Saturday, August 05, 2006
What do these blogs have in common?
http://alexander-aidan.blogspot.com/
http://angel-evelyn67.blogspot.com/
http://riley-jenna.blogspot.com/
http://fieldsmitties30600.blogspot.com/
http://jack-marcus.blogspot.com/
In Common?
1st: I'm not sure they are blogs as we know them.
2nd: They all end with a list of links. I hope this isn't some kind of virus or worm getting into our blogs.
3rd: They are all Blogger blogs.
4th: I have never seen anything like this before.
5th: They all came up from a Search all Blogs search from the top of my page. I entered Buffalo Missouri profile to get them. There were others but I stopped looking, deciding that a post was in order. Spoof Blogs Blog Advertising Blogging Life
6th: I didn't click on any of those links in the blogs. If there was something to be caught that way, I didn't want any.
So, and ideas here? Who has run into these before.
I'll Google after I post, that may reveal something?
Our car rebelled . . .
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. Our 124,000 mile 1999 family car
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Now for the car rebelling in Iowa. I really thought I had gotten some bad gas in West Memphis, Arkansas. When we accelerated after leaving the [pretty raunchy] station heading up I-55, it sputtered a little. That isn't a good thing to have happen in the middle of the night, it was around midnight.
We kept on anyway and had breakfast in St. Louis. Like the feeling a frog has when you boil him, it was getting a little worse but we weren't noticing. Just in case, in Peoria, Illinois, where we next filled up, I added a bottle of fuel injector cleaner.
That didn't help one bit, we were a little worried, but decided to go for broke. It is hard to tell what someone you don't know will do with your car if we let them mess with it. We hoped to get to our Conroe dealer for him to check it out. Car Travel Life Family
Now this car has 124,370 miles on it, so it doesn't owe us much. [We got it used four years ago from a LOL--a little old lady--having only 16,000 miles on the 1999 Cad then.] Sure enough, it was coughing a little when going up hills, but it got us home pretty well.
The problem was a leaking fuel pressure regulator. The dealer in Conroe replaced the regulator and fuel filter. I also requested a spark plug change--the originals had lasted those 124K miles--and a check of the plug wires, which needed replacing.
That was $748.50 parts and labor, but with my $69.96 senior discount it came down to $678.54. Free was a Goodwrench Multi-Point Vehicle Inspection which the rest of the car was fine, even the belts and hoses. The wiper blades could be replaced, I will do that. There wasn't any way I could get to all those spark plugs.
One other thing, I think we insulted this older car when we brought it home. There was no place at the inn, it had to stay out in the driveway. No, we aren't replacing it. But it did lose its garage spot for a week.
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Sitting here in the garage, where Mrs. Jim's car belongs is Karen's new (hybrid) Toyota Prius, the one she bragged on about the tremendously good gas mileage. That is my 1950 Ford beside it, the '98 Mustang GT convertible is to the left of the little school desk. Mom's 1974 Mustang II Ghia is in Conroe with Mema, in her garage.
We are keeping the Prius for a week, while Karen is abandoning the U.S. She didn't want it left at the airport.
Even though it gets around 50 miles to a gallon, she left it empty for us. Mrs. Jim bought $12.00 worth, which was only four gallons. But those four gallons should take it around 200 miles.
*** A tidbit: Our trip to Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska and back to Texas was about 2400 miles. Coming back from Iowa was 1167 miles, using 47 gallons of premium gas. That is 24.8 mpg, for a total fuel bill of around $290. We generally drove between 70 and 77 miles an hour. The car sure runs a lot better now with the tune-up and fuel system repaired. BTW, our hotel bills were $57.00 with our senior discount.
Friday, August 04, 2006
The Jim Bunch eats again . . .
The Jim Bunch is eating here with some friends, lots of friends. We were at church Wednesday night. The menu was fried catfish***, hush puppies, French fries, onion rings, cole slaw, salad, and banana pudding (with coffee). It was all very good, we all cleaned our plates.
In case you're wondering about my plate being fuller than the others, they all had a fifteen minute headstart on me. I had been doing some shopping. Food+and+Drink Food Homeless Friends
The other six at our table and the lady standing were all in the Sunday school class that we bailed out of. The class got to be 150 strong, with well over 100 coming every Sunday. So a new class was started and we went there. Our new class now has about 60 members, average attendance is in the high thirties. Our former class has grown to over 130 again now
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An orientation is in order here: to the right is our sanctuary; on the left is the old Conroe Main Street, purchased by the church and enclosed by this facade and roof; and behind that is the library, a new kitchen, and a large dining room; upstairs are classrooms.
