First one

Well, the first "storm" rolled into the Southland here today, accompanied by the resultant pandemonium on the freeways, as the last 8-9 months worth of oil, grease and other sundry automotive fluids got lifted out of all the cracks and pores in the asphalt, creating the equivalent of a valley-wide skating rink - not to mention landslides/mudslides in the areas recently devastated by the wildfires...
I love the rain, myself; I know how desperately this part of the world needs it, and I'm always hoping for more... besides which, it never rains hard enough here to make me miserable - coming from the northern UK, I have a distinct idea of what hard, driving rain feels like, and it's nothing like the warm gentle showers that make everyone here wet themselves...

I must applaud...

I'm finally in agreement with the loons of the left. I cannot agree more heartily that they should not reproduce. Hey, if that reduces their carbon footprint, great. I'm more concerned with another generation receiving their BS dogma/brainwashing, or heaven help us, if left-wing moonbattiness is genetic.
So I must stand, and applaud you selfless ladies of the left. Bring on the steriliaztion! We may yet be able to save the planet after all. Keep up the good work!

H/T Drudge

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope y'all will enjoy the day as much as I plan to!

DC Gun Ban case will get heard...

Via Instapundit, we learn that the SCOTUS will cowboy up and hear the DC gun ban case. This one's huge, and can set the stage for some serious changes in 2nd Amendment law throughout the country, whichever way the court rules. I have to admit, I'm very apprehensive about this one - this is the same court that gave us the Kelo decision, after all. Yes, there have been some conservatives added to the court in the last few years, but is it conservative enough? Guess we'll find out.

Break 'em, Sarkozy!

Man, I hate the French. Not just because I'm British, either. Those pampered public-sector maggots strike at the drop of a hat - just when it'll do the most damage. Want to host a World Cup? Great - let's strike! That way the whole world can see what a bunch of selfish pricks we are! Host the Olympics? Let's strike! Show the Bourgeois pigs who's boss!
The French Unions are like a huge frigging python wrapped around the French economy, squeezing the life out of it. Bunch of coddled bitches sucking off the public tit, not caring about whether it'll dry up, as long as they get theirs!
How the hell is it OK to expect a lifetime of pay after a few years of mediocre performance on a public sector job? Mediocre because there's no incentive to excel and you have to screw up spectacularly to get reprimanded, let alone fired.
I hate the French. But I admire Sarkozy, and what he's trying to accomplish. Must be because of his Hungarian heritage - he's not really French...
Good luck, Sarkozy! Go Reagan on their asses! With an 8% unemployment rate, it's not like you'd have any difficulty finding replacements.

No, I'm not dead...

...Yet... though several times this week I've driven myself to the point of exhaustion...
We did a LOT to our house to get it ready to show, and I don't have much vacation time saved at the salt mine, so it all had to happen after a full work day... so where does it give? In sleep time of course!
My Little Princess' room has been completely made over - wall patched, new paint, new bed, new blinds, new lighting...
Number One Son's room got decluttered, new furniture (well, mine and my wife's old furniture), cleaned up...
Guest bathroom got touched up, deep-cleaned..
Master bathroom got repainted...
Master bedroom got decluttered...
Garage got reorganized (If you'd ever seen my garage, you'd know how huge this task really was! I'd really like to work toward something like this...'cept my dirtbike's a Honda...)
Side yard got decluttered, trashed out and the humongous brush pile shredded...
Kitchen decluttered, furniture removed or moved...
Dog kennel got moved, dog run sorted out...
Front trim on house touched up...
Front yard "remodeled"...
Add into the mix about 20 trips to Home Depot/Lowes, a half dozen trips to storage and hopefully you can see why I haven't been posting much...
But I have tried to keep up on reading the blogs on my daily list... this blogging addiction is hard to shake - if I can't post, I can still find time to read and maybe comment...
We've still got a pile to do, but the pace is slowing some, hence tonight's post...

This one made me smile...

While reading this Carnaby Fudge post after following a link from The Smallest Minority, I read a comment that quoted a news story referring to a "model 98 bolt-action assault rifle" (aka old surplus Mauser). It probably had one of those scary features like a bayonet lug, too. And yes, it was a news story out of Chicago.

Morning all!

Been a while since I last posted, I know... work on our house continues apace - I'm doing all kinds of crap that I've put off for years just to get this sucker sold. It's keeping me too busy to post much, but I am keeping up on the blogs on my link-list...
So, things that I have learned over the last few days...
- A reciprocating saw is a marvelous tool to have - just make sure you have plenty of blades on hand because they dull out pretty quickly...
- The local landfill now wants us to separate out our trash and put metal in its own area... not a big deal I suppose, but it adds time to my day...
- My kids had way more crap than I ever realized - crap that they never used or played with.
- I had more crap than I ever realized - crap that I never used or played with.
- Cutting out and replacing drywall to repair holes - cake. Adding tape, mud and texture to make it invisible - not so much...
- I still hate yard work.
- Chipper/shredders are loud, scary, dangerous and just won't stay put once you fire them up, but man will they reduce a brush pile...
- A paste of Oxy-Clean and water will get most of the oil off your driveway, in the absence of a pressure washer...
- Smoke detectors may be mounted on a wall, as long as they're within 12 inches of your old-school, popcorn-covered, vaulted ceiling...
- It's amazing how much crap you can stuff into a 10X15 storage unit...