BigDog Speaks

90 degrees is not too bad unless it is with 90% humidity, then it is awful. Walk outside and your armpits stick to your body, you wind up walking like a wooden soldier or something similar. Swinging your arms can only happen when you break the suction. The downside of breaking the suction is it can rip the hairs out. High heat and high humidity has a lot of downsides. The extreme amount of water you drink immediately pours out of every pore of your body, dry clothes are instantly a thing of the past. With humidity high, the sweat you are reeking serves no purpose other than keeping you wet and sticky, it does no cooling at all. Knowing all this, I have a hard time venturing outside. It is too easy to simply look out the windows from my comfortable AC house. I dread going to get the mail since I know I will sweat a gallon, lose a few armpit hairs and be miserable. All of this is about 10 feet. At 20 feet my shoes begin to melt to the sidewalk and by the time I reach the mailbox the only thing keeping me from bursting into flames is all the wet clothes I am wearing. Oh well, another few months and I can complain about the cold, it is a humidity thing.
Ya'll keep cool! I know I'm trying to.

What if all those survivalist are right? Can you honestly say that we aren't flirting with disaster every day? Civil unrest lurks beneath the surface at every press conference put forth by our government. You know, the guys and gals who are pushing health reform that they themselves won't use. The same folks who can vote themselves raises and retirement benefits that the rest of us can only try to imagine. Have you got it figured out yet? We have a government that does NOT work for the people but does a bang up job working for itself. If you look at the "big picture" it makes sense to have an emergency food supply, tools, guns, and knives. We may very well be on the verge of needing these things to survive. We may well be placed into positions where we need to look after ourselves and quit counting on Uncle Sugar to do anything for us, after all, look what he's done lately, our country is nearly bankrupt and still SPENDING. The whole political aspect of the world is beginning to mean less and less to the general population since they are realizing more and more that they have no control. Government is a runaway train and folks are beginning to look at ways to get off. The information is out there to cover the whole nine yards, working towards self sufficiency should be our goal. Learn to plant, raise chickens, live cheaper, and prepare for a world of less. It is coming.

Yes, it seems incredible to me, but my garbage was rejected by the garbage men. The tag said "unsuitable for burning". Basically they are claiming the garbage in my cans are from building demolition rather than shorts from a wood shop. I can understand their lack of knowledge regarding wood, the cans held cherry, cedar, and oak, hardly what you find from demo work in a 70's home. However, the cans were indeed close to the 50 pound limit and I suspect they just didn't want to hoist them to the truck. The "unsuitable for burning" got my attention since my solution is a burn barrel and I will burn them myself. Chances are good I may use some of the "unsuitable for burning" in my smoker for a bit of flavor. A lot of woodworkers burn their cutoffs in wood stoves heating coffee and perhaps warming up lunch but in my shop the temps are hot more often than cold and I have no stove nor do I need one. Until now I have fed the garbage truck with shorts and cutoffs with minor problems, never outright refusal. I am now placed in a position where I must dispose of my cutoffs and shorts in some other fashion. I can't say I am happy with the idea but then again this might be an opportunity in the making. It may force me to come up with some projects suitable for shorts and cutoffs. If not, it will certainly flavor up some good smoked meat!

Obamanation has indeed arrived and it is costly. I didn't own any GM stock as an individual, I certainly didn't want to own any as a tax payer. Our government is bailing out everybody EXCEPT the tax payers. It seems to me, something is wrong, very wrong, with this picture. Our government that is SUPPOSED to be FOR THE PEOPLE, is for the government and nothing more. We have lost our voice in a world gone mad and are being dictated to by politicians who grease their palms and usher in their private agendas at OUR expense. We have reached the great divide between the politicians and the poor people.

Slowly, we are losing our grasp on our great country. Between politicians who work for themselves and immigrants who only want the lifestyle, not the responsibility of citizens, we are doomed to this downward spiral and no way out.

