Assuring Insuring Ignorance

Government Meddling (Roosevelt's Revenge) Costing A Bundle...


I really wish that I didn't have to say anything, but then again you know that some of the time I just can't resist a good rant. So juicy is this topic that I'm interrupting what has otherwise been a peaceful vacation in order to pound some sense into a few heads via my computer keyboard.

Ready?

It takes just TWO WORDS this morning to trigger my every greying, ever balding head's instantaneous leap to orbital rotational velocity.

Those words?

MORTGAGE CRISIS.

I don't care what anyone says, there isn't any such thing as a "Mortgage Crisis", unless you're an underqualified theaving charlotian government school educated idiot that thinks that like health care and retirement that the government your fellow taxpayers own you the cost of buying you a place to live before they pay for your cheeseburgers in your old age and purchase the box and the ground your mortal remains will eventually spend eternity encased in.

Got it?

Case in point, the recent failure of some bank on the US left coast called, of all things...IndyMAC.

July 12 (Bloomberg) -- IndyMac Bancorp Inc. became the second- biggest federally insured financial company to be seized by U.S. regulators after a run by depositors left the California mortgage lender short on cash.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will run a successor institution, IndyMac Federal Bank FSB, starting next week, the Office of Thrift Supervision said in an e-mail yesterday. The regulator blamed U.S. Senator Charles Schumer for creating a ``liquidity crisis'' after a letter on June 26, in which he expressed concern that the bank may fail.

Poor old Chucky Schumer.

He as usual has his dirty but well polished expensive Italian shoe in his mouth, and this time the pencil pushing sliderule toting government financial weasels are blaming dear Chucky for bringing down a MULTI BILLION DOLLAR FINANCIAL INSTITUTION at taxpayer expense.

I have to utter the word "b u l l c r a p" under my breath so as to offend as few people as possible here on a Pennsylvania Sunday morning.

Chucky Schumer didn't really cause the final cash run on the bank, putting it "under fire last month from Schumer, the Democrat from New York, who said lax lending standards and deposits purchased from third parties left it on the brink of failure. During the 11 business days after Schumer explained his concerns in a June 26 letter, depositors withdrew more than $1.3 billion, the OTS said. "

Or did he?

Some out there believe that Democrats have been capable of doing things like this in the past, and by default further reinforcing their imaginary threat to your financial health and well being that they claim the Evil George Bush administration represents.

There really isn't any "mortgage crisis", unless you are the owner of a house which you couldn't really afford to buy/finance in the first place, or you're a shareholder in one of the companies propped up by the Imperial Federal Government of the United by God States of America for the purposes of assuring things like "affordable housing" and "diversity" in the ranks of homeowners.

I've got a little news for everyone out there.

Ready???

Government efforts be dammed, I determined through extensive personal observation and research that apparently there are people out there who are too STUPID or otherwise financially IRRESPONSIBLE in the way they conduct their lives to successfully be home owners.

They didn't just beam theirselves in here from Mars or land here from the Moon or swim immigrate across the Rio Grand from Mexico either.

They were most likely BORN here, and they shop in the same malls, eat in the same restaurants, and worship in the same buildings as you do on Sunday.

It's just that simple.

We call them children for the first twelve years of their lives, before they become "dependents" or teenagers or whatever you call them for the next twelve years before you can kick their butts into line and out of your basement or spare bedroom(s).

Then if we're lucky they move on in life and become RENTERS or TENANTS, only moving out of the trailer park or apartment complex when they have amassed enough financial wherewithal to take a substantial equity stake in a property and make monthly payments for fifteen or thirty years on a place to live which THEY ACTUALLY HAVE BUSINESS PURCHASING AND further...

WHICH THEY CAN ACTUALLY AFFORD.

Unfortunately, to my way of thinking (the substance and truth of which is being played out on the evening news every night), this current "mortgage crisis" or "housing crisis" is the direct result of the government meddling in the free market.

You think only mean old rich "investors" are in the mortgage business?

If you really think that way, I've got a little tidbit that's gonna cause you to spill your coffee on your newspaper this morning.

YOU'RE in the mortgage business, ladies and gentlemen.

More importantly, your retirement money and your future income (along with that of your children and grandchildren) is held hostage in today's and last years mortgage business, and like everything else the elected and appointed government idiots get involved in, if it weren't for the access to a virtually unlimited source of funding gained under the point of a gun barrel and threat of imprisonment, the whole thing would have gone under in the late 1980's or early 1990's.

If things don't go the way they promised or like, or if the heat starts coming on a little too strong, unlike you and me, instead of cutting our losses and DOWNSIZING, the government pinheads run out and re-write the rules and miraculously "increase funding" and declare the crisis over with--omitting the fact that YOU'VE probably participated in some small way in the process without your knowledge or consultation.

For example, just like being in the flood insurance business has inflated resort property values, the government insidiously continues to exert undue influence on the housing markets in fancy overpriced places like Pasadena, California and New York, NY, as well as in mundane little places like Knoxville, TN and Ozark, AL.

The problem is that even with all of their cash they can't control the basic ingredient in the process.

People--and our tendency toward avarice, vanity, and greed.

If everyone knew that you had to pay cash for the ocean front or river front property you covet, and that you had to personally finance the bricks and mortar in which you park your SUV and your boat and bathing suit under, and that if when the nearby water jumped up and washed it all out to sea or into the river delta you had to again pay cash to rebuild your little water front empire, your little water front empire would possibly never be built in the first place else it would take a substantially different form in the weeks and months after closing the loan taking possession of the warranty deed and title to the property.

The same is true for "Mac Mansions" in Dunwoody, GA and Hometown, CT, or anywhere in downtown or suburban [name your city.]

The sad thing to me is that so many sincere, hard working people and families have to sit by and sacrifice, doing the right things--the things going down the true path of personal responsibility and success,--only to have our politicians slap them in the face as they rush in to the rescue to bail out the arrogant and the ignorant risk takers who/whom spend their lives gambling WITH OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY and complaining on TV about their lack of self esteem.

If you're what I call a "responsible homeowner", you have my permission to reach behind yourself and give yourself a nice pat on the back.

If you're in the other category of "home squatter" I've addressed, you have my permission--no...I command you to either press you head further into the bodily orifice into which you have it embedded-- else reach behind your self and kick yourself in your own ass

(thereby limiting the amount of time you have to spend reaching into my wallet looking for funding to cover your own personal share of...

the so called "housing crisis.")

Falling Water

Or is it "Fallingwater"??


Regardless of the actual name, we're heading over here for a visit this morning:



I can hardly wait, and I hope the weather holds out so I can do some outside photography.

Wish us luck...if you will...

Random Ramblings From The Road

So Good So Far...

It's really hard to decide what part of the world to live in these days, even with the advent of modern modes of transportation like commercial jet based air travel and President Eisenhower's interstate highway system.

