Exo-Planets and Jill's card.

We may not be alone!!  But all the aliens are very far away.  Why do I say this.  Well, some astronomers have been planet hunting and have bagged quite a few of them, some of which are near Earth size.  The actual figure of known planets that we have found so far is 2740.

 

 

Three hundred and fifty one of them are Earth size.  Some may be in their star's habital zone, and even if they are not, some may have places on it that can support life as we know it.  Of course there could be other forms of life.  We on earth are carbon based life forms but there may be silicon base life forms, also.  Sometimes the silicon chip in my computer thinks it has a life of its own. . .

 

Yesterday, Billy Bob of  Billy Bob's Travels  asked me to post a picture of the 3D card.  I told him that it would not show up very well and of course the 3D part sure wouldn't.  He insisted so here is the card that Jill of  "Recycled Daze" sent to me (the damage in the lower right corner was probably done by post office sorting machines):



 

 





So, I have taken you from outer space to back in history to the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  That all for today, so have a great day, you hear?

Thank you Jill.

On the way back from the flea market today, since I didn't pick up the mail yesterday, we went on down to the post office and I got my mail.  Sure glad that I did!!  I got a beautiful 3D post card from Jill Eudaly of  "Recycled Daze".  Now, that made my day.  Thank you very much, Jill.  That was a very pleasant surprise and my wife and I got a kick looking at that three dimension card.  The depth of it was fantastic.  It seemed like I could just step into that card and walk around with our founding fathers as they were signing the declaration of independence.  If you haven't already, go check out her blog, she is quite the artist and has had her work published in magazines in the recent past.

Good timing Jill, the 4th of is just about upon us.  The only bad thing about this holiday and new years eve, is the fireworks and firecrackers going off all over the place.  It is so dry there will probably be some fires caused by them.  Those two holidays are feared by my oldest dog.  She is deathly afraid of anything that goes bang or boom.  Then it is "a whole lot of shak'n going on" for sure.  Thanks again Jill and you all have a great day, you hear?

Wondering about . . . relatives?

Well, here I was.  Just sitting on the couch with my mind occupied with something on my computer. . . you know important stuff like computer games.  I don't like those modern games, but prefer the old standbys, like Mahjong and 10 Mahjong and Minesweeper and games like that.  I thought I heard my wife say something about her daughters.  THAT got my attention.  Daughters??  As far as I know, we only had two sons and one of them was killed in a traffic accident.  So, she has daughters??  The things you learn about your spouse after almost 50 years of marriage!

I had to ask her the BIG question.  "What daughters?"  She said the ones she bought awhile back.  OK, this is getting worse than I could imagine and here I thought I knew my wife pretty well.  "You actually bought some daughters?", I asked, thinking this is getting worse by the minute.  She said yes, that she got a couple different sizes.  OK??  Guess she didn't want twins.  You know, two the same size; like this:

Then she explained that she didn't get daughters, she got dotters.  That dotters where a tool she uses in her art work to make perfect round dots.  Here is a picture of her new daughters dotters:

 
And a cropped enlarged picture:

Now, whether you have daughters or dotters, I sure hope you all have a great day to day, you hear?

Wandering about some more flowers.

My wife and I went to our skin doctor for our yearly check-up.  This time we both checked out just fine with nothing that absolutely needed removed.  Then I opened my big mouth!!  Told him that I had this mole in the middle of my back that bothered me and that it would get irritated if I leaned back against the back of chair.  I asked if he could remove it, and he did.  He first cut it out with a scalper to get a sample for a biopsy and then burnt out what was left.  That did not smell too good.  And yes, he deadened the area before he started cutting.

Outside the building where his office is located, there were was some nice landscaping and pretty flowers.  I thought that you would enjoy seeing them:

And a cropped view:

Later, I walked up my driveway and took a couple of pictures.  I have shown you other pictures of this variety of wild flower, but they are pretty so I took another picture.  They were blowing in the wind so the picture is a little blurry:

Also discovered that the tent worms were moving in.  If they don't move on, I may have to evict them by force.  Those webs are quite flamable you know:

Hope you enjoyed going with me to the doc's and walking up my driveway.  Take a walk today and see all the beauty around you and have a great day, you hear?

Wondering about allergies.

