Good morning everyone!
(or what ever 'tis where ever you is, eh?)

'Twould seem my honey do list grew in response to my goin' out fishin' yesterday. No rest for the wicked methinks.

I see Betty got over her shyness and grabbed up Post #1400, eh?

And Winston's gonna get a new grand daughter? You didn't want me to go fishing, eh? How come?

Had I known before I left yesterday methinks I'd have cancelled the trip (just for you), but alas I saw your note only this mornin' on checkin' in here, too late 'twould seem. Hope the fact 'twas one of the best cod trips I've ever made won't be held against me. Why not use a track ball? I like 'em much better than mice, and they're easier on the wrist to boot! Goin' out and gettin' one might be the perfect reason to use to convince your husband to stay put an extra day so's you can relax too, eh?

Well, no rest for the wicked. Methinks I'll go get started on my list.

Here's hopin' the weather's great where ever y'all are at! Enjoy the day, be safe, stay well and remember to play nice!

Good Morning All. I want all the new and soon to be grandparents to take comfort in the security, protection and well being of their grandchildren. To wit:

I know you will all sleep better knowing the Administration is getting a
handle on the Bird Flu pandemic.

31 May 2006- (Washington, DC) With the revelation that a case of avian
flu has spread from one human being to another, President George W. Bush
says the time has come for the US government to take preventive measures to
protect the health of US citizens.

Speaking during a news conference in the White House Rose Garden this
afternoon, Bush outlined his defensive strategy.

"We can not afford to let viruses from foreign shores infect the good
citizens of the United States," said Bush. "We must keep our country
free of this feather disease."

To that end, the President announced that he had ordering the bombing of
the Canary Islands.

Turkey is next.

Winston - I'm pleased for you - a granddaughter. You will be going gaga in a few months. And Cardinal I'm thrilled for you with a new grandson.

Everyone have a great day.

OMG! TOO FUNNY!

Well, the hawk that killed Dax came back.

This time with a taste for one of the wife's Americana pullets. The pullet fought him off but she is in bad shape, we don't know if she will live or not. Some of the lacerations on her back are to the bone.

The wife surprised me on this one, she specifically requested an expert Marine Corps rifleman to keep his P-17 Enfield loaded and ready to see if he can shoot a hawk out of the air the next time he shows up.

I used to shoot dove out of the air with a .22 when I was a kid, guess we'll see if I still have the touch.

Go get 'em, Deadeye!

Chat is tomorrow night but don't know if I'll be there. Way too many things going on in my life to spend the time here that I used. For all practical purposes, I'm living at the little woman's home now and just stop in at my place to get the mail, make sure the house is still standing and log on here to read up on what everyone else is up to.

Dawg is is heaven as she now has a 80 acres to run free on and two other playmates to do it with.

If Cardinal disappears we'll know why!

Only in Dubyadum...

Good mornin' all!

Spoze to get close to the 110 degree mark today. 'Tis the time of year where I feel compelled to prostrate, or at least genuflect myself to the air conditioner gods. (May they Have a Beautiful summer!)....

joe e

Go get'm Master Guns...

joe e

I'm really happy for you, Des. But don't forget us entirely, okay? I'll bet you're a fabulous step-dad, or whatever your title turns out to be.

Yep - Thanks for posting Des..All the best. But you are not allowed to completely disappear ok?

Doc - Ok, ok...glad you enjoyed the fishing trip. Nuff said.

Pegatha - I took a nap yesterday. Still tired as heck...back to work today.

Brookie, Joe...One of us has got to be uhmm.."good" once in awhile.

ws - Congratulations!!!!!

Pie - So glad to hear from you. Oh lookie, a hurricane emoticon. Know this will make your day!!!

Heart - Hope you can see the writing on the wall, well this forum anyway. There is a whole lot of love and caring going your way.

Red Bird - Thanks for the update.

Marine - Go git em....

Now who else needs to show their bright shiny faces around here?

Chat without Des again ? Who's gonna "pop" in concert with me ?
But glad things are going well for you- and Dawg, too !

QUOTE(tomhye @ Jun 1 2006, 10:29 AM)

If Cardinal disappears we'll know why!

QUOTE(AFTERGLOW @ Jun 1 2006, 01:28 PM)

Go get'm Master Guns...
joe e

I totally agree. Despite never having owned a gun, not knowing how to shoot a rifle, or any of those things, I would kill the SOB of a hawk myself ! Go get 'em !

