Aftermath

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.  Ours was.  The enchiladas turned out as good as I had hoped.  Everyone enjoyed them, at least they say they did.  Son#1 may or may not have had 5 as he states.  If you cook at all, that is very pleasing to the cook or chef.  We had a few leftovers we can enjoy later.  

On top of it all was watching the excitement of my nearly 3 year old Granddaughter.  Oh my, what joy and unbridled exuberance.  That makes it all so worth it.  She just goes and goes and goes and was full out all day.  No wasted energy there.  I had to turn off my hearing aids at one point due to her squeals of delight.  She is totally enamored with her male cousin (11 years old) and she wore him out.  Then we went to her house for breakfast early Christmas morning to watch her get her Santa gifts.  When I say early, we were there before she woke up, around 7:00 AM.  We had to get up around 5:30 AM to get there in time.  From there I went over and picked up my Mom to have breakfast with us.  It was a great weekend.  I couldn't have asked for it to be better.  We are so blessed.  

This week, we have '0' plans.  The Granddaughters' other Grandparents are here from Arizona so we take a step back and let them have full 'custody' sot they can enjoy her without sharing with us.  We will miss her of course, but we can have her anytime, but they only have her a short time once or twice a year.  No sure what we will do with ourselves but I do have a new book I am eager to get started.  

We went to a middle eastern style restaurant Sunday.  I've only been to one once before.  I am game to try it out.  Son#2 and his family really like it.  So far my impression is, it's just OK.  I'll go again if that's where others want to go but I probably will not go on my own.  I can't repeat the name of what I had, just some sort of kabob (beef) with rice and grilled veggies.  I was surprised how bland it was.  I also tried something I was curious about, Turkish coffee.  It was pretty good but that little cup drove me nuts trying to hold it with my mitts.  It wasn't really hot either and I don't know if that is the way it should be or not.  I feel so cultured lol.

Happy Trails

The Day Before Christmas Eve

Today we are cleaning house and I will begin preps for cheese enchiladas.  I will make the sauce, the Mexican Rice, cut onions and grate two pounds of cheese.  The enchiladas themselves will be assembled and cooked on Christmas Eve.  Everything else will just need to be heated.  Less work for us and more time to enjoy the family.  

The only thing that bugs me is my Mom is not coming, again.  Too far, too late, too uncomfortable driving etc.  She won't let anyone come get her and then take her home.  She says it would spoil it for everyone to have to do that.  It would be inconvenient but if I could convince her to come, I would do it.  She is 88 now and is getting less and less likely to get out much.  She says she is not sad about it, but I told her I am.  We will see her Christmas day.  She will go to Son #2's home to see the little one open her gifts from Santa.  We will be there too, so there's that.

In closing out this post, I want to take a moment to wish all that come by here to see what I am up to, a very Merry Christmas.  I hope you and yours have the best one ever.  I truly appreciate the 4-5 of you that do come by even though you may never speak up.  I see you looking in from time to time lol.  And especially you OLD NFO, you've been here from the beginning and almost always comment, I consider you a compatriot and friend.  

Happy Trails

Planning

We have Christmas with our boys and their families every Christmas Eve.  We will have a big meal as part of that.  We are struggling this year for ideas of what to have for the meal.  We have one person that eats no beef so we have to have something that they can eat or at least something additional.  It makes it a little more difficult since I do a lot of the cooking and beef is my go to.  In the past (just a couple years this has been going on) we would either have some sort of chicken or pork.  Well my well has run dry on that.  This year my idea was enchiladas.  I had come across and good way to make them on youtube.  However it takes a lot more work than anything else.  Of course it is a recipe for beef enchiladas.  We will have to have a separate pan for just cheese.  But the beef has the sauce you need to make them taste better than solely cheese.  So we keep going back and forth.  Plus as easy as it sounds, everything except the tortillas is scratch.  No canned sauce, blech.  Plus I make the Mexican Rice and then there are the beans and any add ons that generally get thrown in.  Trying to get it all thrown together at the same time will be very tough on this cook.  My oven will be squeezed for 30 enchiladas. Not real sure where we will end up.  We may poll the others just to get some ideas.

We had the youngest Granddaughter this past week.  We took her for a drive around our neighborhood to look at Christmas lights.  This neighborhood does it better than most and it is really big.  We spent an hour and covered only a small portion.  Here are a couple pics of the biggest display.  You can even get out and walk around amongst the display.  Oh, they live on a corner so the back yard is even bigger.  I just wonder how long it takes for them to set all this up not to mention storage.  It's huge.

Ya gotta click on each pic to get the full effect.

Maybe a little over the top but the kids love it.  No I didn't get the back yard.

Happy Trails

I Have Nothing

So you get Far Side....

Happy Trails

Crazy Weather

We have had warm humid days for the last week.  That all changes today.  A cold front has already hit this morning and has dropped the temps 12* along with the 90% humidity.  As I write this it is now 63%.  And the wind has really picked up.  I was getting ready to head out with Snickers to get a walk in when I got a weather alert about showers in my area.  So the walk has been postponed at least until the showers move out if not cancelled altogether.  We still have not had our first frost.  It doesn't look like we will with this front either.  I planted a couple tomato plants back in April, I am still harvesting a few tomatoes every 3-5 days along with a couple cherry tomatoes.  They are small but nice to have.  The plants aren't looking all that great but I am letting them stay until the freeze kills them or there are no more green tomatoes on the vines.  

'K' just left to head to my Mom's.  She will stay the night this time.  She has gone over to set up her Christmas decorations.  Mom loves them but won't do it as it's too much work for just one person living there.  This is right up 'K's alley.  She loves to decorate and is really good at it.  She also loves doing things like that for other people but especially my Mom.  The surprising thing is that Mom will let her do that.  'K' offers to do things for her all the time and is turned down most of the time.  It frustrates 'K.'  She really wants to do these things, it's not lip service.  But Mom has her own rationale with letting folks help her.  

