New Year Ramble

Happy New Year!

First blog post of the year.

Having the day off I decided I need to list more books on my website but got sidetracked.

Blog Talk Radio caught my attention with a Medallion Press Radio Show. Only caught the tail end live but had to go back and listen to the archives. Want to know about "bum glue" you have to listen to the Jan 1.2009 show. This is a radio show for readers and writers. Paul, the host and representative of the publishing houseMedallion Press, does a great job interviewing authors and should be used as an example for anyone thinking of using Blog Talk Radio for promoting their business. No matter the subject his style is a good example to learn from.

I signed up for a Twitter Account (prying1) and of course I have to see what the friends I'm following have to say, this, the first day of the year. I saw that Twitterer TribalRootz gave a link for a 'New' Marisa Bondy You Tube Video. Check her Winds of Liberty You Tube (link above) and also check the Marisa Bondy singing "Crazy" Video.

Then Stephen Dinkel comes on to Blog Talk Radio...

So much for listing books. It seems that the internet is a great place to make friends, get information, and spend a day not getting any work done. Well! It is a holiday...

On a more recent 'in the news issue':
I have noticed that concerning the Global Warming Crowd more of them are jumping off the 'Global Warming' Bandwagon and are climbing on the "Climate Change" Soapbox.

Once again Happy New Year!
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A Friend's Wife Passed Away

A friend's wife passed away...

Tears in my eyes
Because a friend
has lost his mate
but it is not forever!

There will come a day
When they will be together
And on that day
They will kiss as never before.

Their hearts will be one
As they wished they were
When they lived on earth
But were separated by the wall


The Wall comes tumbling down
No separation on that day
No sin will come between
The love they have for one another

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EARTHQUAKE WATCH 2008

I figured that title might get a few extra hits from Google. Here in L.A. the same thing happens with the news whether it is a few sprinkles and we have STORM WATCH 2008 (Camera shows a puddle with drops of rain hitting it), a hillside fire, FIRESTORM WATCH 2008 (Stock footage of Malibu fire) or a trembler that knocks some cans and jars off some store shelves, EARTHQUAKE WATCH 2008 (Concerned newsreader asking, "How will the aftershocks affect YOU? We'll tell you at ten!"

Don't want to sound blase' concerning tragedies but after a certain point...

Even Reuters has this story listed on their website as, "reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN29374340"

Anyway. My story for EARTHQUAKE WATCH 2008 is:

I was pushing by hand a 4 wheeled cart loaded with paper (I work at a printing shop) across a blacktop parking lot and I missed the earthquake. The only vibrations I felt were from the loaded cart and I was traveling in the same direction the quake was going. That is, from east to west.

When I came through the door into the shop all the hanging fluorescent lamps were swinging and I thought, "This load isn't that heavy to cause that much vibration." - Once again proving I'm always right! -

I'm located around 50 miles from the quake's epicenter and from talking with those that felt it there was a rolling sensation such as one would feel on a road with several close small hills and valleys. Sometimes there are sharp jolts as a corduroy dirt road might give you but today's was not one of those.

P. S. My daughter missed it too. She was at her work.

Update: Wifey-poo missed it too. - Hey that rhymes!!!

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Smash the Eggshells

I don't think I'm the only one who is getting fed up with with the so called race baiters. Some of them are more than ridiculous. They are down right stupid. I could at this point bring up Jesse Jackson and his, Obama is "talking down to black people." remark but I won't. After all Obama is talking down to all people not just blacks.

An example of what I'm going off about here is shown by what happened in a Dallas County (TX) commissioners meeting on Jul 07, 2008. As reported by Kevin Krause in the Dallas City Hall Blog section of the Dallas Morning News:

A special meeting about Dallas County traffic tickets turned tense and bizarre this afternoon.

County commissioners were discussing problems with the central collections office that is used to process traffic ticket payments and handle other paperwork normally done by the JP Courts.

Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said it seemed that central collections "has become a black hole" because paperwork reportedly has become lost in the office.

Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black, interrupted him with a loud "Excuse me!" He then corrected his colleague, saying the office has become a "white hole."

That prompted Judge Thomas Jones, who is black, to demand an apology from Mayfield for his racially insensitive analogy.

Mayfield shot back that it was a figure of speech and a science term. A black hole, according to Webster's, is perhaps "the invisible remains of a collapsed star, with an intense gravitational field from which neither light nor matter can escape."

Other county officials quickly interceded to break it up and get the meeting back on track. TV news cameras were rolling, after all.