Do you have any allergies?  I used to but not so much any more, except for one huge allergy.  I am allergic to work (grin).  Some people believe that one way or another, allergies are the root of all illnesses.  I am not so sure about that, in fact I think that statement isn't quite correct.  It is the cause of a lot of illness but not all, unless you think that you are allergic to the germs that cause some disease or the toxins in a rattle snake bite or the botulism in the bad fish you consumed.  Which is it?  Did you know that some people are really allergic to water?  Yep, it is called aquagenic urticaria.  If you got that, better carry an umbrella all the time and try to never sweat. . .

My wife asked me yesterday what the date was.  I told her it was June 25th and it was half way to and half way from Christmas, depending on how you look at it.  So let me either be real late or real early to wish you a Merry Christmas.  Now kids, yep you still have a long wait for Santa, but try to have a good day today anyway, you hear?

Wondering, is it having its last fling?

About a week or so ago, I had to go to the doctor's office for a check-up and blood test before he would renew my presciption again.  My doctor had just moved into a rather new building on the south west loop around town.  That was OK with me, since it is easier for me to get to his office.  I have to admit, it is a lot better place than where he was before.  He has a lot more room there and it is nice place.  The flowering magnolia trees planted in front were blooming but they had a lot of brown leaves.  I am wondering if they are dying or if the brown leaves are just from the shock of transplanting.  The blooms are beautiful:
 

But if you look at a larger view, you can see the brown leaves:

And here is a bloom that is wide open:

 

And a wider view shows both blooms and my Jeep parked in the parking lot:

 

 

I do hope they make it and those blooms are not just its last fling.  Now, here is wishing you many, many flings and also a beautiful day today, you hear?

 

 

             

Wondering about vines and a big moon.

I have a lot of vines of all varieties on my property, but around my house it seems that the wild grape vines are quite abundant.  Some of these vines are quite athletic, too, able to jump great distances.  There is one just outside of the dogs fenced yard that is a perfect example.  It has gone from one tree to another that is quite aways away and it looks like both ends are about on the same level, although it does sag in the middle.  Now, tell me, how did this vine jump across that void so far?  Nature amazes me!!!  You don't have to go very far at all to see its wonders.  Take a look, click the picture and enlarge it, and tell me how it did its trapeze trick.

 

Now I suppose all of you had heard about how close the moon would be to the earth last night.  Yep, it was the closest it will be until August of next year.  Therefore, even with my cheap little camera, I had to try and get a picture of it.  I am sorry, but that is the best I could do.  But any picture will not do it justice unless you had taken one last month when it was near the same phase.  Believe me, it did look quite large and bright.   

 

Hey Barney, was the tides extra high and low?  Since the moon is so close and it is what affects the tides. . . just wondering.  Do you know that without the moon there would be no tides and the ocean would not be as dynamic and filled with the same type of aquatic life?  No, I am not going to get into that subject today, so all of you have a great day today, you hear?





Wondering about a guitar and a snake.

Yeah, I went to the flea market again today.  My wife got some stuff for her art work and card making and I didn't get anything, as usual.  There are a lot of neat things for sell, if you take the time to look.  I showed you that "kit" I saw yesterday.  Today, I am going to show you a special guitar that I spotted.

Did you notice that body of this guitar is a bed pan?  And did you notice whose picture was in the bed pan part?

And it has an unusual name; but it does sound a little familiar. . .

My son came up to my place with his big ole gasoline powered weed eater that had a saw blade on it.  He trimmed grapevines and bushes that were trying to invade my home and porch and then trimmed around some trees and along the drive way.  That is where he spotted this snake, which we believe was a King Snake.

 

 

My son snapped a picture with his phone since I didn't have my camera with me.  I tried to crop just the head and enlarge it, put there was not enough pixels  to allow that without being very blurry.  It was fairly long, about four feet plus or minus a few inches.  It was none aggressive and they do a lot of good around the place.  It went on its merry way.  Looked like it was headed for the swamp.  He better hurry, it is drying up fast.  Now, you all have a great day today, you hear?





Wandering back from the flea market 6-22-13

Took a ride over to the flea market and walked around.  Visited with some of our flea-market friends and didn't spend much money.  I didn't buy anything but the wife found a book that will be used in card making and art.  The first table we stopped at was Rick's.  He always seems to come up with something interesting.  I have posted stuff that he has had on sale on my blog before and I am going to do it again today.  I did tell him what I was doing and he said no charge, knock yourself out.

The one item that caught my attention was a very practical item that everyone could use sometime during their lives and probably many times.  If you think about all the components you will understand why it would work:

See the can of prune juice?

