Knot Knockers

In one of my occasional forays into the jungle of the local flea market a couple of weeks ago I happened upon a table of these useful items.



Bobby Brantly and his wife were trying to sell these beautiful Baton Rouges ... Cajun for Red Sticks. (look it up)

Eighteen inches of attitude adjustment potential made from one of my favorite woods, Eastern Red Cedar.

They were trying to start a new business by showcasing his wood turning skills, since they had both lost their jobs recently. I gave him a little advice about not using his brother-in-law the lawyer to incorporate at the cost of about $2500.00 when he could do the same for about $300.00 at Legalzoom.com in about 30 minutes.
In appreciation he gave me this little bat which I then proceeded to carry all over the flea market telling everyone who would listen where to get one. I did get a few strange looks from some of the undocumented workers milling around there.

If you would like your own little Knot Knocker (individually numbered and sure to be the fashion accessory of the 2010 election season) you can give him a call at 706 601 8452. In today's economic climate we need to support those who are trying to support themselves.

Sea Breezes

No...I'm not at the shore...although I wish I was. Maybe down around Cancun or Puerto Vallarta. Anywhere that I could ignore the insanity coming out of TAP (The Asylum on the Potomac). I might even break the habit of 34 years of sobriety and have me one of those rum drinks with the little umbrella sticking out of it. Maybe then I could begin to unravel all the contradictory garbage that the dumbmass media is feeding us these days.

I notice that when the Honduran Military acted to keep the president of that country from attempting to pervert the law down there by trying to stay in office longer than legally allowed under their laws...our great democratic leaders in this country say that it is illegal.

Fidel Castro and Hillary Clinton object


At least the Wall Street Journal has the balls to call them on it.

See what I mean. Are the winds beginning to blow in a different direction just a little??

No wonder people all over the world hate us. What arrogance that we would attempt to tell them how to run their own country. Of course what would you expect from the Communists in charge of our government today.

Fidel, Hugo and Barrack. Marxists to the core.

Catching up

It seems a little odd to be putting fingertips to keyboard after a hiatus of over two weeks, but it feels like it might be time to do a little catching up.

First of all: Thanks to those who drop by here from time to time, and especially Thanks to those who have e-mailed with words of encourgagement.

Second: a few housekeeping chores. I've written before of my BIL (actually the wife's, but then I can never figure the nuances of in-law-hood out) who has had cancer for a while. Well, now he has been in a hospice care home for about 3 weeks and will likely not see many more weeks, if any. His wife (The SIL) is staying there with him full time as well as the two little dogs who were his constant companions. Thanks to the Doctors and Nurses and the drugs, he is in very little pain but also has very little apparent awareness of what is going on around him. I say apparent because I'm not sure how much his brain might sense but because of the drugs he can't respond to. I've said my good-byes to him and will hopefully meet his spirit again one day.

Third: The damn feet are still giving me some pain, especially in the heels. I'll be making another trip to the VA before too long and will try to get them to prescribe me some good insoles. I've talked to quite a few people who have had similar problems who now have gotten over it, although looking back and knowing now that I've had this problem for twenty five years or so may mean that I'll always have the problem.
People.....if you are not keeping limber by stretching or exercising.....I can testify to the importance of that.

Forth: I missed posting on Fathers Day. To make up for that I'm of a mind to tell you the story of a Father I know.

As sometimes happens hormones can overrule common sense sometimes and a child is born with out what used to be referred to as 'the benefit of marriage'. Some (more so in the past than now that it's become more common) would refer to the child as illegitimate. Personally, I think that if a mother makes the commitment to bear to term and deliver the child, that removes any negative label you might chose to place on either the mother or the child. Because that is a HUGE commitment right there. Not one to be sneered at, but rather encouraged.

Anyway a boy child was born. Quite an ordeal getting pushed out of the only home you'd ever known out into the world of light, noise and confusion. A beautiful child..
.....dark hair with the most beautiful eyes and lashes you'd ever see. And he was loved...by his mother, grandparents, babysitters and even the mothers old gray cat.
Well.....fire ants didn't love him. When he was big enough to walk out in the yard, he'd occasionally wander in to a bed of those pests and not realizing what was going on would hop up and down going OW! until someone would run over and snatch him up and brush them off his feet and legs.

