this is an incredible age we live in.

Last night I picked up my phone and said, "OK, Google, wake me up at 0635."

Google told me it was a done deal.

Of course, most people just stop then and there but I said, "OK, Google, Thank you. You are so good to me."

Google replied "Glad to be of help."

Even though Google isn't human, I still feel manners are important.

It cost me nothing to say thank you and somewhere a human is likely to hear it and realize there is one Old School person out ther with a few manners.


To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

I ran into and old friend today.

He's not a wet nosed kid in his late teens anymore. He' damned close to forty. How time flies!

I won't get into what we talked about but we sure did laugh a bit.

It is interesting to note that a few of the kids I used to hit baseballs for when I was in my forties are now in their thirties. 

7777777777777777777

I wonder what is going to happen next as far as life goes. I am actually at the age I could retire now but I can't see it at this point because I'm still capable of doing my job.

I guess this is just another crossroad of life.





To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Universal suffrage is NOT fair.

It’s not fair whatsoever to the people that have a stake in this country. The people that pay the bills and make things happen get shafted because the people that don’t have any stake in the country will always vote to plunder the treasury.

Robert Heinlein said that citizenship should be earned and I do believe he is right. There should be any number of ways that citizenship should be earned.

A lot of people don’t understand that one of the benefits of finishing a contract in the French Foreign Legion with a good conduct certificate is that one can automatically be given French citizenship. Being wounded in the Legion is also an automatic French citizenship called ‘French by spilled blood’.

Same holds in this country. I’ve advocated for an American Foreign Legion for years. It would be somewhat similar to the French Foreign Legion in that it would be a path to citizenship for foreigners willing to serve.

Military service to people born in the country could serve as a way to gain citizenship.

Of course I would not restrict citizenship only to military veterans. There would be other paths to citizenship. One could for example work in a National forest or work doing things to improve the quality of American life.

The bottom line here is that you would have to contribute to be able to earn your citizenship. You should not be given citizenship and the rights that go with it simply because you are born here. In order to be allowed to vote you should have a stake in the country instead of simply been born here.

It’s really not fair to those of us with a stake in the country to give the vote to someone that has simply decided to take from the rest of us instead of contributing.

One thing for sure, if you were on any kind of governmental support you would not be permitted to vote. Permitting welfare recipients to be able to vote for an increase is just plain wrong.

find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Leftover Shepherds pie

makes a pretty good breakfast. Unlike a lot of refrigerator leftovers, I heat this one up.

Pizza for breakfast is eaten as it comes out of the refrigerator as is spaghetti.



777777777777777777777




To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

I just realized I have not spent a dime on ham radio in over a year

Which is great.

I have had people babble at me that it was an expensive hobby and that I would be throwing thousands and thousands into a bottomless pit.

I have my gear and take care of it and it really only costs pennies in electricity to run my little home station.

I suppose that over time I am going to have parts and components wear out or fry and have to be replaced but that's just about every field of endeavor you get into.

I an sitting here and thinking of my next radio maintenance project and it looks like I even have the parts kicking around to take that project on as a freebie. I am thinking of adding more radials to my 43 foot vertical antenna. It is certainly not a priority.

Still, a decent HF station is not all that expensive. I just ran what my workhorse station cost me and ball parked the numbers high. For example, the $279 tuner I rounded up to $300.

The entire station came to well under $1700 in basic components and if I figure $2000 it leaves me with money left over for ground radials, coax, connectors and solder. You'll have something left over, depending on if you chase sales or not.

Incidentally this includes a 43 foot vertical antenna. If you run with a more inexpensive tuner and make a wire antenna the price drops to under $1400 easily.

My figures were full retail. A lot of this can be cut back even further by catching sales. Buying used makes things even cheaper yet.

Still, if you simply use the stuff and don't abuse it the equipment should last for quite some time.

All in all ham radio can be a cheap hobby if you want it to be and it can be just as satisfying as spending a pile of money on it. 




To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

I keep reading about big stirs made over racist graffiti and so on

Only to find out it's a false flag operation and the perp was a minority looking for attention.

The honest truth is that sometime around the time I was graduating from high school we had run clean out of oppression. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 had been passed about 5 years earlier, people for the most part had settled down and accepted it.

