The First Day Of Christmas...

• The season's first Christmas party I attended last night was great- simply great, a few people in a fine home, awesome food, a bunch of guns and a lot of dead stuff on the walls. The guys spit, drank and watched the NFR. The women drank womenly drinks (except for one- she drank moonshine) and played some very busy and complicated looking domino game. The women filmed themselves  twerking in front of the Xmas tree with a bunch of teenage girls.  There was an old dog to pet and a fireplace on the back porch- it may have been a perfect evening.
• I was up 'til after 3 AM. Honestly, I'm not even sure the last time that happened.
• We drove moonshine lady home. She only acquiesced to the assistance after telling her she could park the car once we got to her place. It took her longer for her to stuff the car in the driveway than it did for us to get her home. I hope she didn't leave again after we split but you can only do so much for people.
• She was the typical drunk- really funny at first, then the bit wears thin but I am glad she had a good time. 
• If the ceiling in their house wasn't 16 feet- it was 18. The home is literally nearly perfect. They killed themselves to make it happen. It is easy to be happy for them and respect what they have.
• I'm still not sure what twerking is- they banned us from coming into the living room but they were howling with laughter and screaming and stuff was getting knocked over. The cat ran out of the room like he feared for his life.
• We had enchiladas and the best salsa I have ever had along with some very passable pico de guyo.
• Kev, I think you got the best one of the bunch!: another party goers estimation of FG when comparing spouses and significant others.
• FG and I drank Dr Peppers and H2o.
• The host-dude has an antler on display which is the only remnant he has of the buck as he actually shot the horn off the animal. He said, He dropped in his tracks like he had died of a heart attack. He hit the ground like a sack of rotten potatoes. I thought I had brain-shot 'im. When I went to round 'im up he started coming around. He staggered around and groaned and then took off at a dead run. He saw the antler on the ground and figured what happened as the event transpired. He was asked why he didn't shoot again to take the buck down. I knew the answer before he spoke- it would have been wrong. The deer deserved to live after that close call.
• I can't wait to hear the story though, when that deer catches up to him and shanks him in the neck with that remaining horn.
• Yes- deer have long memories and are very vengeful.
  

  

  Not our party

  
  

  

  Not his one either

I'm About To

head out for a Xmas party. Wayne- help me get in the spirit.

Ladies And Gentlemen Say Hello And Goodbye To Mr. Ray Price

Ray is getting ready to check out and I am trying to keep my act together before my kids see me bawling. He has been a favorite for most of 50 years. He is at his home now in East Texas eat up with cancer. If you know Ray- this is the song you were expecting...

I never know- put up a picture of how they are, or how they were?

Friday's Dispatch

• I dislike needlessly complex questions- to wit:" Are you coming over or not? Or are you doing something else?" which was the last text message I received. What would be wrong with, "You coming over?"
• Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs Iraq war vet liar.
• I: give so much of my time to those around me, am generally so respectful of others peoples time, and require so very little attention from others that I really, really can't stand being blown off- by anybody.
• Me and Zac are off to the pawn shop to look for some movies.
• Yes, my son is only 3 and already being introduced to the seedy underbelly of Weatherford TX.
• I'm often asked the inspiration for the name of my imaginary 45 ft. Fountain Powerboat Sweet Lucy- well here it is

Thursday's Thoughts

Fancy hammered copper table at Copper Creek. It turned FGs hands green.

• I just (11/29/2013) left the On The Run Store at Martin Drive and Main in Weatherford. The car wash  wouldn't take the code from the  wash I bought a couple of days ago when I bought gasoline . I should have known there was going to be trouble when the wash monkey said, Are you sure neither one of you used it? After he backed everybody up  behind me so I could get out of the wash line I went inside where the cashier said, I can't just give you one. I'll have to talk to Sam about this. (insert face palm) . After literally 10 minutes of her going back and forth between me and his office with inane questions Sam finally came out and looking down his nose at me said, Yes, sir?! in that smug way that is designed to establish who is boss and let you know if you get your way it is only out of his good graces. He asked where the receipt was that was printed by the machine when the transaction failed. He literally rolled his eyes and shook his head when I told him the wash guy took it. He then slovenly plodded toward the wash area expecting me to follow. To make a long story short I didn't have time for that and if he thought I was trying to beat him out of the 6 bucks he makes on the cheap car wash he is giving me a lot of credit setting him up for that kill as I go in there at least twice a week not including outside gasoline transactions and have been doing so for years. He knows my face. Anyway- weird, he was worried about getting beat out of a few bucks and neither I nor FG will ever go back there again- literally never. He is famously cheap but he lost at least 300 dollars of business a month quibbling over a wash that might have cost a dollar (his cost) . I can't figure people out sometimes.
• Wow, it is beautiful outside. It is literally perfect. There is a breeze that swishes the leaves and the temp. is about 60 degrees. It couldn't be any more perfect.

  

  I love compasses- from the old time type to most modern electronic and own a few versions of each. Ships captains in the days of old might not carry anything off their ship at ports or in emergencies but their charts and instruments but they would not be separated from them. This is actually called a lifeboat compass. It may not have been a perfect instrument but it was protected well enough to be as reliable as it was when it was  made so it would be useful in an emergency.

• Another related thought to the first bullet: a store that treats you well enough when things are going their way- that doesn't mean much. Why wouldn't they treat you well ? You're handing them money. You find out about your relationship to them when they have a chance to make something right they have screwed up.
• To be filed under it had to happen somewhere sooner or later: a Japanese man has sued a hospital after a mix up in the nursery 60 years ago caused him to be raised in poverty instead of  by his wealthy birth parents.

  

  How did we let this crazy punk capture our imagination so? Forty years on and we still let him scare us and he is in the news at least once a month.

• In the big picture I am not sure how DFW compares to other airports but I always get in and out very easily when picking somebody up and find it easy to navigate once inside when departing/arriving for flights but I am also always super unsure about where I am going in there until I get to the gate.
• I am never sure how to use someone or somebody in a sentence.

Zacism

"She's the fisher and I'm the worm."

Zac's philosophical take on being asked to help his sister with the bait by picking worms so he could more or less play a supporting role allowing me to focus on getting her some fish.

Wednesday's Digressions

• Although I think the tendency dissipates with age it isn't uncommon when we love somebody intensely to not be able to recall what the person looks like if they're not right in front of us. Why is that true? 

• A not very nice person in an associated clinic at work is leaving and is going around and engaging in pleasantries and fishing for well wishes. In her mind she is undoing all the nasty things she has done and leaving others with a better opinion of her. That isn't how it works. If we think or speak of her at all after she leaves it will be to recount how nasty she was and what a lame attempt she made at improving her legacy but in reality she will hardly ever cross anybodies mind in the first place and it will be even more rare that we speak of her.

  

  Self checkout bum station

•  I can't get these bullets to move closer together. If I try they disappear altogether and to get the bullet to show in the first place I have to delete the period from the last sentence of the previous thought and then tap it in again and then hit enter.

  

  Another sweet project vehicle. Don't worry champ- that'll buff right out.

• My arm is sore from my flu shot yesterday (09/26/2013). The dummy who gave it to me put herself in an awkward position causing her to place and consequently withdraw the needle at an odd angle. 

•  I just read that various US government agencies have spent 5 million dollars on drones for use in the US. Impossible. If they haven't spent 4-5 times that they haven't spent a nickel and I wouldn't be surprised if the figure isn't closer to 10 times that amount.

•  "All we have to do is tell the Chinese that eating Buffalo dong makes your wiener bigger and they'll be gone in six months."   

•  The above was from a comments section about the wild European bison- the commenter is exactly right.