Water Heater....again

Back in early December, right after my surgery, our water heater started leaking.  We got it replaced.  Ever since that time Kim has complained that the water wasn't near as hot as the prior one.  I adjusted the temperature from 125 up to 140.  She couldn't tell much difference.  I even noticed that the water temperature was very inconsistent compared to the last one.  Sometimes having to turn on just the hot water with out cold to get a shower that was as warm as before.  You can always expect some water temp differences due to various factors. i.e. someone just showered before you or a load or two of laundry.  This was significantly different.  Kim started measuring the temperature of the water from the faucet nearest the water heater.  I don't really know how hot it was supposed to be considering there should be some drop off by loss of heat through the pipes.  But she was getting a reading of only 107*  almost every time.  She got 125* once.  As I said, very inconsistent.  She called the installers and they said they would come check it out.

As it turns out, this water heater has two thermostats.  It didn't even tell us that in the owners manual.  The one we didn't know about was set at 120*.  The installer told us that having two different temp settings was probably causing our inconsistent water temps.  I hope so, cuz if Momma ain't happy.......



 

BTW, it appears that it now works to her satisfaction.

Maybe I should immortalize that in leather somehow....maybe not.

Spectacular weather here, feel sorry for all my friends in the colder regions, well not really.  They  predicted a record high.  I don't think it got as warm as they thought, or like a couple days ago when it was in the mid 80's.  Yes, I'm gloating.  You will have your chance to get back at me this summer when it gets 100+ and it feels like a blast furnace with that SW wind. 

 

I have had considerable issues with heat over years.  I used to do some living history and those wool uniforms were pretty miserable wearing them in the summer here.  Got heat exhaustion/stroke several times.  Now I am paying the price.  I don't tolerate heat well at all.  Doesn't take much to get me really messed up.

A question for you other bloggers.  I'm a noob at this so haven't figured everything out yet, and probably never will.  If you haven't noticed I added a live traffic feed to the blog.  Just for my own curiosity.  It does not correspond at all to Bloggers data.  Blogger says I get traffic from a bunch of other countries, most notably China.  None of those ever show up in the live feed.  In fact there are many many less that show on the live feed than do on the Blogger data.  It may show 3-5 per day yet blogger shows 40-50.  What gives?  Any ideas?

Happy Trails.

TBT

Yes, I guess yesterday's post was pretty much a Throwback with all the reminiscing I did.

Always with a hat and boots

 

Always playing cowboys

 

I think everyone has this done back then

 

Wish I had that car now.  What make and model?

 

Really wish I had that one too.  Can you tell what it is?  Leave an answer in the comments.

 

Can you tell being a cowboy was a big deal to me?

 

I grew up a-dreamin' of bein' a cowboy,

And Lovin' the cowboy ways.
Pursuin' the life of my high-ridin' heroes,
I burned up my childhood days.
I learned of all the rules of the modern-day drifter,
Don't you hold on to nothin' too long.
Just take what you need from the ladies, then leave them,
With the words of a sad country song.
My heroes have always been cowboys.
And they still are, it seems.
Sadly, in search of, but one step in back of,
Themselves and their slow-movin' dreams.

 

 

Rodeo Time

It is getting close to time for the Stock Show and Rodeo.  It's a pretty big deal here.  Kim tries to gear up for it at the resort.  They get a lot of folks from out of town that come down to either participate or attend the events.  When I say participate, they won't be the actual cowboys at the resort, maybe vendors and such.  It has snuck up on me as it usually does, I'm blaming Kim.  It has been a big deal for her business even before she went out on her own.  Ever since I got into working leather a couple years ago she wants items geared to that.  She tends to forget I need a huge lead time to produce just one item not to mention having quite few related items on hand.  I ordered some materials today, but I doubt I can get everything done by the opening.  It lasts 2 weeks so it gives me a bit more time.  It's still her fault, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  If you don't see any posts from me after this you will know she read this.

