Monday - August 08, 2016

sky crane in the morning

Ok, I admit it. I’m a plane spotter. And a ship spotter. And a bridge spotter. And I’d probably be a train spotter too if I had an active rail line nearby. I keep my eyes open. Besides, there aren’t always girls to watch. So what else can I do?

There’s a scene in the beginning of Stephen Spielberg’s cinematic masterpiece Empire of the Sun where the kid witnesses a squadron of P-51 Mustangs attack the village/internment camp he’s in. He gets so excited he’s jumping out of his skin, running up and down the rooftops screaming ”cadillac of the skies!!” as the planes - at eye level to him and only yards away - blast the daylights out of the nasty Japs and their buildings.

I can’t say that I got anywhere near as worked up as he did, but it was kind of a thrill to see and hear a gigantic Sikorsky S-64 “sky crane” helicopter chugging overhead at low altitude this morning. I’ve known about this beast for most of my life, but before this morning I’d never seen one. And now I have.

The thing is huge. It’s got to be 75 feet long if it’s an inch. Half the length of a jetliner, although the body is spindlier than a runway model’s calves. And the blades are just as enormous, covering nearly the full length of the body. They provide so much lift that they hardly even turn. Whup. Whup. Whup. You can easily see them going around and around. 150rpm at most I’d bet.

According the Wiki, the Army retired all of theirs years ago, so this one had to be either the civilian S-64 version, or a de-miled CH-54 model. With the early morning low sun behind it it was hard to tell the color, but I got a distinct impression of something dull and greenish yellow. Which is why I thought Olive Drab and therefore Army.

Actually, the two thoughts that predominated were “that’s the biggest damn dragonfly ever” and later on “thunderbirds are go” because a chopper like this would fit right in with that flight adventure puppet show from way back when.

So, neat-o for me. Other than that, it was another dishwater dull morning up at the shack.

http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2015/10/watch_skycrane_helicopter_constructs_pseg_towers_i.html
http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20160727/NEWS/160729643

Posted by Drew458     on 08/08/2016 at 08:59 AM   
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   Friday - August 05, 2016

screwed again

Damnation. Shit piss vinegar and damnation. Dammit dammit dammit, dammit!!

Remember how I have that garden out in the parking lot in front of our building here at the condo park? All the work I put into it, plants selected to bloom in sequence to keep the area in flower all summer long, only to have my “helpful” neighbors come and hack the entire thing back to the bare ground and call it “weeding”?

Yeah. $60 worth of alliums just about to bloom, buds swelling on the end of their 3 foot tall stalks. Dozens of them.  Gone. I felt violated.

Well, I tried to get over that. And five or seven weeks ago I laid down a whole bunch of marigold seeds, after buying a couple flats of Vinca and putting them in as a border. I spent very little but I had to do something, to show I was not beaten by their “accidental” actions.




Right. Well, I gave them time, and I wasn’t paying too much attention aside from a couple waterings during the hot dry spell, and once we had the rains some really amazing weeds started taking over. I’ve never seen plants grow so fast. Crazy. So I finally did the right thing (wanting to steal a march on my “helpful” neighbors just in case), and went out and fully weeded the whole thing the other day. I was very careful, but it was a huge job. I bet I took out 15 pounds of weeds. Crabgrass as thick as a McDonald’s soda straw. Some waxy oval flat leafed thing that sends out pinkish runners, and wherever a tendril touches down, it roots in and then sends out new shoots in 10 different directions. One run was 20 feet long. I tore that crap out by the bag, and found the queen plant that had stalks as big around as my finger. Rip!! Crivens! 

And when all was done, I had a lovely strip of annuals across the front under mulch, a nice pink and white vinca bordered 4x8 area in the middle, and bare clean earth in the other planting area towards the back. But in the middle, I had marigolds coming up. Dozens of little plants maybe 2” tall. I took away all the competing weeds, and gave them a nice drink of Miracle Grow. In 48 hours they had grown 3”, I swear. And I could see where I had to do some fill in seeding.

So I went out there early this evening. And once again found bare earth. Every last marigold plant had been plucked out of the ground and thrown away. Gone. All of it gone. Even the one “flyer” that was growing through the mulch in the pathway. The vinca was untouched.