At least for me it is.

I guess that you could say that we Americans are spoiled.

Or arrogant.

Or possibly BOTH.

Take the year 2008 for instance, and use me for an example.

January 1st found me wandering around within about a mile of the Atlantic ocean, on a little pile of sand and tree limbs that came to be affectionately known as "our little Island" here on my piece of the Internet.

But if you look at the map I'm afraid that you will find that someone long before me named the place St. Simons Island, and most of the dirt in the north, south, and easterly directions was technically called Georgia since somewhere around the 1600's when Ponce de Leon and Desoto were wandering around on wooden boats getting bitten by alligators and mosquitoes.

Then by May 1st of this same year me, my girl, my Turbo Pup, and most of the rest of my possessions could be found residing in a brick box in Eastern Tennessee not far from the banks of the Mighty Tennessee River, having been hauled over land by a few trucks in a whirlwind income induced relocation.

In 1808 or 1908 you couldn't have accomplished such a feat for any amount of money in any less time than most of a year with multiple teams of mules and horses, yet we did it (the "relocation") in only a couple of WEEKS of time in 2008.

A truly amazing accomplishment in my mind, yet many people refuse to acknowledge it can be done let alone actually do something like we did--even in the name of money or family or religion.

Now look at yesterday.

At 7 AM I could be found spinning in circles in my carport adjacent to the Mighty Tennessee River, loading Missy the Turbo Pup's lockers, sea chests, and furniture into the back seat of the car.

By 7 PM that same day I was situated far to the northeast of my previous position, dining with Pat and some of her extended family near the banks of the Youghiogheny river in Western Pennsylvania.

All it cost us to make the geographic transition was about $80 in gas and nearly eight hours of our time, something that was unheard of as recently as about 50 years ago.

But if you listen to the so called professional media, you'd be led to believe that living under the iron fisted rule of our current inept, shamelessly lying president while being forced to pay over $4.00 for gasoline would have caused me to lash myself to a telephone pole in anticipation of weathering the coming economic downturn or to rip my curtains to bits and hang myself in my living room in a search for some self induced mental relief.

Instead, I'm still sitting here, complaining about the crappy desk chair in my motel room, getting ready to wander outside with the Turbo Pup for a little early morning "business".

In another state than that in which I live, in the greatest country in the world.

Hold that thought....I have a hurried Pup to attend to...

Cross County Travel With Dangerous Animals

Someone...ANYONE...helppppp save me from this Puppy


How can this sweet little girl:



require me to maintain things like this:



To protect me from her DARK SIDE:



Pittsburgh here we come...

Jesse Jackson Wants To Chop Some Cotton Harvest Some Peanuts

You Can't Make Stuff Like This Up...


Just in case you haven't heard the story, Race Warlord Jesse "never met a microphone he wouldn't talk to" Jackson got caught speaking his mind about Presidential candidate Obama on the warm up to a FOX News interview.

Now Jesse says he's sorry, and he really didn't mean it.



But he also said this about the Illinois Senator back in September 2007.

So I have to ask, is he sorry for those comments too, or is Jesse--as I like to say--just a plain sorry Black Man?

Maybe it's that Jesse is just personally sorry if you think he needs to be?

Yeah...I thought so...

Busy, Busy BUSY

Head Spinning...Fingers Pounding Keyboard...


Between the rush design job due this afternoon, the new wooden model planked canoe kit under construction in the basement, and flying the new RC helicopter, blogging is obviously suffering.

Then there are the preparations for yet another four day weekend out of town--this time in Pittsburgh--that must be made. I'm looking forward to taking a tour Sunday morning of Frank Lloyd Wright's famous Falling Water estate there in western PA.

Time to go back to wiggling my mouse drawing steel sections and details...

Quote(s) O' The Day

More Lessons From A Great Man Who Knew Better...


"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint."

"A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain."

"Education: that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge."

"I have a higher and grander standard of principal than George Washington. He could not lie; I can, but I won't."

"The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them."

"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug."

"I was gratified to be able to answer promptly. I said 'I don't know' "

"I never let my schooling interfere with my education."

"It's easier to stay out than to get out"


Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Listen And Learn

Government Saving Us From Ourselves...


First there were double and triple glazed windows.

Then there were Toilets that won't flush and Shower Heads designed to limit our water use and make you run around in circles to get wet all over when bathing.

Now there is this politician induced insanity, explained to us by of all people...a politician from the great state of Texas:




Here's the EPA's Energystar Website documenting the details of what Rep. Poe says...

Anyone else but me want to SLAP someone because of Crap like this coming out of Washington?

On The Road Again

Two States Between Here and There Home...


OK, Ladies and Gentlemen, it's time to head back to work this morning.

In my usual displaced professional beach-bum manner, I personally will be a day late arriving back in the 9 to 5 grind adjacent to the banks of the Mighty Tennessee River, but any way...

Let's take a look at the score card and tally up the successes of this year's Fourth of July holiday.

1. Gutters and Roofs on the house and two out buildings...

CLEAN

2. Increased Global Warming caused by frivolous discharge of weapons of varying caliber's and descriptions...

ACCOMPLISHED WITH GLEE!!

3. Turbo Pup worn out chasing rogue Coyotes and Captive Catfish...

CHECK

4. New 32" RCA LCD HD TV installed in Mom's Den...

ACCOMPLISHED (but not without having to return one TV that was dead on arrival here at the Rogers compound.)

And for those of you anti-gun and otherwise squeamish anti-hunting individuals out there that think people like me with guns are a scourge on society, be advised that not a single feather was ruffled, not a single deer or other warm blooded animal other than a couple of Armadillos was disturbed by my adventures over the past four days.

I did manage to scare the heck out of one Armadillo, probably dispatched another one to Armadillo Heaven, and I severely reduced the population of turtles hanging around our dock which decimate the fish egg and fingerling population every year.

Regarding the Coyote reference, Pat and Missy the Tubo Pup did actually have a pre-dawn encounter with a couple of large Coyotes within 50 feet of the house on Friday morning, and I'd have blasted both of them into oblivion given the chance because like the Armadillo they are recent immigrants to this part of Alabama and they're a scourge in the life of livestock farmers and homeowners everywhere.

Time to clean the guns now...bother me at your own risk...

I've Got A 22 Caliber Semi-Automatic Chain Saw

Obvious Redneck Solutions To Life's Problems...


So I'm sitting here after the fourth of July in LA (Lower Alabama) having intentionally not purchased any fireworks in favor of spending $75 on of all things, AMMUNITION for my guns, and I was starting to get desperate for things to shoot.

Then Mother Nature came along and dropped a couple of inches of rain on the area while we were at dinner in an adjacent city, and when we got home there was a big branch on a pine tree by the pool deck hanging down half broken.