We don't usually attend much, we have in the past, mainly in order to see a specific performer.  A couple years ago we went just to the stock show.  They also have various events that qualify participants for the main stage.  Have you ever seen a male barrel racer.  I hadn't either and had never heard of one.  But there he was, competing with the ladies.  He was almost as old as I was.  Maybe old age was setting in on him a little more than most and wasn't thinking to clearly lol.  Actually, I am pretty sure I knew him.  Our parents were friends more years ago than I care to admit, and so we were too.  I never would have expected him to be a barrel racer, and competing against the ladies.  I don't know.

I remember one of the times I was taken to the rodeo by my grandparents.  Rex Allen was the big name performer that came to town in those days.

That was just fine with me, he was one of my heroes back then.  As he came in or left the arena. I don't remember which, he would ride his horse, Koko, around the rails of the arena greeting all the fans.  We were seated on the rail, he got to us and stopped and let me pet his horse.  That was pretty 'neato', as we would say back then. 

There wasn't ever a prettier horse

Made me a lifetime fan.  I still remember his narrating all those Disney nature films.  I saw him one other time when I was a bit older.  I was on the school safety patrol and was the crossing guard for a crosswalk to our school.  It was rodeo time then too.  It was morning and I was standing at the crosswalk and there comes this pick-up and horse trailer driving by.  It was Rex Allen and Koko.  It was blazoned on the trailer.  He was by himself.  Just what you would expect from a real cowboy.  No fancy bus, no driver, just him, his pick-up and his trusty horse.  Very humble, what we wanted from our heroes back then. 

 

Remember when all our heroes were cowboys?

I miss the '50's

And as one of my other Heroes used to sing

 

Happy Trails

Monday Sunrise

Kim got up extra early to head into town.  She woke me up and I noticed the lighting outside was a bit unusual.  It was the sunrise and it was spectacular.  These just don't do it justice at all. 

Here is Monday's Texas hill Country sunrise in all it's glory.

 

 

 

I took a lot more photos than this but these were the only ones that really turned out OK.  Took a while to get the correct setting on the camera, I hadn't put my glasses on yet so I couldn't see what the fire I was doing.  The lighting had already changed in the few seconds I was trying to get out to shoot photos. 

 

We have a friend from church that was having surgery and my cousin was also having surgery.  I would have gone normally, however I still have issues from my own surgery that would become problematic in that type situation.  However I can and will get by for a short visit.  They both did well in surgery.  They both have a long road ahead of them.  It seems I know a lot of people that are having a lot of health issues lately and the list keeps growing.  I was talking with my other cousin last night and he knows 11 people that have some form of cancer.  That's a lot it seems to me.  O know a few and they were all on his list.  I have a lot to be thankful for and I am.  I pray for them.

 

Happy Trails

Frozen

Don't worry, not gonna play that annoying song or sing it for you.

It has been pretty wet here since Thursday.  A couple areas just north of us had snow flurries.  Some places had just enough snow to cover the ground.  I was going to post a video of snow falling in Luckenbach, yes, it's a real place, not to far from me.  But there was no way for me to figure out how to get it on here as there was no URL and it wasn't on Utube.  So you get this instead:

 

 

We had almost 3 inches of rain total.  There was never a threat for freezing rain, just some light snow flurries in some areas, including where we are.  Saturday was bright and sunny, but also woke up to a light freeze that wasn't predicted.  We have a few tender plants we cover when we suspect a freeze.  Well, we didn't cover them and it froze.  Although a light freeze only 31*.  We had a lot of rain so I am thinking there won't be much permanent damage, at least not to the lower areas of the plants and certainly not the roots.   It will just require more work from me when it gets warm.  More pruning and cleanup of dead ends.  There is always some clean up anyway. 

