Rainbow

I was out and about this weekend on the scoot for a little while, and it was over 40° and sunny so I decided to go commando. This time of year I normally wear a full-faced helmet due to the weather and the increased risk of off-season ridin', so it's been several months since I've gone without a lid. And just for the record, it was awesome.

But I digress...

As beautiful as it was outside, I still managed to run smack-dab into a rain squall after I left my grandmother's house. I had to ride through a few minutes of light rain, but the trade off was seein' this awesome rainbow. Doesn't matter how old I get, they never get old... one of the coolest natural occurrences I can think of. I yanked the Yami into a nearby parking lot and snapped off a few pictures. Cooler yet was that it was a double full rainbow, although unfortunately I couldn't get all of it in the pictures.

And a picture of my hair, just for grins. Some people spend hours and use several cans of hairspray to get their hair to look this awesome. I just go for a ride, sans helmet.

Gun Porn

Yesterday found me and Uncle John in Gettysburg for the Eagle Arms Gun Show. He'd been at this show before, but I'd never been able to get there to check it out before.

Lemme tell ya.... There is some serious gun porn over there. I figured we'd be there for an hour or two. We finally rolled out close to four hours later. Talk about a fuckin' redneck candy store! CharlieDelta would have died and gone to Heaven.

John was lookin' for a cheap pop gun to whack starlings around the farm, ad he walked away with an old Smith and Wesson 12-gauge for a steal. I'm pretty tight on my budget right now, but I grabbed up some ammuniton that I needed and got a good deal on a tactical stock and forearm kit for a decommisioned Mossberg 500 I have layin' around. Since it's just sittin' there lookin' old, I decided I might as well dress it up and do somethin' with it. More on that little project later.

Guns, guns and more guns.

Just for you, CD.

Black guns. I will have one someday.

I'm not sure what they are, but they're fucking amazing.

Friday Honky-tonk

From '84's Home With the Armadillo. He was featured on The Texas Connection several times, so I'm not sure when this was recorded.

Tragic

Long story short, a couple little teenage shitstains tried to rob and beat up a 65-year-old man on a rail trail in Eastern PA. He was able to defend himself against this assualt, as any good American should. You can read the whole story here.

The tragedy is that he didn't whack all three of 'em.

Cheers to you, sir!

I thought of CenTexTim as soon as I read this. I know he'll be pleased.

*Update with picture.... too good not to share!

Wednesday Grind

An orgy of metal....

Recorded live on 22 June, 2010 from Sofia, Bulgaria as part of the Sonisphere Festival.

Coast to coast

A friend of mine that I used to work with and her husband (who gave me the Yota) are in the process of movin' to Bethany Beach, Delaware, to take care of her mother. Awesomely enough, they'll be livin' about 300 yards away from the beach. They needed some help movin' their mattress and boxspring, and I had nothin' better to do, so we made a beach run yesterday.

Her husband used to live in Mexifornia and Oregon when he had the truck, so I know it saw the Pacific Ocean. I don't think he ever had it out this way, so since we were so close I took it to see the Atlantic. There was nobody on the beach so I went ahead and rolled right on up to the water. Good to know the ol' truck has now officially been coast to coast across this great land.

On a side note, it's been a few years since I've been across the Bay Bridge to the Eastern Shore. Sure was good to be back, and it was awesome seein' thousands upon thousands of geese. We used to deer hunt on the Shore several times every year, and I always enjoyed the sounds of geese flyin' over all day in the deer stand. I really miss doin' that... Maybe I'll get a MD license this year.

JoePa

I'm definitely not a State Penn fan, and I sure as shit wasn't a fan of their figurehead idol head coach. I wonder almost daily how I manage to put up with the inane antics of the girl I sleep next to every night, who was bred, born and raised to cheer everything Penn State. I guess I put up with it because she's beautiful.

But I digress.

I've been waitin' for years for the old bastard to swan-dive and die on the sidelines durin' a game. Don't get me wrong... I never wished for his death, I was just simply waitin' for it to happen. He predicted many years ago that he'd probably kick the bucket soon after his coachin' career came to an end, just like the Bear. Reckon he wasn't surprised or disappointed.

That said, college football took on a whole new light in November without him prowlin' the sidelines, and yesterday mornin' marked the end of an era. The only thing I liked about Paterno was that in this day in age of big schools changin' coaches like we change underwear, the one thing we could put money on was seein' ol' Joe on the sidelines in the fall. College football would be a better place if all schools and coaches could have that kinda long-term commitment to each other.