When I got up this morning I realized that I was probably going to have to drag the extension ladder out of the storage building and do some climbing with a saw.

Then I had another thought, involving my Dad's 1950's vintage 22 semi-auto rifle.

Forty five shots later and the tree branch was lounging comfortably on top of a compost pile on the edge of the property.

I've yet to crack out the 30-06 rounds yet, but thus far I've wasted a good deal of 12 gauge shotgun ammo along with some 22 magnum casings and a bunch of 22 long rifle rounds.

Trespassers beware...

About One Year Ago

Has It Already Been That Long?


About this time of the morning on July 5th last year we lost a good friend.

Our old friend Bucky (Dartmouth Class of '42) passed away early on a Thursday morning, having witnessed over 85 years of changes to his beloved Long Island, the New England region, and balance of the country he defended as a member of the Corps of Engineers in WWII.

Pat and I have made significant changes to our lives and lifestyles in the months since Bucky moved away from our little Island to live in Assisted Living in a place closer to his own family-- adding Missy the Turbo Pup to our pack and seeing me re-enter the Engineering profession after an eight year hiatus-- but he is missed as much here today in Southern Alabama and on the banks of The Mighty Tennessee River as he is in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

They don't make 'em like that any more...

Stranded In Internet Pergatory

DSL Slower Than Christmas Nothing?


Yes, I'm still alive, although technically I'm living in the stone age, brought to you this morning by Centurytel DSL Internet.

Stone age might be a complement...who in their right mind has to "log in" to their own network, has the wireless features of the modem/router disabled--all courtesy of the people in "technical support" (and I use the word technical loosely) at your Internet Service Provider.

I hate coming back home to Alabama a few times each year to find out what the so-called professionals have done to my Mother's computer and network.

It looks like I'm stuck in her bedroom with her old Compaq laptop until I can untangle the mess they've made here.

Wish me luck...if you will.

True Back Then...

Nearly Forgotten, But Still True Today...


Ladies and Gentlemen, I just don't know how anyone can take this Obama character seriously.

Apparently, a number of people are (taking him seriously...that is.)

In my mind, I say that these have to be ignorant or otherwise TOTALLY STUPID people...

people that were educated in the current editions of our Government Schools that apparently teach propaganda and Green BS instead or readin', writin', and 'rithmatic with a good dose of accurate World and American history thrown in for good measure.

Take the speech he delivered yesterday in Independence, Missouri, the transcript of which is available here via the Washington Post website.

For someone running for president, Mr. Obama sure has a weak grasp on the historical details of the documents on which our Nation was founded. When considering someone for the office of President of the United States I expect his prepared public statements to be accurate and his staff to precisely fact check the content even if the candidate insists on writing his own transcripts (something I seriously doubt happens in the Obama campaign.)

Case in point, here is a sample of one of the points made several minutes into yesterday's campaign process:

"I remember, when living for four years in Indonesia as a child, listening to my mother reading me the first lines of the Declaration of Independence - "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." I remember her explaining how this declaration applied to every American, black and white and brown alike; how those words, and words of the United States Constitution, protected us from the injustices that we witnessed other people suffering during those years abroad. That's my idea of America."


Sorry Mr. Obama, but the first lines of The Declaration of Independence read as follows:

"When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."

Now I know that I'm picking nits here, but that paragraph does in fact contain "the first lines of the Declaration" followed in the SECOND PARAGRAPH with the lines referenced by the Senator's speech.

I, personally, say that it is in fact the lines that follow these famous words that matter more in today's world, in today's perverted, mutated version of my beloved nation:


"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world."

Interesting stuff, right?

Let's look at the sentences of that paragraph that the good Senator failed to address in his political pontifications:

"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it."

Can you say "US Civil War?"

Oh yeah, that's right, although it was good enough for the founding fathers in 1776, in the ninety years following between then and 1886 things changed a good deal on the political landscape.

People started down the long path to ignorance and stupidity that we're still perfecting today.

"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes."

Light and transient causes?

What about government involvement with everything from "health care" to "gun laws" to "Gay marriage" to taxing the ass of 1/3 of the population to pay the cost of living, retiring, and dieing for the other 2/3's of the population?

What about talking about abolishing the electoral college and the effects of the direct election of Senators by the electorate--leaving the individual states unrepresented in the Federal governmental process?

Oh, yeah, that's right...serious stuff that people are too ignorant and/or stupid to take care of themselves.

We need GOVERNMENT to do it for us...

And finally:

"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

I guess rather than staging a revolution or Civil War the old dudes wearing the powdered wigs actually meant electing the likes of YOU, Senator Obama?

YOU, an empty suit, progressive, product of Government Schools and the "Ivy League" that is highly educated but knows nothing of value to me, my family, and my peers in society.

Finally, Obama delivers this gem of a historical mis-statement:

"As we begin our fourth century as a nation, it is easy to take the extraordinary nature of America for granted."

Try not to be confused, it must be a function of some kind of new math...2008- 1776=400 years plus, not 232 years in Obama's world.

Historically, politicians--especially Democrats-- rarely let the real numbers and facts get in the way of an idea...just like Obama inflates his own experience and credentials when it comes to being even remotely qualified to be the leader of the most powerful Nation on Earth.

Can you believe this CRAP made it into a speech in a Presidential campaign?

Don't expect to hear it from the lamestream media outlets, I would have missed it if it weren't for the guys over at Powerline.

How in the world can you overlook things like this and other serious errors in the good senator's oratory and still consider placing him on the world stage as your representative and national leader?

(I know, your busy working to pay for gasoline and the War in Iraq...don't bother you with DETAILS. )

End Of An Era

Times Are A Changin'...


I was laying there half asleep this morning when one of the commercials came on TV admonishing people to get ready for the February 2009 conversion of our national broadcast TV network from the old analog system to digital.

I guess if you've been living in a cave or under a rock you haven't heard by now, and leave it to the government to set up a "program" to subsidize or give away the boxes they mandated when they also forced the broadcasters to change the way they use the "public" airwaves.

While this milestone won't affect our household on a daily basis, I guess that I may end up picking up one of the boxes after the dust settles because my Dad left us a number of old tube type antique TV sets in his shop that he had collected back in the 1950's and 60's. I'd like to be able to turn on the power to one of those old "portable" wooden cabinets and watch a grainy picture on a little bitty round picture tube.

Then I had another thought...and as a result I thought that I would offer my own Analog TV reception enhancement kit to assist all of you out there who still get their evening news and soap operas using a pair of these:



Simply send me a large self addressed manila envelope or other appropriately sized packaging and I'll send you this high technology package:



If you're under about age 25 you probably won't know what to do with this elaborately designed signal reception enhancement kit nore will you need it's technology.

For the rest of you...

"Your welcome...I'm happy to remind you of where we're all coming from..."