Some people are overly sensitive and as a result they will have an outburst of umbrage at unexpected moments. This can be seen in the blog posting above where both Commissioner John Wiley Price and Judge Thomas Jones showed the world how severely overly-sensitive they are. It reaches the point of absurdity and I for one find their antics to be asinine. Not to mention I refuse to walk on eggshells around people like them any longer.

Perhaps I should rephrase that last sentence and put it in the past tense. I call people on it. I've done so in times past and will again do it when necessary.

It is not hard to call people on their being overly sensitive. Simply tell them that they are being overly sensitive, that it is a personal defect they need to work on and they need to learn to "get over it". It is time for them to grow up and mature a little. Not everyone in the world cares to follow a prescribed set of verbal rules when dealing with them and not everyone is out to offend them while trying to convey thoughts and ideas.

Tell them if they really feel it necessary to interrupt another's conversation for clarification of a term used then fine, but don't jump on another person's back because something inside them rises up like bile from a sour stomach. That is something that is inside of the protester not something inside of the innocent speaker.

This doesn't go for just black and white. I think this needs to be said to everyone that jumps on the "OFFENDED BANDWAGON" for whatever cause. Be they 'Native Americans' upset over the name of a baseball team, Mexicans over the Taco Bell Chihuahua or the Frito Bandito advertisements, or an atheist's self centered crying at the Cross on Mount Soledad in La Jolla, Calif. - (I'm willing to bet that Frito's would have sold a bunch if they had advertised for those people to shut up and played the song in their face.)

Bunch of jerks every one of them and we do a disservice to these people by not telling them to either grow up or shut up.

The only alternative is to keep on listening to them whine and after that to keep on listening to them whine. They will always find something else to snivel about if we just give in the first time.

As a P.S. to this posting I'd like to give a big WAY-TO-GO! and two ATTABOY'S! (no racial slur intended) to Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield for not backing down. Give him the Mayor's slot in the next election.


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Hat tip to Warner Todd Huston's Publius Forum
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Cold in L.A. California? Time To Use the Fireplace

Once in awhile it gets cold in L.A. This is how I handled it this year.

The temperature has been dropping into the 50's at night and this house seems to get even colder than it is outside at times. Well I figured it was just about time to do one of my husbandly duties. Something Wifeypoo will forever leave for me to do in spite of the Romantic Implications the Disney cartoon gives to the job.

Clean out the fireplace.

Now I know that this is something I should have done at the beginning of spring after the last time it was used and I would have done it too except the timing just didn't seem right to me somehow. Besides I wasn't sure, at the time, WHEN would be the VERY last time it would be used.

Plus I have the enviable ability to put things off and since I like people to envy me I figured this was just one more way to accomplish just that.

So! Now the timing was right.

Break out the SHOP-VAC!

Drag it into the house. (Sure glad it has wheels! It must weigh 8 pounds!) Junk drawer for extension cord. Move the screen aside, tilt the grate up and back, plug in the SHOP-VAC.

Contact!

Switch on!


(Whirring sound starts here!)

Suck up the ashes!


Wonder if Tim Allen could soup this baby up? - Whoa! - Don't think he'd need to. Look at this machine just suck the bricks clean!

Sure am glad that that last year I didn't use any wood with nails in it. When I cleaned it out last fall I had to deal with nails clogging the hose. This is great. Cinderella should have one of these pig machines. Then she wouldn't have to complain about working so hard and maybe even her evil and wicked step-sisters would be envious enough to do it for her. This is almost like fun. The corners need a bit more work than the middle. I should have done this last spring but then people would have said I don't have the enviable ability to put things off. I am raising a bit of ashes though. Not enough to worry about. 99.99% is going down the tube. But it is getting hard to breath with my head stuck in the fireplace. Maybe I should take a bit of a break.

OH NO!!!

What the???

I forgot to put the filter in the stupid shop-vac the last time I cleaned it!

Scheesh! What-a-mess!!!

Wow!

Good thing Wifeypoo and I have a deal.

I clean out the fireplace and she cleans the rest of the house...

Epilogue
Most of this story is true. I did stray a bit from reality while my head was stuck in the fireplace and I imagined the filter being off the shop-vac. At this point I looked behind me, was relieved to see all was OK and carried on with the work. The last sentence was what I imagined I would say to Wifeypoo.

We all know how that would have gone over.

