Damn, that looks cold.

I love stuff like this. It'd be cool to drive around in the snow, or mud. It's cool, but I hope the car, or whatever, has a heater.

So, has the recent weather caused you to think again?

Here's a British documentary on Global Warming that has some folks all a twitter. Judge for yourself. It lasts about an hour and sixteen minutes, so grab some popcorn, but if you're a sceptic you'll love it, I promise.

Ok dammit, It's Easter and it's friggin' snowing in Texas.

You can't really tell from these shots, but it's cold as hell here, in the 30s, and snowing. The neighbors told me it was gonna get this cold last night but I didn't believe 'em. Figured they were off their meds or somethin'.



I'm gonna have to refrain from yard work this weekend. An act of God? Could be.



The snow makes the thistles in the back yard almost look festive.



And why not take the opportunity to start a last blaze in the fire place for 2007. Weatherman says it'll be back in the 80s here by Tuesday or Wednesday, so I'll enjoy it while it lasts. Just took some chocolate chip cookies out of the oven. Mom's plannin' chicken and dressing for dinner Sunday. Life is good. Hope you all have a great, cozy Easter weekend.

Aaaaa, cozy in front of the fire, dreaming of springtime.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Update: It's still snowin', and it's supposed to be in the 50s tomorrow. What the hell?



Just woke up from a nap and looked out and it's still blowin'. It's been YEARS since we've had this sort of snow, and it's FRIGGIN' APRIL! I haven't turned the heater on. Just steadily burnin' wood in the fireplace and enjoyin' all the winter vibes. The farmers have got to be pissed, and all the beautiful bluebonnets that've bloomed are gonna go tits up, but I'm loven' it. Stay warm folks. It'll be over before you know it.

Update to the update: Well, It's Good Friday, but isn't every Friday good?

I never met a bad one. Don't have to go in to school this morning, or Monday morning ether. So much for separation of church and state down at the old high school. They have a few free days they can take off, so they use them to take religious holidays. But then, I can remember back when Spring Break was Easter Break, so it doesn't bother me. Hell, I'll use any excuse to take a day off, or in this case, sleep in and relax. I still have to go in to the base and teach at lunch time, but what can you do?

Between the morning classes, the lunch time classes, the afternoon feed and post-feed naps, and the evening classes (not to mention the two online classes), I've really turned into a lazy lump of weak shit lately. You've probably noticed that, what with all the easy YouTube posts. The house is a mess. I've got clothes and sheets in a pile on the dryer, clean but wadded up. The clean dishes are still in the dish washer, dirty ones in the sink. My fish are swimmin' in their own filth, but then again that's sort of what they always do.

Aside from a few Bluebonnets poppin' up here and there, the yard is a veritable weed farm. Thistles all over the back yard. I swear, I spray poison every year, and the fuckers just come back stronger. The last few weekends were wet as hell, so I could avoid going out there and spending the time crawling around with a screw driver, but it looks like this weekend is gonna be the time. God, I dread the shit out of it. No gun shows this weekend, so I guess I'll get it done.

I had to buy new tires this week, and it's amazing how much better the Solara rides when it's not on bald, mismatched crap. I had to have my home air conditioner serviced today too. I have to do it at about this time every year. As soon as the temps get warmer I start hearing the ice building up and then falling off the unit in the wall. Have a few slow leaks in the coils, but as it is, all I have to do is get the coolant refilled once a year. Hard to justify the expense of getting the whole thing replaced at this point. So, between this and that, I've been hemorrhaging money lately. Funny how it always feels easier and more fun to do that at a gun show.

Still haven't got the scabbard for my neighbors old knife. Ordered it almost 10 days ago and they were supposed to send it express. Emailed 'em yesterday sayin' "What the fuck?" Haven't heard back yet. Had a project of my own over the last week. Picked up a new toy in Ft. Worth last Saturday. Got a WASR-22, a Romanian semi-auto training rifle. It's basically a Romanian version of an East German training rifle. An AKM that shoots .22LR from a 10 rnd clip. It came out of the box lookin' like this...



And after a few days tinkering in the geeeraj...



New AK-74 front sight post and muzzle break (bayonet lugs ground over), new laminated wood and plum colored plastic furniture, and a cool modification on the original Romanian (Romak) butt stock. All replacement parts are US made, so it's kosher. Picked up a box of .22LR at Wally World, so I'll probably take it out to the property this weekend and do some plinkin'. I've read in reports that the action doesn't eject the spent cartridges so reliably, but I'll see about that. Should be a fun toy to tinker with anyway.

Wait a second, wasn't I supposed to pull weeds this weekend? Hahahahahahaha. Fools. There's ALWAYS time for plinkin'. Anyway, Jesus, it's a holiday. I'll be takin' dad to eat Chinese food tonight, and then we'll see what happens. Have a great weekend yerself, and have a great Easter. Should be lots of cool old bible epics on TV to watch, and great food to eat. Lots of layin' around time. DAMN THOSE WEEDS!

And by the way, If you want a good read this weekend, check this out. He says it like it is.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Update: Well, I took the rifle out to my land south of town after school and shot one clips worth of shells, just to see how the thing works, and it works fine. Only problem I had was one round that bent and got hung up in the action. I took it out, straitened it with my fingers, shoved it forcefully in the action, and it shot and ejected just like the others. I'd heard that the rounds didn't eject all the time, but got caught up in the action, but I didn't experience this. Again, only one clips worth, but it worked fine and I can't wait to take it to a range and sight it in. Love the whip crack sound of those .22LRs.

