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Sigh… apparently my turn came up again for special attention from the USofA Census Bureau.
I received bonus letters in the mail, phone calls, Agent Smith visits and, today a FEDEX overnight letter soliciting my participation in their extra-curricular data mining program.
Their constitutional mandate is to count the number of people in each household within the borders of our country once every decade. All else is what our Army calls “mission creep”, Libertarians call “government over-reach” and computer geeks call “data mining”.
Regardless of the title, I am not keen on contributing to their dossier […]
Today is the biannual celebration of control our overlords wield over details of our lives. They remind us twice a year that even little things are within their power.
For absolutely NO GOOD REASON, they send us scurrying around our houses, shops and vehicles resetting every clock and timer therein. It is just a little jab, not like they are starving or poisoning us … with that poke anyway.
I am approaching the mark where half of my life will have been spent self-employed. When you do not report for work at a time fixed by others, the […]
In my estimation, my websites are the tiniest little annoyance, minuscule, less than a pinprick. Nevertheless, five out of the five that I maintain are now being regularly probed by hackers located in Ukraine.
Really???
How do they have time for me?
C’mon Russia, give them something more interesting to think about.
You probably know one of my websites, but I built four for various purposes from commercial to politics and one for my wife to play with. They are all still standing, and regardless of their extremely low threat profile to anyone, do attract enemy […]
I am cutting back on my webpost side to regain more of my other Renaissance Man aspects.
I am master of four websites. I am still wrestling with cutting back on the out-of-pocket financial costs without resolution, but certainly can pare down the time I have been donating to this slice of my life without a solution to the expense question.
Woodwork, metalwork, strengthening my 2-way comms, building physical things, making music, reading, two-wheel-riding, wrenching, drawing, artistic painting and more have been calling to me – and I have answered their calls less than I want.
Most […]
Two-way radio communications is a tremendous subject that can and does carry people in many directions. Certainly among the most important are field communications to and from tactical and reconnaissance teams, particularly with some semblance of security or privacy to the information thereby exchanged.
Particularly well suited to teaching this fine art is NC Scout. He recently published a book on the subject: The Guerrilla’s Guide To The Baofeng Radio, which I recommend and am buying myself. He also has a web page covering a whole lot more range. I share the outline below, but encourage you to go […]
I began playing trombone at ten years old. I have taken significant breaks between then and now, but cumulatively I have probably a couple dozen years of playing – and cleaning – trombones.
Now, proving that old dogs CAN indeed learn new tricks, I have come up with a way to clean my trombone slides without kneeling, hunched over my bathtub.
I suppose this is as much a “necessity being the mother of invention” as proof my creative mind is still functioning… knees and backs being things old guys do not love to overwork.
I recently found […]
For my heading, I purposefully modified NC Scout’s bestselling book title that I am discussing in this post. The Guerrilla’s Guide To The Baofeng Radio goes far beyond the make/model amateur radio he recommends in it.
I and a fellow active licensed radio operator (HAM) took a local class from him a few years ago. It was extremely informative and valuable. I expect this book to have much of what we learned in that class, and quite a bit more packed into it.
I have ordered my own copy, so this is a recommendation in advance of being […]
Now THAT’s COLD.
At Sunrise (8:17), I threw on a wool coat, insulated gloves and boots for a one-minute outdoor job of opening the chicken door so my flock could get out to their heated water reservoir and food supply.
Whoops. My young back-saving helper yesterday did not close the double gate into / out of the chicken yard after blowing a foot of snow off their scratching yard.
So I did that while I was out there – to keep them in and predators out.
By the time I was back inside, my legs were […]
I used Tom’s of Maine for many years until the business was sold and went mainstream. The current corporation and its recipes deserve no support. So I went shopping … for my own recipe.
Having tripped over the value of essential oils, they are integral to this. I will make no claims for any of the ingredients, choosing instead to send you off to your own research to discover what led me to these, or to decide for yourself that some other combination works for you.
My essential oil source is Eden’s Garden, but I am not recommending […]
Once in a while I simply get lucky as a photographer. I suppose as a modestly inspired amateur, that will be the only way I get a photo that really tickles me. Below is one of them.
At my skill level, getting the lighting just right to comfortably light the background while focusing attention, and projecting a welcoming feeling has to be totally a lucky shot, but this one speaks volumes for the shop guy, and the car guy in me.
I briefly opened the bay doors to admit the Honda for its overdue wheel swap from summer […]
Through the spring, summer, fall, I was prioritizing having our homestead prepared for the snow management season. Strangely, I was simultaneously putting off all those interesting, rewarding projects “that could be done indoors during winter”.
We are there. I am there. Meanwhile, that quality time in my wood-heated, well-outfitted cozy shop keeps getting kicked to the curb by mandatory snow management around the castle.
The university of hard knocks taught me that snow sheets and drifts allowed to set into glaciers and sheet ice are quite unpleasant around the farm. Some things absolutely MUST be done on their […]
Among the things I am thankful for is that the manipulators have not messed up the language and culture of Thanksgiving Day. It remains on Thursday and is still widely celebrated as a day with families coast-to-coast gathering and giving thanks for what they do have.
My wife and I have now crested 20 years together and the team is holding up well, giving both of us comfort, joy, peace, support and happiness.
Though many have extolled the virtues of unpalatable yams, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie, there is nobody forcing me to gag them down… and so […]
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