iPad Art by wReggie









Drawn Butter.

Things I Know

Concrete will crack 100% of the time. The only way to avoid cracking is to crack concrete in a controlled way with stress joints, otherwise it will crack randomly.

People are not going to get along. There will be disagreements. There are many ways to deal with this fact. Multiple stress joints.







Unit 2.01

Check out the optional dry/secure space.


Gotta figure a way to lock it down.

Unit 2

The newly refurbished, then mothballed Unit 2, was put back in service today with the addition of two new trailer tires.


"Shes ready for action", commented wReggie.

Future plans for Unit 2 were put in jeopardy when the used tires installed during refurbishment disassembled themselves, and they were unable to be changed due to back surgery.

Today is a new step, Unit 2 lives on.

Progress





Sunday Comics









What Would You Do?





Asian food, chops sticks, a five year old? Why make horns of course. Dinner in Wilmington, NC (the LA of NC).

Kickstarter

I love Kickstarter. For those who don't know, Kickstarter is a place where you can back some poor slob like yourself, that happens to have a great idea, and no money to develop it. In turn you get to buy whatever they are selling at a discount. Usually it is cutting edge.

Most of the time the financial needs of the inventor are way smaller than most banks, money centers, brokerages, or other traditional sources of capital, yet the need is insurmountable to the poor slob with a great idea.

Before I buy I make sure that there is a working prototype and that I really like the product and will use it.

Today I just backed a MagBak. This is cool and I'll use it although it appears it will not ship for some time.

I have also backed several scuba gadgets that turned out to be very useful.

In addition, just last I ordered 4 GPS tiles that can be attached to whatever I might loose like a wallet or keys. Then with the help of a handy App I can locate my lost items.

Capitalism at its finest. Kickstarter.





Bondo Banter




Bondo responds - I would put a burrito-sized flour tortilla on there and sprinkle it
with shredded colby jack cheese and some chopped white onion and some
cilantro and then squirt on some Sriracha cock sauce and then fold it
in half and then eat it without sharing it with anyone.

Does that make me a bad man?

So I run to Walmart.....had to substitute oregano for cilantro.


I'm telling....the man was dead on. Nice.


Nap time.

Tailgate Gangnam Style

Introduced last year is a friend of mine from San Francisco who is Korean American.


So he shows up and whoops out a wok and commences to deliver some the best fried/breaded wings that are off the hook.

Then he whoops out this fancy pipe and we share some blueberry tobacco.

He will definitely be back this season.

Good Day

Tic tic......it is post o'clock. The responsibilities one has to blog once a day (on average as mandated by the USBA).

Last night, epic hamburgers. You see, I am not impressed with big, fat, thick hamburgers that leave my sides bulging. I, on the other hand like flat, thin burgers that hang meat beyond the bun.

Whimpee style. These were 1/3 pounders pressed thin, 93% lean, seasoned, seared, then smoked and smothered with caramelized onions.

All piled on a heavily seeded bun.

No cheese....just let the meat and onions stand on their own.

Sorry, I had pictures but ate them too.

This Is What We Do

On Saturday night in the south. You see why we are slow moving on Sunday.

Big Papa by The Notorious B.I.G.




Progress

Today I did what I haven't done in months.

I unloaded 5, 50 pound bags of feed. I loaded and unloaded 10 bales of hay.

I loaded my truck for scuba tomorrow.

I do everything slowly and deliberate and listen to my back.

Yesterday I washed (mostly) my travel trailer.

What used to take an hour takes a morning but I can do it and it makes me feel good.

BONUS SUBJECT



This is a little hot dog and ice cream stand in Midland where I live. There are a few gasoline stations, a few feed stores, a tire store, a Subway and other small local businesses.

I have lived here 24 years and never eaten here. A new owner took over a year ago and the crowds mob his store now.

I must stop by some time. I hear the hamburgers and hot dogs are old school and the onion rings are to die for.

BC Cruiser

Our first and second travel trailer had names because we liked them. Our third 5th wheel was a pain in the ass and went unnamed.


