Master Will Is Gone . . .

Yes, Master Will has returned to his home in Madison with his father and mother. We miss them all. Early get ups, bottle preparation and Banana waving. He was a very good fellow.

He is good natured and seemed to enjoy us once he got to know us. He was quick to come to me and little slow getting to his grandmother. But that changed pretty quick. What is it with these boys, they seem to want to go to there men relatives first. They will learn soon enough as to who gives the presents.

They arrived on a good day and left on a good day. There were delays leaving DFW but that was due to problems elsewhere in this vast United States. The got home a bit after Master Will's bedtime but not by much.

They are planning to return in March for the plantation meeting. That suits us to a tee.

Until then . . .

Chris Is Here

Chris just arrived. Announcing it was Thursday - alas it is not, it is Wednesday. Christmas anyway, right?

Just Got the Call . . .

Yes, we just got the call, Master William is on the plane. They are taking off shortly. And so will we - to the airport.

Merry Christmas all.

Getting Close . . .

Christmas is just three days away. And Master Will arrives tomorrow from the Frozen Nawth bring his parents with him. He is a traveler, been to California, born in New York and resides in Wisconsin. And he is only 13 months old!

The weather is suppose to turn nasty, rainy and the temps will drop. Probably going to be cold Christmas Day. That's okay, it is a "inside" time of year. Forays outside are to get food at the markets or to dine out, shopping be done.

We are getting a Christmas card or two, not that most are slowly going our way, no cards. Another loss to the Post Office, traffic is down. Packages coming by UPS or FedEx, few if any by the USPS. Wonder how much longer it will stay in business, it is already turning into an Albatross. Another quasi government business, probably will get bailed out in the future.

I thought today about my father, he never really saw the computer revolution. It has all really occurred after his death. Surely, my mother never had an inkling about them. Paw Paw may have seen an Apple II but I doubt it would have interested him. Today, he would have been over joyed not to have to work up the weekly payroll. He had wrote all those pay checks for years upon years, now it is a touch of a button, all done. He missed it, it has all really been after his day as a business man, manager and business owner.

Happy holidays to you all . . .

Kitchen Aromas . . .

Wonderful kitchen aromas abound in the house titillating the nose, stimulating the appetite - must be getting close to Christmas. Rice dressing (aka Dirty Rice) is on the make. And it is generating those great smells.

Next will be Ernestine Green Beans, a recipe handed down from Mama's housekeeper and cook. Ernestine Scott was born on Brunswick, once a Morrison enclave but no more. Its last owner, Edward Morrison (aka Uncle Ed) lost it in the depression. But that is another story. In my day, Brunswick was the estate of Alfred Thibaut. One of Alfred's daughters married my brother-in-law, Helen Thibaut Gremillion. That too is another story for later times.

Part of Brunswick was inherited by my Grandfather, Walter Christian Morrison. He later acquired his half sister's (Sister Mat) inheritance and increased his holdings. And even later he purchase the land on the other side of his holdings to again double his plantation. That plantation is named Angeles Plantation (aka Morrison Farm, Inc.). So we can trace our holdings in the plantation - the "place" as it is known to family - back to 1856 when it was purchased by Jacob Haight Morrison. We even have a copy of the Bill of Sale enumerating what was purchased including slaves.

Ernestine is a descendant of those slaves. At some time, perhaps back in the 1800s a couple of acres were given to the blacks of Brunswick. They have a cemetery and a small church on the land. When Brunswick passed to the Thibaut's that property remained the property of the blacks. The Church is known as the Fifth Ward Church in the Sixth Ward. After Alfred Thibaut died, and Brunswick was claimed by his relatives, fellow Thibauts; they attempted to get the land around the church, they were singularly unsuccessful, that church still belongs to the descendants of the black families that lived on Brunswick and Angeles plantations.

We are inextricably tied to those families, indeed they are part of our family history. When the slaves were freed at the Emancipation Proclamation, they remained for there was no where to go and no way to live other than in the agrarian system at that time.

The plantations were sugar cane producers, a cash crop. A certain portion of the land was held out of cane production and the blacks share cropped on that land; they grew cotton, another cash crop but one that required a lot of labor. Cotton had to be "chopped" meaning cultivated by hand removing the weeds. And later at maturity, the cotton had to be picked, back breaking physical labor. The plantation provided the land, the seed, the fertilizer and the blacks provided the labor. With the demise of the plantation agrarian model, the cotton gins disappeared too.

Today, we can only look back at that system, not the best nor was it the worst. After WW-II the blacks moved off the plantation, perhaps there would only be one or two families still on the place besides the owners. And in time, death claimed those too. Now only family lives on the place.

Ernestine worked for my mother until she could no longer work at all. And even then would come in on holidays to cook. Ernestine's recipes were in her head, she could neither read nor write. She became an integral part of my family to her death. My mother barely out lived her.

A Dreary Day. . .

Yikes, it is a dreary day, when I got up it was overcast and the temperature was 31 degrees. Now it is still overcast, about 11:00 AM, and the temperature is all the way up to 34 degrees. That's double yuck.

But not to worry, just saw on the Drudge Report that Calgary set a new low temperature record, 32.4 degrees below zero. The old record was set in 1893 which was 32.2 degrees below zero. So much for global warming, I bet those folks up in Calgary don't agree with that BS going on in Copenhagen. Yes, Global warming may be occurring, but it is part of the natural cycle of things, the wobble of earth on its axis or whatever. It is not the green house gases generated by modern man, that is less than 1% of the total carbon dioxide being generated by earth itself. Climatic scientists are complaining that the data has been manipulated to make the case for the waco's. They have been caught out by their personal emails.

And Obama Care seems destined to be shelved. Liberals do not like Lieberman's pull out over the government option/buy in for under 55er's. Already Senator Burris of Illinois, the Blaggo briber, says no go for his vote if the public option is not part of the Senate bill. Give me a break, they bought off Senator Mary Landrieu with a $100 million for Louisiana. At least Senator Lieberman is acting with some sanity. President Obama is even over at the Senate trying to coerce a successful vote; he is saying compromise and get me a bill. He does not care to much about what's in the bill as long as he can get something to make him look good. What a President - so hung up on his ego it is unbelievable. I mean all Presidents have larger than life egos, but his seems to be larger than the universe.

Christmas Is Getting Close . . .

Time is flying by. Christmas is just a few days away. And we are preparing for Master Will's visit along with his parents, of course. They will escape from the frozen North in Wisconsin to the balmy Texas weather.

Son James will bring over Tamales Christmas Eve, so that we can enjoy the luck of the Mexican's. At least I have been told it is supposed to be lucky to eat Tamales around Christmas time, if not for Christmas dinner. Don't think we will do them Christmas Day as the the annual smoked turkey is en route as I write. Sort of a tradition to have a Greenberg smoked turkey from Tyler. Texas. We started getting the smoked turkey when we live in California.

We have ordered up a case of Desert Rose Commentivia Salsa for James. It is getting harder to get, we think the ownership has changed hands again. We first got it when visiting with Pete and Judie Hammerton in Tucson, AZ. Bought it at a swap meet out of the trunk of a car. It was in Mason Jars in those days. Now we get it in jars half the size and twice the price but it is the same formulation.

Soon we will all gather for the gift exchange and the big meal.

Merry Christmas to you all. And to all a Happy New Year!

Geaux Tigers

John James Audubon Bridge

The bridge is climbing every day. The concrete piers must be up 5o feet now. They look massive.

The Flatiron consortium now says it will be 2011 when it will be finished.

The piers are about half way up the pole crane. That may be an indication of the final height. Not sure, but with a 1,300 or so foot span, it will be plenty tall. Being a cable tie structure, it means that the cables will be tied off at the deck, string back to the piers. It would seem a like number of tie offs will be equal on both sides of the piers so that the load is focused on the piers. So if the span is 1,300 feet, that means tie backs will occur back from the piers at least 650 feet.

That's probably why the sets of steel piers between the concrete piers and the river banks are so small. They probably were added to provide sway stability of the bridge by pinning the decking on the land sides, not so much as to load bearing duties. The bridge has to rise over the levee on the New Roads side. On the St Francisville side, it comes off the bluffs. Bridges at Natchez, Vicksburg and even Memphis, all have bluffs on the eastern shore and ramps on the western shore, even the old Baton Rouge bridge (aka Huey P. Long Bridge on US 190) comes down on the Baton Rouge side on a bluff. In fact, at Natchez and Vicksburg one has to go down to get on the bridge to cross and climb on the Louisiana side to get on the bridge.

The bridge will be well south of St Francisville, it will be a drive, perhaps 10-12 miles to get to St Francisville. Not as far for New Roads but at least six or so miles depending where and if there are interchanges between the bridge and State Route 1/10 connection at about Hospital Road. One will be able to look down on Waterloo Subdivision on the south and Big Cajun #2 coal fire power plant on the north side. I would suppose Doctor Roberts would roll over in his grave had he known the bridge would cross where it does, almost squarely on his land.

One notes there are several pipe lines crossing the river at the same general location. It must be a narrower section of the river. And the river sort of flows north to south there.

It is said that one can see the smoke stacks for Big Cajun #2 from the new bridge at Baton Rouge, the I-10 bridge, they stacks extend up to 500 feet. I am figuring that the bridge piers will go almost that high. So one can see the new bridge from mid Baton Rouge on a clear day.

