Existing In BFE

This is a picture of the Notre Dame wooded original roof supports.  This was built in the 1100's from trees that had been planted 700 years before.   That's the kind of stuff fire adores. ++++++++++ The diminutive Mr. Reich is right, of course.  And more than half of all government programs are socialist in nature, too.  "Socialist" has become ingrained with Russian communism but is not the same.  We are just too often looking for easy reference points. ++++++++++     I was in the Funbus the other day trying to fiddle with the radio, and air conditioning settings while driving.  It was virtually impossible.  By design?  It is too complex an equation these days (yes, I know the scan button).  Remember when radios were as simple as the Chevy in the above picture.  Not to get all "I had to walk three miles in the snow to school" on you, but not every advance in automobile engineer...

Somewhere around 1991-1993 in the porch of the family homestead in Seaton.  I'm not sure what Brendan is doing here, or holding, but since he was a big TMNT aficionado (see his shirt?) he may be preparing to vanquish a bad guy.  And if you don't know what TMNT stands for you didn't have kids in this time span.   Marj sits with a Mona Lisa smile.  It is a smile of a mother whose family has come home.      

Florida sucks.  There may be pockets of good somewhere but if there is I've not found it.  I hear Disneyland is OK, but that's really not my thing.  St. Augustine is full of history and that might be ncie, but it is 4 hours away.  I'd like to go to the Everglades someday, but it seems to be a typical Florida place.  A hot tropical landscape infested with snakes and gators, and likely what every tourist stop is down here:  a place you want to check out...once. Here, then is my list for reasons to avoid this god-forsaken state. 1.  It is almost always too hot.  Winter lasts six weeks.  Summer (the 3rd Circle of Hell) lasts the rest of the time.  And after it rains in hot afternoon hours, it's like being in a microwave in defrost mode.  Northlandia has four seasons that seems hugely sensible. 2.  Snakes.  The whole state is covered with them.  Big ones, little ones, poisonous ones, and those titanic fuckers th...

++++++++++ I guess I'm back for a week or two until I head up North.   ++++++++++ ++++++++++ ++++++++++ Here is Lady Ayla blowing all us paparazzi a kiss.  ++++++++++ ++++++++++ Had my annual physical this past week and it was the first time they asked me who was President and what month it was.  Time and tide waits for no one. ++++++++++ This GIF is in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Wombie who, being the mischievous imps they are, like to place Scream masks in front of select people's houses.   The first time I became aware of this particular aberration of theirs was when I jogged the 2017 Rhubarb 5K.  As I was trotting along I glanced over and saw their plum colored Chevy and on a stick outside the window was a Scream mask.  I have also been a witness to the mask placement in a corn field in front of a friend's house.   They're a scream. ++++++++++ ...

Me and Bro Phil sometime in college.  The setting is unknown to me although it could have been the Country Club in Aledo.  Frankly it doesn't look like it to me so who knows.  Maybe Bro Phil knows.   On my right hand you see the high school class ring that I lost in a meatloaf at the Mary Davis Home.  It also looks like I am drinking a full strength Budweiser.  I'm smiling like I've had a few full strength Budweisers.   Bro Phil is wearing a Phi Delt fraternity sweatshirt and I was really into plaid.  Looks like maybe 2nd or third year in college.  The Wombie was probably in Missouri at school, which would explain his absence.  Other than that I have no info on this.   I'm taking next week off.  I have nothing in the queue and nothing to share.  No need to be painful about it, so I'll just take the week off.    

We all like lists.  I'm not sure I know why, but give a guy a 3 page essay or a list of 20 items and people will go for the list every time.  It, I'm sure, has everything to do with conciseness but probably an equal measure of laziness.  Whatever, today I present a list from a guy who lived for 2,000 years and surely learned a thing or two in all that time. Robert Heinlein wrote a book in 1973 called Time Enough For Love about the guy mentioned above.  His name was Lazarus Long.  Always store beer in a dark place. Small change can often be found under seat cushions. If you don’t like yourself, you can’t like other people. It’s amazing how much “mature wisdom” resembles being too tired. Certainly the game is rigged. Don’t let that stop you; if you don’t bet, you can’t win. Get a shot off fast. This upsets him long enough to let you make your second shot perfect. The truth of a proposition has nothing to do with its credibility. And vice versa. ...

What?  Too soon?

++++++++++ Liberty Mutual Insurance makes the most mind-numbing, IQ-eradicating commercials on TV.  They just insured that I will never buy a thing from them.  ++++++++++ ++++++++++ If I take a walk to get 10,000 steps and I take Whizzy, does she get 20,000? ++++++++++ ++++++++++ ++++++++++ A newly hatched Monarch drying his wings.  This whole butterfly thing has gotten out of control.  Milkweed plants are being bought and placed in the garden area with caterpillars being tracked like NORAD tracks Russian bombers.  Neighbors are walking over to see progress of pods.  Me? Meh.  But it is crazy.   ++++++++++ Taxes were done for another year.  As pain free and as cheap as anytime I can remember.  I wonder why. ++++++++++ I hope my friends Neighbor Tim and Neighbor Carrie, who are vacationing in Puerto Rico, watch what's in th...

Back to Sarasota-Bradenton International airport to see a rare flying aircraft. By the way, rides were first-come-first-served and the average age was probably 80 by the looks of the older people floating in and out.  Kind of makes sense when you figure this was 73 years old itself. I was fascinated by the lines attached to the ailerons.  Looks pretty primitive that the cockpit controls would maneuver these lines exposed outside.   I forget what they said about these engines.  They had a name of course but I have forgotten. The pilot said an old VW Beetle was faster than this thing.  It only takes 40 mph for liftoff.  Amazing.    Lots of window area for the flight crew. The Tim Goose is almost 80 feet wide. A damn sweet piece of American Aviation history. Ground view of the cockpit. Paying passengers boarding for their 15 minute flight. Video taken by me. ...