End of year update!

Well folks, nearly the end of the year. It seems like only yesterday that the doom and gloom crowd (that would be you whinny liberals) were running around screaming that the world, as we know it, was about to end because the year 2000 was going to arrive on schedule. OOPS! Just like everything else you try to frighten us about.... you were wrong. (Don't y'all ever get tired of being on the wrong side of everything?) But enough about the head up their ass bunch and back to reality!

HOUSING UPDATE!

Work progresses slowly on the old home front. We have the laundry room finished with the exception of storage cabinets and trim work. The walls are painted, ceiling painted, new steel attic stairs installed and a 12 inch high platform constructed for the washer and dryer to set upon. That was covered in the same ceramic tile as the rest of the floor. The platform probably sounds silly to most of you until you consider two important factors. #1 is that we both recently discovered that we're not getting any younger. (Yes... that was a shock!) #2 is that both machines are front loading. Raising them 12 inches means one doesn't have to bend over nearly as much to do the loading and unloading. (NOW it makes sense, doesn't it?) We also added a screen door outside and a nice little water diverter to the roof so we don't have to walk under Niagara Falls to get into the house when it rains.

Ceramic tile is appearing elsewhere now. 90% of the hallway is covered as is 2/3 of the master bedroom floor. If you've not had the pleasure of installing ceramic tile before it's slow back breaking work that requires 100% accuracy in the preparation phase. So far it seems that we did a good job of laying out the initial run in the hallway. That is the key run and eventually will stretch nearly 60 feet in one continuous visible run. Everything else keys off that into the other rooms of the house. It's something of a pain in the butt, however the end result will be well worth the effort.

LIVING OUT BACK UPDATE!

The "Guest House" continues to be our living quarters and will likely be such until we get one other room finished besides the master bedroom in the main house. The reason is simple. Since we had to move before the remodeling work was completed we have a house full of boxes. Those have to be escorted from one room to another to expose the walls and floor so we can work on them. Right now the master bedroom is empty while we tile and paint. Once finished then we have to empty the guest bedroom and put all that stuff into the master bedroom so we can work in there. It's a constant game of move the stuff around until we've got enough completed to start placing things in their proper places. The "guest house" is serving us well enough for the time being. Most nights we can sleep comfortably without additional heating but if the temperature stays below 60 we have to do something. Turns out that the previous owner (who didn't mind spending enough money to completely recover the entire outside of all the structures in the back yard to make them look "rustic") didn't think to spend any money on something called insulation. OOPS! So basically the walls serve as a wind break and not much beyond that. We first relied on a couple of electric space heaters, one ceramic and the other one of those oil filled radiator units. Those work well enough while the temperatures stay in the upper 40's and above but cannot handle 30's and below. Also they tend to do frightful things to the ol' electric bill. We have a triple redundant heating system out back now. Partly because as a former Boy Scout I believe in that "be prepared" motto.... but mostly because I really hate freezing my ass off. (long story punctuated by many in leadership positions repeating the line "good training" over and over again) The afore mentioned electric system is now the third line of defense against the cold. Since propane is fairly inexpensive we use a gas space heater as the primary heat system. With three different output settings it has proven to be capable of handling temperatures into the 30's fairly well. Much lower than that or with high winds and it might not be able to cut it. Just in case it does get colder, or we run out of propane on a very cold night, we have two kerosene heaters. One is a Corona unit that only has two output settings.... pretty damn hot and REALLY freaking hot! Don't fire that sucker up unless it's in the 20's and heading south in a big hurry. We have not yet found a night that is too cold for it to not be able to steadily increase the room temperature. The other kerosene unit is a very old "Perfection" model that I've drug around for many, many moons. (a little Indian lingo there) It's black, it's ugly, it's butt simple and it works flawlessly every time. It works well when the temperatures are in the 30's and 40's and keeps the place very comfortable.

Some plumbing issues have developed though. After the sewer backed up I made the discovery that the "guest house" is not connected to the city sewer system! Why I have no earthly idea since it's line comes within 18 inches of the city system line. (more of the insane genius of the previous owner) No... what he decided to do was, rather than spend $6 for 18 inches of PVC pipe and make the connection.... he'd just hook the guest house to the septic system that was suppose to have been taken out of service when the city of Dallas annexed this part of the county and ran regular sewer service lines out here. (The mans twisted logic never fails to amaze me.... I strongly suspect he was a democrat) Not knowing this I dumped gallons of drain cleaner, root killer and every other toxic drain cleaning substance I could get my hands on into the toilet out back. Rather than open the line that basically killed every beneficial biotic agent hard at work in the septic tank. (Sorry guys) Following that genocide I've had to re-establish the anaerobic colony and get things chugging along again underground. (fortunately my ex-wife's father was a plumber so I learned about these things.... Thanks, Leo!)

