Saturday, May 01, 2010

Home Sweet Home

Early Return Avoids Rainfall...


This morning I made an executive decision to blow out of the upstate of South Carolina a day early and head back home here to the Turbo Pup Compound on the Banks of the Mighty Tennessee River after I cooked breakfast for the crowd.

Based on the rainfall here this afternoon and what I'm seeing on the Weather Channel, it was a wise decision.

We only had a little fog over on Saluda grade coming up into North Carolina, and then it only finally started raining once we were back in Knoxtown a couple of exits from home.

After unloading/unpacking and a trip to one of our weekend watering holes for drinks and dinner, I've been wallowing around on the sofa watching the Kentucky Derby and trying to catch up on my sleep--missing my mid-day nap two of the past three days--only sleeping three or four hours each night on the sofa because the Turbo Pup and her Mom took over the Guest room Queen sized bed all three nights we were visiting.

So now I have to go round up the flashlights and check the batterys because we're under a Tornado and Flash Flood watch until tomorrow morning, and I hear the bed and a crossword puzzle calling my name and I think I'll call it an evening and try to get some more sleep.

Regards Y'all...

Friday, April 30, 2010

Dain Bramage

Watch This...You'll Laugh





Heh...

Expert Thumb Twiddler For Hire

Wasting Time With One Hand Tied Behind My Back...


Dang it...I'd almost forgotten how good I am at doing nothing all day.

Take yesterday, for instance.

I didn't do a darn thing...if you don't count eating and drinking and taking the Turbo Pup for a couple of potty walks.

Heck, I didn't even bother to blog any in the process, but I did check e-mail a couple of times and found out my latest shipment of pneumatic control valves arrived at my customer's plant and even better, they were shipping me another set of eight to rebuild next week.

And here's the crazy thing about my situation...

There's a darn good chance that I'll end up doing the exact same thing all day today.

Wish me luck...If you will...

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Palmetto State Blogging

Lazy Days In South Carolina...


We hadn't been back across the Smokey Mountains through Ashville to Greenville in about a year until yesterday...that situation being helped by the closure of I-40 at the Tenn/NC line last October by a huge rock slide that took until last weekend to repair.

Fortunately we found both east bound lanes of the interstate open and traffic moving like nothing ever happened mid afternoon, and even though one west bound lane was still closed the traffic seemed to be moving smoothly in the opposite direction also.

The Turbo Pup and I are hanging around with my old college roommate for the day while Pat has meetings with a new health provider client, then hopefully the weather will hold up for a lake trip tomorrow--something I haven't done in a couple of years.

There was a time in my life when I almost lived on the water full time, but the absence of important things like OWNING A BOAT since my 32' Sea Ray was stolen in 2003 down in Florida has limited my ability to burn mass quantities of gasoline while floating around the liquid parts of the Earth's surface.

Of course with Gas running over $3 a gallon in marinas I don't miss filling up a 150 gallon fuel tank. Do the math...$450 for a couple of days worth of fuel is a luxury I haven't been able to afford for quite a while now.

The best way to do boating is to have FRIENDS that own the boats, then you go out and drink a few beers and get sunburned, and at the end of the day you toss them a $20 bill for gas and say "Bye...had a good time..." and drive home as they spend the next two hours cleaning things up and tieing things down.

I, actually, being a professional Pirate/Beach Bum and competent deck hand, generally stay around and help swab the decks and wipe the suntan lotion off the upholstery and fiberglass and so on.

It's actually fun to me to take care of a boat...just writing about it makes me want to go to Boat trader.com and torture myself looking at used boats right now.

Pirate Porn I call it...ohhh Baby...look at the Hull on that one...

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Government Sponsored General Motors' Lies

The Devil's In The Details...


My blog Idols over at Powerline blog pointed out this article in Forbes online which further clarifies the mis-statements--verging on outright fraud--contained in the latest round of General Motors TV ads and GM CEO Ed Whitacre's companion op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal.

In the WSJ piece Mr. Whitacre writes: "Today, General Motors is announcing that it has made a payment of $5.8 billion to the U.S. Treasury and Export Development Canada. We're paying back—in full, with interest, years ahead of schedule—loans made to help fund the new GM.

Our ability to pay back these loans less than a year after emerging from bankruptcy is a sign that our plan for building a new GM is working."


What he fails to mention is that GM hasn't turned a dollar of profit yet...and they paid back only $6.7 billion out of $49.5 billion (including some earlier payments) the US Federal Government put into the company in 2008-2009.

He also fails to mention that in paying off the 7% loan using TARP funds (read that "other" taxpayer money previously given to them for "operating capitol"), it also allows the Obamamaniacs in the government to save face with the voters while they tell the US Department of Energy it's OK to loan GM yet another $10 billion at 5% for use in retooling their auto plants to meet the Government's own increased gas mileage (CAFE) standards in 2011.

