TheLastColdBeer

Rebuilding a clutch, got three of the rusty 10-32 Allen heads to break loose, but I accidentally rounded the last one using a cheater bar. "Sigh", now I'm screwed, it's in a recess, no way to get tools to it, and it's surrounded by a crimped flange that can't be removed. Dropped a thin center punch down the hole, and hand held it on the drill press while I put an 1/8" pilot hole through. Straight through, without touching the threads......that's how it's supposed to work, but it rarely happens. Everyone in our production department rolled their eyes & told me to buy a lottery ticket.

On a lighter note, I was invited to a church breakfast Sunday. Great time, great fellowship, and the sermon gave me a couple new points to ponder. I didn't know what to bring, so early Sunday morning I was peeling apples & rolling out dough.

This is a copy of Paul's speech, written in 1964. I find it to be eerie & spot on for our times, just as he predicted. If I were the Devil, if I were the Prince of Darkness, I’d want to engulf the whole world in darkness and I would have a third of its real estate and four-fifths of its population, but I wouldn’t be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree, thee. So I would set about however necessary to take over the United States. I’d subvert the churches first. I’d begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: “Do as you please.” To the young, I would whisper that the Bible is a myth. I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what is bad is good and what is good is “square.” And the old, I would teach to pray after me: “Our Father which art in Washington.” And then I’d get organized. I’d educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting. I’d make TV look worse than movies and then make movies look worse than TV in a vicious cycle that just gets worse and worse. I’d peddle narcotics to whomever [sic] I could. I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. I’d tranquilize the rest with pills. If I were the Devil, I’d soon have families at war with themselves, churches at war with themselves, and nations at war with themselves, until each in its turn was consumed. And with promises of higher ratings, I’d have mesmerizing media fanning the flames. If I were the Devil, I would encourage schools to refine young intellects but neglect to discipline emotions; just let those run wild until, before you knew it, you’d have to have drug-sniffing dogs and metal detectors at every schoolhouse door. Within a decade, I’d have prisons overflowing. I’d have judges promoting pornography. Soon I could evict God from the courthouse, and then from the schoolhouse, and then from the houses of Congress. And in His own churches I would substitute psychology for religion and deify science. I would lure priests and pastors into misusing boys and girls and church money. If I were the Devil, I’d make the symbol of Easter an egg and the symbol of Christmas a bottle. If I were the Devil, I would take from those who have and give to those who wanted, until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious. And what will you bet I couldn’t get whole states to promote gambling as the way to get rich. I would caution against extremes in hard work, in patriotism, in moral conduct. I would convince the young that marriage is old-fashioned, that swinging is more fun, that what you see on TV is the way to be and thus I could undress you in public and I could lure you into bed with diseases for which there is no cure.

I screwed up the evap cannister & pcv valve one.

We wrapped up a week of quarter mailing, headed over to Applebee's for some tall drafts of Blue Moon & Bahama Mamas. Got home before the stupid set in too deep. Had a couple more downstairs, because it was raining & too icky to light a fire outside. Took this shot to prove to my boss I got home OK.

Tractor parts, points, condensers & bearings, that's all I keep in my safe....honest!

Here she is Rob, but we've gone silent about sending pix across phones & internet. Current administration & all that garbage. Never know who's watching & listening.

Bought a MKIV years ago that had been in storage since the war. Claimed it was from a warehouse in Northern Ireland. Perfect wood, beautiful bright bore, & sharp lands. I still have British .303 laying around w\cordite loading.

Whatever seems the most silly, the most bizarre, nonsensical, idiotic & unreal is supposed to be accepted as the new normal. I'll pass. They haven't (yet) tried to push goat blood off as beer, or called lamb urine wine, but anything is possible with the deranged.

The Ruhr valley was jammed end to end with new equipment when American troops captured it. Tigers, Panthers, Pak40s, 88s, Stugs, you name it. The factories choked on their own production, because the marshaling yards & rail lines had been bombed. Couldn't get the material out. Wreaking the transportation network & refineries was one of the most effective uses of the 8th Air Force.

Aww c'mon rob, you can't buy into guys can get pregnant, girls have testicles, islam is peaceful, cattle are causing global warming, and using public schools to groom kids for sex slavery aren't great ideas? For me, the sun still rises in the east, water is still wet, and truth is coin of the realm in reality. Everything else is depraved insanity.

Bourbonnaise isn't a bad place to be, you'll like it come spring & summer. For those of us born here, Illinois will forever be home, but can't for the life of me wonder why anyone would move TO Illinois. Taxes suck, gov sux, and all the things that made Illinois wonderful have left.

Why do men get smarter during sex? They're plugged into a know-it-all. Dude was having great sex with his new girlfriend. Afterward she reached over and gently scratched his balls. Amused, he asked "why do you like doing that?" "I really miss my own." Sorry, just had to throw in some real humor...

Twice, within a year, we had the blm pay us a visit. The first time, our courageous mayors told us to go home, lock your doors & stay in the basement. Nah, how about we load our guns, keep them out of sight & see what happens. BTW, if anybody so much as tosses a brick, it's game on. We had our rifles loaded at work, because our business owners all decided to go down swinging protecting what they had spent a lifetime building. The blm ended up being a bunch of college kids bused in, and they did a little skit downtown LaSalle protesting floyd's death. Big non-event, but nobody knew what to expect. Second time around, it was Jesse Jackson leading a protest about Jelani Day's body being found in the Illinois river. We didn't know much, it was an investigation taken over by Illinois State Police, and it centered in Bloomington. The LaSalle County coroner declared it a drowning, and that's all we knew. Again, a bunch of buses showed up with kids from Northern University. Nobody got excited, the guns were reloaded, but kept out of sight. Jesse & company didn't do their cause any good, ranting with bullhorns during their little march, and anybody that was sympathetic turned sour after being threatened with their "sundown" town being burned, and everyone being called white supremacists. The police did a fine job of keeping them in line, and nothing was damaged. There was no doubt in anyone's mind what it meant to load up. No warning was to be given, and it wasn't going to be shoot to wound. At that point, your old life was gone, and everything you worked for was gone. The mob was going to pay dearly for destroying our lives, and our futures. Think before you exercise your "right" to protest. Your rights end when you trample ours, and we'll extract a horrible revenge for forcing us to defend our lives and property.

Friends suggested something less likely to get caught in the mower/trimmer. Wove this little three braid, might see if the cemetery folks want a few.

Tying the double wall knots was the kicker, it reminded me no matter how many times you do it wrong, you can just rip it back out & start over. Finally remembered the technique, and got those right. The crowns were easy, I was making it too hard, and it came back in a rush how to lay them over & cinch them tight....d'oh! If you can find a copy, this book makes for great reading, or go to gutenberg.org & look up Hyatt Verrill. The old sailors really knew their craft.

Used to love playing with rope, for shortenings and riggings, boating and kite flying. It always fascinated me what people could come up with just using a line & a loop. Stopped doing it after my Aunt died, but after laying flowers out at my wife's grave, and seeing wreaths on the other monuments, I tried it again. Very surprised my hands remembered how. Here's the wreath I wove yesterday, and the hitch to shorten in around Lori's flower base.

Howdy!

I wonder if the people I meet have any lights on at all.

Yep, duck was my search engine of choice, until they announced that nonsense. Really? We respect your privacy, but we'll monitor what's available for search. Do these people think before they get all woke-ed up? Whatever happened to leave it alone, let the people make the decisions?

I'm giving Brave a shot, search engine is still beta. Mozilla, IE, Google, Silk.....kinda feel like a poppy flower being bled.

We've switched to Caroline's around here, much less pricey than Bailey's. A favorite on fishing trips. I never make enough gravy....got biscuits for the next two mornings though.

All I need to do now is pour another cup of coffee & start the gravy in my frying pan.

Joy House w/Alain Delon, Lola Albright, & Jane Fonda. Circa 1964. Had quite a twist at the end.

Prayers asked, this isn't the fun part of life. At least you're together, this isn't the time to be alone.