Time and space travel

Hello,

I know I already covered this but I was J-walking across Richmond Avenue today near Augusta and it occurred to me that time travel is not as simple as it may sound. I have no idea why that when I am crossing a street and hurrying to not get run over that I would think about such a thing but it is a fact.

In the movies, whenever there is a time machine, the "travelers" always end up at random places at random times since the "kinks" have not all been worked out. But since the Universe is everexpanding and Planet Earth is constantly moving, it is impossible that time travel would work without some fairly lengthy calculations.

As far as time travel goes a trip down "memory lane" is about as real as it is going to get. At least considering the parameters of the physical universe as we know it.

Like I said, I know I have covered this but I still am puzzled why I would be thinking about this while quick-stepping across the road to avoid traffic. This may seem like a trivial concern but so what?

Y2K + 11

Some people think the world is going to end in 2012.

As far as I am concerned, if there is an asteroid headed towards earth, I don't want to know about it in advance.

For all practical purposes, the world ended for Nostrodomus and the Mayans a long time ago.

The other day I was watching a show about a scientist who found blood vessels in dinasaur bones. They seem pretty certain that they are going to be able to get some dinasaur DNA and put it in chicken embryos and make dinasaurs again. The scientists have come to believe that birds are all decendents of dinasaurs and share the same dna so if they can just make it turn on and off the right way and wha-la.

an excellent source of cholesterol

Howdy again, happy New Year.

I heard that Snooky is going to be in the big ball on Time Square. I hope she doesn't throw up on everybody.

OK, this one isn't for the vegetarians. And if you got a beef with me for not being a vegetarian, I understand. The only question I have is why do you have those sharp fangs called canine teeth? Are they made for ripping lettuce and carrots apart?

We picked up some T-Bone steaks but they were thinly cut. The problem with a thin steak is that if you cook it too much it gets dry and if you like your steak medium well with a little bit of char on the outside then thin cut won't work too well for that.

We also happened to have some bacon in the fridge so I decided to cuts some slits on the edge of the T-bones and I wrapped each side with a couple of slices of bacon. Before that I putt some garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper on each steak.

Once I had it all put togeather, I cooked them in a large skillet with a couple of tablespoons of cooking oil over a fairly good heat. I used a smaller flat skillet to hold them down once they started cooking.

As far as the tatste test? Don't worry about it. Why do you think they put bacon on meat in fancy restaurants? There are certain things you can't go wrong with taste-wise and bacon wrapped around meat is one of them. It is kind of like melted cheese. That's why people like pizza. If you disagree, then try a pizza with no cheese and get back to me.

Rock on and congratulations to Dick Clark for still being alive.

Happy new year.

savings by design

Today I was sitting out back on my lawn furniture. I may not have mentioned it before but last year we bought som new lawn furniture. The iron kind that is painted black. The chair is suspendeded by a spring type peice of metal on each side and it forms a rocker that doesn't smash the dog's or thier toes.

So far our collection has just one piece which is the chair but as far as I am concerned, it is a great collection when you want to sit down under the outdoor ceiling fan.

Today I was taking a break out back and there was a squirrel burrying acorns from my neighbor's Oak Tree. I have seen the squirrels carrying acorns back and forth for some time now as they get ready for the winter but today is the first time I saw on doing any burying. I guess they wait until there is a good rain and the ground is soft.

It was kind of amazing to watch. It looked like the squirrel was regurtitating the acorns. I would see a convulsive type movement and I could see a lump int he squirrels cheek/throat area as it was happening. I am going to have to read up on the interenet to find out more about it but at this point I am going to have to say that my research results are that squirrels actually regurgitate the acorns.

The squirrel would look around, find a good spot, and then do some digging and convulsing and the next thing you know he was pushing the acorn into the ground with a borroughing motion and then he had a routine where he put the dirt back and patted it down. I guess they have a sectin of thier brain dedicated to remembering where they buried the acorns later on.

It is pretty amazing how nature works. I am sure it is all part of a bigger picture where the Oak trees produce acorns the scquirrels will like and the squirrels plant the acorns and forget to get some or maybe the squirrel dies or whatever. The bottom line is that the squirrel gets some food and the Oak Tree gets it's seeds distributed over a greater distance.

