08:59 – Friday the 13th falls on a Thursday this month.
It was 75.1F (23C) when I took Colin out at 0715, cloudless and bright.
The downstairs is finished enough that we can get to work on getting stuff back where it belongs. Today and tomorrow we’ll work on the den, getting pictures hung and the furniture dusted, lemon-oiled, and back in position. Then the bedrooms. The guest room, which Frances and Al use when they’re here, won’t take much work, mainly just moving some boxes out. They could sleep in it tonight, if they were here. The food/prepping storage area is going to take more work. There’s still stuff stacked on the floor and every horizontal surface, although Barbara did manage to clear footpaths a few days ago. Still, it’ll be a massive amount of work to finish reorganizing that. There’s still stuff stacked in there that hasn’t been moved since we moved into the house in December, 2015. But we’ll get it all straightened up and organized.
Then there’s the unfinished area. A lot of that will be cleaned up automatically, as we move furniture, books, and boxes out of there and into the finished area. But there’ll still be a lot to be done.
I’ve commented on this before, but one thing that strikes me over and over again is that when a woman contacts me about prepping, she wants to talk mostly about food. When a guy contacts me, he generally wants to talk about guns.
It’s not exclusive either way, of course. Women also want to talk about guns and guys about food, but the difference in focus is pretty obvious. Again, as I’ve said before, everything comes down to biology. Women and men are both the products of a couple million years of evolution, which has adapted them for different tasks. Women, and there is nothing sexist about this statement, are gatherers, adapted to bear and raise children, care for the home, and establish social links with others in their family/clan/tribe/community. Men are hunters, adapted to track down and kill food and to defend their family/clan/tribe/community.
That’s not to say that each can’t do the other’s job, with obvious exceptions, and do it well. But the essence of a successful community is that all members focus on their own strengths, doing what they do best. Modern civilization hasn’t changed that underlying reality, nor the evolved instincts that support it.
So it’s not really surprising that women preppers tend to focus strongly on traditional women’s responsibilities and men preppers on traditional men’s responsibilities. The foundation of marriage is that a man and a woman combined are more than the sum of the parts.
What disturbs me is that, at age 64, I am no longer physically suited to take on the traditional male role, at least that for young men. I am, of course, suited to take on the traditional role for older men in the clan; serving as a font of knowledge and experience. That’s why older men and women have traditionally been highly valued by their clans. So that’s what I focus on. That, and food. Just like a girl.
From Miles, yesterday:
“Don’t go back to Huntington Beach Slim, next time you’ll need SCUBA gear to get into it…”
No need to back, in HB now. House at MSL and 1 1/2 crow miles from coast. Good news: Preparing for new housing just south of my tract and constructed anti-tsunami berm. Will iceberg melt exceed 10′?
HB is okay now, but Algore is having the berg towed there.
“What disturbs me is that, at age 64, I am no longer physically suited to take on the traditional male role, at least that for young men.”
I find it very disturbing. And I would like to resist it as much as I can, which, quite frankly, is not much this week.
55 today and light drizzle with chance for showers; looks like temps in the 70s and more showers through the weekend into Monday. Not much I CAN get done outside, so I’m working mainly on the VA paperwork and the taxes again. And paying bills.
Exciting.
I find it very disturbing. And I would like to resist it as much as I can, which, quite frankly, is not much this week
Now that I’m back from NYC (yuck, spit), I have to get back to working out. For some reason, my joints seem fine. I do take a joint supplement from Ray and Terry’s. I know plenty of men 10 years younger than me who can barely move. Maybe it’s genetics or maybe I’m doing something right?
“I find it very disturbing.”
Wow, you ARE empathetic.
Another busy day at the son’s house yesterday. Needed to put down some under layment for the flooring that was to be installed today. Chap that was supposed to do the install did get it down. So we had a 300 mile round trip and 7 hours of work. Getting too old for this stuff.
I wonder when preppers made the “credulous suckers” list?
What I mean is that (in the course of entering contests to win free guns) I ended up on someone’s “sucker list”. That’s my term for the junk mail that all has a certain tone, no matter the content. It’s a breathless, knowing, ‘don’t wait’, do this one thing immediately, learn the hidden secret, act now and join this exclusive club of insiders, ‘It sounds insane, and yet…’ kind of marketing.
I’ve been getting emails about putting a powerful herb in my shoes to kill toe fungus, learn secret self defense techniques from former Marine Raider- Delta- Seal Team- Rescue Ranger dude, clip your nose hair close with our revolutionary gizmo– emails.
This one though is completely new to me!
“BIG SHAMPOO” apparently has secret ninja internet hit squads! Here’s an actual quote:
“PS — The big shampoo companies would KILL me if they saw this video.”
“Could the type of shampoo you use actually CAUSE Alzheimer’s disease?
It sounds insane, and yet…
If you’re using one of the 4 leading shampoo brands, that’s exactly what’s happening.
WARNING: They actually force your brain to SHUT DOWN.”
Pioneer Payton seems to have some interesting connections:
“Fortunately, my good friend and leading health researcher Matt Cook just wrote a brand new free report showing you the top 14 foods and supplements to boost blood flow down there, and he’s giving it away for free for the rest of the day today”
Man, I could use some more blood flow in my feet, wonder if that’s what his friend meant? Hmm, guess not…. “The male member contains many tiny arteries and chambers that all have to be wide open, in order to be a full man.”
But, if I get to be a FULL MAN, surely I’ll need some more money to indulge in my re-found bulge? Patriot Vigilante has me covered with this email:
“(Click here for full details on this remarkable technology.)
It’s the closest thing I’ve ever seen to government-approved 8,000% growth!
And you have the rare opportunity to get in on the ground floor.”
I better hurry up. With my newfound wealth, studly Delta/seal/marine self defense skills, re-found bulge, clean nostrils, and dirty hair, I’m sure to go far. I just hope I can get the bunker stocked with breeders before things get REALLY bad……
nick
Actually meant to say the chap that was supposed to do the install did not get it done. Son was in a bind.
Thanks for the laff, Mr. Nick; I spend a few minutes each day now unsubscribing and deleting emails like that and similar. Seems to be an …….epidemic!
“…a joint supplement from Ray and Terry’s.”
Wouldja elucidate, please?
My joints are not doing real well these days. Mainly knees. Once down, I gotta grab something to get back up. Former high jumper. Former middle-distance runner. Former tight/end & wide receiver.
What’s the secret? Should I have kept doing that stuff throughout in the coming decades or never taken it up in the first place? Stayed in the library reading books, got on the chess team, hung out in the science lab with the A-V guys…?
I’m seriously considering metformin.
https://www.wired.com/story/this-pill-promises-to-extend-life-for-a-nickel-a-pop/
Yet another small organic molecule, like dichloroacetate. I have half a liter of the latter squirreled away, and I may just make up a kilo or so of the former right here in the sink.
Wouldja elucidate, please?
I take Total Joint Care from Ray and Terry’s (Ray Kurzweil and Dr. Terry Grossman). I consider it insurance. I added their Total Eye Care after my Lasik, too.
I ran regular 10K’s up until I retired and then got more into HIIT. I’ll try to do HIIT type workouts until I’m too decrepit.
Unsubscribing is probably counterproductive. In theory, you’re getting off their mailing list. In practice, you’re telling them it’s a live email address, which is valuable information to them. Valuable, as in even if /they/ stop sending you email, which is unlikely, they can sell the address to another spammer.
I simply mark the email as spam in gmail and also in my local mail client if the message makes it that far. For the past year or more, not many make it past both filters.
Rick or someone else might have more up-to-date or more complete info on this.
Thanks for the link and info, MrAtoz. I’ll give it a shot. Do you do a particular “regimen” of the HIIT stuff? How long do you do it and what results thus fah?
Bear in mind I’m still at the recovering crip stage and have to do really basic PT exercises to relieve back and leg pain enough to basically function around here.
“I simply mark the email as spam…”
Thanks, I’ll give that a try, too. You’d think I woulda thought of it, but senility is kicking in good and hard here lately. Add that to the extended lunacy.
Unsubscribing is probably counterproductive.
Very true. I worked – briefly – for one of the largest spammers in the US based in Kansas City. They ran campaigns for thousands of advertisers. When they received an “unsubscribe” email they DID pull that address from that particular advertisers list. But they then added it to the list of known good and responsive addresses so the user could count on being sent even more SPAM. Their “product” was to keep a list of email addresses that had live users reading the emails, and to categorize these users by preference. They did this last bit by buying search queries from the second and tertiary tier search engines and matching up with email addresses. This was a VERY sophisticated operation and I was the IT Director for about 6 months. They used cutting edge associative & parallel engine database systems that incorporated a micro-computer on each hard drive so any content search could be performed in parallel over the entire array. The engine ran a subset of SQL but was screamingly FAST. I believe we were a Beta Site for the manufacture. We also had three fiber links from different ISPs into the Data Center so that when one ISP link was blocked / black holed for SPAM we could switch traffic to the others.
After being laid off from Fannie Mae, along with half the IT staff, this was the first opportunity I could find and at my age, 55, I was not getting many hits on my CV. After spending six miserable & stress filled months in KC with this SPAM firm, I spent 6 months on the bench looking for anyone to hire an aging IT manager with international security expertise. I was lucky to be hired by an international orthopedic manufacture with IT based in Memphis. Now I am cruising to retirement (66+) next year and can’t wait to put IT behind me. It was fun for 40 years but the last 6 have been hell.
“Could the type of shampoo you use actually CAUSE Alzheimer’s disease?
It sounds insane, and yet…
Before he retired, about 10 years ago, I remember Dr. Dean Edell had a running topic thread about preliminary studies regarding lavender and tea tree oil shampoos possibly affecting changes in hormone levels. I found it interesting that Dr. Dean didn’t dismiss the possibility but always stressed the *preliminary* aspect of the studies.
“… can’t wait to put IT behind me. It was fun for 40 years but the last 6 have been hell.”
I hear that five-by-five. And at my level, there wasn’t a whole lotta fun during those on-and-off years, starting in the late 1980s. I was merely a semi-glorified machine operator, just like I’d been in the factories before that (wave solder machine operator, printed circuit board fabrication, etc., etc., and briefly, YardGuard fencing).
Only way I’d even consider going back now is if I could do part-time remote support on Linux systems from home and be paid “under-the-table” in cash. With four weeks a year of paid vay-cay and full med and dental bennies for me and wife.
Yeah, I can hear the guffaws and chuckles now…and eyes rolling….
The wife and I took my parents to go see Asia and Journey last night at the Sugar Land Smart Financial Center with 6,400 new friends. Pretty good concert, Mom loves both bands, even in their current incarnations. The keyboardist for Asia used to be the keyboardist for the Buggles so Asia played “Video Killed the Radio Star” and made it a 10 minute audience participation. Which, was the first video played on MTV, back when MTV actually played music videos.
Journey was awesome for their old hits, the new songs sucked as usual. The lead singer for Journey is a 49 year old Filipino who they saw on youtube 10 years ago and got him to audition. I would have sworn the dude is 30. Not as good as Steve Perry but, good enough.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnel_Pineda
Will iceberg melt exceed 10′?
Will iceberg melt exceed 1 mm ? No.
Fixed that for you.
I’m trying to wrap my mind around the idea of taking my MIL and my own mom, forex, to some rock concert like that and it does not compute. Taking wife and ME to one does not compute, either.
I guess we’re just old stick-in-the-mud fogies. We haven’t been to any live music concerts in years.
And the last rock concert I went to was Bruce Springsteen’s, at the Woostah Centrum, in 1984.
