Happy Birthday Vincent

                                              
                                                The sadness will last forever- his last words

Monday's Missives

Mini Me. If he looked pale it is because he was sick as a dog but didn't want to not go out- he is a trooper. My first backpack  and canteen were chosen from a Raleigh cigarette coupon catalog.  My sister and I would each get to pick items from the catalog. You could get just about anything- including household furnishings. I don't recall the details but there were other outdoor items she got me besides the backpack and canteen (both of which I still have) to outfit me for scouts. It just hit me- a sleeping bag was one item and I got an inflatable raft about the same time but it may have come from a different source. Of my mom I can say, She loved us like no other and did the best she could with what she had and really- what more can you ask?

• Try as I might- Sleater-Kinney does nothing for me and I'm surprised.
• I do like this though.
  
  
  

  

  It is official- I am an old geezer. I sit and crack pecans I scrounge in the park while my kids play. What is next- feeding pigeons with my pants hiked up under my armpits while I complain about, Kids these days... and the government?

• Good for David but David's Western Western Wear in W'ford stays so busy I have been sitting on a gift card for there for nearly 3 weeks and counting. Every time I go there isn't room to park. Business must be good.
• Wait, I just realized- maybe they're overwhelmed handling returns?

  

  That is racist! Whats next- cheese nips?!

• There is at least one surveillance program I read about recently that is straight out of the movie Minority Report. It monitors people in crowds for suspicious behavior and notifies authorities after ranking the people's likelihood they're up to no good. I need to do better with publishing my predictions. In my minds eye a long time ago I saw the same surveillance equipment and computer algorithms tied to a facial recognition program and database of offenders.
• My guess is they didn't do it but it must have been tempting for the military and Department Of Justice to implant some type tracking devices in the Guantanamo detainees and other potential problem makers. Regardless, they had to explore the possibilities.
  
  
  

  

  I know it is, Just the way it is but how when we remodel a house can sooooo much building materials come out of it and there be anything left? The last house I remodeled was only probably a bit bigger than this one and I paid for haul outs larger than this one- two or three times.

• The Wraith seems to get shown a few times a month on multiple stations and this has been true for 30 years. In the past, I have seen it shown on one station on a Saturday and another the very next day. It just [01/17/2015] went off on Retro.  Why? I have never seen this happen with any other movie and I am sure [nearly] it isn't my imagination.

  

  This building near the cemetery in Jacksboro intrigues me partially because I like half hip roofs. What is your favorite type of roof ? A smart person would doll it up with some great accents inside, put in stained glass windows and paint the outside a brilliant white. Then rent it out dirt cheap for funerals to get people inside it and develop some community goodwill. Then they could make their money with other events as word spreads. People would get married in the thing not only because it is great and beautiful- but to be able to say for the rest of their lives they got married in a cemetery. I have it all figured out- don't I?

• FG's dumb cat's rear legs fall out from under him and he will literally pass smooth out from pleasure and go asleep against my leg after I scratch his chin.
• It isn't news to know terror groups are wanting to provoke a reaction when they do something heinous but what should be remembered is- they're trying to provoke an overreaction.
  
  
  

  

  Grrrrrrl power!

  
  

Monday's Missives

Delicious chili confined to a can when you want it confined to your belly and the can opener is misplaced?

No prob- when you at least have one of these.

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• At work we have a poster listing signs you're in an abusive relationship. When I dredge up memories of a past serious relationship my experience can be checked off line by line.

• 

  The last thing I remember before the aliens came for me was a flash of light. I happened to be be taking a picture at the exact moment. You believe me now- don't you?

• It would be more than cool to remodel an old church building and live in it.
• In Weatherford there has long been an inordinate number of skaters and emo type kids staggering around in trench coats and wearing eyeliner and having way too many piercings and tats for their ages. I can guess a lot of them are here as parents pick us off the map due to the proximity of Fort Worth and moved this way to get their little snowflakes away from bad influences of the big city.

  

  Large bony fish picked clean near Quarry Lake at Fort Richardson.

  
  

  

  Mammal bones nearby. Apparently death abounds there.