QUOTE

Oh lookie, a hurricane emoticon. Know this will make your day!!!

Who, who, who put this emoticon up ?!
I keep checking the Gulf- worried about SonPie being home alone with Buddy.
But I am counting on Tomhye to give me a heads up on the first sign of trouble,
so I can get my fanny home, grab the kid & dog and some stuff, and then head back here !

Another hot one here. Got Trailerman to let me spend the day in the trailer with some quiet time. (that's how tired I am- that I want to spend time in here!) He has run out to find a
wheel cover thingy that we lost near Bing's somewhere, grab some groceries, and get a haircut.
Tomorrow I am hoping to spend the day at the farm and send him off with brother-in-law to Cooperstown to the Baseball Hall of Fame, etc.

Ooh ! Here's a cute new emoticon:

Here's a test to see if IH and Sandra and other southerners read my garble.
Have you ever heard of kudzu jelly ? I am serious ! Found some on the Blue Ridge and
had to buy a tiny jar. Got brother-in-law to taste it, as he had no idea how lethal the kudzu is to living things. He said it wasn't bad. I am trying to work up the nerve to try it myself.

Peg: have you posted about your trip anywhere ? I am most curious to hear about it.

Pie,

The last time i checked was early this morning, still a buffer of water a bit too cool before a storm could hit our coast and it looks like no major storm can form yet at this point. About the worst for us that could happen in a week or so is something like a TS on the Texas coast and there was only one little system (not even a depression) touching Central America.

Looks lucky so far.

Thanks, Tom.
Indeed so far so good- and no May storms, as some had predicted.

OOOppss...make that all three of us being bad..Joe and Brookie....

The Terrible Tripletts...
as opposed to the Terrific Twins.

I'll do it tonight. And I have a pm in to Michael in hopes that he can give me guidance in posting to the gallery.

You're more than welcome! Yep, the water was heating up very quickly then tapered off. Now that it's warm enough to support a hurricane (still away from our shores though at this point) storms just haven't been forming where they can strengthen.


Edited to add I was predicting storms in May, it's one of those times it's good to be wrong!

Hi all!

I watch CNN's Cafferty File program most afternoons, as I did today. Today's topic was about the government requiring us to have a voter ID card before we could vote. At the end, Cafferty asked for e-mail telling him what we thought about it.

On this one I was compelled to respond, and did so with this:

Mr. Cafferty:

I watched your Cafferty File program today, as I do most days. I listened very closely when you talked about the government (of Bushdville, or Dubyatown if you will) trying to require a government voter photo ID card before we can vote. I have a retired military ID card plus my passport, drivers license and VA service connected disability ID card. I do truly believe that should be enough, what say you?

I also believe that those, less my drivers license and passport, show that I have really supported and defended the Constitution Of The United States, unlike No-Show Bush and Five-Deferment Cheney, who claim to be such great patriots (and for that matter most of the republicans in both houses of congress who have never really served their country). Anyway, back on topic; I just had to get that off my chest...

Back to a voting ID. I do believe, as you seem to, that it will be used to make it more difficult to vote, and thereby making the voter turnout even lower than it already is. My answer to your question, "what do you think about the idea of a voter ID card?" is: I think it is a ploy to keep more of us, those of us who keep voting balanced, away from the polls. And at the same time encourage those voters that want to keep the ones who are in power, in power.

I further answer with this: screw them, correction, screw them twice (because it hurts longer). This after all is "We-The-People's" United States, not just theirs. 'The power is with us, but only with us if we have the power of the VOTE!!!

Thank you...

Yours in service to our great republic,

Joe XXXXXXX XXXXXXXX

Well written! I only disagree with one sentence, but I won't say which.

Sandra- we are leaving the trailer in Tallahassee on our way home. I told MrPie I wanted it further north. You can meet us, if need be and we will go to Peg's ! Or, if you need it
and we do not, you just call me and I will have SonPie give you the keys (he will be back at school
mid August). I hope it is good luck that you posted the hurricane emoticon- and it is not animated.
On a more serious note, all of us living on the Gulf coast know that we cannot imagine what ya'll in NOLA are going through. It makes my stomach turn to think about it. I got an email from my best friend today- headline in today's paper was all about "You are on your own" in case of a storm. Our mayor already has in place an automatic phone dialing service to put our warning calls to people's homes (2,000 per hour). And the city is spending 100K on a water distribution system, to follow a storm. But in a Cat 4 or 5, they are warning that our county would be two small islands, with no escape routes. My friend's hubby went out and took advantage of the state's tax free hurricane supply week- he bought a generator & a portable toilet, tarps, etc. (Problem is, they live on the highesst point in the south county and close to the beach- thus the winds would destroy their home. We live where it would flood, depending on where a storm took landfall. This is no way to live, is it ? The constant insecurity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Joe: excellent letter ! Give 'em H.

