Some Grins for Today??

Christmas is over and you have had few days to relax and unwind.  So, you sit in your easy chair, sip a cup, and watch your favorite TV shows.  Then you start to feel ashamed, because of all that you have and knowing that some are not as fortunate as you are.  Then you realize that you are having a really great day while some others may be having a very bad day.

Having a bad day, if it ain't you, can be very funny.  Don't believe me?  Well, just take a look at these examples:

https://www.shortstories101.com/story/you-think-youre-having-bad-day/

I would imagine that most of you still have your Christmas tree sitting in your house.  A lot of people place a star on the top of their trees to signify the star of Bethlehem.  Some people prefer to place an angel on top of their tree.  The following link explains how this angel on top custom got started:

https://www.shortstories101.com/story/christmas-story/

These two links made me laugh and I hope they made you laugh, too.  I don't know why it is, but we can't help laughing at other people's problems and troubles.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

A Christmas Song.

Last night at almost midnight while I was laying in bed listening to the Bluegrass channel on my Sirius radio when they played the last Christmas song of the day.  I loved it!!!  It was Larry Sparks singing "Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem".  It was the most wonderful way to end Christmas day.

I don't know how many of you have heard Larry Sparks sing, but he has soft, soothing voice and it was perfect for this song.  He is also an accomplished guitar picker.  If you want to hear him sing and play this song, just Click Here.

Here are a couple pictures of Larry:

As you know, I love blue-grass music and no one does it like Larry Sparks.  He has an unique and wonderful easy listening style.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear? 

Merry Christmas

This year, we are not "doing" Christmas, but I still want to wish that the rest of you are having a wonderful and joyous Christmas and that your New Year will find you healthy, happy, and not missing anything that you need.  Have a very, very great day, you hear?

Wondering About the Michelin Man

The Michelin Man is one of the most recognized symbols that represent a tire company.  This first picture is a modern version of him, but he got his start way back in 1894 in France when Edouard and Andre Michelin saw a stack of tires and Edouard thought it looked like a figure of an armless man.

So he made a tire man out of bicycle tires and it was named Bibendum.  Here  a poster from 1898 where his name appeared.

The above poster says,  “Cheers, the Michelin tire drinks up obstacles!”

This next picture shows a couple of Michelin men made of real tires.  As you can see, it took all sizes but in those days, the tread side was usually rounded and narrow.  When compared to modern automobile tires, these old ones look more like bicycle or motorcycle tires.

And of course, the first Michelin Man who was a real man:

It seems the above Michelin Man likes cigars, too, and is he on roller skates?  Well at least if he falls while skating, all that padding would surely protect him.  Now, keep the rubber on the road and have a safe weekend, you hear?

Some Things Confuse Me

Coming back from town today, I got behind a big Dodge dually.  It was a four wheel drive and mighty impressive.  My daughter-in-law has one, also, but not quite like this one.

Anyway, let me get to the point that confuses me.  As you can plainly see on the right rear of the tailgate, it says "4X4".  OK, to me that means it should have drive power to four of its wheels.  But this truck has six wheels and I bet all of them are driven by the power train.  Therefore, shouldn't it be called a "6X6"?

I believe everything should  be labeled honestly.  Now, maybe this truck was labeled correctly because I couldn't see if the front wheels had a driveshaft connected to it.  Maybe the rear four wheels were the only ones that had power to them. . . but I doubt that.  I am sorry I get confused so easily and I hope my confusion didn't upset your day, but I want you all to have a great day, you hear?

Ups and Downs.

Everyone has ups and downs but the temperature around here has more ups and downs than Carter has Little Liver Pills.  How many of you remember those pills or the saying.  Those pills were supposed to cure almost everything.  Those pills could be a subject for another blog posting some time in the future, or not.

The temperature is suppose to drop from a high around 80 on Saturday down to near freezing on Sunday morning.  That is about a 50 degree drop.  We do things in a big way here in Texas, even with the weather.

Got some maintenance problems to take care of.  Why does it always seem that what ever needs fixed is in an almost impossible place to get to without doing a lot of damage to everything else?  I guess the best way to tackle this job is a little at a time.  I tried to get to it today and now I feel like I have been pounded on by ten angry gorillas.  Boy does my rocker/recliner feel good today.  Now, try to outrun all those gorillas and have a great day, you hear?

Been a Few Days

If you have been looking for my daily blog posting, it didn't happen daily.  In fact it has been a few days since I last posted.  I have no excuse except I am lazy and have been enjoying an online game.  I don't know why I like to play this game so well, but I do.  Like all the games I play, I write down my highest scores and then try to beat them.  That has been getting harder and harder to do as the high scores creep up and up.  That just makes me want to play more to get an even higher score.