Here's some novel ideas, legalize dope and TAX it. Instantly reduce crime and the cost of enforcing those laws AND get great taxes in the process. Legalize prostitution in EVERY state and TAX it. Gee, instant tax money. Put the burden of cost on the folks who utilize the items, just like you are doing to smokers. TAX them! Baseball stadiums should be paid for by those who attend baseball games, not tax payers. Football stadiums should be treated the same way, the burden of cost should rest with the consumers NOT the tax base. The list could go on and on. We have become slaves to taxes and "OUR GOVERNMENT" continues to put spins on our taxes to fund things we shouldn't be taxed for in the first place.

Immigration is a nasty word that continues to cause us all problems. We HAD a president who got it right, we have managed to ignore him.

"In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt 1907

The motor I bought off Ebay for my boat arrived via UPS. Visually, it looked exactly like the pictures and I was pleased. This is an old motor so I wasn't hot to trot trying to start it since I figured it would need a few things. The first thing it needed was a stand so I could get it up off the floor where it was beginning to leak oil. I had some scraps in the shop (who doesn't?) and I commenced to build with them. A 2 x 6 at 18 inches would serve for the motor mount, 2 x 4's at 28 inches would be the uprights bolstered by some 2 x 3's for a bit of extra strength. Some more scrap 2 x 6 for legs which was attached to some ply that already had casters on it. Imagine that! A rolling outboard motor stand with no dollars out of pocket! That is my kind of project! Since i have once again dunked my digital camera, pictures will be added later. Right now is a great time to be working on your fishing and camping stuff so you are ready for the next outing, whenever that happens to be. Get outdoors, enjoy life, be happy!

Boats and budgets are two words that should NEVER be used together. My most recent wild hair was named 'boat' and I pinched a paltry sum for purchase of same. Not gonna happen. Obviously, I'm not looking for a yacht, just a simple, no frills, nothing extra, boat, trailer, and motor. My paltry sum will only buy something that remotely meets my needs AFTER major rebuilding and a LOT more money. Talk about a severe reality check bouncing! Boats have become out of reach for my budget. No, that doesn't mean I can't find something that fits my budget. It just means I wouldn't BUY anything that has fit my budget. I have boards in my shop that will float better than some of the things I've seen, and that is with me standing on them! The conclusion I am being forced to draw is all my fishing will have to continue to be done from the shore. Since that is the way I have been fishing for years, I don't guess it will be much of a change. I still my lust after a bass boat but I will do so with both feet firmly planted on the shore.

All those billions of dollars being handed out gives me a headache. I invested two bucks in chicken livers and will convert that into 30 or 40 bucks worth of catfish fillets. The added benefit is these are wild grown, I will spend time in the outdoors, get a little exercise, and enjoy myself. Some of the fish will be cooked fresh, the balance will go into the freezer for future meals. THAT is my version of best bang for the buck. Too bad Obama can't wrangle a similar deal to get something besides promises for all the money he is passing out.

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Yup, he won. A lot of folks were very happy to see him win. A lot of folks are still happy that he won. The tides however, are changing. Having great ideas and plans to salvage the wreck our nation is currently in is wonderful. Making these things happen, and then having them work, is a whole different ball game. The guy won a nightmare and is trying to make the best of a bad situation. Nope, I didn't vote for him, didn't want him to win, he is there, I support him. Bashing the guy serves no purpose and it is in ALL of our best interests for him to do good. OK, so it is hard to be optimistic about that. Think how hard it must be on him. These are not good times, jobs being lost left and right, prices of everything climbing faster than most can keep up. We are in bad shape and things are going to get worse. Obama knew this and he still wanted the job. I wish him well and so should you.

OK, we have a new president. Nothing has changed other than a new face in the White House. Now we get four years to find out how much truth was hidden in the bull. It has always been this way and no doubt always will be. The man has no shoes to fill, he only has to do what he promised. Yup, tall order. He is now the leader of our country and we need to support him, he is going to need all the help he can get.

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The loss of a loved one is painful and difficult to deal with. Everyone has their own form of grieving and what works for one may not work for another. Some people need to talk and relive special moments, some need to do scrapbooks and memorials, others simply need time to grieve in silence. I don't think there is a right or wrong way to go about it. I do think it has to be done on your own terms and make no mistake about it, it has to be done. Keeping things bottled up inside will do you no good and most likely will do you harm. Accept it. The loss of a loved one is going to be painful. The recovery process can take a long time or a short one, depending on the individual.

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