There will be a new route to Baton Rouge now. Cross the river at New Roads and turn south on US 65. A little longer but perhaps more fun.

We will miss the ferry. The ferries at Baton Rouge are gone, now the one at New Roads will be gone. I wonder if the ferry will be sent over to do duty at Melville, LA. That's where the old Jefferson highway from New Orleans, to Baton Rouge, to Alexandria goes through. A little history there.

And I thought it was Cold . . .

I thought it was cold the other day, not - wrong. It is cold now. It was 23.6 this AM when I got up - about 6:30. It is now really cold.

But it is bright outside and I am sure the Christmas shoppers will be out looking for the bargans. Some sales flyers in the newspaper this AM. All the merchants are trying to tempt you to come in and shop. If their heaters are going they have a chance, don't ya think?

Must be a lot of E-Shopping going on. I made a small order at a hobby place, nationally and internationally used by us RCers and they were extremely slow in acknowledgeing the the order and shipping it. That can only mean they are really doing a lot of business. For them that's good, for me it means a long delay getting the parts I needed. Oh, well, tis the season.

Dark December . . .

So much for global warming, snow in Houston and New Roads, cool weather abounds. Today is overcast and spitting rain (some say sleet even). Maybe sleet up North along the Red River. Just seeping in damp weather.

A little slow breeze out of the North. Drizzle.

Well December marches on. Deep winter approaches along with Christmas.

No Snow Here. . .

No snow, not even a flake. But cold, cold, cold! Judie said it was 23 when she went to bed early this AM. When I got up a 7:15 is was 27 and frost everywhere. Looked like snow but it was just crunchy grass. Saw snow in the Audubon Bridge web page, so New Roads even got snow while we did not. It was 34 there by their thermometer.

Surprisingly, the Weeping Willow trees are still green. I wonder how long that will last? The last of the green in the leaves of the red oaks out front is just about gone. Next the leaves will all come down. Those two trees are getting up there, nice size now, probably 40 feet tall now. Pretty soon they will be only stark bare branches, shut down for the winter.

The wind is ripping out of the south, that means it will warm up. No clouds, so it will get down low again tonight. Maybe the south winds will keep it warm - there's hope.

The deer will be out looking for food. That means if its green, it is gonna get et. But not much green left, everything is burnt or turning brown. All the pansys in the neighborhood are going to be eaten up by the foraging deer. We gave up on planting them for that reason.

Winter is here. Time to hunker down.

The Vacuum Cleaner . . .

The vacuum cleaner threw the drive belt - again. An all to frequent event now days. So we have been casting about for a new cleaner. Ugh, none have bags anymore, just canisters to dump (and get dust all over the place). And they do not seem to be self propelled anymore either.

So I took the old vac to the local vacuum cleaner repair guru. We agreed that if it cost more than $65.00 he would call for an okay to repair. I took it in Wednesday and said we needed it back pretty quick. He said if it could be repaired in would be ready by Friday.

Well he called today, Thursday, its fixed for less than $65.00 (but not by much - $58.00). That's a lot cheaper than a new one (with all the draw backs).

I picked it up. It has a new internal filter, a new drive belt, and a new part. The idler drive wheel had broken, that's the new part. It is a simple plastic wheel mounted on a metal ball bearing. The wheel had failed, cracked which allows it to throw the drive belt. So that go replaced. That was the good news.

The bad news is the replacement part is the same plastic drive wheel over a metal bearing. So we can expect it will fail again, down the road. But I guess we will get another 5 years out of it.

Replacing the internal filter will allow it to pick up better too. So it is rejuvenated. Good to go for a while, maybe a five or six years. Good deal.

Brrrr . . .Its Cold

Brrr . . .Its Cold. Got up this AM, dressed and went into the living room, the great room, did my blood sugar test, put on my shoes, put drops in my eyes and thought, "I wonder if it is snowing?" Went over and opened the blinds and yes, it was snowing.

Wet stuff coming down pretty fast but not sticking to well. Went out and got the paper noting that the streets were clear and the sidewalks were also clear, a lot of dripping going on - the gutters downspouts ringing. Back inside, noted the temperature was right at 32 degrees F and then a half hour later, the temperature was at 36 degrees - rising. Gonna be wet. It quit snowing about 9 AM. Got a little sun peeking out too.

Now the wind is ripping out of the North. Nice and cold out there, outside. I hear the heater going full blast. I just picture the little wheels on the gas meter turning around and around as the heat keeps trying to keep up. Good thing the price of natural gas is down right now.

Some will say, "The Christmas spirit is upon us." I'll just say, "The cold is upon us." Double yuck!

New Roads . . .

Home again. We drove over to New Roads, taking it easy this time. Drove at a more modest pace trying to get in a little late so that we could enjoy a leisurely Thanksgiving dinner at the Casino in Marksville. We arrived there a little after three and went ahead and dined. The food was the same except over in the "Italian Section" they had turkey and dressing. All the other food stations were the same.

So I tanked up on Catfish and boiled shrimp. I discovered some of the shrimp had been boiled in more seasoning than the others. Used a lot of Tabasco to dress up the ketchup to make like cocktail sauce (yes, they did have cocktail sauce). I like to spice up the ketchup to dip cat fish in and snack a way.

But since we were there at an off hour we found the seafood gumbo was devoid of seafood, the customers had fished all the good stuff out. Same was true of the crawfish etoufee, lots of etoufee and no crawfish. But a small chuck of roast beef was good, passed on the ham, no sausage or chicken. Ate some butter beans, sort of ala Ernestine butter beans, they were pretty good.

The I had some sugar free lemon meringue pie, and yes, it was sugar free. Tasted like paste, lemon flavored paste at that. That is the life of a diabetic.

I think Judie got to the etoufee before the crawfish all crawled out of it (Humm, I wonder, oh well best not to go there). And she had some of the gumbo too (Humm, more puzzlement). She finished up with some bread pudding and pronounced it as good.

No we did not gamble, just ate and ran. Drove on into New Roads. Noted the Winn-Dixie was closed and the town look shut down. Note lots of cars at different houses, gathering of the clans so to speak. Later that evening Joan came over with some boiled crabs. They were super but we did not have a place to eat them or necessary newspapers etc to contain the mess. So I restrained myself to eat just two of them!

When to Baton Rouge Friday and looked up Herrise. She took us to lunch over my objections but she was feeling rich since she had sold her house to her granddaughter. And she could now collect on Nickie's social security. It seems his third wife, married in Italy at the Vatican, is not a recognized marriage in the US, so with Betty's demise she becomes the eligible widow. Now she has her bit from teaching, a few dollars from the plantation, and a few dollars from the log house. She is worried about a bit tax bite this year. Anyway she feels flush for once.

We went over to Mark and Richards place, Richards sister was there. And while we were their Joan and Dale and their family showed up. Later we went to the Piccadilly for dinner.

Saturday night we watched the LSU Arkansas game. Good game, LSU won. But they should have stomped Arkansas into the ground. Crappy offensive calls. I'm hoping Gary Crowton is gone next year. He is sort of worthless. LSU showed great character in a comeback in minute and 8 seconds to tie the game. Then beat them in the overtime.

Enough . . .

The Eye . . .

The eye. Judie has had cataract surgery replacing the lens in the left eye. She suffers from dry eye syndrome and that has complicated things very badly. Normally one recovers in a day or two from the surgery, in her case she is still on the mend.

After the surgery, she blinked her left eye so much she had a surface abrasion. That was painful and irritating at best. Back to the eye doctor the next day, a Saturday, and they put on a "band aid contact" lens to protect the eye. She then started a treatment of eye drops, three different kinds, one a steroid to enhance healing. She was taking drops 8 times a day. We were back at the eye doctor on Monday to remove the "band aid."

Things have settled out a bit, not as much pain if any now. Still quite sensitive to light and she wears these wrap around sun glasses outside and in the car. She says instead of looking through Vaseline, its like looking through a veil of water now. So it is getting better.

She will have a Lasik tune up later next year. That will fine tune the vision. Hopefully she can fore go using glasses at all, of may be just use "readers." Time will tell.

She will not have the right eye done until next year. Good that she is waiting or she would have been literally blind. As it is now she is having trouble reading, she likes to read a lot and this is hampering her style so to speak. Watching TV is okay but can get boring to her.

Progress is slow but sure at this point. She is a bit disheartened by the whole thing. Others seem to recover in one day, and here she is still suffering along. The "dry eye" thing really cause a problem.

Another Break-In . . .

We have had another break-in in the neighborhood, second one in the past two and half months and at the same house!

This time the culprit kicked in the front door. He (could be a she but I doubt it) got $5.00 in change and departed. The indoor alarm probably went off. These folks had there system hooked up with monitoring and with auto call to the police. They got the call from the security service when they were on their way home from work, in fact were only one exit from turning off on Mikus Road.

So they got home, no cops yet and took a look around the exterior of the place. Found the front door smashed in. The cops finally showed up and went in to make sure that there was not felon inside.

I can only surmise that the house is next to a vacant lot, so that there is nobody next door to see them. And the front door is recessed, easy to get in without being seen by anyone on the right or left. There must be some criminal break-in checklist to follow.

