OH, GROW UP...............

Took Dad for his second eye surgery this morning. Such bitchin' moanin' complainin' grumblin' and grippin' I've never heard. You'd think it was a heart transplant. And, it's not because he's 92 either. He has always been like this, but my Mom was alive back then to deal with it. All I can say is I'm glad he doesn't have a third eye!

It's a georgous, sunny day today, but I can't mow because it rained during the night. It'll take another day for the yard to dry out. It was 80 yesterday and somewhere around that today.

WRITINGS....

I have found some very good story tellers on the internet. For example, Kaijafon has three different stories out. All are a great read. Of course there is Mayberry, an awesome writer.
Mountain Refuge ,but haven't started to read it from the beginning, yet. I am sure there are more and I will post their websites as I find them.

THE MYSTERY OF LIFE............

What is life? IMHO, life is nothing but choices. When you're too young, hopefully, your parents will make the right choices. When you get to the correct age you will start to make your own choices and that age differs with each person, I made a series of bad choices until I was 30. But, you relish the good choices and live thru and learn from the bad ones (they make the best stories). There is no mystery to life, only choices as to how we live it.

WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED?

Prices are quoted in US dollars per gallon for regular, unleaded as of March 2011. It's worse now....

Oslo, Norway $6.82
Hong Kong $6.25
Brussels, Belgium $6.16
London, UK $5.96
Rome,Italy $5.80
CANADA $5.36
Tokyo, Japan $5.25
Sao Paulo, Brazil $4.42
New Delhi, India $3.71
Sidney, Australia $3.42
Johannesburg, South Africa $3.39
Mexico City $2.22
Buenos Aires, Argentina $2.09

AND... YOU'RE GONNA LOVE THIS ....
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia $0.09
Kuwait $0.08
Caracas, Venezuela $0.12

Gee.....if only the United States was an oil producing nation.....

EXCELLENT SHOOTING ADVISE......

Never let someone, or something, that threatens you get inside arms length and, never say, "I got a gun"!

If you feel you need to use deadly force for heaven’s sake, let the "first sound they hear is the safety clicking off" and they shouldn't have time to hear anything after that if you are doing your job.

'The average response time of a 911 call is over 3 minutes....the response time of a .357 magnum is 1400 feet per second.'

Clint Smith, Director of Thunder Ranch, is a drill instructor (Thunder Ranch is a firearms training facility in Arizona ). Here are a few of his observation on tactics, firearms, self defense and life as we know it in the civilized world.

"The most important rule in a gunfight is: Always win and cheat if necessary."

"Don't forget, incoming fire has the right of way."

"Make your attacker advance through a wall of bullets. You may get killed with your own gun, but he'll have to beat you to death with it, cause it's going to be empty."

"If you're not shootin', you should be loadin'. If you're not loadin', you should be movin', if you're not movin', someone's gonna cut your head off and put it on a stick."

"When you reload in low light encounters, don't put your flashlight in your back pocket. If you light yourself up, you'll look like an angel or the tooth fairy... and you're gonna be one of 'em pretty soon."

"Do something. It may be wrong, but do something."

"Shoot what's available, as long as it's available, until something else becomes available."

"If you carry a gun, people will call you paranoid. That's ridiculous. If you have a gun, what in the hell do you have to be paranoid for?"

"Don't shoot fast, unless you also shoot good."

"You can say 'stop' or 'halto' or use any other word you think will work but, I've found that a large bore muzzle pointed at someone's head is pretty much
the universal language."

"You have the rest of your life to solve your problems. How long you live depends on how well you do it."

"You cannot save the planet but, you may be able to save yourself and your family."

"Thunder Ranch will be here as long as you'll have us or until someone makes us go away, and either way, it will be exciting."

More Excellent Gun Wisdom.......

The purpose of fighting is to win. There is no possible victory in defense.The sword is more important than the shield, and skill is more important than either. The final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental.

1. Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.

2. If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.

3. I carry a gun cause a cop is too heavy.

4. When seconds count, the cops are just minutes away.

5. A reporter did a human-interest piece on the Texas Rangers. The reporter recognized the Colt Model 1911 the Ranger was carrying and asked him 'Why do
you carry a 45?' The Ranger responded, 'Because they don't make a 46.'

6. An armed man will kill an unarmed man with monotonous regularity.

7. The old sheriff was attending an awards dinner when a lady commented on his wearing his sidearm. 'Sheriff, I see you have your pistol. Are you expecting trouble?' 'No ma'am. If I were expecting trouble, I would have brought my rifle.'

8. Beware of the woman who only has one gun, because she probably knows how to use it very well.

'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.'
- G. K. Chesterton

A people that values its privileges above its principles will soon lose both.

"Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not."
- Thomas Jefferson

QUESTION.............

I've tried for two weeks or more to look at the this blog But, it's gone. Anyone know what happened?

THIS SUCKS..........

Well, it's soon time to send in my $3719 to the IRS. I will wait until the very last possible moment before I mail my pound of flesh. There goes my emergency fund. Not even going out to eat this week, need to put all of my money in the gas tank. Thats another thing that is pissing me off. This is getting real old real fast. Good thing I have my preps, I've been hitting them this past week. No money coming in until middle of next week.
I can sympathise with Mayberry and his problems.