I can't say that I'll miss the man, but he meant an awful lot to a lot of my friends and lot of other people.

Friday Honky-tonk

A double-shot of classics for ya today, from the Grand Ol' Opry on 16 February, 2002.

Eyes of Waylon is from Hank Jr's '95 album Hog Wild. The Conversation is from Waylon's '83 album Waylon and Company.

Spring Hill Song Dogs

I don't know any of these folks personally, but they do one helluva job on the coyote population up around Ron's house. They get together and run 'em with dogs, and they've been pretty successful so far this year. Here's some photos that they've been sendin' to Ron of their success...

Great job, guys... keep whackin' and stackin'!

Wednesday Grind

Some Tenacious Motherfuckin' D. Jack Black is like Beavis and Butthead... so ridiculous, it's almost good.

Live track's from the 2008 DVD The Complete Masterworks, Vol. 2. Original track's from '06's The Pick of Destiny soundtrack.

Horns Up!  \m/     \m/

SOPA can suck my balls

And so can every liberal commie fuck in our government.


Read more about it here.

I don't have enough readers to worry about figuring out how to black out, but I can at least spread the word and bitch about it.

Vote against it and spread the word here.

Sign Google's petition here.

Taylor's first grouse

Small game weekend up at Ron's is usually a pretty laid-back affair. Except for the goose hunters this year, nobody is in a hurry to get outta bed. We stay up late and drink beer, then hit the woods whenever we feel like leavin' the next day. It's a nice change of pace from the hard-huntin' group we normally are in deer and turkey seasons.

When we finally made it out of the house on Saturday, our first push was the brush lot behind Ron's house as usual. Several years back, we managed to put up and whack a pair of grouse back there, and this year we got lucky again. Matt's brother-in-law, in his first trip to Bradford County, managed to drop this young male grouse. Took him a few shots, but he got it done. We don't shoot a lot of grouse, so everyone was pretty excited. Taylor's a good kid too... he fit right in at camp and we were all happy for his harvest.

As far as I'm concerned, our state bird is one of the prettiest birds around this side of a drake wood duck. He opted not to get the bird stuffed, but kept the meat and the fan, and as an avid fly fisherman is lookin' forward to makin' some flies out of the feathers.

We got a lot of scoutin' done with the rest of our day, but Ron was the only other critter buster, linin' his game bag with five squirrel tails.

The rest of the weekend was spent eatin', drinkin', watchin' football and enjoyin' time with Ron. A very good, relaxin' weekend indeed.

Wade and Matt... Nothin' like some Lienenkugal's Summer Shandy
and a hot tub to make a 4° Sunday mornin' a little warmer.

Oh, and for your Texas gentlemen... Y'all done sold me on the Shiner. I enjoyed everything except for the Shiner Blonde, their golden lager. Reminded me of horse piss Coors Light. Everythin' else... really damn good. My favorite was the Old Time Alt, with their Black Lager and Bock runnin' a close second and third.

As always, a huge thank you to Ron for your hospitality and bein' an excellent host!

Friday Honky-tonk

Questionable quality, but a damn good song by one of the few new guys I can tolerate.

Recorded live 29 April, 2010 at the Key West Songwriters' Festival. It might be on a studio album somewhere, but I couldn't find it.

Small Game Weekend

'Tis time for our annual trek upstate to chase some furry woodland creatures. We've been doin' it for several years now... gives us an excuse to go visit Ron and do some off-season scoutin' before turkey season. Last year, we were lazy.... we pushed out a few hundred yards of hardwoods, then spent an hour shootin' skeet with snowballs. Didn't get much huntin' done, but we had a good time.

That said, the weather's gonna be shitty and it sounds like there will probably be more goose huntin' goin' on than anything. Like always, after the hunt we'll eat well and drink copious amounts of cold adult beverages.

On that thought... CharlieDelta and CenTexTim, my Texican readers, will be happy to note that I'm prepared to break my Shiner cherry this weekend. I was reachin' for a case of our good ol' Lager when I thought of y'all, so I grabbed the Shiner Family Reunion case instead. Lookin' forward to seein' what all the excitement is about.