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Update - I should have and forgot to mention that this posting is a result of my visit to a special blogsite and a posting that got me going to tell this story - Thanks to Chris at - Book Hunter's Holiday -

Don't You Just Hate It?

True Story:

Wifeypoo & I are having an argument. It ends though when we figure out that we've been agreeing with each other from the beginning. We were just using different words to express the same thing.

Hey!!! We were both right.

It's so satisfying to end an argument that way.

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I love the English language.
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- While posting this I discovered that typing "ARGUEMANT" gets the squiggly red line underneath that shows it is mis-spelled.

So I've mis-spelled the word and know I've been doing so for years. Google search pulls up a number 23 for the hits (prying1 "arguement") But I know some of those are duplicated and some are from pages where other people mis-spelled it but my name was involved because I was a commenter or innocent bystander.

Only ten times tops! Don't believe me? I'd like to argue all day over it but I don't want to start an arguement. Oops! - That's eleven.

Dictionary.com expects me to change my evil ways and spell it "ARGUMENT".

Now! Should I continue mis-spelling it or straighten up my act?

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I vote for cleaning up my act.
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Which brings me up to the quote of the day:
- from Who Was She - a short story written by Bayard Taylor

...if confession were not good for the soul, though harder than sin to some people, of whom I am one....

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Acronym Finder and Salesmanship

Twice this week I had to use an online Acronym Finder because idiots assume every one reading their words (and initials for their words) will automatically know what they mean. (I prefer the one at FreeDictionary.Com - Extra buttons to switch to assorted searches. - dictionary. medical, law, idioms etc.)

Both times this was for ads for items these idiots want to sell.

Sad! Sad! Sad!

One was on eBay - 'NOS' - For a car part. No explanation and it fit nothing in context. What the heckll was that supposed to mean? NOS???

Had to look it up.

So I found it meant, "New Old Stock".

Well that fit what I was looking to sell so I used it on four different car parts I listed. - EXCEPT - I explained the acronym so that there was no question as to what I meant. I wrote in the description of my items:

"NOS (New old stock) in (timeworn) box NEVER attached to any vehicle"

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No misunderstanding there and after someone has visited my listing on eBay they are enlightened. Took me a few extra finger punches on the old keyboard and with cut and paste it showed up fine in all the ads...

Hopefully the next time some idiot comes along and 'ass u me s' visitors will understand their use of 'NOS' with no explanation a few of people that visited mn site will see the advert and give homage to prying1 for the lights dancing in their heads.

The other acronym I will post here if and when I get a reply from the seller...

Salesmanship!

Where has it gone?

I get phone calls from people reading off a paper in a monotone voice that is screaming, HANG UP ON ME!!! YOU DON'T WANT THE CRAP I'M SELLING!!!

I read adverts on auction and book selling sites that tell me nothing about the product other that it has no dust jacket or the dust jacket is tattered or is in very good condition.

What is the book about??? Absolutely nothing in regards to a synopsis.

I've gotten jerks at the gas station offering to pump gas for a quarter (like that is really work) and their attitude concerning life brings everyone with in a circular mile into a depression. I've told 'em "Find something to sell if you want to make money. And get a better attitude if you expect to sell anything."

They don't even realize that pumping gas could be considered a service and services are salable. But my giving them a quarter increases the cost of gas and people, myself included, are already ticked off about that. Who wants to pay more for gas?

Sad! Sad! Sad!

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Same book by two different booksellers:

1955 Very Good "Cloth. Fine/Very Good Price Clipped. First Edition 8vo-over 7 3/4-9 3/4 tall. 198p., repaired d.j. (price clipped), "
$14.49

and

Publisher: London, Hutchinson (1955)
London, Hutchinson (1955). Map on endsheets. 195 pages. Hardcover, very good, no dust jacket. - Account of two winters of famine, 1882 and 1883, among the Eskimoes of Angmagssalik, Greenland. The author lived with these people during the 1930s and collected 250 accounts.
$28.00

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One of these booksellers added some information about the book and is asking twice as much for the book as the other fellow. Without the DustJacket! (DJ) Whereas the cheaper book has one. - Which will sell first? - I think the one that took the few extra keystrokes not the one with the DJ.

Personally I've never read a book on salesmanship but I have read a few DJ's. The DJ blurbs tell me all I need to know. - I've owned a few but sold them to people that needed them. - Salesmanship may or may not be a natural talent. I don't know. I do know that people without common sense will never have it...

