Wondering about Sports

First, let me first congratulate the Texas Rangers for their victory in the World Series last night.

I did not watch the game and am not very interested in baseball. Which makes me wonder why there are so many different types of sports and why people like the ones that they do. To some it is an addiction. It was, and is, for me and I am sure it is for you to some extent.

I am now hooked on NHRA Top Fuel Drag Racing, which, by the way, is on TV tonight. It will be the next to the last race of the season. I also hold season tickets for the one race per year when they run at the Houston Raceway Park located on the west side of Baytown. I never miss a televised event and can hardly wait for next spring to arrive so that I can attend the race and see and feel the thunder. One of my first few blogs was about the race. Click Here

That sport is my very most favorite spectator sport. Don’t have the fortune it takes to own and drive one of those cars, so have to be satisfied with just watching. What is your favorite spectator sport?

Now, for my favorite sport that I have participated in, Ping Pong (or Table Tennis). As a kid I dabbled in it but was never really any good. Then I went off to college. I discovered a whole new type of player and what they could do to the ball was like magic. I had to learn to do that!

At that time, all students had to stay in a dorm for their first year. Our dorm had a storeroom down the hall from my room that contained a ping-pong table. Wasn’t that wonderful? All I needed was a teacher or mentor. I found one living two doors down the hall from me. His name was Jeff and he was about 100 times better at ping-pong than I was at the time.

To make a long story shorter, he was a great teacher and taught me all he knew. I learned fast and practiced every chance I had.

The building that contained the student’s Hub served food and drinks, had multiple ping pong tables, and was a place where most of the students hung out to study or to mingle. I went to watch the “good” ping pong players. I could see right off that I was at a disadvantage. The students from India had some new kind of rubber padded paddles that could put more English on the ball than they could speak.

The dorm had its own tournaments and the university wide tournaments were held at the Hub. I got pretty good, could beat most everyone who played in the dorm tournament, except Jeff, the guy who taught me. I was actually better than he was but must have had a mental block. If he got eliminated before I had to play him, I usually won the dorm tournament. I never won the Hub tournament, but did get hurt trying a few times. When you make the mistake of letting the other guy force you into a defensive role, he can have you back away from the table 20 feet or more then just drop one over the net with a lot of back spin. A fellow can get hurt bad trying to get that returned coming in from 20 feet away.

Many years later, when I put a couple of years in working at Smith International, I revived my ping-pong playing. In their recreation room they had ping pong tables and pool tables. They also held tournaments that were not just for employees, but open to everyone.

Times had changed and I could afford a “good” paddle. I think I got one for just under $50.00 but some of those guys had paddles that cost way over $100.00, and that was back in 1991. I played every lunch hour and sometimes after work. Practiced every chance I got and always tried to find someone a lot better than I was to practice with. Finally it got hard to find someone better, so I started entering some of their tournaments. I placed in three of the tournaments, but never got 1st place.

Here is a picture of my trophies:

Here is one taken with a flash so if you enlarge it, you can read it better:

My right shoulder and right side of my back still hurt from that game. I got cracked ribs and sprained ankles. It hurts when you get hit in the eye with a 100 mph ping pong ball. But I loved it and would do it again if I could. I could make that little white ball do a lot of tricks.

By the way, these trophies are sitting on top of an old computer. I had it built in a Cooler Master case. That is the best computer case in the world.

Have a good day and enjoy what ever sport you desire.

Wondering about Wandering

I woke up wondering where in North America have I been and where have I not been. Well, I have not been a lot of places, but to make this blog a little simpler, let us just change the question to what states and providences I have been in. Since I have only been in two countries, the US and Canada, this should be simple.

I started life on Valentines Day 1943 in a hospital in Butler, Pennsylvania. Lived in Foxburg, Phillipston, Butler, New Kensington, Penn State, and near Nixon; all in Pennsylvania.

I moved to Farmington, Michigan in 1979 and then to Texas about a year later. First lived in Tarkington Prairie, which was between Dayton and Cleveland. No, not Ohio, Texas. Then moved to Justin, just north of Fort Worth, then back down south to Conroe and then to Cut & Shoot, where I am to this day. While living here in Cut & Shoot, I did work a contract job at G.E. Nuclear near Wilmington, North Carolina for over 2 years.