Farm Show

'Tis one of my favorite times of year, even though I haven't gotten to spend enough time there in recent years... the Pennsylvania Farm Show. It's a great event that garners tons of visitors from all over the country. It's a lot of work to get the animals up there and care for them, but most of the exhibitors agree that it's well worth it. It's a time to get away from the farm a little bit, show off some of our finer stock, meet up with friends old and new, and maybe cut loose a little bit after the crowds leave.

It's been a staple in our state since 1917, and I've been lucky to have been able to exhibit my dairy heifers there many times when I was in 4-H. Hell, me and my buddies used to get into so much mischief up there... I'd say "if only my parents knew...." but I've heard enough stories to know they raised twice as much hell up there as I ever did. I get it honestly, that's for sure.

My little brother's got a Guernsey heifer up there this week, so my and my lady ventured up to hang out for the evenin'. Since I wasn't spendin' the night, there wasn't much hell-raisin', although I happily accepted a Lager when it was handed to me. We hit up the food court (excellent local fare, not carny food), did a quick loop in the Main Hall, then hung out at the tie for the rest of the evenin'.

I'll let the pictures do the rest for this post...

The crowds in the food court.

My second cousin fittin' her heifer for the show.

Joe and Breanne, chillin' with Moxie.

Longest lines in the food court are for these. We got 'em
just before close, so no wait.

Over 1,000 pounds of butter for the 22nd annual Butter Sculpture.

Wednesday Grind

Mastodon ain't my favorite... I don't know much about 'em except that when I get in a certain mood, they're fuckin' awesome.

Live track's from BBC's Later with Jools Holland (That's Limey television to us Americans) on 18 October, 2011. From '11's The Hunter.


Horns Up!  \m/     \m/

Drake woody

There ain't much purtier in nature than a drake wood duck. My little brother dropped this one a few minutes ago, and I'm jealous as hell.

Better him than me though. The goin' rate is prolly around $600 to get one stuffed, which is exactly what's gonna happen when I get one.

Friday Honky-tonk

I could listen to Dale for hours on end. Prolly the best thing to come outta the great state of Texas since Shiner Bock.

Not sure when the video was shot, but it was taken at one of his regular Continental Club shows a few years back. Song's from '98's The Truckin' Sessions.

Wednesday Grind

No decent live video found, nor is one needed. Turn the volume the whole way up and find something to smash.

From 93's Transnational Speedway League: Anthems, Anecdotes, and Undeniable Truths.

Horns Up!  \m/     \m/

Goodbye, Holidays...

Been runnin' around like a crazy bastard the last few weeks, and while it was certainly good to see my family and friends, it just plain sucks the drive outta ya to do anythin' after goin' full throttle like that. Add in a good ol' fashioned bout with a sinus infection and sore throat, and I'm kinda glad that everythin' is behind us.

But a few items of interest over the holiday, one of which was long overdue.

After putting it off long enough, the hole in our kitchen floor finally got tended to. Once we got to rippin' shit apart, we found the source of the problem... a leaky pipe fitting, one that had likely been sprayin' water up onto the subfloor for quite a while. With a lotta help from Schlongie, who is a plumber by trade, and my girl's dad, we were able to get that fixed up on New Year's Day. My girl's mom also brought some leftover pork and sauerkraut, a New Year's Day staple here in South Central PA. I still have to put down the leveler and lay some new linolum once things dry out a little bit, but it's rather comforting to not have to worry about fallin' through the floor anymore.

The source of the problem...

New subfloor down, ready to be covered up.

I also managed to fit in some football on New Year's Eve with my cousins and some friends. Great time was had as always, but sometimes I find it hard to believe that I was playin' full pads, full contact football just three years ago. The game is five days in the rearview and I'm still limpin' around like both my legs are broken. Might be gettin' too old for this. Or I'm just outta shape. Likely both.

Not that it's hard to be outta shape this time of year. I've said it before, my family and my girl's family have been known to whip up a mean feast around the holidays, and I've been known to stuff my gullet with too much at once. Or it could be the fact that I get awesome presents from time to time. My cousin Nate knows me well... he hooked me up with some some good beer for Christmas, which I thoroughly enjoyed while watchin' the Fiesta Bowl the other night. Rogue Santa's Private Reserve Ale... Dark red, with a roasty, malty taste. T'was an excellent brew, and an overall great winter beer. Served in a well-designed bottle that's destined for my shelf of cool things.