Monday's Missives

Another one on the list: the mighty VMAX. With updates it has been in production since 1985 and was unchanged for I think 18  of those years. It is so beautiful and powerful you hardly ever seen them customized or built up- why would you?

• Helmet cam footage of Firefight in Kunduz Afghanistan.
• One of the most overrated instruments of war- the AK47. One of the most underrated: the RPG.
• This morning I read 2 different articles dissecting stories from Chris Kyle's book to prove military types are deranged, murderous sociopaths. Funny, what stuck out to me- they oddly believed everything he said in the book. Needed: a study of gullibility and believing everything you read and the resulting bad/wrong conclusions that can result.
  
  
  

  

  My new Moab hikers

• I have to suppress a gag when somebody sticks their filthy hands into a bag of whatever they're eating and pulling one out offer it to me. We flat know better than that.
• I know I wrote about it but not If it posted yet or not- when President Obama said, If Americans like their plans they can keep the one they have. he was lying and he knew he was lying and I said so to FG when we saw him say it.
• Here, have some creepy North Korean tykes playing the guitar.
• The surest way to get women to throw themselves at you: let it be known you don't want to have sex until you're married. Literally- they see it as a personal challenge and try to wear you down and get your pants on the floor.
• FG has informed me she is going home for a few days as she needs to, Think about things. 
• What could possibly go wrong with that for me?

  

  Easy there tiger. Go back to huffin' your glue. That was insensitive and uncharacteristic of me- I'm sorry for every bad thing that ever happened to you.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  Lots of shoddy construction techniques and materials and misguided ideas around Holland's Lake. 

  
  

  

  Odd- was lying in the middle of Town Creek. I just realized: I picked it up putting my prints all over it.

  
  

  

  A brown ooze coming from the ground. Red oxide from a highly mineralized seep spring or poop?

  
  
  
  
  
  

Friday's Dispatch

Thermostat in the middle of Honey Creek

• How do we know Ron Johnson personally destroyed JC Penneys and that all the decisions he made to turn the retail brand around were horrible? because even a know nothing dolt like me can see that he did and that they were. I nearly fell over when they announced no more discounted price sales and was in fact getting out of my car to walk into a sale at Kohls when I heard the news on the radio. This is no exaggeration and I was literally only going into Kohls that day because I got a sale paper in the mail with a sweet scan card for an extra 20% off.
  
  
  
  
• It is 0419 and I am drinking hot chocolate for the first time in years.
• The Bike only needs the chain replaced and a good cleaning to be complete. The pedals I found at Wal Mart are mountain bike Wellgo brand. They're light, have sealed bearings and look really good- all for 10 bucks. I wasn't ready for the difference the new pedals made and was pleasantly surprised by the fit and finish of them for that price. Next, will be bags and bottles. Wally World also has some nice insulated 24 oz bottles with racks for 15 bucks.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• If we don't make it FG will be the one future GFs will obsess over.
• She still hasn't looked at this blog since I asked her to not. Don't ask me why I would trust that to be true at all but I give that belief an 80% accuracy rating.
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  This pool is in a tributary to Honey Creek in TF. It was interesting because of the amount of wildlife in it. There were water bugs, tadpoles, crayfish, fish... I am sure plenty of predators have lusted over those tasty morsels- the sheer walls and the little alcove in the back protect the prey pretty well.

  
  
  
• Hot chocolate backed by hot tea will break you into a sweat if the house is a little warm.
• Years ago when I heard the Republicans ragging on the President about being a community organizer my first thought was, OmiGod- that is all they got? and then I thought, If I were President Obama I would own that and come out and say, There has been a lot of talking disparaging me for my time as a community organizer. I was trying to help my community. I was trying to help build a better America by building a better city. I was trying to help my fellow Americans in need. I was doing what I thought I was supposed to do. When he broached the subject some time later there wasn't a nickels worth of difference between his speech and my inner world one (although mine might have been a bit better). Regardless, he destroyed his opposition with their own hatefulness and lack of imagination and vision.

Monday's Missives

Team America is gonna wipe those smug grins off those ugly mugs- you just wait. USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

Battlefield pickup 1911 from Corregidor. Note the hammer is in the cocked position.

The requisite sunburst through the antiaircraft  sight picture.

Aussie tank from WWII. The hull gunner was killed by the explosion evidenced by that gaping hole.

Hatch from the Arizona. The hole above the door was cut to look for survivors.

Vest worn by USO girl during WWII. It was signed by service members and adorned with ranks and unit crests etc. Pedolph!?

During the Nimitz museum tour- my guess is he wasn't kidding.

Hey guys- whats up? My owner is a total tool for letting me run loose without a leash but we're cool- right?

No? Ok, you're sucky humans. I didn't want to play with you anyway.

I'm huge on Enchanted Rock.

Hawk eviscerating a pigeon behind the house. What a weird privilege it was to see him work. I missed him bringing it down though- that would have been cool.

Satanic squirrel near Pedernales Falls.

Lightening rod on LBJ's boyhood home.

Kev napping on Enchanted Rock waiting for sunset. 

From the trail near P Falls

In olden times in Texas primitive man would paint porch ceilings blue so mud daubers would think it was the sky and wouldn't build nests.

Back to the sunset on Enchanted Rock.

I digress- a weird sculpture on Sculpture Ranch.

He was with a group from Austin. Don't ask me why I know they were from Austin but I assure you, I'm right.

After I snapped this the sun disappeared. One second it was there, the next it was gone- just like us.

• Air supply- Making Love Out Of Nothing At All. The song is about the singers wife who happens to play the girl in the video.
• An odd thing I remember about others memories of seeing ELO live- I've heard their concerts were not only one of the best live shows you'd ever see, but the loudest.
• No one believed me when just over 5 years ago I told them Zachary's mom was pregnant. It was like they were waiting for the punchline...
• Life is carazy isn't it?
• If I can't grill the best burger in the world, I promise you I can cook you among the very best you've ever eaten in your life.
• Among the ingredients: fresh 1015 onion, fresh coarse ground black pepper, chili powder and Worcestershire Sauce.
• Teamwork- It Keeps Our Employees Gruntled. A motto from from a fake commercial for a fake company the characters in Better Off Ted work at.  Better Off Ted was a good show whose very goodness and/or the fact I liked it insured its early demise.
• Fredericksburg has exploded. I do remember reading multiple articles years ago about the surrounding area becoming The Texas Wine Country but wow- there were tour buses everywhere, new hotels every 50 feet and tourists walking nose to tail on Main. Soon, if it isn't true already the articles will be about the water crisis created by the population boon and watering all those grapes and making all that wine.
• Site # 16 at Pedernales State Park is very pretty. It was the last non occupied site and in fact somebody had it reserved. Thankfully, the girl behind the counter had the hots for me.
• Everybody should watch the sunset from Enchanted Rock at least once in their life.