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And Now the Weather…

How’s the weather going to be today?

Come on, it can’t be that hot, not can it?

OK, that was the weather.  After the break, Al will be here with a sports report about how organized athletics can lead your child to alcoholism in kindergarten.  Stay tuned.

30 Days of Marcus Aurelius – Day 3

The man who is honest and good ought to be exactly like a man who smells strong, so that the bystander as soon as he comes near him must smell whether he choose or not. — Meditations, Book XI

 

My Take – Your reputation will precede you.  If you are an upstanding person, others will know that by the way you deal with them and others.  A talent need not be advertised, because it will make itself evident in the most effective way:  you will exercise it and others will notice. There is no need to toot your own horn, nor is it necessary that others sing your praises.

Thoughts on the Day

  • The planned trip to the ice skating rink turned into a trip to the roller rink for Girlie Bear and her friend.  I’m thankful that they are now old enough I can just drop them off and come back.
  • Trying to find a pair of denim shorts for my daughter that don’t make her look like a prostitute or a gangbanger was a lot more work than I thought it would be.
  • Having to crawl under your car to fix a loose wire, in an asphalt parking lot, at 2 PM, on the hottest day of the year so far is a less than optimal way to spend your off time.
  • To the twit in the store parking lot who parked crookedly across both her and my parking spaces, thereby shoving her front bumper into my front bumper, I hope that little SUV of yours bursts into flames in your driveway tonight.  
  • My youngest son seems to be a test to see how many languages I can count to 10 in.  So far, he’s got me up to four before the red-tinged tunnel vision subsides.
  • Half of the peaches that Irish Woman picked last night, along with 10 tablespoons of pectin and 12.5 cups of white sugar are now cooling in 8 jars.  
  • I have been informed that I will be making another batch of pickles on Sunday.  
    • I need to pick up some fresh garlic and a couple jalapenos.
  • The residual foam and syrup from making peach jam makes a darn fine topping for vanilla ice cream.
  • I put a new boomstick on layaway today.  Details to follow.

News Roundup

  • From the “Qel Surpris” Department – Some members of an indigenous force stood up in Afghanistan by the U.S. and other NATO members have started defecting to the insurgent groups they’re supposed to be hunting.  I, for one, am absolutely shocked to hear that illiterate goat herders who have received free arms and training from us are going over to the other side.  No, really, this is my shocked face.  Of course, it’s a very small number (41 or 86, depending on who you believe) of the 10,000+ people in the program, but it’s not exactly encouraging.
  • From the “Excuses” Department – A man in Seattle is accused of sexually assaulting four women, three of the teenagers, during and after a volleyball game.  His excuse:  the demon caffeine made me do it.  Dude, you’re lucky I’m not on your jury.  I’ve been so amped up that I’m starting to see dead relatives, and I’ve never grabbed a woman’s breasts or smacked a teenage girl on the butt.  I once heard someone say that it’s not the alcohol that makes the jerk a jerk, because he was a jerk long before the first drop touched his lips.  I think the same logic applies here.  My guess is that you were a jerk before you had that 35th dopio low-foam extra dark cappuccino.
  • From the “One Man, One Vote, One Time” Department – Libya is preparing for its first election in six decades.  I look forward to a future of a real Libyan statesman stepping up to the plate, leading his nation to a glorious, peaceful future, and then passing on power to the next guy, like the muslim Cincinnatus that he is.  Mwahahaha. Sorry, couldn’t hold that in any more.  I look forward to a rigged election, the suppression of politica, cultural, religious, and racial minorities, and spending the rest of my life worrying that some Libyan regime or another is going to decide that my insides would look better outside.
  • From the “Professor Moriarty” Department – A master criminal in Pennsylvania was caught when his case of the munchies led police along a trail made out of the leavings of his inability to eat just one potato chip.  Hopefully he learns from his time in the big house and never litters again.