To the left is the gymnasium, also used for a contemporary worship service. Once every fifteen months the gym and accompaning classrooms and the old kitchen are turned into sleeping quarters, eating room and play space for four or five homeless families we will host.
The hosting is shared with fourteen other Montgomery County churches who are affiliated with Montgomery County Interfaith Hospitality Network. This organization is assotiated with Interfaith Hospitality Networks (NIHN), a national organization.
You can read about NIHN at http://www.nihn.org/index.html
The link to our local group is http://www.mcihn.org/
Our Sunday school class volunteers to help one night of this week. We become host families, members bring the evening meal, and one person drives those who don't have cars to and from the day center, shool, or work. Two will spend the night at the church. Generally ten to twelve class families are involved for that night.
It is very rewarding to see these displaced families get back on their feet again. Oh yes, on Wednesday nights, the church provides the food. They would have liked this week's fried catfish.
*** An unnamed relative in Nebraska noted that after eating Southern fried catfish she wouldn't be wanting Nebraska catfish for quite a while.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Good news! Google is now a real verb
"Main Entry: goo·gle
Pronunciation: 'gü-g&l
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): goo·gled; goo·gling /-g(&-) li[ng]/
Usage: often capitalized
Etymology: Google, trademark for a search engine: to use the Google search engine to obtain information about (as a person) on the World Wide Web" (definition source link)
Our house has been using Google that way for quite some time now, a lot of times even when we use another search engine. Google Web Internet
Does that mean it might become generic? Google had better be protecting their name! [Shades of the Xerox ads, "this is a Xerox, this copy machine is not a Xerox."]
***[per Lutrov Communications, http://lutrov.com/blog/category/google/]
Remember those 39 golf balls that Cousin John gave us, now there are . . .
.These five came out right away. Mrs. Jim washed them all and then golfed with these Tuesday. (Those 39 balls and the story)
These balls are some of the best, nothing is to good for my Mrs. Jim. Yes, some things are too expensive for my Mrs. Jim, but nothing is too good for her.
Mrs. Jim's favorite playing ball is the Noodle ball. Noodle balls are made by xyc Company. For sure we can't say Mrs. Jim doesn't use her Noodle in her game. Golf Sports Family Life Photos
I will use the Titleists. They are dependable and hit fairly far for me.
Both of us will use Callaways and Nikes when we have them. We don't buy them, either we find them or our high roller kids will give us theirs after they have played nine holes with them. Tim does give me a few new ones every now and then. They just plain cost more money than Mrs. Jim or I want to pay for golf balls. Family Golf Sports
Mrs. Jim took two others out also. One is a no label dud ball. It doesn't bounce good for sure. The other cull is a Titleist XOut***. Mrs. Jim doesn't play with XOuts, but I do. This Titleist doesn't bounce good, so maybe it will stay a cull.
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These, then, are the remaining thirty-three. Wait! There are thirty-four here! I think an imposter sneaked in someplace. We will check on that!
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*** XOut balls are factory seconds and sell new for half price or less. They play just about as good as a first quality, often the defect is cosmetic. There isn't any snob appeal at all though.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Oklahoma starting QB Bomar kicked off team
College+Football Football Sports
This is a terrible way to start the season. Not that there are a lot of Oklahoma fans reading this Corn Husker (link) blog, but, well, this just isn't right, what a way for an opponent to get hurt.
Shero - - - She's my shero!
From the August 02, 2006, e-mailing
Shero: a female hero; a heroine
Example: That girl just saved my life! She's my shero!
We say goodbye to Iowa. And goodbye to Jim and Lois. Next is hello to Nebraska. Then hello to Texas, our home sweet home
.Adi is posing with her aunt and uncle for a goodbye picture. We enjoyed staying with Lois and Jim (my sister and bro-in-law). You have seen most of our local tours.
I missed getting a picture for the Jim Bunch Eating again the night before we left. Jim grilled hamburgers and brats. I had one of each. Lois had made some nice cherry bars for dessert. Of course we had all the other goodies, like potato salad, beans, cottage cheese, and chips and pickles of all sorts.
You have already seen the Tekamah, Nebraska, evening. The Jim Bunch did eat there, all four "J" cousins. (link)
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Was Lois afraid Adi would fall off this rock? Both these pictures are taken with a partial view of their new home in Center Point, Iowa.
