Go Ahead, Make My Day!

Rooting through some of my old "stuff" this afternoon I came across this old PC Seagate hard drive.  This came out of a computer back in the late 80's, when I was working at The Faxon Company in Westwood.  WOW, where has the time gone?!

In the first pic below, circled in red, is a small hole -

This is the flipped side of the drive and a much larger hole -

I don't remember the caliber gun and bullet used but the small hole in the first pic is the bullets entry point.  The second pic shows the destruction and damage done as the bullet exits, YIKES!

It's Almost Election Time!

Uncooperative Pair

Could have been a nice picture if Dumb and Dumber listened.

Of course me yelling at Emilie to stop taking a gazillion pictures of these two with my phone didn't help the photo session.

A Missed Prediction!

October 30, 2020 our first snowfall of the season.  Weather folks are predicting a dusting to an inch in our area.  The first three pics were taken around 8AM -

These last two pics were taken around 4:30.  This is what a dusting to 1 inch looks like when the weather folks are wrong!  This is 4" to 5" inches of snow.  Heavy wet snow, that is doing a number on trees and limbs that still have their leaves, e.g. oaks.

Always looks nice when it fist falls and covers everything.

Why?!

What's the deal with Borat?

If he isn't the BIGGEST fucktard, I don't know what is!

I don't find him funny in the slightest!

Rather, I find him extremely annoying!

How someone hasn't knocked his block off by now is astounding.

Don't know what's more troubling Borat himself, the film industry that allows his BS or his fans?!

Regardless, I'd rather have root canal without novocaine than hear anymore about this putz!

Sunday AM Visitors

At 9:11AM on Sunday morning, while making breakfast, I noticed mr skunk here making it's way, hurriedly, to it's lair under the neighbors shed. Leaving a stinky trail behind him for some reason.  At late night filling it's belly with grub.

At 9:14AM, just a mere 3-minutes later the below two dogs came a running.  Assuming drawn by the smell but minutes too late.  It would have made my day had I been able to watch the dogs attach the skunk and get sprayed!  Leash law in Franklin clearly doesn't apply to everyone's dog, so getting sprayed would have been a justly reminder to keep their pets on their leash.

The skunk will still be here and it's obvious so will the leash-less dogs, so a good spraying is still a possibility...

Bring It On!

I spent last weekend, actually the past two weekends, winterizing our chicken coop\rabbit hutch.  I believe we're all set for whatever mother nature has to throw at us this winter.  The import thing is that all drafts have been eliminated, with only certain area left open to allow some fresh air and ventilation.

This is the first batch of chickens that has me scratching my head.  They're some typical of today's snowflakes, so fussy and needy.  I toss in table scrapes and goodies, e.g. bread, crackers, lettuce, etc. and they don't know what to do with it and spend more time investigating and ultimately not touching.  I've had chickens since I was kid and cannot recall ever having such birds.

Also, this is the first batch of chickens that thought it was a good idea to pick at and eat through the plastic!  I kid you not, hence the reason this was a two weekend project.  They ate the entire bottom right section, which had to be removed and replaced.  I used old cardboard boxes along the bottom half, which you can see in the above pic, in the hopes of preventing them from eating this plastic.  The added cardboard should help with wind also, so a win win.

Special care was made to ensure Jack 2.0s cage is bundled up tight too.  Although, an old timer, his time spending winters in the garage are over.  He's relegated to coop life full time now.

A Wee Bit Of Personal Entomology

Here are some interesting insects that I've found hanging out on our house.  All very cooperative when it comes to having their pictures taken too, very photogenic, and all relatively new to me.

Green Stink Bug nymph -

Ichneumon Wasp -

Jagged Ambush Bugs -

This cricket I've yet to be able to identify.  Some thought is was an immature 2 spotted tree cricket but after researching I disagree, it's too thick.  Looks more like a blond black cricket to me -

Rain Barrel Comets

Emptied our last 55-gallon barrel of it's collected rainwater, time for it's winter nap.  Unfortunately, this means the two comet fish need to come indoors, UGH.  As you can see in the pic they're huge!  I ran out of fish food months ago, so really the only food they got was what insects fell into their water and mosquitos .  I would toss in earth worms or grubs or other caterpillars I'd come across but by in large they were on their own.  The last time I visited my farmer friend, he gave me a half dozen Water Hyacinth plants that I plopped in the 55-gallon barrel.  They did very well too, with some of their rooms almost 12-15" long.  I suspect the fish eat that too.  Honestly, the fish inside is too much work keeping the bowl clean and all but not too many options.  They look good for having spent the past two summers outside in their barrel.

One Hundred Federal Street

I watched a not so good movie the other night called, The Sleep Over.  It was filmed in Boston, so I stuck it out to see if I recognized any if the locations.  Interestingly, at the 1:21 minute mark of the movie, the main characters, chasing after the bad guy, run out of a downtown Boston building, see pic below that I snapped from my iPhone - One Hundred Federal Street.  The corporate location of Putnam Investments!

Sadly, employees learn of these things on their own.

Once Upon A Time...

Going through "stuff" in an effort to get organized and get rid of things that I really don't need.  I came across these two items.  The interesting and perhaps sad point is that both of the price tags shown are for stores that are long gone; no more; shuttered and gone.  However, they were both a common place I shopped at growing up and beyond.

Fall Back Reminder

3 Great Treasures

Another handwritten note from dad...

Just Passing Through...

I was treated with a close encounter the other afternoon.  I was working in the yard near the chicken coop doing some fall clean up and deep in thought when I finally noticed I had 6 feathered visitors - a mom wild turkey and her 5 babies.  They were some 30 odd feet away and didn't seem to mind that I was there.  They milled around for quite some time too.  Some stretching out in the sun, some preening themselves and others foraging.

The neighbors kids came out to play on their swing set, which spooked them (you can see the kids early in the video), so they started to make their way past the chicken coop, up the hill and eventually made it across the street.  The video is interesting as both the turkeys and the chickens seemed puzzled with each other...

I Spy...

Was helping a dear family friend, inside and outside, last weekend when I came across this beauty - a Tree Frog.  A good sized one too.  He was camouflaged pretty well and to the untrained eye, this dude would have gone unseen.  While I was on the deck removing leaves, acorns and sticks he sat there stoic.  However, a couple trips to dump the litter, upon my returns he was making his move to a more secure spot. 

Hoping he finds his hibernation spot soon, as we had our first frost of the season last night.  Winter is upon us...

Fall Pests!

Speaks for itself and is spot on!!

Power Red Donation Gone A Muck

I banged out another American Red Cross, Power Red blood donation on October 8!  Just down the street at the Franklin Elks, nice and close.

Unfortunately, this donate was stopped early, after collecting only one of the two pints typically collected when doing Power Reds.  Seems the plasma return back into my arm was leaking (outside vein), which by the way was very painful.  The decision was made to stop the draw in order to save the one pint of blood already collected.  Continuing would have put that in jeopardy.  Good news is I'm eligible to donate again in December versus February. Bad news is I was black and blue, more so then usual, in the area of the needle stick..

Sunset

Here's an October sunset off our deck!

There were many awesome sunsets to enjoy this fall.

Gerber Daisy Blooms

Our Gerber Daisy's really enjoyed the hot humid weather we had this past summer and they rewarded us with oodles and oodles of awesome blooms! 

Sadly, the season is over but these plants are several of the few lucky ones that will winter over in the basement for their return pool side come spring.

King My ASS - POS

 I came across this online article a week or two ago and felt that Outkick journalist Jason Whitlock  was spot on!  LeBron, like many famous athletes and Hollywood stars, need to keep their opinions and thoughts to themselves!  Only because they have a platform do they feel the need to publicly talk out of their asses.  LeBron does have some basketball talent but sadly the way he carries himself both on and off the court speaks for itself and is the reason he'll NEVER been see as a true superstar.  He's an arrogant, self-centered cry baby POS...

"During the vice presidential debate Wednesday night, Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James took his thoughts to Instagram after a pesky insect landed on the vice president's head about halfway through.

James took advantage of the viral moment by sharing an image on his Instagram saying, “Y’all know what flies favorite destination is right!!?? Yup you guessed it,” adding several suggestive emojis.

Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for vice president, faced off Wednesday. 

Outkick journalist Jason Whitlock called James’ actions, “textbook Trump behavior.”

“LeBron James is Black Trump,” Whitlock said in his column for Outkick prior to Game 5 of the NBA Finals. “LeBron fashions himself as a dignified statesman, role model, political activist and champion of racial equality. He is every bit as crude, undignified, and inarticulate as our sitting president. James writes and speaks at a third-grade level. The athletic privilege he’s enjoyed since about age 10 has spoiled and pampered him the same way wealth privilege spoiled and pampered President Trump.”

Whitlock went on to say that James is neither Michael Jordan nor Muhammad Ali.

“You can’t be Jordan, the GOAT of basketball, when your primary job is to increase the popularity of your sport and you have failed,” Whitlock wrote. “LeBron has diminished the NBA domestically. His descent into politics and full-on embrace of Black Lives Matter have devastated the game. He extinguished the TV-ratings torch he inherited from Jordan. The league that had dreams of matching the NFL’s relevancy is now toxic, polarizing, and reliant on rigged Twitter algorithms for traction."

UFC fighter Colby Covington, an outspoken Trump supporter, took aim at James last month calling him out along with other “woke athletes.”

“I want to dedicate this fight to all the first responders, all the military out there,” Covington said, following his win over Tyron Woodley. “This world would not be safe without you guys, you keep us safe, and not these woke athletes. I'm sick of these spineless cowards like LeBron James.”: