• I’ve had the phrase “Let us go forth to the field of Mars” going through my head all day, but for the life of me, I can’t figure out where it came from.
  • Any of you literary types out there have a clue of its origin?
• I made a mistake tonight that caused a friend of mine to have an extra three to four hours of work fixing what I broke.  Unfortunately, it’s not something I could help with.
  • I need to do something to make up for it, like letting him punch me in the kidney or something.
• The Louisville Friends of the NRA banquet is coming up soon.  If you’re in the area and want to buy a ticket, let me know.
• When you go for a month not eating fast food at all, getting a couple of cheeseburgers to go means an evening spent trying to figure out when you ate the fishing weights.
• I’m fast approaching that wonderful time of year when getting my kids educated translates into “I need another check”.
• Irish Woman attacked the jungle that grew up behind the garden boxes today.  Apparently the weed whacker turned weeds several feet high into finely divided slaw.
  • I wish she’d thought to have Girlie Bear take a picture because apparently she had weed and grass clippings everywhere.
• I may have found myself a new coffee joint.  Yeah, it’s way over on the hippie/hipster side of things, but they make an excellent cuppa.
• ZZZZZZ

• Boo announced that Irish Woman will be teaching Moonshine the Wonder Pup kung-fu.  Nothing good can come from this.
• I cut down one of our older cherry trees this afternoon.  The poor thing just didn’t survive last year’s drought, even with hand watering.  I cut from the outside in, and checked the wood for life after every cut.  It was dry and well-seasoned all the way through, even in the main trunk.
  • It’ll make good smoke for the grill and firewood during the winter.
  • If I had more time and was a tad more crafty, I’d take some of the straighter sections and carve them into wooden spoons.
  • Luckily, there is a 5 foot volunteer tree from one of its cherries growing a few feet away, so we’ll transplant that into the same spot when we dig out the stump this fall.
• I love the smell of oil soap and lemon cleaner.
  • Irish Woman and Girlie Bear went to a party and Boo took a nap, so I scrubbed down as much of the house as I could without making noise.  Irish Woman is taking a couple days off work, and I want her to relax a bit.
• It seemed odd to have a pleasant evening walk with comfortable temperatures in August.  Normally, I’m barricading myself behind a dehumidifier at this particular time of year.
• I’m not sure how this evening is going to end.  I put down some catnip for Koshka so that she wouldn’t try to decapitate me when I put flea repellant on her, and Moonshine snarfled it all up.  The interwebs say that it’s safe and probably won’t have an effect, but he’s weird enough as it is.

• Saw a car this morning that had one of those “Coexist” stickers, along with a Decepticon decal.  Not sure what message she was trying to convey.
  • Maybe there’s more than meets the eye going on there.
• Not sure what was up with Moonshine tonight, but while we were at the movies, he chewed up the top of a bottle of sunscreen, several bunches of paper, two movie cases, and Girlie Bear’s last pair of flip-flops.
  • At least he was smart enough to look guilty when we came through the door.
• Why do I always get the stoner filling our order when we get our movie snacks?   Why couldn’t I get the kid who I believe is doing way too much cocaine?
• Does Disney own Nintendo or something?  I counted five commercials for Wii hardware or games in conjunction with the movie tonight.
• Irish Woman has two lemons left over from something she was baking.  I do believe I shall make myself some lemon-infused moonshine.  Just need to go to the liquor store.

• I re-qualified on properly balancing cargo loads on aircraft over the past few days.  I am now qualified to tell you that tipping an airplane back on its tail is a bad thing.
• It is exceedingly hard to eat in a healthy manner when the group you’re in class with goes out to a pizza buffet for lunch.
• I’d like to say I made up for it by having a light dinner, but Irish Woman and I went out to dinner tonight, and spicy chicken with peanut sauce was calling to me.
• We’re such a swinging couple.  Our date for the month consisted of going out for Chinese food and shopping for school supplies.
• Irish Woman is such a patient wife.  How many women would put up with their husband come home, make plans with her for a date night, then lay down “for just a couple of minutes”, which evolved into a two hour nap?
• There comes a point that you realize that you just can’t reach some people, and it’s not worth the energy to keep trying.