Someone...Anyone...Save Me From Myself

Appetite For New Technology Technologies...


Slowly but surely over the past eight months I've been coming back up to speed on computer hardware--specifically networks and network storage technology.

By saying "coming back up to speed", I have to admit that I've sunk a long, long way down the computer knowledge evolutionary chain since the days when I had a subscription to "Byte Magazine" and boxes and stacks of "PC" and "PC World" magazine laying around in my office and lurking in the dust and cobweb covered corners of my basement.

I also hate to admit that I haven't opened the cabinet of a PC in over ten years to replace a hard drive or add memory or some type of display driver/expansion card. This from a guy that upgraded the guts of my old machines with new CPU's and mother boards on a regular basis back in the days when I was fearless and stupid with my wallet young and enthusiastic.

It wasn't really about saving money, it was the thrill of tearing a machine apart, putting it back together, and having it re-boot successfully while only having a few screws and unknown parts left over when the dust settled.

Today things are quite different.

Gone are the days when your computer came home in separate boxes with you after an evening in the computer store spent buying the "system unit", the graphics card, the monitor, the sound card, extra memory, a vertical stand for the "system unit", and possibly a tilt and turn base for the new VGA 19" monitor the size of a house and with the weight of a Volkswagon Bus.

Did I mention the lovely copy of Dos 3.0 you had to install from 57 5-1/4" floppy disks which produced the lovely "C:> prompt" once the wheels had finished whirling and banging around while 80 Mb of SCSI hard disk drive executed "Autoexec.bat" and "config.sys" upon executing a BRS (Big Red Switch) maneuver (If you're under age 40, "BRS" also means turning the power to the computer system unit to the "ON" position.)

Then, as old dedicated IBM PC users like me know, you spent a sleepless night and possibly the next couple of days scratching your ass head trying to get your assemblage of components and software to talk to each other and at least not attempt to fight among themselves over things like "addresses and IRQ interrupts."

Instead of "plug and play", back then it was "plug", "not play", and "pay pay pay" as you hang on the telephone with kids out in Silicon Valley and Seattle trying to attempt to tell you what you already knew and your Hippie/Artie Fartie friends had already told you.

BUY AN APPLE....Not!!!

Fast forward to today, and now all you have to do when you want a new computer is jump on line, click a few mouse buttons, enter your credit card number, then go out on the front porch and wait for FedEX or UPS to arrive.

Then fifteen minutes after you've opened the box and retrieved your new baby from it's foam and plastic wrapped packaging, you've connected the color coded cables to the components, turned everything on, and are checking your Yahoo E-mail with a big grin on your face and a song in your heart.

Am I wrong to be afraid that things are a little different when it comes to Terrabyte RAID hard drives using "hot swappable" components?

THAT would be too good to be true--particularly when it comes to the initial RAID format set up and the network configurations.

Maybe I'm wrong.

Then there is the new HD Camcorder technology I'm in all worked up in a lather over which makes the pending addition of video storage capacity to my massive original photo archives an infrastructural necessity.

Did I mention the new 1500 VA APC smart back up uninterruptable power supply to protect all of the aforementioned goodies??

It will arrive here in a foam lined box on Wednesday. My bellybutton's busy puckering and unpuckering in anticipation.

(please excuse that mental image if you need to...)

Now it's time to grab a shower, comb my every greying, ever balding head, and go bake the donuts make the CAD drawings...

Don't Do That

Survival Of The Fittest...


Ouch...

(of course a law suit will probably ensue)

I Knew It Without Asking

I Took The Test...See So For Yourself

You Are 0% Yankee, 100% Dixie

You're completely Dixie all the way. You've possibly never even met a Yankee!

Are You a Yankee or Dixie?

(Hat tip to reader and frequent commenter Heather whom I stole this test link from.)

Wake Up America...

What Else Can Be Said???

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C L I C K

H E R E

T O

L E A R N

S O M E T H I N G

http://www.usawakeup.org/

I'm Blind.....

Anybody Ever Heard Of A "Seeing Eye Dachshund?"


Picture me and Missy the Turbo Pup, wandering down the sidewalk toward you while I carry a sign saying "Will Design Steel For (Dog) Food."

After all is said and done, that's all it's really about...isn't it?

Good Global News

Advancements In Nuclear Disarmament...


The Good News is that I just heard that the little troll dictator in North Korea tore a cooling tower down there in their "absolutely positively Nuclear Arms free" country:

The bad news is that they replaced it with this Hip "Earth Friendly Green Model:

I know you'll be as happy about this development as I am...

Sniveling Liberals Anti-Gun Weenines Progressives Still Sniveling

Second Amendment Still Intact...


Just in case you were wondering, history indicates that in this country most people--at least someone in every household or family--has owned one or more guns since there was any history to be written post European invasion settlement.

Prior to that, as I understand it, here in North America and "New Mexico" (a.k.a. the Southwest) the Indians Native Americans produced their own spears or bows/arrows as their weapons of choice when conducting their drive-by shootings gallop by on a horse shootings.

Imagine if we were still stuck in that situation today and your local and national politicians kept passing legislation banning the possession of the common mineral Flint used to make spear points and arrowheads?

Instead of lamenting baggy pants and rap/hip-hop/rock music-- parents, pundits, politicians, and news reporters would still be debating the collection and ownership of what...

ROCKS?

Fast forward to yesterday, and I'm quite pleased to comment here about Article Four of the originally proposed twelve articles (a.k.a the Second Amendment included in what today is called The Bill of Rights) being upheld by the US Supreme Court.

Specifically, the Supremes reported the final outcome of taking a couple of months long look at the "Constitutionality" of Washington DC's strict 1976 gun control law.

In case you don't remember, our Nation's highest court had already started down the slippery slope of Judicial regulation of firearms in the 1939 legal case regulating the ownership of sawed off shotguns (i.e. scatter guns with barrels less than 18" long) in The United States vs. Miller, an analysis of the decision repeated here for your consideration:

In United States v. Miller, the Court sustained a statute requiring registration under the National Firearms Act of sawed-off shotguns.

After reciting the original provisions of the Constitution dealing with the militia, the Court observed that ''[w]ith obvious purpose to assure the continuation and render possible the effectiveness of such forces the declaration and guarantee of the Second Amendment were made. It must be interpreted with that end in view.'' The significance of the militia, the Court continued, was that it was composed of ''civilians primarily, soldiers on occasion.''

It was upon this force that the States could rely for defense and securing of the laws, on a force that ''comprised all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense,'' who, ''when called for service . . . were expected to appear bearing arms supplied by themselves and of the kind in common use at the time.''

Therefore, ''[i]n the absence of any evidence tending to show that possession or use of a 'shotgun having a barrel of less than 18 inches in length' at this time has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well- regulated militia, we cannot say that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear such an instrument. Certainly it is not within judicial notice that this weapon is any part of the ordinary military equipment or that its use could contribute to the common defense.''