A BETTER KIND OF LIFE BACK THEN......

I see Amish go past my house quite often. About every 5-6 weeks, they go up to my neighbors for their church service. Amish do not have a church building, but meet at each other's houses every other Sunday. I have been in this county for forty years, but have never managed to be on the road during this time. As I was going over to Dad's this morning for his eye drops, three carriages went past the house and when I turned down the other road, several people were walking to the farm. They looked at me, smiled and waved. Sorta took me back a hundred years to what it must've been like to live in that time......

DAD GOT A GOOD REPORT

from the doctor today. By the end of the second surgery, he won't even need his glasses to drive, just to read. LOL, I'm picturing him in 'granny glasses'.
Had dinner tonight with Artie and Lois, we're thinking about cutting it back to just Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The guy put his prices up for one thing and we all need to be doing more things at home once this weather clears and it gets warmer. The grass is really starting green up with all of this rain. When the temps rise, ole Sol is gonna really make it grow, but............

DAD'S CATARACT SURGERY....

is tomorrow morning. Went over Friday, Saturday and this morning to put the drops in. Yesterday was the spring 'Mud Sale' in the village. I think it was bigger than last year. It's a big time for our Amish neighbors. I went that way all four times just so Archie and I could look at all of the people.
I will say one thing about the fire police. Some, NOT ALL, are pricks. They put that hat on and they think they're hot stuff. Ya all know the type, Big Hat, No Cattle. One of them yelled at a friend of Dad's and he was telling us about it. I remember years ago, I went to the sale with a friend and we had her dog with us. This guy actually screamed at us NO DOGS!!!!!!!!!!! She wasn't even out of the truck, I got back in and she told him off. Haven't been back.
Well, must get over to Papa's for the last drop of the day. Got six weeks of this until both eyes are done. I'm sure he'll be glad when it over.

COLORODO IS OUT OF THE RUNNING.....

I have often thought of places to go to if I ever had to leave this area. 99% of my Dad's family is here in PA. Most of my Mom's are in WV and OH. But, if I had to leave the east coast for any reason, I always thought I would go out west. Well, having just read this on Patrice's post for Saturday, March 26, over at Rural Revolution. Colorodo is out of the question.

SPRING IS UPON US............

Yesterday was just beautiful. The yard is slowly starting to dry out and I even did some raking yesterday. Should be out there now doing more but I ran out of Tylenol for the back and it is screaming at me. So, I think I'll run up to the village and do some neccesary shopping, maybe pick up supper.

Don't forget to go out and look at that old moon tonight. It hasn't been this close to us for 19 years.

Still praying for Japan. Don't feel real warm and fuzzy about the nuclear plants. Can't believe what anyone is saying. If the WH is telling us "don't worry, the fallout won't reach us", well, then, maybe.......

AN INFORMING WEB SITE ABOUT JAPAN

Hey, check this out. Make sure you look at the pictures on the right side.

WHAT A MORNING..............

It was beautiful today. Should've worked in the yard but it's still like a sponge. Both wood stoves were a bear to get started this morning. Then I noticed someone had throwed up on the dog bed. Had to take the little bb filler out of it and throw it in the wash. While I'm messing with that stuff, Archie poops in the kitchen! Got ready to put a load in the dryer and the hose that goes to the vent outside is ripped off. Things did quiet down later so...............
I went to the city this afternoon and picked up the new 'puter. That Dell is a piece of shit. I will NEVER buy another one. Went back to an HP. Almost went over to the 'dark side' and got a MAC but I am giving PC's one more chance. Best Buy is giving 18 months with 0% financing. Normally I stay away from this kind of stuff. I hate going into debt. But, with the tax bill coming up and taxes following that. The money is a little tight. Once I get over this hump, I'll just pay it off. The more I use this HP the more I love it. I should've been shot for buying that Dell. Oh well, live and learn.

That is awful about the earthquake in Japan. Can't even fathom being in that situation, and, that country is probably the most prepared nation in the world. Can anyone imagine what it would be like if (or should I say...when)it hits California?

LIVING ROOM IS DONE !!!!!!

Looks like I won't be getting the two dogs. He didn't call me last Friday so I called him on Sunday. He was kind of wishy-washy about it. I asked him if he was in the process of moving and he said he hadn't started to pack; he didn't call me because they went out. Maybe he and wifey can get back together. I hope so. I told him to use me as a last resort and put the ball in his court.

The living room is done, Fred and his wife came down last Sunday and helped me move the four bookcases back into the room. Took me four hours to put all the books back. Took three bags of books to the library yesterday. Next will be the bedroom and that's going to take a while because it is wallpapered. Yuk.

Had my taxes done Thursday. Owe the $%^&*() government $3719. Seems unemployment, social security and taking money out of the bank for the house all put me in a higher tax bracket. There goes my emergency fund. Oh well, it is what it is.

Was in the 50's today, rain tomorrow. I am so ready for spring but it will take a week to clean up the yard. We 'spring forward' next Sunday and the