Come on -Peg, you can tell me. I promise I won't tell anybody you did...

joe e

Guess its a little late to say Good Morning isn't it ...

I got sidetracked today and as I am still not too comfortable sitting here for long never made it into RA until now( after checking to be sure Fly had made his morning appearance of course and the pups were doing ok.)

I decided to make this time to say Hello and catch up. I've about decided I should hide here permanently. When I explore elsewhere I invariably get myself into something where I end up in trouble. I can't understand that .. I am always so polite and noncommittal and always mind my own business.

( I lie pretty well too when the occasion demands it as the previous statement proves quite clearly.)

Pie .. what is Kudzu ??

Skillet .. you need a vacation !! Come see me in Canada. The weather is pretty decent and springtime here is soul restoring and a good time to visit.

Marine ,, if you need someone to hold the ammunition for reloading just say the word. Although shooting that feathered creature is really too good for him ! I'd prefer seeing your chickens tearing him limb from limb after you tie him down and glue his beak shut. Good lord .. I just said that ??? And I have opposed the death penalty all of my adult life. I thought I was a gentle soul !

Although come to think of it I also showed that bloodthirsty streak a few years ago when debating the best way to punish sexual predators who preyed on children.

I suggested that I would use them as live organ donors without benefit of any anaesthetic, one organ at a time until they ran out. Seemed like poetic justice to me.

Hope everyone is having a good day , I'll pop back later. Back is giving me fits again. I have to get off here and lie down for a bit.

Betty, you've obviously never been in the South. Kudzu is ubiquitous down here.



It's been known to devour houses, cars, and slow people.



Kudzu was introduced from Japan into the United States in 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, where it was promoted as a forage crop and an ornamental plant. From 1935 to the early 1950s the Soil Conservation Service encouraged farmers in the South to plant kudzu to reduce soil erosion, and Franklin D. Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps planted it widely for many years. Kudzu was recognized as a pest weed by the United States Department of Agriculture in 1953, and was removed from its list of permissible cover plants.

Kudzu is now common throughout most of the southeastern United States, and has been found as far north as Pennsylvania, and as far south as northern Florida. It has also been found growing (rather inexplicably) in Clackamas County, Oregon in 2000 ([4]). In all, kudzu infests 20,000 to 30,000 square kilometres of land in the United States and costs around $500 million annually in lost cropland and control costs. It cannot tolerate extremely low freezing temperatures that bring the frost line down through its entire root system; however it does require some cold weather (a solid frost or freeze annually).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudzu

Much more info at wiki, including some delicious recipes for Pie!

This boat could probably ride out a quite well, but just make sure you leave the woodpecker behind...



On a more serious note, I will keep all who live in the path of hurricanes in my thoughts and prayers.

joe e

Kudzu is the weed from hell, a mature vine can grow a couple feet a day and you can't kill it unless you kill the entire root (which can go for about 100 yards). Much like Dubya it's unthinking and tends to starve or choke everything in its path. Like Cheney, it feels it never has enough. Like wolfowitz it arrived with spectacular promises but achieved only failure.


Kudzu is a neocon.

OK .. now I know what it is, and I have seen it driving through southern states. I just didn't know what it was called.

In fact a friend from Georgia sent me pictures of a house buried in the stuff a few years ago.

Yep.. NEO CON for sure, Tom.

And I complain about Creeping Charlie ! Its as insidious as the Radical Christian Far Right but not as destructive as a NEOCON.

In fact probably more like an overly possessive Mother in Law.. clings and demands constant attention. And impossible to eliminate!

Cardinal, how's the wee one and are he and your daughter home yet ?

RI Special Olympics starts tomorrow, so besides knockin' out stuff on my honey do list gettin' things ready for this weekend took up most of my day.Methinks 'tis probably good purple cows ain't been discovered to be carriers of anything serious - yet!