Time to start thinking about my garden.  Started researching some soil to haul in for my small above ground plot.  Hope to find some soil that is really fertile.  Will supplement it with some compost also.  Only need about a 1/2 cubic yard.  That is about all I can haul in my little truck.  Probably all I want to move in a wheel barrow from the truck to the back of the house anyway. 

Have never been really successful with a garden where we live now and pretty much had given up ever having one again.  The major issue has been Tomato Blossom Rot.  Big ugly black rot on the bottom of my tomatoes.  Then learned something about it.  So I am going to give it another try and implement the new info.  Just have to figure out the amount/timing. 

The things I like to grow the most are tomatoes.  I think almost everyone that has a small garden grows them.  May have enough room for 6 plants and that would produce more than we could eat.  Just need to decide what else I want.  Probably yellow squash and some onions.  Not much room for anything else.  Squash takes up a lot or room.  Wanted to try some watermelon but that too takes a bit more room than I have.  Just need to convince Kim to learn canning.  That may be harder than working in the garden, if you know what I mean.

Then there are the rabbits.  They have made off with ornamental cabbage and Swiss Chard in the past.  I will probably plant some Marigolds to try and persuade them to stay out and maybe some netting over the entire garden.  I don't want to put in all that work and lose it to rabbits and birds.  As small as it will be they could devastate it pretty quickly.   

Happy Trails

Friday



 

A few cartoons for today, yes I like the weird ones

 

 

 

 

Happy Trails have a great weekend

Rain

It started raining last night.  It's still raining today.  We have already had 2 inches and it's still coming down.  This is a good thing for this part of Texas.  Our aquifer level has been very low the last few years.  This is due to an extreme drought that we have been undergoing.  Even though we had normal rainfall for the year in '14, we have such a deficit that those rains have been unable to make up.  Consequently the water table remains low.  I could just do without that howling wind we are getting, sheesh.

 

Here are a couple small leather projects I put together recently.  They are from kits, they have zipper closures.  That is why I used kits, I don't have a machine that will stitch them in. 

 

 

As you can see they are pretty small.  Can be used to carry small cosmetics, pills, extra ammo etc. on a lanyard or keychain when you want your hands free i.e. walking a dog.  No profit in these for the price I can charge but they can attract attention to the other items when displayed.

 

Kim cooked up some venison steaks yesterday.  Chicken fried is the way to go and she does it most excellent. 

 



 

Young deer, no gamy taste at all.  Better than I remembered.  I'm thinking a batch of picadillo for tacos is next.

 

 

 

Happy Trails.

 

Tuesday

Didn't have much to say, actually nothing, yesterday.  Still not much today either.  Kim has gone to her weekly Ladies Bible Class and I am here fighting with the internet before I try to finish up a couple small leather projects.  For the last month, or maybe longer, the my connection to the wild weird web has been very spotty.  It never shows disconnected, it just won't load or stops loading pages.  I reboot the modem everyday and it helps sometimes, others like today, it seems to get worse.  The ISP I use has never been able to figure it out completely so I don't call them out anymore.  A couple times they tried to tell me I didn't have enough RAM.  I have 32G of RAM and you tell me that?  It's their standard fallback when they can't help you over the phone from Idiotstan or wherever the heck they are.  It is so hard to make yourself understood and they can hardly get away from reading their instructions to you long enough to listen.  They have pretty much broken me of ever calling unless it is a total outage.  Seriously considering going with another provider, however they are even more expensive and I have heard bad things about them.

The weather is just spectacular yesterday and today.  They say there is another front coming in sometime late Tuesday.  Wish this weather would stick around a bit longer.  I have a real hankering to head down to the coast and just sit on the beach.  That's a pretty long trip for a guy that just had his prostate removed.  Not sure that would be a good thing to do but I NEED to get out there.  I am trying to be patient.  A friend asked me the other day if things were getting better 'down there' since the surgery.  I told him yes, but truly there has been very little change in function if at all, just less sensitive.  Consequently a long road trip presents problems. 