Besides all that, I try my darndest to avoid cities, crowds and events, for some odd reason.
BTW, my dad told me that he is hearing that Walmart is getting ready to buy Costco. That should be … interesting.
https://www.thestreet.com/story/14193749/1/could-walmart-buy-costco-to-take-on-amazon-well.html
I have been using https://www.spamcop.net/ practically forever. It seems to do a pretty good job at anonymously reporting websites and stopping/blocking spam. I also have spamcop send spam to spam@uce.gov (https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0038-spam).
I’m trying to wrap my mind around the idea of taking my MIL and my own mom, forex, to some rock concert like that and it does not compute. Taking wife and ME to one does not compute, either.
The average age of the crowd was at least 60. Maybe 65. SWAG. And the average weight was normal + 50. Also a SWAG. It was funny seeing a 65 year guy wearing his 1982 Journey concert tshirt and being 100 lbs heavier. Stretch baby, stretch, don’t rip !
My parents have been to many concerts in the last 10 years. They are getting ready to go to Maine ? for Celtic music festival for 3 weeks. After all, who wants to spend August in Texas ?
WRT to unsubscribing….. if it is a ‘reputable’ email source, unsubscribe might be OK. But marking the email as spam in gmail is a good idea for the ‘dodgy’ places.
I don’t subscribe to very many things, and gmail works quite well at filtering out the spam. Don’t care if gmail is collecting info – and they aren’t reading my email any more for advertising ‘leads’. Didn’t bother me that they did.
WRT to Metfornim – I’ve also read a lot of reputable articles that indicate that it may have some interesting long-living type properties. It has helped keep my A1C (diabetes indicator) levels down to a ‘well-managed’ level (currently 6.3). The other benefits that it seems to provide (based on several well-regarded medical studies) are a bonus.
BTW, my dad told me that he is hearing that Walmart is getting ready to buy Costco. That should be … interesting.
Holy culture clash, Batman. That’s one of those “Apocalypse is nigh” signs.
During my brief employment experience in Seattle, my temporary apartment was around the corner from Costco HQ in Issaquah. It would be way too easy for Costco employees to load up on a bus headed to Amazon’s HQ every morning. Literally, it is about turning right into the Park-n-Ride instead of turning left and driving a block to Costco HQ. Walmart would immediately lose a lot of talent without serious incentives to retain executives.
OTOH, Costco owns the WA State Governor’s Mansion. Their lobbyists and lawyers rewrote the state liquor laws a few years ago after deregulation. If Walmart wanted to hit Amazon on their home turf, that would be an interesting route, especially in a “closed shop” union state like WA. Bricks-n-mortar in Seattle could get awfully tough for Amazon in a big hurry.
I guess we’re just old stick-in-the-mud fogies. We haven’t been to any live music concerts in years.
And the last rock concert I went to was Bruce Springsteen’s, at the Woostah Centrum, in 1984.
We saw Huey Lewis in Portland twice during our Northwest sentence, once at Maryhill in 2012 and again at Portland Zoo in 2013. Huey and most of his band are as much fogies as his audience at this point, but they still put on a fun show. Highly recommended.
The progs in charge of the Portland Zoo concert series have a love/hate thing going with Huey. He is consistently their biggest concert draw, but the decision makers would prefer to book KD Lang and Melissa Etheridge.
“I was merely a semi-glorified machine operator…”
We had a saying 30 years ago at the ATO:
“A trained monkey could operate a Cyber.”
WRT (human) joints:
My dad started taking Flexcin and ended up transitioning to OmegaXL. He felt like it did some good. Our FedEx guy was telling me that he started taking turmeric and went from 30 Advil a week to zero with his joint pain being gone. Dad and I started taking that along with vitamin D about 3 months ago. After a while, he added the OmegaXL back and his hip is much better.
Last week, a friend sent me the following:
“for the first time I saw a physician who talked supplements and natural ways to help with health issues. So, I picked his brain about my psoriasis. He began telling me there is a three-fold supplement plan that was shown to be very beneficial in men with prostate cancer and people with certain brain cancers. Their anti-inflammatory benefits is what showed to be most promising, and psoriasis is inflammatory in nature (as many other illnesses are such as arthritis or allergies).
The three fold is turmeric (he recommends Jarrow 95 curcumin), vitamin D3 (2000 IU minimum), and pomegranate extract. He also said Boswellia is shown to be helpful too.”
Dad and I take the Amazon top seller for turmeric (Schwarz) and I ordered some pomegranate and Boswellia, but we’ve yet to start that. YMMV
” They are getting ready to go to Maine ? for Celtic music festival for 3 weeks. After all, who wants to spend August in Texas ?”
Gee, they might see Princess performing there, depending; I’ll find out if she’s gonna be at any of that stuff in August. August in TX? No thanks. Then again, who wants to spend January in Maine? Me, me, me! Snowshoeing! X-C skiing! Bears! Moose! Oh wait–we have that here.
“Maybe 65. SWAG. And the average weight was normal + 50.”
Nearly 64 and weighing now around 230, and planning to drop another 20 or so, down from a high of 270 several years ago. Gotta face da fax: can’t haul around that much weight anymore and don’t really wanna. Go out in a blaze of glory instead of a haht attack or stroke. And hopefully ease up considerably with the back and sciatica issues.
“… but the decision makers would prefer to book KD Lang and Melissa Etheridge.”
I like songs by Lewis, Lang and Etheridge but not about to go to any concerts. Wife and I sit and listen to the radio, mainly classical, but also rock oldies, and we READ. That’s what I mean by “old fogies.” In warm weather, we sit outside and read. But we’re a very odd couple when ya think about it; she’s Irish-American cradle Catholic Democrat and was a good little do-bee all through childhood and college and so on. And we all know what I am. What we have in common is a sick and demented love of reading books. Plus we love the outdoors up here. And we both have red hair.
