Who Do You Call When. . . .

Who do you call when there isn't much to choose from?  Well you call Slim Pickens, of course.  And what if you have a concrete slab to break up?  You call Jack Hammer.  And how WW2 ended with Japan, Adam Baum.  Yep, there are a lot of peoples' names that could mean other things, like the ones above.  Want some more?  OK, here is a short list:

Ian Hale . . . said the guy who died and didn't go to heaven.

Ilona Buck . . . But will you lona me more than one buck?

Sal E. Vate . . . Tasty looking food does that to me, too.

Scot Frei . . . He got away with it and no one found out.

Hope Leslie . .Would rather have some hope than none at all.

Rusty Nale . . . Stepped on one of those, had a tetanus shot.

Heidi Hoe . . . Now where did you hide that prostitute?

Tex Huss . . . I wonder if he lived here in Texas?

Wes Virginia . Take me home, country roads, to the place. . .

Penny Lofer . . . A pair, maybe, two cents worth?

Olive Pitt . . . My Mom's name was Olive, without the Pitt.

OK, that is enough for now.  If you want more, go to http://www.lingerandlook.com/Names/FunWithNames.htm , that is where I found them.

Now grin some and have a great day, you hear?

Tried To Cut Grass.

With all the rain we have been having, the grass has really been growing.  I decided it had dried out enough to start cutting today.  I fired up the lawn tractor and drove it out to the front lot to start cutting out there.  I had to take it real slow to get the high grass cut and then I heard clank and the mower deck quit cutting.  I shut it off and took a look and it had thrown the long belt that wrapped around all the pulleys that drove the multiple blades and it also wrapped around some idling pulleys and of course the drive pulley.

I drove it back to the storage shed where I keep it when it is not in use but just parked outside in the sunlight.  Went and got the jack out of my Jeep and jacked the front of the tractor up so as to get the most clearance between the bottom of the tractor and the top of the deck.  I tried to get that long square belt back on all the pulleys but ended up with more belt than pulleys.  I couldn't see anyplace where a pulley was missing.  By that time I was getting over heated and my back was hurting from bending over trying to see under the tractor, so I put it back in the shed, shut the doors, and went back into house to suck up some of that AC.  I did put the jack back into the Jeep in the place where it should be.  I may look at it again tomorrow if it don't rain. . . or not.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

Little Mushrooms.

I have posted many pictures of wild mushrooms and fungi on my blog.  I just never get tired of seeing them and taking pictures of them.  Today was no exception.

I carried a bag of trash out to the front lot where the dumpster is located and I noticed a bunch of little mushrooms blooming along the driveway.  Yes, the main mushroom plant is the mycelium that spreads out under ground and the part we see as a mushroom is just the fruiting body of the plant.  So, what we see could be called the bloom, even though few people call it that.

OK, here are the photos that I took this evening:

And also, some fungus growing out of some old wood: 

In a couple of the above pictures, I put a penny in among the small mushrooms to give you some idea of their size.  Now, keep looking for the great sights that Mother Nature wants to show you and have a great day, you hear?

A Strange Cave.

There is a mine in Chihuahua, Mexico, where lead, zinc, and silver are mined.  While digging in this mine, a cave was discovered that held some mighty strange crystals.  In fact, this mine (Naica Mine), is best known, not for its lead, zinc, and silver, but for its extraordinary selenite crystals.  These are not small crystals, but very huge, impressive ones.  They can be as large as 3 to 4 feet in diameter and 45 or so feet long.  Don't believe me?  I got some pictures.

Now, that is what I call huge crystals.  I wonder how many eons it took them to form?  I have heard of them before and they are really awesome.  What do you think?  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

Outlaws of the Old West.

There were just so many outlaws in the old west that there is now way that I want to list all of them on my blog.  Instead, I am just going to randomly pick a few.  Some you have heard of and maybe some you have never heard of.  If you want to add any information on the following, please feel free to do so.

OK, if you have seen any Wyatt Earp TV shows or movies, like the Gun Fight at the OK Coral, I am sure you have heard about this first one:

William B. "Curly Bill" Brocious (1845-1882) - An outlaw leader of the Clanton Gang of Arizona, Curly Bill was a vicious, drunken gunman, cattle rustler and murderer  After the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Brocious attempted to kill Virgil Earp and succeeded in assassinating Morgan Earp.  Wyatt soon caught up with him and killed him on March 24th of 1882. 

