Heart and Soul of Rock 'n' Roll

pork

Alice mentioned that her granddaughter Allie (I wonder whom she is named after?) will be eighteen years old this week. Yes, time does fly. Seems like just a month or so ago when Sammy was born but he is now nearly eighteen months old and can say the word “NO!”. I hope I see him turn eighteen years old but if not, he and my grand-kids and my kids have made me a happy man.

Speaking of aging, I have a pork-barrel project for the government to fund. I would like to know if kids born in winter time cope with cold weather better than summer born kids when they get old. I will gladly volunteer to head this project if the funding is correct.

Any special plans for New Year’s eve? It won’t be a special or social event for me in most traditions; my new year began with the Solstice.

Have a great week!

Presents and piggies

Why can’t angry birds and green piggies get along together? It is no wonder there cannot be peace between humans when critters won’t live in harmony. Yep, you probably guessed; I am for the first time in my life playing the Angry Birds game and of course, I am hooked. For years I put off playing the game, but it came preloaded on my Tab so curiosity got the best of my common sense and I began playing it last Saturday. Don’t fall into that trap or you will most likely become hooked helping the suicidal birds kill off all the green piggies in the cosmos. I now play it in daytime on the PC and at night I turn the sound off and play it on the Tab. I am so ashamed; looks like it will be Angry Birds Anonymous for me.

Chris and Kevin gave me an orange and white Tennessee gnome for Christmas along with a bag of Jelly Bellies and a box of snowball snack cakes. Sammy gave me two framed photos of himself. I was very blessed this Christmas.

Lousy weather.

Have a splendiferous Thursday, everyone!

After Christmas Sale!

Christmas Day 2008 in the mountains

I hope y’all had a nice Christians; I sure did.

There must be a British photo-theft mafia. At least three of my friends have found their photos on sites in England and some of them are being used commercially. Mark even found one of his being used by a law firm in the USA. Another country who has citizens stealing and reselling a lot of photos is Russia. Cyrus found some of his had been stolen from there and resold to an American electronics company which used them in advertisements. Maggie has some shots being used by a British company which sells gardening plants and supplies. One more friend has a costumed photo of her pug dog stolen and placed in a British publication. All this doesn’t count the many blogs, etc. which are using photos without permission.

Wind and rain have been hitting us pretty hard since last evening and they are predicting snow for tonight.

It is time to begin doing business taxes once more. I am usually swimming upstream and this year I have a fiscal cliff to fall off of.

Have a great whateverdayoftheweekitis!

Adventures in bed riding

Chris and Sammy playing

Never let it be said that I am a quitter; a few years back I fell out of bed which didn’t hurt me except for a small knot on my head and a good jolt throughout my body. To make up for that relative non-event, Saturday morning I did it again. This time I have a big knot, scrapes, and bruises on my forehead and carpet burns on both knees, one as large as my knee cap. The pisser is that Carolyn called the rescue people before I could figure out how to extricate myself. They got me back on the bed, I thanked them, and then I went back to sleep.

Hope you had a great Worshday and Christmas eve!

Happy Solstice!

We had a dusting of snow overnight. They are predicting a wetter winter than usual so we may be in for more white blankets.

As far as I know, our wayward children are ok for Christmas. Merry Christmas to Jeremy and Courtney and Keegan and Remy and Bubba.

So much for Mayan calendar technology; or maybe I should say so much for the jerks who misinterpreted their rock carvings. Well, it gave us something to distract us for awhile; sooner or later it will probably happen.

• The Christmas tree is a symbol for the Yule Log
• The first Christmas tree decorations were apples

Have a good weekend, my friends!

“I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus …”

For some reason. I am not in a depressed mood nor am I in an ecstatic mood this Christmas season; I  suppose I am floating where ever the currents of life carry me.

Very windy and wet in the hills today with some snow predicted for tonight; the seasons change.

I wish it was warm enough to go to the creek for a decent bath; with the end of the world coming tomorrow, it seems fitting I should for one last time be in the mountains immersed in a cold stream communing with trees and skies.

Have a super Thursday!

Solstice Bells

Skies are brighter today but the air is colder. Looks like it will be even colder as we ease into Christmas. Solstice will be Friday afternoon, perfect to welcome the weekend. According to astronomer Jean Meeus the Age of Aquarius begins in the year 2597 on the day of spring equinox; I will be breathlessly awaiting that particular day.

Tomorrow is shot day; I hate to go out in the cold but Nature calls. I’ve spotted a good photo op if I can get Carolyn to stop where I can shoot it. I’d also like to get some Christmas shots in Jonesborough but it probably won’t happen this year.

My Lady Vols play Baylor tonight. This game will define this young team for the entire season because Baylor has pounded the Vols the last several times they played. Baylor is also defending National Champions. The game will be in Waco, Texas.

Have a Tuesday!

White Christmas in my heart

Gray, sullen skies in East Tennessee; looks like winter but the temps are mild.

