Horse Soldier

 If you know, you know.

Watching Bertha

 Tropical Depression Two got its act together for a few minutes last night and became Tropical Storm Bertha.  She ain't much as tropical storms go, but she will limp along the coast and cause havoc.  Eventually going into Texas and becoming a rain maker. The weather weenies tell us that she is getting a lot of wind shear from the northeast, which is ripping the north side of the storm apart.

It is what it is, and if this is the worst storm we see this season, I will be mightily pleased.

Monday update

 Checking with NOAA this morning, it appears that TD2, the storm brewing in the Gulf.  It is not meeting expectations and as of right now, it is a matter of claim that it ever becomes a named storm. It may be a rain maker, but dry wind shear keeps shaking it apart.

Is the World Cup over?  I'm still seeing reports from the visitors about how awesome the USA is.  I wonder how many gallons of Ranch Dressing they smuggled out?  The really should have taken the little packets we use as seasoning and make fresh Ranch at home.

Belle and I hosted a family reunion this weekend.  Loads of fun and family.  The final hangers-on left this morning and Belle and I are spending the day in kick-back mode.

TD Two

 Tropical Depression Two is a weird little storm that is brewing in the northeast Gulf.  It is expected to head westerly.  Strangest warning cone I have ever seen.  

If it reaches storm status, it will become Bertha.  This one bears watching, because the currently predicted landfall is in Texas.

Court Day

 Back in May, I got into a little fender-bender.  Got a ticket.  I called the Sheriff's office to see whart I owed them.

"Oh, no, PawPaw" says the lady on the phone.  "You have a mandatory court date."

I admit I was a bit baffled. No one injured, just a little bent sheet metal which the insurance covered, and I had to be in court.  So, this morning I showed up in court.  I waited about an hour for my name to be called, then went to the bar and told the judge what happened. She asked if insurance had covered it, and I said Yep.  she gave me a small fine, which I happily paid. Court costs are exorbitant, but I still got out of there for under $250.

The lady collecting the fines seemed a bit surprised that I wanted to pay it all at once.

I was a cop for 37 years.  The first 20, I spent a lot of time in the court room.   Today was the first time in maybe 15 years I had been inside a court room.  After the Oyer we said a pledge of Allegiance and Her Honor got down to business. The bailiff was a bit Foghorn Leghorn, but that is part of the job. All in all, it was not totally unpleasant.

Water

 Life as we know it is impossible without water.  It's a daily necessity.  Twenty years ago I was both baffled and amused by the idea of buying bottled water for drinking.  Water came from the tap.  Today, I keep a stock of bottled water for guests, but the majority of the water I drink still comes from the tap.  I know that locally, we are blessed with very good tap water, 

My grandad used to buy a gallon of distilled water occasionally to put into an old lead/aside battery.  Today while making a grocery list, Belle told me that she needed some distilled water, so I put it on the list. I found her distilled water, then got distracted and started reading labels.  The grocer stocks every kind of specialty water that anyone might desire.  I was particularly amused at one premium liter bottle that was priced over $5.00 and declared itself "100% Recycled".  I laughed aloud.

All water, each drop from the ocean, the rivers, or the aquifer that supplies your home, is recycled water. Every bit of it.  Every drop. It's all recycled dinosaur piss. Someone is paying a premium to buy "100% Recycled" water when the cheap, bottom shelf store brand is also 100% Recycled".

So, there is an old saying about "whatever floats your boat".  But that too is 100% Recycled.

Monday Morning

 I hear that Lindsey Graham of Soth Carolina died recently.  Damned shame.  He was a great Senator for South Carolina.  A great conservative and a deep thinker.  He will be missed.

The CFDA is congregating this week in Fallon, NV to conduct Fastest Gun Alive, the World championship of Cowboy Fast Draw.  It should be quite a show.  Belle and I will not be there due to a scheduling conflict.  I wish then a lot of luck.

Brake Job, Fini

 If O'Reilley's had the parts yesterday, we would have been done yesterday.  We got the parts this morning and started the job, only to discover that some Camrys are made in Japan and some in the US.  We have a US car and O'Reilley sold us Jap parts.  

