Quiet on the home front

Normally I have something to do, but having beat off the flu, and watching my father who is ill, has pretty much kept me inside working on my crafts. My father was diagnosed with having a cancerous spot on his kidney and will be treated August 26th, a day before his 72nd birthday. The family has suspected cancer for a good while since dad eats like a horse, but gains little to no weight. Mother even commented that she can see his hip bones when he undresses...yes, he is that skinny. Why does he have to wait so long before treatment? Well, I guess Doctors feel they all need to take summer vacation at the same bloody time and since I dislike doctors, we wont go into this rant any further.

But, with dad being ill, my outlook for life is gloom. However, my sister is 1,000 miles away down in Georgia with her own worries and since I am the strong man (physically) of the family here, I will stay and help and watch what happens.

Other than the above, I have started taking up ceramic craft painting. I did this way back in 1993 and enjoyed it, however, the stores have long disappeared and now I found out that this craft is also disappearing from the net. Not a good thing. So, while I sit inside on gloomy days, I paint and hope to sell my crafts come next year craft shows. At least I'll have some income trickling in.

Now then, the weather just plain sucks. Oh, the temps are ideal (mid 70's) for being outside...July is normally a hot, humid, dry month. But Wisconsin, especially central part is experiencing the worst drought in years. There has been little to no rain for 2 months straight. There was a shower this morning, but it added to nothing and the NOAA radio stated that if it warms up today, storms may come tonight...it's sunny out now so I am hoping we get some nasty weather to drench the area and end this dry stuff.

I certainly do hope August is more eventful. Even my friends on-line, are off-line LOL :) Perhaps when kids go to school, I'll see more things to do :)

Happy July 4th or is it?

Another month has passed us by and now we are looking towards July. It's suppose to be the hottest month for us Wisconsinites, but so far it's nice and moderate holding at middle 70's.

I am not one to celebrate holidays as they are over rated, and darn right expensive. Not to mention, holidays are no longer celebrated like that in the old days when people would dive into friendly neighborhood competitions, challenge each other for who has the best fireworks, or have the area kids do races or games. Now a days, it's how much can you spend on watching someone else do the work while you're sitting on your lazy ass and not taking into account why the holiday is important to begin with. The whole meaning of holidays are gone, replaced with high tech crap on performing the best light shows in the area, while also making a fast buck at the same time. Yes, I do not enjoy holidays and they have become just another day.

However, do not let my downing of the holiday spoil any of my viewers spirits. Just please be safe, don't be stupid and enjoy yourself at the same time. I wont like hearing someone has 3rd degree burns or worse, is dead from a good time gone wrong by foolishness.

News Flash....couples no longer can have a food fight

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. – Authorities said a couple got into a fight using Cheetos. The Bedford County Sheriff's Department said a 40-year-old man and 44-year-old woman became involved in a 'verbal altercation.' Somehow, the orange puffy snacks were used in the assault.

Deputies said they were charged with domestic assault. No one was hurt.

According to the Shelbyville Times-Gazette, both posted bond of $2,500.



I saw this news article on Yahoo News. Frankly I am not surprised as the United States is becoming a police state more and more. A couple months ago an area high school had a food fight and the kids were handcuffed and taken to jail for destruction of property. It's unbelievable how society works these days and these restrictions only will get worse. It's bad enough that nosy neighbors feel they must save the day and feel important, thus call the police, or when school officials must summon a more authoritative figure when a simple punishment of cleaning up a cafeteria would work just fine. Is it no wonder why I cannot stand anyone in society who feels they have to be superior to the people behaving badly? Chances are, these "snitches" are kinky and have more dark secrets than those they are reporting.

It will be interesting to see this world become populated by saints, as it's clearly what society wants...everyone to get along, no arguments, no fun, no games, no laughter, no nothing. Yes, I can see it now..."Welcome to the United States, the most well behaved country in the world"....perhaps someone should then throw in 'boring' too as that is what it will surely become if society keeps up their damn nosy snitching in other peoples business. It's bad enough that children aren't allowed to be children...whats next? Come on, someone from society please tell me. Oh that's right, idiots in society wouldn't lower themselves to read a blog such as this as they would just rather report adults throwing cheetos at each other and of course, that is much more grown up than reading a blog that insults mindless, stupid, stooges from sainthood.

Are peoples lives this boring that they feel they must muzzle into someone else's affairs just to add excitement to their own lives? Apparently, and if that is the case, then they lead a very sad life indeed.

Shed from Hell

Okay, this was a project that my parents needed help with. Come Monday the 15th, I was asked to assist my father in constructing this shed. Well, it turned out that my elderly father, in his so loved way of asking for help, really had no bloody clue how to put it together. This left me wide open and I did the whole thing and the folks were the extra "hold that there", "can you hand me the f****** flashlight?" and so forth.

What made this project hellish, is that it was assembled in where else, China and the ever so smart Chinese FORGOT a whole blipping lot of screws, brackets and of course, not one part measured up correctly. Screw holes were off set, wall panels didn't fit the slots on the floor and talk about a headache. The instructions stated "Simple to build, 2 day construction"...right! It took me 4 days!!! Stupid Chinese and Stupid Americans who employ the Chinese...can you tell I totally am at wits end with the project?

Now I didn't mind the project at all since mom and I, in our way of not getting along, got along pretty well. S she was a trooper while I swore up and down and when parts didn't fit, got the heck out of my way so when I got mad, I MADE parts fit LOL!!! Ah yes, the joys of doing things the Smith way :)

But, as you can tell from the photo (never mind the idiot in blue) the project came together nicely. However, considering it's all plastic, it will take one match to melt an access door for any burglar and one can literally pop the lock off with a screw driver to gain access. But I really cannot complain all too much since the darn thing wont ever rust and there is a wonderful warranty of lifetime involved, but I doubt that will do any good since the company went belly up...but what you gonna do when you're dealing with plastic?

Looking out my back door

Tonight while relaxing, I was watching this doe as it laid down just outside my door near a salt block. When I went to retrieve the camera, she had gotten up and grazed over about 20 feet from the back door. This doe is an interesting girl as she is missing a hoof on her right front, but she handles herself well like she is walking on all 4's. I was considering taking this ole girl out come deer season, but I think I may not have to as apparently she doesn't see herself handicapped, nor hampered. But she does not run when she needs to, instead she hunkers down low and waits for danger to pass. As time goes on, my decision to take her down will rely on a few things such as the winter months and this may play a key roll in her becoming jerky.

It's been nearly 4 days since I've been able to get out into the woods due to rain. I thought it be good to police the 40 acres and just see how many trees have been downed, and how much mud I'll have to contend with on the logging roads. I decided to head through the pines and first check on my mineral block which is located near my food plot, but also in the pines protected from the weather. I got about 180 feet or so from the house and saw these white bulbs sticking up through the ground. Here I thought it was mushrooms, but decided to check it out anyways. To my surprise, this is the first time I have ever come across a wild turkey nest with eggs!!! I ran back to the house and zapped the photo and later learned that turkeys don't cover their eggs during the inoculation period. It will take 26 days for this to happen, though I have no idea how long these particular eggs have been exposed. I would think a predator like a coon would destroy them, but have not found anything detailing this on-line. So, anyone who is a turkey pro, tell me what you know about the hen leaving the eggs like this.

CUCV or Commercial Utility Cargo Vehicle

As I had mentioned earlier, I hate cars, but love trucks. I feel for country use, for any practical means that require hauling something, even a jack, a pick up is a nice means of utility. I've always loved the United States military trucks. Basically a civilian pickup built heavy duty to handle a morbid of things, including rough handling. I'm not one of these fellas who likes teal colored trucks with shiny chrome bumpers that require washing every weekend to look nice and appealing. Frankly, to me a truck is built to be run into the ground until you cannot drive it anymore. Unfortunately though, tough trucks that are still made of steel are hard to find. But, the military CUCV has a lot going for it that makes it often over looked. For instance, it's all American with parts made in the states. It's a diesel for the most part, thus very reliable and can even be submerged deeper than say fuel injected. Too bad though that most folks want to buy something within 5 years old and well, the CUCV trucks are from the 80's. Most see them as fixer up trucks, ugly, gas hogs, not worth even a look....exactly what I want.

I love how these trucks don't say "Steal Me!" but instead say "yes, I'm ugly, move on"...the paint on these trucks are also rust proof. One doesn't need wax to keep it looking good. One doesn't have to worry about scratches...just spray with krylon and you're good to go. I don't care much for camouflage clad vehicles, but if I was to get one, it would be in Olive Drab or Tan/Sand color. Of course I'd fix it up a little, but nothing more than $300...mainly on tires and then attach either fog or driving lights. The idea is to keep it stock, while also upgrading it so it performs better on road.

But what is the cost of these vehicles? Depends. If you want a full restored version, you're looking at around $10,000 depending on where you buy it from. If you buy one that is in working order, but needs repairs, one can buy for around $5000. If you want to go cheaper, then I could buy one for close to $2000 but I'd prefer getting one in good shape and drivable from the dealer.

So where do you find such trucks? Sometimes answering this is difficult because there are not many dealers that work with these unique machines. One has to do a lot of searching both on-line and off. Some links that I have found, and one that was given to me (thanks Ray) are the best places to start, including that of a forum called "Steel Soldiers" which deals with all military vehicles.

http://www.vintagemilitarytrucks.com

http://www.steelsoldiers.com

There are also different models. For instance, M1008 is a pickup and the M1009 is a blazer, however, the model M1010 is an ambulance which I think would make a dandy camper if you had the known how on creating such things from scratch.