My net speed is terrible today; getting about only half of base speed. It must be a sign that the world is lowing down; it will come to zero by Saturday. Five days from today the world will end, according to translators of the Mayan “Doomsday” calendar. At least maybe my sinus ills will go away. Anyway, I will take Maggie’s advice from her blog and wear clean underwear on Saturday.

Banning assault weapons will be a good start to end some of the murderous idiocy in these here United States. If it happens, I wonder who will be the parties responsible for defining just which weapons are of the assault variety?

Mark sums some things very well on his blog today.

I wish Miracle On 34th Street would come on TV in the original black and white glory. The Turner colorized version has been on but I can’t stand to watch it.

Eye allergies are keeping my computing to a minimum today. Have a Great Worshday!

Matthew 18:3: “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

'Long toad six

Ask an old southerner what time it is and he might, after glancing at the sky, reply “Oh, it’s ‘long toad six”, meaning it is approaching six o’clock. It is along toward six. I don’t hear this dialect as much as I used to and I surely miss it.

Mark, if you are using wi-fi, Roku has an Android app to control your Roku box from your phone. It works as well or better than the standard remote control. It is in Google Play Store. Search for “Roku”. Good for emergency or all the time.

Have a great Sunday coming!

Live better; work union.

"Teach your children well ... "

Dedicated to the children, parents, and teachers of Newtown Connecticut
and to
all America

Live better, work union and buy union

Winter comes to Warsaw

It is time for the power of the people to once again be felt across America. I hope to see an invigorated AFL CIO lead the nation into economic freedom once more.

Al Sharpton for U.S. Secretary of State. That should gain John McCain’s interest.

I think it is about time for me to take off the old tights and cape and return to the world of my birth. I left planet Krypton as an infant many Earth years ago; I was sent here to help defend this world against crime and tyranny with Truth, Justice, and the American Way. People on Krypton don’t age as fast as earthlings therefore my parents are still alive. I have aged much faster, yet not as quickly as citizens of my adopted world; I still kick ass and take names at the useful age of 68 Earth years. It will be good to visit my old buds while I am there and pay respects to my ancestors. Don’t worry, my fellow citizens of Terra; I shall return and guard you against yourselves. Until then, Up,Up, and Away!

New Sammy video … head banging to Pink Floyd.

Photo courtesy of Jola.

Have a good weekend, my friends.

Drone on

Why does the United States need a Department of Defense and a Department of Homeland Security? Homeland Security was a way for the likes of Dick Chaney to involve the government in the everyday lives of Americans. The Central Intelligence Agency tried a similar approach during the Vietnam war but fortunately the hippie generation was able to “out” too many of the agents to allow the system work. The Department of Homeland Security is unneeded prying into our lives by any means accessible including electronic surveillance, and now, the dangerous and hated flying drones which every backwoods constable in the nation seems to have at his service.

Mr. Goodie-two-shoes Obama is the worst user of such tactics, around the world and especially on his own people. And as long as we have superficial and easily fixable things going on like “fiscal cliffs” and worker’s rights to grab the headlines, the drones drone on.

Have a great Worshday!

Tab

The rich get richer and the sick get sicker

Glad to be back blogging today; it has been an interesting week so far.
Chris was in hospital for a couple of days; her boss had to take her from work to emergency room Tuesday morning. She still has the recurring heart problems but this time they also found her gall bladder is full of stones. She needs surgery but has no insurance, so she had to check out and go home. Tennessee’s Medicare won’t cover her for some reason and Obama care is nowhere to be found. No one in the family has the wherewithal to pay for the surgery and the surgeon will not accept payments.  She also needs some heart surgery but that doctor said he would work with her on payments. I am so pissed over the American medical system.

Cloudy and cooler today but still better than this time of year should be.

Have a good Thursdy, my friends.

Blessings

Grandpa: “Here comes Luther riding that old swayback mule he let Zeke talk him into buying.”
Grandma: “Bless his heart.”

Just an innocuous conversation on a lazy, summer afternoon between a couple passing the time on their front porch rocking chairs? Maybe not as sympathetic as it sounds. Actually, grandma just called Luther “stupid” for making the deal with Zeke. Most old-time southerners would know what she meant and had Luther heard this little conversation, he would have known what grandma meant and the mule would probably have known it too. But Luther would probably have stopped and talked about the weather or such for a minute and then gone on his way without having his feelings hurt too much. Now, if a stranger had done something foolish, grandma would have said in plain words that he was stupid, but probably not when he could hear her. This is a way the south differs from the rest of the country. Had a non-southerner heard her say it, he would have thought she was feeling sorry for poor old Luther for making a bad purchase of the mule. If grandma had said “Well bless his heart”, adding the word “well” would have made a difference; she would be sympathetic. If you are not from the south but are planning to travel the back roads here, be aware that language can have a different meaning for the native people than what you think you heard; our South is a world unto its own.

Have a great weekend!