Our neighbors do not have an exterior alarm, just an internal one. On their first break-in, the criminals smashed the control box to stop the alarm. But they must have realized that there must have been some kind of call in. The alarm companies always call to make sure that the resident(s) is/are okay. That is usually a tip off that the alarm has been triggered and the cops may be on the way.

The city is going to put in temporary cameras for 45 days to track people coming and going. We may be able to get them to leave it in place for another 45 days. The neighborhood watch signs did not scare them off at all.

So we are getting our security system checked out and updated. Since we are gone several times a year it probably is smart thing to do. We are after all right next to the vacant lot. But we have a neighbor directly across from us and relatively close to our neighbor on one side. The side facing the vacant lot has no entrances. So we are not an ideal choice but could be the second choice.

I guess the recession is embolding thieves.

Florida Game

Florida won. But not without some typical Florida shenanigans. The apparent wide open receiver in the end zone committed a holding infraction to get there. That is cheating. That is taught performance. That is a lack of integrity. And that is Florida.

I worried about Tebow all night during the game. But he came through okay, and that is good. I would not have wanted it be LSU that did serious damage to him. Now if such damages occur we can blame his coach and his doctors. They released him to go.

It was a great game in my mind and maybe it will be repeated. We will see.

Auburn up next. They are smarting from getting beat by Arkansas. They can be very dangerous. But the way past them is route LSU must travel.

Florida is Coming . . .

Florida is on its way to Tiger Stadium. They are a formidable team; quarterback Tebow is outstanding player. So they are well equipped. Unfortunately, Tebow is recovering a concussion suffered in the Kentucky game. He was hit solidly, did not see it comimg. The bad part was as he went down, he hit his head on another player. That was a substantial blow.

He evidenced a concussion and was carted off the field. While being carted off the field he tossed his cookies, which is a classic symptom of a concussion.

As you can imagine there is a lot of hype surrounding the game. Coach Miles said it right, "No one wants to see a player injured, and Tebow is a great player." So I do not think LSU will go gunning for Tebow, but should he play, he is gonna run. And if he runs, he is gonna get hit. The danger comes when he gets a hit he does not see coming, that could be bad for him.

The game will be a good one. It can be a history maker for either of the teams. The winner certainly will go on to the National Championship. Of course, there will be the SEC play off before things are done. Could be that these two teams could meet again, ala LSU and Ole Miss years ago. LSU won the first round Halloween Night and lost the second round in the Sugar Bowl.

Can history be repeating itself again?

Georgia Whining

University of Georgia is whining over their loss to LSU. The whine is the penalty for celebration after Green caught his touchdown pass. They were penalized on the ensuing kick off.

Well they kicked off, and Trindon Holiday ran the ball back 40 yards. Then the referees penalized Georgia (unprotested) for line up infraction on the kick off. LSU ran two plays, the first for five yards and then the second play for 38 yard to the endzone and a touchdown. So Georgia gave up 83 yards!

After the LSU touch down, LSU was flagged for celebrating. That was Scott and he said he was thanking the Good Lord. LSU did not protest the penality they received even though it was a tribute to the Lord. Seems to me Georgia went on for a inordinate amount of time as team celebrating on the field. All Scott did was point his fingers to the heavens.

LSU kicked off the Georgia under the very same conditions that they, Gerogia, kicked off to LSU. But they did not run the ball back 40 yards. Then they threw an interception that ended the game. And then they whine about the penalty they received.

Give me a break! Let see, Georgia gave up 83 yards between the kick off run back and two plays from scrimmage in less than 20 seconds. And they gripped about the penalty? Sounds like sour grapes to me. They were to busy still celebrating and forgot to continue to play out the game.

Note the computer ratings are out for the BCS and LSU is rated number 1. Oops, that don't make the pundits happy. What are they gonna do if LSU wins the Florida game?

The clocks ticking.

What a Game!

Wow, what a game. The Tigers pushed Georgia all over the place for three quarters and probably left 21 unscored points behind them. The Georgia came alive. They marched down the field with on 3 minutes remaining. And then they scored the go ahead touchdown. Looked like it was all over for LSU. The crowd in Sanford Stadium were going wild.

Then they, Georgia got penalized for excessive celebration. That was a 15 yarder. So they kicked off further inside their territory. I was fielded by Trindon Holiday and he ran it back 40 yards (something most of the pundits missed, I guess). And then Georgia was further penalized five yards for a procedural violation on the kick off. That gave LSU the ball on Georgia's 38 yard line.

The TV kept panning the LSU place kicker as he was practicing along the side lines. This guy has already kicked a 52 field goal, quite a threat.

LSU ran a running play for no yardage. Everybody figured they would throw a pass to get the place kicker within better range. After all Georgia led by one point. The next play from scrimmage was Glen Scott, who has not been getting much yardage this year, ripped though the Georgia line and scampered for 33 yards into the end zone. Now the score was LSU 19, Georgia 13.

The stadium grew quite, the only noise was coming from the LSU fans. The place kicker punched through the extra point, now the score was 20 to 13, with 56 seconds to go.

Georgia trotted out its offensive team after receiving the kick off. Oh, yeah LSU was penalized the same 15 yards for the kick off but Georgia only was able to run the ball back 15 yards - so field position was not near as good. Big dfference!

They ran two pass plays, moved up some, but it was still 3rd down and some yards to go for a first down. About 30 seconds left now. Then Georgia did it, they threw an interception. At first the referee called incomplete - out bounds. But the play was reviewed and he was over ruled, it was ruled as an interception - LSU's ball.

That meant the game was over. Sanford Stadium was in shock. Three Touchdowns in three minutes and they lost. It all came down to one play. LSU was there, Georgia was not.

Not pretty, no style points, just a win.

Geaux Tigers

It Works . . .

Yes, the RAM all works now. A new driver for the Wireless Interface Card did the trick. It is actually a Marvell driver, but that's what NetGear uses. They over lay their name on it but it is the Marvell driver. In my case it is version 1.0.0.53.

I formally had version 1.0.0.52. You never know what corrects the problem, it can be BIOS or a driver. In this case it was a driver. But tons of people had trouble with Vista and NetGear compatibility. I was one of them. I have been through three, no four, different drivers. The original one and then three different Marvell drivers. The last one did the trick and now the Dell has its full capacity memory. James Dunn will no longer have memory limitations on his games (I don't know that he did have any but for sure not now). Might make things work faster too.

We have a new monitor coming in - a 23 incher. That ought to max out things - no longer have to scroll across to see what is on the other edge.

Downloading New Drivers

I spent an inordinate amount of time downloading a new driver from my Wireless Interface card. The card is made by NetGear and there is a horrible interface problem with Windows Vista. It seems the card will not work with more than 2 Gigabytes of RAM installed. Dell says that is a NetGear problem.

I disagreed with them and they kicked me off there web forum. But I revisited the Dell forum and noted my original comments are still there and they have seemed to have found a potential fix. Dell was defending their close relationship with Microsoft saying that it was a hardware interface problem. The NetGear folks say they have complied with Microsoft's rquirements and that it is a Vista issue. I wonder if they will continue their close relationship now that they have bought Perot Systems.

I had this kind of a memory problem before when living in Argyle and I was trying to install Windows 98 on my computer. That was back about 1997 or so. Windows 98 would not load. I finally did an Internet search and found an obscure reference to the amount of memory being used. I reached in a removed one of the two sticks of memory and tried to load it again. Bingo, it loaded up and I reinstalled the second stick of memory and all was okay.

Well it seems NetGear and some other companies' wireless interface cards will not work with Vista (even though they did work with Windows XP) when more than 2 Gigabytes of RAM is installed. The forums seem to indicate this fix will not work over the long haul. We will see.

When I bought the computer from Dell, it came with 4 Gigabytes of RAM. I have been operating it with 2 Gigabytes of RAM so that I can have my wireless interface card operate. This limitation is irritating. Vista ought have fixed this problem by now but it seems the arrogance of Microsoft rears it head and denies a fix to a problem (Or is that why Windows 7 is being rushed out the door - do we have another Millennium fiasco?).

I dropped Dell because they have agreed to back load all their computers sold after a certain date to Windows 7. Guess what, my computer was bought just 2 weeks before this cut off date. And no, they will not back date or update for free. So I will have to pay for Windows 7 (and still not know if I have a fix).

I do know this, the new driver is working with the computer using 2 Gigabytes of RAM. That is a good sign. I hate to even think about getting another wireless interface card, it is the principal of the issue. The principal being is that Microsoft ought to fix the problem instead of saying it is the lessor vendors problem.

We will see. . . .

LSU Tigers

The Tigers escaped a loss by a tremendous goal line stand ala 1958 Tigers. A great defense is first then an offense. But the offense is terribly lacking and I believe it is time to cashier Coach Gary Crowton.

Coach Crowton is a has been head coach. He is not a very good offensive coordinator. He loves to use a swing pass and thank God we have not been intercepted. It was the bain of last year's team and he carries forward yet. This year we do have a good quarterback much less prone to throwing interceptions.

He has great running backs and continues to send them through the middle of the line with no success. He has got to use them much smarter. He has yet to do that. What a great waste of talent. There in lies the problem with Coach Crowton, he does not seem to get the job done.

The defense has saved the day. Chad Jones is a real star. He is goig to do well in either baseball or football in the pro's. The other players are doing great, the line backers, and the corners. Coach Chavis has done a great job with the talent on hand. We do not need those goal line stands but we will take them over the other team scoring a TD.