It makes me so sad. I guess I could put down more seeds and another layer of dirt and try again, and maybe get some plants up that could produce a single blossom by the start of September. This latest rape cost me a precious month.

And I know it was you Carol, you nasty old busy body. You killed my alliums the last time, telling Jenn that they were only wild onions and should be ripped out. Jealous old cow. And you’re out there today trying to tell me it’s too late to grow marigolds. Why, the season is almost over! But what you don’t know, miss stupid, is that those tenacious little flowers will grow and grow and grow, and bloom hard until the second frost. No, maybe they won’t reach their full peak size. But I could have pumped them full of Miracle Grow and they would have done just fine. Assuming you don’t come pluck them for the third time when no one is looking.

“No, you don’t want to grow them this late. They’ll never bloom.”

“Riight, except these seeds came from plants that grew in August last year. All of them from the seeds you gave me the year before that. Well, looks like some very selective deer came through here and ate ever last plant and didn’t touch anything else.”

“No, deer won’t touch marigolds.”

“Yes, I know that. I was being ironic.”

No, I don’t think I’m going to bother to replant a third time. And I think it would be wrong to deliver a Viking-like revenge on someone with a crowbar and a 3lb rock hammer for such a minor offense as messing up someone else’s garden without permission. But right now it’s very tempting to think that way. Fertilize the soil with some blood and bone marrow. Accidental my ass, you stupid bitter jealous old bloated potato sack full of dog shit.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/05/2016 at 09:23 PM   
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   Sunday - June 12, 2016

Guess I Learned My Lesson

I’ve got that parking space sized garden here in the front of our condo on the edge of the parking lot.

I dug the whole thing in last year, pulling out the tired old soil, sifting out the rocks, getting rid of a few weeds and half a foot of old pine needles, and then mixing and laying in nearly a ton of the very best topsoil. It was more work than I could manage, so while I did get almost all the bulbs planted, I didn’t get the mulch laid down nor any pavers for the little paths.

We had a very strange winter - one snow storm actually - and an odd spring. My carefully selected heap of deer-resistant bulbs - daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, lilies, and alliums - all decided to grow at once, instead of coming in in stages like they were supposed to. Seriously, I had it planned just so. It was going to be like a living fireworks show, with a burst of blooms over here, and then a burst of blooms over there, and then a bunch of little poppers everywhere when those gave out, and for a summer long finale, a high rise selection of purple puffball and baby’s breath-like alliums each more than 3 feet tall.

Well, I got a little behind the ball, and things got a bit out of hand. Duh, it turns out that my WonderSoil that grows flowers so well also does a super job for weeds. And with the odd early growth, I had a super dense zone of greenery, with the spent tulips and daffys starting to turn brownery. It was time to go in and weed, and to do a bit of transplanting. Yes, transplanting. You might recall that I tried to do wildflowers the year before on that patch of ground, but with the drought and the heat that summer they barely even sprouted. Surprise, some of the seeds remained viable, and I had a dozen or so young plants in the front putting out little flowers in an array of shapes and colors. My plan was to transfer them over here to the side yard along the top of the cliff, where last year’s butterfly bushes failed, but more of the same failed wildflowers were doing well. Give those a bit more company, and let them take over the whole embankment if they could do it.

But I knew I had a big weeding project. The wife and I have been hand plucking a few of the bigger varmints every day as we go by. And I’d planned to go out there last evening to have at it, but I was tired and just felt too sticky in the muggy weather. So I made a plan to get up and at ‘em early this morning before the heat woke up.

And I did.

And got the shock of my life.

I feel ... kind of violated actually.

Posted by Drew458     on 06/12/2016 at 10:26 AM   
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   Friday - June 10, 2016

Dewing It Rite

So I’m working at the guard shack this morning, and Mrs. Rich Lady pulls up and gives me a big heavy beetle-browed scowl. She rolls down the window of her AWD Luxury E350 Mercedes* and snaps “It figures!!! Doesn’t it just figure?” and then drives off.