OK, let's digress for a minute...

Here's the wording of "The Second Amendment":

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

While I'll agree that the old dudes wearing the white powdered wigs could have been a little more precise with their language, I still think that their meaning is clear.

Think about this issue with me for a minute, because I agree with part of the Supreme Court's earlier decision while thinking that they still managed to wimp out in the end when they reported their verdict.

Back in the seventeenth and eighteenth century...heck...even into the late 1800's when they put the Confederate Army together, when called to arms men people showed up at the courthouse square and the local armory with their own canteen and rifle. They usually brought along one or more pistols and a few knives on their person while they were at it.

The Sargent or the General didn't line everyone up and call them to attention only to walk along the rank and file complaining about the quality of a given weapon or the length of its barrel, did they?

I suppose that if you did show up at a muster and didn't have a suitable gun the government might manage to help you borrow one from one of your fellow militia men persons or even supply one of the few "loaners" they had on hand.

Imagine running across hedge rows and fortifications with a flintlock rifle with the stock painted OSHA orange and the words "R E N T A L" or "L O A N E R" burned into the stock?

But I digress...

I did a little Googling and found that the Army National Guard dates from The Massachusetts Bay colony in 1636, BUT....

Since the early governments weren't really into income redistribution confiscation of my money for my own good taxing their people heavily in order to buy tanks and airplanes and guns, a "well regulated Militia" basically DEPENDED on a "BYOG" (bring your own gun) program in order to avoid having to resort to throwing rocks at their adversaries or borrowing the Indians Native Americans' spears and bows and arrows to support a good battle up there in Boston or Lexington and Concord.

You know, come to think of it, that's probably where the idea of having a cannon or other artillery piece sitting around outside the local armory or National Guard headquarters probably comes from. While they had a "BYOG" policy, it wasn't very practical to have a "BYOC" or "BYOT" ("bring your own Cannon" or "bring your own tank") policy because of the cost and inconvenience.

I suspect that back in 1776 the cannon sitting out by the sidewalk actually worked, and was subject to actually firing a few cannon balls in anger or on the fourth of July instead of having its barrel filled with concrete or hosting a birds nest each summer.

Today all those old rusty guns do is give the local "Vets" and "Vet Wannabes" a place to stand around and slosh cheep Scotch and Bourbon on their shoes while telling wildly animated stories about their days spent mobilized with the Alabama National guard in the wilds of Ft. Rucker's Officers' Club.

Also, today, if you actually tried to own your own Cannon or Tank, you'd most likely find an image of yourself being broadcast on the local 11 O'clock news being dragged from your home by the local SWAT team while the "professional media" described your arsenal of semi-automatic weapons found in your bedroom under your Lynyrd Skynyrd album collection.

So any way, if my six guns were residing here with me on the banks of the Mighty Tennessee River rather than hiding on the farm in Alabama, I'd take them all out of the cases, boxes, and other resting places and pet them and clean them in a reassuring manner.

I absolutely believe that the Supremes got it half right in their 5-4 decision (having left the door open for further consideration and limitations in the future.)

The Courts and the other members of law enforcement need to spend more time enforcing the existing well founded laws, punishing people that commit crimes with guns--handguns or those of the BB variety--and less time trying to take guns of any shape, form, caliber, barrel lenght, or other description auto loading or otherwise out of the hands of upstanding law abiding citizens.

Just imagine if Owl Gore had been elected in 2000 and instead of Roberts and Alito we had a couple of the idiots currently sitting on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California residing on the US Supreme Court today?

World disorder and high gas prices aside...THINGS COULD BE A LOT WORSE... in this Redneck's considered opinion.


That will be all...for now...

My Oculus Dexter Is Overlooking My Oculus Sinister

(My Right Eye Offends Me...Or Something Like That In Latin...)


OK, excuse my Latin this morning, although I do know that "Oculus Dexter" and "Oculus Sinister" in Latin means right eye and left eye respectively.

The other thing that I know is that twelve to fourteen hour days spent sitting in front of a couple of computer monitors is starting to take it's toll. Thank God I have a 22" flat screen on the CAD machine at work, and my HP notebook is a 17" wide screen--in the old days that amount of time spent looking at a crappy low res 13" monitor I'd have already gone blind by now.

Regardless, I have two deadlines--one Friday and one Monday coming up and the rhetoric is getting shrill from both the Client and my own management about the ramifications of missing either milestone.

Problem is, I'm currently the last cog in the chain of gears forming our twirling "engineering transmission" and all I can do is wait for information to flow into my workspace so I can digest it and convert it into calculations or drawings.

As of yesterday the layout of almost two thirds of a mile of giant round duct work was still changing. And the as built's of the old Electrostatic Precipitator that's been finished and on line for nearly a year now--playing second fiddle to the aforementioned duct system.

Time to grab a shower and head into the office before the phones start ringing and the sun comes up and reminds me of the sun tan I don't have this year.

Two Door Knobs Short Of A Full Load

Cursed By Home Depot Inventory Control...


I've just made my fifth...no...make that FIFTH trip to Home Depot looking to complete the new door installation project that began several weeks ago.

Usually I say that any given project requires three trips to the home improvement store:

One trip to buy what you THINK that you need.

A second trip to go back and buy the stuff that you REALLY needed in the first place.

And then one final trip to return all of the crap you bought that you didn't need in the first place or even in the end.

I sometimes just keep the left over stuff. Some day I'll open my own mini Home Depot store in my basement.

Any way...I have four new doors with four new knobs right now, and then I have an entry closet door and an office door that have 2-1/2" peep holes midget high.

Dang it...

Due To Circumstances Beyond My Control

Today Is Officially Cancelled...


Well..maybe not...Feel free to entertain yourselves while I do some overtime.

Classic Carlin

I'm Lazy This Morning...


Here, take a look at one of George's classics:

George Carlin

He's Making More Room For More "Stuff"...


"Honesty may be the best policy, but it’s important to remember that apparently, by elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy."

"Just when I discovered the meaning of life, they changed it."

"Weather forecast for tonight: Dark. Continued dark overnight, with widely scattered light by morning."

"If it requires a uniform, it’s a worthless endeavor."

"By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth."

"Isn’t it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do “practice”?"

"I don’t like to think of laws as rules you have to follow, but more as suggestions.

"I think it’s the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately."

" Don Ho can sign autographs 3.4 times faster than Efrem Zimbalist Jr."

"In America, anyone can become president. That’s the problem."

" The real reason that we can’t have the Ten Commandments in a courthouse: You cannot post “Thou shalt not steal,” “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” and “Thou shalt not lie” in a building full of lawyers, judges, and politicians. It creates a hostile work environment."

"Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit."