Well, the drizzle stopped; I suppose I should try to mow the front and sides, at least, and maybe hit the back later or tomorrow.
@SVJeff; thanks for that med info; I’m at the stage where I’m willing to try various things to regain functionality and reduce pain. Hell, I’ve had epidurals, done some PT exercises, am losing weight slowly, and currently on Gabapentin and Aleve.
I’ll try the other stuff starting this weekend and report back here as I may or may not detect any results.
“Nearly 64 and weighing now around 230, and planning to drop another 20 or so, down from a high of 270 several years ago. ”
I’m down to about 170 from a high of about 240 several years ago. I haven’t made any attempt to lose weight; I just can’t eat as much as I used to. Not to worry, though. Little of that 70-pound loss was fat; it was mostly muscle.
I like songs by Lewis, Lang and Etheridge but not about to go to any concerts. Wife and I sit and listen to the radio, mainly classical, but also rock oldies, and we READ. That’s what I mean by “old fogies.”
I’ve definitely crossed an age line in the last few years. I think our intern’s parents are much younger than I am, but I don’t want to know so I don’t ask.
If you see something at The Britt Festival that looks interesting and you’ve never been out there, find an excuse to be on the Left Coast and go once. The Britt is what all outdoor amphitheaters want to be when they grow up. Oregon is fun … for about a week … in August.
Bob, not to be a dick but that sounds awfully light for a guy your height. I weighed 170 back in early high skool. But if you feel OK, great.
Now to lose a couple more ounces mowing…
WRT to my sea level threat: Left my house (N33° 42.9272′, W118° 01.9651′) with my dog for a walk to an overlook at an inland bay (N33° 42.3305′, W118° 02.6174′). Sea level looked normal and consistent with tide prediction app on my phone.
WRT to rising seas, in the OC Register this morning, I’m dead (wet?) meat 18 years from now. Look at the figure “Rising Seas – 2035”, I am in the orange colored flood zone due west of Fountain Valley. Global warming I guess is the cause.
http://www.ocregister.com/2017/07/12/scientists-predict-parts-of-southern-california-could-face-chronic-flooding-from-rising-sea-levels/
DOTD (Denial Of The Day):
Global warming caused the ice flow to break away from the South Pole ice shelf and cause it to melt raising the sea level by many feet.
OTOH, climate change caused a shift in thermal energy from the South Pole to the North Pole resulting in the creation of that ice shelf which culminated in a sea level lowering of several inches.
Confucious 4th Law of Thermodynamics: What water go up might not come down.
“Bob, not to be a dick but that sounds awfully light for a guy your height. I weighed 170 back in early high skool. But if you feel OK, great.”
Yeah, I’m fine. Much weaker than I used to be, but that comes with age. It doesn’t bother me much, since I knew 40 and 50 years ago that this’d happen, assuming I survived that long.
I take meloxicam daily for back pain. Doesn’t seem to do much for hip, hand, or knee…works great on back. Canadians seem to think it’s only a vet med, and my vet prescribed it for my dog post-op…… so it is, but not ONLY here in the US.
WRT supplements,
I added turmeric but don’t really notice much difference.
Been taking glucosamine with chondroitin for decades. I DO notice the difference in my knees with that.
Added a multivitamin with the B’s to combat neuropathy symptoms in legs and feet. BIG noticeable difference.
Recently added something supposed to promote “eye health”. I got lotsa eye problems and history so I’ll try anything for that. Actually seems to be some improvement, and it’s only been a week.
All supplements are from costco, bought when they go on sale, except the new eye one.
Of course, IANAD and your results may vary….
n
“I’m dead (wet?) meat 18 years from now.”
Oh noes!!!!111!!! we’re all gonna DIE!!!!1111!!!!!1111!!
Yup. Life, it’s universally fatal.
And hey, you get 18 more years!
n
WRT to end of life: We are born with a fixed number of birthdays; we just never know how many. Consequently, I have decided around the time of my 75th, not to acknowledge them anymore. Perhaps, by ignoring them I will delay exhausting them.
Do you do a particular “regimen” of the HIIT stuff?
I’m taking a shot at Insanity right now. Not for the weak of heart. I wear a heart monitor and stop when I hit the 140’s. Also, plenty of “stops” while the vid goes full blast.
I prefer T25 and P90X3 since they are 30 minutes with warm up and cool down.
Google 10 minute HIIT or full body workout and youtube will return plenty of full body workouts. Start with 10 minutes. I you feel good and get better, do two, three, etc.
Standard PT doesn’t help much except for pushups/pullups.
Whooooeeee getting some thunder and lightning right now!
Lotsa rain too. No working outdoors for me!
Guess I better do some inside work today.
n
Update on the vermin in my garage…
Set 2 rat traps (from the SHTF squirrel hunter box o stuff.) Baited with peanut butter.
Both traps are licked clean, with no activation. Mos def one savvy rodent in the house….
Put out poison for the roaches.
Checked the ultrasonic pest chaser, and it’s functioning atm. No idea if it was before.
Freakin’ pests.
n
“Both traps are licked clean, with no activation. Mos def one savvy rodent in the house….”
Back when I was in college and grad school, I used to visit the dump periodically. I can tell you from experience that the .44 Magnum is a very effective round on rats. Pretty much turned them into red smears on the garbage piles.
Of course, that might be a bit much for use in the house. Do you have a .357 Mag?
Ha. On a cardio machine in the gym I normally work at a speed and effort level to keep my pulse at 180 for a half hour or more. Roughly the same on a real bike outside; it’s about impossible to maintain a steady effort level but that’s my target. I’ve never measured pulse when lifting weights, but by around the third rep on a heavy squat it’ll be hammering really hard.
Do you have a .357 Mag?