On to Georgia next week.

More Lawn Tractor Issues

I could not get the lawn tractor starter to work even when I jumped it with the Mountaineer car battery. The starter would engage but did not have enough umph to turn the engine over. I figured the starter commutator was in need of cleaning and or the brushes were bad.

So I removed the starter. That was a task in itself. Access is not the best inside the tractor cowling. But I got it off, along with a ton of greasy dirt and grime. The oil fumes cause the dust to build up and it is a mess. But got the starter off. I cleaned up the starter's case and around the area on the engine. Yuck, that was grimy.

The starter motor itself is held together by two long bolts and the brush assembly is on the bottom. So I carefully removed the two long bolts and took a look. The brushes were plenty good, so I took some WD-40 and squirted each brush assembly - there are four of them. I was not about to take the brush assembly off. The four brushes held against the commutator by springs. I could see springs flying all over the place.

WD-40 is not a lubricant, it is a solvent. Lots of people think it is a lubricant because it sort of oily in nature. It will, when sprayed on, disperse water among other things. So a good shot of WD-40, a fresh dab of grease on the bottom cover plate that centers and holds the commutator in place and screwed it all back together. WD-40 was developed to clean jet engines, sprayed into the engines to remove rust and improve air flow over the stators and rotors - they are all airfoils and thus reduced drag led to improved performance.

Then reassembly. That was a trial. Very close quarters. After an hour of trying I got one of the bolts installed that holds the starter in place against the engine block. I could not get the other bolt going. Finally, I started taking off the cowling, found I could get away with the cowl partially removed and got the bolt started. Put it all back together. One of those jobs that takes three or four hours the first time and 20 minutes the second time around.

I had been charging the battery, so I knew it was up to snuff. I really think giving the brushes a shot of WD-40 and torquing down all the connections made things better. So I gave it a trial and boy did it spin up the engine. Another task done.

I imagine less mechanically inclined people would have (a) bought a new mower or (b) over paid some mechanic to do what I did. They, he mechanics, usually bid them selves out at $50 an hour for labor with a minimum of a half hour. This job probably would be an hour and half, or at least $75.00 plus parts (grease, WD-40 and a less scrupulous mechanic would have just put in a new starter - probably cost a $100.00 for that alone).

I enjoy the work, treat it as a challenge. The reward is to see lawn tractor running again.

USAA Called

USAA called after hours about 6PM. Got the same answer so we begin the long march apart. They were nice but no deal, so I will drop the request to transfer all brokerage funds to Fidelity in the mail in the morning. Enough dealing with amatuers.

Don't have to worry about it any more. It was a nice run but they have become over controled by the MBAs. So we will no longer be loyal nor espouse them as good people. The good will is gone.

We will let the cards fall where they may. Might be in their favor and might not. Certainly will not regarding brokerage busines.

I will delete my web connection with them tonight. What business we will have left can be done by mail or telephone, probably by mail as they sometimes screw up the telephone thing.

Today is the Day . . .

Yes, today is the day. USAA has until dark to reply, but I am not counting on it. Among other things, they are neither timely or prompt in getting in a personal reply. But that will no longer matter soon, it will be a failed relationship. Down the tubes. . . .

As they grow in size and maybe capacity, they will grow without me cheering them on. I will not fret, just let it ride. If their services are reasonable I will keep them, if not, well the dollar counts, doesn't it. Vote with your wallet, that's what I say.

Today and Tomorrow

Time is passing, as it always does, it moves on. And time is running out for my relationship with USAA. I do not place much hope in the future regarding them. The "giant conglomerant" syndrome has taken over what was once a superior operation. To many MBAs have been hired and the complexion of USAA has changed - for the worse.

The 15th is Tuesday and I guess I will punch them off my contacts list since I do not have access to my accounts any more. And I will get my spouse to sign the transfer request and we are done doing stockmarket business with them. We do not have a large account with them but always felt it was a safe way to do business and that we would get trusted service.

Well, they are trust worthy, but since I can no longer make transactions via the Internet, then they are worthless regarding service. So I will just move what's there over to Fidelity and not have to worry about it anymore.

Judie reminded me that on the 15th we will have been in this house for seven years. Maybe by this time next year Armed Forces Insurance or AFBA may be the insurer. Who knows, it will come down to who has the best deal. If it remains USAA so be it, but if it becomes AFI or ABFA then we will change.

More on USAA

Got a call from a nice young lady that wanted to talk, she was from USAA. Started okay, things were nice then she set me off. The same old BS from them, so I ranted at her. She graciously stopped the conversation and said she would send it on to here department head. I said I had already written the President, Major General Robles, we did not need a department supervisor, we need action.

So time is running out. They have until the 15th, if nothing comes by then or no action is taken of opening up the web page, well I will start moving things out of USAA. I used to care and thought the world of them, now I don't care anymore. They were once my "association" now they are just another conglomerate with a different twist. Oh yes, it has some remnants of the old organization but it has evolved to far different organization, the member is no longer supreme, the member is just another sheep to shear. I guess that is what growth does a to organization like USAA, it becomes a many headed hydra. It has become self serving, not a service organization. The MBAs have taken over.

Others seemed to have recognized that change and thought nothing about it. They rolled with the punches and pressed on. I guess I am stuck now with life insurance and a few other things like a mortgage that are not moveable. Trust me, if I could move those assets and/or change those contracts I would. I believe in using one's wallet to make statements. Those things that I can reasonably move, I will. No big thing to USAA, just a flea on the butt of an elephant or even less so.

I think I will check in with Armed Forces Benefit Association. I have life insurance with them, maybe something can be worked out like a transfer. Some how, I don't think that will work out but worth looking into.

"48th"

Yup, today is our 48th anniversary. We start working on 49 tomorrow.

I can not imagine not being married. What a wonderful wife Judie is for sticking by me all these years. Now we have six grandchildren. We have three sons, two married.

life is great, ain't it?

I Was Right

I was right, the new push rod was solid all the way, no swede (or weak spot) in the push rod. In fact it looks just like the other push rod with no swege in the shaft. Took me a while to get things set up. A little difficult getting the push rods just right to work off the cam. But that was really easier than I thought it would be.

The shop said to use .004 clearance, the book showed it to be .003 to .008 inches. So I used the .004 and got it as close as I could. The shop also said reset the clearances after 10 or so hours of operation (makes sense to me). That takes care of a little initial wear or break in so to speak.

Got it started and it felt like it had more power. That's probably because the valves are set closer to where they should be. If the gap is to wide, the timing is a little off. So with them being set correctly, then the engine should produce a bit more power.

It is a little strange, never saw an off set for valves before. But they are a little offset from each other. I guess they had the space and could move the exhaust valve a little farther away from the intake valve. Exhaust valves get hotter and need more cooling area. So by moving away from the intake valve, it gets to use more surface area for cooling. It is not a giant difference but it is noticeable.

Then I had to charge up the battery a bit to get it to start. But it fired up, ran a little funny until it got up to temperature and there after worked like a champ. I then finished cutting the front and most of the back yard (I may catch hell for that, don't know). The engine seemed to run a little slower but with a lot more authority.

So flat tire fixed, throttle readjusted, valves properly gapped and engine oil topped up. Like a new mower, right? Not! But it runs good now.

Will got start it up again and make a couple of passes on the wind row of grass clippings. I call it cutting the cut grass.

A New One On Me . . .

Judie decided to cut the grass Sunday, fired up the lawn tractor and went after it. I had an errand to run and she always wants me to move my car so she can get at the grass on the edge of the dive way, so it was time to move the Mountaineer.

I returned to see the mower parked up next to the garage and one upset wife. It seems as she was cutting, the lawn mower lost power and eventually quit. I quickly figured it was the fuel filter so turned around charged off to Home Depot for a new one. Got and returned.

The old filter had been on since the thing had been manufactured so you can image it was not going to come off easy. I had to take the side of the engine housing off - more tedious work. Got it off and gained access to the fuel line and filter. Got the fuel line off the carburettor and drained the fuel into a catch basin. The fuel flowed easily so that ruled out the blocked filter idea. I replace the filter anyway.

Then I notice the left front tire was flat, it has been giving us problems for awhile. As I was unscrewing the schrader valve out of the valve stem, the valve assembly popped out (and that solved the leak source). So we cleaned up and went to eat. We also visited the Autozone and got new valve stems and valve stem tool.

We got the side panel back on the engine housing, a little fussing but it is properly installed again.

Got home and fixed the flat. Aired up the tire and it is still holding air. So that is fixed for sure. Tried starting the engine after adjusting the throttle set up. Needed that for a long time but it was one of those things that was okay just not super. The engine started up but ran with out authority or power. I was able to drive around the driveway but not engage the lawn mower - not enough power.

This AM got up, ate breakfast, sacrificed my flying and went to work on the tractor. I removed the over head valve cover. That thing was caked with oil soaked dirt and it took me 20 minutes of washing to get the grime off. Tip - use Dawn Pot Power Dissolver, good stuff. Cleaned up the tooth brush I was using along with the dregs of the grime.

When I got the valve cover off, something fell out. I clean up the valve cover first then when back and recovered the piece. The photo above shows it was about an inch of the push rod for the exhaust valve. Sheared off at the swege point where the stainless steel push rod was necked down. I am sure that was done so that the end caps could be pressed in to the end of the rod. The end caps are hardened steel that either ride on the cam or push the rocker arm to move the valve.