What is my favorite game, you may ask?  It is "mahjong chain".  And what is my highest score so far?  It is just 6132.  There are a couple of more mahjong games I like.  Although "mahjong chain" is my favorite, I like mahjong dim and mahjong dark dim.

Now you should type in "mahjong chain" and click on the first one that comes up and play it, then let me know your score and if you can beat mine.  I am sure you can because I am getting old and slow, but I still rock in my chair as fast as fast as I always did (grin).  Enjoy yourselves and have a great day, you hear?

Parrots.

Parrots are beautiful birds found in the tropics.  This first picture shows one supposedly in its native wild habitat.  Ain't he (or she) beautiful?

 Here is a close up of a parrot's head:

 We were at the flea market this morning and on the way home, my wife spotted a yard sale, so of course we had to stop.  She found this parrot.  No, it ain't real but it does wiggle its wings, move its head and beak, and talk to you.

I guess when you get tired of it, all you have to do is turn the switch to "off" and it will shut up.  You could also take the batteries out of it.  You don't even need to feed it, unless you count adding new batteries.  It does, however, say it is hungry.  He (or she) is sitting to the right of the TV where I can keep a watch on him, or visa versa.  Right now, as I type, he has his eye on me.  Now, I wonder if the pups will accept him and get along with him.  OK, you have yourselves a great day, you hear?

Mysteries in the Night Sky

On a clear night when I look up at the sky, I am in awe.  I know that there is so much out there that I will never see and so much more that are a mystery to me.  Today I am going to post pictures of some of those mysteries.

For the life of me, I can't even wager a guess to what these spirals are that appeared over Norway.  Maybe you can explain it to me:

And this cloud formation in the evening sky. What do you think, is it really a cloud formation or is it a portal into another dimension?  What in nature, other than a volcano could, could possibly cause this formation?  Maybe a supper updraft?

I have seen contrails caused by jet planes and know that meteors can also leave trails, but meteors come into the atmosphere in a straight line and jets, especially jet fighters are very maneuverable, but definitely not this maneuverable:

  
This last picture is not in our atmosphere, but is a picture of deep space.  But to me it looks like the head of Abraham Lincoln.  What do you think?

I found these pictures very interesting and I hope you did, too.  Now, have a great day, you hear?

Guest in my Bed.

My wife buys lots of things, some very useful and some not so much.  One of those "not so much" items was a woman's head.  No, not a real head but an artificial head.  So earlier today when I was walking through the house I spotted that artificial head so I picked it up and went into the bedroom.

I propped the head up against the wall at the top of the bed and turned the pillow sideways and put it under the sheet and spread.  That made it appear that the head had a body.  Here, take a look and see what it looked like:

I knew that when my wife gets a phone call, she carries the phone into the bedroom and sits on the bed while she talks, so I knew, sooner or later, that she would see the lady in the bed.  I didn't get quite the reaction that I expected.  She said that if that is the kind of gal I was attracted to, she hoped we would be very happy.  Actually,   She didn't really say that, I just figured that is what she was thinking.  Actually, I can't remember just what she said.  But one thing I do know, before bedtime, the head must go.  Now, you all have sweet dreams, you hear?

Music Instruments for Bluegrass

I believe that only a short list of musical instruments should be played in a bluegrass band.  There are all sorts of bluegrass entertainers and groups both small and large, and all seem to have their own special sound.  But back to the point of this blog posting.

 Let me start out with a single bluegrass singer.  I would think that if there is only one person who sings and plays, he or she would probably choose a guitar which can be used to accompany them with interludes of picking the melody.  I guess that any type bluegrass instrument could be used alone.

What type of instruments do I think would be used.  If it is a quartet, than a guitar, a banjo, a mandolin, and a bass.  A violin, a dobro may also be used.

 

 

By all means, any brass or woodwind instruments should never be used.  Neither should a piano nor an organ be used.  It seems that most all bluegrass instruments have strings and are easily carried around (to whoever's porch they are sitting on, picking and grinning).

This is Saturday night and I am watching the bluegrass music shows on the RFDTV channel.  They also have country-western music shows on, too.  And yes, I like those also, but bluegrass is my favorite.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

Just Somehing I Noticed.

I was watching an old TV western on TV (Wyatt Earp), and like I always do, I was reading the list of names at the end of the show.  For some reason one of the names caught my attention, Jimmy James.  I don't know what he did for the show or who he was or anything about him, but I did grin a little at his name.

I would suppose that his real given name would be James so that would make him James James.  I guess his father wanted to make it easy for him to remember his full name??  OK, now that kind of makes me wonder what his middle name might be.  Could it be James, also?  That would make him J.J.J. or James James James.

Now I have a grandson whose given name is Jimmy, not James, but Jimmy.  So, maybe that actor, or whatever he was) was really named Jimmy.  Now, see how confused I can get just for wondering about things?  Now, whatever your name is, I want you all to have a great day, you hear?