The oppression that has existed since about the time I got out of high school, for the most part, has been pulled out of thin air.

I'm tired of it and wish people like "Take a Knee Colin" would just simply go away. 

The guy at the Air Force Academy prep school that scribbled the racial slur there a while back should have been thrown out of the Air Force entirely. Adios. Gone. Hit in the ass with the door on the way out type of gone. There's no excuse for that.

You can bet that if the guy that did that was white he'd be gone.

Fair is fair.

All we are doing is creating more and more false oppression until we smarten up and hold every single one of us to the same standard, PERIOD.





To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Someone once asked me what I would do if I woke up single again.

Before I begin, one has to have reading skills here. The question is what would I do if I became single again. The answer is just the answer to that question. It doesn’t mean I want to be single again, and it doesn’t mean that Mrs. Pic is keeping me from doing anything. It is simply a simple answer to a simple question.

I do believe I would retire and live on a sailboat somewhere warm. Most likely I would move to Florida but maybe Louisiana or maybe Texas. I do believe I would do that assuming I’m in halfway decent shape.

This doesn’t mean I am going to run away and ditch my wife and family. It just means that if I happened to find myself single that is what I would do.

If you read any more than that into this you are either an idiot or someone looking to create a problem where there isn’t one.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

My father warned me about Mexican and Turkish prisons among other things.

I see where this Lavar Ball is ungrateful to President Trump for getting his kid out of a Chinese prison.

He should have left him there.

First of all my father taught me not to steal simply because it wasn't the right thing to do. Secondly he reminded me that a lot of the jails overseas are not very nice places to spend any time.

The other thing he taught me were basic manners. 

As a result I probably would not have gotten into trouble overseas to begin with.

However, if I had and a president had gotten me out of it I would have had the decency to thank him/her publicly for getting me out of trouble.

Yes, I would have bitten the bullet and thanked Hillary Clinton had this been the case.

It would not have changed my beliefs but courtesy dictates I act grateful if I accept someone's help.

I see where President Trump compared Lavar Ball to being a Don King without hair and I do believe Trump put yet another one into the X-ring



To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Yet another case of $hit and fall back in it.....

I see where so-called civil rights groups have been demanding that police officers wear body cameras to insure they are not beating and shooting people for no good reason.

Now the same groups that demanded it are insisting that police officers are not allowed to review their camera footage as an aid to help them write their criminal activity reports.

Seems that the police department's conviction rate has gone up and the minority civil rights groups are not happy with that. It also seems to have proven that cops as a general rule don't go running around looking for people to shoot or beat up.

I have been watching civil rights groups over the past few years and it seems that every time you turn around they are digging themselves into a deeper and deeper hole.

If it wasn't so pathetic it would be hilarious.  





To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

There are two reasons---and ONLY two reasons

to the place where I grew up. 


My niece and nephew live there and every so often I like to attend a high school reunion.

That is it, plain and simple.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

My 'Go-To' email checker is now a Kindle.

They advertised that they are good at email and they are basically 100% correct. 

For checking up on things that either require a brief or no answer they are great.

If you have to return an email with something like the Gettysburg Address you probably want to use a laptop with a real keyboard. Still, those emails are generally few and far between for most of us.

While the Kindle is good anywhere there is a WiFi, it is a shame I can not get it with a cellular internet package.

Hey, if anyone knows how to hook a Kindle up to a smart phone please give me a shout.




To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

For a relative of mine.

I read where Trump rescinded an Obama Executive Order regarding Americans importing elephant trophies legally taken in Africa.

I know someone that disagrees with Trump doing this and seems to believe that Trump has done this out of spite.

First of all you really don’t get very far if you let spite run your administration. I think that Trump did this because he looked into it and believes it is the right thing to do.

People have a hard time understanding this but one of the reasons we still have many of the species still alive in Africa now is because of hunting. It is one of the paradoxes in life that hunting has saved several species of animals. The fact that people want to hunt them is what gives them value.

Let’s look at what an elephant is to most African villagers. It is a big, clumsy oversize crop damager that does them no good whatsoever other than the fact that people will pay good money to hunt them.