And the "over the Hill" bran flakes.  If the bran flakes and the prune juice don't work, option three is the big ole firecracker.  That will brake the dam. . .

Now don't tell me you can't find something useful at the flea market (grin).  No, I didn't buy it.  Maybe someday I will wish I had. . . Now you all have great day today, you hear?

It happened at 12:04 A.M.

It happened at 12:04 A.M. here in East Texas!!  And I survived, at least, so far.  It comes around here once every year about this time.  It will cause extra expense, maybe some suffering, and maybe some fun.  Don't get in a sweat over it. . . OK, maybe you will get in a sweat over it.  Summer is what I am talking about.  Yep summer is here, by the calender, but it has been here in full force for quite awhile now.  Summer here gets you used to the heat so if you go to the wrong place after you die, it will not feel that much worse down there.  In fact it may just feel better cause down there it is a "dry" heat.  Here, the humidity is as high as the temperature.  Some days the dew point is nip and tuck with the temperature.

Also, did you see the moon last night or better yet, early this morning?  It was absolutely HUGE.  It swung low in its orbit and really put on a show.  Even with the blinds shut, it lit up my bedroom.  I wonder if it caused an extra high (or low) tide?  To say the least least, it was a beautiful night.  Now, you all stay cool and enjoy the first day of summer, you hear?

Wondering about your dog's favorite food.

First, before I go any further, I want to insist that if you haven't yet, you need to go read Hermit Jim's post that he put on for today.  Here is a link to his site:

 http://hermitjim.blogspot.com/2013/06/lets-talk-conspiracy-theory.html

Now, what is your pets favorite food?  We have three dogs so I will have to discuss dogs only, but feel free to tell about all your different pets; for instance, what is your pet vulture's favorite food. . . .  My wife cooks for our dogs.  She starts out with ground turkey and then adds different vegetables and some pasta.  I go beg with the dogs but they always win out (grin).  I guess they are cuter than I am.

Now, you would think that all that good food would satisfy them.  I only had one dog that would refuse food after she was full.  These three would eat until they burst and then eat what spilled out (oh so gross, sorry about that).  The oldest female just loves lettuce.  Yes, you heard me, lettuce.  We eat a lot of salads here and when my wife is preparing the lettuce, my one dog goes berserk begging for some.  Of course my wife gives her some and, to be fair, gives some to the other two, also.  The other two are not as enthusiastic as Muffin, but they will carry it off somewhere to chew on it while Muffin is chomping hers down and begging for more, more, more. . .  Therefore, I guess my oldest dog's favorite food is . . . ANYTHING, especially if it is lettuce.  Now, think about my Muffin next time you are eating your salad and have a great day, you hear?

Wondering over puzzles.

I like good puzzles, doesn't every one?  Last night, I picked up a little book I had laying around called "Brain-Boosting lateral thinking Puzzles.  It has some pretty good brain teasers in it.  Way too many good ones to share with you.  But maybe I can give you some idea of what I am talking about.  I will give a few examples and will list the answers at the end of the blog.

1. What can be seen in the middle of March and April that cannot be seen in any other month?

2.  For  you computer experts, how many binary numbers make a dozen?

3.  A lady greets her three relatives as hello Joe, hello father, hello father.  How could she have two relatives that are her father?

4.  I multipied 3 and 4 three times.  What answer did I get?

5.  Four friends got caught in a down-pour.  They ran to their cars.  Three of them got their hair soaked but why didn't the fourth?

6.  Who played for both Russia and Italy at the Olympic games in the same year?

OK, that is enough of that, right?  Now you all have a great day today, you hear?




Answers:
1.  the letter "R".

2.  twelve

3.  her nephew is a priest.

4.  I got 12 each time I did it.

5.  He was bald.

6.  The band that played each of their national anthoms.

Wandering to the Dentist.

Yes, I know I am late today.  I had an early morning appointment with my dentist.  You see, I was flossing the other day and the floss got stuck between two of my lower front teeth.  I gave it a yank and it came out along with a small sliver off the top of the rear of my tooth.  Of course, when I touch it with my thongue, it feels like the Grand Canyon.  I got in with only a few minutes wait and he took a look at all may teeth and said I was doing a good job at brushing.  He ground down the sharp edge on the chipped tooth and said "that's it, no charge".  Wow!!!  When was the last time you went to a doctor or a dentist and heard them say that?