We used to dump hunt rats all the time with our Ruger 10/22 and Super Bearcat. The joys of small town living. If I tried that at the Vegas dump, the SWAT choppah would swoop down on me, empty several mags in my ass, just to be sure ’cause the cops feared for their lives in front of the mighty 10/22.
I added turmeric but don’t really notice much difference.
FYI, turmeric is a natural blood thinner. You might bleed more taking it over time. Or not, IANAD.
My heartrate hasn’t been above 140 since I quit having anxiety attacks. Just sayin’
And didn’t you read the article about how taking up vigorous exercise after 40 is deadly for men?
n
That’s why you need a high-power laser, MrAtoz, to blind the chopper pilots so they can’t hold steady as you get shot up.
no 357 for me…
added another caliber to the stockpile but smaller, not bigger…
I might blast em with the air rifle, but indoors I want as little fluid splash as possible.
n
“no 357 for me…”
Too bad. 9mm is a bit anemic for something the size of a rat.
Glock is better than 1911!!!
223 is for shooting poodles
bud. no bud lite
old style’s better than bud, much much better!
chevy kicks ford’s ass!
…
…
…
n
WRT all the haht rate bumping and exercise routines; I just wanna mow my friggin’ lawn w/o pain. Or do the basic hauling, loading, unloading, and other dreary labor chit I gotta do around the house and yard here, or walk to and from the P.O. (about 100 yards) w/o my legs going numb and running outta gas. I had originally hoped by now to be riding the bike around the village here, at least, and gotten into some longer walking.
WRT blasting rats: Hollow-point .22LR or .22WMR work great. Minimizes splatter. Also to save on ammo, get a large cat. Or two. They may leave parts for you as a sign of their diligence and loyalty, however.
Glock 10mm is the ballz.
5.56 is for nailing rabbits, woodchucks and maybe skinny coyotes.
Local microbrew beer, fresh. Or Guinness.
Dodge Ram trucks.
CZ’s rock.
Ruger Mini-30 more accurate than standard-issue AKs.
Boston-baked beans.
Maine-style clam chowdah.
Thin-crust pizza.
With rat meat!
Fortified with rat meat!
I’ve told tales about my last cat, haven’t I? With the mouse butts left in the hallway? I always praised him and gave him a treat because I wanted him to keep catching them, but yuck. Not what I want to step in with bare feet in the middle of the night.
That’s why you need a high-power laser, MrAtoz, to blind the chopper pilots so they can’t hold steady as you get shot up.
I have a 100mW green laser. That would do the trick. I have several lasers from 5mW to the 100mW. Why? I was reading a book where the characters get lost in a cave so large “their FLASHLIGHTS couldn’t reach the roof or other end…” That’s not happening to me!
” Not what I want to step in with bare feet in the middle of the night.”
Even better: years ago I stumbled blearily and badly hung-over, out onto the hot sunny gravel driveway on my way to the car and drive to work one morning, and discovered half a rat. Good putty tat! Almost lost my contents right there.
I like my Boston-baked beans fortified with salt pork, which wife probably wouldn’t distinguish from rat meat; she finds it super-yucky. Ditto in chowdah. My dad and grandad and I would try to grab it first in each case.
DH wrote:
“Thin-crust pizza.”
Amen bro!
I make baked beans by cooking a pork shoulder or butt in the crockpot, pulling the bones, and then stirring it up to make basically pulled pork, still in the crock. Then add a pound or so of dried beans, a chopped onion, water, vinegar, molasses, salt, and peppers. Cook 12 more hours on low. Fight with Son#2 (if he’s here) and Daughter#1 over dibs. (The various other girls who are frequently here, as well as my wife’s frequent guests, don’t get into the brawl over the first spoonful because they’re guests, but their greedy little paws are lined up with bowls.)
I’ve never tried putting pork, or rat, in clam or seafood chowder. Might give it a try.
EDIT: I suppose they aren’t exactly baked beans, as they aren’t baked. Whatever. Distinction without a difference.
Thin-crust w/black olives and shrooms.
Or, Mexican thin-crust.
I can’t see where buying Costco helps WalMart take on Amazon. WalMart already has Sam’s Club in their family of stores. Costco has no significant online presence. It doesn’t make sense.
Please, Mr ech. The conversation has moved on to rat pizza. Do try to keep up.
Really, Mr. ech. We’re trying to have an adult conversation here.
Ignore Mr Hardy, Mr ech. Some of us are trying to avoid an adult conversation here.
Costco has a fine online presence, but it’s only open to members, and it stocks differently than the local stores. This is partly due to local buyers having some discretion to meet local tastes and needs.
n
NB- they will often deliver for no charge and eat the sales tax. every week I get a new electronic flyer.
If any of you are 62 or older you may want to consider getting a lifetime pass to all national parks. The cost is $10.00 per person. The reason I bring this up is that August 24 2017 the cost will rise to $80.00 per person. The cost to get into some of the national parks is significant, such as $30 per vehicle for Yellowstone. Having the pass avoids this fee.
I can’t see where buying Costco helps WalMart take on Amazon. WalMart already has Sam’s Club in their family of stores. Costco has no significant online presence. It doesn’t make sense.
Sam’s Club bet wrong on the culture. Sam’s Club is oriented towards selling bulk items to small retailers. Costco is oriented towards selling bulk items to families. Doesn’t sound like much difference but the two cultures are very different. BTW, I prefer Sam’s Club.
Playing w/ the Roku. Found a “station” or “app” thing called Pluto. A *hit ton of stuff to watch and all free. Yeah, they have commercials. So what? Ya gotta get a fresh beer or get rid of filtered beer once in a while anyway. Register and their app on your phone is also a remote control for Pluto. And… you can watch shows on your phone. Doesn’t matter if the Wi-Fi is on or off. I’m impressed.
Pluto also has (just guessing) about 600 movies you can watch on demand. Haven’t watched more than 10 minutes of any movie and so I have no clue about commercials.