Hey, I get all kinds up at the shack in the early hours.  Today it was all the dog show ladies looking for the Holiday Inn. No worries. But Mrs. “RL” is one of my nice people, so I gave it a thought. And then a look, followed by a laugh ...

Up at the top of the hill here two streets come together in a T intersection. The public Banks Street meets our private Village Road. Over time a series of parallel cracks has developed about where the join is. Wear and weather have turned three of them into pot holes. Deep pot holes.

Mrs. RL stopped to ask if our condo association was going to patch the road. I told her I didn’t know if it was even our road to patch but I’ll ask, so perhaps it might be better to call the township. “Well I was by the other day, and if you drove in that hole you could damage your car. So I had my daughter get a traffic cone from over there and she put it in the hole. At least people can see and go around it.”

And she wasn’t making it up: about 2/3 of a medium cone was sticking up out of the street. The other two potholes were coneless. And people have been slowing down for that corner and missing the hole for a couple of days now. But she’s the kind of woman who can get things done, so more power to her when she makes that call and I pity the fools at DPW who try to give her the run around.

She must have made quite an impression. Township DPW came around, and took away the cone.  Instead of filling in the holes with gravel and asphalt, Can’t have that. Why, it’s a danger, foreign objects protruding from the road surface and all !

And then they drove away.

* It just blows my mind that so many people who live here drive such expensive cars. Come on. This isn’t low-income housing, but it isn’t far from it. A small house in the neighborhood costs about three times what these units sell for, and more. So why are they driving cars that cost half as much as the condo? It cracks me up to see all the Audis, BMWs, Mercedes Benzes, mega-pickups and mighty SUVs that live here. Dude, maybe if you drove something cheap like instead, like a used Corolla, you afford an actual house?

** another piece of this pie that makes me smile: right around the corner from this is an asphalt diveway/top coat/tar sealer/power washing company. Every morning I watch their small fleet of trucks head out, often towing great round black metal tanker trailers behind them, filled with fresh hot tar. No, they weren’t hired for this job, but they could do it without hardly even slowing down. 3 scoops full of goop ought to be more than enough to fill each pot hole. Next time I see one of them stuck in traffic I’ll ask the driver if they have a contract with the township.

Posted by Drew458     on 06/10/2016 at 08:36 AM   
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   Wednesday - June 08, 2016

window fix

Yes, I’m finally getting around to trying to fix the window in my old Saturn. It’s been on the fritz since last winter, stuck in the closed position. I’m pretty sure it’s a bad switch, because for awhile the window would go up and down just fine every third blue moon, then be dead again. Right. So I searched and searched, and in all of the internet I found two ... two ... actual GM 21021947 switch assemblies in stock. Used. One looked a little better and has a 30 day warranty, so for the extra $5 I figured it was worth it.

I took the door apart yesterday. Well, I tried to. Got the inner handle off, got the opening lever off. Found that the door has a solid steel inner skin. I couldn’t get anywhere near the electrical connection, nor could I even see the motor, and I could just barely see the ends of the regulator arms. Screw that. I need to repair the inner panel anyway because the two parts blew out all their plastic connecting “rivets” several years ago. I’m going to do some afro-engineering and stitch the two parts together with some wire, and hold them in place with dabs of epoxy. So I’ll have to drill 50 or 60 little holes through both panels to run the stitches through. Time consuming!

Then I can figure out if I can glue the overhead light back up. That fell out the other day and is hanging by a wire. Works fine, but tends to bonk me in the head going around corners.

Ah, the joys of driving ancient cars.

No word from Pieper, but I did manage to get a card and letter off to him. Finally. I’ll send him another one tomorrow. I figure I only owe him about 100 cards and letters by now. 

Posted by Drew458     on 06/08/2016 at 04:11 PM   
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   Wednesday - June 01, 2016

Never Miss A Chance To Drop A Good One

Yeah, I actually said it

So I’m painting the speed bumps here in the condo park, as you know. I’ve got the ones out on the main road done, finally. And my new signs seem to be getting the idea across. Our main road is divided; we’ve got an uphill lane 16 feet wide and a downhill lane 16 feet wide, with a little grass berm between them edged with Belgian Block. It looks good. The streets that the condos are on are not divided, but they are extra extra wide to allow for two way traffic.