I took dad to the driving range, and then we did the usual Friday night feed. When I got home, I looked in the mail box and there was a package. Mission accomplished! (look here for details on the mission).



The sheath finally arrived. I checked it out, put the knife in it's new home, and took it over to my neighbor. He was pleased. We talked about hanging it on his wall next to his medals, and his wife said that was a good idea. She said something about having a shiv on the wall, but we both outvoted her, I think. We'll see what happens. I wouldn't take any money from them. Told them it was my pleasure. I got a huge kick out of having it and learning about it. Now I'm gonna see about getting myself one. Saw one in Ft. Worth last weekend, but the dude wanted $250 for it. Not worth that much to me. Think I can make a much better deal elsewhere.

Anyway, the weather has turned cold and windy, and there's talk of colder temps and snow in Oklahoma tonight, so we may in fact be experiencing Global Warming after all. Sheeeeeitttt!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh, and here's what the new baby looks like with the East German scope attached. Yep, it's got a scope rail on the left side, like all the other Romanian AKs on the market.



Notice I changed out the wooden foregrip with plum plastic, to match the undergrip. Love it!

God I love this cold weather. To celebrate the wonderful white stuff, lets have a caption contest.

Somethin' to do while we wait for the next ice storm.


So here's picture number one. Graceful bastard, ain't he?


And here's picture number two. Uh, note the heels.

See what you can come up with. And here's the prize for the winner. Everyone needs one of these. Enjoy.

Yipeeeeeeee!

Yep, were off again. Compare this one to yesterdays shot.



A little bit more white on the ground. The front looks worse...



Or better, depending how you think about it. Well, I'm going back to bed. Later.

Yipeee, SNOW DAY!

Woke up this morning and found a thin layer of sleet on the yard, the cats water bowl frozen solid, and one decent icicle hanging from the bamboo plant rod. This is what constitutes bad weather hereabouts folks. I wish it would really snow, but you can't have everything.


The weather forecasts last night predicted bad driving weather, and I gleefully watched the names of closed or delayed schools and business's scroll across the TV screen, looking for the two names I needed to see so that I could shut off the alarm and relax. They didn't show up. The folks I work for are notorious for waiting till the very last minute to make that sort of decision, or avoiding the decision at all and letting the army make the call.

so I was up early, getting ready to make the drive to Florence. Found my phone in my pants with a dead battery. I went to change it out, and found a message on there from the school counselor in Florence telling me they'd cancelled class. Yipeee! Three more hours of sleep. Went back to bed and woke rested, with four big cats in the sack with me, huddled together to stay warm (have the house set at 68). Went in to the base at 11:15 or so, past two bad accidents on the road. I did the 11:30 to 12:30, and got most of the way through my 12:45 to 1:45 class when the building administrator walked in and said that the base was closing at 1:30. We all went "YEAAAAA!". Made a short trip to the closest Chinese food buffet and then back to the warm glow of this beotch.



Found the cats still slapped up in the sack ( I think the only person who lives better than these cats is Mushy. Check out his "Moochings" to see what I mean). And yes, that's my get-away gun over in the corner, locked and loaded. And yes, those cats are huge. That's a tall, king size bed they're sprawled out on.

Yer thinkin', "damn, the teachers have the same attitude about snow days that the kids have". Yep, we love the hell out of them. I remember when I lived in England or Missouri as a kid, where a snow day was REALLY a snow day, and we'd spend a stolen free day playing in the deep wet snow, trudging through the woods, making snow forts and shit. In Missouri, I remember being amazed at the first sight of the ice on the trees. It looked magical. Inevitably my buddies and I would walk down to the creek and see if we could walk and slide on the ice. Sure enough, one of us would break through, but only to the knees. Mom still talks about us coming home to get dry clothes and then going out again. THOSE were the days. Now all I want to do is lay in bed with the cats and read. Times change.

Weather forecast looks like more of the same for tomorrow. Stay off the road if you're anywhere near here, and cozy up to someone or something warm. I'm gonna try to finish that book I've been reading. Later.

UPDATE; I just got the call. No school tomorrow morning ether. Sleet and snow are pilin' up. Yipeeee!

And dig this, just for jollys. Wait for the big finish.



Looks like an ammo dump or a tank cookin' off. And I think that's the "Rebel Yell" there at the end. Occurs to me that this is like one of those videos of some guy setting up a million dominoes to make a fancy design, only way cooler.

Whipped up some quick cold weather food.

Try this on for size. Can't say I really "cooked" it, but I did "prepare" it.



Two jars of Bush's Best, Homestyle with beans (HOT!), and a can of petite cut, diced tomatoes with zesty jalapenos. Not for the faint of spirit, or those that are light in the shorts.



Spice to your own taste (I put some sugar free syrup for the slight sweet taste that I love), and noodles of your own choosing (these are Rotini). I think I tossed some pepper, fajita seasoning, and garlic powder in there for shits and giggles.

Presto! Two days worth of cold weather food. Well, one days worth for the FHB, two for the little people. Have some saltines with it and the beverage of your choice, and slap yerself up in front of a good flick. I've got Dances With Wolves on AMC this afternoon.

As Hollywood diatribes on the way we fucked over the Indians go, it's pretty cool. Inaccurate in a few basic ways, but still cool. I mean, if they're gonna portray the soldiers accurately, which they basically do (in a way that would upset our 21st century sentiments), they should do the same for the Lakota. There are a few scenes in the directors cut that even out the picture a bit. I think the book was supposed to be more true to history, but that's the way things usually go.

Oops, bowl number two, coming up. Enjoy.