Other than that life out back has not been too bad really. Granted it would be nice to have cable out there but I just haven't had time to mess with attempting to tap into the main house system and re-direct some entertainment out back....... yet. Then again I only have one cable box so it's a wasted exercise.

MESSED UP LEG UPDATE!

Doctors told Miss Rebecca that I might loose my leg following the unfortunate interface between it and a Dallas fire hydrant. They also told her that even it I did manage to keep it that I'd need between 12 and 15 reconstructive surgeries. I basically told her "bullshit! Watch me. I'll be walking again in 90 days." Well.... I lied. I was walking unaided in 80 days. Never tell someone like me there is something I can't do. (within logical reason of course) The knee is still a bit weak and there is a lump above the knee that is a bit painful but otherwise I can walk or jog just fine. Not quite up to delivering a good roundhouse kick yet...... but all things in good time. Besides.... I don't actually need to be able to kick someone's ass to hand it to them.... if you catch my drift.

OTHER STUFF UPDATE!

Well.... Miss Rebecca and I have reservations at a hotel down in the hill country for New Years Eve this year. There is a little Cajun style restaurant within walking distance that serves up groceries that are well worth the drive from Dallas. There is a patio out back with a view overlooking the Llano river that is priceless.

I personally wish each and everyone one of you (Yes... even you poor misguided democrats and liberals) the very best of New Years. I wish you peace and prosperity, health and happiness. May all your troubles be small and all your dreams larger than life. May the Lord bless you and all those you love and hold dear.

Until next year........

Peace......

Can I scream now?

I'm finding the pervasive nature of the radical left wing nut jobs more and more difficult to escape these days. It's a non-stop assault on the sane thinking people of America that has to be stopped before we're all as crazy as outhouse rats & the whacko lefty's. A case in point: The December issue of Scientific American. These guys are getting dangerously close to having to rename the magazine "Feel Good American" because all claims to them being able to editorialize scientifically are out the window.

The left wing crap starts in the first few sentences when they proclaim that "Bush" (They can't show respect and say President Bush) has made a "remarkable turnabout" in saying we need to conserve to get through the fuel crunch caused, in part, by the hurricanes. I'll get to that "in part" part later on. Remarkable turnabout? I recall President Bush's first address to the nation when he clearly articulated the need for energy conservation, more research and funding of alternative energy programs, and the need for more domestic energy production and increased refining capacity. Typical of the left they ignore anything that fails to make their point or fit neatly into the template of their agenda and omit the first two points from their writing and only use the last two.

Following that neat (but transparent) trick they proceed to blame transportation and vehicle exhaust for causing much of the global warming "crisis". (have you noticed that -everything- is a freaking crisis to the left when they don't get their way?) We Americans simply have to drive much less than we do now. We have to get rid of our evil automobiles (especially SUV's) and rely on public transportation. Well Shazaaam! Is that all it takes? Besides the fact that we don't even have public transportation where we live.... how the hell are we supposed to fit that nightmare into our normal lives? We're remodeling a house. I'll bet the next time we run out of thin set someone from DART will be overjoyed to come out here, pick us up and take us to the nearest Lowes or Home Depot so we can snag several hundred pounds of the stuff and tote it back home. Yep! I see Dart Buses lined up outside both those stores ALL the damn time! Shovel handles sticking out the windows, rolls of insullation strapped to the top, guys in grubby coveralls all sitting patiently just waiting to get back to their various job sites and earn a living. Wait a minute.... that mental image sounds famliar..... sounds like.... an image from some 3rd world country. Okay lefties... your secret is out. All you really want is for America to be just another 3rd world country! COOL! Hell... I'm on board with that! Yeah... right. But I digress.