• I watched Transformers Age Of Extinction last night (11/22/2014) What a terrible movie. To be clear though, it was needlessly terrible as the main issue was it was at least 45 minutes too long. This must be Michael Bay's last stab at the series and he crammed everything he wanted to accomplish into this installment.
• Nitpicking: Mark Walberg's character pulls some type of direct fire round casing (76 mm cannon?) out of the cab of Optimus Prime and states, Mortar shells?!
• No, not," mortar shells " but it made no sense to have empty casings of rounds on/in a target anyway.
• Another nitpick: the empty casing had it's primer removed meaning it was obviously an old dummy/prop casing.

  

  I know they probably had parks workers and not a skilled landscaping crew set this limestone boulder but come on- were they trying to make it look ugly? 

• When I think about lengthy movies I always think about Kevin Costner's plodding epics and wonder how people in the future will view them when they're rediscovered.
• The one odd thing I miss about the Army is I'll never throw another hand grenade- in anger or otherwise. 

  

  Heavy Kev's didn't last long. I could have told him- the building is positioned  in an awkward place (top of a T intersection with a hard to navigate entry) making it confusing and infuriating to access. Hint: nobody wants to feel confused and infuriated when they go out to eat. Also the building and parking are too small for a good turn out in a sit down place and again, it is too hard to navigate in and out of there to be a good drive through.

• During the Salem Witch Trials 20 people were killed in Salem Massachusetts. During the same era thousands were killed in Europe for the same imbecilic religious tomfoolery. Yet today, people travel from around the world to tour Salem and forget that the hysteria which caused those murders actually migrated from Europe to America. Also, it is odd we might still be guilty by association of intolerance because of those events- 300 years ago.
• What I say: People are weird and will believe what they want to believe.

  

  Dead bird being dead and poignant or somethin'.

I am using my Nook to post this. It is terrible. I hate it.

Wednesday's Digressions

They're apparently redoing (as of this 12/10/2014 posting) the pavilion at Sunshine Lake. Good, it needs some help.

• There are not too many pieces of equipment that I don't have at least  some hands on familiarity with but I've never had the satisfaction of feeding limbs or brush to a chipper-shredder. Man, really that must be a cool feeling.
• As I recall I have only been to two or three Back Friday sales and one was accidental. Once I went into a Best Buy and realizing it was Black Friday (although it was late in the day) I asked if there was by any chance any deals left on a 55 inch panel TV.  Suppressing  a grin the associate turned to an inventory guy as he walked by and to humor me asked and to the first guys shock the inventory dude said, Yeah, we have two- one over there and one in back. 
• Score!

  

  These little caps from Kool-Aid bottles freak me out.  At first glance they seem unnecessarily busy and involved for the simple task they perform (hold a liquid in and be easy to tear off), then you see the genius in it's functionality. A question: is the tiny bit of Kool Aid in the them the most refreshing and delicious thing ever or is it just me?

• It is 0617 on 11/29/2014 and I have two sad stories from my Dreamscape last night:  In one an old friend materialized in a barn showing me some farm equipment and animals. He was dressed in old school 13MWZ Wrangler jeans  and an outdated shirt and hat. He was trapped in the early 90s (which would follow- he has been dead since the early 90s). I tried to gently guide him toward some newer more stylish brands such as Cinch. He was patiently bemused. I let it drop and decided to hang out and enjoy the company. He had an aura around him making me assume even in the dream some part of me knew he was dead. We walked around and just enjoyed the time together. In another a family member made an appearance. She and her husband had tried to have a baby for a long time and then adopted a newborn. She had a heart attack sometime later and had to have a heart transplant. Years afterward she was in a motor vehicle accident. She died in surgery after losing her arm in the wreck. Anyway, in absolute terror, I entered the room in where I knew she would be as I presumed her arm would be gone. I couldn't breathe. When I turned the corner she was whole and complete and fussing over the baby while changing his diaper. She looked at me and smiled. She glowed. She had the same aura as Ricky. I turned around and walked outside and burst into tears. My heart broke.