Our 4th in 21 years of RVing. Meet BC Cruiser (Border Collie Cruiser) .

We are shoving off soon...I need a vacation.

It's Not Often

That we get a big truck backing in to make a delivery. But today we did.


We ordered a separate freezer and refrigerator all the way from Calliforney.


Here it sits until we get the old one unloaded. 40 cubic feet of coldness.

Then a Facetime call to Phrankie Bondo to brag, but his face was quite different....very different.

How to Sport A Moo Moo

Miss Mic.


Miss Judith.


Miss Phfrankie.



Me in a Picture




I look at that top left picture and pine over my spinal strength. Now I am careful getting out of the car.

Fortunate I am for sure. Great country, wife, parents, siblings, wife, and job. And wife.


After All These Years

I've had a bumper sticker on my truck since it was new in 2000. It says, " My Border Collie is Smarter Than Your Honor Student".

I replaced it today after 13 years.


Already got a thumbs up from another driver on my way to work.

This is a great country.

This Is Way Cool

How To Turn A Beer Can Into The Only Camping Stove You'll Ever Need from Tom Allen on Vimeo.







Prep Time

I've been spending time in the screen room prepping for NFL season. Sometimes I get visitors looking in. Maybe they are spies?


See the dragon fly on the right? Perhaps a drone?


I fired up grill number three last night to get it all prepped and burned off. It was last used on the final home game in December. I grilled chicken thighs.



It is all clean and shiny.

My Back

I am getting stronger every week. I had a mild setback this past week when my right leg kept going numb. I never had pain or lost control of my muscles, but it was strange feeling.

The doctor suggested some rest and heat or more steroids. I opted for heat and rest.


It all worked.

I push until something feels wrong, and then I stop.

No diving this weekend. I gave it a rest and did some yard work.

Oh, the picture is not my dog, nor does it have any meaning....I thought it was neat.

This is Just Fantastic

It has Ann and Nancy Wilson, an orchestra, a colored girl chorus....it just doesn't get much better.
Stairway to Heaven.
Tribute to Led Zeppelin

4 inches of rain yesterday

This video doesn't do justice to the volume of rain falling.

YouTube Video


Songs Not Appreciated in Bondovia


The Spirit of Radio by Rush
Although the drummer is acknowledged as swell.
Welcome to the Jungle by Guns and Roses
But they do like Sweet Child of Mine
Sweet Home Alabama
This southern anthem is prohibited in Bondovia although Curtis Lowe is tolerated.

Bondovia

There is a place out west called Bondovia.
The capital is located on the Bondorosa.
There is a dog.

In Bondovia the trees bear fruit.
The river bears meat.
There is a woman.

In Bondovia crops are planted.
Livestock roams.
There is a man.

In Bodovia they celebrate.
They also contemplate.
There is a dog, a woman, and a man.

They love Ringo.
They have abundance.
Music fills the air.
They celebrate with food and wine.

Bondovia is now silent.
I miss Bondovia.









The Good Old Days





Maybe I Am

I might be a Redneck if I have 5 bales of hay in my truck while visiting the city.




This is typical for me.

Good Things

This is very typical on St Croix. Here is a bake sale and it is all good.


At most gas stations you'll see homemade cakes and pies by the cash register.

No one has self serve gas pumps down there so one has to go in to pay. It gives you the opportunity buy these tasty treats.

215 days and counting.

So Good

To be coming back. Me on the pre-dive cooling off in the 82 degree water in a heavy wet suit.


The Afterglow coming out of the water.


I get to mess with equipment again. This is a valve modification I did and it works great.


The dive profile shows the low temperature was 51. It was chilly.



Damn...I Did It Again

This batch was much faster than the last one. Grinding the meat went quickly after I took time to clean the connecting tissue better from the pork, and I cut the pieces smaller.


Also, I used a grinding ring the next size up.

Traditionally Gigi's family boiled this sausage and it is the only way I have ever eaten it. Last night I smoked two on the grill with hickory.