So I am home batching it.  I have nothing on the radar.  I will most likely make a loaf of bread today.  We do need to head to HEB for some groceries too.  But I may wait until 'K' gets back.  We like going together.  Her not being here will also allow me to cook and eat sausage and sauer kraut with potatoes and onions.  Since 'K' won't eat my wonderful concoction I usually only make enough for one meal.  Not today, there will be leftovers.  I will also try using jalapeno/cheddar sausage.  Now I just need to remember to feed Snickers lol.  

Happy Trails

Meat

We have been comparison shopping for meat.  We generally don't do that.  We either buy at Costco or HEB.  With the price of meat now being off the charts we are being much more diligent in prices trying to get the best deals.  Hamburger is our biggest meat intake.  Mainly due to the cost of everything else.  Bacon is now of the buy list.  We always bought the bulks packs of bacon at Costco.  Those packs are now 20.99 for 5 lbs.  That is over the limit for me.  No can do.  Breakfasts will be even more sparse now.  We may have some pan sausage on occasion or a left over pork chop.  I mentioned the last time there was a new meat market near us we would try.  Well it wasn't a meat market.  It is a Mexican market that has a little meat. Not much else.  I did buy 2 lbs of stew meat.  There is another Meat/Mexican market near us I thought we could try.  We scored, it's a real meat market.  4 lbs hamburger 80/20 for 6.99.  That's not per pound that's 4lbs for 7$.  A few pork chops and I even picked up a couple bone in rib eyes 6.99/lb because 'K' wanted some.  It wasn't hard to convince me.  We will probably make this a regular stop.  Oh and the steaks will hit the grill tonight.

We found a dog groomer very near us and gave them a try with Snickers.  He doesn't need much grooming.  However, he will not let us trim his nails.  Also that shag he has grows in front of his eyes is difficult to get to for us, he hates us messing with it.  So she cleaned all that up and his undercarriage and he has some sort of cologne on.  She asked if he had been skunked recently lol.  So she added a heavier scent to mask it.  We generally don't smell his skunking, until he gets wet or we bathe him.  Whew, still after all this time it gets pretty strong.  They were very reasonably priced so this may become a regular thing for the little guy.

I gotta prep the steaks and grill.

Happy Trails

It's Over, Too Many Ribs

The big feast is over and done.  Everyone showed except my Mom.  It gets harder and harder to get her to do anything.  She has a dog she dotes on that has become more of a burden IMO but I'm sure she would be devastated if something happened to it.  She (the dog) has been sick the last week and that keeps her worried.  The vet has gotten fixed up for now.  

We have a lot of ribs left over.  This always happens.  I tried to buy less this year but 'K' insisted on more.  Her reasoning: she loves those ribs and having left overs she(she says 'we' lol) can freeze and have any time she wants is a good thing.  She wouldn't even send any home with the boys.  I guess that's good but with our limited freezer space it takes away from the other things we need to freeze.  If we both loved ribs that way it would make more sense.  

While 'K' thought the ribs were excellent, they didn't get smoked long enough IMO.  They could have used another hour, probably two.  It had been too long since I last cooked them.  Oh they were done, just not the way I prefer them.  I'm sure it's because ribs are not on the top of my list.  For Christmas, we are considering homemade beef enchiladas.  I have a new recipe we will try here at home in the next couple days as a test run.  If that fails, we will have to come up with a new plan.

The Granddaughter (youngest) will come today and stay a couple nights.  We will meet up with Son#2 at Costco and make the pickup along with some much needed shopping.  Meat shopping has become more critical lately due to price.  We have already scouted out prices online at our regular grocer.  There is a new meat market that has opened close to us that is getting very good reviews that we will also check out.  There are other errands too along with a trip for breakfast tacos.  Later, I have to hit it.

Happy Trails

Thanksgiving Preps

This has been a busy week.  Hence the late post.  I can't even tell you what I have been busy with specifically as I sit here.  Just mundane life stuff mostly.  

Today we are rushing around trying to get all the preps done for the feast tomorrow.  Most everyone will be here this year.  No one taking a t-giving vacation elsewhere this time.  Glad for that.  We missed them last year and evidently my daughter-in-law No. 1 is every glad too.  She approached me at church Sunday telling me how excited she was to be coming this year.  She got very emotional about it.  It touched me deeply.  She also lost her Grandmother that week last year so that added to her emotions.  

Most all of the cooking will be done today.  No overly dark smoked turkey this year.  It's Baby Back Ribs.  I will be smoking them all day today.  The process is about 9 hours for me.  Using a rub I have never tried before.  That may be a mistake.  It's one Son#1 gave me and he loves it.  I wasn't going to use it but when I looked for mine, it wasn't the right one.  Ugh.  So the fire is going and the ribs are on the pit.

We will be going pretty much full out for the next 36-48 hours getting it all done.  Even with most of the cooking done we will still be busy tomorrow.  Friday will be much slower and time to cool our jets.  Thankfully the Longhorn's season will mercifully end then too.  Yes, I will watch even though I know I am setting myself up for more disappointment.  As long as I stay away from the crazies on the fan pages I should do OK.  

I sincerely hope y'all all have a great Thanksgiving this year.  Try to forget all the things that make you tight in the jaws.  It isn't worth it to worry about the things you have no control over.  Just turn it over to the Lord.  

Happy Trails

Errand and Inflation

Monday was a day for errands.  Groceries (ugh), Home Depot, get the vehicle washed etc.  The Exploder was in bad need of a wash after the trip to the coast.  Not as bad as previous times, but I don't like to let that sand and salt sit on and in it too long.  Waxed it Tuesday.  Home Depot to pick up a few things to finish up painting the patio.

