Going to Blogorado!

I attended Blogorado for the first time in 2017.  I missed it in 2018 due to my illness.  I tried as hard as I could to make it to the 2019 gathering, but that effort ended in disaster when I managed to blow up the engine in my truck, stranding me in Las Vegas, NM.  That was the most expensive vacation (that wasn't) I've ever experienced in my life.  I could've taken my wife to Tahiti for what that ended up costing.

Blogorado 2020 is this weekend.  I leave tomorrow.  I've never needed a vacation this badly in my life.

I'm taking the T-shirts I had made for last year:  

That's "the most photographed barn in Colorado."  It's gone, now, but not forgotten.

Bleg for a Cause

Like guns and neat stuff?  Chuck Zeigenfuss (US Army, Retired) now runs Hero Labradors.  He raises Labradors for donation to organizations that train them to be service dogs for veterans.  He's running a raffle to raise money for Hero Labradors.  Not many days left.  Tickets are limited to 1,000.  Cost is $25 each.  Prizes are:

New AR 10  custom .308 rifle (Aero Precision)

New AR 15 custom .300 blackout pistol (MagTactical Industries)

Howa model 1500 .223 Rifle (gently used, in excellent condition) 

Walking Stick, custom carved and painted, signed by two MOH recipients (Sal Giunta and Clint Romesha... and possibly more!)

Rustic Labrador signs

House to House: signed by the Author, Staff Sergeant David Bellavia

If you've got a spare $25 and would like a shot (see what I did there?) at a new gun or a good book or a neat item, please go and buy a ticket to support Chuck and his organization.

If You Need Something Relaxing to Watch - Puppycam!

Read This. No, Seriously.

My Secret Life as a Reporter for “Doll Reader” Magazine

It’s not long. It’s the story of a woman who graduated with a double major in Women’s Studies and English who wanted to be a Journalist (capitalized on purpose - it was her calling!) for the Washington Post, but ended up writing for a collectible doll trade magazine and discovered that the B.S. that had been poured into her head her entire life actually was B.S.

The sheer arrogance and disdain she admits to towards people she considered beneath her (and that’s pretty much everyone she worked with) is TEXTBOOK for the Anointed Left.

She managed, at least somewhat, to overcome it. Reality has a tendency to do that.

Seen in the Wild

50 Years Ago Today

Man first landed on the Moon:


Here, fifty years later I have become convinced that the United States peaked on this day, fifty years ago. The decay had already begun, but we as a nation carried off the single most difficult, incredible effort in human history. I'm blessed to have been alive during that time.

More

Bigger

Higher

Faster

Taller

More powerful

Happier

...Better

More.  It's a concept that defines human nature, makes us what we are.  We want more.

More of what?  That's one of the defining attributes of unique individuals - the what that we want more of.  The what that drives our own personal pursuit of happiness.  But now a growing contingent of The Anointed™ is telling us and the rest of the world, "You can't have more."

Fuck 'em.

(Another early draft dusted off and polished a bit.)

This I HAVE to See

Quote of the Day - Sarah Hoyt Edition

I think the vast majority of people don’t feel the need to work above a subsistence level and that those of us who do are the mutants. - The Right to Go to Hell

Thanksgiving

Considering the fact that I'm upright and still breathing, I have a lot of thanks to give.  I thank all of the people at Mayo who took care of me. I thank my family for supporting and caring for me.  I thank the company I still work for.  And I thank all of you out there who prayed, wished me well, and even donated to the GoFundMe my daughter ran - that was pretty damned humbling, y'all. 

But most of all, I thank my wife for taking care of me throughout the last 23 years - and the last year especially. 

So this Thanksgiving think about all the gifts you have every day - a family to care for and care for you, a roof over your head, food on your table, a job to go to, and - especially - your health.  If you have these things, you are rich indeed.

And a further bit of advice:

Happy Halloween!

Beware Scammers

So, somebody tried to run a scam on me today.

I received a phone call on my cell as I was leaving a job site, and while I normally check the incoming number, I don't do that while driving. I just hit the "hands-free" button and answered.  A young woman who sounded remarkably like my daughter does in hysterics (I've heard her in hysterics before) said she'd been in an accident, didn't know where she was and a guy "wouldn't let her go."