Well that takes care of where I have lived, but I have done some traveling. When I was quite young, my parents took me on a trip from western PA to Maine. That put me in New York, Conn., Mass., N.H., Vermont, and Maine.

When I was 16 years old, I went on a trip with my Uncle, Aunt, and cousin that took us from PA, through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming Montana, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario.

I have also been in Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas on the east end of the US. And Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California in the south west.

I have not been in Delaware, New Jersey, nor Rhode Island in the east. I have not been in Iowa, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, nor Minnesota in the north central US. Neither have I been in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, not Utah in the west.

Of course there are a million places that I haven’t seen just here in Texas. Why would any one want to tour the world when the good old USA has so much diversity, so much in fact, that you couldn’t possibly see it all in one life-time? So pack up and hit the road. Let us see how much we can see in our life time.

Happy trails to you. . .

Wondering about a Vacuum

No, I don’t mean a sweeper. I mean the absence of anything.

I have read articles that listed temperatures of different parts of the universe. Isn’t most the universe nothing? I mean, isn’t it just empty space.

I just read of an experiment that a scientist was doing where he started by lowering the temperature to as close to absolute zero as possible and pumping out the container to create a vacuum.

I have to admit that I am not at all familiar with the laws of thermodynamics except to know that that there are three ways to transfer heat, conduction, convection, and radiation. Also, I know that there is no such thing as a complete vacuum, but can be so close to be considered complete. Now here is where I get mixed up.

How can there be any temperature at all in a complete vacuum? If so, how could it get there? Let me see, by conduction? No, there is nothing there to act as a conductor. OK then, by convection? No, there is nothing there to create a flow. OK, it must be by radiation. Yes, I admit that heat can be radiated through a vacuum, but without anything for that radiation to hit, no heat can be transferred.

In deep space, heat is radiated from stars and warms dust clouds, planets, gasses, etc. around the star. But I can not see the empty space between the dust particles and molecules around the star having any temperature at all, only the particles that are floating about in the near vacuum. In other words, I only believe that heat can be transferred with, through, or to some physical matter.

Not just in space. In fact, that mouse that you have in your hand is made up of molecules which are made up of atoms, which are made up of . . . But there is a lot of empty space between all these tiny particles. That space should not have any temperature at all, either.

I do not believe that a vacuum can have any temperature at all. But, I am told that absolute zero can not be reached. Isn’t temperature the vibrating of molecules or atoms? And if there are no molecules or atoms present, doesn’t that mean there is no temperature? And no temperature means absolute zero, right?

Please help straighten me out. I have been wondering about a lot of things and can’t seem to find all the answers. Maybe I have a vacuum inside my head; sometimes my wife says I do. . .

Wondering about the Cut & Soot Post Office

There seems to be a lot of confusion about the area where I live. A lot of people don’t believe there is a place called “Cut & Shoot” even if it is in Texas. I tell them that I am just west of Security and south of Point Blank. And that is also a correct statement.

Some day I will go into some of the history of this area, but today I want to talk about the post office. A lot of the confusion comes from that fact that if you “Google” our zip code, 77306; it tells you that it is for Conroe, TX. OK, I will buy that, since our post office is a branch of the main one in Conroe, but in another way I don’t buy that. The zip code “77306” is only for the boxes at the Cut and Shoot Post Office and nowhere else. My mailing address, since I have a post office box at the Cut and Shoot Post Office, has a 77306 zip code but my physical address has a 77303 zip code. This all gets very confusing especially when you get things shipped to you.

I do not have a mail box at my property, so when I order something, I have to know if it will be shipped UPS or USPS so I know which address to give.

Since I have been here, there have been two post office buildings at the same location. The first one was a unique wooden building with the old style boxes. It had an old comfortable “homey” feel to it. When it was decided that a new building was needed, the old one was trucked to a park in Magnolia, TX and put on display along with an old rail-road depot. I am glad it was not destroyed but sure to miss it. At least it is now preserved for many more people to enjoy.