Tigers, lions and other big cats are a pain in the neck to villagers because they kill their livestock and if they are not careful, their children. Other than the money they draw from hunters they serve no useful purpose to villagers. In fact they cause a great deal of harm to villagers.

A relative asked me what kind of douche would want to shoot an elephant. I am not going to get into the personality of such a person. I don’t really care what kind of person goes elephant hunting. But to answer my relative I will say he is a person with a lot of money because hunting safaris are not cheap. They are quite expensive. They also quite often spread a lot of money from the country’s government agencies all the way down to the villagers.

Most of the animals that are so-called African trophies are nothing but pests to the average villager. Most people outside of Africa don’t realize, for example, the African hippopotamus is a pretty mean vegetarian and a nasty killer. Generally hippos kill about 2900 humans annually.

Of course, sitting in a climate controlled living room across an ocean with a good meal it is pretty easy to think that the villagers in Africa think the same way you do. Truth is they don't. While that meal you are eating came from a supermarket, the villagers have to grow and raise their own food. 

In addition to that, hippos join elephants as crop damagers. This certainly doesn’t endear these animals into the hearts and minds of African villagers that are trying to feed their families.

Truth is to an awful lot of Africans these animals are nothing more than nuisances that they would like to see eliminated. 

I can see their point and I can certainly see that most people don’t understand these people. They are simple people.

I never was much of a litterbug, but the exception was cigarette butts as I used the ash tray for change years ago. I got stopped in Washington State and another time in Massachusetts for throwing a butt out the window. Both times the cops were just fishing. Both times I handed the officers an Alaskan driver’s license and both times I was wearing an LL Bean wool shirt.

Both police officers gave me the same lecture. “You’re from Alaska, you should know better!”

Both police officers acted as if I was some kind of super ecologist uber world saver type simply because I was living in Kodiak. What a joke that was! They should have assumed I was one of those nasty old sourdough gold seeking slobs. I was just like everyone else up there. I wanted to make a buck.  As a fisherman I would go off to sea and make a concerted effort to sweep the sea clean of halibut. As a hunter I filled a freezer so I could eat. The reason I killed no bears is because they left me alone and there was no profit in it.

On a parallel run the same holds true for African villagers. They simply want to raise their families and if eliminating game animals makes it easier and safer then so be it. So what if it’s illegal. Those laws were passed by big city people that have no clue of village life. Just whack the critter and drag the body out into the bush for the hyenas to eat. If you can get a hefty chunk of change for the tusks or horns, better yet! These are real people unlike the fake crying Indian in the anti-litter commercial of years gone by.

Incidentally ‘Iron Eyes Cody’, the crying Indian in the ads, was really the son of Italian immigrants. While we’re on the subject of Indians the plains Indians moved frequently because they polluted their camp site. Granted the pollution was mostly organics so the camp site cleaned itself up fairly quickly and could be reused the following year or so, but that’s the reason they moved so frequently.

The fact of the matter is that the only thing that gives the trophy animals of Africa any value at all is that people want to hunt them, either with guns or cameras and will pay dearly to do so. It turns the herds into something that is profitable and that it makes sense to manage the herds for future business.

Since the animals now have value they must be guarded and managed for the future generations to be able to either hunt or otherwise profit from.

For some people this is a bitter pill to swallow but it is the truth when you take the time to look at it. When the animals lose value they will be poached into extinction. Poaching does more damage to the herds than managed legal hunting. Hunting is at least regulated. Poaching isn't.

Generally speaking, where animals are hunted legally poaching drops off. There are reasons for this. For one thing the money taken in by various trophy fees is often used to protect the herds.

The bottom line here is just like the bottom line everywhere else. Follow the money.

As for Obama outlawing trophies in the United States?

I’d bet that Barak Obama doesn’t give a sweet God damn nothin’ about the animals in Africa. He gave that executive order for political gain to impress a bunch of gullible people that think that it really would do some good. In fact, as with a lot of ‘feel good’ legislation it did more harm than good.

Since Obama gave that order the elephant population has dropped like a stone and the reason for that is poaching. Both the villagers want to get rid of the oversized crop crushers and sell the ivory as a bonus. Hunters from the States dried up and the animals lost value.

Had Obama not issued the order it is very likely that the elephant population would not have dropped because one of the things the governments do with the trophy fees is hire people to guard and manage the herds.