I guess that is all I have to say today, so keep cool and have a great day, you hear?

Wondering about a new way to use your head.

I was reading in my Discover magazine about a new phone that uses a different technology than we are used to.  But, before I tell you about it, let me ask you a question.  If you are in a high noise level area like around running machinery or at a NHRA Top Fuel Drag Race, and want to use your cell phone or want to answer it when someone calls, what do you do?  No, in situations like that I can't hear it but then I put it on vibrate mode.  Of course at the races, if two top fuel cars are going down the track, I wouldn't even feel it!!  I would also be wearing ear protection of some kind.

Enter the Torque phone from Kyocera.  It can transmit sound though bone and soft tussue.  Just touch it to your head anywhere; on the forehead, at the back of the skull, on the tip of your nose, anywhere, and low and behold, you can hear the phone!!  This way, it bypasses all the surround sound (and you don't have to have the volume turned up so loud that everyone within a hundred feet of you can hear what is being said to you).  I am hard of hearing and wear hearing aids.  I am sure this phone would work great for me.

It is easier to transmit sound through something solid like bone, but they are coming up with the technology to transmit sound through soft tissue, too.  That solves a lot of problems for the many, many hearing impaired people in the world.  There are already stuff on the market that use this technology, but the system they use only transmit sound through bone where as this new phone can use both bone and tissue.  Ain't science and technology wonderful when it is directed toward helping instead of hurting people?  Now have yourselves a very good Monday, you HEAR?

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there.

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there.  Hope you all have a great day and are remembered by your children.  Did you know that most all the countries celebrate Father's Day?  Yep, but not all celebrate it today, but the biggest percentage of them do.  I was going to paste this chart on my blog but it would take up too much space, so have a look at this site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father's_Day .

What do you all have planned for this day?  If your Dad is still living, make sure you visit or call him today.  I lost my Dad a very long time ago.  He died at a fairly young age, ten years younger than I am now and I sure have missed him.

My Dad was a great man, not only in my eyes, but in the eyes of everyone who knew him.  He was always my hunting and fishing partner.  I do appreciate all the great times we shared and wish we could do it again.  So, if your Dad is still living, make sure he knows you love him and that he is special to you.  I am sure not all of you were as lucky as I was to have had such wonderful parents.  But I am also sure that they were all special in their own way.  So, Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there and have yourself a great day day, you hear?

Correction and Wondering about some ads.

My wife read my yesterday's blog posting last night and pointed out that I wrote that there were only 9300 "birds" in the world.  I meant to say 9300 "bird species".  Did the same thing with the amount of bird species in North America and Texas.  Sorry for that, I now stand corrected.

Some of the commercials on TV are boring, but a few are at least a little entertaining.  I actually enjoy the GEICO ads they have been putting on lately.  They want to impress on you that if you buy their insurance that you will be happy, happier than a lot of things.  Like "happier than the Pillsbury Boy going to a baking convention" or 'happier than a camel on hump day" and others.  I like their premise and their ads.  I would love to have a job writing that stuff.

This got me to wondering what if the reverse premise was used?  You know, like unhappy instead of happy.  Let me see, how about "unhappier that a sword swallower with the hick-ups".  Or a dieter or diabetic at a candy convention.  Or being best man at the love of your life's wedding.  Or really bad weather for your only vacation week of the year.  Or writing a blog every day for a year and never getting any comments.  There could be a lot more, but I would like to hear you all come up with some.  I am sure you have a lot better ideas than I have or the ad writers, so list some in the comment section and have a great day you hear.

Wondering if this post is for the birds?

Did you know that there are 9300 birds in the world?  North America plays host to at least 900 hundred of them.  A large percentage of the North American birds can be found in Texas at one time or another.  How many, you ma ask?  Over 600 is the answer.  That's a lot of birds, but then, Texas is a big place with a lot of different environments, it can be divided into eight unique areas.  Starting at the far west is the Trans-Pecos, then the High Plains, the Edwards Plateau, the Rolling Plains, the South Texas Plains, the Blackland Prairie and Post-Oak Savannah, the East Texas pineywoods, and the Coastal Plain.  That is a lot of different habitats and the reason so many different verities of birds can be found in Texas.

Now, I wonder where the birds fit in the worlds animal kingdom?  Well don't wonder any longer, I am going to tell you.  A SPECIES (like the Bald Eagle) fits into a GENUS which fits into a FAMILY which fits into an ORDER (Falconiformes) which fits into a CLASS (Aves) which fits into a PHYLUM (Chordata) which fits into a KINGDOM (Animalia).  Got that??