Fist of all, let me show you an old picture taken quite a few years ago of the sign for the old post office. This should prove that it is real:

Now let me show you a series of pictures of the old post office building the way it used to be:

Now compare it to the new modern one we have today:

And a close up of the name; just to prove once and for all that there is a post office at Cut and Shoot, Texas and it is alive and well, no matter what Google says!!!

Wondering about Water Levels

I was reading an article the other day about scientists studying dust devils in Nevada. The reason was to find out what causes them and what conditions do not cause them. This information would then be helpful for unmanned or manned missions to Mars. Since Mars has huge dust devils that can cause equipment failure or be a detriment to astronauts.

To get to my point, the article said that that whole area had been a large sea. In fact, most of the south west was once under a large sea. I know it was where I live now and when I lived up north of Fort Worth; you could find sea shell fossils in the shell on the hill sides.

Nevada was under water and most of Texas, so too where most of the states in between. So why, I wonder, is it mostly desert now? Where did all the water go?

From what I understand, and I could very well be wrong, the earth does not loose water vapor into space. Water is being created whenever any hydrocarbons are burned. So, where is all the water?

Some people try to tell us that because of global warming, our coastal areas will be flooded. As I see it, a huge percentage of the North American continent was under water at one time and even if all the ice in the world would melt, it would not even come close to what was under the seas of old.

What could possibly tie up all that water? How about plants? Maybe back when the south western US was under water, there were very few plants on earth. Now vegetation is almost everywhere and plants hold a lot of water. But I don’t think they could even hold a fraction of the water needed to produce the seas of ancient times. Anyway, I think that there were plenty of huge plants back then.

Well, here I am again asking a question I can’t answer. There must be some knowledgeable people out there who can explain this to me. Of course when you do explain it to me, please use small words. . .

Wandering Around the Flea Market

Last Sunday, my wife and I decided to go wander around the local Flea Market and get some walking exercise and an “outing”. It was a partly cloudy day which helped keep the hot sun hidden part of the time, but it was still quite warm. The first thing we saw after getting parked was someone’s old Mercury parked at the edge of the lot:


This is a picture looking west at the outside portion:

And this is one taken from the other end looking east:

There is almost everything you can think of for sell, from old used stuff to brand new merchandise. Everyone should find something that interests them. Let us start down one of the outside isles. Just went through one section and headed straight on to the next when this vendor was noticed, since he is selling “Chicago Style” food. Quite a change from the Tex-Mex that the other vendors sell.

If you want to make your own, there are plenty of booths that sell fresh foods.

And some that sell dried and canned food, packaged food, etc.
Maybe you need an old rusty cast iron pot:

Plants are sold also, depending on the time of year, garden vegetable plants can be found along with flowers and shrubs of all kinds.

All kinds of clothing can be had. Do you want a pair of green boots?

Or if you can’t make up your mind, how about a pair of pok-a-dot ones:

Or maybe you need a neat hat to go with those new boots:

Or some undies:

Let’s go inside the air conditioned building.

Here is the side door:

But we are going to go in the north end of the building. This is what you see when you first step in from the north looking south:

After walking to the other end we look back to the north:

And this last picture is of the sign at the road pointing to where we have just been.

That is a small taste of what all you may find at this flea market. It has grown in size over the years and is “the one” to go to in the area. There are a lot of other smaller flea markets in the area but they seem to be getting smaller or going out of business while this one keeps growing. Hope you enjoyed the shopping trip.

Don't forget, you can click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Wondering about Someone

Have you ever had someone on your mind and found out that your spouse had the same people on her mind at the same time? And then, out of the blue the phone rings and it is that person?

Well, that happened to me last night. A couple who are very good friends of ours called last night. Haven’t heard from them for some time. Both my wife and I had been thinking about them all weekend.

We went to the Flea Market yesterday and that fortified our thoughts of this person, since the last time we had seen them was when we met them there and we went through the flea market together. They then took off in their motor-home. They came to rest in a small town near the Gulf coast between here and Florida. They are doing very well and of course it makes us feel good that they are and still thinking of us.

Now, I am still wondering how people seem to communicate just by thinking about each other. Believe me, this was not science fiction.