  

  This retaining wall at Fort Richardson has a nice dry stack look to it- nice.
• In another life I had a job requiring me to be out of town for extended periods- a lot. When I came home once there were underwear in my drawer that did not belong to me. Having a sense of humor I dropped them in front of the woman I was spending time with and said, I'm presuming there is quite a story behind these. I'm all ears.  I, I, I, I... Those, those... Those are yours! she stammered.  She never fessed up and in fact had the ovary-icles to put them back in my underwear drawer. There were 3 pair. As I left her I hid one under a dresser, shoved one in the back of a bathroom cabinet drawer and put the other in one of her purses in the closet for her to find as time went by,
• Thats my story and I'm sticking to it was her motto and yeah, she was consistent if nothing else- I'll give her that.
• A funny connected thought: Since I recently got a bunch of old clothing out of storage I would nearly bet you could drag a shirt out that I wouldn't recognize. A shirt is a very visible item whose appearance would be reinforced throughout a day making it burn into your memory but there has to be one in there of which I would have no recall. There has to be one in there I've forgotten. Socks? Recently a pair of new socks I don't recognize (even though they're my brand) keeps appearing in my clothing. I think I may have bought them for a trip and the other pair(s) that came with them are still packed away or lost so they seem random but I'm sure they're mine. Underwear are a different story. Maybe it is because of the personal nature of them- I don't know but if you lose or gain a pair (or 3) it is going to get your attention.

  

  So we're driving down the road and my kids see a sign, Wizard Wells 3 Mi. (or whatever the number was) . Can we go? they implored with a dreamy eyed look. I don't know what they expected-  Harry Potter flying around playing Quidditch?

• A Million Ways To Die In The West had its moments especially as I do love a good sight gag.
• A commercial I just (12/01/2014) watched had 2 women disparaging their immature husbands for playing with their kids toys. Neither female actors wore wedding rings.
• I hope you're out there somewhere.

  

  My fearless daughter being fearless as she wonders, As a first world kid I don't think a closed head injury or C spine fracture could be all that big of a deal- right?

Monday's Missives

Is this a gyrocopter? There are a couple of these, a few home built planes and a couple of paraplanes in my area. I even see them flying more/less the same route. I don't know if there is a club, a lone rich guy, a particularly nice/forgiving route or what but it intrigues me. This contaption makes me think of the term, wirlybird.

• Terrible twos? Wait until your unusually strong two year old who also happens to have an unusually accurate throwing arm shouts, NO! at you and bounces a sippy cup off your head from one end of the car to the other.
• When his big brother was asked when he was three what he wanted for dinner he would invariably say, Steak, broccoli cheese and beans please.

  

  Random razor blade in Sunshine Lake park being random looking like it was up to no good.

• Saw a Peanuts special advertised on Joost titled, Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown.
• Keep enough hope alive for both of us buddy.
• When the baby woke up this morning he laid back down with me- didn't go back to sleep just talked to me, told me he was cold and pulled the covers up, showed me his head, identified his ears and hair, shook his cup when he emptied it, handed it to me to put on the nightstand, sighed real big and just rested there with me until we had to get up- heaven.
• My neighbors painted their front door I'm pretty sure 3 times in about as many months.
• My oldest son pronounced motorcycle  motor spiker,  my daughter,  mo cycle, my nephew motor kickle  and my baby son,  so so sickle.
• Wow- old draft. Baby?! Zac is 6 years old now.
  

  

  Do whatever you want homes but I'm sorry- some things are just kinda ridiculous.