Said guy got on the phone and informed me that he had my daughter, and if I wanted her back alive, I was going to have to get him some money - all I could scrape up - and fast.

I informed him I was two hours out of Tucson in the freaking middle of nowhere. Took a while to convince him, but he finally instructed me that he wanted me to drive to the town of Superior and wire him some money from a check-cashing place there. I told him that I was on an AT&T cell phone, and that service out there sucked, and the call would probably be dropped before I got to Superior. He informed me that if the call dropped, my daughter would be dead. He did everything he could think of to keep me on the line.

Sure enough, the call dropped just outside of Superior. The phone number was Mexican (+52 country code). I called 911 as soon as cell service was restored. I checked and my daughter was at work, and so was my grandaughter.

Got my adrenaline dump for the month.

Beware scammers. This guy had done this before, and was very smooth. I wanted to rip his spleen out through his mouth.

It's Gone

Remember my 3/4-life crisis when I sold my Mustang and bought an MG?

Almost a year later, I'm rid of the MG.  Took a pretty big loss on the deal, but my garage now has a hole in it, thank you jeebus.  The new owner seems pleased.  I'm pleased.  My wife is pleased.

Now I need to clean up the garage so she can park her car inside.

Awww, Sonofabitch, It's Dusty in Here...

I just ran across something at Reddit most of you probably already have read, but I'm going to copy it here with attribution because I want to archive it myself.  It's titled In the final minutes of his life, Calvin has one last talk with Hobbes, by Redditor "Samuraitiger19."

"Calvin? Calvin, sweetheart?"

In the darkness Calvin heard the sound of Susie, his wife of fifty-three years. Calvin struggled to open his eyes. God, he was so tired and it took so much strength. Slowly, light replaced the darkness, and soon vision followed. At the foot of his bed stood his wife. Calvin wet his dry lips and spoke hoarsely, "Did... did you.... find him?"

"Yes dear," Susie said smiling sadly, "He was in the attic."

Susie reached into her big purse and brought out a soft, old, orange tiger doll. Calvin could not help but laugh. It had been so long. Too long.

"I washed him for you," Susie said, her voice cracking a little as she laid the stuffed tiger next to her husband.

"Thank you, Susie." Calvin said.

A few moments passed as Calvin just laid on his hospital bed, his head turned to the side, staring at the old toy with nostalgia.

"Dear," Calvin said finally. "Would you mind leaving me alone with Hobbes for a while? I would like to catch up with him."

"All right," Susie said. "I'll get something to eat in the cafeteria. I'll be back soon."

Susie kissed her huband on the forehead and turned to leave. With sudden but gentle strength Calvin stopped her. Lovingly he pulled his wife in and gave her a passionate kiss on the lips. "I love you," he said.

"And I love you," said Susie.

Susie turned and left. Calvin saw tears streaming from her face as she went out the door.

Calvin then turned to face his oldest and dearest friend. "Hello Hobbes. It's been a long time hasn't it old pal?"

Hobbes was no longer a stuffed doll but the big furry old tiger Calvin had always remembered. "It sure has, Calvin." said Hobbes.

"You... haven't changed a bit." Calvin smiled.

"You've changed a lot." Hobbes said sadly.

Calvin laughed, "Really? I haven't noticed at all."

There was a long pause. The sound of a clock ticking away the seconds rang throughout the sterile hospital room.

"So... you married Susie Derkins." Hobbes said, finally smiling. "I knew you always like her."

"Shut up!" Calvin said, his smile bigger than ever.

"Tell me everything I missed. I'd love to hear what you've been up to!" Hobbes said, excited.  And so Calvin told him everything. He told him about how he and Susie fell in love in high school and had married after graduating from college, about his three kids and four grandkids, how he turned Spaceman Spiff into one of the most popular sci-fi novels of the decade, and so on. After he told Hobbes all this there was another pregnant pause.

"You know... I visited you in the attic a bunch of times." Calvin said.

"I know."