Click on the link and read the entire article if you want to know more and can stand learning about the continuing stream of lies told by and on behalf of our first black president and his inept administration.

I have to go now and soak my head in ice water before it explodes, then finish packing in anticipation of heading over to South Carolina this afternoon for a long working weekend vacation.

Regards Y'all...

Hide The Decline

Global Warming Humor...If There Is Such A Thing...


For those of you who are too busy to follow the realities of the gigantic International Fraud being foisted on prosperous countries like the United States by the United Nations and our own internal bunch of sniveling, booger eating, tie-died, patchouli stinking, tree hugging, greenie weenie Owl Gore followers...

I offer as a public service the following brief insight garnered from my own efforts expending hundreds of hours reading crap that doesn't make it into the NY Times and the front pages of Yahoo News or your local newspaper.

First of all, you have to understand that about 75% of the popular "pseudo scientific" crap used to support the entire Global Warming Fraud and currently being used by Democratic/Liberal/socialist America Hating members of congress in their efforts to pass Cap and Tax "Cap and Trade" legislation was produced by a guy at Penn State University named Michael Mann...inventor of the infamous "hockey stick graph" purportedly showing a rapid increase in global temperatures cause by man and man made "greenhouse gasses"--namely Carbon Dioxide.

After Dr. Mann published his gerrymandered chart using data he liked and excluding a whole butt load of stuff he didn't like and that didn't support the ideas that were getting his inane research efforts funded with government grants, the whole world wide population of "global warming' fleas and ticks and whores and charlatans jumped on his bandwagon and, supported by the likes of former Vice President Owl "giant carbon footprint" Gore things were cruising along on autopilot for about ten or fifteen years or so...UNTIL...

A bunch of other scientists...REAL scientists--not guys like "The Professor" on "Gilligan's Island", started noticing that the hottest year in modern records wasn't in the 1990's as Mann and his ilk including a couple of idiots at NASA suggested.

The hottest year on record was actually in the late 1930's (I'm too lazy to Google the fact right now and it doesn't really matter in the course of this diatribe.)

Professor Mann conveniently left that little factoid out of his data chart when he was drawing his "hockey stick" Graph.

Fast forward to 2010 and even though with the leaking of the E-mails from the lab in Britain and everything else, Mann (and our Democratic Congress) still has gonads big enough to want to complain when someone challenges his findings and reputation or makes fun in a humorous sense thereof.

To that end, I give you "Hide the Decline"



and "Hide the Decline II" (produced after Mann threatened to sue the producers of the first video for using his "image" without his permission in the parody.)



I'm really tired of talking and writing about the subject of "Global Warming" and it's latest evolution..."Climate Change", but as a good citizen and blogger I have to mention it every now and then just so I can tell you "I told you so" when gas hits $5.00 a gallon and you electric bill runs $600 a month using "Green energy."

I tried...DAMMIT...

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Hubbell Ultra Deep Field 3-D Images

Expensive Photos of Nothing A Whole Bunch Of Stuff?





In my opinion, that's a dang fine use of my Tax Dollars.

Too bad I can't just pay for stuff like that and the military and the interstate highways--stuff I actually use and benefit from--instead of buying housing and paying cash for clunkers for crack heads and earned income credits for idiots that slept through high school before having six kids they can't afford to feed working for minimum wage at McDonald's.

(And there you have it, Ladies and Gentlemen...my angry white Christian Conservative/libertarian male insensitive moment for the day...stay tuned to this channel for more insensitivity as it erupts...)

Monday, April 26, 2010

My Garden's In...But I'm Heading Out

Travel Plans Necessitate Automation...


I'm pleased to report that I managed to sneak out into the garden between rain showers and get the balance of my vegetable/herb seedlings into the dirt yesterday afternoon.

It wasn't pretty, but when it was all said and done I had Mint, Cilantro, Dill, Basil, Fennel, Parsley, and Sage in the Herb Garden area and Sweet Texas Onions, Radish, Okra, Pole Beans, two kinds of Cucumbers, Watermelon and Squash in the main garden along with Colored Bell, Banana and Cayenne Peppers.

All that in addition to three kinds of Tomatoes and Tomatillos in two other separate beds against the back of the house...surrounded with carrot seeds which are now sprouting around the base of the bigger plants to keep the weeds down in theory.

With any luck I'm planting a few other herbs from seeds and I have some GIANT Pumpkin seeds (bartered for in exchange for a cow while climbing a beanstalk I think)to toss out in a few perimeter areas and some other miscellaneous stuff I may sprinkle around and let it fend for itself over the season.