Anyone watch the SOTUS?  I used to watch them all.  I haven't bothered since the first one that this occupier of the White House gave.  There isn't a thing he has to say that I care about at all.  I do know that he wants to raise various taxes as per news I have read.  Will the RINO's go along with that?  Normally I wouldn't think so, but with Boner in charge of the House and McWeenie in charge of the Senate, you never know.

SMH.

Happy Trails

Slows

I really had the 'slows' Sunday.  No real energy and no desire to really do anything.  Even dozed in front of the TV instead of working leather or reading.  I was a real slacker. 

Kim went to a 'reveal' party, I just couldn't muster the energy.  I didn't know there was such a thing.  My niece is pregnant and they are having a party to reveal whether it is a boy or girl.  Really?  I know, I know, most everyone these days seems to find out the sex of the infant with the ultra sound thing.  I like the idea of waiting until the birth actually happens.   

Yes, I am old fashioned and never have been accused of being anything other than that.  I'm OK with that.  I mentioned to Kim how I could be happy living in a time like the 50's and be perfectly happy.  Of course my memory of that is from my childhood so it is obviously a view through the eyes of a child, but is that so bad?  It just seemed like a more innocent time.  Maybe innocent isn't the right word, but we didn't seem to have a lot of the ugly issues we have today, or at least they weren't spoken of in polite society.  Perverts were still perverts instead of 'alternative lifestyle,' evil was still evil even if it called itself a peaceful religion, and Christians weren't thought of as the enemy.  That's right, I'm not PC if you weren't aware before.

I still listen to 50's rock n roll, I don't let my underwear be seen in public, and I comb my hair when I get up, and don't wear pajamas as pants in public, SMH. 

 

 

I'm done now.

Happy Trails.

Appointment

I got a 'recorded' call from my surgeons office.  I was scheduled for a follow up visit on March 6, 3 months post surgery.  The call told me I must reschedule and to call them back.  Really?  If you used a real person to notify me they could do that right then.  As it turns out I was in the middle of something unimportant and didn't call them back right away. I called the next day.  I now am rescheduled to April 10, a full month later.

They will be checking my PSA for the first time since my surgery.  It must read a 0.0 since I have no prostate.  They tell me I should have a 0.0 reading for the next year before they consider other options (i.e. testosterone therapy).  I assume that if the numbers are something other than 0 there is a problem, like the cancer was not totally removed.  I don't know for certain but I am pretty sure that is the case.  Yes, there is some trepidation there.  Have been able to keep any dark thoughts away, and will most likely this too, but the waiting to find out is just ..........

Have a great weekend and Happy Trails

Grandkids

We have the Grandkids for the night.  It is always a delight.  Funny how they seem to show up right at lunch almost every time lol.  Danica (Granddaughter) came in wearing her purse I made and it is just stuffed full.  They start that girly stuff pretty young it seems, or at least she did.  Her Mom says she takes that purse everywhere.  :D  

They are home schooled so we get to try out their lessons that their Mom brought with them.  This should be interesting.  I think Nani will handle that. 

Buster just loves having them come over, although he is worn plumb out after they leave.  His herding instinct really kicks in when they are here.  He has to keep them in his sight, if not he starts to worry and whine.  He is good at his job.

 

Fortunately the weather has cleared and warmed up a bit.  Nani (Kim) will take them over to the park in our neighborhood to try out the new equipment then probably to their lessons.  When they came back it was time for face painting.

Logan wanted to be the Hulk.  He asked me if he looked like the Hulk.  I told him he looked like the 'little Hulk,' he thought that was cool.

 

Dolphins and waves.

 

 

It will be much to quiet when they leave, and we will be tired but happy and missing them already.

I made a pot of caldo de res (beef soup).  We ate that for lunch. 