I imagine you are asleep by now so enjoy your nap.

exit through the gift shop

We watched a documentary a couple of nights back. Click this link to find out about the DVD from IMDB.COM:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587707/

It was about a french guy in California who filmed everything in his life and he got interested in filming street art. He eventually met one of the biggest and baddest street artists of all; a guy who street name of "banksy" but kept his identity secret.

Eventually the french guy gets the idea to do his own street art and sell it at a huge art show that he promoted. At the end, the other street artists seemed to be not so happy with the french guy but in my opininion he didn't do anything except expose how much of a contrived situation art shows can be.

If you can print up some art an sell it for a million dollars, I will take my hat off to you. Especially if you want to hit it with some spray can paint and make it worth $24,000 and I still get to keep the hat.

38977 and counting (or clicking)

I just checked saw the "views" number on my Youtube video account has something like 38,977 views and it made me think.

I wonder how many of those were actual views. It could have been me just clicking on each video all those times and I don't have any views at all. How dissapointing is that? I also wonder how many complete views there are. Most of my videos are longer than what is recommended for getting the highest number of hits but I don't care.

Besides that, I don't have much to say except Happy Festivus you all and to all a good night. Also happy new year and whatever else blows your skirt up.

You know, being alive is a cool thing. We are all going to die at some point but it is pretty amazing while it lasts. Don't think about it too hard or it will make your brain hurt.

Speaking of making your brain hurt, I just heard someone on TV talking about Jermain Jackson having two kids, one of them is named JerMagesty. Hopefully that won't mess him up too bad. The other thing is that his Uncle Randy, Jermaine's brother is also the father of Jermasty's half sibling. I don't remember if it is a boy or a girl but Randy was married to the woman first and had a child, then Jermaine stepped in to make it a "family affair" and have two children of his own. It made my brain hurt to think about it but I finally figured it out that they are still just both uncles and the kids are both cousins and half brothers and sisters. How freaky is that? Talk about a Sister Cousin.

I don't know how I got off into that but sometimes you have to wonder. This isn't the kind of thing you see at Walmart unless of course you are in the TV department and the Jerrry Springer show comes on. I guess Jerry is still in business but he seems to have gone downhill.

As I told you already, Not much to report on. Except I am making plans to travel to Europe in 2011. It looks like we will be in London, Amsterdam, Germany, Beljum, and France. I plan to eat some chocolate in Beljum (however you spell it) and maybe have a cup of coffee in Amsterdam if I have time. I don't think I am going to climb the stairs to get on the Eifel Tower. I think it will be good enough just to look at it and maybe eat some french pastry. Maybe I will borrow someone's dog so I can take it in a restaurant. I have never been there before and I would like to check out some of the historic sites. I know up there around the Black Forest is where the battle of the bulge took place and there is supposed to be a really cool museum somewhere around there but I am going to have to do some geography homework so I can pretend like I am with it.

OK that is enough for now.

Please go away and come back some other time.

Documentary Report

To Whom it may concern:

Hey Yall,

Hope the family and everybody is doing fine.

To pass some time and relax, we have been watching a couple of documentaries lately. One of them is called " The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia". It is about some folks from Coal Mining Country. I lack the verbal skills to correctly describe what it is all about so you can check out the DVD trailer on this YouTube video. Please keep in mind that it is not rated "g", or even "pg" so please do not let lead you to ruination.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3ysuG2O0zw


Another one that we are watching, but haven't seen the whole thing is about Mike Tyson. I wasn't sure what to expect but this one is kind of interesting if you are not already familiar with the actual story of Mike Tyson. What has hit me so far is that he didn't become Champion of the World just because it came natural to him. I knew already that he had been pretty much adopted by a mentor figure but I didn't realize how focused Mike Tyson was on becoming a great boxer. He studied films and focused on being an accurate powerful puncher and really was lead through a regimentied and diciplined program that resulted in a guy who would step into the ring and end the fight before everybody had a chance to get comfortable in thier seats. Just like Mohammed Ali, He focused on the psycholigical aspect of defeating his opponents as well as the physical. You may or may not be interested in this story but Mike Tyson remains something of a spectacle to me. Not that I find him to be hideous or anything like that. He is a guy who had nothing, got everything, and then pretty much lost it all but still has not "gone away". Regardless of all his other qualities, he has a sincere and (blatantly) honest quality about the way he presents himself.