A lot of people keep records of the birds that they have seen and have been able to identity during an outing, a trip, a year, or a life time.  I used to, but like a lot of things I used to do, it has slipped away somewhere.  I still like to watch and hear birds.  I still like to identify them.  I just don't keep lists anymore.  In the back of my Peterson's Field Guide, there is a live list with squares that can be checked off.  I have checked quite a few.  Now, I hope this day is not "for the birds".  You all have a good one, you hear?

Wondering what people comment about.

Did you ever wonder what prompts a reader to post a comment?  Let me put it another way, did you ever wonder what heightens interest and catches attention so that someone will comment.  I sure do and I have no idea what so ever does that.  I write things that I think will catch a lot of attention and comments, and get very few if any on the part that I thought was the high light.  The opposite is true.  I have had blogs that I thought were highly interesting and didn't get more than one, maybe two comments and those from my faithful readers.

Take yesterday, for example.  I thought the highlight of the blog was the Cowboy Bubble Bath and I only got one comment (from Hermits Baby Sis) on that.  Maybe I have a warped sense of humor, but I got a real laugh out of the bubble bath beans, so much so that I used that picture I took to make a card that I sent to my Aunt in the Pennsylvania nursing home.  I also wrote a simple poem and printed it on the card.  Just in case you are curious, here is the poem:

Texas Cowboy Bubble Bath

 

Old Texas Cowboys had it rough.

Herding cows sure did make them tough!!

 

So when their stink got really bad.

Thoughts of bubble baths made them glad.

 

So next time you have a bad day,

Get tough, practice the cowboy way.

 

But just don't eat too many beans.

You sure don't want to mess your jeans.

 

 

 

Now I did warn you that it was simple.  What do you expect from someone as dizzy and simple minded as me?  Now eat some beans, take a bubble bath, and have a great day, you hear?



Think of the old west and the life that those "dollar a day and found" cowboys lived.  They all slept in bunk houses if they were lucky to be close enough at night fall, or line shacks way out on the range.  Before there was access to railroads every where, they had to drive the cattle hundreds of miles to rail heads to be loaded onto trains.  It was a really tough job, not only because it was a dusty, dirty, sweaty job where you worked, ate, and slept on the trail with a lot of smelly cattle and smellier cowboys, there were no modern conveniences.  Water was in short supply and in a lot of areas the only water available was what they could carry with them, so nightly baths were out of the question.  So when they finally got to town, clean up was in order and a long, leisurely bath was the first thing on the list.

Now you couldn't expect a splurging cowboy to just use plain soap and water for his bath.  Heck no!!  He wanted something special, like a nice long bubble bath.  So, here is a picture of what I saw at the flea market last weekend:

 

 

On my way home the other day, I was stopped at a red light right behind this vehicle.  The owner of this car has a sense of humor or a mean streak, not sure which but would rather think it was humor.

 

 

In case you have trouble reading it, I will enlarge it a bit more:

 

That's all for today folks.  I got an appointment with the blood specialist today.  I am going to tell him that I will not be coming back anymore, since the last time he said that there was nothing he could do for me and that my condition would eventually kill me.  So why go back?  Just to add to his bank account?  I think not!!  Now, you all have a great day and hope the above pictures gave you chuckle to help you have a great day, you hear?

Wondering about the culpret and hoodoos.

My wife has been having some irritation to her eyes and nose from a fragrance near our house.  This time of year a bush that grows around my property is in full bloom.  It just so happens that we have one of them that hangs over our steps to the deck and we pass right by it everytime we go out or come in.  Here are a couple of pictures of it:

The above picture shows that it and the grape vines are intruding onto out steps.  Guess I will have to start pruning before they take over the house!  This next clsoe-up picture shows that the flowers, although they have a very pungent smell, look really pretty:

Jill of http://jillgoes.blogspot.com/ gave a list of words and their meanings.  One word was "hoodoo".  How many of you have seen the great hoodoos of Brice Canyon?  I, so far, have not had the pleasure and by looking at pictures, I can tell that they are magnificant!!  Of course south west Texas had to have some of their own.  They are not nearly as great as the ones in Utah, but hey, you got to give Texas credit for trying. . .

Here are some pictures I took while in the Davis Mountains State Park.  These are not brightly colored and not as thin and tall, but I think that they could be called hoodoos, dont' you?