 

 

It was pretty good yet not enough spices for my taste.  I will make some adjustments on the next pot.  Kim was skeptical, it has a lot of things in there she doesn't eat like, celery and cabbage.  However I got her to try it, she left out the cabbage and celery lol, and she even had seconds.  I don't normally eat those items either (especially celery) unless they are in soup and I think they are great then.

Read about this the other day.  old gun found in National Park 

Oh how I wish I had found it.  Well maybe not, I would have had a hard time giving it back to the NPS.   Still would have made my year to find that.

Happy Trails

TBT

Been feeling a bit nostalgic

This is the day we met, we were set up, I didn't know.

 

Jan 01 1975, she just said YES.

 

 

First day home

 

 

Sometimes it snows here, we got 13.5 inches later that year

 

 

With the boys

 

 

 

 

It Didn't Work

Kim went out to run a bunch of errands today and I worked on finishing up a leather project.  In the middle of the project she calls me, she locked her keys in the car.  Well this was the time to try out a technique I saw on the book of faces or somewhere else on the wild weird web.  The technique was to call someone that had your spare set of keys with the remote.  The person with the locked car would then hold the phone near the door of the car while the person with the spare remote pressed it.  It was supposed to open the locked door.  Supposed to.  Maybe I did something wrong.  Next thing to do was go get it unlocked for her, 25 miles away.   

A little over an hour later I'm back home trying to finish the project.  Smashed my finger trying to set a rivet on leather that was to thick for that type rivet.  Still smarts.  Anyway, the rifle bolt carrier is finished. 

 

 

Learned some things on this.  Use the right thickness leather.  I thought I could make a good solid feeling carrier with a heavier piece of leather.  It wasn't necessary at all really.  Thinner would have worked just fine and I wouldn't have smashed my stupid finger or stupidly smashed my finger.  He wanted a clip for the belt instead of a loop.  It is attached with one rivet, so it will swivel on the rivet.  I don't particularly like that.  The rivets and snap also prevented the lacing from being the entire length of that side.  It's like that anytime I work on a project that is new to me, one I haven't done before.  There are some things I would do different.  I still have concerns about the fit since I didn't have the actual bolt it will be used for.  But when it comes down to it, that's his problem.  I am pretty sure it will be just fine, not perfect but it will work. 

The billing from my surgery started arriving this week.  Thank goodness for good insurance, whew.  Will get those settled up pretty quick so we don't have to worry about them anymore.

Tomorrow I may take a trip into town.  I want to try to make my own caldo de res.  The weather is perfect for it.  Need to start making a list of things I want in it.   

Happy Trails

Monday

I recently got an email from a reader about making comments on this blog, thanks for the heads up.  So I messed around with the settings and lost all the comments from the beginning of 2015.  So if you notice that you made a comment and it is no longer there, I didn't delete it, google + did that.  I can't get them back, my apologies.  I hope I have corrected the comment section and made it easier to comment.  I don't really know all the in's and out's of this blogging thing so please have patience with me.  I actually may never get it figured out completely.

We had a really good time with our friends at the BBQ joint I was telling y'all about yesterday.  The food was terrific and the visit with friends was even better.  We have been friends with them for over 20 years.  The last few they had been in another couple locations several hours away due to job changes.  We still saw them about twice a year for a very brief time when they would come to visit their sons that just happen to worship where we do.  This was really the first time we had been able to spend any length of time with them in that time frame and it was great to 'catch up.'  It was pretty much like they had never left.  The way it should be with great friends.  We are blessed by their friendship.

As promised here a couple photos of the Ipad cover I delivered Sunday.

It is a very simple design.  If you look at all the commercial covers sold they are pretty elaborate and have sever different ways of attaching to the Ipad.  This is basically just a piece of leather cut to size and is held in place by Velcro strips.  Also when the top is lifted it can be rolled to act as a stand.  This one has an elastic band that wraps around the concho to keep it closed.  It is only intended to cover the screen and offers no protection from drops.  Still trying to finish up the rifle bolt carrier.  The keeper strap is a concern.  I can't really get it sized exactly, I have no idea how the bolt handle will fit, mine is just a straight handle, others can be any sort of way.  I will just have to leave a little slack in it in case the one that it will be used for is different.  I don't think it has to be a tight fit, just enough to keep it from falling out.

