August 16, 1942
Anniversary
August 16, 1942
Posted by daddybear71 on August 16, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/16/anniversary/
Today’s Earworm
These days, Jed would have bought a nice spread in the hills outside of Knoxville and lived happy knowing that he didn’t waste his money in Beverly Hills.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 16, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/16/todays-earworm-207/
30 Days of Abraham Lincoln – Day 13
No country can sustain, in idleness, more than a small per centage of its numbers. The great majority must labor at something productive. — 1859
My Take – 51% of Americans don’t pay taxes. Over 100 million of us are on some form of government assistance or another. Entire sections of the economy are on life support through government funding. We shouldn’t have gotten to this point in the first place, and there is no way we can sustain it for much longer. We’re already at the point where the government is having to buy its own bonds to fund these things, but how long can the snake eat its own tail?
We have to come to grips with this soon, or no amount of last-minute belt tightening and economic hardship will be enough.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 16, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/16/30-days-of-abraham-lincoln-day-13/
News Roundup
- From the “Bad Idea” Department – The British government is warning Ecuador that if it does not give up Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks who is seeking asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, then it will force its way into the embassy and take him. Now, I love our British cousins as much as the next guy, but this is not a good idea. The Ecuadorean embassy is not an office in Whitehall, rather it is Ecuador. As much as our embassy in Tehran was American soil, the embassies of all countries are sovereign and untouchable. Yes, Assange is a slimy character and quite possibly a rapist, but he’s not worth violating the sanctity of an embassy. The Brits ought to sit back and let negotiations continue. Something tells me the Ecuadorians will eventually find a way to give him up so long as the British government doesn’t do anything stupid.
- From the “Dumbass” Department – A man in Nevada shot himself in the butt the other night as he sat in a movie theater. Apparently his handgun fell out of his pocket and discharged. The man left the theater under his own power, and miraculously didn’t cause a panic. He was later caught with a bullet wound to his gluteus maximus, which must have been very debilitating to him, seeing as how he seems to be thinking with it. Folks, get a holster. If you have a holster and it doesn’t either hold the gun securely or stay where you put it, get a better holster. Heck, if you can’t afford one, ask me. I’ve got a couple I stopped using once I discovered custom leather, and I’ll be happy to ship one of them to you so you don’t embarrass the rest of us.
- From the “Dumbass The Sequel” Department – A man in Russia was arrested recently when he tried to steal gunpowder to use as fuel for his stove at home. One wonders what he was cooking. Popovers, perhaps? No word on whether or not his wife knew of the caper, but if she didn’t, I’m assuming he’s safer in jail. No Russian woman is going to put up with a man who wants to blow up her kitchen.
- From the “Dumbass Hat Trick” Department – A man in Florida was arrested the other night because he decided that his pistol was a trump card in an argument. Apparently when “Your mother!” wasn’t strong enough, he showed her his gun and threatened to “Blow her head off”. The man was arrested for aggravated assault and illegally carrying a concealed weapon, so I’m guessing he’s not exactly the law-abiding or intelligent type.
- From the “Dumbass Superfecta” Department – The U.S. Army four-star general who formerly headed up Africa Command is probably wishing he’d told his wife and her sisters that they really ought to fly Southwest. A recent investigation found that he used government flights to fly friends and family around and also that he overspent on hotel accommodations and other travel expenses. The figure being bandied about is approaching $1 million, which coincidentally is the amount in pay and other benefits he’s expected to lose if he’s demoted and retired. I guess being court-martialed for fraud, waste, and abuse isn’t in the cards if you’re high enough up in the food chain. Personally, I’d like to see him court martialed and busted to the lowest enlisted rank before being retired, even if he gets 3 star retirement. “No one is more professional than I” kept coming into my head as I read that.
- From the “Dumbass the Revenge” Department – Vice President Joe Biden decided to add a little racial tint to his rhetoric the other day, telling a mostly black audience that Mitt Romney and his campaign wanted to put them back into chains. As the descendent of a member of the Union Irish Brigade which fought in Virginia during the Civil War, I should be shocked and offended, but I’m not. Mr. Biden has fought courageously against his case of terminal stupidity for years, and it’s sad to see him finally losing the battle. Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me if this wasn’t a convenient ploy to give Obama an excuse to dump Biden as his running mate and pick someone more likeable and with a better personality, like Al Gore.
- From the “Cheap Flophouse With Cool Furniture” Department – IKEA, the company that brought self-assembled furniture to the first apartments and dorm rooms of millions of people, is considering opening up a budget hotel chain in Europe. I envision thousands of business travellers being handed an allen wrench and directions to their room written in Swedish and broken English.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 16, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/16/news-roundup-147/
Thoughts and Prayers, Please
Wirecutter got some bad news on Monday night, and it looks like he and his family are going to need all the thoughts and prayers we can muster. Please go on over and show him some love.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 16, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/16/thoughts-and-prayers-please/
Thoughts on the Day
- Cinnamon pretzels and diet Coke – The breakfast of champions.
- Contrary to stereotypes, the bunnies at the farm were not interested in the carrots we brought along for them due to the presence of an entire head of cabbage for them to munch on in the hutch.
- The sheep, goats, llama, donkeys, and horse were much more receptive.
- For the first time in my life, I have acquired a pistol that is new and still needs a breaking-in period. I guess I’ve been fortunate up to this point.
- At least that’s what I’m going to attribute the stiff action and double-feeds to. If it’s still doing this after 1000 rounds, it’s off to the gunsmith with her.