And another view:



 And one more:

                

Don't forget, you can pick on the pictures to enlarge then.  The last one above has some fairly tall ones right in lower front of the picture.  This area also has the highest point in Texas.  Since my place is only a little over a hundred feet above sea level, most everything is up from here.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

Now I need some music.

Now I need some music.  I got the words to a song, but no music.  I was sitting here on the couch last night and words to a song seemed to be bumping around inside my head.  Then it dawned on me that these words were never in any song I had heard, but just coming out of my head.  This has happened before, but I quickly forget the lines, never to be thought of again.  But this time, I was going to write them down while they were still in my head.  I started writing and it went from a chorus to three different verses.  Now I need to put it to music.  Want to see the verses?  NO??!!  Well, be that way, but I am going to show you anyway.  That way I will have it saved to where I can find it again if I ever decide to add the music part.  Here are the lyrics:

They Call Me Dizzy

 

(chorus)

Now they call me Dizzy,

Can you imagine that?

Don't get in a tizzy,

It's a matter of fact!

 

Some of us dance, some of us clog,

Some write a book, I write a blog.

It's lots of work, keeps be busy,

Along with that, it makes me Dizzy.

(repeat chorus)

 

I like to pick, I like to sing,

Try to work, it's not my thing!

Get'n on line, playing some games,

Keeps me at home, til the day wanes.

(repeat chorus)

 

What can I say, I am just me.

I live with that, so let me be.

Jump in RV, and travel far,

With wife and dogs, and my guitar.

(repeat chorus)

 

 



 

The above picture was taken in my RV while on our trip to west Texas and the Davis mountains.  My wife and I, our dogs, and my guitar made that trip.  So, my song does have some truth to it.  Now, all I need is the music.  Guess I will grab my guitar and work on that, or maybe I should wait.  Some tune may just jump into my head.  What do you think?  OH!  So you think I should just forget the whole thing??  Yep, maybe I should.  Now, keep humming a tune and have a great day, you hear?

 

 



Wondering about locomotives and ten foot poles.

Have you ever noticed that a lot the times when you see a train being pulled by multiple locomotives that whether there are two or five locomotive units or more, the ones on the ends are always pointing away from each other and the ones in between may be pointed in either direction?  Since diesel-electric locomotives can travel either direction just as easy, why would they go to all the trouble of turning one around so that the ones on both ends are pointed in opposite directions?  Well, that is the answer.  It is a lot of trouble to turn one around, so the least amount of times it needs to be done the more time (and thus cost) will be saved.  The locomotive units stay together as a whole and from then on can head up a train going in either direction.

Have you ever heard the expression, "I wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole"?  Why a ten foot pole, wouldn't an eight foot or a twelve foot pole do?  It so happens that this explanation also is connected to the transportation industry, only this time not on rail but on the water.  Riverboats back in the day were propelled by a person using a ten foot pole.  Ten feet was about right for pushing off the banks, rocks, and obstructions and also for pushing over sand bars, etc.  Also, because all the poles were ten feet long, they were also used as measuring sticks and depth gauges.  I am sure they could be used for other things but I wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole.  So, don't drop your pole or get it stuck in the mud and have a wonderful day, you hear?

Wondering about gravity.

Gravity is, you know, the force that pulls you toward the center of earth especially hard when you are standing on the scales.  Some people think that gravity is one of the strongest forces in the universe.  Wrong!  I will have to agree that gravity is what keeps the planets in place around our sun and which control a large percentage of the universe, but I will give you an example of why it is not the strongest force.  Take refrigerator magnets for example.  They stick to the refrigerator door and can also hold paper or other stuff up with them.  I have seen magnets with small hooks to hang towels, etc. on and they all seem to overcome gravity and stay in position.  In fact of the four forces, gravity, electromagnetism, the weak nuclear force, and the strong nuclear force gravity is the weakling.  No one yet has discovered what really causes gravity.  Once it can be completely understood, then maybe they can come up with "anti-gravity".  That will help out when you step on the scales, and a minor advantage would be an anti-gravity device to power your flying saucer.

Another thing I wonder about is the origin of words and phrases.  Gravity's first meaning was something weighty or serious originating from the Latin word "gravis" meaning heavy.  All the things in the formula for gravity on the top line are divided by the distance squared.  That means that an object twice as far away has only a quarter of the gravitational force.  So any object light years away has very, very little force acting on us, but as infinitesimal as it is, it is still there although we may not be able to detect it.  Now, the next time you step on a scales you can think about how gravity affects not only you but everything, and I mean, everything.  Now, you all have a great day today and stay off the scales, you hear?