It's turning off cold and damp again, but not quite as cold as last week.  No threat of ice or sleet which is just fine with me.

Happy Trails

BBQ road trip

I have been in the mood to hit the road, maybe a few hour trip somewhere and back.  Been stuck here much to long and am getting antsy to GO.  As I mentioned yesterday, maybe a trip with BBQ at the destination.  Kim was obviously thinking the same thing, she made a lunch date to meet some friends, for what else, BBQ.  It won't be much of a road trip, the one we are meeting at is maybe 35 minutes away.

But, they have great Texas BBQ.  If you are an aficionado of smoked meat you will know the difference between Texas BBQ and all the other imposters.

 

Why yes, I am a BBQ snob thank you very much.  You can include chili in my snobbery also.  NO BEANS and it better make you sweat when you eat it.  Tried to find a decent photo of chili but was disturbed by the things I saw, corn? in chili? Turkey chili? sacrilege.

It should be fun even without the road trip, good BBQ and great friends, it just doesn't get much better.

Happy Trails.

Weather, or not

The weather did turn off pretty nasty, but not near as bad as it could have.  It got to just below freezing with light rain coming down.  My old compadres from TxDOT were out closing some of the overpasses due to ice.  No major road closures though.  Glad all the TxDOT folks made it back home safe.  We were sweating out whether Kim would be able to make it over to the resort.  Last week was not profitable and the previous week she was to ill.  So she really wanted to be able to get there and try to make a little.  This time of year it is very little.  The resort slows down and not a lot of guests.  This weather helps Kim with the guests that are there.  They start looking for something to do since the weather has kept them inside.  And there she is with her crafts and she loves working with people.  She would probably do it for free she likes it so much.  Well maybe not free, but you get the idea.  She was able to go as the roads never froze, however, there wasn't much business anyway.  Seems to be that way every January for some reason.  Grateful for what she was able to do anyway.

I was able to spend some time working leather.  It was a perfect day for it.  I think that rifle bolt carrier is going to be pretty nice.  I got the tooling done and it's oiled up and waiting for a resist, antique and then stitching/lacing.  Another couple days and it should be done barring any interruptions.  There is no hurry on this so it may get interrupted anyway.  I am getting antsy for a long drive with maybe some good Bar B Q as a destination.

 

Happy Trails.

Date Night/Day

We went into town Friday to pick up a couple prescriptions and for an early date night.  We haven't had a date night since before my surgery for various reasons.  Date nights on Friday nights don't work to good in the part of town we would go to in the evening.  Every place you go to has a line of folks waiting for a table.  I won't wait long, even more so now with my issues.  If we see a line we just leave before we even get inside.  Only places available without a crowd are generally fast food, not real cool for a date night.  We went to one of our favorite Mexican places.  We both love Puffy Tacos, it's a San Antonio invention.  You won't find it many places other than San Antonio, if you do they most likely have San Antonio roots/influence.  If you come here it's a must but find the right place.  A hole in the wall would be best.

 

 

The waitress said the Caldo de Res (beef soup) was very good, I took her up on that since it is cold and damp, it sounded perfect.  It was.  Probably the best bowl of caldo I have ever had.  They served a bigger bowl than this one.  Very big and chunky veggies.  Just like this one.

It seems this part of Texas is sitting around waiting for a possible ice storm tonight and Saturday.  We are overdue.  It's kinda funny to see how breathless the weather know it alls get when something like this is going on.  Doesn't matter which one you watch, they all seem to get overly excited about bad weather.  I mean they almost look giddy, not worried.  It's good to love your job.