On this one Bosun, methinks 'tis meant to combat voter fraud in states that make it illegal to even ask for picture ID at the pollin' place. Should it be easier to vote than it is to buy booze?Been known to do that a time or three myself, which methinks is one reason I've cut back on my participation in other areas. Seems at times there're folks in iother areas just waitin' for the chance to goad someone into a flame war, eh?

The Mother In Law Weed!

OK, but being a vegetable it comes up with the same excuses as Bush. Rumsfeld,wolfowitz et al!

They will be home tomorrow Betty. Here's a pic of uncle and nephew. Look who's beaming.

Hell no! Any brain damaged sociopathic punk ougth to be able to do both if they hve the legal choice Hypocrisy kills, for generations.

Your poor daughter! He's got a big 'ol head!

Hi All...I'm home!!!!!

After killing me slowly all week without any help at all...management tried to make amends by totally over-staffing tonight. We have a thirty percent occupancy rate. I took one look at the schedule, staff streaming in all over and guess I got a certain look in my eyes. The floor supervisor took one look at me, and I managed to squeak out, "What is this, have you lost your ever lovin' mind?" He jumped in saying how he was sending me home early...Knew how hard I worked all last week, yada yada yada..wants me refreshed for the onslaught this week end.

We ended the conversation with me waving my arms, saying: "Never mind. Fine I'll go home, but it would have been really nice if ya would have called so I didn't come in."

I think he is scared of me.

Yup Betty, I do need a vacation. I really do. Even if it is for a few days. I'm so cranky and ornery right now people I know and love are giving me a wide berth.

Loved the kudzu comments !
Tomorrow, I will have to try the jelly.

Love the picture of the baby and Now19 !


Watching the Spelling Bee on ABC. A Canadian girl is one of two left in the contest.
(WS: I have only gotten one word right in about 2 hours.) (No surprise to you).

Another excellent letter. The more beaurocratic they make the voting process the easiser it gets for political hacks to screen out the voters they don't want. I personally dont like the fact that in many states felons remain knocked off the voter rolls after they have served their sentences

What a gorgeous picture !! Your grandson shows promise of being as handsome as your son ! Who obviously is extremely pleased at his new title.

They are both breathtakingly good looking Cardinal !

cardinal did you get the pm, if you did, need look down the page the reply to lenal

cardnial mighty fine looking boy

I totally agree. I want Now19's eyelashes.

Thanks to Vet, Cardinal and Michael for your attempts to help me with the Gallery debacle. Maybe tomorrow night.

speaking of noxious weeds ..

How about the Shrinking Shrub ?



This image is courtesy of Reuters btw..

Great .. when do I pick you up at the airport ?

From where I was sitting, this is what I saw and heard.



Courtesy of the Moderate Voice Blog

but he is up to 39% ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
oh wait that the worst president in history

Figures.. he wouldn't even know how to use that properly and probably overdosed causing him to be absorbed by the appendage he was trying to find.

RFK Jr. on Carson tonight .. Tucker says with all the data and numbers backing him up. 11PM MSNBC for anyone who doesn't know

Thanks for the photo, cardinal...Beautiful grandson....handsome son! It looks like the baby is smiling at the photographer...maybe you?

Oh my! He's absolutely adorable. Just exquisite. I would imagine everyone is beaming. Thank you Cardinal for sharing.

Doc, I too subscribe to the thinking that voter fraud needs to be stopped, but I also feel that it is taking it a bit to far to require the entire voting public (including me, who has been a registered voter for 44-years) to acquiesce to taking just one more step towards 1984.

I will particularly dislike the impact it will have on the blue-hair shut ins. Many of whom have been voting for 50- and 60-years and have no way to get to this magic place for their new ID card. I guess this part bothers me most because I too am closing in on becoming a blue-hair myself.

And no, I do not think it should be easier to by booz than it is to vote. But I really do believe that in the country where we all live, I should be able to exercise my right to do both should I so wish.

Hells-Bells, this $hit doesn't belong in this thread so I'll get back on our non/never/isn't topic and say something humerus here...

...My hair has yet to turn blue, I can still howl at the moon all night long, down a fifth of good sippin' whisky and chase the ladies 'till I catch one (damn, I just don't remember what it is that I'm spoze to do with 'em after I catch 'em).

Y'all have a great night, please...

joe e