The grocery trip was mainly to start picking up things for Thanksgiving.  This year turkey is out.  My preference would be enchiladas but no one (in our family) makes them very well.  (I am going to be working on that in the near future).  This year it's Baby Back Ribs.  They have all been bugging me to make them.  They and a few others tell me they are the best they have ever had.  I don't know.  Since they are not my favorite it is hard for me to judge.  I am not a big pork eater and get my fill pretty quick.  They are fall off the bone tender though.  Seriously, you can grab a rack by one bone and it pulls right out-without any meat on said bone.    I like ribs that way.  No nibbling on the bone and getting it stuck in your teeth.  No I don't baste with sauce, ever.  Just a rub.  This IS Texas BTW.  I never have seconds on ribs and will eat them as left overs once and I have had enough.  I guess that's why I don't smoke 'em very often.  'K' loves having them for leftovers.

As for the rest of the grocery shopping we were doing our regular outing which includes stocking up a little.  I knew this was going to be expensive.  With the extra meat it was bound to be.  Five racks of ribs (double the price per pound as in the past).  The basket was getting pretty full but there was a lot of room for more.  We were guessing with each other about how much it was going to be.  After we checked out I asked 'K' how much and she said 'you don't want to know.'  So  I guessed and was over by 50$, guessed again and was under by 25$.  But we hit a new record sadly.  I realized about then that we had spent as much for this one time as we had spent for a whole month a couple years ago.  I just had to shake my head.  

Oh and at Home Depot I was behind a guy buying a small amount of lumber and he was grimacing and shaking his head and said something about how expensive it had gotten.  I told him: 'you can thank Joe Biden.'  He responded about like you would guess with an F Joe Biden.  I just said 'let's go Brandon.'  

Happy Trails

Day Trip

Friday as we were doing the morning thing 'K' said "Let's go to the coast."  That was not on my radar at all.  I had planned on finishing up the painting of the trim on the patio.  I had also discovered I needed a second coat on the ceiling.  As I muddled around I checked the weather for Padre Island near Bob Hall Pier.  In the 70's very light winds and mostly sunny.  Perfect.  So we rushed around gathering a few things, snacks, chairs, ice chest, dog, dog crate.  

The beach was very clean and very smooth.  As good as I have ever seen it and the water was clear for a change.

Snickers kept his distance from the scary water

 A Grackle at the beach.  Never have I seen one there before.  He was pretty bold trying to mooch snacks.

Keeping us safe from the dangerous beach birds

This guy had a one wheel electric skate board-pretty cool

I takes us just under 4 hours to get from home to a spot on the beach.  We just walk up and down the beach and sit and enjoy the beauty of God's creation for a couple hours and then head home.  Can't get much more relaxing than that.  But then I had to navigate through the rush hour traffic once back in S.A.  The entire width, about 35 miles.  It was a mess.  There went the relaxation lol.  Oh, and I didn't get stuck this time.

Happy Trails

Cooking/Baking Today

We got the patio painted yesterday.  All except the trim.  It took much longer than I thought it would.  And I paid the price for it.  Much ibuprofen and acetaminophen was needed after.  I'm OK today but still feeling the after effects in my neck and shoulders.  Having almost no discs there is not fun.  The trim may get started on Wednesday.  By started I mean just that.  Painting trim usually takes me longer to do than walls/ceilings.  Plus I am not sure I have enough paint.  I will use up what I have before I go buy more.  

While on my uneventful morning walk we were nearing home when I smelled this very musky pungent stench.  I knew immediately what it was and had to stop to see where he was.  A really big buck (sorry no pics) was laying down back from the road and there was a doe laying near him about 30' from me.  He wasn't letting her out of his sight.  The bucks have been in full force rut for a couple weeks now.  I have seen a lot more big bucks this year than previous years and all of them are in really good shape.  Nice racks, most all with very tall tines.  Beautiful.  I don't take many photos of them anymore, I have done that a lot in the past.  I try to keep an eye out for them to keep from seeming to be a threat to them.  Now I just enjoy the show.

Today I need to make some bread.  We have been out a few days.  I will also make a pot of my Carne Guisada and a pot of Mexican Rice.  This will take up a few hours.  I have to pay attention when cooking that many things at the same time.  I can miss a step or ingredients as I have in the past.  I don't need to have my attention diverted by trying to paint too.  I can see something bad happening then.

My Longhorns are a mess.  They are really playing some bad football right now.  I expected some with a new coach and new QB's and all new coaching staff.  But I have faith that this new staff will get over the hump, if not next year the following.  I follow a couple groups that are fans and the comments they make about the team are frustrating.  They all seem to know what needs to be done and a lot even what the new coach fired or should never have fired the previous coach(there were multiple reasons he should have been fired-not all just winning).  Fans are fickle. Longhorn fans seem to be the worst.  Of course I understand winning cures a lot of ills.  But for a true winning program to get started more patience is needed.  I see cracks, but most of those issues are player execution.  Oh well I could go on with my opinions but watching them now isn't much fun and hasn't been for over a decade.  That hurts a life long fan.

Happy Trails

Fantastic Weather

I didn't post anything Monday.  It seems to be a thing here lately.  I wanted to get started/finished on the prep work for the painting on the patio.  There was some caulking and patching that was much needed.  I managed to finish that up and if all goes as I hope I should actually start painting Tuesday morning.  I know I won't finish.  Wednesday some wet weather is supposed to roll in and the temps will take a significant dive Thursday morning.  Or so the wife tells me.  Won't be any painting after Tuesday if she is right.  

I would like to get that part of my multi year painting project done before too much longer.  Once that is done I hope to have some work done on the concrete portion of the patio.  Over the years of use there a number of stains, paint and other things by various individuals that will remain nameless.  I hate the way it looks.  We don't use the patio a lot but my hope is to get it looking really nice and hopefully it will entice use to a greater degree.  At the least to get the ugly stains covered.  It's a little on the spendy side from what I can gather.  But it needs something other than what we have now.  