So I’m on Overlook, the big loop street where most of the units are. The speed bump at the top of the street goes across the inbound and outbound lanes. It’s nearly 30 feet wide. So I mark off half of it for painting, which leaves plenty of room to get by on the dry side. And I put up my double sided bin sign, with it’s helpful “Go Around --->“ placard.  But that only blocks one side of the speed bump, even though drivers on the other side can see the signage that faces their way. I felt there should be a bit more. So I took one of my very few safety cones and put it out in the middle of that lane on the far side of the bump. Great, fine. Something for everyone, and now people coming from either side will see the sign or the cone, slow down, and swerve around them. There’s plenty of room, even if they swerve while some impatient type is barreling through coming the other way.

So I’m painting away, me and my baby 1” x 6” roller on a big long handle. Work that sticky oil paint in the noonlight sun. And I’m pleased with myself that folks coming from either direction understand what to do and are doing it. Nice. Ya got it figured out Drew. Well done.

And then two women arrive at the speed bump from different directions at the same time. Both stop and sit there glaring at each other.

I looked up, and the one stopped by the bin sign says “Who goes first?”

So I gave it a quick glance, her stopped at the bin, the other one stopped at the safety cone. “Isn’t it obvious?” I said, waving the other women through, “she does.”

“Why her? I think I actually got here just before her, and I could have just swerved and gone. Now I have to wait! And why is it obvious?” [ people suck. the wait was perhaps two whole seconds and was over by this point in the conversation. ]

“Well you know what the common rule is.” I told her, “First cone, first swerved.”

I think it’s time for Drew to come in out of the sun. Enough painting for today.

Posted by Drew458     on 06/01/2016 at 12:59 PM   
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   Friday - April 29, 2016

wilderness living here in NJ

So I’m having my first cuppa coffee outside on the patio this morning, trying to wake up on this dark damp and dreary day. The birdies are waking up too, making a racket. Alerted by the sound of the sliding door opening, a couple of our outdoor cats have come up out of their den and are stretching and thinking about begging some breakfast.

And I hear a crunch crunch crunch of bracken breaking and a soft low “woof” sound. I look down the cliff, and out of the brush saunters a bear, not 30 feet away. A black bear. A pretty nice size black bear, this is no cub. I’d guess about 6 feet, nose to tail? Maybe 175lbs? I’m no judge, but this one’s got a big round rump, doesn’t seem leggy, and the ears are pretty small. Of course, Mr. Bear is all fluffed up this chilly morning, so it’s hard to tell. And my, what a nice shiny pelt you have, all thick and long, dark as licorice. And your little snout on your big fat round face looking up at me. And then my brain kicks into gear.

HOLY. SHIT. A BEAR!!!

Suddenly there are 6 kittehs on my patio. Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, boing; they came flying in at full speed from under the bushes. And are all staring down the hill, while the bear is staring back up at us. “You stay up here, you stupid cats.”

And of course I don’t have a camera on me ... at 6am, who does? But I have my little foldy cell phone, so I whip it out to take a picture ... and of course, the thing has turned itself off in my pocket as usual. And it takes more than a minute to turn on and initialize. So I just stand there, and Mr. Bear keeps walking, following the little stream down there, past the vulture baths and crunching his way along. Right towards the work yard for the condo maintenance guys, who don’t come in until after 8. So I sent them a text. What else could I do? Right; I drank the rest of my coffee.

A bear. Friggin’ CRIVENS!!

Posted by Drew458     on 04/29/2016 at 05:42 AM   
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   Thursday - April 14, 2016

bears watching

We are under a Bear Warning here.

Not that we’re supposed to run around warning bears ... or of what we’re supposed to warn them, I have no idea.

Just a warning that they are up and about, and have been busting up people’s garbage cans in the homes on the other side of Rupell’s Road. So keep an eye out.







Another exciting moment from Life In The (nearly) Country.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/14/2016 at 11:29 PM   
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   Monday - January 25, 2016

terror attack in london foiled. this time.  west just refuses to kill this cancer. why?

They are always referred to as British.  They aren’t. Even if they were born here. They aren’t and never would be.  Standards must have dropped a lot to allow one into med school.

