Friday, July 07, 2006
Save Yourself for Kinky" song and video -- Kinda' cute
(Click here to watchthe KinkyToon # 3)
(The song starts about halfway through if you want to pull the lever over to there, at least for a second look.)
Jim's Little Blog is non-political, go to Jim's Little Blog (this) for a political editorial. Please don't leave political comments here, you may do so on the other blog.
Technorati Tags: Politics Texas+Politics Kinky+Friedman News Kinky Dixie+Chicks
Kinky's petition made it, he will be on the November ballot.
Password Advice & a Free Password Generator
Passwords 101 : Dory Devlin : Yahoo! Tech
Basically, the article says to change your password before leaving on vacation where you will be using Internet cafes or libraries. Then go back to using your 'goodies' upon your return. Computers+and+Internet Password Passwords
There is a bigger article about this, as referenced, in PC World. I didn't go there.
Check it out. For casual usersI can't see any reason to subscribe, the free generator does fine. (link to Winguides) A sample password generated when I tried it: va52nuTh
Basically, the article says to change your password before leaving on vacation where you will be using Internet cafes or libraries. Then go back to using your 'goodies' upon your return. Computers+and+Internet Password Passwords
There is a bigger article about this, as referenced, in PC World. I didn't go there.
Check it out. For casual usersI can't see any reason to subscribe, the free generator does fine. (link to Winguides) A sample password generated when I tried it: va52nuTh
Now and then . . . . . . . . . . . . Shouldn't that have been then and now?
.This is the now. You can see how our lake has filled up, not with water but with weeds. This is the spectacular Lake Conroe. Our dam has been fixed after Hurricane Rita destroyed a major portion of it last summer. FEMA helped with $1.x million.
Why don't we have water instead of weeds? There just hasn't been enough rain in the San Jacinto River basin to fill it, in fact the lake has had more outflow than inflow this year.
Houston has been having enough rain, if we had theirs it would be full. But up here 50 miles to the north, things are still dry.
I think there have been three drownings this year; it doesn't take much water and booze to drown. To be fair, one drowning was a teenager who thought the lake was low enough to walk across. He got mired in the mud and kept on sinking.
I heard a couple of farmers the other night at a July 4th party saying that if there wasn't a good rain in the next couple of weeks, their crops would be totally dried up.
.
Did you notice the bird perched on the bulkhead on the right? It is some sort of crane, I don't know the species. He and his friends live here, swooping down to catch fish when they want.Now look at this picture. He is flying away, we think he was leary of Adi and Jim. Click on the picture to enlarge it. Wildlife Birds Photography Photos
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Below is the then picture. Not before the lake was drained last summer, but before the weeds grew up on all those new islands.
Maybe we should try to make our lake a wild life preserve and just forget about filling it with water. Out in the open there is still enough water for the boaters to play, those nasty stumps are just a little closer to the surface.
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High gas / gasoline prices won't deter most RV travelers this year
Chron.com Consignment uses Web to drive motor home sales [I paid $2.89 fro regular down the road at an Exxon station]
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This article will give you a rundown on RV basics for buying. The dealer here, PPL Motor Homes of Houston, Texas, sells 'up to 1,200' RVs a year.
About 125 visit their lot(s ??) each day, while they "get about 500,000 visitors a month to their Web site." (link)
He says 90% of the RV owners will not be deterred by $3.00 a gallon gasoline.
The typical RV purchaser:
"While people may think a typical RV owner is a retired senior citizen, a study conducted by the University of Michigan in 2005 said"
- the average RV owner is 49, married and
- has an annual household income of $68,000. The same study found that
- more RVs are owned by people 35 to 54 than any other group.
Other vitals:
- As with cars, recreational vehicles vary widely in features and price.
- abasic travel trailer costs about $4,000,
- an expensive Class A motor home in the most luxurious category can run $200,000 to $400,000, and more.