30 Days of Marcus Aurelius – Day 2

Do not think that what is hard for you to master is humanly impossible; but if a thing is humanly possible, consider it to be within your reach. — Meditations, Book VI

My Take – If others can do it, then so can you.  Maybe not as easily, or as smoothly, but it is possible.  Take time to learn, practice, and practice some more, and you will be surprised at what you can do.  The key is to not give up, even when you do not initially succeed.

Gun Rights Policy Conference

GRPC Banner

The Second Amendment Foundation, which I am a card-carrying member of, and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms have scheduled their annual Gun Rights Policy Conference for September 28, 29, and 30 in Orlando.  These organizations have been at the forefront of the legal fight to restore and protect our rights as gun owners and shooters.  The conference will include discussions on legal cases, the upcoming election, and efforts to expand the freedom of arms that we all cherish.

Attendees are not going to be charged a dime to attend, and will only have to pay for their own travel and accommodations.  I won’t be able to attend this year, but if you can make it, please do.  More information can be found by clicking on the banner above.

Thoughts on the Day

  • Tally for the day – four loads of laundry, three loads of dishes, three meals cooked, four rooms picked up, vacuumed, and swept.
    • It’s Miller time.
      • Actually, it’s Sam Adams time, but that’s not as catchy
  • Hell hath no wrath like a mother of four who is trying to potty train twins while one of the two restrooms at the splash park is out-of-order.  
    • That poor guy from the parks department may need counseling after the butt chewing he got.
  • Irish Woman picked about a bushel of peaches this evening.  I see blanching, peeling, pitting, jam making, and canning in my immediate future.
  • Girlie Bear and a friend are going ice skating tomorrow.  
    • In July.  
    • In Kentucky.  
    • I don’t understand either, but it’ll get her out of the house.
  • Making breakfast for dinner was a lot more work than I thought it would be.  Delicious, but definitely not quick.
    • Applewood peppered bacon may be good enough to rival my preference for sausage.
    • Left over roasted potatoes and onions fried in bacon grease may be the food of the gods.
  • I made two quarts of apple pie out of the White Dog that Irish Woman got me for my birthday. We’ll see how it tastes in a few weeks.
  • Asking an ex-wife for a favor is not one of the more pleasant things I’ve ever had to do.
  • Goals for tomorrow – Figure out how to re-program the electronic thermostat and take a nap.

Can we take our funding and go home now?

Looks like the U.N. got caught with their hands in the cookie jar again.

The U.S. State Department is investigating the shipment of computers and other sophisticated equipment to North Korea and Iran by way of an obscure United Nations agency, despite ongoing U.N. and U.S. sanctions against both governments aimed at blocking their development of nuclear weapons.

Yet again the U.N. is doing something that is not only against our national interests, but also in contravention of its own resolutions.  Basically, the world body has decreed that advanced technology should not go to rogue regimes such as Iran and North Korea, while at the same time providing them with advanced technology.

At the same time, the U.N., with the aid and consent of the Obama administration, is ‘negotiating’ a treaty that could be used to curtail our rights.  They place murdering despots on a ‘human rights’ commission, and then condemn us because we treat our criminals like criminals.  They stand on the sidelines and cluck their tongues at situations that are exactly why they were created in the first place, and then spend the money we give them to criticize our methods for trying to keep a lid on the problems that they refuse to dirty their hands on.  And when they finally deign to get involved, news reports bloom with accusations of sex abuse and other crimes.

Can someone please point out to me something that the U.N. has done in the last 60 years that could not have been done without them?  Isn’t it time we took back our money, time, and real estate and told the United World Dictator’s Debate and Graft Club to vacate the premises?

30 Days of Marcus Aurelius – Day 1

Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around. — Meditations, Book II

 

My Take – When you are trying to learn a new skill, it is always best to do it in a setting where you can concentrate on learning and little else.  Trying to teach yourself calculus while the kids are running through the house screaming is counterproductive.  Find a time and place where distractions are minimal, and you will find your learning is much easier.

Today’s Earworm

 

And this will be the day — this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

— Martin Luther King, “I Have A Dream” Speech, given from that exact spot, 28 August, 1963