Tweaker Geographic

 This guy makes tweaker shorts, funny as hell.

Like this one.

Or this one.

I like the accent.  

Hmmm

 It looks like President Trump gave the green light to capture Maduro last night. Kind of like when we captured Noreiga in 19889.

I bet that the politics in Caracas is interesting this morning.

UPDATE** Nick Freitas makes some good arguments on both sides of the question.

Cheeseburger

 What makes a great cheeseburger?  That's rather subjective, but people still try to rate them. For example, these guys think they have found the world's three best cheeseburgers.

I recall, in the latter years of the last century, there was a place in Derry, LA called Ruby's Cafe. Miss Ruby was a widow who ran a lunch place.  She served local, grass-fed beef that she had butchered to her specifications.  Her steaks were great, but her cheeseburgers were top notch as well.  She made something she called a Ranch Burger, and they were to die for.  I think she put a little ranch dressing powder in the burger mixture.

North of there about 15 miles was a place called the Rite Way Grocery. It was a convenience store with two gas pumps out front. Owned by John Gibson, he had a guy named Howard who did the sweeping and the stocking and anything else that needed doing.  Howard also manned the grill during the lunch rush. Howard made a magnificent cheeseburger.

Both Ruby's Cafe and the Rite Way Grocery have passed into the pantheon of places gone forever.

Today, if I'm looking for a great cheeseburger, I go to The Pelican in Pineville. It's right across the street from MacDonalds.  Run by a Korean family, they have an eclectic menu, but I'm convinced that their cheeseburger is the best in the parish..  And, it is less expensive than a Big Mac from across the street.

The search for the worlds greatest cheeseburger is never done.

New Years

 It's New Years Eve and I've been doing all manner of year-end chores.  The tax year ends at midnight.

I had a pork tenderloin in the smoker for a few hours.  It's resting now, and I'll slice it in a little bit.  It will become part of lunch tomorrow, along with blackeyed peas and cabbage. Cornbread, of course.

That reminds me, I need to change the battery in my red dot sight. I do that once a year on the New Year.

Tomorrow starts 2026.  I'm looking forward to a splendid year.  I hope all of you can say the same.

Remembering

 If you were an Armor of Caverly Officer in the70s or 80s, there were three places woven into the knowledge base of those who served.  Grafenwoehr in Germany, Camp Casey in Korea, and Area 5 North at Fort Knox.

I didn't know Belle when I was a soldier.  We met after I had retired.  I was reminiscing tonight about the times I spent at Knox and she commented that the next time we were in Kentucky, we needed to take an extra day and visit the post.  Knox is no longer the home of Armor and Cavalry, it is now some sort of Finance Center.  I pulled up Google Maps and started looking for places that were instrumental during my younger years.

My basic training barracks is gone.  The place where I billeted the company I commanded is gone. The housing area where I lived has been bulldozed. The one place that the Army could not bulldoze is still there.  Area 5 North, a maneuver area thoroughly revied by everyone who spent miserable weeks on that piece of ground.  The scars are still there and can be seen from space.

That is one small portion of it.  A platoon-sized maneuver area where I spent many a miserable day learning the trade.  About four grid squares in total, Big enough for a young officer to screw up, mire his tank, learn to recover it.  a joyous place of mud and cold and diesel fumes. Did I mention mudholes? Fond memories.

This was only one small portion of the training area, which encompassed several dozen square miles.  Still it seemed that this portion is the one I recall most vividly.

Winter is Back

 Awoke this morning to a chilly north breeze, requiring that I break out the flannel.  Yesterday, the high was close to the 80s.  Today, the high will stretch to make 50.  Belle has turned off the AC in the house and has lit the heater. We're expecting a frost tonight.

I know that up north, the Midwest is facing a severe winter storm.  My thoughts are with y'all.

We're in the slack time between Christmas and the New Year. 2026 is going to jump off busy, and I'm enjoying the down time. It's time to consider the piddling projects that are best done in the wintertime.

Diamondback and Wood

 Couple of months ago, I started looking for my binoculars.  I, at one time, owned a nice Japanese binocular. Back in the 80s, I paid about $100 for them. They went with me to the woods, and to the training fields.  10X, bright and clear.  The last time I recall suing them was on a deer lease in LaSalle parish, sometime after the turn of the century. I can't lay hands on them now, they seem to have gone away.

On Thanksgiving, I ordered a new set.  This time it is Vortex Diamondback.  For a bit over $200 from Optics Planet. They came in yesterday after Optics Plante's deplorable shipping methods.  We found them shortly after dark last night when checking the mail.

I was sitting on the back patio, playing with them, when I noticed what I thought was a planet in the southeast sky.  About 8:30 pm.   Sure enough, it was Saturn.  I could see the rings plainly through the lenses.  Neat!  They seem to have good glass at a fair price.  Not as good as the Steiner binocs with the artillery reticle, but good enough for my uses.

<snip>

Surfing the YouTube, I happened to see the noted English physicist Brian Cox talking about astronomical things.  He was saying that gold and diamonds are fairly common in the universe, but somewhat rare on Earth.  He thinks that one of the rarest things in the known universe is weed. Earth is the only place in the solar system that has wood, and he suspect that it is uncommon in the broader universe.  Interesting.

NO MAN’S LAND | Louisiana Public Broadcasting

This is interesting.

Louisiana is a blend of cultures.  Many people recognize the Cajuns in south Louisiana and the Creoles of New Orleans, but it is more than that. Western Louisiana represented a clash of cultures, from the Spanish, the French, the native tribes and the early Americans.

For a time in the late 1700s until the early 1800s there was a strip of ground that was not claimed by anyone. Under a gentleman's agreement where no government encroached and separated the land that Spain claimed and the land that the US claimed.  This became known as the Free State, or the No Man's Land.  Yet people lived there and because of the absence of government, banditry flourished.

This is the story of those people.

Merry Christmas

It's Christmas morning, Belle and I are alone.  Not by chance, but by design.  We had our family celebration yesterday and today we're kicked back, enjoying life and a quiet day. For myself, I'm processing the carcass of the turkey for a gumbo this weekend, and trimming the remnants of the ham for snacks the rest of the week.

Lots of leftovers.  I won't cook this week, unless I want to.  This morning I stumbled on this video where the guy is telling us the difference between country ham and everything else.  I like his production style, so I thought I'd share it.

Y'all enjoy the rest of your day.