously reincarnated) to get permission from China's religious affairs officials before submitting their souls to be embodied in the future. The government acted, it said, because the reincarnation process needed to be managed better. [Agence France-Presse, 8-3-07]

Maybe this would be better titled: Stupid Chinks

At long last

.
I have taken a little time to update some of the sites I check. Some each day and others occasionally, but all have good things to say from time to time.

I've been a little lax lately although no more than at other times. I can only rant and rave for so long before I realize that you don't care and it doesn't make me feel any better. Just relives the monotony some what.

But tomorrow is another day. Ihop in the morning until the bank opens then garner some mammon and head out to buy a few herringbones. Boy did they go out of fashion or what? People thought you could wear them like any other necklace. Sleep in them, work in them, mess around in them, whatever, it took only a small kink to ruin them. Most jewelers and pawnshop owners held on to them way too long.

With the recent surge in gold prices people are starting to reevaluate their worth.
I don't care, they refine easily.

Of course the price is also a reflection of the perceived worth of the US pictures of dead presidents. Right now we're losing out to the euro, which makes them happy as a pig in a mud wallow. Wait until they force us to pay for oil in euros. Don't think the Fed lowered rates to help the housing market. No, it's all about them making money in the currency markets.

Funny how we spend our lives, or a great portion of it, to gain what few pieces of paper that we can, and if we do amass a large number in our bank account call ourselves rich.

At least you can eat Kudzu and make paper out of it.

Beer and Rednecks

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On second thought, this guy isn't a redneck, he's an Idot.

I don't care how many beers you have in you, if you put a poisonous snake in your mouth, no matter how large or small, it's just a damn pity that he didn't garner a Darwin Award.

Word up

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Having been the proud possessor of a cast iron stomach most all my life, I rarely hesitate to eat what ever gets in front of me, although I have for the most part hidden from common knowledge that holiday meals don't see me return for seconds as often as once I did.

Today the first thing to get in front of me was a nice sausage biscuit eaten on the go along with a quart of water between then and lunch. Lunch time saw a new Mexican restaurant opened up. Remember these clues: 1. it's in an old Arby's in a small town, 2. the Arby's sign is still up and the now open sign is printed on half an old bed sheet. Not quite up to hopeful expectations. I'm all about equal opportunity but they've used theirs up. Remember those clues and violate your good judgment at your own risk.

This evening saw the piling on of a Supreme Pan Pizza, picked up and consumed with the addition of crushed red peppers to taste. I'm reasonably sure the ol' pipes will be alright in the morning, but the ears are ringing even more than usual, and I've a slight throbbing in my temples.

Checked the blood pressure before taking the daily BP pill this evening and it was a nice 106 over 62. Seemed reasonable considering I hadn't seen pictures of either Angelina Jolie or Lil Toni today.

Looking around to make sure there are enough Kudzu leaves within reach here in the kudzu grotto.

All Hail.................

.
..........The two blogging Goddesses LL and Lil Toni. Both of these wonderful ladies contributed to my new Header. A thing of beauty excelled only by they celestial glory.

Thank you both.

Financial News????

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Allen Greenspan husband of Andrea Mitchell claims in his new book that the Iraq War is all about OIL.

Well Duhhhh. He makes it sound like he and his masters had nothing at all to do with it.

If you still believe that Bush and Congress run this part of the world, I've got news for you. They're as much cattle as you and I.

You can call me a conspiracy nut if you want, I don't care. Read "Proofs of a Conspiracy" written in 1798 if you would seek understanding. Any number of other books. Look at a history of Henry Kissinger. The writings of former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski.

They consider us the unwashed, unintelligent masses who have to be molded and led around with blinders on for our own good and their power and profit.

Financial Vampires they are. Feeding on the spoils whether there are wars or the illusion of peace. So for Greenspan to come out all self-rightous over this is just more of the same old, same old to keep the kettle boiling, just like they always have.