- "The most expensive vehicle we've ever sold was $200,000," Rambin [Ron Rambin, co-owner with Ed Sebesta] said. "But that same RV would have cost $500,000 if they had bought it new at a dealership."
Gasoline+prices Jeep RV Fun Recreation
Instead of borrowing Mike's Jeep (yesterday's post), here is one (or similar to this one) I would like to buy.
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Thursday, July 06, 2006
Adi Can . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Still Be Patriotic the Day After
What Goes Around Comes Around
Chron.com Enron-related fraud case finds backlash in Britain
We haven't ratified the Patriot Act related extradition treaty, Britain has. So they are p.o.'d about having to send three British business men to Houston for trial. They can't get the crooks over here in the U.S. to come there, by this treaty at least. [Their corresponding Act of Parliment is a part of their Terrorism Act (link).]
Doesn't sound logical to me, the alleged crime took place in Britain. It wouldn't be worth the mere $7.3 M they are accused of costing the company to try them there.
It might cost that much for them to defend themselves here, though. The Houston Chronicle article suggests bankruptcy for these three men.
Sir John Ritblat, chairman of FTSE 100 property firm British Land, who has long experience of running businesses on both sides of the Atlantic, said: "That you can sit in the slammer before they've even prepared a case against you is unconscionable." The Telegraph (link) Enron Business News Extradition Terrorism
'"The legal system has run amok in the States. It's nothing to do with right and wrong any more."
"Top executives at two of Britain's biggest companies will be watching the NatWest case even more closely than most. The US Department of Justice has begun an investigation into alleged price-fixing of fuel surcharges between BA [British Airlines] and other airlines following the launch of an inquiry by the Office of Fair Trading and it is also looking into the alleged manipulation of the propane market by BP Products North America."
This is really good for our European relations (not)!
.
"They will arrive in Newark, where they will be fitted out in Guantanamo-style boiler suits, handcuffs and leg-irons." The Telegraph, [America defends its citizens, so why don't we defend ours? By Boris Johnson (Filed: 06/07/2006)] (link)
We haven't ratified the Patriot Act related extradition treaty, Britain has. So they are p.o.'d about having to send three British business men to Houston for trial. They can't get the crooks over here in the U.S. to come there, by this treaty at least. [Their corresponding Act of Parliment is a part of their Terrorism Act (link).]
Doesn't sound logical to me, the alleged crime took place in Britain. It wouldn't be worth the mere $7.3 M they are accused of costing the company to try them there.
It might cost that much for them to defend themselves here, though. The Houston Chronicle article suggests bankruptcy for these three men.
Sir John Ritblat, chairman of FTSE 100 property firm British Land, who has long experience of running businesses on both sides of the Atlantic, said: "That you can sit in the slammer before they've even prepared a case against you is unconscionable." The Telegraph (link) Enron Business News Extradition Terrorism
'"The legal system has run amok in the States. It's nothing to do with right and wrong any more."
"Top executives at two of Britain's biggest companies will be watching the NatWest case even more closely than most. The US Department of Justice has begun an investigation into alleged price-fixing of fuel surcharges between BA [British Airlines] and other airlines following the launch of an inquiry by the Office of Fair Trading and it is also looking into the alleged manipulation of the propane market by BP Products North America."
How to spend the 4th of July,
.(And then some)
Go Jeeping on the 4th
[click pictures to enlarge]
.
There is a short story here. Our friend (and his wife by default) has a hobby. You would never guess what this hobby is?
Off+road+Jeeping Fun Life Jeep Family
Off+road+Jeeping Fun Life Jeep Family
He does off road Jeeping. (link to one, Google 'off road Jeeping' for more) This is my golfing buddy, Charlie, who now doesn't golf more lately than I have been.
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His newest hobby, this Jeeping thing, is being done in a big way. This Jeep is even airconditioned. It got into his blood, now the two of them are out in the boonies with their Jeep and dozens of other adventuresome souls.