This report seems to have fizzled and I haven't really given a proper rating to either DVD but as the kids used to say back in the day, It is what it is.


So keep the cards and letters coming and if you "owe your soul to the company store" please remember to remit your payment in a timely fashion.

Thank you to all Veterans

Today is the official day to honor Veterans here in the United States of America.

It is without any reference to any political affiliation or opinion that I hereby proclaim an expression of sincere gratitude and recognition to all Veterans.

Thank you for your service and sacrifice.

mesquite barbequed chicken vegetable soup

Howdy from the electric soup kitchen. I hope your doing fine.

Lately, I had the idea to make some soup and here is how I ended up doing it.

First I made some soup stock using onion, bell pepper, celery, and a good sized carrot. I put it on to boil and then I went out and fired up the grill.

Normally I have been using Pecan wood and haven't used Mesquite, except sparingly, since it can overpower the flavor of the barbeque. This time I wanted some of that type of flavor so I grabbed several chunks of mesquite threw them in chimney starter device that I really love.

Now, the idea is to get some flavor but you don't want to dry out the veggies or the chicken, since that is what makes the soup taste like soup (and not water). As you can see from the top picture, I threw 3 chicken breasts, a couple of jalapino peppers, a red bell pepper, an onion, a green bell pepper, a couple of good sized potatoes (cut up), a small piece of German Sausage, some celery, and I think that was about it, on the grill. Again, don't cook everything too much, but get some grill marks and some flavor.

The soup stock was cooked, I went back and took the cooked garlick cloves, carrot, bell pepper, and onion, out of the soup stock and put them in the blender with some of the soup water. I threw away the celery since it has those fibers and I didnt want that in the blender.

This part is very important. Power up the blender and imulsify the veggies from the soup stock (not the grilled ones). Before you pour that mixture back into the soup base, make sure to strain everything else out. Then go ahead and pour the blender pureed veggies back in to the stock. That will give the soup base a little texture and color. You will like the effect so didn't skip this step.

Now take all of the grilled items and chop them up and add them to the pot.

I forgot to mention that at the beginning, I also addes some garlic powder and onion powder, as well as some black pepper and a few other spices. Use what you like.

When I took the grilled items off of the grill, I put them on a big plate. Pour the juice that drains onto the plate into the soup also.

At this point, everything is almost already cooked so just bring it to a boil and then turn off the fire and let the pot sit covered for a while to continue cooking. Spoon up a little and give it a taste to see if it needs any more spices, It probably won't.

I don't use salt in mine but there is some sodium in the celery.

I am eating a small bowl right now just to sample it for this review and I have to give it a thumbs up. It is some of the best damned soup I ever made. It has a southwestern type flavor that you wont find up in New York City.

Next time you want to impress yourself, try this recipe your ownself.

Rock on Brothers and Sisters!

The Staircase

I just got done with watching a Documentary called "The Staircase"

We got it on Netflix.

Learn more about it here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388644/

I give this one a good rating because it is well done and has an interesting subject matter. Actually, there are a few different interesting aspects.

It is about the trial of Michael Peterson, an author, from Durham, NC. He was accused of murdering his wife. I won't tell you how it ends so as not to ruin the show if you decide to watch it.

I would have liked to have seen a little more of the trial but that wasn't entirely the focus of the documentary so I understand. Also, from watching the extra features on the DVD, I learned that the Prosecution stopped giving full access to the film maker after about 3 months into the process.

Check it out if you like this kind of thing. Theare are a several interesting charactars; Particularly the lady who is part of the prosecution team. She is almost like a cartoon character in some ways. I don't say that in a negative way. She is just who she is and happens to have developed or inherietied quite a persona.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the room

Here is the movie trailer for a documentary I just watched on Netflix:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zMakN-EMLg

Being from Houston, I found it kind of interesting. The Enron story is pretty much about human nature. People will rationalize just about anything if it is presented to them in the right way and they get a paycheck in the process. It seems to be a universal theme that greedy arogant assholes always claim excellence. Some things never change.

Basically, it wasn't much different than your average street hustle but just on a much bigger scale. Of course the guys at the top claimed they didn't know anything but they did end up in handcuffs at the end of the show.