I have to run. Have a lot on my list of things to do and most of them have to be done this morning. You all have a good day and I will visit your blogs later today.

Wondering about the Time of Day

OK, here I go again. Wondering about things that most people take for granted. Something as simple as the time of day should be pretty straight forward, right? Wrong, in many cases. Let us examine the words “morning”, “afternoon”, “evening”, and “night”.

Let me start with “morning”. It seems that even the experts can’t quite describe it; like the dictionary and Wikipedia. I guess most people would say it is that time after sunrise until noon. But, what about when you get up before the sun comes up. Don’t you say that you got up extra early this morning? I haven’t heard someone say that I got up last night when he just got up an hour before the sun came up. Of course officially, morning starts just after midnight. But isn’t that still “night”?

OK, maybe “afternoon” will be easier to explain. Let’s see, the word “after” means later or following or behind in place of order. And “noon” is 12:00 hours, so afternoon means the time after 12:00 pm. Yep, that was easier, but where does afternoon stop. One definition that I read was that afternoon was the time between noon and evening. Isn’t evening still after the noon hour in the same day? So, afternoon should last until midnight, right?

So then, when does evening start. Let’s say you ate your supper at 17:00 (5:00 pm). Would you be eating your supper in the late afternoon or the early evening? I usually think of evening as being after dark. It isn’t dark at 17:00 where I live.

Lightness and darkness are quite different depending on the latitude where you may be. So sunlight, or lack of, should not be a factor. I am starting to get mixed up and I thought this would be an easy subject. . .

Now I don’t know when evening starts, or stops for that matter. Guess it stops at midnight. But then where does “night” fit in? And what happens when you get your days and nights mixed up? Well, I think that I just did!!

Before my head spins off my neck and crashes to the floor, I think I better stop trying to figure this stuff out. Now I am wondering why I wonder about so many things that I just can’t explain. . .

Wondering About Product Brands

I got up early this morning. Didn’t want to be up early because one of my Shih Tzu’s was sick off and on through the night. So, I didn’t get much sleep, but this is the fourth Saturday of the month and that means the Ham Breakfast. You all remember, in an old post I mentioned the Amateur Radio breakfast that I go to, don’t you? Well, I don’t know what was wrong, but there wasn’t anyone there. I waited for about 15 minutes and went on about my life.

My microphone cord broke on the VHF radio that I had in the Jeep, so couldn’t call anyone to find out what was going on. Usually when there are five Saturdays in the month, I forget to go on the fourth, so maybe everyone else forgot and I was the only one that remembered. Then too, maybe they changed the meeting place without letting me know.

Have you ever wondered how well you would do in a test to see if you could name a product from just hearing a tone, or seeing a mascot, or reading a slogan, or whatever? Well, there is a test on line that you can take. I will tell you up front that I did miss a couple. Yes, I know that is a let down for you all, since you thought I was a genius or something. (Actually, you thought I was something, but don’t know what.)

Why don’t you try this test? Even if you miss a question, it will give you the correct answer. Here is the link to it, click HERE.

Now, I want every one to tell me how you did on the test. I missed two but on a couple of them, I was just a good guesser. (grin)

Songs in my Head or Not

Ben was saying one day on his blog that he had a song stuck in his head. Well, I have had one stuck in mine since yesterday. A friend of mine wrote me an email yesterday saying that when he gets enough sleep (and probably feels real good) he breaks out in the song “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah”. Now I have that song playing over and over in my head. It was playing up until I fell asleep last night and was playing when I woke up this morning and it is still playing. In fact, I feel like singing it now. Not a bad song to have playing in your head. Most Disney songs are very likeable and this one is way up on top.

Now, what I am wondering is why some songs stick in you head and others don’t. Sometimes I hear a song that I really like and want to remember it. But by the time I go pick up my guitar to work that song out; it disappears out of my head. Yeh, don’t remind me that at my age my short term memory is not all that good. Now, what was I saying???

You do know that music (singing) and profanity is dedicated to one side of your head and speech to the other, don’t you? I learned that as a small boy. I had two relatives that had severe head injuries. My Grandmother’s brother-in-law (what relation would he be to me?) worked on the rail road back in the steam engine days. Yep, I am that old, I remember steam engines.