Besides getting most of the chicken anti-rabbit wire stapled up into place around the perimeter, the most important improvement was the installation of a digital timer supplying an area sprinkler and two sections of soaker hose which will allow us to hopefully complete the extensive travel schedule we have planned over the next six weeks...the upcoming long weekend in South Carolina, a week in Alabama around Mother's Day, Florida possibly thrown in for good measure, and a half a week in Kansas City celebrating Pat's Granddaughter's High School Graduation in late May...without everything drying up and turning to dust in the heat.

I don't mind asking the neighbors to pick up the mail and newspaper and occasionally sprinkle a little water on the house plants, but handling watering the garden is a chore best left to family and life long friends, thus the need for the automation.

As usual I'm sure the water system will continue to grow and evolve over the next few weeks and seasons, but the current experimental evolution will just have to do for now.

Time will tell I guess.

Still Raining On My Garden(ing)

Precipitation Delays Progress...


As of this morning I have about half a garden installed in the back yard.

Ten tomato plants of various descriptions, two Tomatillos, and a row each of onions and radishes.

Oh, and there's the expensive Yuppy container pot of pole beans--four plants--that I paid way too much for and transplanted to a spot in the dirt by the rear fence so they can run along the rails and posts.

There's also a whole bunch of carrot seeds I sprinkled around the base of the tomato plants which are starting to germinate, but the Herb Garden part of the planting is still sitting in little pots in my wheelbarrow while the rain continues to fall.

I was planning on finishing things up today and getting the chicken anti-rabbit wire stapled up around the perimeter but it looks like its going to be tomorrow or even Wednesday morning before things dry out enough to risk dragging my compressor and pneumatic staple gun around in the yard.

I wish everything was already in the ground so it could take advantage of the rainfall.

I may sneak outside between storms and try to get some more stuff in the ground at the risk of having more dirt on me than the plant's roots.

Until then...Regards Y'all...

Sunday, April 25, 2010

I Guess That They Think We're All STUPID

I'm Not...Are YOU?


Say I'm sitting here living in a house I borrowed money to pay for.

OK?

And then say at dinner last night I told you and all of my friends that I was celebrating because I had paid off the mortgage I used to buy my house with.

Here...have a drink and acknowledge my accomplishment(s).

Hurray...I'm out of my government insured mortgage and can dance the dance of being "Debt Free."

But wait...

At the end of the evening I let it slip...and I let you in on a little secret...

I actually managed to pay off my first mortgage by...

get this...

BORROWING more money from the government to pay off the first mortgage...this time with no real commitment to legally have to pay back the money to Uncle Sam.

What would you think about that?

Pretty damn clever, eeh? Paying off a legal obligation with money that I have no real legal grounds to be forced to pay back...

Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, just in case you only watch ABC/CBS/NBC/CNN/MSNBC and listen to what the government appointed lacky CEO Ed Whitacre Jr says in their current TV commercials, you'd think that GM had paid back all of their "bail-out" funds.

If you think that, you'd be WRONG, because the Imperial By God Federal Government of the United States of 'Merica is letting these assholes tell you that they have paid back their loan(s), when in reality what they did is take other Taxpayer money--TARP funds-- and basically robbed Peter to pay Paul.

Here's the story as it has been bubbling around the sidelines on FOX news.


A top Senate Republican on Thursday accused the Obama administration of misleading taxpayers about General Motors' loan repayment, saying the struggling auto giant was only able to repay its bailout money by dipping into a separate pot of bailout money.

Sen. Chuck Grassley's charge was backed up by the inspector general for the bailout -- also known as the Trouble Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Watchdog Neil Barofsky told Fox News, as well as the Senate Finance Committee, that General Motors used bailout money to pay back the federal government.

"It appears to be nothing more than an elaborate TARP money shuffle," Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a letter Thursday to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

GM announced Wednesday that it had paid back the $8.1 billion in loans it received from the U.S. and Canadian governments. Of that, $6.7 billion went to the U.S. treasury.

But Grassley said in his letter that a Securities and Exchange Commission form filed by GM showed that $6.7 billion of the tens of billions the company received was sitting in an escrow account and available to be used for repayment. He called on Geithner to provide more information about why the company was allowed to use bailout money to repay bailout money, and how much of the remaining escrow money GM would be allowed to keep.

"The bottom line seems to be that the TARP loans were 'repaid' with other TARP funds in a Treasury escrow account. The TARP loans were not repaid from money GM is earning selling cars, as GM and the administration have claimed in their speeches, press releases and television commercials ," he wrote.

Vice President Biden on Wednesday called the GM repayment a "huge accomplishment."


All I want to know is, how much longer before everyone joins me with a torch and pitchfork in going to Washington DC and tar and feathering Biden and his ilk and riding them all out across the Potomac River on a rail?

Is it just me?