I’ll say it again. Follow the money.

I’ll add this for the benefit of my family. I have no use for a tiger skin to put down in front of my fireplace, nor can I use a set of kudu horns to hang on my wall.

I can’t really afford an African safari. However, if I won one or got handed a freebie I would most likely accept it but not bother shooting anything.  I would carry a camera, I suppose just to shut everyone up.

The truth is I would really rather go out with the professional hunter and simply watch the animals with my own eyes and add those memories to the pile. It would be a wonderful addition to the pile of memories I am accumulating to give Alzheimer’s more to steal from me.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Update. I just read where Trump has put everything on hold pending more research. 

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

I am impressed with eBay.

I have heard years and years of horror stories of buying something, never getting it and losing your money.

A while back I bought something from overseas and it never showed. I opened an eBay claim and they told me to wait a few more days and get back with them. I do believe this was fair because they needed a little time to investigate things.

On the appointed day I emailed them back and said the item had not arrived and inside a couple of hours my account had been paid back.

I actually saw my account had been credited a few minutes before eBay’s email arrived telling me this had happened.

I am not going to rant and rave about how wonderful eBay is. I’ll just let what happened to me speak for itself.

I’m reasonably impressed.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Everybody is a f***in' artist and knows more than I do

Lot of that going around these days and I am watching it as I sit here and listen to a shipmate. He’s trying to get his motorcycle fixed.

He has a Harley he has had since he was a corporal serving alongside me and Colonel Roosevelt. It just got pretty much destroyed in a Wallyworld parking lot while he was inside buying something.

The bike is now in the shop and he wants the thing repaired so it is just like it was before some low life ran over it and turned it into a pile of busted up motorcycle. Of course, the guy that is been hired to rebuild it is just like every other artist out there. He wants to rebuild the motorcycle HIS way and fails to understand that the owner simply wants it the way it was before the accident. He doesn’t want the motor rebuilt to give him 143 more horses nor does he want the front fork pushed out another four feet. He wants the original saddle bags.

To put a point on it my shipmate’s bike started life as an old police bike that he rebuilt the engine for many moons ago and has stayed that way because it has been meticulously maintained. He simply wants to keep it that way. He has had the bike that way since Day One and likes it that way.

I don’t know why he likes the old police bike that way. Maybe it’s the way it rides, maybe it’s the way it looks. It might even be that he’s simply gotten used to it and is being cranky. It doesn’t really matter. He wants it pretty much stock. It really IS that simple.

Of course in this day and age, trying to get someone to put something back together in a more or less stock configuration is getting harder and harder every day. It seems everyone out there is an artist and knows more than you do and knows what is good for you.

Of course, quite often the repairman may know what is good for the customer, but he doesn’t know what is good for his pocket. A lot of these guys start off saying, “Look at what I did!” as they show off something the customer specified that he didn’t want to begin with.

They often end up hearing “That’s not what I am paying for. Take it off.”

Of course when this happens the customer is treated to a look of both hurt and feigned innocence on the part of the repairman. Feelings will be hurt, people will be upset and no real good comes out of it.

Actually there is a simple cure for all of this and it really doesn’t take much. All it takes is for Mister Know it All Artist to come off of his high horse and simply give the customer what he wants or not take the job in the first place.

I met a highly skilled tattoo artist one time and asked him a question about an Old School Sailor Jerry design I had an academic interest in even though I am not planning on getting inked.

He told me he didn’t do that kind of work and told me that if I was really interested he could fix me up with a guy that did Old School designs. I have to admit I respected his attitude. He was an artist and wanted to stay in his field. I can respect that.

Of course I would imagine that in the tattoo business there has to be a lot more communication. If one puts the wrong fender on a motorcycle if can just be removed. Tattooing is a different matter. A tattoo is pretty much forever. I wonder how many tattoo artists have gotten their noses busted for doing what they wanted to do instead of what the customer wanted.

Probably a few but I digress.

In the motorcycle/automotive world it seems to be getting harder and harder to find people that understand the simple concept of simply following directions. For that matter it seems to be true in a lot of fields of endeavor.

Hope my friend makes out on his bike but I would bet that there is going to be heartburn along the line. "
To the artist that is probably going to be going through the artistic shock, "What part of the word 'stock' don't you understand?

