The Gift...

6 Now it happened that, while they were there, the time came for her to have her child,

7 and she gave birth to a son, her first-born. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.

8 In the countryside close by there were shepherds out in the fields keeping guard over their sheep during the watches of the night.

9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood over them and the glory of the Lord shone round them, and they feared exceedingly.

10 And the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people.

11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord".

Luke,2



Merry Christmas to all.

Get a Grip!

Last Christmas, my son gifted me with a Sig P238. I love the piece, but never liked the plastic grip panels with which it was issued. I thought the coolest thing for a mini-1911 would be wood double-diamond grips like the big guy. The closest thing I could find were Sig factory grips, but they were emblazoned with the Sig logo- no go.

Back in October, Og had a post about Altamont Corp., a manufacturer (USA!) of handles for things. I checked out their price list, & found that their products were more reasonably priced than the competition. I dithered.

I happened to show the link to the Mrs., & she sprang into action. Since yesterday was the anniversary of my annual orbit, Mrs. DT saw fit to purchase new grips for my P238:



Very nicely made, as thin as the originals, & more grippy to boot.
Good goin' Homey, & thanks for the tip Og.

I'm gonna be flashin' my gat all over just to show off...

Time Has Come Today

Mrs. DT & I went out to see a band last Friday night. We’re not big clubbers (anymore), but this band was of special interest- the leader of said band was also the lead guitarist in a legendary band from the sixties, “The Downtrodden Masses” (hey, stop laughing, it was the sixties!)

What made this band so legendary was the fact that I was the rhythm guitarist; that’s right rock fans, your humble host was a participant in the band that led the way in music development of the era.

What, you never heard of us? Well, maybe the memories are a bit distorted. Or maybe I lie like a rug. Whatever.

Here’s a pic of ¾ of the “DM” (bass player is AWOL):


That photo was taken at one of our college party gigs in 1968, at the rockin' age of 17 (I'm on the left, BTW)

Tomorrow I'll complete another turn around the Sun, & those days seem a tad distant now.

Gutters

need to be cleaned before the temperature gets below freezing.

Otherwise, you get to be a moron whilst breaking ice-encrusted gook & leaves from your eaves.

Poetic, no?

Forty Seven Years Ago

today, I was getting on the bus after school.

Our bus driver, Oscar, always had a little transistor radio stuck on his side window, probably so he wouldn't have to hear the rowdy bunch of animals he was transporting.

As we got on the bus, he was telling us that the president had been shot, & was most likely killed.
You coulda heard a pin drop- even among the boisterous bunch of middle-schoolers.

This was unheard of in modern society; violence like that only happened in the 1800's, didn't it?

I grew up a little more that day.

Further Proof...

...of the "two-country" syndrome.

A Mr. Gordon Ellis, Epsom NH school board chairman & Vietnam vet, gives a speech to a school Veteran's Day assembly. In this speech, Mr. Ellis defines socialism, communism, totalitarianism, progressivism and liberalism as enemies of our Constitution.

He is correct in his premise, & correct for so stating his assertion.

But take a look at the wheelbarrow full of crap that has resulted from a patriot speaking his mind; it's shocking, shocking I tell you that the po' chillen should have to hear the truth in an educational setting.

THAT should be left up to the edumacators...

Ch ch ch changes...

"The Dinosaurs smell a change in the air, and roar their defiance." *


Get out there & ROAR BACK!

*my favorite "local" quote, shamelessly stolen from Borepatch

Paper T(r)ail

I think the political mania is beginning to make me ill.

Here's a cat.

They Hate Our Guts

The inspired Mr. P.J. O'Rourke gives us this- go read.

"This is not an election on November 2. This is a restraining order."

Heh.

Oh, No!

I found something on the interwebs that's WRONG!

There goes my confidence in the hive mind- the Borg is RIGHT OUT!

Two Americas: the other side

Two Americas: 1st example

If only the "progressive" types could learn to leave us alone...

NOT a Good Thing

to receive a letter from the State Revenue Reclamation Office.

Who knew there was an "Interest & Dividends" tax in NH?


Err, not me, for one...

Where's My Job Dude?

Noodlin' around the net this evening, & I found this essay. Written by Porter Stansberry, (founder of Stansberry & Associates Investment Research) a young guy with a head for business.

The lad's got his shiite together, I'm thinking...

This Is Why There Are No Jobs in America

By Porter Stansberry

I'd like to make you a business offer.

Seriously. This is a real offer. In fact, you really can't turn me down, as you'll come to understand in a moment...

Here's the deal. You're going to start a business or expand the one you've got now. It doesn't really matter what you do or what you're going to do. I'll partner with you no matter what business you're in – as long as it's legal.

But I can't give you any capital – you have to come up with that on your own. I won't give you any labor – that's definitely up to you. What I will do, however, is demand you follow all sorts of rules about what products and services you can offer, how much (and how often) you pay your employees, and where and when you're allowed to operate your business. That's my role in the affair: to tell you what to do.

Now in return for my rules, I'm going to take roughly half of whatever you make in the business each year. Half seems fair, doesn't it? I think so. Of course, that's half of your profits.

You're also going to have to pay me about 12% of whatever you decide to pay your employees because you've got to cover my expenses for promulgating all of the rules about who you can employ, when, where, and how. Come on, you're my partner. It's only "fair."

Now... after you've put your hard-earned savings at risk to start this business, and after you've worked hard at it for a few decades (paying me my 50% or a bit more along the way each year), you might decide you'd like to cash out – to finally live the good life.

Whether or not this is "fair" – some people never can afford to retire – is a different argument. As your partner, I'm happy for you to sell whenever you'd like... because our agreement says, if you sell, you have to pay me an additional 20% of whatever the capitalized value of the business is at that time.

I know... I know... you put up all the original capital. You took all the risks. You put in all of the labor. That's all true. But I've done my part, too. I've collected 50% of the profits each year. And I've always come up with more rules for you to follow each year. Therefore, I deserve another, final 20% slice of the business.

Oh... and one more thing...

Even after you've sold the business and paid all of my fees... I'd recommend buying lots of life insurance. You see, even after you've been retired for years, when you die, you'll have to pay me 50% of whatever your estate is worth.

After all, I've got lots of partners and not all of them are as successful as you and your family. We don't think it's "fair" for your kids to have such a big advantage. But if you buy enough life insurance, you can finance this expense for your children.

All in all, if you're a very successful entrepreneur... if you're one of the rare, lucky, and hard-working people who can create a new company, employ lots of people, and satisfy the public... you'll end up paying me more than 75% of your income over your life. Thanks so much.

I'm sure you'll think my offer is reasonable and happily partner with me... but it doesn't really matter how you feel about it because if you ever try to stiff me – or cheat me on any of my fees or rules – I'll break down your door in the middle of the night, threaten you and your family with heavy, automatic weapons, and throw you in jail.

That's how civil society is supposed to work, right? This is America, isn't it?

That's the offer America gives its entrepreneurs. And the idiots in Washington wonder why there are no new jobs...

Atonement...

It has a good ring to it, no matter what your personal faith may be.

Yom Kippur יום הכיפורים , the Jewish day of atonement, began at sundown tod.ay

Make peace with yourselves, there's a long fight ahead

That'sa Tough Kitty...

Kitteh captures food:



Food apparently likes being captured:


Heh.

Ayuh, Progressive I'm Not

Your ideological score is:

71/400.

This makes you extremely conservative.

The average score for Americans is 209.5

But, I already knew that.

Try it here.

H/T to Jay G., who's a flaming proglib...

What Frog is This Who Lies at Rest...

Check out this little critter:


Here he's (she's?) sitting on the edge of my rain barrel, & that ginormous green thing next to him is a 5/8" diameter garden hose- he's maybe all of 1/2" long hisself.
I'm thinking it might be a spring peeper, but I don't know what he'd be doing around here in late August.
Any guesses?

You Say Tomato,

I say, LOOK at the SIZE of that thing...


This is one of the first "Brandywine" tomatoes from the auxiliary garden. The second garden is for overflow started plants that don't fit in the main garden, & in this case, to start an heirloom variety. The big garden has Roma for sauce, & Celebrity for general use. The Celebs are a great tomato, but they don't have the regrowth feature you get with heirlooms (heirloom varieties are able to re-create the same plant by saving the seeds from the fruit). BUT, they also have to be planted some distance from others so cross-pollination doesn't take place, ruining the heirloom characteristics.

This beauty is good sized, but there are bigger ones coming; you can bet the DT's will have mucho grande seeds for next year.

Thank you for attending this evening's horticultural lesson.

Sure Could Use the Gipper Right Now...

to neutralize the libtards…

I love bluegrass

with lyrics like this:

“…he jus’ said he was slippin’ off the ice- it could’ve been a lie,
He did his slidin’ in the middle of July“…

86°F, 85% Humidity-

I know what, let’s build a fire!

Burned the refuse of the old backstop today, & while I was loading the fire, I noticed some weird fuzzy stuff embedded in the wood. What the hell is that, & how did it get into the wood like that?



Oh, yeah… that’s how. I guess I cremated the last of the Pikachu guts. Dem bloggers are a crazy bunch…

Hawn Worms

My kid makes fun of me when I tell him I got hawn worms on my tomatoes (“it’s not hawn, it’s hoRRn”).

Yeah, I know, but that’s the way I say it, & I got some this summah.

Feast your eyes:

Is that not one of the ugliest creations under the sun? That beast is just under 4” long, & was doing a number on my plants. They’re tough to see in the foliage, & usually go undetected until the damage becomes evident. We picked 7 of the buggers off, & now will have to go into "high inspection" mode to keep them gone. Crap, haven't had any in about three years either...

Bahsteds.

Anthem (redux)

H/T to Sipsey Street

Check out the reference to 2 Chronicles...

Hawt...

Don't see that much around here...

Soopersecrit, New Hampshire

Updated: 2 sec ago

103.3 °F <----------!!! Partly Cloudy

Humidity:	37%
Dew Point:	70 °F
Wind:	4.6 mph from the North
Wind Gust:	4.6 mph
Pressure:	28.92 in (Falling)
Heat Index:	114 °F

and The Rockets' Red Glare...

OK, so not rockets.

Cannon are more appropriate to the occasion anyway.

(Try to catch it @ :04)

Happy Independence Day to all.

How Does THIS Happen?

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

The kid is FOUR years old.

Yessir, the Man works in mysterious ways...

Separated at Birth?

You decide...

Uh Oh...

Actual Time	5:08 AM EDT	8:28 PM EDT
Civil Twilight	4:33 AM EDT	9:04 PM EDT
Nautical Twilight	3:48 AM EDT	9:49 PM EDT
Astronomical Twilight	2:51 AM EDT	10:45 PM EDT
Moon	3:58 PM EDT (6/21)	1:21 AM EDT (6/21)
Length Of Visible Light:	16h 30m
Length of Day	15h 19m Tomorrow will be 0m 3s shorter.

Dad Day

My son & his charming fiancée visited me today.

And I had a thought… after all the parenting of the past 30+ years, it’s an almost unbelievable joy to realize that that little snot-nosed kid can turn into your very best friend.

Thanks kid.

Love,
Dad

Oh Hell, Yeah

6 June, 1944

Thank you.

Decoration Day

Saratoga
Barbary Coast
Chesapeake
Mexico City
Antietam
San Juan Hill
Manila
Tianjin
Argonne
Bataan
Normandy
Kaesong
Dong Ap Bia
Mosul
Mogadishu
Asadabad...

May God rest their souls.
With thanks from a grateful nation.

RIP Brother Dennis

Here I Come to Save the Daaay-

It’s Borepaaatch, All the Way…

Last Wednesday, this here computer went all wonky on me. Popups, weird links, other crap. What to do? (besides panic)?

I called my bud Borepatch (don’t try this at home- he’s a friend of mine & a really good shot). He gave me some suggestions, which I followed.

So-

I used my resident AVG scanner, & it reported “8 bells, & all is well”.

Then I used the Microsoft evil software finder thingy, & it let me know that there were “no infections found”.

Go to the Borepatch site, on my friend’s suggestion. There, under the “security” tag, was a recommendation for Malware Bytes.

Downloaded it, ran it, & it found 28 “infections”, which contained them, & deleted after I followed the instructions. 40 minutes for the entire removal/scan process- can’t beat that with a stick.

I’m a happy camper.

Thanks MalwareBytes.

Thanks, BP.

What Were They Thinking?

Here's a good plan...

Klan Kidz

What could possibly go wrong?

Full Auto Now Legal in NH!!!

Sort of.

But hey, it's a start...

Cannon in Action!

Finally, I can upload this thing.

Happy Monday

(click BIG)

“Time Flies Like an Arrow…

…fruit flies like a banana.” -G. Marx


Friday evening I attended a wake/service for a friend from my teenage years, a local musician who was in our garage band back in the day. I looked around at the attendees- it was amazing how old those folks got.

Anyway, during the service, as people were giving testimonials about their relationship with the deceased, a woman got up, identified herself, & had her say. After the service was complete, I went over to her & said hello- she recognized me.
After some hugs, we talked for about half an hour about our lives, families, & the trials of life.

As I got up to leave, I realized that we had been holding hands for all that time.

Just like we did in 1967.

Just Say NO

to this beast.

Cobray model LHC, 12 round magazine, in, wait for it...

.45-70!

Empties are ejected via loooong ejector rod a la single action revolver, the handle of which is visible near the front "sight".

Strange thing, it is...

For Earth Day,

I cut trees.

With a gas engined chainsaw.

And twitched them out with a diesel tractor.


Piss off hippies, I got work to do...


ADDENDUM: Lissa writes in comments, "Oh, please tell us you'll burn them later and produce carbon emissions while warming your home! Pleeeease!"

Yes, Lissa, yes I will. In two wood stoves- I promise.

Lest I Forget...

Concord fun show this weekend at the Everett Ice Arena, 15 Loudon Rd.,I-93 exit 14, Concord, NH.