Friday's Dispatch

• "How does money affect your friendships?"
• Headline I saw earlier. It, like similar ones or the topic being brought up in conversation always reminds me of a personal experience that opened my eyes. When first starting out in life there was another couple- poor like us but, also hard working with an eye to the future. We shared a house, meals to get by and social time even after we went our separate ways and found our own places. Even then we spent quite a bit of time together- at the very least all our children's and personal birthdays and even extended families we knew mutually. This all ended when they started making money- a lot of it. He literally acted like he didn't even know me when I would call or we'd see each other.
• One of the few hurtful things that have happened to me in my life that years of time can't shake the sadness off when I'm reminded.
• Of the literally hundreds of times I've been to Sonic in my life- I'll bet I've eaten no more than 3-5 of the peppermints they put in the bag with your order.
• Arrogant, smug, mean and not a thinker- the first thoughts that went through my mind when I saw a file photo of a cop who recently (today is 05/01/2014) used unnecessary force on a detained person. 
• Actually, my final thought there came out as simpleton but he was upgraded to not a thinker status.
• I know this isn't/can't be true but I'm tempted to say- They should have seen that coming. 
• Car writers hate the Porsche Panamera. Drivers/car buyers love 'em.
• You couldn't force me at gunpoint into buying a Range Rover.
• Your unsolicited car buying tip for the day: never buy a European car that is out of warranty.

Thursday's Thoughts

• Obesity related diseases account for 10% of dollars spent on health care annually- about 147 billion dollars.
• Prediction: there will be companies who for a fee will keep your unused blog from going into an archived state and keep it up in perpetuity for future generations.
• Starting this blog was one of the best things I've done for myself and would encourage everyone with at least a passing interest to start one and keep it up. It forces me to think, to be concise, to look up things I've believed based on assumptions and I've learned some things along the way.
• Saw where someone had trademarked Blogadelphia- although I was using the name over a year before them.
• Really look forward to a time when I can share some old hot rod car or truck with my children- it seems an important right of passage between a man and his children specifically but, families in general, if moms interested.
• I have motorcycle fever again and it's kind of bad. It's something that's never far from my heart- I always keep a helmet, gloves and a jacket around and reasonably handy even for when I finally snap and buy another.
• 500,000
• The amount of my life insurance policy.

• An interesting video of an EOD mission after a suicide car bomb fails to detonate against a tank. This a very interesting video that follows the action from shortly after impact to explosives being carried off and blown. There's also several different perspectives including aerial from a uav. Pretty graphic as you'll see the death of the bomber as he didn't die on impact.

Wednesday's Digressions

I like this awning leading into the lodge. It looks like something my old timey social betters would walk under to go have martinis, ballroom dance, light cigars with 100 dollar bills and make plans to kill all the poor people.

• A meta-modern country cover of When In Rome's The Promise by Sturgill Simpson. Yes, it is amazing.
• There is an orange on my desk that has been there for 2+ weeks. It is hard as a rock, wrinkly and shrinking more every day. My intention is to leave it here until it draws too much attention to us and under pressure I have to chunk it.
  
  
  

  

  A rather odd display in Tucker Tower. I know the tower is made of stone and the mortar for said stone needed to  be mixed but really- it is just an old mixer and it is overwhelming this space.

  
  

  

  and not least of which- it is obstructing this view.

• My bank card has been the subject of a possible breach- again.
• A very English guy named Oliver helped me over the phone get a new card overnight. He had a nice voice with a beautiful British accent. It made me wonder if he faked it to smooth things over with his American audience.
• We are ridiculous about that. Hear an outrageous conspiracy theory in a documentary in a British accent? We're all over that. We will swallow it hook line and sinker. A personal interaction with a British person? They could look like Frankenstein's monster and woosh- off come the panties or boxers.
• I mean really- we're weird about that.
• Talk British to me baby.
  
• Today is 01/22/2015 and I intend to drive North this weekend until we find snow. Then I will play in it and eat things like grilled cheese and chocolate pie and drink hot chocolate and coffee like there is no tomorrow and hopefully get snowed in and not be able to go to work- for a week.
• I will probably get smashed by a snow plow.

  

  Smart structure built from a culvert that was split up the middle and formed just right to provide privacy.  Yikes- I go around taking pics of men's restrooms...

  
  

  

  Old guys do like their metal detectors

  
  

  

  This is called Elephant Rock. Try as I might I could not figure out how it got that name until the interpreter told me it looks like an elephant- viewed from the air.