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Two Books - The Greening of America and Farewell To Eden

I know it has been a while since I've posted. I have 3 posts in 'draft mode' and have not been able to get back to them. This one I will finish by making it short and sweet. Tonight I finished packing the books in the house. Still have to move them out of the house but they are all in boxes now.

During this phase I came across two books.

Well actually there was more but only two I'm posting on...

The Greening of America

by Charles A. Reich, Random House NY, 1970 (First Edition/Review Copy) -

On the cover, in Bold Italics is states: "How the Youth Revolution is Trying to Make America Livable" -

As I read that I asked myself, "When was it unlivable in America?" Guess I missed it as did many others including the parents ot those 'youth revolutionaries' who must have been alive since they produced the little darlings.

Second question I asked, (By the way, I was there. I was a youth that survived the late 60's & early 70's) Back to the question. "What the hell did those invoved in the 'revolution' care about making America livable? All we wanted was sex, drugs and rock and roll!"

OK! Second book

Farewell To Eden

By Mathew Huxley and Cornell Capa, Harper & Row Publishers, 1964 (First Edition) -

No, this is not a Steinbeck novel. The dust jacket shows a picture of a near nude (a belt only), primitive man with a bone through his nose holding a stone age bow and arrow.

Excuse me?

Eden???

If I had to ground down rocks against one another to make arrowpoints in order to eat I would not consider it EDEN.

Hey buddy! Adam was kicked out of the garden and these people were part of the result. - The dustjacket blurb even mentions, "Casual practice of infanticide" for goodness sake.

This book is about one of the last (if not the last) stoneage tribes in Peru. I gathered from the title and picture that the author figured that mankind should have ignored these people whose dentistry consisted of having a kindly neighbor smack you in the jaw with a rock and hope the right tooth came out.

Further reading of the DJ blurb shows that the author is against society and plantation owners making slaves of these people. - That I will agree with...

I won't agree with the title however.

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Life at home...

Scenario - Husband at computer reseaching on a book he has at hand. Wife comes in followed by The Cat Who Loves Her and they both sit at her computer on the other side of the wall of books. Cat, as usual demands her attention. We talk a bit as she opens up her email program....

Wifeypoo: "Something's wrong."

Me: "What?"

Wifeypoo: "Everything on my screen keeps flashing."

Me: Huh? - (Looks over at flashing email on screen) - "Try moving the sidebar up and...

The cat is sitting on your keyboard."

Wiferypoo: "Oh." - (Moves cat, waits a bit as commands the cat instigated settle down) "No wonder..."

prying1 sez: Sometimes they want commiseration. Other times they need an answer. Lord let me know how to tell the difference.

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Conversation At Work

True story:

Me: (while searching and digging through a drawer) I just had a Sharpie Marker in my hand and now it's gone. How do those things disappear so quickly?

Boss: I bet it's exactly where you last put it down.

Me: They should make those things in florescent colors with flags on 'em. Hey! How about if they make 'em so they shoot off fireworks when you clap your hands.

Boss: Good idea as long as it's not in your shirt pocket.

Guess that's why he's the boss...

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Criminals on the RunWon't Be Fooled Again - - - Or will We???

Years ago, in my freshman year of high school there was one other freshman that brought pride to our entire class. I didn't hang out with him. Barely spoke to him because he ran with a different crowd. I never was sports minded (I'm still not) but still I took pride that there was ONE FRESHMAN, someone in my class that was on the VARSITY FOOTBALL TEAM.

That freshman was John Goldenberg. Quite a guy! Very popular (amongst the jocks anyway) Pretty good looking. Reasonably good student. Teachers liked him and, as said before, the freshman took pride in him.

My high school even won the CIF (CA state H.S. championship) if I remember correctly for two years running. If not for two years we did at least win it once. As said before I'm not real sports minded. The fog of time is lifting some. I think we played for it twice and the second time we won.

WhooHoo! We won the CIF!

THEN!!!

The world came crashing down on the (by then Junior) class.

John Goldenberg was arrested and extradited to Mississippi. The CIF win was rescinded and all the H.S. football records had to be looked over and corrected.

It seems his real name was Jay Dennis Gould, was in his early 20's, was on the lam, wanted for bank embezzlement and finally caught. He was such a great football player because he was a good 4-5 years older than anyone else in the school.

Sure had me fooled along with everybody else. Except for the father of the girl that was concerned for his daughter's welfare. It was one man's questioning of history that revealed the past of Jay Dennis Gould (alias John Goldenberg).