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

I just ran into someone that hasn’t driven on

 the PA turnpike in a long time. They were griping about how high turnpike tolls are these days.

I keep hearing that PA pays the highest tolls for the worst roads and it very well might be true. For one thing I can blindfold myself and drive across the PA/OH border and know where the state line is simply because of the road condition.

Anyway, I remember a couple of times that I had mentioned the condition of the roads and the cost of tolls to this person and they had somewhat of a “Yeah? So? Give a damn” kind of attitude toward my comments.

Of course, when HE had to cough up it all became a different case.

I see where the Marine Corps threw out the conviction of the scout/sniper accused of urinating on a dead Taliban fighter.

I imaging that a few people are going to be outraged by this and I know just what to say to them.

“He did a lot worse to that man than urinate on him,” I will say.

“What…what… what?! How’s that?”

“Before he urinated on the poor man he killed him!”

I wish they would leave the troops alone over bull$hit like this.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

My take on Roy Moore in Alabama.

First of all I don’t believe his accusers. Remember when this happened to a guy named Donald Trump? It seems that this little game has been played by both the Democrats and GOPe for some time now and I’m getting sick and tired of it. It’s grown old.

I figure it that if the Democrats AND the GOPe types are against the man than it is our duty to make damned good and sure he gets elected.

Almost anything that makes Mitch McConnell put that turtle faced uppity look of false indignation on his face is fine by me.

The very fact that Roy Moore is pissing off all of the right people tells me he's well worth supporting

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

I am reading about 1890s medicine in the tropics. Interesting.

They blame things like the air and the earth for the diseases that they deal with in those areas. They also say that the sea air and breezes are cures for these types of things.

My guess is the sea breezes and so-called 'good airs' have little in itself to do with helping recover from tropical diseases.

My guess is the sea breezes and good airs have a lot to do with a person being able to get some decent sleep and rest and let the body do its job and shake the jungle fevers. 



To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

I have been getting a number of spam calls

lately even though I am on the 'Do Not Call' list.

The other day I decided that I am simply going to report them to both the feds and the state.

The state fines them $1000/call unless the recipient is over 60 and then they get fined $3000.

I'm over 60.

Maybe if I generate some revenue for the state this way then they'll leave me alone come tax time.

Then again, maybe the Tooth Fairy will give me a million bucks.



To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

I have watched the antics of the Left for over forty years,

 going well back into the 60s and there is one thing I have always noticed and that is they are not builders of any kind.

They are, however very possibly the best demolition people ever to exist.

Even back in the sixties I noticed things about the hippies of the era. If you gave them an abandoned house they would promptly tear out all the plastering in it after declaring it to be plastic.  They would not insulate and and sheetrock. The back of the exposed outside sheathing would probably get a couple of spray painted designs on it and that would be about it.

In short they would take a house in terrible shape and make it worse. Looking back on things I am surprised that more hippies didn’t kill themselves by making things fall in on them.

It always seems to be the way of the left. Tear things up without having anything to replace it with.

It is one thing to tear down and old house and replace it with something. It could be another house, a store, a shed, a park or even a simple vacant lot for kids to play ball in.

Creating a simple vacant lot is a lot of work after you knock the house down. You have to get rid of all the old building materials and fill in the hole where the foundation used to be. A simple vacant lot is a viable replacement for a dead house, but you have to do it right. Yet few if any leftists will do it right.

They’ll just tear up the inside and live there until they get booted out and whine about all the improvements they made removing the plaster and how they busted their asses.

I’ve watched this for years and that’s pretty much the way.

It’s one thing to advocate change if you have a viable replacement for something and yet another thing to just tear something down without anything to replace what you are removing.

This kind of thing actually is like a bunch of crybabies faced with having to actually do something creative or simply destroy something that have opted to take the easy way out and destroy things.

Back when I listened to the hippies babbling about creative energy and good vibes I looked at some little waif’s squalling infant and suggested they feed the hapless child a cup of either good vibes or maybe some creative energy.

I got a dirty look from the poor infant’s parents. Ten minutes later when I handed the mother a quart of milk she gave me a grateful look. There was a lot more to her grateful look than met the eye. The look I got told me she wanted to ditch the baby’s daddy and have me take over. My guess was she was looking for a regular food source for her and baby.