Oh my! These turn out so rich and smokey. You could cut one in half and it would be bigger than a brat and the fat content is low. Just delicious garlic, spices, salt and pepper and that heavenly hickory smoke.

Scuba to Me

People are not meant to be under water breathing and this excites me.

Water is just as life threatening environment as outer space, and this thrills me to no end. Every instinct you have, will tell you that being under water is not good for you, and it is a rush.

What scuba diver training will do is try to reteach some of those instincts, hopefully so well that you are not stressed about it. If something goes wrong, flight responses kick in and you must overtake instinct, and I get a big thrill from this. It takes a bit of time to learn to recognize, and respond correctly to these instincts.

Sometimes when I dive I think about what could go wrong and I plan how I would handle it. Sometimes I look at my buddy to see how his stress level is.

Plus...I am friggin weightless! I can fly like a slow bird or hover like an astronaut. This is priceless.

I encounter sharks and again the rush meter goes up to the red line. There is danger in sharks my instinct tells me.

Underwater ground formations are sometimes as foreign as Mars.

All the rest, like these pictures below are so secondary yet most divers dive just for this. They excite me as much as finding a box turtle in my driveway or a maggot on my garbage can. Just incidental encounters with unique creatures. If I only dived to see strange animals I could just roll over a rotten log and be entertained with all the strange life without going underwater.






Here Is How It Went Down

Fresh, "real" Polish Sausage (PS), is hard to find in North Carolina. I used to buy frozen PS at a deli that was made in New York, but they went out of business a few years ago.

The first time I ever had PS was at Gigi's grandmothers house in Chicago 32 years ago. It had a unique flavor, and wasn't smoky or over cured like the stuff they claim to be PS in NC.

So, I had the urge to make some PS because one uses the same meat that we use for pulled pork BBQ, and it is on sale now. I alway buy pork shoulders when they go sale. After all, football and BBQ season is soon.


First, I ground the meat with the fat that was marbled in the meat naturally.


I added flavorings and tested the mix to make sure the outcome was what I desired.


Nope, so I added a few more flavors and the aroma proved I was correct.


Then I reconstituted the hog casings...they kind of smelled a bit.


I stuffed three sausages connected and they look like the real deal.


Here is a scale of size. They are about 1/2 pound each.


Eight total. Big old sausages.


I shrink wrapped them individually and froze all but one real big one that we will eat for breakfast. I have some in the travel trailer.

Depending on how good it is I may do another batch in the morning.

Can't wait until breakfast.

I love This Stuff

I have what is best described as a Black Box on my Scuba BC.


It shows all kinds of readouts from physical environmental things like depth and temperature, plus internal body changes like on gassing and off gassing...tissue loading.

Freedom To Choose Your Sausage


I live in a diverse country where at the top of the pecking order are gay black men; followed by gay white men all celebrating their gayness and everyone is happy.  And I say, good for them.

Moving along the pecking order are lesbians (angry and nice) celebrating their lifestyle.

I am not aware or have never been exposed to lesbian black women but I am sure they would fit into the previous sentence.

Then in order of importance there are the poor, those without healthcare, homeless, and children, Hispanics, “Hard working Americans (blue collar), the retired, the disabled, and the elderly and so on.

Finally it gets down to the dregs of society, the white Anglo Saxon Protestants with a good job, in a long term marriage, and pay a shitload of taxes.

Unfortunately that sentence describes me and I am so ashamed. Everything bad in the world is my fault and I am very well aware of that fact.  Worse yet, I used to be a republican before I told the party to kiss my ass 15 years ago. That stain is still on my soul and it just makes me a super bad man. Even worse, I am a southerner responsible for all kinds of horrific things done hundreds of years ago.

So once in a while I quietly celebrate my whiteness, in the closet as not to offend, and do something my white ancestors did for hundreds of years.

Today I made sausage…not just any sausage but Polish sausage. Just like my grand mother in law used to make.

The meat has been ground and the spices have been added. A test patty of two was fried to check the seasoning and I swear I think we have a winner. Tonight the mixture will sit in the refrigerator to meld flavors, and tomorrow comes the link making. 


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