John/Jay had come to town, was befriended by some people who believed his story of parents deceased, mean uncle who beat him regularly, his running away, school records destroyed when the little Mississippi school house burnt down. They took him in and helped him get into high school as a sixteen year old.

Quite the con artist. Guess that was why he was able to pull off the embezzlement and the falsification of his identity.

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Which brings us closer to the present. It seems that Athens, Georgia and many in the blogging community were taken in by a man who rolled into town about a year back and established himself as an opinionated retiree who often wrote letters to the local paper, the Athens Banner-Herald.

"Norm Weatherby" also had a blog called Quantum Thought - A Palette for Thinking which had many links to other blogs. Mine included. The Blog was deleted after one final posting which said:

"Norm Weatherby is unable to Blog at this time and is asking for
everyone's prayers. He will log on again when able. Thanks for your
support."

The blog is back up at this time and has been taken over by a person only identifed as Mcdanial

Well, back to "Norm Weatherby". It seems his real name is Larry Ray Bess (66) and a fugitive who fled child rape charges in Ohio 18 years ago.

The Athens Banner-Herald story (free registration required) stated:

Bess was indicted in November 1989 on charges of rape and gross sexual imposition of a minor - a crime similar to aggravated sexual battery in Georgia - according to Wilson.

Bess also was wanted on a 1999 federal warrant charging him with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

Ohio prosecutors allege Bess raped his stepdaughter over a six-year period, 1983 to 1989, beginning when she was 6 years old. The assaults happened in North Royalton, a suburb of Cleveland, officials said.

Bess never was arrested, but a grand jury indicted him after the stepdaughter took her allegations to prosecutors, according to Wendy Clawson, spokeswoman for the Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

"After he was indicted, he just took off," Clawson said.

I certainly hope that the stepdaughter finds some relief and comfort through his arrest and that his case is quickly settled with justice served to Bess in the way that he deserves.

One thing this posting shows is that running from justice is not new. Catching those running is not new either. I think that justice continuing the search for those running is a good use of tax dollars.

Our world is a safer place as a result.

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Hat tip to JMAC of Safe As Houses blog for the heads up on this one.

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Children, Chapstick, Cats and Motherhood

This one take the cake. Happy Mother's Day!

A Mothers Day story by Sylvia Carey

Why My Lips Stayed Chapped on Mother's Day


We had this great 10 year old cat named Jack who just recently died. Jack was a great cat and the kids would carry him around and sit on him and nothing ever bothered him. He used to hang out and nap all day long on this mat in our bathroom.



Well, we have 3 kids and at the time of this story they were 4 years old, 3 years old and 1 year old. The middle one is Eli. Eli really loves Chapstick. LOVES it. He kept asking to use my Chapstick and then losing it. So finally one day I showed him where in the bathroom I keep my Chapstick and how he could use it whenever he wanted to but he needed to put it right back in the drawer when he was done.



Last year on Mother's Day, we were having the typical rush around and try to get ready for Church with everyone crying and carrying on. My two boys are fighting over the toy in the cereal box. I am trying to nurse my little one at the same time I am putting on my make-up. Everything is a mess and everyone has long forgotten that this is a wonderful day to honor me and the amazing job that is motherhood. We finally have the older one and and the baby loaded in the car and I am looking for Eli. I have searched everywhere and I finally round the corner to go into the bathroom. And there was Eli. He was applying my Chapstick very carefully to Jack's . . . rear end.

Eli looked right into my eyes and said "chapped."

Now if you have a cat, you know that he is right--their little butts do look pretty chapped. And, frankly, Jack didn't seem to mind. And the only question to really ask at that point was whether it was the FIRST time Eli had done that to the cat's behind or the hundredth.

And THAT is my favorite Mother's Day moment ever because it reminds us that no matter how hard we try to civilize these glorious little creatures, there will always be that day when you realize they've been using your Chapstick on the cat's butt.

- Sylvia Carey

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Report: Virginia Tech Gunman Sold Guns Illegally

It seems to me that editors no longer read copy or more importantly headlines with a view for error.

Report: Virginia Tech Gunman Sold Guns Illegally

I don't know about you but when I saw the headline I thought that this perverted, murderous jerk had been selling handguns on the streets and in back alleys.

The story is full of anti gun rhetoric...

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The amount of anti gun stories with it's ignoring of the protection a gun gives law abiding citizens always jumps dramaticaly when violence as happened in Virgina occurs.

How quickly might the VA gunman been taken out and how many lives might have been saved had there been law abiding, licensed citizen on campus. - By the campus rules it would not and did not happen.