Over the years I have seen that look more than once from more than one woman.

Seems good vibes, creative energy and hippie BS don’t fill infant’s bellies.

I would imagine that the two parents of the little child split up shortly thereafter unless he saw the light and found a job of some sort.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

I have said for years that they ought to go through

many of the regulations regulating our various businesses and industries and remove the regulations that do little but inhibit businesses.

Lord knows that there are enough of them and that many of them no longer do a whole lot of good. Some never did any good in the first place.

Laws ought to include a sunset clause. If they were worth passing in the first place they will be reenacted. If they are useless they don't have to be repealed. They'd repeal themselves.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

I now have a new campaign to keep me busy and off the streets and out of the pool halls.

I'm gonna help Pennsylvania get rich.

As of now I am reporting every single telemarketer call I get to the state Attorney General's office.

They can get hit with a $1000 fine if it wasn't for the fact that I am over 60 years old. Because I'm sixty or over they can wallop them with $3000.

How about if I send a few in every so often that in return you take that money and leave my tax rate where it is.






To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

It's pasketti time.

I make a fairly decent plate of pasketti (spaghetti) when people come by.

I USED to have an Air Force guy that had been medically retired over once in a while but he signed a year's contract overseas and is in the Middle East now. I don't have too many details and it very well may be he is working for the Sheikh of Araby or someone out of an old movie. Who knows?

Anyway, the sauce is bubbling slowly and the actual pasketti itself is boiling away and will be done in a couple of minutes.

I gotta find someone to have come over for dinner once in a while as I do like to cook for more than one.



To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

John McCain, Lindsey Graham and the Bushes are nothing more than spoiled little brats.

Obama is the first president that has ever tried to run things from the sidelines after his term was over. However, one sort of expects things like that from a classless little ignorant neighborhood organizer which is what he pretty much was.

Now I see the Bushes, who I thought were pretty classy people running their mouth about Trump. That really surprised me. I thought the Bushes had a little more respect for the American people.

McCain and to a lesser extent, Graham piss me off to no extent.

McCain is nothing more than a pouty little whiner that has just stated he will try and block Trump's tax plan just like he blocked repealing Obamacare.

McCain is trying to punish hard working Americans for voting in someone that was not on the GOPe slate of Official Approved Candidates. He's just upset that he lost and a couple of years later the public elected Donald Trump. 

He hasn't figured out yet that his antics have angered just about everyone that voted for Trump. Then again, maybe he is trying to do just that to punish them.

A while ago I thought that something as simple as a public pie in the face would shape McCain up. Then I thought it would take being physically knocked out. Now I see he probably has to be forced from office.

I don't see where there is a suitable recall mechanism so it is probably going to mean that Arizonians are going to have to constantly publicly humiliate him until he resigns.

I don't see that happening but stranger things have.

All of these people ought to man the f*** up and realize that we elected Donald Trump because we were sick and tired of people like them.








To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

I remember a snooty hot chick

that wanted me to buy her cocaine.

I do have to admit she was really hot but there are a number of truths out there.

I told her she could easily be replaced by an ugly chick and a paper bag.

I won that battle because when she threw a conniption fit. Word went all around the bar about what I said and she was made a fool of. Like most people she did it to herself

Most women didn't like her either.



To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

There are five airplanes that are really worth

a $hit. Cub, Beaver, Goose, DC-3 and C-130. Just about everything else is a crude form of levitation.

So said a bush pilot to me several years ago.

I just built a model Goose and I have a Super Cub, a Beaver and a DC-3 on the way.

I might build a C-130 if I can find one in 1/48 scale to match he other four.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Still wet but the rain stopped.

The cat is fine. He actually let me sleep last night.

These days my sleep pattern has taken an interesting change and when I mentioned it to a friend he says his is similar.

I have a couch and a bed and both are fairly comfy.

I fall asleep in either and when I wake up for a minute in the middle of the night I change over to the other. 

I do not know why I have started doing this but it is what I have been doing lately. God only knows why.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

I am considering signing up for a parachutist license class but the problem with it is that everything is about free fall and I want to just hop and pop.