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The story here:
All Charlie's friends were camped out someplace close to the badlands where they would Jeep. Charlie and spouse were stuck in a Motel, miles away.
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The solution to this dilema was to buy an RV. It is a really nice one, with lots of luxuries. He even installed his Direct TV with a signal tracking antenna.
.
Now what's this?
.It is a 1974 Dodge RV that we might could afford. It needs some work, there haven't been any takers so far for $1500. Do you think it would pull our Jeep?
.
.We don't have a Jeep, but I think son, Mike, would loan us his for a few days. I don't think he keeps it licensed or inspected just for back and forth to work. It has been ages since I've seen it, it may not have a tow bar for me now either.
Guess besides fixing up the RV, we would have to bring his Jeep up to snuff too.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Adi Can . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Make a snow angel in the sand(trap)
The Jim Bunch eats again . . . all by myself (and Adi)
.Gourmet all the way here!
Well, not quite. But it was good for 'eating some things I found.' That's what I told Mrs. Jim when she asked what I had for lunch after coming home from her golf. I think she had cereal; I had eaten the last of these good things until more shopping.
Those three pills have to be taken with a meal; I wasn't feeling like eating very a heavy meal this noon. It has some of the food groups I think. I don't know them since they were updated.
The menu was six ham and Swiss on no-fat soda cracker-wichs with mustard. A piece of 'Dilorio Farm' seedless watermelon from Hempstead, Texas, served as fruit and desert. And of course the required glass of water with the meds.
I ate like that a lot in my midlife bachelor days. My favorite was split peas soup with cut up hot dogs and sauteed onions added.
My showpiece was homemade pizza, dough and all. I adapted the River Road (Baton Rouge) Cookbook dough recipe to accommodate mostly whole wheat flower.
Pizza was the meal of request. They might not have had the best likes for my pizza, rather they just didn't care for the soup. Even if I changed the base to tomato instead of split pea it still wasn't a hit.
To this day I can make an excellent chili. People ask for it too. I never measure and mostly use a mixture of stuff I generally keep in the pantry for making chili. I confess, I do use one package of chili mix (McCormick brand preferred); then I add chili powder and garlic powder (and other seasoning to match my mood for the day) because I will double or triple the recipe.
Food+and+Drink Food Life
More eats another day, I'll try to get it to be interesting.
I hope your Fourth was nice. Ours was except for driving in the hard rain.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
July 4 -- Today we celebrate our freedom
.Long may it wave over the land of the free
Flag+picture patriotic America July+Fourth Flag
America the Beautiful
by Katharine Lee Bates, 1913
(link to source, history, and seven more verses)
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
God bless America
by Irving Berlin, 1918; revised 1938
(link to source; history of the song)
Spoken Introduction:
While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.
Song:
God bless America,
land that I love
Stand beside her
and guide her
Through the night
with the light from above
From the mountains
To the prairies,
To the ocean white with foam
God bless America,
My home sweet home.
This land is your land
by Woodie Guthrie, 1940 and 1952
(link to source, Nashville, and more verses)
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me
As I was walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me
(for 1940 version, go here--Nashville)
.
.[Any copyrighted material on this page is used in "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s).]
Monday, July 03, 2006
Erica Rose as a prospective princess
Erica Rose Houston Chronicle news articles:
10/03/2006, 10/02/2006, 01/26/2006, 12/05/2006, 10/06/2006
Google on "Erica" if her reference isn't obvious.
You can do your own research on her family from these.
Search the Houston Chronicle, click here.
Erica+Rose
[Posted by Jim on 10/03/2006 and backdated]
10/03/2006, 10/02/2006, 01/26/2006, 12/05/2006, 10/06/2006
Google on "Erica" if her reference isn't obvious.
You can do your own research on her family from these.
Search the Houston Chronicle, click here.
Erica+Rose
[Posted by Jim on 10/03/2006 and backdated]
Adi Can . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Drive her Corvette?