Vertigo

Dang, I woke up at 03:30 with the room spinning around so fast I didn't know which way was up.  It took awhile but I got it down to a slow jerky turning, so attemped to make a trek into the bathroom.  With a little assistance of the walls and the doorway, I made it in and back to bed.  Got up at my dogs' usual time (can't sleep past the time the dogs want up) and I still have some vertigo lingering on.  I have to go back to get my blood test this morning and now my wife is worried about me driving.  She is going to go along.  What good that will do, I have no idea but I enjoy her company and it will be "an outing" (grin).

I haven't had a night like this since I quit drinking over 20 some years ago.  This was actually worse (because I didn't have any fun getting that way) and it does worry me, because I do not know what caused it.  I had to have quit breathing, don't you think?  I do use oxygen during the night so maybe the opposite is true.  I could have hyper-ventalated and got too much oxygen.  Or, maybe the hose got wrapped around my neck, or maybe. . . .??  And no, I am not going to go back to the doctor today, that would just give him an excuse to do a lot more tests.  I seem to be completely over it now.  I hope so.

I am starting to get really hungery.  I have to wait until after the blood test to eat, so I think I will be in a hurry to get back home.  Since we will not be going past Hobby Lobby or Michels on the way home, it will not tempt my wife who likes to shop at both those stores.  Well, at least I had a cheap drunk (grin).  Now, you all have a nice a day and hope things don't spin too much for you, you hear?

Wondering about my Grandpa's old rifle.

Back when I got old enough to go hunting, my Grandpa loaned me his rifle.  He actually killed a lot of deer and two bear with it.  Next time you see me, we will sit down and I will tell you about some of his exciting hunts.  That rifle was a Marlin and it was chambered in the 25-35 Winchester cartridge.  The 25-35 and the 30-30 were the first two smokeless cartridges developed in the U.S. just for hunting.  This rifle had a long, long octagon barrel and held shells in a long tube.  I actually got to miss a deer with that rifle.  (It is more fun missing them, that way you get to continue hunting and don't have to dress the animal.)  Although I do love venison.

He only had a couple of shells in the box he gave me so I went to the gun store to purchase more.  The guy said that would be eight dollars.  That didn't sound too bad so I said to give me a box.  He said he didn't have a full box and that the price was eight dollars per cartridge!!  He did have 25-36 cartridges and according to the salesperson, the cartridges he had could be fired in either.  He said the casing would stretch slightly to fit the chamber when it was fired so save the casings and then get them reloaded.  I only fired it that one time, so didn't have enough empty cases to justify buying reloading dies.  Anyway, I gave it back to my Grandpa and I have no idea where it is now.  I bet it would be considered an antique now.  It actually was back when I was teenager.

Sorry I am a little late posting this but I had a doctor's appointment this morning and didn't get it quite done in time to post before I had to leave the house.  I have to fast starting tonight and go in for a blood test tomorrow morning.  Mainly, I want to check to see if I need any extra Armor thyroid medication.  I am only taking a 30 mg pill once a day.  I may be a little late tomorrow, also.  I will try to get in there early so I can come home and EAT!!  I do not like to skip meals.  Now, I hope most of you can stay away from doctors as long as possible and have a great day, you hear?

Grass cutting and well fixing.

I had a big day, yesterday.  After I posted my blog and got something to eat, I went out and started cutting grass.  Cut the front access area and the front yard.  The JD performed perfectly.  The front access half acre is easy to cut, just a few trees in one corner of it.  Our front yard has many, many trees and sometimes you find yourself going in circles and going over the same places several times just to get a little patch of grass that needed cut.  Got that done and then the wife says we are going to Wal*Mart for supplies.  Got the dust off me and changed clothes and off we went.

Got back home and unloaded the supplies and carried them in.  Went out and hosed the dust and grass clippings off the yard tractor.  Then, sort of took the rest of the day off.  That is, until we decided to go to bed.  My wife turned on the faucet and there was no water.  Just about the time she told me that, the phone rang and it was my son telling me they had no water.  I told him I would meet him at the well and see what was going on.