On some coal tenders there was a small compartment or shelter called a “dog house” where a man could get out of the cold wind. Well, this fellow was getting out of the one of those. He stood up and turned around to the front just as a low bridge was coming up and it hit him high on the forehead. He survived but there was a big step in his forehead, big enough to lay your hand in. That amazed me.

Then my Dad’s brother-in-law (my uncle) had a similar accident (I don’t remember the details) that knocked a teacup full of brains out of the side of his head. It took him some time to be able to talk good enough to be understood, but boy could he swear!!

Look at Mel Tillis, he can sing just fine, but when he tries to talk, he stutters. Speech is on one side of the brain and music is on the other.

Now, how did I get off on this subject???

Swamp & Eyes

Yesterday I showed you what my “swamp” should look like in normal weather, but this year we have had a draught. All the counties around here are under an outside burn ban. No outside fires are allowed. One spark could start a grass or forest fire that could do a lot of damage since everything is so very dry.

I also said that I would take some pictures of what it looked like yesterday, which I did. This is by far, not the worst draught that this area has gone through. The year that I dug the deep hole was the worst I had ever seen. When I first moved to this location, you couldn’t dig a post hole without hitting water, but in the last 20 or so years, it seems to have been getting drier and drier in this area. I had to put an extra 20 foot of pipe to lower the foot valve in my well. Ran out of water and thought the well went dry, but the water level just dropped some.
Anyway, this is a picture of the lower section which is now only six inches deep. In yesterday’s pictures it was up to the trees on the left side, and filled about 5 acres with water.

Look at the last picture on yesterday’s blog. I had to walk down past all those trees out to where you see that log laying in the water. No water at the log now, just in the hole I dug on the far side of it. At least the hole is working as a sanctuary for the aquatic life.

Now, to change the subject. Hermit Jim got a cataract removed from one of his eyes yesterday and commented on how well he could see and colors were brighter. Well now, I have to agree with him. I had my cataracts removed after I got home from our trip to Terlingua last April. The first operation was done May 17th and the second one was done June 7. One of the benefits of getting one eye done at a time, is that you can compare the “fixed” eye to the “old” one.

The first one was quite an experience for two reasons. First, I didn’t know what all was going to happen and second, there was a slight problem that turned out to be something I had a big laugh about. Let me explain.

First of all, let me say that I refused any relaxing shot or anesthetic except for the drops in the eye and was, therefore, in control of all my senses. I didn’t want to miss a thing (grin). A stretchable membrane was placed over my face and hole cut for my eye. I very bright light was placed close to my eye. It was moving around a bit, so I asked the surgeon if I was suppose to follow the light with my eye. He said no that it was not suppose to be moving. He told the nurses to tighten the knobs. That didn’t work, so I heard him say to get some tape and tape it in place. Not being able to see anything except that light, I had no idea what was going on.

Well, the light stopped moving and the doc started the process. I knew this when things turned a red hue. . . All went well thereafter and in less than 7 minutes they were getting me ready to get up off the table. As soon as they got me seated in the wheel chair, I looked up and just laughed out loud. All that fancy equipment in there looked like it got “papered” at Halloween. You know, when kids toss toilet paper all over the trees and buildings. They had used white medical type tape and had it wrapped around everything. I asked the doctor if I should bring my own duct tape for the next eye. Of course the next time, the equipment was fixed.

All went great after both until the Friday night before the Fourth of July weekend. I woke up in the middle of the night with the most severe eye pain that I have ever had and it kept getting worse. Tears were streaming out of that one eye down my face. I waited until morning and called the surgeon’s office. Just a recording. Tried multiple times but to no avail. Found out later that there was a problem with the switching mechanism that switched you to the answering service. The Fouth of July weekend is not a good time to have an emergency.

I gave up and called my Optometrist’s office. Everyone was off except for one lady who was leaving in an hour. I rushed in and she took care of me. I had a severe case of inflammation. Other than that, I had no other problems. I can see so much better. Do not need glasses to drive anymore. That is a real plus. Do need glasses for close up work, but can live with that.