I could really get worked up over this, and I have over the last 30 or so years, but, most people don't want to hear it and it doesn't make me feel any better.

Thanks Umberto

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Nice bit of rain falling this evening. Gracie the dalmatian hiding outside in her hidey hole and Toby the yorkie curled up on the couch burying his head against the thunder like the wuss he is.

Used to be we'd call this snuggling weather. Now it's known as sleeping weather.. Which is what I did after arriving home from the trip to Clayton and back. Flopped down in the rocking recliner and never felt the second rock backwards. Woke just in time to eat a bowl of veggie beef soup and cornbread.

I know, it's a hard life, but, someone has to do it.

While in Clayton I stopped at the Ranger Station and picked up a few topo maps of the northeast part of Georgia. I want to get one of the hand held GPS systems and do a little trekking before the year turns too far toward winter. Of course the term winter doesn't really apply here like it does in the more northerly parts of the country.

Snow measured in more than inches just makes me cold, although back when younger I liked to go sliding over it. Now.........just want it to go the heck away.

Lil' Toni over at Random bits of Pomposity has posted a couple picture of some kudzu from down in Miss-a-sloppy. Hopefully I can get LL of Chromed Curses to tell me how to use it as the header for this poor excuse of a blog. That would be really , like, cool, you know?.

A little something for the ladies.............*UPDATED*

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.............to consider when you think about our men in Iraq.

Here are pictures of two of my nephews.

Lt. Zack ( he's the one not trying to look crazy)



And his younger brother Josh.



He's a medic, just made Sargeant.

Both warriors just fighting a little different type of battle day by day.

Updated:
To make the post complete.
Here is a picture of their younger brother graduating from Basic at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma



And not to worry ladies, the beautiful youthful lady he has his arm around is my sister, his mother.

I feel a little weird

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No, I don't really have any reason to say that, except that it's almost as if a feeling of calm has washed over me. May be getting the meds adjusted or me adjusted to them.

Yet it's such a strange feeling. I who always feels something lacking, or wrong, or disgusting. Who loathes politicians with a feeling of having just puked my guts out after trying to pick up a dead dog by the hind leg only to have the hair and skin come loose in my hand and a half gallon or so of maggots burst from the distended stomach.
Who holds bankers in a position of low esteem only slightly higher than lawyers. Which are on an equal footing with politicians since most pols are or would like to give signals to lawyers under the bathroom stall divider.

I can't explain it. Probably a bad bit of beef.

9/11 Six Years On

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Time goes by quickly, and our memories are short. Our individual memories can sustain us for lifetimes baring head trauma or Alzheimer disease, but our national collective memories seem too often shaped by our viewing of the boob tube, or even by our adherence to a particular party line.

Mostly we don't like to look back at the bad things in life, or if they didn't happen to us directly we don't want to think that they might next time, so we squint our minds eyes as if looking at the sun too closely and pretend they didn't happen.

Men like Churchill could see the signs of WWII coming ten or more years in advance.
George Patton knew that our alliance with Stalin during that same war was a deal with the devil and that we would pay the price afterwards. Senator Goldwater knew that the way to keep our precious freedoms was for freemen to exercise those rights given to us by our Creator. Ronald Regan knew that you didn't sit with your pants down in the Oval office getting a Lewinsky while foreign governments supported terrorists who tried to blow up the twin towers or blew up our warships and our troops stationed in foreign lands.

Whoever said that "those who don't learn from history are doomed to forget it" was pretty wise. The question is are we?.

I've always been moved by the writings of our founding fathers. Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death" speech (you can read the text here, the sound plug in didn't work for me) has always roused a fire in my heart that takes days and weeks to quench, and never goes out entirely, but, like the clamor of the ambulance siren, seems to make most people I try to express those sentiments to smile weakly while nodding there head and casting their eyes around for the nearest emergency exit. Nothing like a zealot to run most people off. And I wonder what it is about me that does that to them. I do take a shower every Saturday after all. And in my opinion Old Spice is still in fashion. My Grandfather wore it by golly, and so do I.