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On our last full day in Iowa, we visited the Amana Colonies again, at Amana, Iowa. We all voted (the three that got to vote, Adi couldn't, and Jim was nice and would go wherever we wanted) to do some antiquing.
The antique place would be Smokehouse Square Antiques showroom and sales. I enjoyed that almost as much as the ladies. No money was left at the store that day, but there were some desirables for each of us.
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After the antique shopping, we got an early start on lunch. Here are three of the four Jim Bunch Eats guys. The Ox Yoke Inn is Jim and Lois' fav. Lois and I had a plate of delicious ribs, Mrs. Jim had veal, and Jim (bro-in-law)had steak.
Our first course was cottage cheese and sauerkraut, complete with freshly baked bread. The entree was served with mashed potatoes with brown gravy and fresh corn, both served family style as was the previous cheese and kraut offering.
Dessert was pie, each of us had a different selection. Mrs. Jim had rhubarb, Jim (bro-in-law) had banana creme, Lois had lemon, and I had coconut creme. They were all excellent.
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After lunch, I went to the visitor center. It wasn't very exciting, but the climb to the top of the cupola had me puffing. The building had formerly been a granary.
The climb was well worth it, here is one of the pictures of the Amana Colonies I took from the windows up there. It wasn't raining, the picture was taken through a glass window its screen for the effects you see here.
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I was glad once more that I had gotten my worn-out foot toughened by walking around Europe this spring. The blocks were long and the temp was warm, in the mid 80s. This was taken from the corner across from the visitor center. The Ox Yoke is up the street on the left, beyond what you see.
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Now most guys get a little tired, emotionally, not physically, of all that shopping. Pretty soon one handicraft looks like another handicraft and we can't tell rhubarb wine from grape or gingham from suede.
There is a relief at Amana though. I don't remember this shop's name, its top floor, the attic, was turned into a farm room. They had sold out of John Deere "Bs" which was our first farm tractor in 1942. I have been looking for one; they show up on eBay, I just haven't bought one yet. (My last eBay purchase was a 1948 Ford Convertible, 1:18 scale.)
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You might think this was in the farm room but these toys are at Dad's nursing home. We stopped in to tell him goodbye. Lois had brought him some chocolate stars and we all indulged. Big Jim and Little Jim Bunch here eating another time, how about that?
Aren't those nice trucks? The Red Hat ladies and the Construction Guys (they gave Dad his hard hat)(July 24 posting) made toys for a fundraiser.
The residents helped too. The day before we had watched one of the men residents painting the trucks and the benches. He was doing a good job, I didn't know they would turn out this nice.
. Do you think Adi is sad because she is leaving Iowa?
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And now this from last night's Boston Legal:
"I have to represent him, I gave him my word."
"Oh please, we're lawyers" said Denny Crane to Alan Shore .
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Labels: Adi, Eating, Family, Feet, Foot, Humor, Jim Does, Toys, Travel
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
My truck story, Part I - - - - - also, Thirty-nine presents from Cousin John
.These are golf balls that John (picture link) gave to me. He found them in the Tekamah, Nebraska, cemetery. It is adjacent to the golf course.
My truck story, Part I
Cousins John and Ione and I carpooled during our years at Tekamah High School. I was fourteen and old enough to drive. I started there in the eleventh grade, after spending the first ten in one and two-room country schools. Ione was a freshman, so we both were new at this school. John rode with us during my senior year.
Dad had me fixed up with a very nice 1937 Ford, the previous (original) owner was a little old lady (LOL). That even car smelled like LOLs. It was so nice.
Then Dad decided the '37 wasn't safe enough for me because it had mechanical brakes. After one week of my enjoying the older Ford, Dad traded it in on a new 1949 Ford pickup. I think he wanted a pickup, as that was just the beginning days of Nebraska men and their pickup affairs.
.We were the cat's meow in the new black Ford pickup and didn't even know it. [I know, this picture is of a red '50 Ford pickup, it isn't the one I drove to high school.]
I got the pickup stuck twice on school runs. One was coming home from school in a blizzard and I got it stuck trying to plow and run through a deep snowdrift in the road. I can't remember how we got out. I can almost remember a friendly neighbor pulling us through with his tractor.
The other time was when the frost had gone out of the oat stubble. I didn't realize that, so when John met me at halfway down his lane I tried to turn around in the once frozen, but now thawed, field. Uncle Howard, John's dad retrieved us that time with his tractor.
