Monthly Archives: July 2013

B.S. & Political Ridicule

Warning! Danger!

iPhone warning systems are now startling the daylights out of us. We’ve never had them before and they are very attention getting. Warning of flash floods, heavy rains, and other stuff. We’ve each got some repeatedly and I think they’re kinda cool.

Obama is forcing furloughs on civilian New Mexicans working for the military. Great job you’re doing Big O, just freaking great. I know it’s nationwide, but NM is my focus. Trickle down unemployment! That sounds worse than the old liberal bitch of trickle down economics.

Well, I repaired our video system today, sort of. We’re still short a couple of cameras, but we’re mostly up. Ordered a new system with cameras that pan, tilt, and rotate. Will probably need fewer cameras with this type of camera.

I also fixed our network error problem with the gas pumps. Turns out that the line that have for the gas pumps is dead. Calling the phone company tomorrow to have that fixed. Just hooked it up to a different line for the time being. One of the good things of having 5 lines here I guess.

Pump 2 still has it’s problems though and I hope to find the parts online soon and fix that one too.

Pilates today. Helping Catherine with a new program afterwards. Hoping to go with Tori to visit the county after that.

More rain in the forecast for today. Keep it coming please! Even with all the rain that we’ve received, we’re still showing a Pecos River that is a shadow of what’s normal. very low river, except when it is raining. Once it stops, the river lowers to scary low levels.

Well, time for me to think about breakfast.

One of your old favourite songs from way back when

 

B.S. & Political Ridicule

Quinn?

So the silent one comes to NM, drives right by my place, and doesn’t even stop to say hi. Nice, real nice.

Other stuff that doesn’t involve nephews that ignore me.

  • Erin’s home.
  • Nina and I went to Colorado yesterday for lunch.
  • The Wendy’s in NM aren’t good enough for us.
  • Our video system went tits up. I think this is the 3rd to do so.
  • I’m thinking of replacing this one with a wi-fi system. Still shopping.
  • The weatherliar chick is looking good today. She’s a nice dutch girl.  Carl?
  • Looks like another week of no poker. He’s running a Texas Hold Em game again and I suck at that.  And then there’s the jinx. TED, the jinx.
  • Made pancakes yesterday for breakfast.  ML loved them, but Sh ignored them this time.
  • ML is being difficult at times, but to date she’s always on her best behavior when I’m here. Yesterday she ripped into Diana, her newest caretaker. Stupid old people! (not you Mom!)
  • They discovered a snake in NM that they thought was extinct and Erin said that they have them near her dad’s house.
  • Does anyone else think that it’s funny that the Lone Ranger got crap reviews and a cartoon, Despicable Me 2, kicked Tonto’s ass?
  • A TV show, supposedly taking place in Montana but filmed locally in NM, is doing quite well. Longmire is in it’s second season. We watched the first show and were unimpressed, but I saw it one day last week and since the remote was across the room and I couldn’t be bothered to get it, I sat through the show.  NOT BAD! Compared to the first one I found it to be a very good show. Add the fact that I recognize many of the places that scenes are shot at to increase the interest and I got a new show to watch.
  • Our place was scouted as a filming location but that never happened. The location scout owns property that adjoins ours. Newton was also interested in other locations I know of, but since he didn’t choose us, I passed on showing him other cool things.
  • Dennis just called and told me he’s downstairs waiting for me, so BYE.
If you can’t scratch the itch, you know it will drive you stupid.

 

B.S. & Political Ridicule

Growing Up Without a Cell Phone

If you are 36, or older, you might think this is hilarious!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning…. Uphill… Barefoot… BOTH ways…yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they’ve got it!

But now that I’m over the ripe old age of forty, I can’t help but look around and notice the youth of today. You’ve got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don’t know how good you’ve got it!

1) I mean, when I was a kid we didn’t have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

2) There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter – with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

3) Child Protective Services didn’t care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! Nowhere was safe!

4) There were no MP3′s or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

5) Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We’d play our favorite tape and “eject” it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that’s how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

6) We didn’t have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that’s it!

7) There weren’t any freakin’ cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn’t make a damn call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your “friends”. OH MY GOSH !!! Think of the horror… not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there’s TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

8) And we didn’t have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent… you just didn’t know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

9) We didn’t have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like ‘Space Invaders’ and ‘Asteroids’. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen.. Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

10) You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what’s the world coming to?!?!

11) There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I’m saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

12) And we didn’t have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

13) And our parents told us to stay outside and play… all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside… you were doing chores!

And car seats – oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were lucky, you got the “safety arm” across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling “shot gun” in the first place!

See! That’s exactly what I’m talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You’re spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn’t have lasted five minutes back in 1970 or any time before!

Regards,
The Over 40 Crowd

B.S. & Political Ridicule

Well, we both spaced our anniversary.

No, not our wedding anniversary, but the date we bought this place. We arrived here in mid-June and took possession July 1st. 19 years here. Today would have been the 19th anniversary of the day I set the field next to the store on fire. Extra fireworks that didn’t sell, so I decided to play after hours. Oops!

Will we complete our 20th year here? Not sure. Probably. We’ve owned this place longer than any of the previous owners.

Our years here have been a mixed bag of feelings. Good friends made, good friends lost. Money made, money lost. Employees came, employees went. . . except for Jeannie. I expect that we will sell her with the store.

We’ve lost a few employees and friends due to death. All are missed and thought of around this time of year by Nina and I.

We’ve had new people arrive and good friends move. This is still happening today. Last month I met a new couple from Connecticut  and I think they’ll be a great addition to the valley. Two marriages are ending and we’re not sure of where the spouses will fall after the split, friends or not?

Our children were raised here. They don’t identify as city folk and rightly so. So much of their lives are western country. Both show their country upbringing. I’ve been told that we made a mistake moving them out west, but since leaving them behind would most likely be considered illegal, here they are.

One special new friend that came during our tenure here was Erin. She is my little buddy and I hope she never leaves our lives. I will never like the circumstances of her arrival, but her addition to our lives is a blessing that parallels no other. The intelligence that child shows leaves me in awe. At 2 if an iPhone was placed in her hands, she would zip through it like an expert. Now she has her own iPad and loves the brain games loaded on it. My little buddy.

Armand and Shirley moved out here. Armand died, Shirley is still existing. Richard’s death destroyed her. We now have her sister Marylou with us. No real choice, but we’ll see. Shirley is not happy that ML is here at this point in time. She won’t talk to ML and that bothers ML. She won’t talk to me either and I appreciate it.

I have a love/hate relationship with this place. I love the area and hate the business. Of course the business brought us here and keeps us here. Nina is inclined to leave this area if we sell, but sometimes she leans the other way. I prefer to stay out here because of the friendships and the area itself. I love exploring out here. I’ve found ghost towns, abandoned homesteads dating to the 1800’s, rail beds that have never seen tracks or a train, undiscovered indian ruins, and old mines. Old cemeteries fascinate me and I love wandering among the dead and reading the head stones.

Next July 1st will mark our 20th year. I can see a party or b-b-q here if we still own the store. You’re all invited.

Keeping it real here people!