Amazon Prime has some good stuff…
Without touching the antenna, 36 out of Austin decided to come in yesterday. Crisp picture like the other Austin channels.
For about $80 total and a few hours happily putzing around, DirecTV can do something nasty to them self.
Oh. Wait. Is “them self” a transgender micro aggression?
One may hope…. 🙂
Can you get this $10 lifetime pass at the post office?
Thanks for the reminder, Mr. Ray; wife and I intend to git dat free pass up at Mississiquoi National Wildlife Refuge, about ten miles up the road from us. 6,000 acres of very wet land. I”ll remind wifey tomorrow night when she gets back from New Hampshuh and we’ll slide on up this weekend, maybe.
“Oh. Wait. Is “them self” a transgender micro aggression?”
I have no idea, sir; got a college town near youse? Run it by their English department. I’m sure some bright-faced youngster will be happy to give you the straight poop.
Can you get this $10 lifetime pass at the post office?
Not on-line. You have to go to a national park.
And nearest to here is LBJ’s ranch in Johnson City.
Can you get this $10 lifetime pass at the post office?
Not on-line. You have to go to a national park.
Yes, you can get the pass online.
https://store.usgs.gov/senior-pass
“If any of you are 62 or older you may want to consider getting a lifetime pass to all national parks. The cost is $10.00 per person. …….”
YUUUP, I bought mine 10 years ago, at Death Valley National Park.
Seemed like a good deal at the time. However, in the fullness of time, my travelling, 4WD contemporaries and I just got older and just don’t go those places anymore.
Will be going up camping at Inyo National Forest four weeks from tomorrow, but can’t use it there.
Yes, you can get the pass online.
Extra $10 processing fee, so they are $20 each and the current delivery is 9-weeks because “We are experiencing a major increase in Senior pass sales.”
What’s that you say? Not like us? Not fit to live in civilization?
If you go to the National Parks senior pass site, there is a link to a long list of all the qualifying national parks by state; a good half-dozen in this little state alone. Our closest one is just a few miles up the road:
https://www.fws.gov/refuge/missisquoi/
“Not fit to live in civilization?”
Wait, I thought they was all ‘gainst slavery and all dat bad chit….
Someone will now say there’s been a lot more incidents of this with white malefactors and that would be correct because? Yeah. LOTS more white mofos in the country. Simple numbers.
But the other stats of violent and property crime point to stuff that is totally wackily outta proportion WRT numbers and percentages but is never reported in the MSM.
Wayciss? Well, what are we to think, when in the little burg of Saint Albans City there are about twenty black people and the few young males end up in the police blotter news page regularly? Now picture the situation in reverse in someplace like Bed-Sty or Newark.
“Monthly Federal Spending Tops $400B for First Time”
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/monthly-federal-spending-tops-400b-first-time
How in the world do they spend all of this money ? The financial apocalypse of the feddies is nigh. What are the feddies going to do when nobody will buy the t-bills ?
The Feddies are on very thin ice.
And so are the rest of us.
Plus, from the Always Picking the Wrong Enemy Department:
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2017/07/phil-giraldi/stop-attacking-iran/
I’ve been saying this for YEARS, since even before 9/11.
BTW, if you are keeping cash in the house or your secret stash place, I would not keep much. The USA Dollar is just not going to be worth very much some day, and that day may be soon. I would invest that cash in commodities that you use around the house or can barter to someone else for something that you forgot to get.
I don’t know how much is too many dollars. $1,000 ???
I actually thought that Trump could slow down the craziness but I am very wrong. I did get my conservative SCOTUS justice though. And the end of the Paris Climate Agreement (for now until the next dumbocrat gets in office).
I agree on having hard assets as opposed to piles of fiat currency or even piles of silver and gold coins, which the locals are not liable to recognize for their actual worth as means of currency.
However, we need to be able to maintain our expenses for any short disruptions, thus a month or two or three of cash-on-hand in a secret squirrel hidey-hole around here somewhere.
tRump was never gonna be able to keep the brakes on hard for very long; he’s already backed off a bunch of stuff he said he’d do and the financial house of cards is beyond anyone’s solution anymore, short of divine intervention.
At least one month of ALL your expenses, especially the ones paid online or automatically, and another month ‘cuz 2 is 1 and 1 is none.
I’d be more comfortable with 3 months of expenses, if it was me.
I’d want a whole year in gold if I could afford it with several thousand in ‘broken gold’, that is chains, bracelets, rings….
That way, even if they froze your accounts or limited withdrawals, you have money to pay bills. but if they declare an exchange for NewBux, you don’t look like a drug dealer when you change the cash.
The gold is to get you thru the disruption and out the other side with something intact.
n
NB- this doesn’t consider “git out of town” money, bug out cash, or enough to post bail for a drunk spouse/child/friend in the middle of the night. The ability to meet bail without the bondsman is one of those things you never think you’ll need, but when you do, you REALLY need it. Bond is usually 1/10th of your bail amount, so $5K will cover most arrests…($50k bail)
At least one month of ALL your expenses, especially the ones paid online or automatically, and another month ‘cuz 2 is 1 and 1 is none.
I’d be more comfortable with 3 months of expenses, if it was me.
Wow, that is $20K in cash ! ! ! I would not feel comfortable keeping anything like that in the house. Home invasions are committed for less than that around here.
NB- this doesn’t consider “git out of town” money, bug out cash, or enough to post bail for a drunk spouse/child/friend in the middle of the night. The ability to meet bail without the bondsman is one of those things you never think you’ll need, but when you do, you REALLY need it. Bond is usually 1/10th of your bail amount, so $5K will cover most arrests…($50k bail)
I had not considered that. The last time I bailed my youngest brother out of jail, it cost me $1,200. My father asked me to do it since it was his mom’s (my grandmother) funeral the next day. And my father was nice and paid me back. Me, I would have left the idiot in jail. It wasn’t the first time. Or the tenth time. Maybe the 20th time.