We'll be there; stop by & visit!

This Should Work…

Alternately, does anyone know where I can get a nuclear powered 11,000 HP sump pump?

Staying up all night manually switching the second pump gets old fast.


Shop-vac’d ~140 gallons out of the garage too…

The Great Ones Speak in Parables

today.

Og

Dr. Zero

Excellent job, bote of ewes...

Walkin' Tall

here from PDB, via Breda.

Kinda gets the juices running again, don't it?

You betcha...

The Intolerable Acts

were fueled by the Stamp Act of 1765.

That legislation(?) was passed on March 22, 245 years ago.




Interesting choice of dates for our latest congressional rubbish......

Nothing to Add...

Go read here.

Sickening, Even for Politicians

This is over the top.

Water flow to parts of California have been withheld because some snail darter or one-eyed newt or something of that ilk might be harmed by allowing the flow.

Thousands (millions?) of people have been economically harmed, as well as limiting the potential to grow food.

Now, it's OK, because the assholes in DC need the votes.

"The U.S. Department of Interior announced yesterday that it is increasing water allocations for the Central Valley of California, a region that depends on these water allocations to support local agriculture and jobs."


Contemptuous radical pigs now run this country.

My apologies to actual swine.

LCP Holster

Mrs. DT couldn't find what she wanted for an around-the-farm quick connect holster (and she's too cheap to buy one), so she made one.



Not bad, eh?

I told her she should start marketing...

Another Two Feet of Snow

.
.
.
.





Ba-dum, tish!

Long May You Run...

Happy Birthday son o' mine!

Love, Dad

My Dead Sister's Teeth- UPDATED

Would that be a great blog name or what?


UPDATE: It appears folks think I've gone off the deep end with this post title, so reference is here. More balloon juice from Louise Slaughter, (Doofus- NY).

Hmmmmm...

I may have been a bit premature in prognosticating that "Spring" thing...

14 inches.

It’s THAT Time Again

to gather the sweet stuff from the trees.

Here are a couple pics of our road, one showing the “old” way,

and the “new”.

It’s still a looong way away from my waffles, but it’s a start, & an established indicator of spring in these parts.

"Breaking" News...

Could be interesting.

Last Wednesday evening, Jim Treacher (aka Sean Medlock), was hit by a government owned SUV piloted by one Mike McGuinn, an agent with the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service.

Sean was hit well enough to gain some new modifications to his hide, mash his vision gear, as well as breaking his knee. He is currently in Georgetown University Hospital in DC.

There is all kinds of weirdness associated with the accident, all coming from the government end.

Now if a “regular” citizen was injured, even with gross fault of the driver.gov, nothing more would be heard by the public. But this time, the tard.gov had the witlessness to run into a blogger, one of some distinction no less.

So now, not only is the Daily Caller all over this, but Instapundit, Ameripundit, Hot Air, Ace, Tucker Carlson (Sean’s boss), & others are seeking the truth of the matter.

Go to Treacher’s place to follow links & updates.

This may not pass as quietly as the idiot.gov would wish…

At Least There's That...

Created by Oatmeal

How comforting.

Scott Brown Wins

the U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts.

A dream, mayhaps?

I do believe that this election may well avert some future bloodshed, as DC politicians take note of the temperament of the land.

Here’s to my hoping making it so.

Hope & Change I can believe in...

A Couple Observations

Lt. Col. Scott Brown is a state senator, running hard for the U.S. Senate, and it appears he may well be successful in that quest (no predictions here, see below).

Who was that other guy who was a local senator, served a couple years in the US Senate, then elected POTUS?

...................

The 19th day of a month seems to have some significance in Massachusetts’s history.

On an April morning 235 years ago, some Massachusetts patriots made a fairly significant statement on the 19th of that month.

It is fitting that the new beginning start there.


GO SCOTT GO!

Nuthin’ to be Said,

& I ain’t saying it.

14 months ago, I used my astonishing powers of precognition to steadfastly maintain the obvious triumphant situation of the Republican presidential duo.

This time, the outcome is far too important to jinx with my ramblings, so I’ll just STFU.


But still,

GO SCOTT GO!

If It Wasn't for Real Bad Luck,

this dude wouldn't have had any luck at all.

Visiting Hiroshima on 6 August, 1945, he gets nuked.

Arrives back home in Nagasaki on 9 August- gets nuked again.

He should have bought lottery tickets.

Deceased at age 93, RIP Mr. Lucky.

Weather Geekery

Do you realize that as of 2220 today, the temperature in Hot Springs Virginia was 18.7° colder than here in S. NH?

GO GLOBAL WARMING!

Hooray!

Happy New Year!

Yikes- that date looks weird...

Waitaminnit- isn't this the year we get the new sun & all the monkeys go crazy or something?