I have gotten the Ipad cover completed, but I won't show photos until I deliver it.  The leather took the stain pretty unevenly.  Not sure I like the way it looks.  Kim says she loves the way it looks with the imperfections in the leather, that's what makes it unique.  Maybe, but I wouldn't want it to look like that if it were mine.  Not much can be done about it though, those imperfections in the leather show up after you have done your work and the stain/dye/antique just makes them stand out.  This is for a good friend, and he won't get charged much at all.  It is personalized, so I can't reclaim it as something else.  I will tell him if he doesn't like it, I will make another.  I am my own biggest critic.  It's probably like that with most people that create, build or make something with their hands.

I have also cut leather for the rifle bolt carrier.  I hope to dress this up more than is expected.  I want it to look much different than the ones he provided as a sample.  They were very plain, this one will have some tooling/scroll work and maybe even some lacing in a contrasting color instead of stitching.  If it looks good enough, maybe a few others can be made for some of his buddies at the range.  They won't get the same discount lol.

Happy Trails.

TBT (Yes I know it's Friday)









Well it was Thursday when I made this up.

 

Oct. 2006 Trip to Wolf Creek Pass

(click on each photo for a better view)

 

Buster in snow for the first time at Lobo Overlook



 

 

Quakies

Near Pagosa Springs

 

Williams Reservoir

 

Between Wolf Creek Pass and Pagosa Springs

 

Happy Trails

Intolerant

Went to lunch with Kim in town.  She wanted to meet with her brother and his wife.  Since her parents passed we don't really see them much anymore.  I actually haven't seen them in about 5 years.  Something else always came up when she would schedule these.  I guess this was our family Christmas with them even though that stopped when the parents passed.  My youngest son met us there also.  Combined that trip with taking my brother in to pick up his truck at the auto body shop. 

Kim took an old blanket that had seen better days and cut it in half for Buster to use.  He seems to like it.  One of us will cover him up when he is laying down (no he won't do it himself).  When he gets up he will wander around with that blanket trailing along behind him.  He isn't bothered by it at all and doesn't try to get away from it.  I think he actually likes it.  He's a funny one.

 

Rant warning, I am going to say a few things next that aren't politically correct so if that makes you uncomfortable consider yourself warned.  I won't apologize for my beliefs or principals.

Why yes I am if you consider anyone that doesn't believe Islam is a 'peaceful' religion is intolerant.  I have never considered it that.  Islam has spread it's form of peacefulness at the point of a sword for centuries.  The PC crowd will bend over backwards for Islam for some reason that I can't fathom, yet tolerates nothing regarding Christianity.  They have managed to obliterate any mention of God, Jesus, the Bible and prayer from schools.  Yet they allow classes on Islam in public schools.  How that gets by with the 'anti religion' nuts is just beyond my comprehension.  Well, not really, I do understand how this is happening.  Islam is a false religion, so they see no threat to their anti-God ways or at least the God they are familiar with.  

Even today with the slaughter in Paris we have a Whitehouse spokesman still declaring Islam a religion of peace.  What it boils down to is, if you tell a lie often enough and loud enough people begin to believe it.  They are certainly loud enough.  It's only a matter of time before they have told it long enough.  We are already seeing results of that lie by what we see with the media and politicians pandering to them.  Now the French are paying the price for trusting these animals and letting them turn parts of Paris back to the 10th century, there are places the police won't go to now.  These are all Islamic neighborhoods.  This is happening all over Europe.  Think it can't happen here?

We have forgotten how important history is, how evil can get a foothold because good people won't stand up.  We have almost a whole generation of people now that will not stand up for their principals, or what is right, for fear of being labeled intolerant or some other label.  From Islam, to immorality, to false racism, everyone seems afraid of being labeled by speaking out against those things.  Where is the backbone that was America?  Where are men that know right from wrong?  And there is no 'whatever you believe to be right is right.'  We all know what is right and wrong, it's just that some prefer wrong over right, it's what they enjoy so they attack what is right by labeling those that stand against them.