Eventually the mother entered a relationship with a young man who cared for the boy as much as for his mother. One day.....maybe around the time the boy was three or four years old the boy went up to the young man and asked "Van W****, will you be my dad?"

What would you answer in a situation like that? Not married to the mother...the relationship sometimes a rocky one...some men would start running for the hills. Not Van......with a catch in his throat and maybe some dust in his eyes, he replied, "yes Cody, I'll be your dad".

He has been a great dad. From teaching the boy how to catch a ball to teaching him how to hunt and fish to committing to the mother and working to make them a family, working long hard hours which entails a lot of traveling, he'd call every night and always talk to Cody. They are as close or closer than a lot of natural Fathers and Sons. I know it hasn't always been easy. The commitment once made...has been kept. That's an honorable thing.

You've probably guessed by now that this is my grandson I'm talking about (he's 17 now and driving, will be in the 12th grade this fall).....and his Dad, Van. A man I'm proud to think of as my son.

He's earned the right to the title of Father.

Winding it down

Almost 10:30 pm.

Just about bed time.

Wow. Two posts in one day. The universe will be sucked into a Black Hole and we'll all live in Washington, D.C.

Up early this morning to make the trek down to Augusta, GA visiting the foot quack about my wheels.

Surprisingly, after a two hour drive down US 78 and I-20, the pause in the waiting room wasn't even long enough for me to turn to the article in the magazine I picked up. I'm serious.....how many of you ever arrived for a doctors appointment twenty minutes ahead of the scheduled time and then were ushered into the inner sanctum within a minute and a half.

Then the doctor actually comes into the room before I had my shoes and socks off and had time to lean back in the space chair.

Come on...this is the VA.

Even the nurse was bored.

Another two shots into the feet. Apparently if the pain level has receded from +10 to about 7 in a month or so...you get another set of shots. Can't hurt...well I did flinch a little.

I must confess that for about 3 hours I didn't have any pain at all in what my DDM (Dear Departed Mother) used to call my snow skies. Although she would now have to admit that I have more than grown into them.

A quick stop at the paymaster to garner funds for the requisite bag of Crunchy Cheetos's that will fuel the 2 hour trip back home and I'm on my way.

I'd spotted a sign for a rifle range down below Lexington as I went down and I stopped on the way back.

Owned and operated by a former Naval Chief Petty Officer it offers steel targets out to the 750 yard line plus a competition pistol and rifle range including tower. I will definitely be dropping a few dollars here in the near future.

After a stop by the bank and home I had to run out to make a buy of the shiny stuff and stop by the junk store and flea market my buddy runs.

Then home again to change into attire more suitable for a visit to the Funeral Home in Monroe to pay our respect to the Ol' Grumps younger sister recently relieved of the burden of the Big C. A relief I'm sure, both to her and her children. While the sorrow of her passing from their presence will take a while to get over they can feel gladness that her suffering is over and she died peacefully at home not long after awakening and being bathed and made comfortable by one of her daughters just after sunrise of day before last. They'll lay her beside her husband of over 50 years on Sunday. The wife and Ol' Grump will attend.

While I....

Well, I will be celebrating Family in another way. A gathering from far and wide of the Dunagan Clan at the Methodist Campground near Lawrenceville.

I'm really looking forward to seeing people I've not seen in many years as well as some I saw only recently at the service for my Aunt Margret. A joyous celebration of noise and food as we try to catch up on what everyone has been up to.

While everyone will not be able to attend, as we are flung to the winds, those who are absent will be fondly remembered and missed a great deal.

Life.....huh? Ain't it great.

Go and watch

Bill Whittle

Just damn.

This is why he has millions of visitors and I have 10 per day.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did

Evidence ??

There are those who say that we evolved from monkeys.

Perhaps here is evidence of that.

Either that or evidence that the Irish DE-volve when they get a few pints into 'um.

Another Month

Just Damn....

June already.

Payday has come and gone and I'm nearly back to square one again.

Ha! It was late last month when last we heard from the intrepid boy skyman.

The muse has certainly been quite of late... but then to those who have read much of this bit of shit and giggles you know that she doesn't speak very often in my presence anyway.

Truth be told.... I've been reading enough good bloggers to feel ashamed that anyone would waste the time to come here more than once.

That's why I have sisters......they come back often enough to prompt me to post something just to let them know that I'm still alive.

Speaking of Sisters...

I am blessed with nearly a half dozen of pretty good ones and I don't tell them often enough. Shush....I don't want them to get wind of it.