How in the world do they spend all of this money ? The financial apocalypse of the feddies is nigh. What are the feddies going to do when nobody will buy the t-bills ?
Obamacare nationalized the student loan program. Losses on that trainwreck and mortgages are higher than anticipated. Surprise!
Also, the last time I checked, the Feds own 85% of the Ally Financial paper keeping GM and Chrysler afloat with 84 month auto loans. Time for another “Cash for Clunkers” before used cars once again become more affordable than new.
And, yes, there’s more. My wife’s nurse is waiting on some kind of settlement from the Feds regarding ITT Tech and her unfinished RN degree. I guess we’ll bail that whole mess out as well.
From the You Can’t Have Both Department:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6OZVPIQkQU
Except libturds won’t pick one or the other; they’ll remain silent.
“Wow, that is $20K in cash ! ! ! I would not feel comfortable keeping anything like that in the house. Home invasions are committed for less than that around here.”
How in the heck would anyone know? Only you know what’s in your house.
And you wouldn’t put it in the same place. Couple of small document size fireproof lock boxes scattered around the attic under some insulation, and some in your “give it up” box, so if you do get robbed, you “give it up”. You want it to be enough they leave happy.
n
(and they might kill you anyway, but you’ve got a better chance if you do what they want.)
I’m looking for us to keep a month or three of expenses here for emergency situations; if during the time I’m collecting these amounts someone needs bail or an equally or worse situation rectified, we’d use it for that, of course.
We probably dodged a bullet a couple of years ago when Princess was schlepping illegal migrant workers around out in the sticks near the border up here. In my car. God knows what else she may have got up to with it; she’s a prog.
From the Sounds of Social Justice Department:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Knuwl2ZQXE
I dunno if supplements are good for anything but making expensive urine, but I’ve been taking 2k/day of Vitamin C for coupla decades with very, very rare cold/flu bouts.
Tumeric or curcumin is hard to actually get into your system. Adding some kind of fat and/or a quarter teaspoon ground black pepper is supposed to make for a 2000 percent difference in bioavailability.
Vitamin D is supposed to be in deficit for most Americans. Although, you Texans probably get enough walking from car to house. 🙂 Astaxanthin is also supposed to be a wonder for many things including vision. My last eye checkup (now overdue for another) surprised the doc and I that my prescription was reduced.
$5k sounds about right for an at home stash. A blow but not lethal if lost for whatever reason and damned handy for most conceivable contingencies.
Don’t have any real good rat anecdotes, shucks.
“From the Sounds of Social Justice Department:” Ha! Well done.
If you need some ideas for stashing valuables at home:
https://www.familyhandyman.com/home-security/20-secret-hiding-places
And anecdotes are not data, but even if it’s placebo, it works for me.
n
And grits ain’t groceries.
Whatever works for me will be just dandy, too. Still looking.
Will try a variety of things this coming week and see what happens. Next-younger brother keeps pushing me to get a MALE ortho sawbones working on me, but I need a better picture of what exactly is causing the problem first.
And I see it is nearly 01:00 and the old man here has to once again visit the Land of Nod…
…Pax vobiscum, fratres…
And don’t forget to tell/show somebody you love ’em ASAP. This may get more important in the coming months and years ahead so make it a habit if you ain’t done so already.
We probably dodged a bullet a couple of years ago when Princess was schlepping illegal migrant workers around out in the sticks near the border up here. In my car. God knows what else she may have got up to with it; she’s a prog.
Don’t ask. Don’t ask. Don’t ask.
The wife just told me that her best friend from childhood through college called today. Her youngest daughter, age 21 ???, called her today after weeks of no contact. Her daughter left drug rehab with her “new” boyfriend (in the same rehab) and is living on the streets in Los Angeles. A street preacher convinced her daughter to call home (on his phone) and tell them that she is still alive. I don’t know if she and her husband are going out to LA or not, their daughter is in total freaking denial about drugs. They put her in rehab again because they just could not stand the drugs anymore. Their daughter was raped when she was 15 and has been on drugs ever since to dull the pain.
It is a crazy world out there.
Here is a list of sites that sell the senior pass to the national parks/ forests: https://store.usgs.gov/sites/default/files/PassIssuanceList.pdf
I just bought one at the Sabine National Forest headquarters.
WRT the senior pass, I got one last year before a trip to Yosemite. Decided to go to the local BLM office as it’s closer than Sequoia or Los Padres NF. Nice office in an industrial park out by the airport. Front office was manned by one old guy (prob younger than me) who moved like molasses in December. Had no change to break a twenty. Couldn’t get my debit card to process using his computer. Finally I told him I need gas and would go the the ARCO about four blocks away. Got gas (on my debit card), went in the store bought a snack and went back. Would have been quicker to drive the 20 miles to Sequoia office.
But I have the pass,
DH…
You and Mrs OFD need to make sure you live long enough to be a burden to Princess…
You and Mrs OFD need to make sure you live long enough to be a burden to Princess…
Princess is too busy running schlepping illegal migrant workers around out in the sticks near the border to see to her mom and dad’s needs.
I just wanna live long enough, please God, to see her married and raising a teenage daughter herself. That would put me, at best, well into my late 70s. Not sure I’ll make it that fah.
Overcast and breezy; rain showers or t-storm probable at some point.
I just wanna live long enough, please God, to see her married
It is my observation that many, if not most, progs don’t believe in marriage anymore.
She has shown zero interest in marriage so fah.
And despite us bringing them to mass on Sundays growing up, with wife and I being catechism teachers for the 7th-8th-grade, neither has ever gone back on their own or shown any interest there, either. Nor have our three grandchildren been baptized, so far as I know. Where did we fail? Or is it our failure? Yet they both attended the wake and funeral mass for their great-uncle, not the same thing, I know.