• It is 01/24/2015 and we're packing to head North. Tragically, there will be no snow- only sunny skies.
• 01/27/2015 a headline on my new browser said something to the effect of, Glitch causes hour long outage of Facebook. Omigawd! The humanity.
• PS: It is 01/28/2015 and I read yesterday there were multiple cases of 911 calls being made to report the aforementioned outage.
• Good grief.
  
  
  
  
  
  

Monday's Missives

• Before they started making this I always thought it would be way cool to make an AR15 style 12 gauge.
• When I'm king of the world I will still commission an M2 style machine gun that everything will be dimensionally doubled. Yes, we will have a 100 caliber cannon to blast stuff with at 500 rounds per minute. People will pay to stand in it's shadow- much less shoot the monster. Long after I'm gone gun writers will write about it and awe will be generated as it gets traded around by rich guys and rediscovered through the years.

  

  Not to make too big of a deal as I could be wrong (and it is only an opinion anyway) but if I'm going out to eat I'm tempted to say I don't want my food to be home style as in if I wanted home style- well, I would stay at home. 

  
  
• It is 01/312015 at 0704. My son is asleep on the floor and daughter on the couch. The house is dark and quiet.
• Nearly heaven.

  

  Sunshine Lake

• Somebody I know only gets in touch with me to relate various aches, pains and new diagnosis. What a whippin'.

  

  FGs granddad was a railroad worker

  
  

  

  Coolest nickname ever? Gah- lucky. I wish I was called WISH BONE.

• My eldest son is on his way back to Nigeria in search of black gold.

  

  Thankfully PUPPY is microchiped. 

  
  

  

  The dog park has real fire hydrants for dogs to pee on. No wonder the terrorists hate us.

  
  
  
  
• In the break room yesterday people were commenting on how wonderful my Chinese food smelled. When another person entered the fray they asked somebody who is not me if it was their food. The party who was asked cheerily said as she happened to be stepping out of the room, No, mine smells like fish! Me and another vile reprobate looked at each other and burst out laughing. I handed him my chop stick and said, Holy smokes. I can't unhear that. Quick stab me in the ear with this!

  

  Behind the Nature center in Lake Murray State Park

  
  
  
  
  

  

  What a gorgeous scene this rocky ridge line would be without the stupid trees obscuring the view but good luck on getting them cut down. We worship trees- odd. They should selectively cut most of them down and dig all the roots out so they don't create erosion pathways. Then tack everything down with some water after scattering some native seed and fertilizer and call the feature, Rocky Ridge. People would come from far and wide to see it. It would be literally awe inspiring. I have everything all figured out don't I? 

• The wind chimes are singing sweetly outside.

  

  Mini Me: See the picture I drew? Me: Uh, oh yeah that is, um- nice. So, uh what all is going on here? What am I seeing? Is there a story? I said as I fished for an answer about the bewbs. Mini Me: Its just a picture. He said as if he were trying to gently, simply and patiently deal with a closed head injury patient who just didn't get it. Me: OK, what are these? I said giving up and pointing to the headlights Mini Me: They're nipples dad. He is a Sumo Wrestler

• One of these days this will all end.

Fort Richardson Expedition After Action Report

The hospital is the most commanding building remaining.

• Yesterday (11/29/2014) we explored Fort Richardson State Park. It was a cavalry post during the Westward expansion. At its height it was home to about 700 soldiers and had 50 plus buildings. There are now 7 buildings and probably lots of ghosts but no actual soldiers.
• One thing that stands out to most visitors I'm sure is the morgue directly behind the hospital building. Interestingly, of the 70 soldiers who died there (I think that number is right) only 3 were housed in the morgue. A particularly horrifying story became the impetus for the morgue. A soldier died, probably from syphilis, malaria, pox or a diarrhea disease (or a horrible combination of these) as people did frequently in those days and his corpse was placed upstairs away from the other patients while a grave was dug. How long this took I do not know but it was long enough for his mortal coil to be ripe enough to explode while it was being brought downstairs spilling blood, guts and corpse juice everywhere. The post doctor being the smartest guy in the room directed that a morgue be placed to the rear of the hospital. A tent was used until the nice little stone morgue was built.

  

  Patient's view from the the hospital- yep, its a morgue.