"Most of the time people feel okay. Probably it’s because at the moment they’re not actually dying."

"So far, this is the oldest I’ve been."

"I’m always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I’m listening to it."

You didn't have to agree with everything he said or how he said it, but he was funny...I don't care who you are...




R.I.P. Mr. Carlin (5/12/37-6/22/08)

Are You an A**Hole?

You Know Who You Are...

I was just watching the start of today's NASCAR race out on the Left Coast in Sonoma, CA.

First I thought it sucked that the PA announcer actually has to ask people to stand and remove their hats for the prayer and singing of our National Anthem.

Then again...the beer and tequila has taken effect and most good ole boys with any sense and rasin' will comply when reminded.

When the TV camera panned through the crowd I saw a bunch of men who were obviously too important ( or just plain stupid) to take off their hats.

MY ever greying, ever balding head looks pretty bad on it's best day, and it certainly looks even worse when I've had a hat on and sweat my way through whatever process I've elected to undertake at a given moment, but...

NO ONE is important enough to leave their hat on while others are speaking to their Maker and saluting the flag of the country that guarantees your right to be a stupid freaking A**hole.

DAMMIT

That will be all...for now...

Four Hundred Dollars A Year

More Homeowner Stupidity...


Suppose that, having negotiated the purchase agreement, successfully closed the mortgage, and moved your wife, your kids, your dog, your ferret, and all of your worldly possessions into a concrete, wood, and steel box you call home, you found out that for an additional four hundred dollars a year you could close the only sizable loophole in your homeowners' insurance package--and you didn't do it.

Then, in the spring and early summer, like the "homeowners" in this news story, you watched the Mississippi river overflow across the local Levee and through that insurance loophole into your front yard and living room taking a lifetime of possessions and memories with it downstream.

Wouldn't you say that anyone that found themselves in that situation to have a bad case of "pound wise and penny foolish" disease?

Here's the meat of the story:

GULFPORT, Ill. (AP) - Juli Parks didn't worry when water began creeping up the levee that shields this town of about 750 from the Mississippi River - not even when volunteers began piling on sandbags.

After all, local officials had assured townspeople in 1999 that the levee was sturdy enough to withstand a historic flood, and FEMA had agreed. In fact, some relieved homeowners dropped their flood insurance, and others applied for permits to build new houses and businesses.

Then on Tuesday, the worst happened: The levee burst and Gulfport was submerged in 10 feet of water. Only 28 property owners were insured against the damage.

"They all told us, 'The levees are good. You can go ahead and build,'" said Parks, who did not buy flood coverage because her bank no longer required it. "We had so much confidence in those levees."

I did a little Googling, and the town of Gulfport, IL has a population of only 222 (something that would have been interesting to add to the news story written by so-called "professional journalists"), and assuming a household size of between 3 and 4 people, there should only be somewhere between 56 and 74 houses in the "village."

That means that somewhere between 1/2 and 1/3 of the "homeowners" were responsible enough to take the protection of their largest investment into their own hands and buy flood insurance.

That also means that somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3's of the "home borrowers" decided to rely on the GOVERNMENT to protect them.

And the levy...another government entity.

Let me say THIS about THAT (evoking my inner Sam Kennison)

Oh...OH...OHHHHHHHH....you live IN a FLOOD PLAIN....by the LARGEST river in the COUNTRY...

Oh OH OHHHHHHH the freaking M I S S I S S I P P I riVVVVVVeRRRRRRRR.

the SAME riVVVVVeeeRRRRRR that floods somewhere almost EVERY YearRRRRRR.

Remember 1993?

Were you alive in 1993...or just on drugs?

You must have been alive unless you have somehow bought a house when you are 15 years old.

Damn...people...how can people be so stupid?

We bought flood insurance on everything we had when we lived on our little island on the Georgia coast, even though the property in Brunswick didn't specifically require flood insurance.

Funny thing, but when I saw old black & white pictures of downtown Brunswick submerged under 20 feet of water during the 1893 hurricane, I decided that $400 was cheep when I considered the option of losing a building I paid CASH for.

I didn't need the GOVERNMENT or a bank or Mortgage Company to tell me I needed flood insurance--it's ridiculously inexpensive considering the risk, and the GOVERNMENT helps finance it.

DUMBASSES, NOT VICTIMS, I SAY.

9:15 AM UPDATE


I had a comment saying that my $400 figure was low, and they are probably correct because of the location and value of my property on the georgia coast.

The cost of flood insurance does vary by location, frequency of past flooding, and the value of your house, but that is something that I say people should consider when and if they elect to live in a flood hazard area.

I priced homeowners insurance for an ocean front parcel in 2002 on the Gulf coast of Florida--land and building worth about $500K, and it was over $13,000 per year for full coverage--half being flood and 1/3 being windstorm coverage.

Even if I could have pulled off buying the property and building the house, I couldn't have justified (or paid for for that matter) the cost of the insurance on an annual basis.

I know that things like Dams and Levee's breaking are extreme circumstances, but you also assume the risk when you live in the shadow of a manmade structure or on the shore of the ocean or on the banks of a river.

I don't mean to really appear heartless, but it just pisses me off when these news stories place the blame on FEMA and lament lack of government action rather than pointing out that people make the decision to place their lives and their property at risk and refuse to bear the true financial burden of their decisions.

I really don't think that the government needs to be in the Flood insurance business in the first place because I don't see it anywhere in the US Constitution and all it's done is encourage middle America to populate areas where the risks are just too large.

If you had to pay cash to live on the ocean or the Mississippi because the banks wouldn't loan you money, the value of ocean front and river front property wouldn't be so high and fewer people would be threatened, injured, and killed each year.

Talk about unintended consequences...

mORE iRATIONAL rATIONAL iNSENSITIVITY

I Am NOT Sorry I Feel This Way...


Can we talk this morning?

Here...grab yourself a cup of coffee or some Orange Juice and pull up a chair.

Try to excuse my rapidly rotating, ever greying, ever balding head, if you will.

While I was taking a break from my "injuneering" work this morning, I wandered over to The Drudge Report and found yet another news story about the US congress debating a "Mortgage Foreclosure Rescue" "measure":

WASHINGTON (AP) - A broad bipartisan coalition supporting a massive foreclosure rescue beat back GOP efforts to gut it Thursday, defying a White House veto threat and quashing a bid to make it victim to revelations about two senators' VIP mortgages.

Administration officials said they oppose the inclusion of $4 billion in the measure to help states buy and rehabilitate foreclosed properties, and a plan to have government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) pay for the rescue.

...

Its centerpiece is a foreclosure rescue program in which the Federal Housing Administration would provide $300 billion in new, cheaper mortgages for distressed homeowners who otherwise would be considered too financially risky to qualify for government-insured, fixed-rate loans.