I had started this post with the intention of repeating last years post for this date. If you didn't read it then you can look it up in my archives.

All I want to say is, Look at the threats ( and there are many more than Islamic fanatics alone) and don't hide your eyes, but face the enemies of freedom full on and Never surrender, Never give up.

Sharpen your bayonets, see to your weapons. Get some sleep, you're going to need it.

There are disadvantages

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.........to being a lone wolf.

"There is a primal reassurance in being touched, in knowing that someone else, someone close to you, wants to be touching you. There is a bone-deep security that goes with the brush of a human hand, a silent, reflex-level affirmation that someone is near, that someone cares.

It seemed that, lately, I had barely been touched at all"

White Night, Page 185

Just because it's beautiful.............

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..........I stole this from GOC.


I've always wished that I could sing in a way that would make people stop and listen.
These girls make it look easy but I know that it's not.

Good music enlarges your heart and soul. According to some research it will increase the intelligence of children. Don't know how good it works on adults as we sometimes scoff at that which enthralls us as we don't want to be labeled geeks. Too late for me of course. My geekdom needs only a pocket protector to be complete.

Just asking............

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.............but is there anything better that a bowl of peach cobbler along with a little vanilla ice cream on top.
Well, at least in the typical food groups anyway.
At least that is the opinion of this ol' redneck country boy.
I can remember as a young child our mother cooking up apple pies and peach cobblers and my favorite, blackberry cobbler. Served still hot from the oven. So hot that we would take real cream, skimmed off of milk from our own jersey cows, and pour it liberally over the top, cooling it down enough to eat. And if you had it the next day there would be a film of congealed butter on top sweetened by the copious amounts of sugar it took to make. Yum doesn't hardly begin to describe how it tastes in my memory.

All of this triggered by the last bowl of cobbler I'm eating on right now between every sentence.

Wishing you all a peach cobbler weekend.

Are we alone?

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You meet many different people in your life these days.

Unlike days past (long ago and far away) when a person might live his whole life in the same town or village and possibly never travel outside a short distance (compared to how we measure distance today with automobiles and airplanes and rocket ships into outerspace and even once upon a time to the moon) from where he or she was born. Today we can in a few hours travel to the opposite side of this ol' world

The furtherest I've ever traveled was 13 time zones away, which is about half way around the world or a little better away from Georgia. But in terms of seeing much of this planet, I can't really say that I've seen much. About 37 of the United States, a couple of territories, 7 foreign countries. And really most of them I can only say that our plane landed there or we drove thru them on the way to somewhere else. So I really haven't seen much. To be sure we can turn on the Travel Network on TV or read about places and learn a great deal that once was the realm of only the rich who could afford to travel or the military who'll send you where they want you, but knowing a place or understanding it requires a little more I think.

There is something within most people, I think, which yearns to see and experience different places or things. We can admire the view from a roadside pull off high in the mountains where we can see for 50 miles or more, but I think in our deepest subconcious parts of our brains the explorer in all of us wishes we could experience all of what is within our view. And more if that is possible. That's why I have a lot of respect for researchers, scientists and deep thinkers of what ever persuasion.
They are reaching out for answers to question we may not even have thought of yet.

Several years ago I was in a small trading post in a little NE Ga town. They sold used furniture and appliances and STUFF.. They would also buy or pawn items from people. They had accumulated a good bit of old jewelry of various description and had decided to get rid of things they hadn't been able to sell. I sorted thru all their items and picked out the genuine gold from all the costume jewelry. Quite a nice little buy I thought. One of the items kinda caught my eye and after I got home I gave it a closer look.

It was an apparently hand crafted piece of 18 kt gold with a curiously crafted design on it which resembled a central or South American ancient carving. Anything like that gets my attention since supposedly my mother was 1/8 Cherokee Indian, so I feel a certain amount of kinship towards Native American cultures where ever they were.

I took the piece to my friend Renato, a Peruvian Lawyer who immigrated to this country many years ago and because his legal training was in that country could not practice as a lawyer since he didn't complete his JD in this country. He works as a legal aid to the hispanic community assisting with taxes, passports and other things they need help with.

A most interesting person. Highly intelligent, the author of 2 books now. A speaker on the ancient architecture of South America and very interested in many of the unexplained mysteries of that region and the world. I met him at church and our friendship seemed to have that bond of long knowing of each other.

He told me that the design was one of the smaller winged gods engraved on the Sun Gate of the Tiwanakuan culture high in the Bolivian Andes mountains at about 12500 ft above sea level.

This is a picture of my piece:



Click through some of the links to the Sun Gate or related sights and you'll get a better idea of the image shown.

An interesting item is that some of the cut stones making up Machu Piccu is that they weigh 400 tons or better. The largest stones in any of the pyramids of Egypt weigh about 300 tons and they're at close to sea level. These are at an altitude of two and a third miles in some of the steepest parts of the world. How did ancient workers get them there???

My friend has a website at http://www.renatolongato.com

I think you might find some things to consider and maybe even ponder there. I might try to get together a group to have him speak to sometime. I learn new things every time I visit with him.

Sitting in the Kudza picking at the lint in my navel. Never know what will turn up.

Circles

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Growing up in the 50's and 60's was a unique time, now that I think back on it.
The agricultural past of this country and especially the South was fast changing. I feel fortunate to have grown up on a small family farm, part of a tradition that stretched back to the early 1900's when my Great Grandpa moved his family out of the hills around Gainesville, GA (a place then known as New Holland) to a new farm in the center of Gwinnett County along the Alcovy river.

Dairy farming could be profitable there. Close enough to make daily deliveries of milk, cream, chocolate milk and even at times orange juice to the door steps of families on the eastern part of Atlanta. Decatur, Stone Mountain and other small towns that provided growing room for what became quite a bustling town rising out of the ashes of the War between the States.

Then a Farmer could pretty easily count the number of families he could feed. Now 1 farm can produce more that they ever thought possible.

Families provided the basis of your whole life then.

The small church we went to had a cemetery full of dead relatives that we never knew and the pews full of family with ties going back 3 even 4 generations, although as kids we didn't know that. Names like Buffingtons, Pratts, Dewberries, Dunagans, MaHaffee's, Hinton's all tied into a circle the that just kept growing.

The circle today is large enough that we have a hard time seeing from one minute of arc to any of the other 360 degrees. It both saddens and gladdens me to think of how it's grown. Sad to think of all those I've never known and never will, and glad to be a part of those I do.

It's kinda like life it's self. With no beginning and no end in sight, we just keep on marching around on the path before us, whether it's fated to us or just happenstance, I can't tell, and feel no real need to know at this point. I'm just glad to be a part of it.

There was a PBS documentary on The Carter Family on the tube tonight. I suppose that's what started me thinking along these lines.

They started a tradition that shaped the music world of their day and to great extent still does today. I wish I could have found the following song on YouTube by the original 3 Carter family members, A.B., Sarah and Maybelle, but 1 and 2 generations later they still kept the traditions alive.



May the Circle be unbroken.

I can get all misty eyed just hearing it again. I think of the almost 60 years behind me and the 135 years yet to go to reach my goal.

Maybe later I can find something by Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers.

Early on a Sunday

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I may not agree with all of his politics, but no one can reach me with this song better than the original. Seems appropriate for a cloudy Sunday morning.

When we're young...........

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...........we know that we're going to change the world.

When we're middle aged we just hope we survive the world

When we're older we just shake our heads at what the worlds become.

After we're dead the young know just how they're going to change the world from what we changed it into.

And so it goes.........