"But I couldn't see you. All I saw was a stuffed animal." Calvin voice was breaking and tears of regret started welling up in his eyes.

"You grew up old buddy." said Hobbes.

Calvin broke down and sobbed, hugging his best friend. "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry I broke my promise! I promised I wouldn't grow up and that we'd be together forever!!"

Hobbes stroke the Calvin's hair, or what little was left of it. "But you didn't."

"What do you mean?"

"We were always together... in our dreams."

"We were?"

"We were."

"Hobbes?"

"Yeah, old buddy?"

"I'm so glad I got to see you like this... one last time..."

"Me too, Calvin. Me too."

"Sweetheart?" Susie voice came from outside the door.

"Yes dear?" Calvin replied.

"Can I come in?" Susie asked.

"Just a minute."  Calvin turned to face Hobbes one last time. "Goodbye Hobbes. Thanks... for everything..."

"No, thank you Calvin." Hobbes said.

Calvin turned back to the door and said, "You can come in now."

Susie came in and said, "Look who's come to visit you."

Calvin's children and grandchildren followed Susie into Calvin's room. The youngest grandchild ran past the rest of them and hugged Calvin in a hard, excited hug. "Grandpa!!" screamed the child in delight.

"Francis!" cried Calvin's daughter, "Be gentle with your grandfather."

Calvin's daughter turned to her dad. "I'm sorry, Daddy. Francis never seems to behave these days. He just runs around making a mess and coming up with strange stories."

Calvin laughed and said, "Well now! That sound just like me when I was his age."
Calvin and his family chatted some more until a nurse said, "Sorry, but visiting hours are almost up."  Calvin's beloved family said good bye and promised to visit tomorrow. As they turned to leave Calvin said, "Francis. Come here for a second."

Francis came over to his grandfather's side, "What is it Gramps?"

Calvin reached over to the stuffed tiger on his bedside and and held him out shakily to his grandson, who looked exactly as he did so many years ago. "This is Hobbes. He was my best friend when I was your age. I want you to have him."

"He's just a stuffed tiger." Francis said, eyebrows raised.

Calvin laughed, "Well, let me tell you a secret."  Francis leaned closer to Calvin. Calvin whispered, "If you catch him in a tiger trap using a tuna sandwich as bait he will turn into a real tiger."

Francis gasped in delighted awe. Calvin continued, "Not only that he will be your best friend forever."

"Wow! Thanks grandpa!" Francis said, hugging his grandpa tightly again.

"Francis! We need to go now!" Calvin's daughter called.

"Okay!" Francis shouted back.

"Take good care of him." Calvin said.

"I will." Francis said before running off after the rest of the family.

Calvin laid on his back and stared at the ceiling. The time to go was close. He could feel it in his soul. Calvin tried to remember a quote he read in a book once. It said something about death being the next great adventure or something like that. He eyelids grew heavy and his breathing slowed. As he went deeper into his final sleep he heard Hobbes, as if he was right next to him at his bedside. "I'll take care of him, Calvin..."

Calvin took his first step toward one more adventure and breathed his last with a grin on his face.

Just. Damn.

The Well-Regulated Militia

Meet the Cajun Navy:

“They can handle their boats better than the average fireman, who handles a boat once a year during annual training,” says Lt. General (ret.) Russel Honore, who estimates outdoorsmen saved 10,000 from floodwaters in New Orleans while he was in command there after Hurricane Katrina. “They use their boats all the time and know their waters, and know their capacity. It’s an old professional pride. It’s like good food: Some people didn’t go to the Cordon Bleu, but they can cook like hell. That’s these fishermen and their boats.”

Buster Stoker, 21, is a heavy equipment operator for R&R Construction in Sulphur, La., and spends the rest of his time in his 17-foot aluminum Pro Drive marsh boat, fishing for alligator-gar in the heat of summer and chasing fowl through water-thickets in the winter.

“The best day on the water is every day on the water,” he said.

He and several other construction colleagues met in the company parking lot Monday morning at 5 a.m., loaded up with gas and supplies, and headed toward Houston. They launched their little fleet of 14 craft from the intersection of Highway 90 and 526, and over the next several hours they pulled hundreds of people out of their flooded homes in subdivisions, hauling them aboard like gasping bass.