Seaborn Barnes, aka: "Nubbin's Colt" (1849-1878) - Barnes joined the Sam Bass Gang in 1878.  He was killed with Bass at Round Rock, Texas in 1878.

Samuel "Sam" Bass (1851-1878) - The leader of the Sam Bass Gang, Bass robbed stages in South Dakota and trains in Texas.  He and another gang member, Seaborn Barnes, were killed at Round Rock, Texas in 1878.

Charles E. Bolton, aka: Black Bart, Charles E. Boles, T.Z. Spalding (1830-1917?) - Best known as Black Bart, this old west outlaw was noted for his poetic messages left after his robberies.  He was a gentleman bandit, and one of the most notorious stagecoach robbers to operate in and around Northern California and Southern Oregon.

Butch Cassidy, aka: Robert Leroy Parker, Hiram Bebee (1867-?) - Leader of the Wild Bunch, the gang robbed trains and banks in Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and other states.  He and Harry Longbaugh, the Sundance Kid, were allegedly killed in Bolivia or Argentina in 1908.

James "Jim" Younger (1848-1902) - Member of the James-Younger Gang, was sent to prison and killed himself shortly after paroled.

Thomas Coleman "Cole" Younger (1844-1916) - Member of the James-Younger Gang, he was sent to prison, paroled, and spent the rest of his life as an honest man.

See, a leopard can change his spots. . .

OK, the famous outlaws of the old west were not all men.  Some were women.  Here are a couple of examples:

 Anne Basset (1878-1956) - The daughter of ranch owners at Brown's Hole, near the Wyoming, Colorado and Utah border, Basset became a "member" of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch.

Ellen Watson, dubbed by local newspapers in the late 1880's, as "Cattle Kate," has long been thought of as an outlaw.  Watson along with James Averell were hanged by vigilantes near the Sweetwater River in Wyoming on July 20, 1889 for the accused crime of cattle rustling.  However, there is a mystery surrounding the hangings and it appears that their deaths were unjustified, perpetrated by powerful land and cattle owners of the time.

All of the above information came from: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-outlawindex.html

Now, I will put on my ten gallon hat and ride off into the sunset. . . have a great evening, you hear?

An Old Western.

I love to watch the old western shows on TV.  You know, the ones that are in black and white.  There are a lot of them, even Gunmoke was on TV in black and white before color took over the TV networks.  Some others that I like are Wagon Train, The Tall Man, Tombstone Territory, Restless Gun, and a lot more.  This all brings me to the one old western show that I am going to talk about, it was called Whispering Smith.

Whispering Smith was a western that starred the WW2 hero turned actor, Audie Murphy.  Do any of you remember that show?  Here are some pictures of that show that may refresh your memory.

      

Yes, I watch that old show GET TV on the Western Channel and really enjoy it.  It was well done and all the actors did a great job.

OK, just in case you didn't know that Audie Murphy was a war hero, here is a picture of him in uniform with some of his medals:

 And of course his medals:

This just goes to show you that looks are deceiving.  This war hero, who may have single handedly killed more enemy soldiers than any other single foot soldier, was not real tall (5'-8").  He was not mean and scary looking, but soft spoken.  But yes, he was the most decorated American combat soldier of that war and received every military combat award for valor available from the U.S. Army.  He also received French and Belgian awards for heroism.

He was only nineteen years old when he single-handedly held off a whole company of German soldiers for an hour, and then led a successful counterattack while wounded and out of ammunition.  Now if that doesn't make a person a hero, nothing will.  Audie didn't live a long life, though.  He passed away at the age of 46, but he sure did pack a lot living in those 46 years.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear? 

Wondering, How did they do that?

Sometimes I come across some old pictures on the internet that make me ask, "How did they do that?" or even, "Why?".  For example, this next picture taken back in 1924:

"Witness the tower of booze. Unfortunately, this picture was taken in 1924, near the beginning of Prohibition. What followed could only be described as a crime against (drunk) humanity. The entire stash was set ablaze to rid the world of this alcoholic scourge."

From:

http://detonate.com/shocking-historical-photos

This next picture is of Albert Einstein's desk the way he left it on his last day on earth.  He passed away that night.

He had to be a genius to remember where everything was. . . I have heard people say that a neat desk is the sign of sick mind, so the opposite must be true and if it is, he had a very, very healthy mind.  Of course, now we know that he did, for sure.

Now, you all have great day, you hear?

Our Great Grandson, etc.