- Girlie Bear was tickled to be offered the chance to give the safety briefing by the range officer this afternoon, but politely declined. She did, however, blush a rather adorable shade of pink.
- When a centerfire or rimfire rifle does not go boom when you pull the trigger, it’s not that hard to get the charge out of the chamber. When a muzzleloader has a failure to fire, it’s an entirely different story.
- I’m guessing the Pyrodex pellets were just too old. The 209 primer was firing OK.
- Luckily for me, it was a true dud and not a hangfire. But I still kept it pointed downrange for about 15 minutes before pulling the rifle off the line and taking out the breech plug.
- When trying to zero a non-scoped rifle at 100 yards, it is probably a good idea to bring a spotting scope or binoculars to the range with you.
- Oh well, guess I’ll just have to go back to the range to finish zeroing it. Shucks.
- Pro-tip – A clear plastic bottle full of water left in the sun on the dash of a car gets very warm after a couple of hours, and does wonders to clean out the bores of muzzle-loaders and guns that have been firing corrosive ammunition.
- I am blessed with a wife who leaves me alone when I’m cleaning my guns. Or maybe it’s the smell of the solvents that she can’t stand.
- Using the term “We who, white woman?” while discussing the new terraced garden boxes that “we” will be excavating, building, and filling before planting season next year might not have been the most diplomatic thing I’ve ever said.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 15, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/15/thoughts-on-the-day-45/
How things change
I distinctly remember making my father an ashtray in art class at the suggestion of the teacher. No-one batted an eye when I asked how big to make the grooves so he could park his butt on the corner.
Fast forward 30+ years, and Girlie Bear changes her design for something she’s working on because having a cigar in it would mean she wouldn’t be able to take pictures of it to school to show to her friends.
Not sure if this is progress or not.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 15, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/15/how-things-change/
30 Days of Abraham Lincoln – Day 12
The provision of the Constitution giving the war making power to Congress was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons. Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This, our Convention understood to be the most oppressive of all Kingly oppressions; and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us. — 1848
My Take – If the president has the ability to send troops to make war wherever and whenever he wants to, then he will start to assume the ability to use them to suppress dissent wherever and whenever he wants to. The way it’s supposed to work is that the State Department fails in diplomacy, the President requests a declaration of war, and Congress votes on it. If the war resolution passes both houses, then the President prosecutes the war under congressional oversight.
What seems to be happening recently is that the press sees something they find objectionable, they broadcast it far and wide at the top of their lungs, the President wants to look presidential, so he and the Secretary of State lambast it, play to the domestic and foreign markets, and eventually send in the Marines or Air Force so that they look like they’re in control of the situation. Only rarely do they consider whether or not intervention is in the best interest of the United States, and only slightly more often do they go to Congress for even a milk toast authorization of force. Every time they do it, they erode the power to declare war and constrain the President from waging war on a whim.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 15, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/15/30-days-of-abraham-lincoln-day-12/
Today’s Earworm
Ah, west Texas. I will always remember it as “God’s Ashtray”.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 15, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/15/todays-earworm-206/
Fruits of our Labor
Not a bad haul if I do say so myself.
Here is the first of the big sunflower heads. We’re going to let them dry out, then use them for birdseed and to plant new ones next year.
That’s one big ball of squirrel bait, right there. The package said “Mammoth Sunflowers” on it, and they weren’t fibbing. They remind me of the sunflowers that used to be grown agriculturally around Minot when I was a kid. I think I’m going to save a handful of them and roast them in the oven to see how they taste.
Next we have Irish Woman’s punkin with a pumpkin:
It’s the only one of the early crop that survived the intense heat, even with shade from several trees and twice-daily watering. It’s ripened way early, but I have it downstairs in the cool and dry in hopes that it will survive until October. The plants are still flowering, so we may get more now that the weather is back to normal temperatures.
We also have several baby watermelons that are coming along nicely. I’m going to nurse those along until Labor Day, then they get fed to the kids and the vines will be pulled out.
Our potatoes did OK, but not as well as I hoped. We got about a bushel of potatoes that went into several meals. Next year, I’m going to give them more space in the bed so that they can spread their roots further.
I didn’t get pictures of them, but our tomato plants of all varieties are going nuts. I already put up about a dozen quarts each of chopped tomatoes, chili base, salsa, and spaghetti sauce from tomatoes we got out at Gallrein’s, but I may have to crank up the canner again if they all come in at once. We’ve already been eating them as fast as they can mature, but if they all hit at once, we’re going to be up to our necks in ‘maters. I may try my hand at making dried tomatoes and see how that turns out.
I think the cucumbers are almost done. I have enough picked now to make another batch of pickles, so that will probably happen tomorrow or the next day. There appear to be enough on the vine to do another batch of bread and butters for Irish Woman this weekend and that should be about it. The same goes for the green beans.
This has been a disappointing year so far for our bell pepper plants. Not sure if it’s the heat, the dry, or both, but we’ve only gotten about half a dozen peppers off of them. Next year, I think we’ll plant more jalapenos and banana peppers, which seem to grow well no matter the conditions so long as they have sunlight and water..
The new strawberry beds are filling quickly, which means I’ll be making a new bed this fall for transplanting so we have an abundance of Boo’s favorite food come the spring.
And that’s about it from DaddyBear Acres. Y’all come back now, ya hear?
Posted by daddybear71 on August 15, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/15/fruits-of-our-labor/
DaddyBear