Medical student in plot to assassinate police and soldiers in drive-by London shootings, court hears

Four British men obtained gun and silencer and were looking to buy scooter that would have led to Isil-inspired murders on streets of capital, jurors told

By Tom Whitehead, Security Editor

A British Islamist fanatic dubbed “The Surgeon” led an Isil-inspired plot to assassinate police and soldiers in a series of drive-by shootings in the UK, a court heard.

It is alleged medical student Tarik Hassane, 22, was the ringleader of a four-man terror cell that had obtained a gun and silencer and were looking to buy a scooter which would have resulted in a “terrorist murder or murders on the streets of London”, the Old Bailey was told

He also conducted “hostile reconnaissance” online of Shepherd’s Bush police station and the Parachute Regiment Territorial Army barracks in White City, jurors were told.

He had declared allegiance to Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (Isil) just a month after it had declared itself the Islamist State in June 2014.

Hassane planned to become a “lone wolf” attacker after his co-conspirators were arrested, the court was told.

Close friend Suhaib Majeed, a physics student, was allegedly an “essential cog in the machine” of the plot and responsible for secret communications.

Nathan Cuffy supplied the weapon and “armed the plot” while Nyall Hamlett was the “middleman” between him the other two, jurors were told.

Opening the prosecution case, Brian Altman QC said: “With their arrests, the police successfully disrupted a plot to kill a police officers, a soldier or possibly even a civilian, in one or more terrorist attacks, which, if the plot had been allowed to run its course would have resulted in a terrorist murder or murders on the streets of London, according to the warped ideology of the defendants, in the cause, and for the sake, of Allah.

“The plot was undoubtedly influenced by the happenings in Syria and Iraq and the rise of Isil, which in late June 2014 was renamed Islamic State, when the organisation pronounced itself to be a worldwide Caliphate.”

Although the plot was already underway, the group was inspired by a fatwa issued by Isil in September 2014 that called on followers to “kill disbelievers” in the West, he added.

“This was no religious edict or verdict. This was nothing short of direct encouragement and incitement to Muslims living in the West to go out and kill non-believers in their home countries,” Mr Altman said.

The four deny conspiracy to murder, preparing terrorist acts and a series of related charges.

A fifth man, Ayman Aziz - a close associate of Hassane and Majeed, the “central figures in the plot” - was in contact with Hassane and occasionally in London. He is believed to be abroad, the court was told.

Mr Altman told the jury that although the “finer details” of the plot had not been worked out, they were advanced enough to have acquired a gun and ammunition.

CONTINUED, TELEGRAPH

Posted by peiper     on 01/25/2016 at 01:57 PM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • muslims • REALLY WORTHLESS and PUTRID PEOPLE • Terrorists •  
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migrant scum demand sex and ask why not when refused. what next?

If you think this is bad, and it assuredly is, there’s as bad to come from France, where migrant filth being led by British Socialists carrying red flags and poster signs reading, No Borders, Let them all in, have led migrant vermin on a rampage and even managed to storm a ferry and for a time, occupy it.
And just to give you one example of why these things take place.  One of those Britons was arrested and then released without charge, instead of having his legs broken and then shot dead.  Activists like these are the curse, bullets are the cure. The only cure.

There are a couple of interesting and short videos at the link.
Migrants demanding sex and a woman attacked after stopping a pickpocket.
ALL this shit is the responsibility, the fault, of weak governments, liberal electorits but but mostly it is the doing of one German ding bat named Merkel.

‘They grope girls between their legs, and slap them in the face when they protest.

Swedish police warn Stockholm’s main train station is now overrun by migrant teen gangs ‘stealing and groping girls’

Hundreds of Moroccan children living on the streets in Stockholm
Accused of stealing and assaulting security guards at the main station
Police say they grope girls and ‘slap them in the face when they protest’
One in five Moroccan migrant children run away from housing since 2012

By Sara Malm for MailOnline

Swedish police warns that Stockholm’s main train station has become unsafe after being ‘taken over’ by dozens of Moroccan street children.

The all-male migrant teen gangs are spreading terror in the centre of the Swedish capital, stealing, groping girls and assaulting security guards, according to Stockholm police.

