I figured I'd better post something so's y'all wouldn't think I was deader than a hammer.
Had a great Thanksgiving, did a little shopping, mostly window shopping. Went to Guitar Center yesterday which is like Disneyland for musicians. Played 'bout half the guitars and all of the mandolins there. Way cool place. I love just watching people there, everything from beginners to pros, country/folk musicians to death metal. You're completely surrounded by music of some sort from the time you walk in the door until you walk out. Even if you don't play it's worth a trip to one of their stores just to watch and listen.
Played Wii with my son in law and Sally. I'm addicted. lol What a blast that was.
Ate more food than you can shake a bowl full of jelly at. What a feed!
Came home and had an evening of visiting and having a few drinks with my buddy Gary and his daughter Sarah and Sal yesterday evening.
Sorry I was derelict in my duties... I'll do better. :-)
Have a great week everyone!
.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Rollin' Rollin' Rollin', Keep Them Doggies Rollin'...
Well kids, tomorrow is payday. We got the herd in yesterday and sorted off calves to sell this morning. Got 'em shipped out to the auction barn about noon. I'm a wee bit scared with the whole economy thing and the cattle market being "off". In case you don't know how it all works... we sort off the calves that are ready to be weaned and moved to a feedlot or to grass somewhere. They go to an auction barn and buyers bid on them... and away they go. You don't have a whole lotta say, it's just whatever the market is at the time. It's been a pretty rough year all in all, with much MUCH higher than ever operating expenses for the cattle and now a shot to the nads with a depressed market.
On the plus side, this batch of calves is one of the best looking bunches we've sold for several years. There was plenty of grass with all the rain and the momma's milked like crazy, putting pounds on those babies. We sorted off 65 head to sell in this batch, all of 'em weighing in the 400-500 pound range with a few 600 pounders tossed in. We'll sell the rest of them in the spring after wintering 'em.
About 12 noon central time... keep your fingers crossed.
No one got trampled, kicked, maimed, wooled up. No gates broke open, no cows went bat turds and flew the coop. It was as calm and collected sorting morning as you'll ever see. Didn't make for any good stories but it sure was nice having an easy go at it.
Welp, some of y'all have purchased copies of the DVD from Chariton Valley Communications of my woodworking show and a few have got to see it without breaking out into congenital puking. In case you missed it, and from some of the talk over on the woodworking forum, I think you did... here's the phone number again.
660-395-9600
10 bucks and a little postage gets it to you. It'll make a good drink coaster after you watch it.
Ran across a silly little video the other day that I've watched repeatedly trying to figure out "what the???". Here tis...
Cute eh?
Have a great Tuesday y'all.
.
On the plus side, this batch of calves is one of the best looking bunches we've sold for several years. There was plenty of grass with all the rain and the momma's milked like crazy, putting pounds on those babies. We sorted off 65 head to sell in this batch, all of 'em weighing in the 400-500 pound range with a few 600 pounders tossed in. We'll sell the rest of them in the spring after wintering 'em.
About 12 noon central time... keep your fingers crossed.
No one got trampled, kicked, maimed, wooled up. No gates broke open, no cows went bat turds and flew the coop. It was as calm and collected sorting morning as you'll ever see. Didn't make for any good stories but it sure was nice having an easy go at it.
Welp, some of y'all have purchased copies of the DVD from Chariton Valley Communications of my woodworking show and a few have got to see it without breaking out into congenital puking. In case you missed it, and from some of the talk over on the woodworking forum, I think you did... here's the phone number again.
660-395-9600
10 bucks and a little postage gets it to you. It'll make a good drink coaster after you watch it.
Ran across a silly little video the other day that I've watched repeatedly trying to figure out "what the???". Here tis...
Cute eh?
Have a great Tuesday y'all.
.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Wine, Women, And Song.
WINE! Salute! Cheers! I coulda swore I wore underpants! MORE WINE!
My bloggin' buddy Katie is a pretty cool chick. She and her ol' man Clyde own themselves a right respectable lil' winery down south here a piece in Steelville, Missouri. Katie needed a frame, I make frames. I needed wine. Katie and Clyde make wine. Katie likes frames. I like wine.
We made a trade. I think I got the best part of this deal. I'm pretty certain of it.
Pugsly, my FedEx dude... wait. Wait. Yes, my FedEx drivers name is Pugsly. That's what he answers to. Yes, he looks just like a grown up version of Pugsly from The Adams Family. He's pretty cool. He likes delivering at our shop, usually just hangs out for awhile and visits.