Many blog postings and news articles are on the anti gun side of the line. Here is one posting that I agreed with 100% - Gun-Free Zones = Happy Hunting at My View from the Center by Whymrhymer.

Although, I must say, the word "HAPPY" in the title will not be in line with victims or their relatives feelings.


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Military Memories (page 1)

This is the first installment of what might be the first of many or perhaps the only "Military Memories" posting. That is, my somewhat fading remembrance of my U.S. Army Days in the early seventies.

SATURDAY!

(Ft Sam Houston TX - Early 70's) Greatest day of the week if you don't count Sunday. I did count Sunday so it was really the second greatest day but close enough to first to fill me with joy. It was about 1100 hrs and the barracks were pretty much empty. Just a few of us hanging around and it was a nice quiet day. I was laying on my bunk enjoying a book. If I remember correctly (And I might not be) it was The Death and Life of Harry Goth

Suddenly the sound of a truck stopping outside the barracks, one of the doors opening, a sargent, a stranger to all, appears and says (while jabbing his finger at everyone in the room), "You, you, you, you, you, you and you. Outside! Into the truck! The General's Wife wants a rock garden."

"What is this?" someone said. (It might have been me. I certainly thought it.)

"Look", said the sargent. "I don't like this any more than you do. The General's Wife got it in her head to have a cactus garden with a bunch of rocks. I got saddled with the job of getting a detail to gather the rocks. You got saddled with the job of being that detail. The sooner we get the rocks and drop 'em in her yard the sooner you can get back to your bunks."

At that point in our lives we did not know that we could sue the General's Wife nor that she was misusing government property (we G.I.'s) not to mention the destruction of the environment by having us take rocks from point A to point B. (The earth is still reeling from the impact. Watch AlGores movie, An Inconvenient Truth and he mentions this event in the middle somewhere). We were naive back then. Little did we know we were impacting the GLOBAL WARMING ISSUE.

So, as ordered, we climbed into the back of the deuce and a half truck. Made ourselves comfortable. (Thats a joke son!) and wished we were driving the damn thing so we could at least have an idea of where we were going.

So much for SATURDAY!

Well, The truck finally stops in the middle of the Texas desert (which is what is Fort Sam Houston is mostly composed of). We climb out and the sargent explains that he doesn't want little bitty rocks but real good sized ones so the General's Wife can have a real good rock garden and no future soldier will have to come out into the middle of this God forsaken desert and get more of the damn rocks.

The way he said it we were doing this for our children's children...

So we started picking up rocks and throwing them into the back of the truck. Good sized ones like he said to get. Good Lord! We got into the spirit of the job. We did enjoy the sound of the rocks landing in the truck. Sometimes two guys would manhandle a rock up to the truck and it would take three of 'em to lift the sucker in. I, of course would supervise just to make sure they did it right.

Well! It didn't take long before all the loose big rocks were in the truck and then we took to digging and yanking a bit to get 'em out of the ground. Would have helped to have a crowbar but there were enough of the rocks that had edges a body could grab onto and yank 'em free then carry 'em to the truck.

I found a good size rock that was just like that. Sort of a corner I could grab onto and yank on and up it came easy as pie. (Not the kind of pie mom used to make. Maybe I should compare it to fruitcake...)

Only one difference from this rock and the few others I had snatched from Mother Earth (Gaia). This one had a few bugs under it that instantly started running in circles in the depression where the rock had once hidden them. I realized at this point I was disturbing the ecology of the desert and let the rock settle back to it's rightful place of being.

I knew then that we were doing wrong.

So I walked up to the sargent and explained to him in words he could understand how I felt about our rapine of Mother Earth (Gaia).

I said, "I quit!"

"What?" said the sargent?

"I quit! I'm not moving another rock!"

"You can't quit! You're in the Army!"

"Cum'meer! ... Lift up that rock!!!" I said and pointed to the exact one where I had disturbed God's creatures beneath it.

I said this with such authority that the man had no choice but to do my bidding. Even though he outranked me he lifted the rock, saw the nest of scorpions I had beheld and was not as gentle as I when he dropped it back on the half dozen or so scorpions. (We both failed to count them.)

"OK men! That's enough rocks for the General's Wife. Get back in the truck!"

I was so glad that the sargent had common sense. He too recognised that Mother Earth (Gaia) is not to be trifled with.

