Wondering about giving things up.

Have you ever seen an animal give up its freedom for a small treat?  Some dogs are like that.  My youngest one sure is.  She will get into a pen or cage with just the rattle of the Milk Bone box in anticipation of a small treat.  Since she was a late-comer to the family, and my wife at first gave her a lot of special attention (she was a rescue dog), the two older shih tzu dogs, especially the male, resented her arrival.  So, when we leave the house, the youngest one stays locked in her own little "house".  She knows when we are getting ready to go some where and dances around and runs into her "house" awaiting her small treat.  Some people are no different.  Some are very willing to give up their freedoms for a little treat.  I am not!!!  How about you?

Wandering back in time to the Appalachians.

It is no secret that I was born and raised in Pennsylvania even though I have lived in Texas for the last 32 years and also feel at home here as I do when I go back and visit in Pennsylvania.  That isn't the subject of this blog, but rather a creek in the Appalachian Mountains named Mix Run.  You see, that is where a family named Mix lived and branched out from there.  Some I know and some you have heard of.  No?  Now, I bet you all have heard of Tom Mix, the cowboy movie star.  My Grandmother's sister (who lived next door to my Grandma) married Jack Mix, a full cousin to Tom and they both came from the same area.

For those of you who are not old enough to of heard of Tom Mix, let me tell you a little bit about him.  He was born in 1880 and after growing up there, he left his mountain home to supposedly travel around the world where he ended up as a bartender in Oklahoma.  While working there he was noticed by a guy who owned a "wild west" show because Tom looked so much like a cowboy.  The show made him a cowboy and with a little more work he became a champion rider and a rodeo star.  While he was in that show, some Hollywood movie people checked it out for possible actors and Tom Mix was an obvious choice.  He made hundreds of movies but the first few hundred only lasted fifteen to thirty minutes and were not much to speak of but taught him his trade.  He also wrote and directed many of these short films himself.  Because he could (from the wild west show) his movies emphasized action and exciting horsemanship, which he did himself and never used a double.

Back in the mid 1920's, he was the King of Cowboys and earned $20,000 a week which he spent most as soon as he made it.  His mansion, his cars, his clothes and his parties were almost as well known as his movies.  There was also a Tom Mix Wild West Circus, a Tom Mix radio show, and Tom Mix children's clothes and toys.  He left this world in 1940 when he died in a car crash while he was still an idol of millions.

I got most of this information (other than family stuff) from Bellerophon Books' "Cowboys" A Bellerophon Coloring Book which I found at a second hand store yesterday.  I thought you would enjoy a little cowboy story this morning and since it is true and I have a far off connection to it, I decided on this one.  I hope you enjoyed it and please have a rip snorten, high fallooten, bull riding, calf roping day now, you hear.

Wondering about the Old Fool

The Old Fool hasn't posted a blog since August 6th and I am wondering about him, especially now since hurricane Isaac has hit his area hard.  The winds are not too bad but flooding is the number one problem in that area.  Maybe the Old Fool's home is a lot higher than New Orleans.  It would have to be, since New Orleans is below sea level.  Death valley is below sea level and it doesn't flood (grin) but there is no large city there and they don't even have any flood danger, just the opposite.  It kind of makes you wonder why they built a city below sea level right beside the sea.  Yes, I know it was a sea port and I suppose it would make a good one since you could park your boat at the front door.  That came to a stop when they built the levies.

We here in East Texas are on the "clean" side of the storm and will start to feel some hot north winds in awhile as Isaac moves inland.  The storms that worry me are the ones that hit directly or come in to our west.  If possible, you want to stay away from the "dirty" side of tropical storms.  It is nice to have an RV to escape in.  I have done that twice since I lived here.  The first time I went north which was a mistake and the second time I went west, which was the best.  Sometimes when they hit land, they take a different direction, but going west is the best bet to keeping on the clean side of the storms, except for those that come in on the west side.  Then you have to study the projected path of the storm to determine which way to go or to stay put.  It is like I tell my wife, why have both our home and the RV in danger when one can be moved.  Well, I hope to see a blog post by the Old Fool soon and you all have a good day and for those in the path of the storm, good luck and stay safe.

Wondering, so this is progress?