  
  

  

  Tony looking morgue to only ever house 3 dead guys.

  
  

  

  The bed for your 19th century dirt nap.

  
  

  

  Dead guy's view from the morgue.

• The very capable interpreter told me the powder magazine was the only one on the post. That is difficult for me to buy as it was maybe [I forgot my laser measuring device] 12 X 12 ft on the interior. He thought it would have been sufficient as the troopers only had small arms. It would seem unlikely they never had a small cannon and/or explosives that would require separate storage techniques but also, it would have been understood to not put all your explodey things in one basket (maybe especially if all. you. had. were small arms ammunition) but yeah- he has studied that place for 20 years from original documents etc. so I wasn't going to argue.

  

  Probably pretty comfortable and serviceable for the time. If all you needed were some rest, food and water, you were probably good to go and would walk out at some point. Although yes- I'm assuming clean food and water and you didn't catch something even more awful than what you came in with from the dude in the next bed.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  A shave and a bath probably went a long way toward making a guy feel more human (if you didn't die of tetanus from a razor nick or catch a chill).

• Physicians of the time had determined for optimal health a man needed 900 cubic feet of air space around him- so the ceilings soar to 14 and a half feet. This no doubt also helped on those 105 degree summer days. Patients would most often sleep on the porch when it was hot anyway.
• On display are the sword and rifle of one soldier who served there who after discharge stayed on in the area. It was placed on permanent loan by his descendants. Also is the surgical kit of one of the post physicians.
  
  
  
  
• There was a steward in the hospital who killed multiple soldiers to take their stuff and hock it for drinks. The time that got him busted he stole a watch from a soldier whom the steward assumed was dying. He got caught overdosing the patient after he realized the patient was recovering and would be asking for his watch back. The doctor vouched for the steward so he was just discharged out of the Army. He left and was then lost to history.
• It cost 800,000 dollars to build that post in 1867, which seems ridiculous. I don't have my calculator handy but I'll make a wild guess that would be equal to about a gazillion dollars in today's adjusted money. 
• The soldiers dumped their poo near the same creek they gathered water from further downstream. Consequently, many died of poo related diseases necessitating a detail of soldiers going out each day to retrieve water from a spring 2 miles away.
• Poop played a prominent part in the story of the West.
• A million ways to die...

  

  Speaking of poop- an indoor two holer; probably a novelty for most patients of the day.

  
  

  

  After you did your business if it was number 1 you scattered dirt from one of these boxes over it. If it was number 2 you grabbed charcoal from another box. Fresh.

  
  
  
• The soldiers there faced Kiowa and Comanche Indians who are in my list of top 10 ten tribes in general and top 5 list of Plains Indians for their generalized coolness and/or fierceness.
• Fort Richardon's bakery produced 600 loaves of bread a day.
• W. T. Sherman (my least favorite Civil War general) once stayed on the post and became part of one of my favorite stories of the West- the story of Satanta, Satank Big Tree, White Horse et. al. and the Warren Wagon Train Raid which was also known as the Salt Creek Massacre.
• Satanta killed himself in prison in Huntsville but his spirit died sometime between his arrest and the day he threw himself out a window of  the upper floor of the hospital.
• In another life I owned a place on Salt Creek. I would psych myself  out while walking North as the sun set toward the sight of the fight although it was miles and miles away. 
• The patrol route of the troops stationed there took them all the way to Caprock Canyon near Amarillo- or about a 6 hour air conditioned drive by car today. 
  
  
  
  

  

  From the TPWD site

• If money were no object I would be an amateur historian to Texas parks and travel between them taking pics and writing an ultimate book of natural history and human lore.
• When the fort was abandoned it was done so literally- the Army pulled up stakes and left the buildings to their fate without official protection. The locals disassembled most of the buildings and added on to their houses or built chicken coops or whatever. Thank God some people had the sense to save some of the buildings. I mean really thank God for them. When the oil and natural gas is gone all that area might have is it's history and recreational attractions.
• Oh, and Herd's Burgers. Go get you one and tell 'em I sent you.

  

  Likewise