I had removed the valve cover because it sounded like it need adjustment of the valves. Turns out the only adjustment is to grind down the ends of the valve stems. But the problem was evident with the piece of push rod. Amazing that it ran but it did just not opening the exhaust valve enough to develop any power.

I was able to track down the part number from a Briggs & Stratton web page. No parts places open today - Labor Day. And I bet the new part has an improved design. It will take me about 15 minutes to fix the engine but . . .

Oh, well, that's why I am retired, right?

USAA

We have been United Services Automobile Association (USAA) members since 1963 but it seems to me that we are increasingly having issues with them. USAA has our life insurance, car insurance (their reason for existence), house mortgage, banking accounts, credit cards, homeowners insurance and a brokerage account.

A few weeks ago they sent me a message saying I would get an important message from them. Well a couple of weeks passed and I just figured that was some kind of phishing trip by someone. And then out of the blue I got the USAA web page block that said I had to "sign up for the web page and agree to their conditions . . ." Among the conditions was a requirement to receive all documents via electronic delivery. I have in the past instructed USAA electronic documents were unacceptable, we require paper documents like bank statements, prospecti, brokerage accounts, reissued insurance policies, etc. I mean, why should I foot the bill to print out these documents, they are obligated to do that job, not me.

Well, I refused to agree to their "new" coercive requirements. And that has resulted in a blocked web page. I can no longer access USAA by the Internet, very frustrating. I wrote to the president of USAA and said why after years of use, I had to "sign up to use the web page." So far the response has been slow, I did get a phone call Monday from USAA saying they were looking into my letter. On that same day, I mailed a ultimatum to their brokerage people that they had to respond with in 15 days or I would transfer the brokerage account to Fidelity. I told the fellow calling me that I had mailed the letter that day. He said, "He would be on the look out for the letter." Good.

I told him that it was directed to their Financial Advisors. He said that he would retrieve the letter. I was civil and I was pointed in my responses. This was not what a 46 year member expected from USAA. And that I had checked with other members and they were not targeted for this "sign up" action. Perhaps it is only a matter of time all members will get that same treatment.

I have been concerned for some time that USAA internal security processes were overboard and paranoid in nature. I can understand that if I had trouble signing in to our accounts, that a challenge question is in order. But not at USAA, you get them out of the blue. I could understand it if I were using a new computer or someone else's computer, but that was not the case. This is overboard and not required.

USAA said that it was necessary to have an ID, a password and pin code to get into their accounts (I do not know of any institution requiring three codes to get in to one's accounts). USAA claims it is federal regulations that require it. Fidelity is certainly a very large banking, insurance, mutual funds and brokerage house. No such tertiary pen required by Fidelity, and no out of the blue challenge questions. It is clear that USAA is going beyond the norm and it is both unnecessary and irritating. It is though it is USAA's assets they are protecting, not ours. Well, they are our assets not theirs.

So it has become difficult for me to deal with USAA. I am in the process of getting a quote for homeowners insurance from Armed Forces Insurance, a similar military oriented company. And they also offer car insurance too. My current dealings with USAA are by USPS or telephone. It certainly costs them more money and is less efficient than the Internet but it is their choice.

I can not roll out of the mortgage or the life insurance policies but I certainly can close my homeowners and auto insurance accounts. And that would trigger a pay out of the Subscribers Savings Account, a euphemism for retaining profits to bank roll the association. In other words, getting liability insurance from another source would cost USAA money.

We'll see what the executive assistant comes up with, what the reply will be. But I fear the security gurus are in charge, not the managers. Humm....

Master Will, Anne and Jake

Master Will and family together at the Madison Aboriteum. A very beautiful spot, well done and many, many Hostas all over the place. A nice Pogoda is in place too. We enjoyed a half hour walk through several paths. We did not do the whole place but it is well done.

We are Back . . .

Got back yesterday, drove in from Springfield, MO. We stayed in a Drurry Inn, found it to me nice, comfortable and convient. It had a free hot breakfast too. Our room was on the first floor, adjacent to the exit and handicapped parking spot. So next morning it was a straight shot out to the freeway.

At lunch in McAlester, OK, brought back old memories. I was having fun pointing out the various hotels we had stayed in and the eating places we dined at. All just a memory now, a short trip down memory lane.

We blew through Durant and then on to Sherman, TX. Traffic picked up considerably to McKenney. We jump off onto 380 and headed West to Denton, got on I-35W and headed South, skipped over to I-820, whizzed on to I-30 heading to Weatherford. We got home about 3:30, the place looked good to us.

Got the mail, picked up the newspaper and felt like we were at home again.

What a trip.

We Are Here

We are having a greqt time playing with Will. He seems to like us right off the bat. No hesitation on his part. Even through Jake said he is begining to get shy around people.

Gearing Up to Go. . .

The Mountaineer is packed, well sort of packed. Still need to load the clothes, ice chest (shipping Pumpkin Bread and other goodies north), and a few other things. Got enough clothes to go to Alaska and back.

We will launch in the AM, already talking about breakfast at the Cracker Barrel in Denton, over to McKinney, pick 75 North, across the Red River and keep going north on Oklahoma 69 through McAlester on to Joplin, MO. Through Springfield on to Rolla for an overnight stay. Then through the bottom of St Louis over the mighty Mississippi on to Springfield, IL (Land of Lincoln), the dash to the Wisconsin State line and short trip to Madison. We will be there Thursday night in time to baby sit (the primary objective of the trip, ya know).

Carrying a bit of furniture, pictures and stuff. Now that Anne and Jake have a house, Mama is determine to get some stuff up there. Of course, Anne and Jake will accept just about anything to populate their big house on Keyes Street.

Speaking of Keyes Street, it has got to be about blocks to the Wisconsin football stadium. It should be interesting when there are home games. Like can you get in or out of your driveway? Or will you rent the space to some fan. Not like LSU where there is tons of space to park but the university rents it to you for unbelievable money - I mean a lot of money.

Well we will have been there and back here before that happens.

See ya around . . .

Fritz is back. . .

Yes, Fritz, the mini-dragon, is back. We had not seen him for several days and opined that he had moved on to better feeding grounds. We were wrong, he indeed had ranged further than the patio, down the side walk toward the Walker's house, perhaps as far as the side of the house. He still lives in the wood pile.

He has pretty much cleaned out all the bugs that were inhabiting the patio and its environs. No cricket left un-eaten, so to speak. All the June bugs clean up and any errant moth, we look out.

Sometimes we have to look for his "deposits." He exspells the bug shells and a tiny bit of white poop. So you see this inch long deposit about 3/16s to a 1/4 inch in diameter and about an inch long anchored by a tiny bit of white. That's his droppings.

Of late in my walks, where I keep my eyes down I have found other Fritzes in the areas, or could be other Fritzinas. We sometimes find deposits close to the air conditioner compressor on the North side - could be Fritz far range or a competitor of the same family. I did discover some distance away at the entrance to Crown Valley subdivision Fritz like deposits indicating they have a Fritz too.

I sometimes wonder if Fritz is Patches incarnated. Patches was the Walker's Shitzu puppy that glommed on to us. Spent house on our patio, slept in our chairs and got treats from us all the time. But being a loyal dog, he would run at the call of the Walker's to go in late at night. Fritz like Patches habituates on our patio.

Is there a relation?

Star Telegram Says . . .

Today's Star Telegram had a blurb on LSU as one of their count down stories. The count down of course is the preseason ranking. They had LSU at number 10 - not bad for a Texas newspaper.

They did not even mention Chad Jones but did mention Ciron Black. A lot of words about the new defense coaches. A brief comment about the quarterbacks, Jefferson coming out on top so to speak.

It was not original, just something they have shipped in by the parent company. So they have to put it in the paper. Must have made the local sports editor chock having to publish it. I mean they can really do it up Big 12 and Mountain West, even Arkansas but not LSU. They seem to choke when one says LSU to them at all.

So, so far the preseason rankings have been 8, 13, 10 - all about right to me. Some have Ole Miss ahead of LSU, some behind, also about right.

The season is getting closer. . .

More LSU Football

Sports Illustrated (SI) came out with their preseason top twenty. It had Ole Miss at 6th and LSU at 13th. That sure will really fire them up down on the bayou. I agree that Ole Miss has a good coach and a good team, but other polls have them behind LSU. Makes you wonder what's SI know that nobody else knows?

They also have Georgia Tech at 12, one slot ahead of LSU. Something aint right McGee, LSU stomped GT into the ground in the Peach Bowl (oops the Chick-Fil-A Bowl). LSU was one of the inauguration teams at that bowl and has never lost that bowl. It has been there six times so far.

It is all preseason, so it is just a guess on SI's part. But it will rankle the folks down on the Bayou since the Coaches Poll has LSU as number 8 ahead of Ole Miss (at number 9) but well behind Alabama.

Florida still riding on top. Gonna be a great season.

The Kennedy Clan

Eunice Shriver's demise and another of the Kennedy clan passes on. Her daughter, married to Arnold carries on the torch for her. He husband, Sargent Shriver is locked up in his mind by Alzheimer's disease. Sad state of affairs. They, she and her husband, did great things for the nation and not once did they mention politics. Of course, they were liberal but they were also very private people and did not tread on other's domains.

