Lurch Was Born on this Date.

Yes, I watched The Adams Family and my favorite on that show was Lurch.  Do you remember him?  He was born on this date fairly close to where I was born and lived the first thirty some years of my life.  Yep, he was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  I used to live about thirty miles north of Pittsburgh on route 8 just south of Butler.

His real name was Ted Cassidy and he played the butler, Lurch:

I can remember him saying "You rang?" in that deep voice of his.  He passed away back in January of 1979 at a young age of only 46 after complications following open-heart surgery.

How many of you remember him now that you have seen his picture?  Let us know and as always, have a great day, you hear?

The Large Hopper

There was a large hopper on my deck again.  No, I don't mean a container, I mean a real, live hopper.  This is another of those really big ones that show up here once in a while.  This one that showed up this evening was almost four inches long.  I don't think it has been missing too many meals since it looked a little on the chubby side.

And a close-up of this big hopper:

As I said above, one shows up every so often.  Actually, they don't show up every year, so I am glad to be able to take pictures of them when they do.  I am sure that a swarm of them could wipe a grain field clean as a paved parking lot.  One or two of them at a time are nice to see. . . a large swarm, not so nice and hope I never see a large swarm.

Here is a link to one of my old blog posts about another one that stopped for a visit:

http://dizzydick.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-large-hopper-is-back.html

You all have a great evening and a wonderful tomorrow, you hear?

When In Rome. . .

You know the old saying, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do".  OK, instead of using Arabic numbers, what if we had to use Roman numerals?  How many of them do you know?  How high can you count with them?  Let me simplify this question and ask what is the Roman numeral for one million?

OK, how many of you knew it without looking it up?  We don't use them very often except for dates used in the credits of movies and TV shows.   OK, there is no reason to turn this into a long, drawn out blog posting so here is the answer.  If you draw a line over a Roman numeral, it means to multiply it by one thousand.  So if "M" is 1000 than an M with a line over it means to multiply it by 1000 which will give you one million.  There, now you know, so have a great day, you hear?

1, 2, 3, and 4.

OK, maybe this will work.  I have told you before that I have had trouble with the squirrels emptying my bird feeder very, very quickly.  I was told to put a one gallon plastic bottle on the post to the feeder.  I tried that.  I cut an X in the center of the bottom of the plastic bottle and then slit it from the center of the bottom up the side and out the opening at the top.  I then pulled the jug apart far enough to slip it on the post.  That worked all of an half an hour.  They figured out that they could jump over it.

OK, I figured I would fix them.  I put two bottles on it.  The squirrels would jump up above the top one and ride it down so that both jugs were at the bottom.  I kept adding plastic jugs until I got to four of them.  So far, that seemed to work.  But!!!  Last night the feeder was completely empty (it usually lasts for five to seven days and those pesky squirrels emptied it in less than a day!!  They somehow had removed a couple of the jugs.  I just replaced the jugs and this is what it looks like:

I guess I will have to go out and wrap all the jugs with duct tape.  Do you think that will stop those little thieves?  Remember, I have even tickled their behinds with my BB gun, and that didn't stop them from coming right back.  Now, keep your bird feeders full and have a great day, you hear?

A 48 Year Old Foot Print.

Forty-eight years ago this footprint made world wide news:

Why?  Well because it was the first footprint man had made on the moon.  Yep, it was made by Neil Armstrong and it was made forty-eight years ago today.  No, they didn't land on the moon 48 years ago today.  They landed on the moon July 20, 1969 but Neil didn't take his historic walk until the next day.  Here is another picture I found on the internet:

I sure do remember that day.  We were all glued to the TV watching history happen high above us.  How many of you remember that day?

I can also remember what he said when he stepped off the landing craft onto the moon.  I am sure you all remember what he said, also, so I will not have to post it here.  Now, you all have a great day and keep your feet well planted on good ole Mother Earth, you hear?

Another Intruder.

I get frustrated with all the squirrels that eat ninety percent of the birds' feed.  So I thought that I would give them a scare by running very quickly outside and chasing them out of the dogs' fenced in yard where the bird feeder is located.  Yep, they sure did run and while I was standing there feeling like I accomplished something, I looked down and saw that I was standing right beside a copperhead snake.  Yes, it was beautiful but I do prefer not to be surprised by one.

 

I don't know why he didn't strike at me, but he just laid there looking at me, as if to say, "what the heck do you think you are doing".  I would have stomped on his head, but I was wearing those flimsy Crocks on my feet and they don't give very mush protections against anything, especially a snake.

I quietly walked away, went and got my shovel which I planned to use to decapitate that guy.  The shovel was just inside my screened in porch and it only took a few seconds to get it and get back to the snakes location, but as you probably guessed, it was gone by then.

Do you remember my past posting of the copperhead in my shed?  I got a good picture of that one.  Here is a link to that post LINK.  The dogs and I were very lucky that the snake was quite docile.  Now watch where you step and have a great evening, you hear?

Remembering 1950's TV Shows.

My parents got our first TV in 1949 or 1950.  It looked something like this one:

  There were a lot of wonderful shows on for a kid my age.  Guess what???  I have been watching a lot of those shows on TV now.  Yes, they are in black and white, but that makes them even better.

I just got through watching The Lone Ranger (1949-1957) and that brought back a lot of memories.  The one I watched was from 1953.  Now, Perry Mason (1957-1966) is on.  I do like to watch a lot of the old TV shows and do so.

Yep, I guess I am showing my age when I can remember before we had a TV and listened to radio shows.  Straight Arrow was my favrite radio show.  There were a lot of great radio shows.  The Great Gildersleeve 1941-1957, The Life of Riley 1943-1951, Amos and Andy 1928-1960, Dragnet 1949-1957, and of course the westerns like Gunsmoke, Hopalong Cassidy, Red Rider, and many, many more.

What was some of your favorite radio shows?  Now I don't mean disc-jokey shows, I mean shows like I listed above.  I am sure you had some favorites, or are all of you way too young to have listened to shows on the radio?  On our Sirius Radio, they have a station that plays a lot of those oldies.  Now, you all have a great evening, you hear?

What is Most Abundant?

What is most abundant in our Universe?  Can it be stars, or planets, or dust, or asteroids, or cosmic rays, or. . . .?  Come on, give me your best guess and write It in the comments.

If you have been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that I love astronomy.  I have several telescopes, the biggest one is taller than I am and has two foot diameter tube.  The primary mirror is 16" and about 4 inches thick and weighs quite a bit.  On a clear, dark night I can see millions of other suns (stars) and I would not be surprised if quite a few of them could sustain life.  Some of them could even have intelligent life living on them.

My Bible tells me that God created the heavens and the earth and all that there is.  So, why would He only put life on this planet?  Yes, this planet was and is (so far) a life bearing world.  Just look at the diversity of life on this planet and then wonder what life on other ecosystems would be like.

OK, now I will answer my question, "What is Most Abundant" in this universe.  The answer is NOTHING!!  Emptiness is the most abundant.  That is why they call it "space".  It is empty space, and a lot of it.  Some of that empty space seems to creep into my brain and into a few other peoples' brains that I know.  Of course, all of you who read my blog postings have a head full of brains, right?  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

Things I See On Trees.

Yes, I know that it has been awhile since I last posted, so I got busy today and went outside and took a few pictures and decided to write a blog posting about them.  I took pictures of a few trees that I thought appeared to have pictures on their barks.  I could see these images on the bark of those trees. Maybe it is just me and my vivid imagination, so I want to show you these pictures  that I took and ask whether you see what I do or if you see something else or maybe nothing but bark.

OK, here are the pictures.  If you look at the white spot about a third of the way up the tree, it appears to me to be the head of a little grey man that just stepped out of a flying saucer.

OK, here is an enlarged view of that part.  Also, I see a deer outlined in the reddish lines.  OK, it could be a goat or a . . . .

And in the next one, the part I circled with an orange line, I see a pig:

Want a closer view?

Yep, it sure looks like a pig to me.

Now, in this last one, I can see two things.

On the left edge of the tree, I see the eyebrows, eyes, nose, and elongated chin of a man looking to the left.  Also, it the center in white, I see the face of a, ah ah ah, maybe a man, or an alien, or a skull.  Whatever it is, it is not the friendliest face I have aver seen:

And of course, an enlarged view:

Well, that is it for today.  I have showed you enough of my weird imagination.  Now, you all tell me what you see on those trees in the pictures I have posted and have have a great day, you hear?