Life in the good ol' 1950s
What were you doing then?
Got this nice video link from my Sunday school teacher in an e-mail, lots of us got it. The video link is later in this blog.
Some of you weren't even born yet, more were too young to remember. You can learn a little here, about what we talk about now.
Got this nice video link from my Sunday school teacher in an e-mail, lots of us got it. The video link is later in this blog.
Some of you weren't even born yet, more were too young to remember. You can learn a little here, about what we talk about now.
.I still have one of these 1950 Fords
.
If you are around my age, a little older or a little younger, they will bring back good and bad memories.
I'll tell you how I fit a few: (remember, I had other lives, they will help explain my fitting)
- 1st life: In high school until Spring, 1951
- 2nd life: Attended the University of Nebraska for three semesters, until December, 1952.
- 3rd life: Single Life in the fast lane as a college drop-out until May, 1956
- 4th life: Hog tied, in the U.S. Army for five years (drafted in 1956, re-upped in 1954) and married (first time)
.My 1956 Ford was a light green and white convertible with a white top.
My payments were higher than my Army pay
And how I fit a few of those issued mentioned:
- Comics, a no-no at home, Mom thought they were works of the Devil
- Songs, yes, I always had my radios and kept up with the latest
- TV, no, not at home as we didn't have TV. After leaving home I became almost a TV addict for a while
- Movies, no, not at home (I did see two with Dad)
- Smoking, a little, I got beat up by a football player for smoking in the boy's room
- Other goodies in my life (drinking, s*x, racing, etc) either I missed or weren't mentioned
The video: (link), or
http://oldfortyfives.com/TakeMeBackToTheFifties.htm
How did you fit?
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Misfits here? -- "be ye kind one to another"
."And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Ephesians 4:32 (King James Version).
first, verse 31, "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:"
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[click on pictures to enlarge]
.
.
. Fruit and china may not go together, like in the first picture.
The misfits here though, are those horse apples.
Horse apples aren't edible, they grow wild on the wild trees around here, and just aren't very pretty.**
Is there any purpose for them? God does not make mistakes.
Some people use them to keep away the roaches and other bugs around the house.
Horses may eat them, I don't know. I keep threatening to sneak a Horse Apple Pie recipe into the next edition of the Bentwater Ladies Golf Association (BLGA) cookbook.
And "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder."*** Horse+Apple Fruit Religion Food+and+Drink Life Humor Cooking Apple Beauty
** Horse Apple
[from Osage-Orange, Wikipedia (link)
The Osage orange (sometimes hyphenated) or Osage apple or simply Osage (Maclura pomifera) is an ornamental plant in the mulberry family Moraceae. It is also locally known as mock orange, "wild orange", hedge-apple, horse-apple, hedge ball, bois d'arc, bodark (or bowdark mainly in Oklahoma and Texas), bodart (in northwest Louisiana), bodock (mainly in Tennessee and Alabama), and bow wood. "Osage" derives from the Native American people inhabiting the valley of the river of the same name in Missouri. Slang terms for its inedible fruit include monkey brain, monkey ball, monkey orange, and brain fruit, due to its brain-like appearance. [more]
*** Beauty Notes:
1. "Twas Plato coined the phrase "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder", and I have come to believe that this adage has been misinterpreted - rather than the "To each his own" interpretation, which to me seems a bit of a cop-out . . . (more)
2. Shakespeare poem, My Mistress' Eyes (source)
3. also modern Poem by Edwina Matthews
Beauty
Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder
Beauty is in all things.
Beauty is in the sky.
Beauty is in the water ever so blue.
Beauty is the winter when trees are covered with snow.
Beauty is the summer when you smell and see the flowers grow.
Beauty is all things big and little.
Beauty is in all things,
Black and white.
Beauty is in all things, you and me.
Beauty is all around us...can't you see?
..Horse apple tree as seen from our back balcony