Chin up, OFD. Maybe she’ll find herself drawn to an older man who has a preteen daughter, and Princess will have to deal with a raving bitch who can play the “you’re not my real mom” card in every argument.
I’ll send you some popcorn so you can munch happily while watching the fireworks.
“…Princess will have to deal with a raving bitch who can play the “you’re not my real mom” card in every argument. I’ll send you some popcorn so you can munch happily while watching the fireworks.”
Popcorn would be a good change from pretzels by then. What great fireworks that would be! Yikes! It will be extremely difficult to keep a straight face, even now, just thinking about it, whenever I see her.
Cue up Carly Simon’s “Anticipation.”
And from the Simon & Garfunkel Parodies Department once again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB_JG0qP0iA
Satan cannot abide ridicule and neither can the libturds and progs and SJWs.
And despite us bringing them to mass on Sundays growing up, with wife and I being catechism teachers for the 7th-8th-grade, neither has ever gone back on their own or shown any interest there, either. Nor have our three grandchildren been baptized, so far as I know. Where did we fail? Or is it our failure? Yet they both attended the wake and funeral mass for their great-uncle, not the same thing, I know.
When you figure this out, let me know. I cannot get my son to go either. My daughter rarely goes since she is so sick and is having a really bad time now. But, both of them have been baptized of their own volition and are firm believers.
I somewhat blame certain legalistic biblical scholars trying to date items in the Bible and declaring that the Earth is only 6,500 year young. That is obviously a fallacy. We do not understand God nor his ways. One day, sooner than I probably like, these questions and others may be answered. Or not.
I did find out why we are only a single pump system as a dual pump system would be more redundant. The answer is that a single pump system requires 150 calories per day and a dual pump system requires 250 calories per day (I actually read a paper on this). So, we were designed for efficiency by God since until fairly recently, food was hard to come by. We are living in the times of Milk and Honey. Pray that they continue.
Indeed.
I also blame the virulent hatred and bigotry abroad in the MSM for the past half-century, the Long March of the atheistic commies in the West since the 1930s, and, of course, the machinations of you-know-who and his minions on the earth.
I blame the churches who insist on conducting services like it is still 1850. I personally like music that was produced within the last century, more contemporary, more upbeat. Funeral music at a church is a thing of the past.
I can separate the Church from the church, but yeah, the wishy washy limp wristed dishrags they’ve filled the clergy with, and the abominably bad architecture they’ve filled the buildings with do their part to keep me away. The irony of a never married fag trying to council hetero married couples and the arrogance that even trying implies contributes too.
And, well, god killed one too many innocents, which was the last straw.
I’ve found a system that better matches the way I perceive this world, and my place in it. So the chance of me returning to the RC church are exceedingly slim. (and I’d need a new baptism, having renounced my faith.)
n
Mr. Ray and I must part ways on the church music, I guess. I am the opposite. He’s a pretty good guy, anyway, though.
And I get what Mr. nick is saying, too.
Nevertheless, here I am. Traditionalist Latin Rite Roman Catholic (convert from High Church Anglican Communion, so not a big stretch).
Cain’t we all jes’ git along?
What keeps me away from any church is all the nonsense. Specifically, the nonsense of worshipping any god but me.
“I somewhat blame certain legalistic biblical scholars trying to date items in the Bible and declaring that the Earth is only 6,500 year young. That is obviously a fallacy. We do not understand God nor his ways. One day, sooner than I probably like, these questions and others may be answered. Or not.”
Historically, man could not understand the world around him. The bible (and any other work) is written in terms the writer(s) can understand. I take the bible in that light.
I was raised a Baptist, but am pretty agnostic nowadays. Our children are being raised Catholic (wife is), as I believe a sound background in a moral environment provides a good background for a good citizen. When they’re old enough, they’ll make their own decisions.
There is a god. SteveF ain’t him.
Applying Pascal’s Wager, is there anything to be lost by worshipping me? No, there is not.
“Nor have our three grandchildren been baptized…”
Are they old enough yet?
I was raised Baptist myself; United Baptist which was more formal than many of the Baptist churches I encountered later, and my father was a Baptist minister, which gave me a different perspective on the church, faith and the congregation. Now I consider myself an agnostic theist. My first wife became an Evangelical, a Pentecostal offshoot in Ontario, about the time our marriage was dissolving itself. That was when I discovered I really disliked the notion that effort was more important than competence regarding religious music. I enjoy classic (and classical) church music, and well-written modern religious music (including Carolyn Arends’ album ‘I Can Hear You’). My ex-wife’s church had several musicians I would rate rather below high-school garage band who were incredibly sincere and earnest, but I couldn’t listen to them more than once. In a rare moment of diplomacy, I did not share my opinion with them.
“Are they old enough yet?”
Should have been done as infants. I was, in the Episcopal church in New Bedford, MA, at about four months. Anno Domini MXMLIII.
So-called infant baptism isn’t baptism. It’s about as creditable as flat earthism or so-called “Scientific” Creationism.
Greg (who was sprinkled as a baby and baptised as an 18 year old.)
Must part company w/M_T in Oz on baptizing babies, too, but he seems like a pretty good guy most of the time, anyway.
I realize I’m pretty much Home Alone on this stuff, so it is what it is.
I saw Home Alone 2 with my one kid when he was maybe 4. He laughed his head off, which was expected, but picked up an annoying habit from it: For weeks, maybe months, after that, every time I asked him to do something he’d put his hands on his hips, throw his head back, and declare Never! Can you pick up your clothes and put them in the hamper? Never! Time for bed. Never! Let’s go for a bike ride. Never! It was funny the first thousand times, but after that it got old. And it only got worse when we discovered my girlfriend hadn’t seen the movie. He got the videotape out and they both watched it, and then I had both of them yelling Never! at every opportunity.
@Dave, you’ve got @Dad in your pew, in more ways than one 😉
May the Peace be with you.