Members of the gangs, some as young as nine, roam central Stockholm day and night, refusing help provided by the Swedish authorities.

Sweden has seen a dramatic increase in the number of Moroccan under-18s who apply for asylum without a parent or guardian in the past four years, with many later running away from the housing provided to live on the streets in the capital.

Stockholm police estimate that at least 200 Moroccan street children move in the area around the main train station in the centre of the capital, sleeping rough, and living off criminal activity.

‘These guys are a huge problem for us. They steal stuff everywhere and assault security guards at the central station,’ one police officer told SVT.

‘They grope girls between their legs, and slap them in the face when they protest. All police officers are aware of this.

‘I would never let my children go to the central station. No officer would.’

CONTINUED WITH TEXT AND VIDEOS

I have another Condell video to post, but came across this one while looking for it.
This video is now 6 year old.
Is it any wonder we are seeing and hearing these things as above?

Posted by peiper     on 01/25/2016 at 11:17 AM   
Filed Under: • CULTURE IN DECLINE • Daily Life • Illegal-Aliens and Immigration • REALLY WORTHLESS and PUTRID PEOPLE •  
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   Thursday - November 19, 2015

what would you suggest for ppl like this?  no. really. any suggestions?

I know we’ve all seen examples of self serving loons and just plain idiots. But this really is in a class by itself.

Protesters.  These are folks, many lonely with few friends, who are desperate to hop on a bandwagon, any ole one will do that gives them a chance to shout at others as part of a larger crowd and just bully others from the safety of numbers.
In this case .... even picking on young girls is okay, because they are protesting ‘slavery’, and the schools’ founder who has not been of this world for for a hundred years.

Take a look.

Schoolgirls face ‘slave’ protest:

Pupils warned about wearing uniforms in public after protesters target them over link to 17th-century slave trader

Pupils at Colston’s Girls’ School in Bristol have been told to ‘walk away’
The school was founded in 1891 using a legacy from Edward Colston
Merchant and MP traded in cloth but amassed fortune from the slave trade
Bristol Mayor called the annual commemoration of the merchant ‘perverse’

By Daily Mail Reporter

Schoolgirls are being warned about wearing their uniforms in public after protesters targeted them over their school’s links to a 17th-century slave trader.

Pupils at Colston’s Girls’ School in Bristol have been told to ‘walk away’ if anyone criticises them in the street. Some may even be kept from leaving the school at lunchtime.

The school was founded in 1891 using a legacy from Edward Colston, a merchant and MP who traded in cloth, wine and sugar, but amassed a fortune from the slave trade.

Alastair Perry, the school’s headmaster, was forced to write to parents after several pupils were confronted by protesters.

He said: ‘At this time of year, celebrations and events commemorating the life of Edward Colston sometimes provoke strong reactions from some members of the community of Bristol.

‘We have noted this in particular this year, and have had incidents reported to us where members of the public have approached students to engage them in conversation about the history of the school, sometimes in a forthright manner.

‘One such incident occurred at lunchtime today [Friday]. We will be speaking with all students to remind them of our advice to keep themselves safe when approached by strangers - not engaging with the individual, walking away and seeking support from school or a nearby adult.’

Mr Perry’s warning comes after pupils had to leave by Bristol Cathedral’s rear entrance last week as protesters gathered outside the annual commemoration service to Colston, who gave the modern-day equivalent of millions of pounds to Bristol.

He added that the school was now reviewing its position on whether or not Year 11 pupils would be allowed out at lunchtime so staff ‘can be confident that our students are safe at all times’.

continues

Is it too late to bring back the stocks?

Posted by peiper     on 11/19/2015 at 10:33 AM   
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   Sunday - November 08, 2015

gonna need a bigger sky

Fwooosh. Fwoosh. Fwwoooshh. They got me again.

Remember that scene in Jaws where the Sheriff is ladling out the chum, grousing away, and the shark rises right up behind him, and in shock he backs into the cabin and tells Quint, “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”? Seems like something similar happened to me this afternoon.