Well, shit.  We were able to get the US parts here at 2:15 and we were finished by 4:00.  Zach's car is tight and right and it is out of my shop.  He did 90 percent of the work and I am confident that he could do it again.

Brakes

 We got up this morning and Belle'scar was missing.  Grandson Zach lives with us and normally goes to work during the dark-thirty hours.  He drives a 2004 Toyota Camry, and we had told him that if he ever had car problems, to take Belle's car and we'd figure it out later.  Which is what happened.

Zach got home from work about 10-ish and told me that he had brake problems.  We went out to diagnose and found a big spot of brake fluid under the right rear tire.  We got it into the shop and got it up on jack stands.  Brake caliper had turned loose.  Defunct.

It was originally my mother's ca.  Dad bought it new for her in3004.  We lost Dad  in '07 and Mom drove it  until 2018 when my sisters made her give up the keys.  We gave it to Zach and he's driven it through his senior year of high school, and college, and he loves that car.  It is a Toyota, but it is now over 2 years old.

We went to the parts house.  No lock.  We looked around, and found that O'Reilley's could get us one later this afternoon.  So, we ordered it. We'll have it in the morning and we'll get Zach's car back on the road.

I will walk him through the process, teach him how to bleed brake, and put new pads on the rear.  It's a good learning experience for the kid.  PawPaw ain't gonna be around forever and he needs to learn what he can while I'm still here.

In the final analysis though, it is still a 20-year0old Toyota and he needs to think about that.  We all loved our first car and we all know that it didn't last forever.

Her Too

I don't know if you have been watching this train wreck of a Senate rave in Maine, but it got more interesting today when some woman accused the Democrat nominee of rape.

I have questions.  Why now? As a police officer of 37 years, I know that these cases are easier to sole the sooner they are reported.  Allegedly, this occurred in 2021, which is five years past.  Why now? The cynical answer is that she is making these accusations as part of a political calculation.  But that would be extremely tacky.

The non-cynical answer is that she was devastated after the attack and has gone through years of therapy to regain her sense of self-worth.  She is now ready to come forward. Has she yet gone to the police?  Have warrants been sworn?

The timing is suspect and deserves more than a few answers.

July 4th

 This

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed

And This 

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Y'all have a magnificent day. 

Belts, Revisited

 Back in February, I complained that I could not find a belt I liked in the local stores.  You readers made some recommendations, and I took them to heart.  I particularly liked the belts advertised on AmishMadeBelts.com.  So, I ordered one.  When it came in, I was impressed.  The belt mic'd a sold 1.5 inches and was made from good saddle leather.  The only drawback was that it was too wide to fit the holster I use for my SW Shield. The blet was simply a tiny bit too big to go through the loops on that leather holster.

However, it fit nicely on the Simply Rugged holster I use for the SW Model 60.  I'm basically a revolver guy and didn't see the little revolver as a handicap. However, a man might live with one woman, but one EDC simply isn't enough. I needed a skinnier belt to carry that SW Shield.

So, I went bac to the Amish website and learned that a customer can sort by width and thickness.  I found a belt that was thick leather and yet measured in at 1.25 inches.  UPs dripped it off yesterday. I put it on this morning and think that this may be the bees knees for carrying the Shield.  The holster fits the belt nicely and holds the gun close and tight.

Y'all have a great 4th.

Why Not?

 Cooking lunch today, I was frying some meat pies.  Looking through the freezer I came upon a half-bag of frozen ravioli, and thought, Why Not?  Ravioli is just a small meat pie.

tasty!  I can't be the only guy who has ever thought of this.  I also fried some egg rolls and french fries and Belle thought it was fairly toothsome.

Whine On, Bitch

 AoC opens her pie-hole.

AOC: I think young people overall feel a tremendous amount of betrayal about the world that we’ve been left with.

Oh, please.  If she had any sense of historical perspective, she would know that the current generation has it better than any human since Lucy walked the Gret Rift Valley.   AOC lives in the greatest county the world hs ever produced, during  the easiest time that humanity has ever enjoyed.

This generation has it better than I did.  I had it better than my Dad's generation and he had it better than my grandfathers generation.  I don't now what AOC is whining about.