Anyway, Pugsly pulls in and brings me in a box, I read the label and start ripping the box to shreds like a rabid dog after some sort of imaginary mailman leg in the box. I pull out a bottle of their Huzzah Valley Sweet Rosé AND a bottle of their Late Harvest Chardonel Dessert White.
I looked at Pugsly and said "You gotta go now. Goodbye" I ran to the house, briefly had the thought that it'd be awful if I fell right then... blew through the back door, slid to a stop in front of Sally and said....
"Wine. I'm thirsty."
Sal said "Me too."
Half a bottle later of the Huzzah and I was chasing Sally 'round the kitchen island like some sex crazed middle aged guy with a beard that plays mandolin, has cows and does woodworking. It was an amazing transformation. Utterly amazing.
Seriously folks, if you wanna taste some of the finest wine that comes from my home state here, this stuff is it. They've got a pretty extensive list of wines AND they do mail order and internet sales. You don't even have to get outta bed. Is America great or what?? I mean it!
Here's all their pertinent info.
Peaceful Bend Vineyard (click that like crazy)
Or give 'em a call 573-775-3000. If you live in CA, CO, ID, IL, IA, MN, MO, NM, OR, WA, WS, WV you're just a click or a phone call away from having this wonderful elixir of life and marital bliss, speeding it's way to your door via your very own Pugsly.
If by chance Katie or Clyde answers the phone themselves... just tell 'em you want the "Jace Special". It'll be good for a laugh anyhow when they say "whaaattt?"
Okay, music next. We played at one of our regular gigs the other night and it was a cooooolllldddd one. Pretty light crowd because of the temps, but we sure outdid the bar across the street. I think I saw one truck over there all night long and it belonged to the owner. HA!
As always, we had a barrel of fun.
And we shot the second episode of North Missouri Woodworking. It went awesomely and we had a great time and loosened it up a bit this time. Here I am suffering under the heat of all the lights. No I don't know what they're all there for... other than I need all the help I can get to look good.
Sorry... no women pics. I lied about that part.
Have a great one! CHEERS!!
.
My bloggin' buddy Katie is a pretty cool chick. She and her ol' man Clyde own themselves a right respectable lil' winery down south here a piece in Steelville, Missouri. Katie needed a frame, I make frames. I needed wine. Katie and Clyde make wine. Katie likes frames. I like wine.
We made a trade. I think I got the best part of this deal. I'm pretty certain of it.
Pugsly, my FedEx dude... wait. Wait. Yes, my FedEx drivers name is Pugsly. That's what he answers to. Yes, he looks just like a grown up version of Pugsly from The Adams Family. He's pretty cool. He likes delivering at our shop, usually just hangs out for awhile and visits.
Anyway, Pugsly pulls in and brings me in a box, I read the label and start ripping the box to shreds like a rabid dog after some sort of imaginary mailman leg in the box. I pull out a bottle of their Huzzah Valley Sweet Rosé AND a bottle of their Late Harvest Chardonel Dessert White.
I looked at Pugsly and said "You gotta go now. Goodbye" I ran to the house, briefly had the thought that it'd be awful if I fell right then... blew through the back door, slid to a stop in front of Sally and said....
"Wine. I'm thirsty."
Sal said "Me too."
Half a bottle later of the Huzzah and I was chasing Sally 'round the kitchen island like some sex crazed middle aged guy with a beard that plays mandolin, has cows and does woodworking. It was an amazing transformation. Utterly amazing.
Seriously folks, if you wanna taste some of the finest wine that comes from my home state here, this stuff is it. They've got a pretty extensive list of wines AND they do mail order and internet sales. You don't even have to get outta bed. Is America great or what?? I mean it!
Here's all their pertinent info.
Peaceful Bend Vineyard (click that like crazy)
Or give 'em a call 573-775-3000. If you live in CA, CO, ID, IL, IA, MN, MO, NM, OR, WA, WS, WV you're just a click or a phone call away from having this wonderful elixir of life and marital bliss, speeding it's way to your door via your very own Pugsly.
If by chance Katie or Clyde answers the phone themselves... just tell 'em you want the "Jace Special". It'll be good for a laugh anyhow when they say "whaaattt?"
Okay, music next. We played at one of our regular gigs the other night and it was a cooooolllldddd one. Pretty light crowd because of the temps, but we sure outdid the bar across the street. I think I saw one truck over there all night long and it belonged to the owner. HA!