We were coming back from a visit to another eye surgeon yesterday and were driving on a road that we used to use quite a bit when going to visit our son and his family except we turn off only part of the way to go to the eye doc.  I am talking about FM 1488.  We get on it where it begins at I-45 and turn off on 2978.  Back when we used to use it a lot (as I mentioned above) it was a beautiful drive.  FM 1488 was then a two lane road through the woods.  Now, however, it has turned into a five lane highway with many, many traffic lights and where there used to be beautiful forests there is now all kinds of business and retail stores.  Here is a picture I snapped coming home.  It was in the most scenic part I could find:

And there are still businesses in the picture.  You would think that this super wide highway would allow a quicker trip but not really.  There are just so many traffic lights that you just get started and you have to stop, over and over and over again.  I guess I don't like progress very much, but I will have to learn to live with it.  Some actually helps and I am sure that the extra width to the road was necessary, but it sure is a shame that the beauty disappears when "progress" comes along.  With all the hard surfaced roads and fewer trees, it is no wonder we are having global warming.  Or is it I just get "hot" over what I see (grin)?  Never the less, it is amazing just how fast "civilization" can take over.  Now, you have a great day today, you hear?

Wondering about cleaning filters.

Filters are important.  They protect things and us, too,  There are all kinds and types of filters that are made for specific applications and for different media.  The hair in our noses is natures way of filtering the air we breathe.  The earth filters the water in my well.  Man has made many filters like air filters, oil filters, water filters, etc.  Nature is good at filtering otherwise our world would be more of a cesspool than it is already.  Filters in air conditioning and heating systems are important so that dust and dirt does not coat the heat transfer coils and lower their efficiency.  On the forced air system in my home, I have added a piece of window screen in front of the filter to catch the big stuff (like dog hair) which allows me to quickly clean it off a few times before the filter itself needs replaced.  This keeps the big stuff off the main filter so the it can do a better job for a longer period of time.

The other day I decided I should clean the intake filters for the air conditioners in the motor home.  There is no easy access to the two air conditioner units mounted on the roof, so it most important to keep clean filters in all the inlet duct vents.  There are eight sets of two (one intake and one outlet) vents but only the intake vents have filters.  They are mounted with four screws which I removed and pulled out the vents.  The filters came out the back, which I first vacuumed and then washed out and replaced.  Now the system should work better like it is supposed to.  I always keep the air conditioning on in the summer time but keep the thermostat set at about 78 degree.  In the winter I switch the roof units over to heat and lower the thermostat to around 60 degree, that way I don't have to use the forced air furnace and burn propane.  Oh, you know what I just remembered?  I forgot to clean the vent in the RV's bathroom.  Guess that will give me something to do (grin), as if I didn't have enough on my "to do" list.  Since my "to do" list is getting way to long, I just have to lay down on the couch, because reading it makes me just so tired. . .  Now you all have a great day and forget about your "to do" list and enjoy yourselves, you hear?

Wondering about old cars and hot rods.

I just never get tired of seeing cars and trucks that are a little different than what you usually see going down the road now-a-days.  My wife and I took our usual trip down to the local flea market again yesterday and will go again later today.  As we were leaving we saw this car parked in the parking lot.  Just had to take a picture of it.  I hope you like it as much as I did:

I bet that is a blast to drive, not much weight and a big engine.  Kind of reminds me of my teenage years when they first started making hot-rods like these.  Do you remember the Walt Disney movie "The Shaggy Dog"?  It reminds of the car that was in that movie.

That movie hit the big screen back in 1959 when I turned 16 years old.  Maybe that is why I liked the hot rods.  But back then I was going on dates in a 1955 DeSoto.  Oh, I am not knocking that car, it was a good one.  After my Dad, a salesman for H.J. Heinz company, thought he had wore it out after a few hundred thousand miles let me have it.  It was not a hot rod but it had four wheels and would go down the road.  Never the less, I have good memories of "my first car".  OK, now you all have a great day and be careful going down the road, you hear?

Wondering about the size of products.

Have you noticed that the size of things you buy anymore seem to be shrinking?  They can only raise the price so much or people will quit buying their products and find substitutes, so they slightly shrink the size or quantity that you receive.  For instance, go see if you can still buy a pound of coffee or sugar.  I am not sure about the sugar since we don't use it or purchase it, but I do know about the coffee and other things.  It is amazing that there are still 12 eggs in a dozen.  Even candy bars are getting smaller, but I can't attest to that either.  I guess we have a choice, either pay more or get less.  Something like this blog this morning, a lot shorter than you expected, right?  Have a good weekend now, you hear?