Lucky for the surviving Enron Execs that this didn't happen a couple of hundred years ago. The Texans back in the day would have just tarred and feathered the scoundrels and moved on.

Salesmanship

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ3c3WZ-3UU

click it!

redigitized

First of all, Congrats to the Chilean miners, thier families, and the news media consuming public. It would have been pretty sad to know those guys were trapped and then didn't make it out.

A week or so back, the computer at the house started making noises. I took a listen and it was the hard drive. It wasn't really in the 2010 October budget but I had to go out and buy a computer.

One thing that may have contributed to the demise of our computing machine was that I recently made the decision to get high speed internet. I had tried to sign up a couple of times before but I always got irritated at the process. The other thing was that I wanted to keep my same email address but enough was enough and there you have it, and so forth, an well, as they say, ect.

Once we got the better computer connection, I started watching more music vidoes and movies online and it seemed to be making the computer work a little harder and it seems like it was running a little hotter than it should have and I think that is what did the damage.

My plan was to go to Wal-mart and to Office Depot and just pick out the best deal. I went to Wal-mart and there wasn't anybody who worked there who knew anything about computers but I did come across a nice man named Santos. Santos likes talking about computers and I don't know why he was in the store but he took great interest in advising me. We finally settled on the right model and it turned out it was out of stock.

Next I went to Office Depot and a young lady, who was very courteous, was showing me the computers. I finally just asked her which one she would recommend. She said it depended on what I was going to do with it. I told her that we just do normal stuff and I didn't want to spend too much money but I wanted something that would still be up to date and compatible for at least the next six months or so. I asked her again which one she would recommend. She still sadi it depended on what I was going to do with it. I told her that if she would just tell me which computer to buy, I was in the mood to buy a computer. I asked her if she got paid commission and she said she did. I told her that she needed to go ahead and tell me what to buy. I am not exagerating. She flat out refused to sell me a computer.

After that I went over to Best Buy and they had a desktop model that came with a nice monitor and a printer, and the whole package was about $584. There was a guy assisting me and he kept talking into a wirless thing. It had an earpiece and and a mic and he was acting like a secret service agent. I would be talking to him and I couldn't tell if he was talking to me or who ever was on the other end. It turned out that it was "the manager" on the other end. I told him I wanted the computer and he kept fooling around and doing other stuff and finally when I got his attention I aske him a question about a back up disc and setting up the computer and he told me it would cost $84. I then asked him if it had a word processor and he told me it would cost another hundred bucks or so. I then asked him if I could plug it into my TV and he said that he could have a member of the "Geek Squad" install the correct piece of equipment. I had already told him I was gonna buy the thing but he kept on fooling around and the manager came over and told him to wait on somebody else also (at the same time) so I told him I would come back later.

I then went over to Sams Club and saw a computer I liked but nobody was there so after a while I left. I went over to Radio Shack and almost bought a computer there but it was a display model and I didn't like the idea of the keys being banged on by kids or whoever.

I went over to Conns and there was a lady who asked me which computer I liked the best and I told her I didn't know because they were all turned off. She then asked me between two specific models which one I would pick. She didn't know anything about computers but she did ask me to buy one. I appreciated that but I was tired and I she didn't seem to have a clue about computers so I left.

This all took place in the period of about an hour and a half but I was gettting hungry and tired and decided to head home and I was passing by Office Max and decided, what the hell, I will stop on in.

There was a guy working there named Freddy and he was helping a guy who was about to buy a computer but he was making a call so Freddy spoke to me for a little bit and told me which computer to buy. He advised me to buy an Acer that was on sale for $399. It was a laptop with 3 gigs of ram, 320 gigs of memory, an Intel Pentium processor and already came loaded with Microsoft Works which has a word processor, a spread sheet, and other Microsoft Office style programs but just not as up to date. He also advised me to buy a thing with a couple of fans to set the computer on to keep it cool as well as a particular program to protect against spyware and other computer virus type infections.

Freddy probably didn't know any more about computers than the girl at Office Depot but he was honest with me and told me what I needed to hear. He told me specifically which items to buy and also what not to "waste" my money on. I normally don't buy the extra warranty but he told me it was a good thing to have so what could I say? I am glad now that I did buy the warranty so I appreciete the fact that he recommended it with confidence.