As always, we had a barrel of fun.
And we shot the second episode of North Missouri Woodworking. It went awesomely and we had a great time and loosened it up a bit this time. Here I am suffering under the heat of all the lights. No I don't know what they're all there for... other than I need all the help I can get to look good.
Sorry... no women pics. I lied about that part.
Have a great one! CHEERS!!
.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Hacksaw? HACKSAW???
Welp folks, we got to watch the first of the woodworking shows, "North Missouri Woodworking with Jace Weber" last evening and I am sooo impressed. Impressed with the quality of work that Martina, the producer and Drew, the cameraman/editor, turned out. I was totally blown away. If you remember when I wrote about it a couple of weeks ago, I didn't have a clue how they were gonna put it all together in the end with all of the "let's do that again but from this point this time" type of stuff.
I'm just amazed how that all works. Those 2 are really something.
My part turned out pretty nice as well and I was happy with it until I blurted out "Hacksaw". Yes, on a woodworking show I said hacksaw. Don't ask me what the hell was going through my thick rind' punkin' of a head when it flew outta my mouth. I was telling how to cut out a piece of wood on the bandsaw and said you could just as easily do it with a couple of different saw types if you didn't have a bandsaw.
What my brain said was "backsaw".
What rolled off my tongue was "hacksaw".
For the unknowing amongst y'all, here's a backsaw.
And this, is a hacksaw.
A backsaw is for woodworking, a hacksaw is for just hacking the crap out of the dangling tailpipe on your Buick or for sawing the aluminum hand railings off the stairs somewhere to sell for scrap, or even for getting under your sink and ruining all your plumbing. They're best for that. I've ruined more plumbing with a hacksaw than a politicians got promises.
Eh well, it made me laugh. And laughing at myself... well, I excell at that.
But truly people, these 2 made me look like an old pro. It's a pretty cool little show and entertaining too!
So, if y'all want a DVD of this show, call this number:
660-395-9600
That's Chariton Valley Communications. Tell 'em you wanna copy of "North Missouri Woodworking with Jace Weber". They'll probably question your sanity for a bit but just play along and they'll give in. :-) Seriously though, it'll be 'bout $10 bucks and a little postage probably.
Tell 'em I said to call.
Annnnnnddddd ... we're shooting episode NUMBER TWO tomorrow! Yessiree Bob. After this it looks like it's gonna be a once monthly program. I'm real grateful and real excited about this whole thing folks. I truly am.
Now then I wanna give a shout out to some friends of ours down in Knoxville, TN that run themselves one helluva set of radio stations, including one net radio station (you can listen to it on your puter) (technology... I tell you whut!) WDVX
Tony Lawson, Program Director
and
Red Hickey, DJ extraordinaire
These folks are online at www.wdvx.com Click on the "listen" button and choose the windows media player on the next page. Awesome AWESOME American style music.
Give 'em a listen, you'll love it. Great stuff!
Also Keota is playing tonite (Thursday, November 20) over in Bevier at Ugo's. We'll start playing about 7 pm. Come on over, we'll tear it up for y'all. I promise! Got some new stuff too!
Have a good one!
Jace
.
I'm just amazed how that all works. Those 2 are really something.
My part turned out pretty nice as well and I was happy with it until I blurted out "Hacksaw". Yes, on a woodworking show I said hacksaw. Don't ask me what the hell was going through my thick rind' punkin' of a head when it flew outta my mouth. I was telling how to cut out a piece of wood on the bandsaw and said you could just as easily do it with a couple of different saw types if you didn't have a bandsaw.
What my brain said was "backsaw".
What rolled off my tongue was "hacksaw".
For the unknowing amongst y'all, here's a backsaw.
And this, is a hacksaw.
A backsaw is for woodworking, a hacksaw is for just hacking the crap out of the dangling tailpipe on your Buick or for sawing the aluminum hand railings off the stairs somewhere to sell for scrap, or even for getting under your sink and ruining all your plumbing. They're best for that. I've ruined more plumbing with a hacksaw than a politicians got promises.
Eh well, it made me laugh. And laughing at myself... well, I excell at that.
But truly people, these 2 made me look like an old pro. It's a pretty cool little show and entertaining too!