The added bonus was colors. Cataracts have a yellowish hue and when you look at blue or purple through a yellow lens you get a green tint and the sky was sort of a blue-grey. I could not believe how vivid blues and purples are now!!! Now it is blue sky from now on.

Wandering Around My Place Back in ‘05

I came across a few pictures that I took over five years ago back on April 4, 2005 when I took a walk around my “swamp”. Thought that you would like to see them. For you readers that live up north, yes it is that green here the first part of April and earlier. Actually, the hardwoods lose their leaves in late December and start to come back out in February. Yes, we do have winter here in Cut-N-Shoot, Texas. A couple of years ago it was on a Thursday in early February (grin). Actually, last winter here lasted more than a month, but it didn’t get below freezing everyday, and the days it did, it warmed up to the 60's and some times 70's after the sun came up.

I will show you the pictures in the order they were taken, which will give you an idea what my walk was like. This first picture is taken from the old section of the swamp looking south:

Next, I was walking south on the path along the part of the swamp that was in the last picture:

And, a little further along into the wooded section:

Tuning around and looking back the other way:

And then straight across, looking to the west-south-west:

Back into the wooded part:

Looking out of trees to the north-west:

Back along the trail:

Almost back to where we started from. This is the “new” part of the swamp. One year when it dried up completely, I dug a small part of this section out to make a six foot or so deeper hole as a haven for the aquatic life, if we ever had such another severe draught. You can’t see the “hole” since the whole swamp is full and covers about five acres or so. Before I forget, here is the picture:

Three times around the swamp is 1.1 miles, so, back in the day that I did a fast paced walk (for my health) I went around 9 times and thus walked for 3.3 miles. Maybe I ought to start waling again? Maybe when it gets a little cooler.

Ok, that is your tour for today. But, if you would like, go to my old blog “My Swamp” to see some other pictures of it, a couple on a rare frosty morning.

Then, go to another old blog “Where Did the Water Go?” and see it as it was early in September. It was really low. We haven’t had any rain at all since then, so I am afraid to go look at it. It just might be a desert out there by now. Sure hope not.

Maybe I will walk on down there today and take an up-to-date picture and put it on tomorrow’s blog. Too many trees between the swamp and my house to see it from here.

You all have good day now, you hear?

Wondering Why I Have Nothing

Ok, I sat down here at the computer more than two hours ago with the best intentions of writing an interesting and informative blog, but here I sit with nothing to say. . .

I even looked at every one's blog, my email, and nothing went off in my head. There was one email I wanted to expound on, but thought I better not. Nuff said about that.

Why is it that sometimes a person just can't come up with a good subject. I am sure about now you are saying to yourself, "Why don't this guy just shut up if he doesn't have anything to say". Well, I have been saying that for years about a lot of people, especially lawyers and politicians. Never thought that you would be saying it to me. :o(

Not looking forward to a project that I have to do, and today is as good as any to "get er done". Remember way back, I told you about the plumbing job I had to do under the house? Well, I let that area exposed to the air so that it would dry out. Didn't want to wait this long, but you know how it is when you get as old as I am, when you get up in the morning and turn around once, three days go by. (grin). Anyhow, got to get it done. Probably got some varmints moved into the lower condo by now. Opossums have been a problem in the past even when there was no apparent way for them to move in.

Tell you what, if I think of something earth shaking, I will add it to the post later. But, if were you, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Wandering about HEE-HAW

No, I don’t mean the sound a mule makes, but the old TV show with that title. For you too young to remember that show, its hosts were Buck Owens and Roy Clark. The show was first aired back in 1969. Wow, I really looked forward to watching it every week. With Junior Samples, Lulu Roman, Grandpa Jones, Archie Campbell, and Gordie Tapp doing their best to make us laugh, and they sure did. The Hagar Brothers, twins, also supplied music and laughter along with a lot of big name special guests.

Like I said, I used to look forward to that show each week, and, believe it or not, I still do. Yep, in fact I watched it last night. It had Roy Rogers and Dale Evans on as special guests. Ain’t it great to have a time machine and go back to the past where things seemed simpler?