Basically, He did what Zig Ziglar said was all that needed to be done to be successful in sales. Zig's advice is to help people get what they want. I wanted a computer and Freddy helped me get it. Thank you Freddy.

I am sure that in a few years from now this computer will seem slow in comparison but right now I am flying through the digitized universe and consuming it at a rate that I have never experienced before. It is really too much for me. I have watched several movies, documentaries, and other stuff also. One movie in particular that I enjoyed was called "Play it Loud" which has Jimmy Page, Jack White, and the Edge. Check it out. I also watched a good part of a Rolling Stones Concert from a couple of years ago produced by Martin Scorsese (sp?). Those guys may be old but they still rock. I don't care what anyboy says. It is a free country and and as long as they can draw a crowd and everybody has a good time, I don't see the harm in it. Mick Jaggar is crazy and a high energy entertainer. Keith Richards may have lost his boyish looks but he is still an amazing riffmiester. The dude adds so much to the sound and knows when not to play also. They are really a tight band and they have a pretty good catalog of songs to choose from.

OK, that is all for now.

Elvis in the land of Sushi

Howdy Partners,

Today's lesson is about hamburgers. Chop you up some good ol german sausage and mix it in with the hamburger meat. Then add some chopped onion and bell pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, spices, and cook the burgers over charcoal topped of with pecan wood. Vegitate on that.


During Recess, please check out "Dead Elvis and his One Man Grave" on the youtube video link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0tbGeUrGfs

Seems like he is still eating the peanut butter and bananas in the underworld.

Here he is in Barcelona:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbU5uejhHik&feature=related

One of the benefits of advertising myself as a "one man band" is that I get to hear from other one man bands and Dead Elvis is currently touring Japan. If you are going to be out that way, please check him out. He will rock the tulips right over your head.

Here is another interesting character called "Reverend Beat-Man" who sounds like Howling Wolf. He also has a one man band but this video is somewhat of a sacreligious appearing cartoon presentation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jE9rk-dWek


Of course, I don't claim to be a literary critic but I have come to realize that all art and music that appears to be sacrelidge at face value is sometimes the complete opposite. When I was 13 years old I used to listen to an album by Jethro Tull called Aqualung. It contains quite a few references to the Churh of England and Christianity but what it is really mocking is the phoney values and abuse of religion being perpetrated by the perpetrators of such things. Power is a powerful drug. If you are the only guy who can fix a transmission, then when someone needs you, well, then you can call the shots.

Until next time,

Continue to seek the truth and enjoy good barbeque in the process.

Thanks

"Ruby Tuesday" is a name

A few Tuesdays back, I took the opportunity to go to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. We were thinking of going to the world famous funeral museum but when I looked on line and found out that the HMNS had free admission on Tuesdays from 2 until 8, my cheap side took over.

The museum itself was absolutely fascinating. I was amazed and wonderfied.

When we first got to the museum section, I was looking at a fossil from about 5 million years ago and there was a fellow there who told me that he "wouldn't mind having that in his living room". It was a nice fossil in deed. I talked with the cat for a little while and it turned out he was in town from Alabama to get cancer treatment. I don't remember his name but I do wish him the best. He had been dealing with the cancer for several years and somehow I do think it is not going to do him in. He had a good attitude about it and he was getting treated at one of the world's best cancer treatment centers.

The HMNS has really come a long way since the last time I visited and if you haven't been lately, you gotta go man. It is really cool and there is something for everybody. They had a section about oil exploration and the enviromental impact but I didn't have time to check it out in detail. I mostly gazed at fossils, rocks, gems, shells, and stuff like that. They have a mummy in the basement and you can even see his toes.

I thought I had taken a picture of the "sloth" but I didn't find it on my phone. They even have the world's largest snail there. It is the actual world record snail.

After we got home, I took a break but I decided to head over to the Brittmore Icehouse where I had heard that John McVey has a regular Tuesday night gig. I got there kind of late and caught the final 4o minutes or so of his last set. I had seen John McVey play quite a few times as part of the house band set at the Shakespeare pub. I had also seen him play with his band at the Shakespeare pub during one of his official gigs there and also at the Elegant Hogg when he used to have a gig there. Basically, I thought I had a good Idea of what kind of player he is.

On the particular Tuesday night a few weeks back that I stopped by the Brittmore Ice House, it was a hot day, and also a hot night. There were a few "regualars' at the bar and a couple of folks sitting outside at a picnic table but there was no one sitting at the tables near the bandstand. Tuesday night is not big night for bars but John McVey would normally draw some folks in. I am pretty sure the heat was a factor.

When I got there, I ordered an ice cold beverage and then sat at the table right in front of the bandstand. John and his band were playing as a "three peice". Basically it was John, the bass player, and the drummer. I don't remember seeing these particular musicans before but they were very good. The drummer was high energy and both guys definitely pros. John played pretty much nonstop; going from one song to the next and it was truly amazing. He played several instrumentals that completely blew me away. The arangments were not the standard blues progressions and sort of had a surf feel to them but the main thing was John's Guitar playing. I really have not seen anybody play much better at the "club" level pretty much ever. John has the licks. Talk about a guy who had probably forgotten more riffs than most guitar players know, John is that guy. The only difference is that I think he actually rememers the licks.

I have mentioned him before here on my website, but please do take the opportunity to check him out if you like blues, guitar, or cool music in general. He is the real deal and seems like a pretty nice guy on top of that.

Rock On John McVey. May the Force be with you!

Pamela Anderson had the answer

Well, I forgot to mention that the gutter still leaked after the Plasti-dip experiment so yesterday when I was out and about, I stopped of at home depot and bought a tube of silicone.

I got up on the roof when I got home and put on a laytex glove and appled the silicone to the joints and then smeared it around to make sue I had everything covered.

Earlier today, I got up on the roof and poured a bucket of water in the gutter and there were no drips. Hopefully, I finally got the job done.

I should have done it the right way from the begining but sometimes you just gotta figure things out as they happen.

Quick Easy Electric Enchiladas

OK folks, Just checking in for a minute; I got several Irons in the fire today.

As I just splained to you, I am busy today. Still, I got hungry and I didn't want to eat something boring. I looked in the fridge and there was some leftover Wolf Brand Turkey Chili from when we had Chili-dogs and also some left-over Rosarita Vegetarian Refried beans. I decided to make me some microwave enchiladas.

I took four corn tortillas and put them on a plate.

Then I put some cheddar cheese in each one, and also a good sized spoonful of Turkey Chile and a little bit of the refried beans and I microwaved them on high for about 45 seconds; long enough for the tortillas to get soft enough to roll up with out breaking them.

After that I added some finely chopped onion, Rolled them up and topped them off with some more chili, some chopped onions, and finally with some cheddar cheese.

I put them back in the microwave on high for about a minute and boom.

Believe it or not, they actually taste pretty much like enchiladas.

Also, You don't have to add the beans. You could use Cheese and Chili only, or if you had some leftover chicken, beef, or even spinach, You could use that or whatever else you like in an enchilada.

Next time you want a Tex-Mex flavor and are in a rush, "Do try this at home"

Later.

Baby Please Don't Go - Marc Twyman's One Man Electric Blues Band

About a week or so ago I added (to public view on Youtube) a video I made a couple of years ago you can see it by clicking on the link below. (USE BACK ARROW TO GET BACK HERE)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuYyY2C8XBM


What are you waiting for? Click the link!

Plasticized & Rubberized

I woke up with my mind in the gutter again. I was thinking that I could get some of that stuff they used to dip plyers in to make the handles have a rubber coating. My oldest brother, Lon, worked as a teenager at The Company Store which was a hardware store on Gasmer in Southwest Houston. It was during the ten speed bicycle craze and they were a distibutor for Murry (I think) brand 10 speeds and due to Lon's high mechanical aptitude he was the guy would assemble them for the customers. He ended up working at other bicycle shops and was very good and constructing 10 speeds from the best components he could get.

I think he probably got some of the rubber coating stuff at the hardware store but either way I do remember us having it in the garage and it seems like he used it to coat some plyer handles or something.