We rode in the back of the deuce and a half with our feet on the seats in case any of God's creatures similar to the nest of scorpions had ended up in the truck. No one dozed during the trip. Some of our lively discussion was about spiders as well as scorpions. We quickly but cautiously dumped the rocks in front of the General's Wife's house and rode back to the barracks with our feet still on the seats. Just in case...

Moral of this story: Don't hang around the barracks on Saturday morning!

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Write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008
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Some Excellent eBay Deals

A friend of mine, "Quezalmark" is currently posting some items on eBay that I hope will interest you. - A friend of hers is moving from her home of MANY years into a retirement home and as a result much of her collected treasures are on the 'auction block'.

Two items of note are watercolor paintings by Frances Wheeler of scenes from the Washington D.C. area. - Other paintings by Frances Wheeler are listed on AskArt and show auction estimates ranging from $600.00-$2000.00 - - - Quezalmark's starting prices are $99.00... - Check out the bio on Wheeler that Quezalmark has on the auctions... - Homework was done on these babies!

- To view image if it is under the sidebar - right click on picture and select/click "View Image" - OR! Click on the link......

Fabulous C1945 Frances Wheeler Watercolor Flower Seller Washington DC

Frances Wheeler Watercolor Washington Monument DC

So! You don't care about watercolor paintings? - Won't fit your decor? Have no interest in art investments??? - Don't let that stop you from checking out the other well kept items from the 30's & 40's that Quezalmark has listed.

Quezalmark's Auctions

- What you bid will be going to the owner of the goods. Any extra you add to the final price plus postage will help defer costs... - - - Please note that not all that Quezalmark might have listed is for the friend that is moving. These auctions are time sensitive too. - Ask if you are not sure but rest assured that it is quality stuff on these auctions.


These paintings are not an "eBay Charity Auction" so you can be assured that all profits (Quzalmark is eating the ebay fees for her friend's auctions!) will be going to the intended target.

Not "CORPORATIONS" (read SCAM ARTISTS!") with 'empty pockets till you fill them' (like ebay charity auctions is prone to do!) -

-

- pockets waiting to be filled with money that an elderly lady could use... -

Knowing this consider adding a few bucks to the final bid/postage to help cover Quezalmark's labor of love...
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Since this posting is liable to be seen worldwide I thought I'd point out too Quezalmark's T.O.S. includes this bit:

Overseas & Canadian Bidders are welcome, but you MUST USE PAYPAL to pay for the auction. If you cannot pay by this method, please do not bid!
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Write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008
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A Poem From Me

Just in case this ends up traveling through the internet forever and ever, Amen! I wanted to get credit for it. - Originally posted on a Ranchoweb Discussion Board (2 Apr 07) -

Concerning Compulsive/Obsessive behavior or Obsessive/Compulsive behavior whichever way you want to look at it...

Compulsive is one thing.

Obsessive is another.

They say to mix them is bad.