So am I intolerant?  Yes, I believe Islam is a false religion, with false teachers, yes I believe sexual immorality as defined in the Bible is wrong, yes I believe it is wrong to avoid work to support yourself and your family.  I could go on and on.  If those beliefs make me intolerant, then yes, label me that way.  I will be proud to wear that label. 

Yes my manties are twisted, and it could always be worse, and it just may get worse before we reach a tipping point.

Anyway, I still wish you Happy Trails

Insane

Really?  The republicants put Mr. Whiskey tan back as speaker?  The should have just elected Pelosi, I see no difference.  He has already started pay back on those that didn't vote for him to be speaker again.  He has removed them from their previous jobs.  What a petulant little child.  Insanity prevails in congress. 

This isn't good for my blood pressure to dwell on this crap.  I have nothing good to say so I'll just shut up.

Happy Trails.

Cable and Cell phone providers

We recently went over to our cell phone provider to see if we could get some relief on our bill.  We have always had the cheapest plan they offered for two phones.  We found out that they had offered a newer plan that would save us 30$/month with no limit on voice time.  We got in trouble with that for the first time this last month with my surgery and everyone wanting to talk to Kim about it.  I even had more calls than usual.  So our bill tripled.   That was a shock let me tell you.

Kim is the only one that uses a smart phone and that is because she uses it for her business.  I find no use for a smart phone.  When I am away from the house I don't want to be bothered with all the internet etc. that they are used for.  I don't want to become that person that sits down for a meal and everyone is looking at their smart phones instead of the folks you are with.  We are losing the art of conversation and just visiting with people due to those things.  I also think it is rude to do that, I admit it, I'm old school.

I am really aggravated with the cable company, and myself.  Myself because I have gotten to attached to the convenience of cable.  Time Warner sent us a notice that they would be going up on their service again costing us an extra 10$/month.  Doesn't sound like much but they do this every year and eventually they have 10$/month enough that your bill is pretty high.  I read the things about big cable companies are in trouble and people are dropping them.  I figured I had some ammunition.  I just wanted a basic TV package and our current internet access.  They proceeded to tell me that I have so many discounts that any change to a lesser number of channels would only save me 15$/month.   If I didn't have those discounts my package would be over 200/month  (like thunder)  From well over a thousand channels to just 100 and all I would save is 15?  Of course they tried to sweet talk me into keeping what I have since it is such a good deal.  I told them that I would take the lesser package and would proceed to see what the other company has to offer.  I doubt it will be much if any but this is getting ridiculous.  My brother got aggravated with them too and went with a satellite provider, he still pays more then me.  My oldest son cut the cable over a year ago and they didn't grow horns or turn green.  They kept internet ( he works from home so needs that) and with that came some very basic channels that he doesn't get charged for, plus they use those other services like netflix etc.  I may decide to go that route also.  I just have to convince myself that the few shows I do watch are not that big a deal anyway.  I just can't stand much of what is on the big 3 networks as it is and what cable had offered was and escape from that.  I know I'm spoiled and just need to go cold turkey and quit cable lol.

These two businesses, cell phones and cable TV has become the biggest racket and probably one of the worst detriments to our society.  The way we have become addicted to them is just nuts.  Just my opinion.

Tried a bit of the venison ground meat as chili.  Only made one pound, a lot less then my normal amount of chili.  This was just a quick bit for lunch so didn't follow my usual process ( it's much to hot for Kim).  Not to bad at all except I went a little to heavy with the chili powder.  Don't usually make venison into chili since it is a sweeter meat than beef, but I had them add beef fat to the meat so I didn't notice the sweetness.  And my mistake with the chili powder hid any gamy flavor and probably the sweetness lol.

Next time it will be better.

Happy Trails