I was out on the deck enjoying the late crisp afternoon air, nursing a smallish glass of Jamison Black Barrel to soothe my tired arms after digging for several hours in the garden, when I heard that old familiar sound. Fwoosh. Fwoosh. The sound of hot air balloons. So I’m looking up, trying to see through the trees here in our little piece of “friggin’ jungle”, and finally I spot one. It’s a big yellow job, with some kind of Navajo-ish cubist graphic on the side. A thunderbird or similar. It’s at a decent altitude, up there in the bright and gleaming in the late afternoon sun, while I’m in the shadows beneath the trees. “Gosh” I’m thinking, “the sound of those burners really carries a long distance!”. And it does. And then I hear FWWOOOSH FWWWOOOOOSSSSSHH really loud, snap my head around, and there’s a giant multi-colored balloon right the heck in front of me. Not 30 feet away, it had sunk down almost to the roadway behind us here, just the other side of our little cliffy culvert of trees. We’re gonna need a bigger sky!!

“Ach, crivens!” I said (yes, I really did. One of the perils of being alone so much) and ran in to grab the camera. And then ran back to close the door so the kitten couldn’t escape. Then ran downstairs because the camera wasn’t where I’ve been leaving it. Right. Grab the snapper and run back out, and the gas bag has gained a small bounce of altitude and 50 yards of travel, and is landing in the front lawn of the house across the street.

That’s the view from my porch. It took me a few tries to get the balloon in the picture; not that it was so big, but that it was actually so hard to see. The sunlight lit the colorful panels so well that they were almost transparent, nearly invisible behind the high contrast clump of branches in the dimness. It was that perfect instant in the day when the sun is just high enough to light the sky but nothing lower than the very tree tops. So the chase van shows up, and I’m watching them bounce the basket around as people climb out, and they have to make several big fiery blasts on the heaters to keep the slowly deflating bag from sagging into the tree branches, and of course the camera is too slow to capture those awesome moments ... and then I hear the familiar sound from above again.

Fwoosh Fwooossssh! And we’ve got a third balloon coming down, this one aiming for the landing spot a couple streets away, behind the condo where we used to live (and where balloons have set down several times over the years)

And as that fellow floats down to earth, another observer comes by. Just over the treetops, flying hardly faster than a horse’s gallop, this obviously old-school, fabric covered, bigger than a typical Cessna, high-winger, who circled the situation a few times and then putt-putted away through the sky.

I have no idea what kind of airplane this is. Definitely neat looking, and like the second balloon, brilliant in the upper sunshine when seen from the gloaming on the ground. Who’s good with their planes? What is it?

Never a dull moment here in Clinton. Except I’m now out of Jamison. Waily waily waily!!

PS - all these pictures enlarge a bit when you click them.

Posted by Drew458     on 11/08/2015 at 05:46 PM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Fun-Stuff • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •  
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   Wednesday - November 04, 2015

from suggestion to do away with the disabled to do away with white men, different outcomes

So whatcha think of this?
I haven’t a clue who this woman is, I don’t have a TV and wouldn’t watch the program if I did.  Not interested and anyway, that programming is meant for a far different demographic.  That said … she is not the first person I have read about or heard out loud, expressing such thoughts.  There have been times I have witnessed ppl in public who in a different time, wouldn’t be foisted on the public who are made to smile and accept the difference as “normal”.  I am not one of those ppl.  There have been times I have seen things and had similar thoughts. 

I haven’t any problem with folks expressing an opposing view.
But jail and a stiff fine?  For expressing how she feels? OK. Great.

Ursula Presgrave, from Swansea, who appeared on The Call Centre, was taken to court after saying disabled children should be killed instead of living the ‘pointless life of a vegetable’. The 23-year-old was prosecuted under the Malicious Communications act - with a maximum sentence of face six months in jail or a £5,000 fine. Presgrave, who was known on the BBC show for her tattoos, piercings and foul language, told Facebook followers: ‘Anyone born with down syndrome should be put down, it’s just cruel to let them lead a pointless life of a vegetable.’ The message outraged social media users and led to a flurry of complaints to South Wales Police.

Well now … how about this?