I also had three accidents (that counted) with Dad's pickup. None were my fault, one was when a drunk drove across the road at me. I couldn't take to the ditch because there was a high gravel ridge running along my side of the road, waiting to be graded upon the road.
The accident that didn't count was the time I ran it into a pile of dirt in a city street and knocked most of the dirt back into the hole it came from, along with a big yellow caution barricade. I had let my passengers off at school and was picking up my friend, Lonnie, who lived in town.
To this day, only Lonnie and I know how it was that I ran over the dirt pile. It didn't look like much damage was done to anybody, so we just kept on to the school; after brooming off the dirt from the truck of course.
Wouldn't you know it, but halfway through first period I had a call down to the office. I had no idea why because I just didn't get calls to go there.
The town marshal was there with the principal. And I got the third degree. I had to convince them that it was an accident, which it was. When they believed that, I was free to go.
Maybe if I had told the whole truth of why the accident happened, the outcome might have been different. I had seen that principal grab kids by the shoulders and bang them up against the wall before, and thoughts of that were going through my mind. Just a little.
Sister, Lois, drove that pickup to high school after I was gone. She was pretty hard on it too. I know she knocked out a mailbox with it. She was in love with the song it sang as it hummed and whistled down down the road. I had forgotten that part until just now.
That Ford was a nice pickup. More about it and me later.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Free Wine Tasting Here
Friends Here are all the comments on my Saturday, July 29, 2006, post:
"In the South, y'all is singular; all y'all is plural."
12 Comments (so far)
Got this blurb this morning by e-mail:
"In the South, y'all is singular; all y'all is plural." Mrs. Jim says that isn't right, y'all is plural in itself and you don't have to say all y'all. South Southern Education Life
Her southernish never has y'all for singular, because all is plural.
I don't argue with Mrs. Jim about Southern things because she is from Louisiana.
Any thoughts here? If you aren't a Southerner, your opinion will be somewhat discounted.
Comments (note, Susie's was the most complete, but not necessarily correct)
Britmum said...
O.k. I am English so I guess I have no thoughts on the subject. LOLTake care xx
Sat Jul 29, 12:08:41 PM CDT
Karen said...
I think that Dallas skyline sure looks pretty!!!
Sat Jul 29, 12:19:53 PM CDT
[She didn't answer the question, did she? Again, I put the picture she guessed correctly at the bottom here]
Bossy Britches said...
lets see, i am not southern, but i have big assperations of becming a southern belle in the near futrue.and I would have to say that y'all is plural and all y'all is just plain assnine:)
Sat Jul 29, 01:25:49 PM CDT
Seeker said...
I'm not a southerner, but some of my best friends are.....p.s. They tell me "y'all" can be used as singular or plural, but "all y'all" is definitely plural.
Sat Jul 29, 01:27:52 PM CDT
Alisa said...
Hmmmm I agree with Seeker... I've been referred to as a "ya'll" by myself, so that would be indicitave of a singular usage. Had I been with someone else they might have worded it "all ya'll"
Sun Jul 30, 01:00:07 AM CDT
susie said...
Okay, a southerner born and bred will speak:
"Ya'll" is plural."
Ya'll all" is for emphasis, such as in, "Ya'll all be sure and visit her."
"All ya'll" is for urgent emphasis, such as, "All ya'll stop hitting your sister RIGHT NOW!"
Sun Jul 30, 10:13:38 PM CDT
susie said...
P.S. Did I win something?
Sun Jul 30, 10:15:06 PM CDT
Jim said...
Susie, you win my respect, whether you are right or not!..
Sun Jul 30, 10:54:07 PM CDT
Cliff Morrow said...
I'll bet someone from Nebraska shouldn't enter this conversation.
Mon Jul 31, 07:33:43 AM CDT
Jim said...
Cliff, you could voice an opinion, it might be discounted just a little. Nebraska doesn't really count to be North or South.
Mon Jul 31, 08:00:46 AM CDT
Rachel said...
I agree with Susie!
Mon Jul 31, 08:50:05 AM CDT
Jim said...
Rachel, there is only one prize...
Mon Jul 31, 09:00:46 AM CDT
Sunday, July 30, 2006
A couple of guys: one with a bottle of wine and a dog; the other, Ok? - - - - What is going on here?
Friends Dogs Dog Religion+and+Philosophy Drink WineWell?
BTW, I don't think they are related to those two old geezers Poopie found (link).