Then, in yet another brilliant observation, these scientific minds proclaim that we can conserve our way to Utopia by having lighter weight vehicles using Hybrid drive! And of course to ensure compliance they'd simply ban anything they didn't like. Damn! Sounds real American to me! News flash for the lefties..... lighter weight materials come from more rare and more difficult to mine and refine ores. Aluminum is fairly common and can be made fairly strong BUT it takes nearly 5 times the energy of steel production to produce the same ton of end product. But... they overlook those facts.... they don't fit the template. As for Hybrid drive..... there is always a piper to be paid folks. Moving a vehicle.... ANY vehicle.... is simply a matter of physics. There is a specific mass to be moved (accelerated) and maintained in motion until such time as stopping is necessary. Mass accelerated over distance results in a specific amount of energy required..... PERIOD! It doesn't matter a whit if that energy comes from an internal combustion engine, electric motor, nuclear reactor, mules, pixies or all your cousins on a harness. The amount of energy is exactly the same. IT clearly follows that it's impossible to "save" energy by driving a hybrid vehicle. Further all hybrids to date utilize electric motors for power during low demand situations. Electric motors require power to operate and that generally comes from either a generator or a chemical storage cell..... or battery. The most common type is the old fashion lead-acid battery. Those have a useful live of about 4 years in normal conditions then have to be replaced because various internal components have deteriorated. In a Toyota Prius that cost of the battery pack replacement is $4500. With luck that needs to happen right after the proud owner pays it off after having already spent an additional $9500 over the normal vehicle cost without the hybrid drive system. Sure glad we're "saving" gas because the cash is flying out the window faster than we can count it! Basically for the cost of ownership of a Prius for the first 5 years..... you can buy a Kia Rio and have enough left over to cover the cost of gasoline for ten years. Do the math, lefties.

Their "final solution" was to tack on another 50 cents a gallon tax to motor fuels. That would put the total taxes on a gallon of fuel at 98 cents a gallon. This saves gasoline how exactly? Oh. In case you're wondering.... the evil oil companies profit, on average, one DIME per gallon of fuel sold. One stinking dime! Yet...they are the ones who had to explore for the crude, drill for the crude, transport the crude, build a refinery and refine the crude, build and maintain a distribution network and deliver the fuel to us. For that they profit a dime. The government does absolutely nothing but throw up punitive regulations and manditory gas formulations and they currently walk away profiting 48 cents per gallon. Gee! Seems real damn fair to me!

Oh! That "in part" comment way up above... time to address that. Anyone remember President Jimmy Carter? If not look him up on the internet. During his administration we had a gasoline "crisis" the likes of which has not been seen since. (Thank God!) Not just higher cost fuel but NO fuel! Gasoline rationing like in world war two. Lines at gas stations going around the block. It was incredible. The middle east turned down the flow and we all felt the power of that little action. Okay.... what did we, as a nation, DO about that? If you guessed absolutely nothing give yourself a gold star and move to the head of the class. That's right folks. The middle east held us hostage with oil and we have done not one damn thing to correct the problem. IN fact the liberals and environmentalist whacko's have made it even easier for us to be held hostage again by restricting drilling and making refinery construction impossible. We can't drill for new oil in America! It's against the law! There has not been one single new refinery built in the last 30 years. Thank you Liberals!

These pea brained buffoons bloviate endlessly about global warming when their ceaseless hot air is likely the major cause of global warming. (Or at lease global whining) OH! It's human industry that's to blame! (Also notice that with the left someone (usually Americans) have to be blamed for everything) Well..... horseshit! Geological records indicate that the earth has gone into and come out of several ice ages.... all by itself! Yep! Before there were even people, let alone evil Americans, the planet was going through cycles of global warming and cooling all by itself!!! Positively amazing, huh? Also.... just for the record.... there is this strange object in the solar system that generates just incredible amounts of power. In fact it puts out so much power that an average of 3000 watts of energy per square yard falls upon this planet every single minute. That strange object would be the SUN! The sun happens to be in what is called a solar max cycle. These happen about every 24 to 27 years and are indicated by a dramatic reduction in sunspot activity and a resulting increase in energy output. The left refuses to believe that the sun could have anything at all to do with adding heat to the planet. AMAZING!

Folks..... this stuff comes at us from every direction these days. Whacko leftist radical fringe groups..... their stooges in politics and the media..... even the teachers in your childrens schools. Unfounded, unsubstanciated, unprovable nonsense proclaimed to be the absolute truth. This stuff needs to be confronted every time it's encountered because your very way of life hangs in the balance. If people who think like they do have their way the America we all know today will be dismantled and replaced by something that resembles north Korea. Think about it.