The weather here has been beyond superb.  Little to no clouds, cool to crisp mornings, sunny afternoons rarely getting to 80.  This it the weather that makes me love this time of year.  It is also loved by the Whitetail bucks that are making their desires known to the does.  I see a lot of deer throughout the year.  But this brings out the big boys that find places to hide the rest of the year.  I think a lot of them come across from Camp Bullis since there are few to no people there with little hunting pressure.  I am just not sure how they get over that fence.  It is at least 8' chain link with another 2' of barbed wire on top.  Maybe they come from somewhere else but they are really looking for love right now.  When I am walking the dog early morning, I take my time passing those dudes that are full of hormone induced crazy.  They are unpredictable.  One man in our neighborhood was gored by one a couple years ago, unprovoked so he says.  I don't doubt it with everything I have learned over the years seeing them up close almost everyday.  I do know I don't want one of those beasts trying to stick me with those massive antlers.  Not fun.  BTW, have you ever smelled one of those bad boys in full rut?  Whew/

Happy Trails

Catching Up

We had a very busy week last week.  So busy we turned down an invitation for Saturday evening.  Part of that time we had all 3 Grandkids overnight.  From a two and a half year old to a newly minted teen girl.  It wore us out.  We seem to do better with the youngest than we do the older ones.  When they don't talk it's hard to figure out what to do.  Tiring.

The weather was so great last week I went a bought some more outdoor paint so I would be ready to tackle the patio.  The very next day and every day since it has been extremely humid with threats of rain.  It never rained but with the humidity so high I held off.  It takes much too long for paint to dry then.  Sometimes it doesn't cure right and no telling what might fall on it from the trees and get stuck.  But I am ready with the paint now.  Two gallons of extremely expensive paint.  It is considerably more than when I bought it last year.  Thanks Joe.

This week we don't really have any plans.  We did some Costco shopping.  We had read that many Costco\s were being shopped hard and were out of things we like to stock up on.  They had toilet paper but not a lot.  We just missed out on paper towels.  Everything else looked normal.  They are doing some remodeling again.  Moving the optical and hearing aid center.  I was going to get my hearing aids maintained as I have been experiencing some issues.  They were closed down so that will have to wait much to 'K's displeasure.

I have been working on getting all my photos on my PC cleaned up since my online backup is full.  I have about 5000 photos and I got all of them moved to a USB flash drive after I weeded a bunch out (around 2000).  Oh, I have at least that many other photos on a portable hard drive that need attending to also.  But as you can imagine it is a daunting task.  I purged my PC and my one of my online accounts.  They all need better organizing.  That may never happen.  

Currently I am trying to find old photos of my parents, grand parents, great grandparents and the wife's, non digital.  We want to make a wall display, a sort of family tree.  I will scan them and touch up those that need it and print copies.  They will get framed and then need to be arranged on the wall.  'K' will handle the arranging.  Surprisingly, I haven't found as many as I thought I would.  I have plenty of my Dad's parents, a few of my Mom's, minimal amount of the previous generation(but the ones I have are great).  We have almost nothing of 'K's' grandparents unfortunately.  So it will be heavy with my blood relatives and not many of from 'K's' family.  We may expand to uncles and aunts, we just have to see how this plays out in numbers and arrangement.  And, again I have many more photos of mine than 'K.'  

We both have been really wanting to head down to Padre Island on a day trip but things and the weather there have not cooperated.  It seems the weather may be an issue for a while too.  We try to go in October as it's not hot and there is less chance of getting burned to a crisp by the sun.  However weather is pretty sketchy.  You just never know this time of year.  Maybe we can try one in November and see how that is.

 Happy Trails

Bluegrass Festival

Here are a few photos and a couple videos of our trip to Famers Branch and the Bloomin' Bluegrass Festival.

The Line Up

Yours Truly and friends-look at that weather.  I got a little sun burned even with my hat on.

Del McCoury

Dan Tyminski

Ricky Skaggs

Sister Sadie-These gals were great

My Del video was to large to upload.  All throughout the festival we would see several artists playing with other bands.  It seems to be common place.  

And by the way, don't buy breakfast tacos in Farmers Branch.  5 star rating on Yelp and they were virtually inedible.  Sausage and egg tacos use something like vienna sausage, they don't have potatoes and use mozzarella cheese.  This was a little hole in the wall operation that usually have the best food in San Antonio.  I knew I was taking my chances outside of the Breakfast Taco Capital of Texas (despite what Austin thinks they are), but dang, how can you mess that up so bad?  

Happy Trails

Technical Difficulties

I am late posting today due to me trying to get my photos and videos uploaded from my phone.  I've done it before with little problem.  However, there is something not working right this time.  I am trying to get it sorted.  I wanted to up load a few photos and videos to this page.  Not sure how long it will take to get that figured out, so I will proceed with todays post and hope I get it worked out in the next day or two.  

We took a road trip up to Farmers Branch this past Thursday.  Farmers Branch is a bedroom city of Dallas.  I wasn't looking forward to driving through Dallas to get there and sure enough we hit a major road jam due to construction.  Other than that, this went near perfect.  This was the first overnight road trip since our trip to Phoenix at a moments notice to see Son #2 marry.  I think that was a full 4 years ago.  At my age, driving in unfamiliar places makes me a little anxious which had never been the case before.  The long lay off from almost any travel just added to that.  

We went to attend a Bluegrass Festival.  I've loved Bluegrass ever since the first time I heard that High Lonesome sound and those ringing banjos riding in Dad's car with the radio on a local country station.  That is back before I was even in school when they still played a little bluegrass on regular radio along with western.

This event was fantastic.  I think I turned 'K' into a big fan now.  She pretty much just tolerated my obsession.  Now she sees/hears what I hear.  Seeing two legends and one near legend with some current award winners turned her.  She even bought herself a couple CD's which she has never done.  The lineup consisted of my two  very favorite artists.  Both of them legends of Bluegrass.  Even if you never listen to Bluegrass you may recognize Ricky Skaggs that has had a long career in various genres.  But he came home to Bluegrass finally.  I consider him the Bill Monroe of our generation.  Then there is Del McCoury.  What a fine man this is.  So happy and kind.  He is a bridge to Bill Monroe (the father of Bluegrass if you don't know) played in his band for years.  Now he is a legend in his own right and is the epitome of the High Lonesome sound.  At 80 years old he can still hit those high tenor notes as clear and loud as ever.  I filled my bucket list slots with these two.

Another was Dan Tyminski.  You may know him from his days with Alison Kraus and is very well known for his voiceover work for George Clooney in the movie Brother where art thou.  He performed the signature song, 'Man of Constant Sorrow' in that movie.  

The Musicianship was outstanding, the weather was perfect.  It couldn't have been any better.  I hope to attend again next year.  My face was hurting from grinning so much.  Every one there had the same problem from what I could see.  

Hopefully a post tomorrow with a few photos and a video or two if I can get them to work.

Happy Trails

Aftermath

I will take my lumps if you have some to give for my trolling of the sooners last week.  I was pretty giddy the first half but still had the feeling of foreboding that something bad could still happen, and it did.  In various posts I have read on Longhorn sites there are those that try to take some moral victory out of that loss.  While I could see some major improvements and great hope for the future due mostly in part to them apparently having a great coach after years of not.  It is still a heart wrenching loss.  I understand those that want to look for something positive after over a decade of bad football and more losses to ou than I want to think about.  I eat my portion of crow, but I never predicted a win for Texas, so it will bee a limited amount.  I could feel the result of the early adrenaline rush of the first part of the game and then flop.  I was drained.

We will be making a short road trip in the future for the first time in a long time.  I don't count one to Abilene 3 years ago for a funeral.  Going on sever years according to 'K.'  I will get to mark down one of my bucket list items.  Yes, this is mainly my thing but 'K' is such a trooper and is just super glad to get away that she isn't at all unhappy.  In fact she is very happy.  She will get to spend a lot of time with one of her girlfriends that is going also.  More details and hopefully some memorable photos (for me).  The only negative thing is where we are headed, traffic is a nightmare.  I don't do well in bad traffic anymore.  But we aren't letting that stop us.

We heard a preacher yesterday give a report on the work we help support down in Peru.  I was humbled.  When he was asked to come to Peru to help spread the gospel 17 years ago, there was only one congregation of the Lord.  Now there are maybe a dozen.  He humbly admits that it is the gospel and God giving the increase, not him.  What was so humbling to me were the people there.  He told us about the men that have converted and started preaching there and how far they travel by very humble means, every Sunday.  One was 4 hours by bus one way with his family.  Yet they keep working to spread the gospel despite so much adversity and very little means.  As servants of Christ, they do more than I ever did or even think about doing.  I always had/have an excuse.  They are not burdened by the society we live in that has made us lazy and the excuses flow when the comfort zone gets stretched, or would that be compressed.  Not only was it very humbling to me it was also encouraging to see people in other parts of the world that are having success spreading the gospel.  I'm not so sure we see that hear anymore.

Happy Trails

More...

The day before the big game.  Last round I promise.

Happy Trails

More ou week Memes

And the last photo is the real deal.  A brewery in Austin makes this beer, I think it is just at this time of year.  My Son picked this up for me when he saw it in a convenience store while he was at game in Austin.  It tastes terrible which is appropriate.

I have a few more, and I'll spare you those until the day before the game.

Happy Trails

ou Week

THE big game of the year is this coming Saturday.  You can never predict how this game will turn out.  That is what makes it so fun.  So today you get ou Memes.

Happy Trails

Quiet

It's quiet around here.  Not a lot going on.  Just a few errands yesterday that kept us busy and consequently I forgot to post here.  But I don't really have much on my mind.  

I see a lot of things on Twitter that make me wonder.  Lots of it is just click bait with no real substance or anything definitive.  Several things have stood out.  The audit results in Arizona were released.  Right away FOX news jumped on and said the numbers confirmed joe biden was elected with even more votes than was reported and so feel vindicated with their extremely early call of the winner last November.  They took a lot of heat for that and were apparently in a hurry to report this so they could look good.  However, all is not as it seems.  I see a lot of articles about thousands upon thousands of votes cast illegally, double submission of votes, dead people voting and residents that had moved away.  Enough to have changed the election results.  But FOX says nothing.  And from what I gather on the www Tucker Carlson is strangely quiet about the audit.  FOX is treating it like a recount, not a forensic audit that examines every ballot for validity.  Of course none of the other media is picking this up.  

Then there is the border issue in Del Rio.  Don't be fooled by the new photos coming out about the conditions under that bridge.  The biden bunch finally decided all those thousands of people weren't good for optics and as a result makes them look bad.  Although there was next to nothing in coverage, enough was getting out for us to see.  They were suddenly all gone.  Where?  Deported? A few maybe.  How do you move 12-15 thousand homeless campers in just two days and there be almost no sign of them?  They didn't deport them IMO.  Yet we see nothing about them, out of sight out of mind way of dealing with a crisis.  The American public has a very short memory.  And the bidenites are counting on that.  I believe those folks have been scattered around the country into Red States.  They won't burden the blue states.  They don't want them any weaker than they already are so red states it is.  No, I haven't driven around in the large city near me looking for homeless Haitians (it is a very blue city and the largest and closest to Del Rio).  I do think some have been placed in the 3 near abandoned Air Force facilities there.  They have places set up for hurricane evacuees that would be readily available.  