• Thunderclaps and lightning strikes mean no loading the airplane.
• Of course I left my rain gear at the hotel.  Why would I bring it with me to the airfield?  That would be silly.
• UFC fighting just isn’t my thing.  If I want to watch people taking shots at each other, rolling around trying to get the other guy to tap out, and getting covered in blood for money, I’ll watch C-SPAN.
• It has been a long time since I’ve had seafood for breakfast.  It was rather nice.
• Definition of politeness – The young lady behind me on one of my flights today got airsick just after a rather soft landing.  She’d been holding it down so that no-one else got sick.
• Yet again, the TSA at Norfolk International Airport can go jump in a vat of acid, and I mean that in the kindest way imaginable.
• Here’s a hint:  If you can’t describe why the real airport police (Not the TSA, but the real carry-a-badge-and-a-gun police) got called because of your behavior without launching into another loud, profane tirade on the telephone, then maybe you’re part of the problem.
  • Yes, I’m sure the black ticket agent called the black police officers over because you’re black.
  • Your race card is looking a bit tattered lately.
• Southwest Airlines cut it a little close with my connection today, but it was rather nice to walk off one jetway, turn left, walk 30 feet, turn left again, then walk down another jetway and onto my flight home.
• Got home to a grilled steak and a cold beer.  I guess Irish Woman is happy to see me.
• It is hard to type when  dog has his head on your shoulder and won’t leave you alone because you might disappear again.

On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.

A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly,
courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty,
brave, clean, and reverent.

I thought these would be appropriate, considering today is the anniversary of the beginning of the Scouts.

• To whoever requisitioned October weather for July in Kentucky, bless you.
• To Irish Woman, who suggested we get two bushels of canning tomatoes at the market the other day, thank you.  We shall enjoy the 19 quarts of pasta sauce we made and canned.
• To the smokers of Louisville, I hope someday they hand y’all a snow shovel and a whisk broom and make you clean up the drifts of butts that have built up on some of the streets.
• To the people being absolute drama queens, whiners, and petulant children because The Old Reader organization has decided they’re overwhelmed with what is, to them, a hobby: grow up.  It’s not the end of the world, it’s an inconvenience.
• To the nitwit from North Carolina who threw his spit cup out his car window in traffic today, I hope you spill the next one in your lap so the inside of your car can smell like the outside of my truck.

• It is exceedingly difficult to convince some people that it is better to write down how to do something, especially if it’s an odd happenstance that does occasionally happen, than to be called on vacation because you’re the only person who knows how to do something and can’t be bothered to write it down.
  • I spent 8 hours over two days working on two tasks that others have done but failed to document their procedures.
• The Thai chili garlic dill pickles turned out quite well.  They go very well with a cold beer and grilled meat.
• Little Bear and I had dinner last night with a good friend’s family for a wedding rehearsal dinner.
  • When you eat dinner with a Chinese family and they compliment the Chinese food at the restaurant, it must be good.
  • I don’t speak Chinese, but I recognized a couple of phrases from Firefly.
  • I ate until I was stuffed, but they kept pushing food at me.  Apparently I don’t eat enough.
• I’m enjoying this 75 degree July weather.  I could get used to having the climate of San Diego, but the culture and people of Kentucky.

If “In Vino Veritas” is true, what do you get from bourbon?

To paraphrase George Carlin, it’s questions like these that kept me out of the good universities.

• Today was one of those days where I needed someone to stop me from cutting the blue wire.
  • “Cut the blue wire that reaches from the detonator to the blasting cap” snip, turn page “after removing the batteries from the circuit.”
• We may have to clear out the frogs in the big pond.  One of them has tasted human flesh.
  • Irish Woman is fine, but she apparently screamed like a school girl when that thing bit her while she was cleaning out the pump and filter.
• I took the stuff for the CARE package over to my friend’s house for packing and shipping.  She is so thrilled and wanted me to thank everyone who contributed.  I’ll be posting pics once she’s got it all boxed up.
• Not sure what’s going on down the street, but one of my neighbors is either shooting .22’s at night or they’re using up some fireworks.
  • Nope, it’s fireworks.  Yet another reason to move where the nearest human being is miles away.
• It’s a beautiful evening here tonight.  Nothing beats sitting in your living room, windows open, gentle breeze from the ceiling fan, and listening to millions of tree frogs try to find a mate.