I really don't enjoy getting beaten up by 130 knot winds and having my face all contorted on the way down. Yet I love the parachute ride itself. The instant you deploy your 'chute the wind stops or at least drops to almost nothing and you get to relax and look around as you ride your 'chute to the ground.

I feel like I am too old and brittle for hang gliding but flying a powered ultralight might be OK.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The house now has one less wire coming from the poles.

The other day I saw a phone guy driving past and flagged him down and asked him to unhook the phone pole wire and drop it. I was surprised but he did and was actually cheerful about it. 

I gave him a little something for it and he was grateful.

Then I disconnected it from the house, coiled the wire up an threw it away.

Now we have just power and cable which is fine. The phone service comes through the internet/TV/phone cable.

I really don't like it much when people replace wiring and don't pull out the unused wiring that was replaced.

I had a problem with that in my boat so I simply yanked every single inch of wiring out and rewired the whole damned thing. 

When I was done I had a neat, color coded wiring harness that I could troubleshoot easily if a problem arose.

I remember someone trying to help me and being confused when he saw me change wire colors and told me I could have saved money by getting a big spool of wire instead of several small spools.

I told him the color coding made things a lot easier and was treated to a 'Yeah, but it's more expensive'.

I told him if he could not afford to do the job right he could not afford to do it at all. He sat there in silence and I pointed out that the difference in cost was the same as a couple of beers at the watering hole. He did agree with that.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and a couple months later he had an electrical glitch and got so flustered he yanked all of his wiring in his boat and replaced it the same way I did.

I helped by cheerfully giving him some of my leftovers. 


To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

ANother rainy day.

which I suppose is par golf for this time of year. The trees for the most part still have most of their leaves which is not par golf for the middle of the first week in November.

The deer have started to turn white/grey, though. That's normal.

I have not had to break out any kind of cold weather gear yet which is rather odd.

My guess is we're going to get the living daylights beat out of us come February.

That is all I have to say about that.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

I have offered to teach two young people how to drive a clutch. They are getting their learner's permits soon and after they know the basics I may take them up to the humongous parking lot at a nearby park and teach them.

The young man's mom asked me why I thought that is important. I told her that if he knew how to drive a clutch he could steal Corvettes and get through college debt free. She was not amused. 

The young lady's mom asked me and I pointed out that when she gets to college it's likely that she will find herself having to deal with a date or girlfriend that has gotten plastered and it would be a wise thing to be able to drive herself and/or whoever home.

One of my sisters had this happen to her and she was glad I had at least made her familiar with driving a clutch.

777777777777777777777777

One of the things that happens in this neighborhood periodically is gas leaks. 

When they built these homes they used steel piping to pipe in gas and they are starting to rust out.

Mine did years ago and I replaced it with a plastic sleeve and got out of the entire headache for under $300 because I was both slick and lucky.

To have it dug up meant about $4-5000 but there were no doglegs in the pipe so they could slip the sleeve through the pipe with no problems.

The neighbor that just discovered the leak is looking at about $15-2500 to have theirs fixed. It's a straight shot with the piping so I guess it's sleeve time for them.

77777777777777777777777777777

I'm thinking of buying a lot more grass seed for the upcoming spring.  





To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Excuses I have given men for buying flowers.

Every now and then I buy the wife an inexpensive floral arrangement just to express appreciation for what she does for me when I am at sea.

A large percentage of men just naturally assume that I'm buying flowers simply because I'm in hot water of some sort and asks me what I did wrong. I have never met as many nosy people as I have in Pittsburgh. Why I am buying flowers is nobody's business.

Anyway here are a few answers I have dished out over the years.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"I lost her wedding ring in a crap game."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"I gotta tell her she has too get checked for the clap. "


&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"I knocked up the baby sitter."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"I knocked up her kid sister."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"She found out about what went on at the bachelor party last weekend. I'm also going to smash a certain someone's cellphone camera."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"I accidentally flushed her wedding ring down the toilet."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"She found out her worthless son joined the Navy because I talked him into it."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"She found out I was a judge at a wet T-shirt contest at the Hemlock Manor rest home."


"That's not too awful bad," he replied.

"Unless she found out you were the guy that was feeling around to make sure none of the contestants had gotten a boob job."