So this morning, I was thinking maybe I could get some of that stuff and paint it on the joints of the gutters to condomize the gutter to fix the leak problem. I went to Home Depot and spoke to a guy behind the paint counter and told him I was looking for something that had a rubbery textrue that I could paint on my gutters to seal them up. At first he said he didn't have anything like that but then he said "wait a minute, I think we do have something like that". He took me to the aisle where it was located and he showed me two items. One was an undercoating material for vehicles and the others was the "Plasti Dip" that I was thinking about this moring. I thanked him for directing me to what I was looking for and he went on about his business. I looked around a little and they also had a spray can that could be used to line the back of a pickup truck and I thought about thatone and then right next to the "plasti dip" can, the one that opens like a paint can and you dip things in, they also had a spray version. It was perfect. That way I didn't have to ruin a paint brush or clean anything up. It was the laziest and most effective solution that I could think of so I bought it.

I came on home and was so excited about spraying the stuff on the inside of the gutter that I shook the can all the way home so there would not be any delay. I was about ready to head out back and all of the sudden I realized I didn't have my cell phone in my pocket. I spent about 5 minutes looking for the phone and finally found it under the seat of the car.

I then regained my composure and went up on the roof and sprayed the "plasti dip" where it needed to go.

Now I am hoping for rain. I could just use my garden hose to test it but that doesn't seem right. It would be like violating the "prime directive" on Star Trek. I can't be fooling with anything like that. I will do the right thing and wait for the natural process to take place. Besides, if it turns out that it never rains again then I don't need to worry about it anyway.

I have to go now. I want to go look at the sky.

Until next time, Just rock it like you mean it. Why the hell not?

the nature of water - the water of nature

Hi,

Just to give my regular reader(s) an update, I thought I would check in and let you know the latest.

This morning, I got up on the patio cover and sealed up sections of the rain gutter where it looked like the water was getting through. As noted in the last post or so, I readjusted the pitch of the rain gutter to prevent water from pooling up and then leaking out of the joints and dripping through the patio cover roof near my back door.

I got the job done and then I decided to doodle around and I came up with a brilliant design to hook up the sunscreen that I had taken down while I was working on the gutters and the fencing around the patio area. I got that done and I fooled around for little longer with some unfinished odds and ends and put up some of the garden tools I had left on the patio cover after chopping down a large shrub and cutting it up. Then I decided to go in and take a shower and have a glass of cool water. It is good stuff that cool water, especially when a person is thirsty. Then cooked a couple of pieces of chicken breast. They came out good but I am not going to go into the cooking instructions right now but I think I will call the dish "Spice crusted chicken".

After that we watched an episode of "Little People Big World" on DVD from the library and so on and so forth.

At some point after that I thought I heard a raindrop hit a window or something. Then I heard some thunder. I rushed outside to see if it looked like it was going to rain but it didn't look certain. There was some thunder and some clouds but they didn't seem to be covering the whole sky. Then a little bit after that I heard a few rain drops. I was sitting under the outdoor ceiling fan and sipping on cool water and hoping for a good rain so I could see how my raingutter repairs had worked. It started to rain a little bit then it stopped. Then it started back up a little. It wasn't covering the ground or a blanket of rain but I decided to be patient. It was a light rain and I sat there and hoped it would last for a while.

As I sat there I started thinking about farmers back in the day before irrigation and how they had the same kind of thought process but it was a little bit more life and death as far as thier crop and thier ability to feed the family went. I thought about how water, sun, and things like that are all very important but there needs to be a good balance. Floods are bad and people can die in the desert without water.

I continued to sit there and ponder and I saw a bluejay or some other type of blue bird and he seemed to be enjoying the light rain. He was fluttering around in the shrub and chasing bugs and I noticed how the birds were chirping and it was really a good moment. Very peaceful and it was nice to take the time to enjoy nature right in my own back yard. This went on for a while and then I decided to go inside since the rain had lighten up to a light sprinkle. A little bit after that I went back outside and the sun was out and the grass and the shrubs all looked refreshed and then I decide to go back in and I saw it. Right there on the ground was a small puddle of water right where I didn't want to see it dammit. I cussed under my breath and forgot all about how at peace I was with nature and all and then I got back up on the patio cover and had a gander. There was still some water pooling in the gutter but it looks like I just need to seal it better. I can still fix it but it sure killed my buzz. If the wonderful and life giving water would just stop finding its way down through the rain gutter, then I could feel proud of my self again. And yes, Sometimes it is all about me.

There you have it.

Now go back your homes. The show is over. Disperse.