My grandson and his wife posted a picture of our week old great grandson, Lane, on Facebook.  I copied the picture and pasted it in today's blog posting.  Ain't he cute??!!!  All dressed up in his Texas clothes.  And with such a happy face.  He will have to grow a little to fit into that cowboy hat, but the clothes fit just fine.  Did I mention just how cute he is?

Did I mention just how cute he is?  I just can't get over how cute he is.  Yes, I think I did mention that a time or two.

He will grow into quite a man someday.  Speaking of men, I found this (Things You'll Never Hear A Man Say...) on the internet, too.

I hope my great grandson's picture put a smile on your face and the above list helped you keep it there.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

Update on Last Posting.

Remember my last blog posting back three days ago on August 9th when I told you to watch the sky on Thursday night?  Yes, I took my own advice but was really disappointed.  Two things were against me.  Clouds were moving in fast and a bright moon was peaking through the breaks in the clouds.  These first two pictures are what I was hoping to see:

  

But this is what I saw:

Yes, I found these pictures on the internet.  I did stay up real late to take a look.  I also got up in the wee hours of this morning, hoping it had cleared off enough to see some of the showers.  Nope, no luck this year and the Perseid meteor showers will not be back for another year and I don't know when, if ever, Jupiter will again interact with the Perseids' parent comment and send dust and debris in our direction.  Hope some of you had clear skies.  Now, have a great day, you hear? 

Watch The Sky Thursday Night.

I am posting this two days in advance so you can plan to be outside looking up on the night of Thursday (August 11).  Of course the best viewing will be in the early hours, sometime after 1 a.m. after the moon sets and the sky gets dark.  They are predicting up to 100 meteors per hour or maybe more this year, a lot more.

Why would there possibly be more this year?  Good question.  It could be much more this year because Jupiter's gravity has interacted with the Perseids' parent comet's debris stream, sending dust and particles towards earth.  It should be quite a show, but then again, it may be a flop.  I think that I will stay up and see what happens.  If any of you watch for it, let me know if you see them and how long you had to wait in between each one. There should be at least a couple every minute and I would think that sometimes they may come in bursts.

This is one of those times when stuff from way out there comes knocking on our door.  That doesn't happen very often, so I hope it isn't cloudy.  Now for today, you all have a great evening, you hear?

Hard and Acidic Water.

We have our own well here and I like the taste of the water.  My wife doesn't, so she runs it through a water filter pitcher that she has and keeps in the refrigerator to keep it nice and cold.  Like I said above, I like our water right out of the spigot and I also do not care for water that is too cold.  So, it all works out.  I drink spigot water and she drinks filtered water.

So, what is wrong with our water?  For one thing, it is highly acidic.  We have had to replace faucets and hot water tanks and the like.  I suppose I could bottle it and sell it as acid (grin).

Well, it may not be that bad but I just walked past the kitchen sink and saw this sight.  It looks like this fork has had the tines eaten off of it by our hard acidic water.

OK, it just looks that way.  Actually, my wife was soaking a frying pan and she had put some baking soda in it to sweeten it up some.

I placed a fork in the pan and went on my merry way.  Later, I walked by and noticed what it looked like and thought:  "Why not make a blog posting about it?"  So I did.  Actually it saved me.  I didn't have the faintest idea of what to post about today.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

Wondering About Scythes

How many of you have ever cut, harvested, or mowed with a scythe?  I am sure there are a few of you who have.  I have when I was younger and I actually enjoyed it.  The trick it to not try to overwork the scythe but find a comfortable swing rate that suits you and the scythe.  Yes, there is a lot of differences in scythes.

The scythe that I was first introduced to was the one my father had.  It had a curved handle to clear your body when you swung it and that handle had two hand grips to hold on to it.  It looked just like the one in this picture:

Then, before I got on as a design engineer, I worked in the plant's labor gang.  One of my first jobs was mowing with a scythe.  Yes, I said mowing.  I couldn't find an exact image of what they looked like.  The one pictured below is as close as I could come to what the ones I used:

This one has the straight handle with the two grips.  It also shows an almost straight blade but the ones I used were straighter than what is shown in this picture.  Believe me, with the right scythe for the job and the right person using it, a lot of area can be quickly cut or mowed.  Now, I prefer to mow or cut everything from the seat of my mowing tractor.  If my small John Deere can't handle it, my son has great big John Deere.

Remember my blog posting yesterday?  Yes, the one where I talked about finding all those nasty nails that flattened my Jeep's tire.  My wife came out and lent me one of her tools to help with finding all the nails.  It was a telescoping hand held magnet and let me tell you, that was one strong magnet.  It could pull the nails from where they were hidden under the ground.  Here is a picture of it folded up.  I sat on the ground and used it this way for a lot of the nails.

