OCD ADD DOG

I love my dog... Really. I LOVE my dog... There are days, However, that I just want to twist his little blue neck shut till the bubbles stop.

I'm working in my office, trying to make some semblance of order from the thousand or so receipts that go with home improvement on our taxes, when Jack comes in with a racquetball.

BOUNCE

Bounce

Bounce

bounce bounce bounce

"Jack, I'm busy... Go lay down and relax."

chew

chew

BOUNCE

Bounce

bounce bounce bounce

"Really, Go play with your stuffed animals..."

Bounce

bouncebouncebounce

chew

chew

bounce bounce

STARE

BOUNCE

Bounce

bounce

bounce

bouncebouncebounce

(Under my desk, of course)

STARE

Good thing I have a few days left to get this done.

chew

chew chew

bouncebouncebounce

DON'T TELL THE RED QUEEN I SAID THAT!

Chew

chew

chewchewchew

BOUNCE

Bounce

bounce

bouncebouncebounce

Sigh.

Reel Lines (39)

Mr. Evans: You ever been to Lawrence KS young man?

Jack Bull Chiles: No, I reckon not Mr. Evans. I don't believe I'd be too welcome in Lawrence.

Mr. Evans: I didn't think so. Before this war began, my business took me there often. As I saw those northerners build that town, I witnessed the seeds of our destruction being sown.

Jack Bull Chiles: The foundin' of that town was truly the beginnin' of the Yankee invasion.

Mr. Evans: I'm not speakin' of numbers, nor even abolitionist trouble makin'. It was the schoolhouse. Before they built their church, even, they built that schoolhouse. And they let in every tailor's son... and every farmer's daughter in that country.

Jack Bull Chiles: Spellin' won't help you hold a plow any firmer. Or a gun either.

Mr. Evans: No, it won't Mr. Chiles. But my point is merely that they rounded every pup up into that schoolhouse because they fancied that everyone should think and talk the same free-thinkin' way they do with no regard to station, custom, propriety. And that is why they will win. Because they believe everyone should live and think just like them. And we shall lose because we don't care one way or another how they live. We just worry about ourselves.

Jack Bull Chiles: Are you sayin', sir, that we fight for nothin'?

Mr. Evans: Far from it, Mr. Chiles. You fight for everything that we ever had, as did my son. It's just that... we don't have it anymore.

Rebel In The Rain

Hermanito and myself out for a Sunday Ride.

Happy Trails

Next up on the very cool old stuff is this Auto Trails Map by Rand McNally ca. 1922. I cant help but wonder why it wasn't yet a road map. They were roads back then... Hmm.

I love the fact that it has all sorts of usefull information... such as:

North Carolina: Registration Fee, $10 to $20 depending on horsepower. Speed Limit: 10 business section, residential 18 and elsewhere 25.

In Charlotte, NC you could stay at the Stonewall hotel for $1.50 and up. Atlanta, Ga was a little more hoity toity with $2.00 rooms at the Hotel Cecil. If you really wanted to splurge, go to Chattanooga, TN and the Signal Mountain Hotel for a whopping $3.00!

The whole thing is only 4x8" and most of the maps are half a page... Or less! The bigger cities like DC, Atlanta and Cincinatti are double pages. It's amazing we got anywhere at all.

I'm An Esso Bee

ca. 1944

Round Trip

I've been digging through trunks of papers and pictures I found at a couple of old houses that belong to cousins that care naught for history. That's where I found yesterdays pictures. You'll see a lot of that in days to come.

One of the coolest things I found so far in my boxes of old papers is a letter from a small town teacher... To herself. In 1933 Richard Byrd made a second expedition to Antarctica. Part of the funding was provided by a program that allowed you to purchase a 3 cent stamp and for an additional 50 cents your letter would be taken to Little America in the Antarctic and mailed back to you... With the corresponding postmark, of course.

Rumor has it that FDR had a hand in designing said stamp. Strange. This letter had been to Boston, the bottom of the world and back to North Carolina, but then was stuffed in a trunk for 75 plus years to be found by me.

You can read more about the expedition here.

Picture This

John S. and his steers Pat and MikeJohn and Magnolia S.
I love the way he's looking at her in this picture. True love.

You Can Tuna Fish

It's lent, and as such Catholics are asked to abstain from certain things... Meat on Friday for instance. The Red Queen is Catholic and I was asked nicely (snort) to refrain from cooking a hamburger for lunch in her presence. Me, being of such sweet disposition (choke) obliged.

Instead, I made my own personal tuna salad recipe.

I've never been a fan of tuna salad. Too flat and unassuming, and quite often bland despite the natural salt tang of tuna... So I made my own recipe.

Here it is:

2 5oz cans of tuna in water. Any brand will do, but I like Chicken of the Sea. If you want to get fancy, use white albacore, as long as it's in water, not oil.

1 stalk celery

2-3 BIG tablespoons sweet relish. I use homemade sweet pickles and chop them up myself, but not everyone has a big sister that supplies them with delicious home grown goodies

3-4 big tablespoons mayo. I like Kraft lite, but if you want sweeter go for Miracle Whip.

2 large hard boiled eggs. The eggs make it fluffier, adds a nice texture.

Boil the eggs first, because that takes the longest. For easy, perfect boiled eggs, place them in a pan of cold water covered by at least an inch of water. Bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and let sit 12-15 min. Cover eggs with ice water 5 min. Peel and chop up finely. I mash mine with a fork.

Open and drain tuna.

Quarter celery the long way then chop into small (Tiny even) pieces.

Add all ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix thoroughly.

If the consistancy seems off add more of any of the ingredients to taste.

Makes about 4 big sandwiches.

I usually just put on a couple slices of bread, lettuce, tomato... Maybe bacon, I'm not Catholic... and a hunk of cheese on the side, but it's good enough to eat right out of the bowl or on crackers or with potato chips.

I Know Jack

It occurs to me, that it's been a while since I've talked about Jack. Strong, smart, loyal, handsome Jack.

He was kind of a nightmare when I adopted him... But then again, so was I. He no longer sleeps with me... He leaves that to the Red Queen. Don't get me wrong, he still loves to snuggle, and will nap with me occasionally, but at night he has better things to do.

He is THE pinnacle in guard dogs. Padding quietly around the house, he notices everything. He can actually hear the neighbors cats outside... And if they get too close to the house, he is on the roof of the porch letting them know to get lost. He dozes in a chair in the upstairs hall, but he almost never sleeps... Day or night... ever. It's slightly disconcerting.

Daytime, around the house he is close to me. Not quite the velcro dog of his youth, but usually in the same room or just outside the door. Road trips, he is the earstwhile traveling companion.

I never spoke baby talk to him... not really. Maybe a few rhyming words here and there, but I tend to do that anyway. So he has a huge vocabulary, understands complete sentences. We actually have to be a little careful somtimes not to tip him off that he's about to be left home when we go out... Doesn't care for that, nope.

Yesterday, I told one of the contractors to come into the house and just meet me in the office. I let Jack know hew was coming. The guy was creeping through the house, looking over his shoulder (Jack has bitten a couple of the workers that he didn't trust). when he got to the office, Jack was sitting at my feet. He said, "I at least expected him to growl." I explained, "I told him you were coming in." He looked at me like I was nuts and shook his head. Jack just rolled his eyes... Some people are just non believers.

Anyhow, Jack has fulfilled most of his potential. He is a fetching and frisbee catching machine. he can heard and does a great job of keeping the yard cat free... without tormenting Merlin the house cat too much. He is an amazing alarm system and great home protection.

We share a lot of personality traits... Some of them good.