Be A Rebel

I'm such a rebel, with my 'non-tinted' windows. I swear, the govt. is way too involved in our lives. Building codes say I have to put tinted windows in my house to make it more energy efficient. Well, screw you Mr. Sam, I happen to like to see out my windows. Besides, I have shade trees, and the only windows that even get direct sunlight are the ones that face south. You know, the ones that let more light in when the sun drops to the south in the winter ... when it's cold, and people want some extra heat from the sun.

Damn govt. regulations, won't somebody save us from idiocy ... oh yeah, Ron Paul. Please win!

Ron Paul 2012 - Free Magnetic Bumper Stickers

I'm giving away free magnetic bumper stickers.  If you want one, please email me: jdat747 [at] yahoo [dot] com    All I need is your mailing address.  

If I do get a large response to this offer, I will put a donate button on this blog page, but I won't harass you via email.  Each bumper sticker costs $2.44 but I'm happy to give away as many as I can afford to.

The magnetic bumper stickers are great because you can remove them when you wash your car, or when you go to a party with a bunch of Bush or Obama fans, or later when the election cycle is over.   That's a pet peeve of mine; trashy, worn out, out of date bumper stickers.  The magnetic ones are also easy to adjust and get straight.

What I'm getting at here - if you really believe in balancing our budget and bringing our troops home - you got no excuse for failing to help spread the vision.

Ever get a wild hair in the kitchen?

Have you ever just happened to have some ingredient just sitting on the counter when you were cooking supper?  And did you ever find the urge to throw some of it in the pot overwhelming ... lol, only to cringe with regret the moment after it was too late to do anything about it?

Well, I did.  It was black eyed peas.  I seasoned them up the way I usually do with plain ol' salt and pepper.  But, I just happened to have a jar of honey sitting on the counter!  "I wonder how a scoop of honey might go with some peas," I thought.   So, I put about half a teaspoon in there with my cup of peas.   Then I thought, "honey and pepper doesn't sound like such a good combination.  Grrrrr, what'd I do that for."

Too late for regrets so I just made sure to stir that honey in so it wouldn't scorch to the bottom of the pan while the peas boiled.  It smelled good, and usually that's a good sign.  If kitchen experiments smell funky, they probably taste funky too.  Of course, there's no guarantee that the lack of funk smell equals a gourmet delight.

Actually, my peas turned out pretty good, as far as peas go.  Certainly they were good enough that if you need some extra incentive to eat more vegetables, you should try it.  A small amount of honey adds a hint of new flavor, a slight exotic kind of sweet.

Mitchem Deodorant, Right Lanes, and Ned Fleming

...and yes, that's Right Lanes, not Right Guard.  I'll admit, a bit of a random title for today's post, but it's a fitting title for a similarly random hodge podge of thoughts.

I saw a brand new commercial for Mitchem today.  It was so strange because I haven't seen anything about that product for 30 years ... lol, "Mitchem, so effective you can even skip a day!"  And the funniest thing is that their 48 hour protection from "un-nosely" experiences is still their claim to fame.

Ok, a bit of a rant, but the right lane on the interstate is practically worthless these days.  Somebody should just paint chevrons there, and parking spaces on the shoulder for people to pull into while they get their tickets.  What the heck, we may as well erect kiosks in the grass with credit card swipers so folks can pay up in real time.  If the government needs more revenue, maybe they could charge parking fees along the interstate while the police search our cars.

I'm getting old and I often forget people's names among other things.  Oddly, Ned Flemings' name popped into my head today.  He was just some guy I used to work with about 12 years ago, but I remember that he was oddly enthusiastic about freakin' everything.  One thing he said that I thought was funny though:  "You're not really a parent until you have two kids ... no wait, three kids ... when they've got you outnumbered, that's when you have to be real parents."

Top 10 reader comments on the Strauss-Kahn sex scandal:

10. It was Clinton's fault

9. $3000.00 per night suites come with hot and cold running maids.

8. I doubt he flagged a yellow cab and schlepped out to the airport with Achmed like the rest of us

7. Sounds like its time to bring in Kobe Bryant's lawyer

6. The proof is in the pudding
‎
5. The report will prove fellatious even if she comes up with a blue dress and a cigar

4. Because of his age, Strauss-Kahn lawyers seek reduced charges of Assult With a Dead Weapon.

3. Ah...The ole' lunch with a daughter alibi.

2. Ouch... he should have borrowed Elliot Spitzer's little black book

1. He was in the United States and heard that Congress allows bankers to screw everyone here!

Guerilla art in Austin, TX

What's cooler than to discover something that only a few people know about?  Maybe it's just me, always looking for a little treasure, but it totally perks me up when I find one.  No one knows who a guerilla artist is, or why they choose to place their work in a quite out of the way kind of place.  But then who cares, it's art.

First stop on this tour of non-sanctioned urban art is a very sad angel.  She is carved into a limestone rock that was placed with others to prevent cars from driving down a road that leads to an abandoned home site.  More often than not, she is mostly covered with sand that washes down from the hill every time it rains.   I had to dig her out a little just to get the picture.  Wow, and is she ever sad.  It would be totally cool to find the artist and ask why she is so distraught, but maybe it is better for each of us to have our own meaning.


One thing that I'm really curious about now is how it came to be that another artist has left behind a work in the same area.  Which begs the question, do I have even more little treasures to look forward too?  Anyway, just a few hundred feet along this forbidden road lies a more recent work.  Only a small painting on a concrete bridge, but I like it.   I call it: "dudes in trees"  Hopefully the artist doesn't take offense if he or she should ever read this blog.

Don't push my buttons Patty!!!

...to quote from a grumpy looking lady as she stepped out of her pickup truck to go by some cigs.   I couldn't help but think what I would say if I were Patty ... in an innocent, child-like voice:  "OK, OK, please don't hurt me.  I promise to stop pushing your buttons." And switching to an ornery voice with raised eyebrow,  "Can I turn your dials?"