Yep, I sure do have a time machine. It is called RFDTV. Not only does it have HEE HAW on but also The Wilburn Brothers Show, the Porter Wagoner Show, and Pop! Goes the Country. Do you remember any of them? I am not going to give you links to them, if you want to learn more, Google them for yourself (grin).

Also, RFDTV has the Country’s Family Reunion show that interviews some of the country entertainers who have been around for awhile and they sing and tell stories about the “good old days” and Crook & Chase, who have both old stuff and new. RFDTV also has Gospel music shows, bluegrass music shows, country music shows with some from Branson, Mo., and it even has a Polka show. Here is a link to all the music and entertainment shows on RFDTV, Click Here.

I am going to leave you with something I heard on HEE-HAW last night that made me laugh the loudest. I may not get it word for word, but here is what I remember:

It was one guy talking to another about politics. The first guy said that no one should compare an election to a horse race.

The other guy asked why.

The fist guy answered this way. “Cause in a horse race, the whole horse runs.”

Wondering What Makes a Hero

What do you think makes a hero? I know it isn’t what is portrayed by most “hero” action movies. A person can become a hero in all manner of ways. Some only act like a hero once in their life; let us say by saving someone. Some have lived a hero’s life in a manner of ways. There are all types of heroes out there and have been for as long as people learned to live together.

This Sunday morning I want to talk about one in particular. I am going to give you a couple of links to sites on the web that can tell the story better than I can. Here is one that I think tells it like it was. He became a hero when he overcame his injuries and dedicated his life to helping others. Click Here

This fellow’s name is Dave Roever. I had known about him but had forgotten his name. Yesterday, I found an envelope that I had the name “Dave Roever” written across one end. This morning, my curiosity got the better of me and I searched the internet for him. I had no trouble finding a lot of links to him. Search for yourself, but here is another link that tells a little more: Click Here

Like I said before, there are a lot of internet sites about him. Let me know which ones you like the best and I will take a look.

Have a bright Sunday.

Wondering about Security

I wonder if we can ever be really secure. Well, of course not, but we can turn the odds in our favor with a little precaution. Precautions can run from weapons to surveillance, but the best is to just be wary and alert. Yes, but it can help to have weapons and surveillance systems. But, you can not take those with you everywhere you go. Let your eyes and ears be your surveillance and anything at hand can be a weapon.

OK, enough of that. I have a simple surveillance system at my home that I have had for sometime now and believe from Ben’s blogs that he does, too. I have one that can take up to 8 cameras but at this time, only have 3 hooked up. When there is enough light, they are in color but in low or no light they switch to infra-red and have infra-red LED’s all around the lens to brighten up the night.

You can view a single camera only, or a full screen view of all cameras set to switch to the next one at an interval of time that you choose, or you can view four cameras in one screen and switch automatically to the next four, if you have that many.

This is the first picture I took of the monitor looking out at the circle part of my driveway and where I park the motor-home and the Jeep:

I took a second picture just in case the first didn’t turn out, and guess what? A narrow band showed up on the screen and went from bottom to top. See:

In the following pictures that dang band kept showing up either as the narrow one or a much wider one that would darken half the screen. Now tell me why did it not show up only in the first picture?

The next two pictures are looking at my deck stairs and path out to “the swamp”. See the wide band at the top:

And a smaller band in this one:

The next two pictures are looking toward where my driveway comes in and turns down toward the house. Both of these also have bands on them:

The next picture shows all three views at one time:

The night time pictures of the monitor didn’t turn out too good, but enough to see what it is like. If a person or animal where to come into view, they would show up brighter than the surroundings. Remember the first picture? Well, here it is at night:

Did you notice that the tail lights of the Jeep looked like they were glowing? That is the reflection of the infrared lights.

On all these pictures, the flash went off and reflected in the upper part of the screen. That is what the bright spot is, in case you have wondering.

This next picture is the night view of the deck stairs. See the two square bright spots in the lower right? They are the reflecting stickers on my garbage cans.

Did I tell you that all of the four cameras I have (one still in the box), also have audio in both directions. I usually keep the audio turned off because it bothers the dogs and makes them bark. The dogs do watch the monitor, especially when we are out of the house. Guess I could call them watch dogs. . .

I guess I should have waited to get better pictures, but since I didn’t, you will have to live with what I posted (grin).

Wondering about Windy Bob

Just a wondering how a big ole Harley rider like Windy Bob who posts on “Its just me again!” could have such a beautiful singing voice? Voices like that should be preserved for angels; well maybe that is laying it on a little too heavy (grin). I did think that his song was great. Just go here, click on the video, and see what you think.

Hey, the guy even writes poetry along with songs. He hasn’t been posting every day, but when he does, you just don’t know what it is going to be about.

His only problem is that he sometimes hangs out with Old Ben and that could get him in trouble. The last time he visited Ben, he was forced to wear a camera on his head and take a fast ride on the Harley. Actually, I enjoyed that, brought back some memories.

Both guys and their blogs are great.

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And Ben, my wife doesn’t get to read my blog before I post it. When she gets around to it, she turns on the lap-top and checks it, then tells me about all the words I either misspelled or misused. Or tells me I shouldn’t have said this or that. I just reply that it is too late now to change it.

But maybe for the rest of the day, you may be right.

Wondering – an “Ole Hippie”

Ben, in his yesterday’s blog “An Older Texan Remembers”, said that I “Would fit right in as an Ole Hippie”. Well, let me explain it like I did the other day.

My wife and I were walking through a flea market last Sunday and as I walked past an older couple’s table the guy says, “There goes an ole hippie”. I stopped and laughed and told him that I was not an old hippie but a NEW HIPPIE. I explained to him that I never had long hair in the past and because of my work, had to keep neat and trimmed everyday. So when I turned 65, I quit cutting both my hair and my beard. So, that makes me a “new hippie”.

Do you all remember “Woodstock”? That was supposed to be the pinnacle of the hippie movement. Well, at that time I was working hard to make a living for me and my family. Yep, I had a wife (the same one) and two boys at that time. The oldest boy was just a little over 4 years old and the youngest was only a month or so old. I was never a hippie, any way, I liked country music.

I grew up with parents that wouldn’t allow long hair on boys. Although I didn’t want really long hair, I did want was in style at the time. No, just had a “normal” looking hair cut about every three or four weeks. So, after all those years of looking neat, when I turned 65 I just wanted to let everything grow while I still had a few hairs left. Must say, it is a new and interesting life (grin). My wife does not like it and wants it all cut, but so far, I have been able to hold on to the long hair.

Wonder how long it will take to have hair as long as Crystal Gayle’s. She has to carry the end of it in her pocket to keep from tripping over it. Wow, didn’t know hair could grow that long. Nah, don’t want that, it would be way too hard to handle, for sure.

There is method to my madness. I figure that long hair and a long beard will take everyone’s attention off the fact that I am ugly. It seems to be working, so far. Now that I mentioned that, don’t look too hard at me. . .

You need to see today’s “Coffee with the Hermit”. He is remembering the old Burma Shave signs. Boy does that bring back memories. Always loved those signs. Do you remember Hee Haw, the TV show? On RFDTV they are showing that old show again. They have a take-off on the Burma Shave signs to introduce Buck Owens when he is about to sing one of his songs. Sure wish I could go back to the “good ole days”.

Request for Flower Pots

I received a request from a wonderful friend who wanted to see some more of my wife’s flower pots. My wife makes some out of other things and paints them to resemble real clay pots and takes real clay pots and paints them different base colors. See the first picture on “my-wife’s-projects-part-2” to see one made from a plastic coffee container.

Here is a picture of 11 containers and pots that she has made:

The next three pictures are close-ups of the last picture:

Very special friends sent my wife a basket of beautiful plants after her Mom passed away. After awhile, it was noticed that in order for the plants to survive, they would have to be repotted into larger pots. So, she purchased the correct size clay pots and of course painted them. Here is a picture of the main three plants in their new homes:

And here is a picture of the vines in their new pot:

I am going to quit here. I have shown you enough to get the idea of what she can do and I hope you have enjoyed seeing them. I am just so proud of her artistic work. She is never satisfied and is always trying something new.

Remember, click on pictures to enlarge.