This Cajun Navy is a nebulous, informal thing. It has no real corps or officers. It’s “an intensely informal and unorganized operation,” says Academy Award-winning filmmaker Allan Durand, a Lafayette, La., native., who did a documentary on the “Cajun Navy” volunteer-boats following Katrina.

It’s a movement basically founded on the realization that large government agencies aren’t quick-moving.

According to Honore, they have become utterly essential.

“The first-responders aren’t big enough to do this,” he said. “You might have a police force of 3,000, and maybe 200 know how to handle a boat.”

And that's a citizen militia.

ETA:  Watch this.

Further update:  Read this.

I Wonder What the Earworm from This Would Be?

Seen at the Book of Face, had to share:

Frozen 2:  Lethal Ice

Oh, and Happy Mother's Day!

Well, THIS Sucks.

When I got up yesterday morning I had an ache in my groin area (I know, TMI! TMI!) on the left side. Didn't know what it was, but it was only slightly annoying. Last night when I went to bed it was worse, but I noticed that my left leg was a bit swollen. Still, the discomfort was minimal. This morning the skin on my left leg was tighter than a bloated tick. Pain still wasn't bad, but it had reached the level of annoying.

I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, but I do read a LOT, and most of it sticks. "Kevin," my brain said, "I think you've got a blood clot in your leg."

So I did what every good digital denizen does when confronted with a possible life-threatening medical condition, I asked the internet whether I should go to Urgent Care or not. Consensus was "Yes." So I called my regular doctor (before normal business hours) and left a message asking them. Got a return call almost immediately: Emergency room. Urgent care doesn't do ultrasound tests.

So bright and early this morning I was in an ER getting an ultrasound of my leg. Diagnosis: a healthy bouncing baby blood clot, very high up in my thigh.

This shit can kill you.

But I told the ER doctor the reason I came in wasn't the possibility of sudden death by heart attack or pulmonary embolism, it was an old joke that kept running through my head:

A guy's mother collapses, and she's rushed by ambulance to the hospital. After hours in the ER waiting room the Doctor comes out. "I have good news and bad news," he says. "What's the bad news?" the son asks.

"Well, your mother has suffered a severe stroke. Her entire left side is paralyzed, but that doesn't really matter because her brain function is severely degraded. She can't talk, in fact about all she can do is make this really annoying screeching sound. You'll have to feed her, bathe her, change her diapers, basically care for her like she's an infant for the rest of her life. And she may live another twenty years."

"Jesus," the son says, "What's the good news?"

The doctor replies, "She died. I'm just fucking with you."

Got both the doctor and the nurse to laugh. 

Anyway, as I said, Deep Vein Thrombosis can fuck you up. I'm pretty sure that's what killed Acidman and Captain Phil Harris from Deadliest Catch.

Pay attention to the symptoms.

And if it gets real quiet around here, well.....

Car Show!

Today was the annual Fords on Fourth car show here in Tucson, or as I like to call it, "twenty acres of Mustangs and some other Fords."

Here are some of the other Fords.

Movie Review: Logan

No spoilers.

I'm detecting a trend in action movies this year: Lots and lots and LOTS of dead bad guys. (John Wick 2, Logan....)

Hit-Girl has some serious competition.

The preview for Deadpool 2 is hysterical.

The reason, I think, that DC comic-book movies are not as commercially successful as Marvel comic-book movies is because they're not as fun or as funny. The reason the X-Men movies haven't been as commercially successful as, say, Iron Man or the Avengers series is, they're not as fun or as funny. It wasn't the R-Rating that made Deadpool wildly commercially successful, it was the humor. This was not a fun/funny film. It ain't for kiddies. The R-Rating was earned. It was pretty serious. And pretty predictable. But damned well acted.

If you like Hugh Jackman as The Wolverine, it's worth your money to go see it.

Oh, and the kid can ACT. You'll be seeing more of her in the movies, I think. (Why couldn't George Lucas cast a kid who could ACT?!?)