&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&








To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

The TV has an ad running in the background about trying to

eliminate the next Canadian seal hunt.

A baby seal walks into a club....

I am not going to get into that one but it was kind of a strange thing to pick up in the background. 

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Today I throw myself at the mercy of the medical people because I have to take a routine test. It's big breakfast time as I have found that these things tend to run a little late.

I don't foresee any problems.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

It's rainy and I am glad I fought with both mowers and got the lawn mowed yesterday for the last time this season.

The 'good' mower acted up on me because I believe the carburetor float got stuck and allowed gas to run out of it. I broke out the 'reserve' mower and ran that one until it just plain died.

That's when I replaced the plug on the 'good' mower, shut off the gas and started it with ether and then turned the gas on again.

A bunch of unburned gas forced its way out of the muffler and then it stopped running rough, smoothed out and I finished the lawn.

What a pain in the ass that was.

As usual, as I do at the end of the season I ran the gas out of the tank before putting it away.

This time nobody played with it.

A few years back some do-gooder was walking their dog, passed by and saw the mower running and shut it off. I caught her and she gave the old, tired safety of the children excuse. She got a damned crude answer about child welfare. I was not kind.

I hate people like that.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

I looked in the mirror and I'm glad I colored my beard. 

The coloring is fading out and the timing was perfect. It's grown in and is a nice salt and pepper. When it begins growing in it looks like I should smell like vomit and cheap wine and live under a bridge.

I really don't care a whole lot but I know my wife really doesn't like it very much. She doesn't mind the winter beard, just the early grow-in part.

It really does look like hell when I start growing it in.







To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

It's OK to be white

says a sticker posted around the Cambridge, MA area the other day.

Of course the liberals went nuts but the statement is 100% true. It IS OK to be white.

It's also OK to be black, brown, red, yellow or any other color you are born. 

I refuse to apologize to anyone for the color of my skin or just about anything else I have had no control of.

I also refuse to judge anyone by the color of their skin because they had no choice in the matter. I judge people by the content of their character, period.

As for the sticker that outraged the people in Cambridge?

Why do you try and make the truth go away? Your entire program is built on a pack of lies. It's eventually going to collapse on you.






To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Wet outside

A rainy day which is par golf for this time of year.

Last night I started out with a few hundred Baby Ruths, half of a 750 of rum and a 1.75 liter full of rum/brandy mix and a tub of my world renowned hot butter rum mix.

Today I have a bunch of Baby Ruths and about an inch in the 1.75 liter bottle.

Word got out and the neighbors traipsed over because they heard I was home and serving HBRs. They apparently like the recipe.

As usual several people asked for the recipe and as usual I told them it was a secret because it was given to me in strict confidence.

I got it from an old an a couple of decades ago and the only thing I changed about it is that I use a microwave to melt the butter.

I wish it was a dry day today because I want to mow the lawn for the final time this season.

Last night was great, no real incidents.

I had a couple of cocky teenagers but they were pretty easy to deal with. One asked me about my fedora collection I keep in the garage. I told him I took them all from pimps that tried to rob me. I took their hats AND their straight razors and told him I had a straight razor to match the hats in a display case.

The other teen tried to cadge a HBR from me and claimed he had an ID. I wasn't fooled for an instant.

"We both have IDs we got from the same college dorm," I said. "Yours says you're 21 so you can sneak into bars and mine says I 11 so I can sneak into the movies for half price."

Both teenagers gave me dour looks of kids that have just discovered they are not as smart as they thought they were. It's a look I have given grownups when I was a kid.

All in all a nice night. The little kids are precious.

I was told that last year a couple of huge van loads of out of the area kids were bussed into the area because they heard we were pretty generous. That didn't happen this year. I have a feeling the police had a quiet word with whoever but can't confirm.

88888888888888888888

In other news, I found a 1/48 scale Grumman Goose model airplane and finished it yesterday painted in the now defunct Kodiak Western airlines color.

I traveled in both DHC-2 Beavers and Grumman Gooses while I lived in Kodiak. (Yes, the plural of Grumman Goose is Gooses)

The model now graces my bedroom ceiling hanging from monofilament fishing line and  stands to remind me of earlier interesting times.






To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY