Flooding In Louisiana

I saw this today and it made me laugh out loud. Sometimes truth is found in the funny papers.

My allergic reaction is over and I am getting over my psoriasis slowly but surely. Do any of you have psoriasis and do you have any tips and advice for me? I’m starting to feel like my old self again so maybe I will start posting again soon. Keep prepping everyone!

Gene Gene The Dancing Machine

Tonight we have another blast from my past. I was reading some blogs today and I discovered Gene Patton, AKA Gene Gene The Dancing Machine, passed away at the age of 82. When I was in college, times were harder than they are today. I stayed in a dorm where most of the residents were agriculture or forestry majors. This dorm did not have TVs and Wi-Fi in the rooms, heck, we didn’t even have air conditioning if you can imagine that. We did have a lounge area with a TV and whatever the group decided on was what we watched. We nearly always collected in the lounge in the afternoon after classes, and we usually watched shows such as MASH, Andy Griffin, and the Gong Show. One of the special treats while watching the Gong Show was the appearance of Gene Gene The Dancing Machine. When he came on, everyone in the lounge was required to get up and start dancing. If you have never experienced the pure unadulterated Joy that is Gene Gene, just click the link above and imagine a couple of dozen college boys dancing around the TV! Sounds kinda Gay now that I think about it. Enjoy!

Lawn Decorations

Sweet Thing and I stopped at a plant nursery recently and they had a life-size fiberglass elephant on display. I told her I wanted to put this right out by the highway next to the driveway. She said NO! Imagine that. I told her if we had that it would be easy to give people directions to our house, and if we really wanted to attract attention we could paint it pink! Now that would be an eye catcher wouldn’t it? Keep prepping everyone!

Old Timey Cellphones

Recently Stephen over at dixie critter had a post where some teenagers were laughing and making fun of his old-style landline on his desk. Well, those kids should get a look at my first cellphone.

Here it is, my first cellphone, a Motorola bag phone, circa 1985. Don’t laugh, this thing was amazing. You could use this in your truck and make a telephone call from anywhere! (as long as you had a signal) It even had a battery and you could carry it with you and make a call standing outside. Incredible! It was a miracle! Previously, I had to be in the house or at a payphone to make a call. I would work until 6:00 or so, then I would get home, take a shower, eat a bite of dinner and start calling my clients around 7:30 up till about 10:00. Now-a-days with cellphones, I can talk to them at all hours of the day and not have to be on such a tight calling schedule. Having a cellphone has allowed me to take on more clients because I could contact more of them throughout the day and not be limited to just the evening hours. Of course, that bag phone was state of the art for that time, but it didn’t even have a camera. Who needed that? I had this.

A Polaroid Instamatic camera! And yes, I checked on Amazon today, you can still buy film for this camera. Prior to this I had a 35 MM camera that used a roll of film. Kids, this was how it worked. You loaded the film in the camera and took pictures until the roll was full, usually 24-36 pictures per roll. Then you took that roll to the drugstore, put it in an envelope for the lab to pick up. In about a week or ten days you would get your pictures back. After looking them over, if you had some you wanted to share, you went back to the drug store, put the negatives in an envelope for the lab to pick up. Then in another week or ten days you would get back pictures to share with your family and friends. Now wasn’t that easy? Thinking about the old phones and cameras reminded me of this.

We keep this plastic case under the seat of Sweet Things vehicle. What is it?

You open the case and inside you have an emergency communication device, a CB radio! Sweet Thing has kept this radio since the early 1970’s and it still works perfectly. As a matter of fact, we used it recently on our trip to Nashville. We topped a hill and I slammed on the brakes to avoid a solid line of vehicles jammed up in both lanes of traffic. What in the world is going on? We pulled out the CB and the truckers were telling each other there was an accident 2 miles ahead and you needed to be in the right-hand lane to get around. I moved over to the right and crept ever so slowly past the jam-up. Sweet Thing used the radio a few months prior to that in similar circumstances only this time the wreck was so bad the traffic was at a complete standstill. The truckers were telling each other how to get off of the interstate and by-pass the accident so it saved her from sitting on the road for several hours waiting for the accident to clear. This radio really comes in handy sometimes, it just helps to be prepared. Keep prepping everyone!

Santa Is Ready For Easter

Sweet Thing has Santa dressed up for Easter. This just keeps getting more and more creepy!

Santa Is Ready For St. Patrick’s Day

Sweet Thing dressed up her Santa for St. Patrick’s Day. Man, this is starting to just get plain creepy!

Valentines Day 2014

I brought home flowers.

Sweets for my Sweets.

And a mushy card with all the appropriate sentiments.

I’m golden, guys! How about you? If you forgot don’t panic. My local Pakistani convenience store had silk roses, cheap perfume, and 40 ounce Sparkling Malt Duck all ready to go! It might just save your life, go get it!

Santa Clause is Going Huntin’

Sweet Thing made this stuffed Santa and had him sitting in the corner before Christmas. After the Holidays, instead of putting him back in the attic where he belongs, she put away his red suit and dressed him in a camo jacket and got him ready to go huntin’. Now she wants to dress him up for Valentines Day! I kinda think he might need to go back to the North Pole until next Christmas! What do you think? Keep prepping everyone!

Old Man Arms

I looked down and realized I had developed “Old Man Arms”! And what is that you might ask? Well, a lot of older men take blood thinners for circulatory medical problems and their blood is so thin just the lightest bump on their skin will leave a big red bruised spot, what I call a blood blister. I don’t remember bumping my arm at all, but none-the-less I have old man bruises. That’s impossible! I am not taking blood thinners and I am definitely not an old man,,,am I? Keep prepping everyone.

Speedy Turtle

This is a Painted Turtle I encountered earlier this year and I had a unique experience. This turtle was walking across a huge field, traveling from one dried up water hole towards a permanent pond. He had already traveled nearly a quarter of a mile and he had another quarter of a mile before he reached the water. I thought OK little guy, I will help you out and give you a ride. I stopped and walked towards him and he turned and sprinted underneath my ATV. Man, that turtle can really move! I pushed the ATV forward about 10 feet and the turtle ran back underneath it. I walked around to the side and he moved over to the other side out of reach. I went to that side and he ran to the other side. This went on for nearly 5 minutes, he would go to one side then back to the other. He would even run out from underneath the ATV and circle back around to the other side! I have never seen a turtle exhibit that much intelligence or speed, they usually just pull back into their shell when you get them cornered. I thought to myself OK turtle, I’m just trying to help you out and here you are making me run around in this field like some kind of nut. But I wouldn’t give up, I know I am smarter than a turtle. I started my ATV and when he was safely in the middle away from the tires I rode up 50 feet before I stopped and started back to him. He was already headed in the other direction and I had to run to catch him. I held him in my hand as I carried him to the pond. I sat him on the bank of the pond and he sprinted over and dove off into the water like Mark Spitz! (that might be like Michael Phelps to you youngsters) I guess I should have brought him home for a pet, I might have trained him and we could have toured as Swamp Dog and The World’s Smartest Turtle! Who knows, We might have had our own TV show like Duck Dynasty!