I checked everything out and all looked like it should until I tried to shake the pressure tank.  It was completely full, water logged.  OK, that is an easy fix.  I have been meaning to put a drain with a shut off valve on the the outlet of the pressure tank, but have never got a round to it.  So, took the line off that goes to my sons house, turned off the circuit breaker to the pump, and let the pressure tank drain out.  After which, I put everything back together, turned the pump on, and everything worked the way it should.  I will now have to keep an eye on it.  There must be a slow pressure leak somewhere in the top of the pressure tank that allowed it to fill completely with water.  So far, so good.  Now, you all have yourselves a great day, you hear?

Wondering about time and speed.

Speed and time are directly linked to each other.  How we determine how fast something is moving is to measure the distance traveled in an amount of time.  You know like miles per hour or feet per second.  So how fast can you possibly go?  For me, it is only a couple of notches above a slow crawl, but for some things it isn't even limited to the speed of light!  "Oh no", you may think, "all my science teachers were wrong.  Can something really go faster than the speed of light?"  Well, that depends.

The speed of light is a maximum limit on how fast things that we can measure go.  Now, this brings to mind a few questions, one of which is "wouldn't the cops have to go faster than the speed limit of light to catch you if you broke the speed of light limit?"  As most of you know, most highways in the U.S. have posted speed limits, but if you are from Texas, you know that some west Texas roads back in the day had no posted limit.  The universe or multi-verse (which ever you believe is correct) has a way of breaking the speed limit of light.

How can that be, you may ask?  "Expansion" is the answer.  There is no set limit that we know of that covers expansion.  So our universe or some other may be expanding faster than the speed of light.

OK, that may answer the speed question but what about time.  Isn't time constant?  No, it isn't.  A couple of things affect time, mass and speed.  Time slows down when near extreme forces of gravity like black holes and galaxy clusters.  It has also been proven that time slows down the faster the clock is moving.  Therefore, I must assume that time is closely related to speed and visa versa.  OK, I have spent enough time boring you so will speed on out of here.  I hope your universe today is full of joy and happiness.  Have a good one, you hear?

Tall trees and a painting.

When I was standing out in my back yard this morning, I marveled at just how tall the oak trees around my house have grown.  They reach halfway to the sky (grin).  OK, maybe not halfway, but at least a quarter of the way. . . Anyway, the heighth of these oaks is longer than the distance they are from my house.  Since this is the case on multiple sides of my house, it creates two things.  One, lots of shade to help keep the place cool; two, if they blow over in a storm it would not be good, especially if they fell toward the house.  But, I do so enjoy nature that I don't think I would ever cut them down.  I try to keep my place as natural as possible.  Well heck, that is the best excuse I can come up with to only mow a small part of it.  I was standing at the bottom of my back porch steps when I took this picture:

And just a little bit more to the right:

A little change in subject matter.  Why?  Cause it doesn't matter.  Or does it matter?  Way back when I was doing some acrylic painting, I showed you at the time a lot of the ones that I had done.  I don't think I showed you this one, so will do so now:

Not only did I paint the moon, I also howled at it. . No, I didn't, really.  Notice Casiopia to the left?  Yeh, I know you wouldn't see Casiopia that close to the moon, but an artist can take a few liberties, can't he?  So, during the day just walk in the sunshine and I hope the moon will light your way at night.  Now, have a good day, you hear?

Wondeiring about some funny quotes.

I figured it is about time for some laughs.  We had a storm blow though here just before 06:00 and it is still raining.  So, our trip to the flea market was put on hold, maybe even canceled.  We will decide if it ever stops raining.  Not going to complain.  Always can use some rain.  I think I will post some quotes that I hope will give you a smile or two.  So here goes:

All these quotes come from: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_funny.html#iZDukp5AocFohyji.99

A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones that need the advice.
Bill Cosby 

When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity.
Albert Einstein 

A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.
Steve Martin

I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day.
Frank Sinatra 

BTW, my father-in-law used to always say the above quote, and up until now, I thought it was his original.  Maybe it was and Frank Sinatra stole it from him (grin).

Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.
Mark Twain

As a child my family's menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it.
Buddy Hackett 
 
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
George Bernard Shaw 
Now old George sure got that right.

People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.
Isaac Asimov 

Housework can't kill you, but why take a chance?
Phyllis Diller 

A woman's mind is cleaner than a man's: She changes it more often.
Oliver Herford

OK, that is enough for now.  If you want more, go to the link I posted above, and have yourself a very fine day, you hear?