Oops, I guess I have more on my mind than I thought.  I'll stop now.

Happy Trails

The Answer to My Question

The other day, I asked the question, why was Del Rio the spot all the immigrants were swarming to.  Old NFO cleared that up for the most part in his comment.  Then I found this article:  Someone Orchestrated the border crisis.  I think this answers most of my questions in more detail.  However, there has been nothing in regard to why biden and his lackeys have been so criminally negligent.  To me the powers in Washington are complicit in this travesty due to their inaction, and also the actions they took to weaken our immigration policies that were working fairly well lately.

Then there's this.  I don't think we have been in 'distress' more than we are now than any time in my lifetime.  By that I mean the assaults on our liberties and livelihoods and well being.  I feel justified I am flying my flag like this for the first time in my life.   We sit so far back from the road I'm not sure anyone can see it unless they are really looking.  But I see it.

We are have having the Son's and their families over tonight for breakfast tacos.  It was Son#2's idea and we offered to have it out here.  Mom wants to show off the new upgrades/repairs we made the last few months.  I'm the chef, except for the eggs.  I don't eat the nasty things and barely tolerate the smell of them.  If they want eggs at all someone else has to step in and they don't get to use my cast iron pan.  I don't want those things defiling it.  

Happy Trails

Del Rio, Texas, WHY?

The gutter installers have showed up just like they said they would.  Rare thing from what we have experienced recently.  It is much appreciated.  They say it will only take them 2-3 hours.  Wow.  

We have the Granddaughter today.  She brightens life for us.  We had been missing her since we had been quarantined.  The oldest Granddaughter is now out and about.  She will have to miss one day of her Homeschool Coop due to their 14 day protocol.  But she is fine and no one else that was exposed to her caught the COVID.

Went to get my flu shot the other day.  They denied me as they read the insurance coverage wrong.  I went to a pharmacy to get it, so they looked at my pharmacy coverage when it should be my regular insurance coverage.  I didn't realize that until I got home.   Same thing as last year but this time I forgot to have them check.  

I have seen quite a few brief reports (on the www) about the disaster unfolding at Del Rio with the flood of humanity attempting to enter our border.  It is only about 150 miles from us.  We don't even see reports on it from the local news.  The city they report from is a very large blue city with very liberal politics.  It is also the first major city entering the country from that part of Mexico.  Our DPS has their squad cars lined up to block the wave at a point where there is a low damn across the river that the people are using.  Last report I read there were 15K people waiting under a bridge on our side of the border.  Just think of the sanitation issues alone.  Someone has provided porta potties.  The logistics of handling that many unprepared destitute people is enormous.  Only Texas is trying to handle this.  The Feds are nonexistent other than the border patrol and they are overwhelmed. We are a red state so the blue government is letting hang.  I would say much of the rest of the State has no DPS available as this has been described as 'all hands on deck' situation.  There are some State Military forces but apparently they are minimal as none appear in any photos or videos I have seen.  

What is happening there begs questions.  Why Del Rio?  It is not a large city and it is already overwhelmed.  Grocery stores are pretty much empty and they don't have many.  A lot of factors are making food scare.  Some humanitarian aid is buying available groceries and I would guess the locals are a little concerned with this mass of people they have been stockpiling making it even more scarce.  Can you blame them?  Del Rio is not a wealthy city so there is not a lot available.  Was that part of the goal?  Overwhelm the local city and make it easier to enter?  It's pretty desolate out there.  Turning them loose into the countryside would kill a lot of them and cause others to rampage in the city just for food.

The reports also say the largest percentage of those trying to enter are from Haiti.  They just had another major earthquake there so many have lost everything.  How did all these people get here from there?  Haiti is an island.  They didn't have boats that they owned to get this far.  Why did they all wind up at Del Rio instead of closer spots in the US?  It makes no sense.  It is pretty obvious this is a coordinated invasion.  Yes, it is no less than an invasion.  These poor folks are being taken advantage of.  For what true reason?  It can't be for good reasons IMO.  There are some dark forces at work here.  It's more than just one person, it has to be a collection of people or countries that want the worst for America.  

Happy Trails

Tropical Storm?

Today is overcast and humid but not too hot.  We are just off the path of the tropical storm Nicholas in the Gulf.  It appears though that we will be on the western edge of it, that's the dry side.  We may get a shower or two and those could be heavy since this is a tropical system.  Or we will get nothing.  Now if it deviates to the West at all in the next few hours we could get inundated.   I didn't realize anything was happening at all until late yesterday.  I had failed to check the weather reports for a couple days.  All I knew was that the mornings were terrific here, getting down to 68* a couple mornings and low humidity.  Made my walks very pleasant and I didn't get home soaking in sweat for a change.

Not that all that matters.  We have no plans to go out anywhere for the remainder of this week.  It turns out our oldest Granddaughter got COVID this past week.  Yes, we were exposed.  I hugged on her some at church last week and we went to eat with them after.  We got the word late Monday or Tuesday and we have been quarantining since.  I have postponed a visit by the pest control.  We stayed home from church yesterday.  Just an abundance of caution.  We have experienced no ill effects so far.  The Granddaughter seems to be fine now after some fever that kept her in bed a couple days.  The people she lives with (my son and his wife) kept her confined to her room and so far no one else has had any symptoms.  That's good news.

I got word from the gutter contractor.  The materials arrived and they have me scheduled for next Monday.  We wanted shade of dark red gutters which seems to be either in high demand, or they aren't making much of it.  I think it's the later but it gets used quickly.  The other contractor said he couldn't get it at all.  Hopefully the possible rain late today and tonight will stay away until after installation.  

Happy Trails

The 'speech'

I didn't see the 'speech' the president gave yesterday.  I saw plenty of reaction on Social Media to know it was making plenty of folks angry.  Not sure I'm glad I missed it.  I had intended to see it if I could find it on but again time zones messed with me and so didn't even get a chance.  

I have a question for you Veterans that come by here.  How do you feel about seeing an American Flag flown upside down?  It matters to me what Veterans think, you are the ones that laid your life on the line for that flag.  If it would offend you I would refrain from doing something like that.  I saw a lot of comments on social media about flying our flag upside down.  Symbol of distress.  

IMO, we are certainly under more distress than any time that I can remember.  Although Jimmy Carter's 'speech' that got him voted out still is a vivid memory.  We were hadn't been married very long and were struggling financially.  I can recall that the things that he was proposing were going to make life even harder for us economically.  Fuel prices alone were going to make it impossible to get by or even get to work.  I can remember it was still two  weeks till pay day and all we had was 86 cents between us.  This situation is certainly very different and IMO no less dire and in many cases more so.  When you President completely ignores the Constitution of the United States and makes threats against our duly elected Governors and becomes a dictator, our way of life and everything we believe in is under threat.  That would seem to justify flying a flag upside down.

And if you can, please try to have

Happy Trails

Gutters, Virus and Abandoned Americans

I got a call from the contractor that I hired to install gutters.  Just like everyone else, supply is a problem.  The materials needed (roll of red aluminum) has not arrived.  They were told it has been shipped but they don't know when it will get here.  And they are not sure it has red aluminum in the shipment.  They were hoping to know more by today.  Well, being labor day, I doubt I will hear anything.  I'd like to get it over with but there is no real rush.  There isn't anything I can do anyway, the supply issues affects everyone that does this work.  So we wait.

A couple things I have been wondering about have been answered somewhat.  Well at least one issue has been.  

First: The one that has been resolved.  I'm sure you are aware that this COVID vaccine isn't a true vaccine.  There is no immunity that a true vaccine provides.  This version we have manipulates your RNA so it spikes a protein and that helps your body fight the virus but no immunity.  I was wondering if they are actually working on a true vaccine during this time but no one has even talked about that that I have seen.  This is how it was explained to me.  This COVID-19 is a corona virus.  There are any number of viruses that fall under the corona label.  One is the cold virus.  They have worked on making vaccines for these viruses for years yet not one has been developed.  It mutates too quickly for any vaccine to be developed is how it was explained to me.  That is one reason there has never been one developed for the common cold.  In fact, they have never been able to create a vaccine for any corona virus.  That makes sense to me, I am not sure I can make it understood.  But it answers my question about a true vaccine.  If anyone is trying to work on it we may never know and the likelihood of success is nil.

Second; If you are like me, I have been appalled by what has happened in Afghanistan.  To our troops that were still there (and died needlessly), the abandoning of our Afghan allies, the billions of dollars in still operable military equipment and lastly Americans left behind.  My emotions have ran the gamut.  

The billions of dollars worth of equipment we left.  Why?  I cannot fathom why it was left, even less why left still operable.  This is an intelligence gold mine for our enemies.  The software alone that operates much of it will now be sold to China, Russia and whoever else has the $$ to pay the Taliban.  Our security is comprised.  All of these pieces of equipment are not only going to be copied but now they will be compromised on the battlefield.  Why?  I have some crazy assumptions but I see no other reason that deals were made and payoffs were accepted.  If that is the case and even if it is just a stupid oversight, it falls under 'aiding and abetting' the enemy.  There is a single word name for that.  

The abandoned Americans.  This one was and is really hard to get my head around.  I may have uttered a few vulgar words out loud.  I recently read a commentary (click the link) that gives me a moment to pause.  Some of it seems logical, other is hard for me to grasp.  I was told by a third party that there had been 17,500 non-military non-government Americans that had not evacuated in Afghanistan when all this got critical.  That number seems way too high.  Yet if you take the time to read the article it makes sense.  Also, it makes sense why we aren't seeing the crying families of those abandoned on TV we normally would.  My thoughts are still jumbled about this so I will stop on this one.  Oh, and that third party, they confirmed the Pineapple Express  was the real deal.  

Happy Trails

Vet and Vets

We made a trip to the vet yesterday.  Snickers has been scratching and licking all over himself and had irritated a couple spots and they were getting thin on fur.  We really like out Vet.  Very compassionate guy and so very friendly and doesn't get in a hurry.  We got off subject talking politics and the current situation.  More on that in a bit.  While we had Snickers there we asked them to cut his nails.  He absolutely will not let us do it easily and he has the darker colored nails that make it hard to see where to cut.  I hurt him once.  They trimmed the hair from in front of his eyes and got his glands squeezed.  Basically it is seasonal allergies causing his scratching.  Apparently he seems to be more allergic than our last dog Buster.  He was an Aussie and they are notorious for having allergies.  Snickers is basically a mutt and allergies aren't that prevalent in mutts in my experience.  Of course he proves me wrong.  He got a shot that's supposed to take care of that for 3-4 months.  Enough to get him through the last of this season.  He stopped itching almost immediately.  Yea!

I have a couple close friends that are having a really hard time with this Afghanistan fiasco.  They are current military and retired.  Two are Special Ops that have spent time in that part the world kicking doors.  The current is still kicking doors and spent way more time there than many and lost his two close friends there.  He named two of his sons after them.  I can only imagine what they are feeling and thinking.  One had a post on FB that he would be 'out of touch' for a while.  I'm sure they feel betrayed and how that it was all for nothing.  

I don't know but can only guess from what I have heard from other veterans that are going through similar things.  I just want all veterans of that conflict to know, that I care.  My wife cares.  I'm sure there are millions of other Americans that feel as we do.  We cannot begin to explain how much we appreciate what you did, whether it was for yourself, your country or whatever.  Please know that we are concerned about your well being in this difficult time.  Please don't bear this alone if you are having dark thoughts.  Reach out to someone for help.  You are right to feel betrayed by your government, your so called leaders, but they aren't worth another life.  Don't add another loss to this tragedy.  