One comes from a fling

The other from thinking

Mixing them comes from a gad...

~~~~~
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Write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008
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Where's Tim Allen When You Need Him?

I can't figure it out. Maybe I've still got too much bachelor in me. Wifeypoo starts the washing machine so I figure to throw in a few socks. Which I do.

What the??? Cold water for both cycles... Medium height on the water level??? AND MEDIUM SPEED!!!

Wifeypoo Doesn't know how to work a stupid washing machine.

I wonder if Tim Allen could come over and soup up the machine?

*** Reality Check ***

Tim Allen is an actor and really doesn't know how to soup up stuff around the house. Besides. Putting a 5HP Briggs and Stratton on a washing machine might not be cost effective.

***End Reality Check ***

Close the lid. Step away from the machine. Hope she doesn't notice the socks when she throws the stuff in the drier. Walk away...

Whew that was a close one.

But how does she expect the stuff to get clean if she doesn't have it on Hot/Hot-Full load-Max Speed?

Shut up brain and keep walking feet...

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- UPDATE -

Wifeypoo found the socks but didn't say anything. I don't think it is the silent treatment because she said goodbye and gave me a kiss as she left for work. I did however have to carry the socks all the way from the drier to the drawer...

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Good Samaritan Opens Mouth - Inserts Foot

I've taken portions of the original story and placed them before the kicker for the title of this post.

BBC News headline - Ancient community seeks brides abroad -
- Quote:
For almost 3,000 years the Samaritans, an ancient people descended from the Kingdom of Israel, have been a continual presence in the Middle East.

Once there were 1.5 million Samaritans in the region, but following centuries of forced conversion and persecution the community now numbers just 704.

But recently the community has been facing another crisis - a shortage of marriageable women.

For every four single men, there are roughly three women.

As a result, a number of Samaritan men are searching for brides far from home - mainly in Eastern Europe and Russia.
End Quote -

Now here is the kicker:

"There are no women better than Samaritan women," says the 45-year-old Mr Coen, standing beside his blonde 22-year-old Ukrainian wife, Alexandra.

"But I had no luck. I was forced to go overseas."

prying1 sez:
What kind of person is going to say something like that with his arm around his new wife.

"Hey honey! You're second best. I settled for you!"

I find it sad.

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- Link to BBC News Story -

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How Not To "Not Work"

I heard of a poll asking people how many hours of ACTUAL work their employers expected of them in an 8 hour workday. The answers varied from 5 to 7-1/2 hours. When the same pollsters went to the employers the majority answered with "8 hours".

There seems to be a disconnect here.

Perhaps this disconnect is the reason the ex-sales coordinator, Emmalee Bauer (no relation to Jack could be found through Google search), 25, of Elkhart, Iowa was fired from her job at the Sheraton hotel company in Des Moines, Iowa.

She kept a handwritten journal while on the job and when told to quit writing in it while she was supposed to be working she turned to another option. Her company owned computer.

She typed 300 single-spaced pages worth of journaling on it.

After being fired she applied for unemployment benefits and was denied because of her writings. The journal was shown to Administrative Law Judge Susan Ackerman who said her writings showed a refusal to work and "amusement at getting away with it."

Some examples:

"This typing thing seems to be doing the trick. It just looks like I am hard at work on something very important."

and

"I am only here for the money and, lately, for the printer access. I haven't really accomplished anything in a long while ... and I am still getting paid more than I ever have at a job before, with less to do than I have ever had before. It's actually quite nice when I think of it that way. I can shop online, play games and read message boards and still get paid for it."

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prying1 sez:
If you are going to journal at work stick to fiction.

and an extra loud Whoo!Hooo! for Susan Ackerman. Way to go Susan, Your Honor!!!
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Thomas S. Brock of Brocklog.net thinks that at this point in time Emmalee Bauer is searching for an agent and the Journal in it's entirety will soon be available in print for those interested enough to purchase it.
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UPDATE: I received a comment that I thought I'd bring up to the posting. This exact same comment was left on Thomas S. Brock's posting that was linked above. Mr. Brock replied in his comment section with the same question I had. "What’s your relation to this whole thing? Were you a co-worker or friend of Ms. Bauer?"

After seeing the comment on Mr. Brock's site I dug around a bit and also found the same cut and paste comment from Brodie elsewhere. I think Brodie either feels righteous indignation over the way the MSM has presented this story or has a personal interest in affecting peoples attitude towards Ms Emmalee Bauer.

Let the reader decide...

Brodie comment follows:
If you only knew!!!! She was granted unemployment the first time around. The manager at the Sheraton then found the journal and used that in the appeal. She was told she was let go because she "didnt fit in??" There was even a witness there. Just because you write your thoughts....doesnt mean those are your actions! She was never once written up for any misconduct and always did her job and sometimes even some of the managers own duties. If you still dont think something is wrong at this place, (The Sheraton Four Points in Des Moines) then ask your self why they never hired another Sales Coordinator and why the other 3 of the original sales team have resigned? Hmmm...wonder if maybe there was some other agenda going on at that place??????????? Let the truth be told! Also, the Des Moines Register seemed to like just taking exerpts from the document and using them to fit their angle for a hot story. Maybe it would be different if they added the truth, which would include a few complete sentences giving the entire context of the statements. This PERSONAL journal was done mostly off company time and to my knowledge was just simply that, personal thoughts to vent the frustrations of a HOSTILE work environment. Just because she felt something and put it in a journal, doesn't mean she acted upon it or didn't complete daily job duties. And just to reiterate, take a look back in my comments to see what has really happened at this hotel!
Sincerely,
Someone Who Knows The Truth ! - - - Brodie - - -

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Links to the story:
Conservative Voice -The Iowa woman fired for journaling at work
Mens News Daily - Employee Fired For Journaling At Work

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Younger Generation Indifferent to Sacrifices of War

Just came from Burkean Reflections. Really good post on the title subject and I'd like to direct your attention to it.

Here goes:

Visit Burkean Reflections and read his posting,
"Younger Generation Indifferent to Sacrifices of War"

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