Ted will be next. Already suffering from a malignant brain tumor, and rarely sits in the Senate anymore. He is on the verge of passing too. Also liberal but probably will go down in history for Chappaquiddick and the minimum wage laws. He spoke a lot but never got much accomplished. You may say he "sat in the Senate." I am sure he was a behind the scenes power broker but he never achieved much in the Senate. Even his education efforts took cooperation from the Republican side of the Senate. He will die in office.

John F. Kennedy was President. He was a capable man of good judgement. He did things for the economy but did lead us into Viet Nam. Of course, Johnson carried us on into the depths of Viet Nam. JFK cut taxes too, the Democrats never ever want to mention that and the Republicans throw it in their faces all the time.

Robert Kennedy remains an enigma. Possibly he could have been president too but Sirhan Sirhan took care of that. Sad that it had to end that way. He did put Hoffa away and did much for Martin Luther King. Good things but his life ended like his older brother's, in assassination.

Their father was Ambassador to Great Britain. But also known for his shady past - rum running during prohibition. Their mother, Rose, was a true champion, could that have been where all the talent came from, don't know.

The end is near, a dynasty passing on into history. The second generation does not show the same promise. Young JFK, Jr, "John John" flew himself into death, ego overriding good judgement. Other Kennedy descendants reside in jail. Maria Shriver is a good one married to Arnold, a liberal Republican and Governor of California. Caroline tried to get herself appointed as a Senator, did not work.

Football is in the Air . . .

LSU has started practice. Lots of blogging going on. Players getting back into shape and team drills underway. The papers are full of information mostly about not much of anything. Gotta play a game first to see how things are going to shape up.

The Tigers are picked to finish second in the SEC West but already one preseason poll has picked them as number 8. They have picked Ole Miss to be higher. We will see. Miss State and Auburn do not represent a big threat. On the other hand Bama, Arkansas and Ole Miss do represent big threats.

Even Vanderbilt represents more of a threat than Miss State, never know what lurks around in Nashville these days. Tennessee is an unknown with a new coach (fellow with a big mouth but that seems to be what they like - Fat Phil had a big mouth but he was also a good coach). Again, Auburn is an unknown, new coach with the old one lingering around in the wings (Tuberville).

Bama is always a threat. Because of Nick Saban, the atmosphere is toxic. They will have a good team but that means nothing between the two teams. Florida is an emotional challenge. Tebow is not liked very much though is well respected. He can be shut down but you never know what Urban Meyer will pull out of his hat. Those will be very emotional games.

Georgia always has a very competitive team. South Carolina has a great coach in Steve Spurrier and you never know what he can pull out of the box either. Kentucky is also an unknown, they have been coming on strong lately. And Vandy has been a terrific team. These teams along with Florida and Tennessee represent the SEC East.

Hard to wait for the season to start.

Fritz, The Minature Dragon

Well maybe not a dragon but he is a lizard. Fritz now likes to sit on the edge of the sofa looking out over the back yard. Since his best hunting site is the back door, it makes sense. It is next to the back door so it gives him a scouting place to watch for prey.

I watched him reconnoiter the patio, checked the door to the bed room then scooted back to the chase lounge area. He lives in the wood pile behind the chase lounge, so I thought that's where he was headed.

But no, he stopped, looked at the chase lounge, leaped up on the wheel and climbed up on top. New resting spot over looking the yard again. I figure he seeks those vantage points to watch for crickets, his favorite food.

He does tolerate us. Checks us out but has decided we are okay. We leave him alone and that suits him to a tee. He knows its his domain, not ours, we just live here.

Could he be Patches reincarnated? Hummmm. I wonder.

Summer Recess

Congress is going home on their summer recess. Already we have seen on the news where tax revolters are challenging local political rallies of Democratic personalities. Arlen Spector got his, and the senator from Missouri got hers. The message is going out, the people do not want to pay for this crap.

Already the Democrats making the TV show rounds are speaking of a middle class tax hike. Obama is now caught between a rock and hard place. He promised no taxes on anybody making less that $250,000. Looks like they have to renege if they want their free medical care (I should not say free because you and your children will pay for it for a long long time). The money has to come from somewhere.

The people seem to be fed up. Almost a trillion dollars spent on recovery and we got nothing for it. Job loss has continued past the 9% on to 10.5%. I guess that is just a big oops by the administration. What we have is public ownership (that's called "nationalization" by the rest of the world) of two of the big three automakers, a couple of insurance companies and a lot of loans. And in the case of Chrysler, they have used up the seven of so billion dollar loan and then went bankrupt - no pay back there either. Poof, the money is gone. US owns 34% of Chrysler and 60% plus of General Motors. Only Ford had the vision to get ready for the downfall of the economy and is now capturing market share at the expense of GM and Chrysler.

I don't think they know what they are doing with the exception of marching toward socialism as fast as they can go. Fortunately the President preposes and Congress disposes. Good old checks and balances going on.

Do we have revisitation of the Clintons and their attempt to nationalize medicine? I fear this change is not for the good. Medical rationing is coming. Cap and Trade is nothing but an energy tax, it will cost the little guys an arm and leg.

Wake up, people!

The Blue Dogs Caved In

Sounds like the Blue Dog Democrats are a myth, they caved into the Democratic Hierarchy. Now it is up to the Senate.

That sounds a bit better. It was said today that the negotiations are going nowhere, that if anything it will be late fall before something can be finalized. Of course, Washington is all talk. Who knows what will happen.

I heard today that Obama's personal physician came out against the bill. He maintains nobody knows what's going on. That sounds bad, means to many hidden issues that are being railroaded through. The visiting thing every five years smacks. Others have said, it is just a rationing program, that means it will be worse than Canada, Great Britain, Sweden, Germany, yada yada yada.

Things do not look good. I hope Kennedy stays alive until this thing comes to ahead. He has not been in the Senate for months - one more vote not in place. Of course, the Dems can count on Al Franken - a comedian for Christ's sake - a blithering idiot.

Oh well, time goes on.

John J. Audubon Bridge

The St. Francisville side of the bridge is now sporting a very tall pole crane. Looks like that sucker is about 200 feet up. Imagine climbing up that every day and sitting in the cab. Up above the flowing Mississippi River, no guy wires and a precarious counter weight to balance things off. Not me.

The reports say the bridge is now better than 75% complete. But to look at it you could not imagine it is that far along. I guess it is all the concrete and pilings located below water line and the approaches to the bridge that are driving that completion estimate. Does not look like much right now, does it?

The little bridges out to the footings are called trestles, like a railroad bridge. They have supported all the activity so far and will be removed at completion of the bridge. They provide access to the footings which are set into the river only about a 150 or 200 feet out. The footings or caissons don't really have pilings, they drill holes down and filled them with reinforced concrete, it is about the same as driving pilings. Once in place there is no moving them and then they are capped with concrete.

The bridge structure will begin to rise now. I suspect almost continous concrete pouring until the top is reached. You can see reinforce steel in the construction yard. There will be a ton of activity now. The hard part is done, now the pretty part gets completed.

Oh yes, the web spot is www.flation.oxblue.com/jjab/. It is the location of a web camera that takes a picture every couple of hours. The web page has a calendar and you can go back in time to see the changes.

Maybe this time next year we can drive over to St. Francisville for dinner.

Yea Blue Dog Democrats

There seems to be some back bone in places in the Democratic Party after all. The Blue Dogs have essentially shut down the Obama Medical Reform Bill. No one is against reform except maybe the trial lawyers.

But the reform is more than reform, it is creation of socialized medicine, that's bad. There is a modicum of reform and ton of change to mandated medical programs. Canada, Great Britain and Germany are classic cases of government mandated medical programs. And now medical coverage is rationed in those countries. Documented long waits for appointments and even longer for treatment. How is it up to a government to determine what and where you get treatment? Did you know on average a cancer patient lives 5 or more years longer in the US than Canada. This is folly.

And those people who most need medical care are those like me already under a government mandated system call Medicare. The premium is deducted from our Social Security pensions and given to the government. In my case, our secondary insurance that pays the 20% deductible is military TRICARE programs. The military retiree and his immediate family, in this case my wife, are granted medical care for life. So when we get a medicare bill, it is automatically forwarded to the military provider.

So the old people are all under a universal system already. The only thing that makes it work is the fact that others are not under the program - like the people under 65 years of age. And the fact we can go off this coverage for individual coverage if we want to. This competitive action keeps medicare honest. Remove it and the benefits of competition disappear and then we are all in the soup with limited and restricted coverage.

No, no, no. Do not support OBama on this issue. You will be screwed if you do!

You Think . . .

You think Obama is going to use one of our greatest assets - coal. He is on record that he intends to put all coal fired electrical plants out of business. My good friend, Jodie Cotten, Manager of the Pointe Coupee REA told me a little story. Obama who says we need an energy policy is dumping our greatest defense against big oil. How dumb do you get?

Not shortly after Obama was sworn into office, the government is suing the present owners of the Big Cajun #2 coal fire power plant for green house gas emissions. The Louisiana REA's built that plant with federal loans (don't you know that the Federal Government approved all of its design), but got involved with the bankruptcy of the River Bend Nuclear plant across the river from New Roads. As a condition, the REAs sold the plants to its present owner. A plant approved and built with Federal funds. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Jodie told me that they were about to return about $7,000,000.00 to the Federal Government as a result of all the settlements. Now, they are not going to return the money. They are going to using it for lawyers to fight the Government lawsuits promoted by Obama's team against the plant. I wonder if the Federals knew that there was such a fund and just how much it can buy in legal support. I would imagine that amount of money will buy a lot of defense.

So its gonna be a big fight over the plant at New Roads. I hope the Feds get stuffed.

Tired of It . . .

Geez Louise, Obama needs to give it a break. The more he whines about health care the more ground he loses. Sounds like the Blue Dog Democrats are beginning to have an effect. There's no free lunch and the President keeps insisting the new Health Reform will be free. Even his own party's Congressional Budget Office says there are no savings and it will cost another trillion dollars to implement.

He is trying to craft his bill by raising fears of deeper recession. Well that may true, a deeper recession may occur because his great bill to stop the recession was such a big give away that it is having no effect on employment rates sat all. He says he inherited the problem, maybe so, but he sure and hell is making it worse.

Taxes are coming every where. Cap and Trade is nothing but a big tax. Yes, it is on industry but you and I end paying it in high prices for everything. Corporations will pass the cost on to you and me. Cap and Trade will increase your utility bill by 10 to 20%. Yes, your bills will go up. In effect he is indeed proposing a tax on everybody to satisfy this hoky bill. Coal is one of the US's great assets, and he is bound and determined to kill it as an energy source.

Passing bills without reading them, what kind of representation is that? Dropping a 300 page amendment just eight hours before the House of Representatives is to vote on it, that's ridiculous. That is not representation, that is a bunch of lemmings in action.

So what do we get? We are getting a lot BS, same themes, same failed ideas. This is not a man of change, this is man bent of moving the US of A toward liberalism - indeed even potential communism. When you hear about railroaded bills it smacks of Eastern European governments of fiat.

I am sorry for the rant but those who voted for him now will inherit him for what he really is. More government, more taxes, more government regulations. Do we want Canadian, British or German health care?

I think not. But the whine goes on, again today, another whine in Shaker Heights (Dayton to all the rest of us).

Walking Again . . .

Yes, I have begun walking again. We have had a cool snap and it is great time to start doing it again. I had kind of fallen off the log regardig walking but need the exercise. So back on it again. I think the cool period is over with though, calling for higher daytime temperatures right now.

As the day time temperature rises I will walk earlier in the AM. I used to walk in the dark early in the morning. Ran afoul of a rattle snake once, I did not see it but got close enough in the dark to get a warning rattle. Made me run 50 yards very quickly. That was back in Arizona when I walked on the weekends (I was working in those days).

Now days I stay close to the streets. That way I avoid the snakes and other critters that prowl early in the AM. Saw skunk once and made a bee line away from it too. Did not want to upset his turf at all.

Keep on keeping on.

The Real Reason

My contribution to the food rally, the multilegged chicken. Well multilegged and winged chicken. Popular with a few of us. Well, I liked them.


Joan and Jim burgers. Joan made them up and Jim cooked them. Yummy is a favorite term used by Jim to describe food and these were certainly yummy.


The real reason for going to New Roads on the 4th of July weekend. Look closely for underneath the bottles of water are fresh boiled crabs. The crabs are seasoned correctly and are super. They selpt in the salty areas near Destraham close to the alligators. Fresh caught and fresh boiled up and transported to the camp on False River. Wait there is more . . .

More Pixs

Anne with son Will.

Some Pictures

De Ducks among the Cypress along the lake.




Mark and Mom admiring the son.

More photos to come.

Getting Good At It

Yes, I am getting good at it - testing for blood sugar and setting sprinkler heads. Blood sugar testing is just a routine that is to be done a specific times of the day, when I get up, at 2 PM and 8PM. Setting sprinkler heads requires I read the instructions but I am close to having that memorized.

Blood sugar is installing the test strip into the meter and poking one's finger to get a blood drop. I have learned the blood drop has to be of a certain size or the meter does not get enough blood to do its job. But once you get the test strip loaded up with blood it is only 5 seconds to the answer. Not so with sprinklers.

I am not writing about pop up spray heads, they are simple, subject to grit and snails (small ones that go for the water and get stuck in place). The water pressure is not sufficient to push the snal off. That results in a distorted spray pattern. So you go around and check pop ups for dirt and snails.

The sprinklers I am writing about are the pop gear driven sprinkler heads. They use water pressure to pop up and turn a small turbine. The turbine drives the gear train that rotates the heads around in an arc. They can be set to spray an arc of say 40 degrees up to 360 degrees. And they come with a special tool to set them. Not hard to do, take one's palm and rotate the head counter clock wise (that's to the left for digital people) until it stops - this clears the gear pattern. Then using the palm of one's hand rotate them back to the right (that is clockwise for old generation). Then you insert the tool into the specific hole and turn right or left depending on whether you want to increase the arc or reduce it. Then test to make sure you got the pattern right; it is an inexact process.

I find the very fine sand from our well destroys the turbines or binds up the gear train. The result is the same, the sprinkler pops up but does not rotate. We started with Hunter PGP sprinklers (at $20 a unit) and have worked our way down to Orbit (the high end of Orbit looks and operates exactly like the Hunter and costs $10and the low end costs $5 a unit). I use the high end Orbit, and just reinstall them in the old outer container, that way no hole digging to do.

Tried to soak the old heads in Vinegar and CLR but no joy, the turbine is worn out. They are nice and clean but worthless, not even heavy enough for a paper weight.

And The Average Is Dropping . . .

The blood sugar level is dropping - slowly. Don't know if it is the drugs or the diet but it is declining, ever so slowly. I have the testing down now and have set up my spreadsheet to record the readings.

I am taking a new drug, Metformin. It is a generic drug, cost less and I am not sure it is having an effect yet. I suppose it must build up in my system, just don't know how long it takes. But the over all readings are declining.

What is interesting, is that the AM test is the highest. Both the after lunch and after dinner readings are always lower. Everything I have read, it is supposed to be just the opposite. Hummm, just don't know.

Mean time I keep on testing. . .

Getting Used To It

I am getting used to the Contour meter. I have found that there is some variation between test strips. The ones that came with the meter, about 10 of them, are a bit more sensitive than the ones I got from the pharmacy. Takes a bigger blood drop to get it to work. While I get them on prescription, I can just buy extras if I need them, they are not really a drug but are part and parcle of Diabetes today. So they are commonly available at any pharmacy.

Basically, the amount of blood is a bit more for the new strips. So one has to judge how big the blood drop is before loading up the test strip (and sometimes squeeze up the puncture site to increase the size of the blood drop). This AM I went through three strips to get it to work properly. A little bit of a learning curve.

I am getting better at this. The meter records the final reading and puts it into memory, and does an average for you. Unfortunately, we tested Judie and her blood sugar is normal, while mine is off the scale. But her reading is now averaged in on the meter. Fortunately, I started a spread sheet, put in the readings and do the average on my calculator (Yeah, I know, I just have to get the spreadsheet set up to do the math. But since it is simple, I can do it on the side with my trusty calculator.).

The blood sugar is falling. But strangely rises during the night. Well, we will let the Doctor figure that out. I am sure there is an explanation (and a treatment). I counted up and I am not taking AM and PM a sum total of 21 pills, some of which are vitamins but I take a boat load of them. Pretty soon I gonna have have a pill caddy to carry around all those meds.

And life goes on . . .

Poking Time

It is poking time for me now. Doctor's visit and lab test show an alarming rise in blood sugar. It means my disease, Diabetes, Type II has moved on to another step. So is is a new drug to force the system to accept insulin and a blood tester to check levels of blood sugar to see if the new drug is working.

So I get to poke my self three times a day, when I get up, after lunch and after dinner. I have started a spreadsheet to record the readings. Strange the readings are all over the place, does not make sense to me. The down trend is the objective and that will take some time I am told my physician.

As you may or may not know a Type II Diabetic does not have a pancreatic problem of producing Insulin (that would be Type I or Juvenile Diabetes); the Type II patient has a problem with the body rejecting Insulin. So the stuff I am taking is to make the liver accept Insulin and let the liver do its job. I will probably never have to take Insulin but will forever have a problem with accepting Insulin. And it will progress no matter what I do, the key is to slow the progression, right?

So for now, it is poke, measure, record and watch to see if the new drug to me, Metformin, does what it is supposed to do. And we will see if it gets the blood sugar under control (increases the acceptance of Insulin in my system). It took a few tries to get the process down and now it is sort of a routine.

The meter, a Bayer Contour, is kind of neat, insert test tape (which turns on the meter), poke finger or similar place, feed drop of blood on to the spot on the test tape, and the meter does its thing. In about five seconds, the reading is available.

The meter as you would expect, has a clock (day and date along with AM PM included) and one can get a feed out cable and software to move the data a week at a time in the computer. I presume, the Bayer software contains a spreadsheet of sorts for the data. Right now I do not feel like setting up a complicated system, I just use a simple spread sheet I have made (gotta keep up my Microsoft skills, right). It tells you when the battery is about to quit (was gonna say dying, but thought that may not be a good choice of words). I would expect a really niffty meter would also have a radio to listen to while doing the test routine. I don't think they have got that far yet.

Another Hot Day

Well above a 100 degrees here. We had a couple of power glitches yesterday, indicating we are near the max for the system. Kicked off the house alarm and couple clocks. Sometimes that is an indication of some person running into a power pole somewhere. We should not have any brown outs, Apache Peak is the local nuclear plant and right down the street is the local gas fired steam plant. It is just sitting there, not even on idle. I think there are even weeds growing in the yard.

So I have been paying close attention to the irrigation system. The well is doing okay but sprinklers have many enemies, snails like to get into the full circle versions. Tiny snails and they grow and distort the spray pattern. Just gotta go in and ice pick them, crush the shells and fish them out. Then the spray patter returns to normal again. he filters clog up with dirt or small grit, need to be cleaned out every once in a while.

The full circle rotary sprinklers are susceptible to the fine sand found in the well water. The silica grinds down the gears in side and they stop rotating, just stay in one place and spray. Since you can not get into them, you do not know what going on - just replace the unit. At least I have got the price down, about half as much.

More hot tomorrow.

Irrigation Systems

It was time to tune up the system. Before we left for New Roads we had to get a sprinkler head because the old one was stuck in one location. It is the rotary kind where the water flow powers the gears that turn the sprinkler. In this case, the gears had given up the ghost (or the propeller system, whatever). You can hear the gears when rotating the top back and forth, it hits the stop and does all that stuff okay but does not rotate. Got to be innards not functioning correctly.

I tried soaking the head in white vinegar to remove the scale but I guess the fine sand in the water system wore it out. Anyway, the vinegar soak did not work.

Now I have winnered the sprinkler heads down from $20 to $10 a pop. I found the outer cases are identical, the tool for adjustment and the instructions are the same but different manufacturers and prices. So all I had to do was set up the sweep area and put it in the old cases already in the ground. So far so good, the replaced unit is working just fine and I have a spare.

But this led to investigating the other dry/brown areas. In most cases, the pop up sprinkler heads had small snails in the sprinkler head. They seek the water as tiny animals and stay in place and grow. This distorts the sprinkler pattern. I have a tool very much like an old ice pick. I crush the snails and fish them out with the tool. I also remove the heads and clean the filters. It is very surprising how much crap collects on the sprinkler filters. Pieces of tape, dirt of course and other small pieces of gravel (from the well ???).

Any rate, there were a couple of pop ups that were not popping up. Had to clean those up and swap a couple of them out.

Now I have to check some of them for their pattern. I need one that goes three quarters around. The only one I can find is an adjustable one and it refuses to remain adjusted correctly. I'll find, I just keep looking until I do.

Any the dry spot out front is now covered from three different sprinklers. Pretty soon it will turn green, just needs water.

Keep on trucking . . .

Back From New Roads . . .

Yep, back from New Roads, nice 1,000 mile round trip.

We got to see Richard's house and all the stuff that he and Mark have done to fix it up. Places looks really nice. Big yard so there will be lots of stuff planted and nurtured to maturity and beauty. Taste in plants!

The camp was crowded with life, wonderful respite from Texas. There was a lot of swimming some sunburn and some cook out food. I did the multi-leg chicken. It had a few wings and about 15 legs. Don't know if it got all eaten up but I had my share.

Joan and Dale brought an ice chest of cooked blue crabs that they caught and cooked. Something about the alligators getting too close for comfort. Me wonders how far into the boonies from Destraham they went? Far enough, I guess.

Jake and Anne were there with Master Will. Will turns out to be a pretty good traveller. He is basically a pretty good baby. Apparently loves to be passed around to whomever will take him. We enjoyed them tremendously.

And we tried a couple of new restaurants, the first was "My Mama's" in New Roads. Then Anne and Jake wanted to go eat at Camilles in Ervinville but it was closed. So we turned about and headed back to Livonia and at "Not Your Mama's." I am here to tell you the food was good a both places, a little pricey but well worth it.

And the fire works were terrific. Paul did his usual job of getting them from his source in Morganza. Fireworks were banned by the Police Jury due to the drought. I here to testify that stupidity did not work, and the fireworks around False River went on to near midnight - a four hour show put on by us, the people, not a city, not a church group, not the Boy Scouts, not the Lions Club or Rotary Club. Those are certainly all deserving and good organizations. It was the "non-organization" that did the show.

Way to go New Roads!

Its a Small World . . . .

Yesterday we went to the annual LSU Tarrant Tigers fish fry event at Lake Granbury. The crowd was not as large but it was friendly as usual.

After signing in and getting name tags we walked in to meet the folks. There is always somebody new to see and greet. And there is the usual crowd that always shows up.

The first couple we ran into, new to us, was Joe and Julie Lancaster. Thought not much about the names, certainly was not of my generation but he said you are my cousin. Humm, could be, I said I was from New Roads and he said he was too. Then bells went off, could this be a child of Bradford and Wille Mae's - it was. And yes we are cousins and swapped stories for a while.

Turns out his daughter, Courtney, had been selected for the Tarrant Tigers scholarship to LSU. They were there to accept the scholarship and meet the members of the Alumni Group. Little did they know that they would run into a cousin.

As we traded storeis we learned that they knew Herrise - though Willie Mae, I sure. I said that Herrise is my sister. Then lights really began to light up.

Joe and Julie are accountants - CPAs - that live and practice in Grapevine. That really makes it a small world, right up next to Flower Mound and we really did not know it.

It was great swapping stories. There parents were a bit older than us, but well known to us. And we learned that there is a sister, Eliska, that lives in Colleyville.

We have got to meet all these people.

Screwed by Dell - again!

Yes, screwed by Dell Computing again. I am beginning to really regret dealing with Dell, I wish someone had warned me about them.

First I got cross wise with them on their forum regarding NetWare interface card. I purchased the computer with 4 gigs of memory and found typical Microsoft error in that only 2 gigs of memory would work with the NetWare card. Dell's answer it was NetWare's problem not theirs or Microsofts (though it is Microsofts problem dealing with assigned memory locations - had this before with Windows 98). So I backed out of Dell's forum and wrote them a letter.

Second, the Dell came with Roxio software for DVD burning, no CD capability. I found a simple program on Microsoft and loaded it up. Now I have CD buring capability. No mention of his from Dell. Wonder why?

Third, I found Dell offering the same computer I bought with a big LCD monitor for the same price. That was only a month after I ordered and received mine. That kind of thing really pisses you off.

Fourth, Dell announces that they will replace Vista Premium with Windows 7 when it comes out. Oh, they did not mention the computer had to be purchased in June or later, no they did not in their press release. Guess what mine was purchased in May so no replacement for me from Dell. Pisses me off again.

Tell you what folks do not buy from Dell! Do they have good computers? Well, yes. Do they have good customer relationships? Well, no? Will I ever get another Dell, probably not. Dell is set up to sell things, once sold, screw you.

Friends . . .

Do you ever think about your friends. I do. There are several sets or kinds of friends, those you grew up with, those you went to school with, those you served in the military with and those currently next door. That's how I segregate them.

Recently we attended my 50th high school graduation reunion. It was fun and great to see all those people again. To be reminded of things I had forgotten and those that I had not forgotten. We had such a small class we aggregated those before us and after us into the mix. We were the predominant bunch, Class of 1958, but the others were there too.

The next bunch of friends were college friends. In my case mostly fraternity brothers of Sigma Pi Fraternity. It is now extinct at LSU, recharter a couple of times but just never stuck. Not enough support from the alumni I guess. I still have the year books, "The Gumbo. I do not go back and look but I am tempted to do so. We have spread all over the world though most of us remained in Louisiana - I did not.

And lastly, military friends. There were those I went through Officer Training School (OTS) with and one sticks out the most, Bob Cooke. We continue to correspond. He retired as a Major - had a serious run in with a Major General who was later cashier. But other than sweet revenge, it did Bob little good. I finished OTS along with Bob as an "OT 2nd Lt" scheduled to serve and be set aside. Little did I know that I would thrive on the military and my career field, Aircraft Maintenance. I think out of all of us in that squad only I made it to full Colonel, and then with a lot of help from a Lt Gen who sponsored me along in the latter stages of my career. I like to say I went into the USAF for four years and came out 26 years later.

And even in the military there are friends met and greeted here and there. There is the Air Force Inspection and Safety Center group of friends. I served there twice, as a Major and later as a Full Colonel. There is still a select group of former AFISC military folks residing in and around Redlands, CA.

Another bunch of them from the Spangdahlem era where I was the Deputy Commander for Maintenance - I had reached to the pinnacle of my career field, a full bull in charge of 76 F-4 aircraft and the 1,800 some odd troops necessary to take care of them. I lasted a couple of years and got cross wise with my Wing Commander. It was good while it lasted. But even today there are Lts and enlisted men and women who approach me in the Base Exchange to banter a bit about serving together. Makes me proud.

And there are those friends from post military times while working in the Aerospace Industry. Worked for Rockwell, Lockheed, Texas Instruments, Raytheon and Lockheed-Martin. They all helped me aggregate a nice retirement pot for our retirement days. And in spite of Mr. Obama, I still have most of it in tact though he works mightily to destroy our economy.

Anyway, our friends are always welcome to drop in at 1106 Willow Wood Drive, Weatherford, Texas. Come by, spend the night and enjoy a meal out somewhere.