I was going to go into a little bit about what I talked about with my Vet yesterday.  I think I will let that lie for now.  It would be easy to backtrack that info and get the subject of our conversation in trouble.  Just know that the private citizens, the ex-special ops guys are the real deal working outside the government.  I salute them o7.

If you can with all this going on...

Happy Trails

Random Thoughts-a Bit off the Reservation

I'm late posting.  But I have been trying to get some outdoor work in early before it gets too hot.  By the time I get finished I don't even think about posting here since it takes a lot out of me, especially with the humidity.

Yesterday was the second year anniversary of my Dad's passing.  'K' went to spend the day with her so she wouldn't be alone.  My presence seems to add stress to her so it was good that 'K' was there.  She had a good day.  They even went to eat at my Dad's favorite restaurant, Cracker Barrell.  Mom doesn't go there anymore since it is too hard for her.  All the help there knew them and they treated them really well.  Having 'K' along put her in such a good mood that she stayed happy the entire time.  Mom didn't ask 'K' to go to the cemetery with her.  'K' was thankful for that.  Mom probably went later, by herself with flowers.  He is buried right next to my Mom's parents and her sister.  So she can pay her respects to all at the same time.  She has always done this.  

I'm going off the reservation (oh no, is that racist?) for a bit so be forewarned.  I met our next door neighbors on my morning walk this morning.  They were wearing masks which is unusual for them.  Then they told me she had COVID.  But she apparently had a very light case.  They had both been vaccinated.  She goes to get tested today to see if she is over it.  I kept my distance, I am 'vaccinated.'  

I understand that this 'vaccination' isn't a true vaccine.  It modifies your RNA so that if you get COVID it helps your body fight it better.  Not sure what it does long term to my RNA.  I had reservations getting it at all.  But here I am.  Whatever it is. it certainly hasn't slowed the spread.  It almost seems it is now more prevalent than when it first came out.  It has hit closer and more times to those that I know.  And if you can believe the news it seems we're all doomed to get it sooner or later.  Blame and accusations and threats are being thrown around about those that won't get vaccinated or wear a mask.  Violence has been visited on some.  My question is, since this isn't a true vaccine, are they working on getting a true vaccine that actually gives a measure of immunity?  I never hear anyone mentioning it.  Why just this one RNA treatment?  I'm sure the conspiracy folks could give me an answer.  I admit that this is all so confusing, get the vacc, wear a mask, don't go out etc.  Whatever you do you get chastised by those that have an opposing view.  If I choose to wear a mask, (I haven't gone back to mask wearing...yet)  But what does it matter if I choose to?  Does it harm you?  Why does it make you angry?  Who gives a rat's butt if I do?  Maybe a lot less visiting social media will calm your jets.  We need cooler heads and less talk.  Take care of your self and MYOB.

I am still trying to wrap my head around the travesty in Afghanistan.  Tears have been shed.  I can't really figure out if this was planned to be this bad or it is pure incompetence on the part of our government, our military, our president.  My personal thoughts are incompetence, total and full.  As usual the blame game has started and the lefties only have Trump to blame which I think is absurd and is nothing but a cover for their failure.  OK.  I gotta stop, this could go on forever.

Happy Trails 

89th Birthday and Other Odds and Ends

Sunday was my Mother's 89th Birthday.  If you didn't know her you couldn't guess  that she is that old.  She is very healthy and may outlive me.  We got our Sons and their families to joins us over at her house after church.  We stopped and got some food for everyone along the way.  Mom seem so pleased and happy.  We stayed until about 3PM.  Not long enough to wear her out.  

Even with her great health, she still is preparing to leave this earth any day now.  We did have a little chat about that.  I felt like she needed to be aware of it in conversations so she didn't turn off her visitors.  Then the visitors would not come as often and she doesn't want that.  She seemed to appreciate being made aware.  

One of the things she has been working on is weeding out photographs.  There are a lot of albums of photos.  I came home with a lot of them.  Less than half and I took probably a dozen.  Most of those belonged to my Grandparents, my Dad's parents.  I will go through them and dispose of the ones we cannot figure out who the people are, or bad photos etc.  Also a lot of them are of my Grandfather's career in the Fire Department.  I may donate those to the fire museum or a friend that is a collector.  I'll keep any he is in.  We have a plan to make one wall of our home a family wall and it will get filled with old photos and some of these will find their way there.  Many will be of those that have gone on before us, some the kids never knew.  I hope they will ask who some are and what the stories are.

Painting has ceased for now.  Way too hot and humid for my old self.   The Granddaughter is here for a couple days.  The timer on my bread rising just went off.  I am thawing a chuck roast and will use Kent Rollins' recipe for smoking it.  I tried my own way once and it as a disaster, inedible.  Hopefully I can get this one done right since they are so expensive now.

Happy Trails

Quick Update

Just a quick word.  I sat with an elderly friend yesterday while his daughter had to run in to work to get a payroll out.  I will do that again today.  She really needed my help and I don't mind at all.  So I really didn't have time to put anything together.

The vultures cleaned up the road kill quickly.  By Noon most of the vultures had quit the scene.  All I had to do was pick a skeleton and hide.  No meat at all.  No skull either.  But I have never seen a skull remain at a buzzard feast.  No idea where it goes.  I don't hang around a watch.

Reworking my 'get home' bag.  I may go to two small bags.  The one I used was crammed full and wasn't big enough to carry items for two people.  I will mostly likely move all food related items to a separate bag.  I have left that bag in the car for months at a time enduring the heat.  That can't be good for any type food for long.  So those food items will get transferred to a separate bag and I have to train myself not to leave it in the car.  

I gotta get a move on, thanks for coming by and as always...

Happy Trails