My northernmost sister was recently blessed to have her youngest return from Iraq after a year or so serving with the 10th_Mountain_Division.

As you might imagine that has put a pretty big smile on her face.



Now consider that this is her Third son to have returned safely from over there and you will see two things...

1st...She started having children in the first grade...

2nd...She is a Blue Star Mom who rates a Gold Medal IMHO.

Short pause while I blow my nose and wipe my eyes here.

There is hope for our country yet when we consider that we still have young men such as these.

I sometimes grow discouraged when considering the path that the land of liberty seems to be taking, but if you'll read some of the quotes at that last link you might be hopeful for the future at least.

The pendulum swings from extreme to extreme. I just need to remember.....This too shall pass.

We are losing our country.....

.....to political correctness.

Things like This bring on a RCOB over my eyes and a spike in blood pressure that makes my ears ring.

How long before we rise up and start shooting the Bastards?

Wicked Transgressions

Just over 120 days into this mess......

"Our current political administration has followed the left-wing liberal domestic and foreign agenda to the letter. Domestic policies include higher taxes, more welfare, encouragement of union power, destruction of capital markets, driving out wealth and investment, and tossing a cascade waterfall of handouts to band-aide an economic malaise. The new foreign agenda is to renounce a previous stance of patriot hawkishness, embrace enemies with timidity, and put forth unabashed appeasement that would do Neville Chamberlain proud."

Roger Wiegand.

Where will all this lead us? I'm not sure, my crystal ball having sustained a decidedly cracked appearance long ago, but it might not be to everyone's liking.

Answers.....I have none for certain, but suggest that you get out of debt, spend substantially less than you earn and save the rest, stock up on things you think might become harder or more expensive to get, reduce your exposure to the dictates of a capricious political class, grow a portion of your food to give you experience if you have to grow even more, obtain a parcel of land to either live on or be prepared to move to if things become more dangerous, study ways to defend all those things you consider precious including yourself, and become involved with people of like principals and beliefs.

Perhaps we should take a lesson from that ol' frog caught in the egrets mouth...with his little fist firmly clasped around the birds throat, croaking "never give up".

With a tip of the hat to Pamela Geller with a timely reminder of the heritage we rest upon. Go and be reminded.


The people never give up their liberties, but under some delusion. - Edmund Burke, statesman and writer (1729-1797)

When an entire culture is guilty of evasion on so enormous a scale, the first thing to do, if one does choose to not be an evader, is to identify the issue that people are afraid to see.
[...]
When intellectual disintegration reaches such absurd extremes as, on one side, the claim of some "conservatives" that the United States was the product of of tradition worship, and on the other side, the use of a political designation such as "a totalitarian liberal" -- it is time to stop and realize that there are no intellectual sides any longer, no philosophical camps and no political theories, nothing but an undifferentiated mob of trembling statists who haggle only over how fast or how slowly we are to collapse into a totalitarian dictatorship, whose gang will do the dictating and who will be sacrificed to whom. Ayn Rand, March 26, 1961

Potato Salad

I do love me some potato salad.

But these girls take it to new levels.

Watch it all, they were born with no spines.

Potato Salad

Some days

There are some days when you just wish you felt as good as everything looks.

What a day. One of those all too infrequent days when the combination of temperature, sunshine, blue skies and low humidity make you want to take a movie of it in your mind and play it over and over.

Did you ever peer into a bluebirds nest and admire the delicate color of the eggs. That was the color of the sky this afternoon. With just a few puffy white clouds around the fringes for contrast, it seemed to me to be both warm and gentle and cool like a breeze from a high mountain lake. If that seems contradictory, so be it, I only know what it was like to me, not how to describe it to you. Close your eyes and dream your own dream.

Not too much foot pain first thing in the morning. Of course doing the foot and hamstring stretches caused a few wrinkles in the brow and a murmured "oh damn" or two.

Why is it that the older we get the things we want stiff aren't and the the things we want to be flexible are stiff? Does that seem fair to you?

Of course by this evening the pain in my heels was beginning to make me want to throw up a little. Sorta took the pleasure right out of the day.

I took the insoles the podiatrist gave me out of the shoes and replaced them with some Dr. Scholl's gel inserts. We'll see how that works tomorrow. Why would a guy who spent all those years in medical school assume the a hard piece of plastic under my heel in exactly the place where it hurts the most will magically fix the problem? Jerk!

One thing we're not short on these days is people who are dissing this, that or the other. If you watch the network news or listen to any talk radio at all you may be tempted to go look for a deserted island in the middle of the Pacific somewhere.

Too much noise!

The youngest grand daughters other grandmother sent the wife an email this morning with a poem she wrote describing her joy in the grand daughter. You've seen her pictures on this blog. They don't begin to express the sense of joy and wonder she possesses. I'll paste a bit of what she wrote here....

She Dances With Joy



No Inhibitions, No Holding back, Just Pure Joy

The world hasn't gotten to her heart to censor her yet.



She senses pure joy and cannot contain the feeling,

It’s like playing with mud pies and not realizing you're dirty.



It’s like running in the rain and not noticing that your shoes are squishing and if you do – just laughing!



It’s like seeing your Grand parents drive up and being so excited you just jump up and down and start dancing in place before your feet can actually move toward them.



It’s like holding your Mommie and Daddy’s hands and counting 1, 2, 3, and getting a big swing and feeling secure that they are not going to drop you.



It’s the pure joy of going to Grandma’s house and knowing you're almost there and you are squirming in your seat because you know you are going to get hugs and kisses.


It’s like riding the 4 wheeler with your Daddy and Mommie with the wind blowing in your face and yelling in the wind to see where the sound goes and your Mommie and Daddy is laughing and doing it with you.

It’s the moment she sees her Grand Daddy drive up in his Big Red tuck to pick her up that she races to the fence and calls “Grand Daddy” and hops up and down and races to the door – trusting he'll be right there.


Of course this is the first grandchild from their only child (will there be more?) so perhaps her astonishment and joy might be understandable.

I don't think it lessens with additional children or grand children.......we just are so busy we don't notice it as much.

Any hoo........foot pain aside....the day and the joy were quite enough.

Mother's Day

Once again it has rolled around.

Around here at lunch time it has left me in the company of the ol' Grump and the pooch. Thrown on our own devices to find something to eat.

Two of the daughters...mothers themselves, have taken the wife to Applebees for lunch and a girly meal.

I don't mind so much since I carried her to an over crowded buffet style steak house last night and filled her up with as much as she was able to carry back to the table.
Yeast rolls seemed to have a particular attraction to her.

Me...I was after a pink in the middle piece of cow or two and all the fried popcorn shrimp I could get on the plate along with it. I was going to partake of the clam chowder as it looked and smelled pretty good, but dessert got in my way.

Anyway..I'm pretty glad for all the mothers in my life, both now and in the past.

I can barely remember my Great Grand mother Mahaffee, Francis. Her daughter Mattie Lou married my paternal Grandfather Oscar, which produced my Father who married My Mother Ada Inez, which produced me and five sisters (all Mothers, and good ones), which allowed me (well not really allowed, since it was and elopement) to wed the mother of three fine children...two girls and a boy who themselves are now mothers and fathers.

So it's a pretty good day all around.

I got up and did the recommended stretching of my feet and determined to stay off them as much as possible today. This will be accomplished by reclining in the Easy-Boy and elevating them, making the flow of blood to my head somewhat easier where I shall no doubt dream of all the mothers in my life.....now....in the past...and in the future.

For without mothers would we have a future to look forward to...and would we want to.

I still live....

Walking......not so much.

Spent most of the day yesterday driving to and from the VA in Augusta, GA. Two hours each way more or less depending on lead in foot and how may stops at old friends I make on the way back..

Had an appointment in the podiatry clinic at 11am. Finally got called in at 12:15 which was about as I expected although generally they are a little quicker.

I've complained from time to time about my Plantar Fasciaiatis problems. New shoes didn't work.....new insoles of varying heights of arch support and heel cushioning didn't help. So a couple of Cortizone shots in the heel and arch of each foot.

It's some better today. I came in a while ago and took off the shoes and socks and intend to put my feet up on the recliner is just a bit.

The bad part of yesterday was that I was late taking a medication when I got home and it kept me awake until about 4am this morning. Getting up at 6:45 wasn't something I wanted to do....but did and got a little work done today. I've got things boiling and covered and I'll look at them again in the morning.

In other news I invite you to click on the link in my sidebar for Pat Dollard. If you feel a need now-a-days to defend the Constitution and the Free Market system that has led to our once and future great country being the shining city on the hill that so much of the world wants to come to and participate in you might want to join with like minded folks there in an effort that will be worth your while.

I'm off to finish reading my favorite blogs and leave snarky comments then to the recliner......Anything good on the boob tube tonight?

A Challange

I am pleased to have a friend in Toccoa GA who I attended church with and served with in several leadership positions.

When first we met it was obvious that he was as disdainful of Vietnam Veterans as I was proud to be one.

Over the course of several years and many heartfelt discussions (always respectful, even if sometimes I did leave his presence thinking to myself, "what an idiot", as I am sure did he) we began to understand each others motivations and I'm happy to think he began to have a different understanding of the reason some serve in an unpopular cause in the face of massive disapproval of those whose respect we most wish.

As Gary began to learn more of the founding of this great country and the at times contentious reasoning's of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United State and Bill of Rights he realized that they were motivated more by a desire to live in the freedom they believed was a God-Given Gift to every being on the planet than simply to oppose a tiny (compared to now) burden of taxes placed on a population that struggled to eke out a living from a sometimes inhospitable land. He began to walk with a decidedly more upright lean to his stride...
..toward freedom as a default position.

I can't claim any credit for his decision, he chose a different path as he learned to think more on his own and not take so many of his positions blindly from those he had previously listened to and followed for so many years. I only hope I caused him to begin the process of seeking to learn.

I can never convince anyone of the rightness of my position....hell, I'll be questioning it myself until I run out of time....and if I learn a thing that is different and I determine the truth of it, I'm not afraid to change. After all that is what we do as long as we live....if we think.

The link Here is to a long blog post... but I challenge you to read it through to the end. I don't have enough readers of this pissing and moaning to think it will make a difference........I just hope in the long run YOU will think it did.

Click above or copy and paste this

http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2009/05/missed-anniversary-vous-les-americains.html

"There's a drug issue"

2:30 am Monday morning

Said the officer as he headed down the steps.

"I figured it was something like that", I said as we thanked him and he went down the drive to his car.

He and his partner had responded to our call to give a 20 year old girl (you can't call her a woman if she doesn't have, apparently, enough sense not to do the things she's doing, can you) a ride back to where ever it is she's supposedly living tonight.

We were awaken by the doorbell, which set the pooch off like a rocket. Not without reason since a moment before he (and we) was asleep on the pillow above the wife's head.

Tiny he may be....but in his mind this is his turf and he'll defend it (or at least give me enough warning to grab the nearest pistol) with all the heart of a doberman crammed down into the body of an eighteen pound Yorkie.

Outside on the steps was the girl who'd caused his alarm.

"Can I use your phone to call for a ride, or can you give me a ride home", she asked.

"I've pee'd myself, I'm pregnant".

"Wait there, I'll get the phone". I closed and locked the door.

"I'm calling the police", said the wife, "I told her the last time I would"

I was going to give the girl a ride but my wife's instincts are more right than mine. This was the 3rd time in the past 2 months this same girl had turned up on the doorstep in the early morning hours needing a ride home.

I had given her a ride the first time. It was the second morning of the big snow when the power and phone was out and she was trying to walk home in her pajamas. The second time my wife sent her and her girlfriend on their way, saying we were'nt a taxi service.

Always on a Monday morning. Always apparently the guy in the story had kicked her out of the house. Probably after a weekend of partying and her presence no longer tolerable or useful.

Just Damn.

It seems there are more than a million stories here in the big metropolis of Clarke County. And no shortage of stupid young girls who never knew their father because their mother was also stupid and will be perpetuating these disaster stories into the future.

There ought to be a spay and neuter program set up for some of these kids.

Maybe do it without anesthetic.

So called torture

is much in the news now-a-days. To listen to the talking heads you'd think that American intelligence agents were not only next in line to succeed Satan but that he was seriously worried about a coup in Hell.

Ann Coulter puts it in Perspective.

Personally I think the Russians might have a more effective Method.

Also personally.......if I was allowed to do to some of the people in washington, DC as I'd like to.......even the Ruskies would be appalled.

Do you think I need to be on a higher dosage??

Life's a Bitch.....

.....so they say....

...and who am I to disagree with them.

We're pushed wailing and crying into the light and cold, experiencing our first rejection by the host that mostly formed us.

It sometimes doesn't get any better from there.

.....and then we die.