And in this last picture, I stretched it out to its fullest extent.  In this position, you could pick up metal objects while you were standing straight up in a comfortable position.  Pretty nice, isn't it? 

OK, it is way too hot to even be thinking about using a scythe today, so I think I will stay where there is air conditioning.  Now, I don't want any of you to work outside too hard so that you can have a great day too, you hear?

An Updatne on Yesterday's Posting.

I took my Jeep back to the place where I had purchased the tires and asked them if the tire was fixable.  The first guy said that it wasn't, because the nail was too close to the edge of the tread but the second guy said yes, he could fix it, and he did.  I had them take the new tire that I had as a spare off the wheel and put back on the tire carrier on the rear of the Jeep.  They then put the tire back on with the new plug in it.  I wanted to drive on it to make sure it would hold up, since there was a difference in opinion on if the plug would hold.  So far so good.

When I got home, I didn't park it where I usually do, but left it in the driveway.  Then came the job of picking up the nails.  That couldn't be a big job, right?  My wife brought me out her extra strong magnet mounted to a telescoping rod.  I found it easier to sit down on the ground and pick them up with the telescoping rod collapsed to its shortest length.  I couldn't believe how many I was finding.

It was getting hard to find them in the tangled grass, so I went in and found an awl.  That worked quite well.  So, I sat back down, this time with a bag to put them in.  The more I dug the more the magnet would pick up.  Gee, I found a nail mine and now I am strip mining for nails!!  I just couldn't believe how many I was finding.  In case you doubt me or think that I may be exaggerating, here are a couple of pictures of the ones that I found:

Yes, I found all these nails where I usually park the Jeep.  I guess that all those years, they were just laying flat and the other day one decided to stand on its head for awhile.  There is more than a pound or two of nails in that large coffee container and they are all the same size.  For size comparison, I held one in my hand, in the lower picture above.  Now, don't any of you run over any nails but have a great day, you hear?

Flat Tire

My wife and I went out and got into my Jeep Liberty and was heading out the driveway to go get the mail, etc.  It sounded real funny and felt like it was bouncing over something.  I stopped and got out and looked under it and around it and . . . there it was, the right rear tire was flat, flat, flat.

OK, I have a brand new tire for a spare.  It seemed simple enough to change the tire.  The Jeep had stopped almost out to the road, out of site of our home.  We walked back to the house, my wife stayed there and I got a cold drink of water and a pair of gloves and went back out in the 97 degree heat, and of course the high humidity.  This should have been an easy job, but with the heat and me being way out of shape, it was a lot harder than it should be and took a lot longer, also.

I dug the jack out from under the back seat and put it together.  It had never been used, but today my luck ran out.  I found a place to jack and did so.  Put the jack up about as far as it goes and the tire was still on the ground.  Now, I am soaked in sweat, hot, and not in a good mood.  I went back into the house and got cooled of.  Then back to the job at hand.  This time, I carried out a short piece of a 10x10 that I had sitting on the deck.  This time the jack, sitting on the 10" high piece of wood, put the Jeep up high enough to get the tire off the ground.  The process went smoothly from there on and I drove the Jeep back to the house and went back inside to that wonderful AC coolness.  That, my friends, was about all I could do the rest of the day.  Now, you all have a great evening, you hear? 

An Unexpected Volunteer.

You all know how much I like wild things and mushrooms are one of my most favorite.  Yes, I have blogged about it many times before showing pictures of them.  Well, I am going to bore you again today with mushroom pictures.  This one came up in potting soil that my wife purchased and was supposed to be pure soil.  Yes, I know that mushroom spores are floating around in the air trying to find a suitable place to plant themselves and produce a fruiting bloom, which we call mushrooms.  But the largest percentage of the organism is underground and called mycelium.  So you see, the actual part we call the mushroom is just the fruit or bloom.

Oh yes, you say "shut up and show me the pictures".  OK, I will.

The above pictures were taken just a couple of days ago when I first noticed it.  The pictures below, I took today.

Yep, it sure did mature rather quickly, but the amazing part is that it came up in supposedly pure, bagged potting soil.  It just goes to show you that life will spring back up from sterilized media.  Therefore, I would have to think that some sort of life has taken hold on other planets in our huge universe.

BTW,  today is my wife's and my 52nd anniversary. . . hey, at least I remembered it was today.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?