Borrowers would be eligible if their mortgage holders were willing to take a substantial loss and allow them to refinance, and would ultimately have to share with the government a portion of any profits they made from selling or refinancing their properties.

The measure is designed to help hundreds of thousands of borrowers in danger of losing their homes, but it also would benefit mortgage holders by allowing them to avoid costly foreclosures and reclaim some of what they're owed by people facing financial ruin.

Doesn't anyone but me have a problem with our Government spending tax dollars taken from people that worked to earn the money and giving it to people that are too careless or in some cases too stupid to pass one of life's most basic tests--buying and financing a home?

After all, I say that navigating yourself and your family through the mortgage process is actually the "final exam" in the challenge of passing from childhood to becoming an independent adult.

I did it the first time at the age of 25, and I've bought three houses I've lived in since, in addition to numerous other pieces of bare dirt and investment properties.

That said, I will also let you in on a little secret...

I, the current self appointed King of Home Improvement in Eastern Tennessee, nearly lost my third house when my company had a "financial reversal" in the late 1990's and I had to declare bankruptcy both personally and for my corporation.

Using the current political logic, I am wont to ask "Where the heck was the Federal By-God Government of the United States of 'Merica" and the hoards of pandering politicians when MY feet were being held to the fire, two customers owing me six figure sums each were going bankrupt, and the phone wouldn't stop ringing day and night with creditors demanding payment from my depleted bank account?

(cue the sound of the crickets chirping...)

It's since taken me eight years to rebuild my credit after my finances and all my things were flushed down the paper-work crapper. This from a guy that never bounced a check for 19 years with Bank South in Atlanta before my own "perfect financial storm" struck my stern.

All I have to say is that the government didn't come running to MY rescue then, and I don't think that OUR government should be passing new laws and stepping in to rescue people today that like me have a little bad luck, or in most cases have been selfish and just plain SCREWED UP.

After all, using the years since 1985 when I bought my first house as a barometer, who in their right mind could bumble buying a property with our current low mortgage rates enjoyed over the past five or ten years?

...unless they've run out and "let their eyes become bigger than their stomachs" (or is it abodes become bigger than their paychecks?)

My first mortgage was a 9.5% 1/5 adjustable loan, and we bought a little bitty house for $65,000 in that process because that was the most we were comfortable financing. The bank would have given me $100K at the time, but I had a modicum of sense about me and I didn't want to be responsible for paying back ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS on our two earner family income and I didn't expect Uncle Sam to come riding to my rescue if things went awry just because I might have been crazy enough to roll the dice and bet my reputation and my credit on a trophy house.

Trophy houses--that's exactly what this current "mortgage crisis" is about, and the lenders are as guilty as the buyers in my opinion.

That's right, the lenders have more to lose in the current "mortgage crisis" overall than most of the poor beleaguered so called "homeowners" because the lenders are holding in many cases over 95% of the debt while the owners lose the other 5%.

What has happened here is yet another huge banking fraud on the scale of the Clinton Era "Savings & Loan" scandal, in as much as the "originators" of the loans (banks, credit unions, mortgage companies, et. al.) have handed out huge sums of money to marginally qualified (or outright unqualified borrowers) knowing that they can sell said loans to Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac--a.k.a. "the Government", earn all of the fees and income up front, then run away from the mess they've created when the feces strikes the rotating impeller.

I'm tired of seeing news reports showing women holding babies, surrounded by toddlers, lamenting being tossed back to the apartment complexes and trailer parks from whence they came because dear hubby got laid off from his job at the Manure Factory and the mean old mortgage company still expects to receive their monthly loan payment.

P L E A S EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...

That picture is the exception rather than the rule...most of the people wallowing in the current "mortgage crisis" are actually gainfully employed men and women that closed their eyes and rolled the dice on their home value or mortgage terms and today they're finally realizing that they've simply

CRAPPED OUT.

Stupidity no more deserves having tax dollars thrown at it than does outright fraud.

kEEP mY tAX dOLLARS oUT oF tHESE gAMBLERS (aND iDIOT'S) pOCKETS mR. pRESIDENT.


Taking a big breath...


That will be all...for now

Eyes Glazed Over

Traumatized By A Computer Monitor...


Sorry folks, but I just can't sit still long enough to write much this morning because if I do I will exceed my Government Recommended Dosage of Incident Computer Generated Radiation (or GRDICGR for short...is that short?)

After about twelve hours of AutoCAD and Excel spreadsheets yesterday and already enduring a couple hours this morning doing structural deflection calcs I'm ready to shut this machine down, grab a shower, and head back in to work to do it all over again.

Y'all have a nice day...If you will...

Fruit Massacre

Oh The Carnage...


I ran into this scene early this morning in my kitchen:



That's the carcasses of thirty seven key limes that gave their lives in my cooking efforts.

And here's a photo of the lone survivor:



I think that there's a Key Lime Pie around here that needs some garnish... RUN ROLL AWAY LITTLE FELLOW!!!

Taking An Evening "Off"

Or Is It Having An "Off" Evening?


I'm happy sorry to report that yesterday I didn't work on doors for the first time since Saturday evening.

Don't tell anyone...let's just keep it our little secret.

I wasn't totally useless however...basking in the glow of recent thermodynamic calculation successes during the daytime and working on the design of the set for the Golden Isles Arts and Humanities Association's fall production of Lillian Herman's 1939 classic play The Little Foxes in Brunswick's Ritz Theater.

While we're speaking of "sets", I also designed a couple of sets of steel lifting lugs for the Mississippi Smokestack project earlier this morning, but I won't risk boring you with the details.

The funny thing is that six years ago I hadn't set foot in a playhouse theater more than a half dozen times in my life, and now this fall's production represents my ninth design/build set construction effort since 2003.

That means that nearly forty thousand people have paid to see things which I built for Actors and Actresses to stand on and wander around in front of.

It blows my mind when I think about it...

It's actually pretty easy when you know how to build things like I do and you have competent theatrical support from people like Rob and Heather at the theater to back you up and help make things happen.

I'm sorry that this show will probably be my last at the Ritz due to the logistical issues of being eight hours away and working full time again. We plan on making our first visit back to our little Island in early September in order to complete the construction effort as I pass off the responsibility to one of my contractor friends there on St. Simons Island.

Why is it that the crappy stuff seems to keep coming at you and the fun stuff keeps going away in life?

Random Ramblings

Physically Focused But Mentally Distracted...


Oh...let's see...what's going on in Knoxtown and the balance of the world this morning?

For one thing, I was pleased to see Tiger Woods win the US Open in the playoff round in spite of his aching knee.

What a class act Mr. Woods is. Pat pointed out that you never see his wife half naked in public or drunkenly crashing her SUV into the media's cars and his kid stays out of sight instead of holding him out in front of cameras over the railing of his motel balcony.