Charges dropped against diversity officer accused of posting ‘kill all white men’ online

A STUDENT union officer accused of posting the phrase “kill all white men” on social media has had the charges against her dropped.
By Selina Sykes

Bahar Mustafa, the welfare and diversity officer of Goldsmiths, University of London, had faced charges of sending malicious communications after being accused of writing “#KillAllWhiteMen” in a Facebook post.

The 28-year-old was due to appear in court on Thursday but her case was dropped due to a lack of evidence.

Ms Mustafa faced a barrage of criticism on social media after holding an event where white men were told not to attend.
Ms Mustafa has denied tweeting the #killallwhitemen hashtag.

But she said: “I have seen some horrendous things happen online. The internet can be a horrible place full of misery and perversion, but I don’t think that the state should deal with things that we don’t like on the internet.

“We should have the power to go and protest against it ourselves. Like, if people want to go out and protest about something I said – fine, bring it.”

The messages relating to the now dropped charges were allegedly posted by Ms Mustafa between November 10 last year and May 31.

A CPS spokesperson said: “Following the decision to discontinue this case one of the complainants has now requested a review of this decision under the Victim’s Right to Review Scheme.

“It would not be appropriate to comment further on this case until this process has been completed.”

source

Then there a story about a guy, a bodybuilder, who tried to strangle his girl friend.
He had already racked up 17 convictions for violent behavior and attacks against others.  He once fractured a victim’s eye socket.  Now wouldn’t you think the judge in the case wouldda tossed the book at him?  Nope.  This is a land of very soft hearted legal minds.
He was sent to ...  hope ur sitting down.

RELATIONSHIP LESSONS.

I could not make that up.

Posted by peiper     on 11/04/2015 at 01:44 PM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life •  
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   Thursday - October 29, 2015

Our changing world …. do u ever get the feeling too many ppl have too much free time?

This is a few days old but worth the posting. 
At the moment, it’s only a recommendation. 

Time do march on and it seems to me, society is marching closer to the abyss with every passing day.  Technology advances, medical procedures advance, people are even living longer, I am informed by the press. So, people have lots more free time to spend with their own thoughts.  And heaven knows what else but they continually arrive at conclusions like this.  They generally belong to the left. In fact, I suspect all ovum do.

New guidelines on communal kitchen etiquette for the workplace are suggested
By David Wilkes for the Daily Mail

It may seem an innocent enough act to warm up your sausage roll in the microwave during lunch hour.

But think again, because doing so could seriously upset colleagues of certain faiths, new guidelines on the etiquette of using communal kitchens at work suggest.

Similarly, it would also be advisable to avoid keeping bacon rolls in a fridge shared with people whose religious beliefs prohibit them from eating pork.
New guidelines on the etiquette of using communal kitchens at work suggest not microwaving a sausage roll.

Adam Dinham, professor of faith and public policy at Goldsmiths, University of London, has drawn up a religious literacy programme due to be presented to employers this week.

He said: ‘The microwaves example is a good one. We also say, ‘Don’t put kosher or halal and other . . . special foods next to another [food] or, God forbid, on the same plate.’

Halal and kosher food served at corporate events should be certified, and consideration should be given to whether to serve alcohol, the guidelines further suggest.

Professor Dinham warned that employers should consider new religions and cults, including Scientology, and beliefs such as environmentalism and vegetarianism, as well as the established faiths of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Sikhism.

The programme, commissioned by CoExist House, an interfaith group, will also deal with other matters including clothing, the right to wear religious symbols such as crucifixes and hijabs, and whether to allow time off on religious holidays.

Professor Dinham said: ‘We have lost the ability to talk about religious belief because of a century of secular assumptions, and most religious belief is either highly visible and we don’t recognise it, or it’s invisible and we miss it entirely.’

Using the office mircrowave to heat up a sausage roll during your lunch hour could offend people of other religions
The guidelines are due to be presented to employers by EY, the Nprofessional services firm.

Professor Dinham told the Sunday Times: ‘We can’t be didactic. You can’t say, ‘Do this, this and this and you’ll get it right’.
‘We point out that there is no definition in law of religion and belief. The Equality Act has [made] an attempt . . . but it is so woolly as to be useless.’

SOURCE and more

Posted by peiper     on 10/29/2015 at 08:37 AM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists •  
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