Don't look for Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to embrace his lifestyle and success any time soon. Come to think of it, Tiger has probably told them to stay in Chicago and Harlem and leave him out of their public race demagoguery.

Meanwhile, in the cooking department, I've slaughtered a bunch of yeast since Sunday.

First there was my introductory effort at taking my Pizza Dough Recipe and making Calzones--all in all a success except half-pizza sized Calzones contain more bread that one might want on one's plate at one time. Sunday night's Calzones contained baby spinach, diced pepperoni, Italian sausage, Mozzarella, and crumbled Feta Cheese.

Then there was the batch of Pizza dough produced for Saturday night that didn't get cooked. After spending a couple of evenings in the fridge (I made fresh dough for Sunday's Calzones) I rolled it out into an elongated oval early Monday morning, coated it lightly with olive oil on top, then sprinkled it with dried Tarragon, Oregano, roasted garlic, sea salt, and red pepper flakes before tossing it into a 450degree oven for twenty minutes.

When I opened the oven door, instead of Pizza, I had a loaf of fresh Focaccia Bread...go figure.

Almost half of it was gone before I left for work...yum...so my co-workers will just have to wait until next time I guess.

Finally, last night I reached into the Deep Freezer and extracted four giant Sea Scallops and a half dozen Snow Crab clusters. The clusters were simply steamed in one of my giant pots on the stove top, but the Sea Scallops had a little more work to do before they reached the dinner plate.

I pre-cooked some bacon slices so they were done but still flexible, then wrapped the Scallops with them and seared the packages under the broiler for three minutes on each side.

Meanwhile I sauteed some sliced mushrooms in the bacon grease and put together an Olive Tapenade (kalamata olives, sliced black olives, olive oil, lemon juice, capers, fresh Italian Parsley, oregano, fresh black pepper.)

Once the Scallops were hot and seared, I tossed them on a warm plate, spooned the sauteed mushrooms over them, piled on some Tapenade, diced tomatoes, and feta cheese cubes to finish.

Here...take a look...



Then the Scallops joined their crab cousins on the dinner table and major chowing down ensued.

Don't you wish that you were at my house for dinner last night?

Dog Day Afternoons At The Puppy Pool

I Should Be So Lucky...

Here's a look at our little Missy the Turbo Pup cooling her belly in her new Country Puppy Compound pool this past weekend.



And here she is this afternoon whiling the hours away with Pat while I handled the painting of the new door duties on the carport.



I think that she needs a bigger pool so I have room to get in too with all of her floats and toys.

Maybe next summer...

The Three Hundred Dollar Sixty Dollar Doors

Nearly Out Smarting Myself...


When we exited our recent real estate closing, one of the only things that still hadn't been refinished or replaced inside of our new/old house here in Knoxtown was the interior doors.

They were actually still in pretty good condition considering that they were over 40 years old, but through the years the old luan finish had been painted on the side facing into the individual rooms and the hinges and knobs were showing their age and I--being the self proclaimed king of "Do-it-yourselfers" in Eastern Tennessee--decided they needed replacement about the time we moved in back in late April.

The process of replacing an interior door today on a newer home can be as easy as pulling out the old pre-hung door/frame/casing and sliding in a new door/frame assembly, securing it in place, and installing new trim.

Home Depot and Lowe's have entire isles filled with assemblies from which to choose if you're interested.

Not so in houses built in the days when Men were Men and battery powered screw guns weren't invented.

My Old doors were custom built into the rough 2x4 openings and the edges were hand cut to accept the hinges and knob assemblies. Further, as I learned this weekend, in 1966 in Knoxtown a 24" door was actually 23-3/4" wide and the 32" doors varied somewhere between 31-3/4" and 32" wide, depending on the room (and mood) you were in while holding your saw and chisel.

So any way, back in early May when I ordered and had delivered the picket fence panels I've since returned for Missy the Turbo Pup's Country Canine Compound, I also had a single 32" x 6'-8" interior six-panel door slab dropped in my carport with the intention of testing my ability to complete the necessary replacement process on a single door.

Silly me...

What has ensued since in my well intended saga was a tool purchasing orgy verging on the absurd, delayed by weeks of time spent at first waiting on tools to arrive from E-bay vendors and most recently by sheer procrastination.

Regardless, I'm proud to report that as of about two PM this afternoon I had successfully hung SIX new door slabs in all of the interior door openings of our abode.

Take a look with me as I reminisce about all of the contraptions and doo-hickies I had to acquire and add to my ever growing tool collection in order to accomplish this super-human feat.

Here's a view looking at one of the old doors covered with the weapons used to wrestle it from it's frame and install it's replacement.



See that long thin ominous looking thing there on the right stretching almost the full height of the door?

That's almost $200 worth of Bosch door hinge template designed to make cutting the little depressions needed in the door frame and slab easier. Since my door frames already had hinges previously, my project was supposed to be half as hard and twice as much fun, Right?

It only took about three weeks after the template showed up in a box at my front door for me to actually USE IT for it's intended purpose.

And here's what really started it all--a nice glass covered box featuring router bits of all sizes, shapes, and purposes. (Anyone but me notice that only the 1/2" straight bit is missing? Why pass up the opportunity to buy a "set" when you only need one item is my policy--it should be yours too.)



Next we come to the router motor department. I already had the big old cheep Black and Decker router there on the right...the little Bosch Palm router was purchased while still under the mistaken belief that the router bit template which worked with the aforementioned router door hinge template required the Palm router to complete my new project.



Turns out I was wrong, and the new bit template only fits routers built by Bosch that have been discontinued and only are available used on E-bay. Since the word "return" isn't in my policy statement when it comes to new tools, the little palm router still sits unused in it's plastic storage box as I write this evening.

Finally, we come to the mundane tools that are a necessity on every project...things like clamps and cordless screwdrivers and stuff:



I will point out that that yellow and black thing there on the right below the Dewalt Screw gun is a Dewalt door knob template that lets you cut the hole for the knob and the strike without having to make any measurements except the distance from the bottom of the door slab to the center line of the holes.

I'll never live without one again, and I just may mount it in a frame and hang it on the wall in my office because it was worth every penny when working on six doors in one effort.

And regarding my original posting title? What started out as one three hundred dollar door (actually four hundred if you include the palm router) has been reduced to six sixty dollar doors through the economy of scale and mass production.

Regardless of the cost, I still claim the self-appointed title of KING OF HOME IMPROVEMENT in Eastern Tennessee this evening. Who cares about actually saving money if you're having fun in the process and not causing any fatal injuries?

So now all that's left to do now is take them all back outside after work this week to add some paint, and then bring them back inside and re-install them each in their own little openings to hopefully provide privacy for the next fifty years.

Time to tackle some electrical wiring in the basement now...a home owner's work is never done...

The Three Hundred Dollar Door

I Had One For A While...


Stay tuned for the details.