So, if y'all want a DVD of this show, call this number:
660-395-9600
That's Chariton Valley Communications. Tell 'em you wanna copy of "North Missouri Woodworking with Jace Weber". They'll probably question your sanity for a bit but just play along and they'll give in. :-) Seriously though, it'll be 'bout $10 bucks and a little postage probably.
Tell 'em I said to call.
Annnnnnddddd ... we're shooting episode NUMBER TWO tomorrow! Yessiree Bob. After this it looks like it's gonna be a once monthly program. I'm real grateful and real excited about this whole thing folks. I truly am.
Now then I wanna give a shout out to some friends of ours down in Knoxville, TN that run themselves one helluva set of radio stations, including one net radio station (you can listen to it on your puter) (technology... I tell you whut!) WDVX
Tony Lawson, Program Director
and
Red Hickey, DJ extraordinaire
These folks are online at www.wdvx.com Click on the "listen" button and choose the windows media player on the next page. Awesome AWESOME American style music.
Give 'em a listen, you'll love it. Great stuff!
Also Keota is playing tonite (Thursday, November 20) over in Bevier at Ugo's. We'll start playing about 7 pm. Come on over, we'll tear it up for y'all. I promise! Got some new stuff too!
Have a good one!
Jace
.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Things You Shouldn't Put On Your Lips. Item #8
For your convenience I've compiled a short list of things you shouldn't put on your lips. This list is in no way 100 percent correct, but it's pretty danged close.
Things You Shouldn't Put On Your Lips.
1. A Nuclear warhead with anything less than 1 hour on the timer.
2. Battery acid.
3. A speeding bullet.
4. Any part of Rosie O'Donnell.
5. Badger teeth. This is especially true if said teeth are still attached to a living, breathing Badger.
6. A taxi driver's seat cushion.
7. Anything found under a seat in the theater.
8. Spiders.
Let me stop this list here at number 8 and move on to what I'm gonna call the "Show and Tell" portion of todays show.
This is a respirator. This is actually the respirator that I put on if I'm walking in the finish room of my shop to spray something real quick like. I've got another fresh air respirator that I put on if I'm gonna be in there for awhile.
Now this next picture is the backside of that respirator, that is strapped onto your face nice and tight. Looky at all those flippy flops of rubber and spacious cavity inside.
So... yesterday I pull on my respirator, snap it behind my head, pull it over my punkin, put my glasses back on and put my cap back on and start into the finish room... and I feel something. Something in my mask. I stop and try to decide if it's just something itchy on my nose and then... nothing. I open the door and then... something runs across my lips.
I'm dead serious. Something ran across my lips. I whip off my cap and start tearing the respirator offa my face, flinging my glasses to who knows where. I'm in a major panic now. I'm trying to unsnap the snap behind my head on the stupid strap and finally get it undone and then... a spider hops outta my respirator and onto the floor.
I applied my boot.
I've got no clue if it was a deadly poisonous variety 'cause I just didn't get a real good look at him before he looked like he does in that picture. Twernt no parts of my face swelling up or falling off this morning, so I'm guessing I never got bit.
Wanna know the worst part? This ain't the first time this has happened. Only the other time I didn't get the thing on my face before the spider scurried outta there. AND I'd just fumigated for bugs in the shop not over 2 weeks ago.
LOL Now everytime I put the thing on today, I was shaking it out and looking around in it.
Gaaaah!
Things You Shouldn't Put On Your Lips.
1. A Nuclear warhead with anything less than 1 hour on the timer.
2. Battery acid.
3. A speeding bullet.
4. Any part of Rosie O'Donnell.
5. Badger teeth. This is especially true if said teeth are still attached to a living, breathing Badger.
6. A taxi driver's seat cushion.
7. Anything found under a seat in the theater.
8. Spiders.
Let me stop this list here at number 8 and move on to what I'm gonna call the "Show and Tell" portion of todays show.
This is a respirator. This is actually the respirator that I put on if I'm walking in the finish room of my shop to spray something real quick like. I've got another fresh air respirator that I put on if I'm gonna be in there for awhile.
Now this next picture is the backside of that respirator, that is strapped onto your face nice and tight. Looky at all those flippy flops of rubber and spacious cavity inside.
So... yesterday I pull on my respirator, snap it behind my head, pull it over my punkin, put my glasses back on and put my cap back on and start into the finish room... and I feel something. Something in my mask. I stop and try to decide if it's just something itchy on my nose and then... nothing. I open the door and then... something runs across my lips.
I'm dead serious. Something ran across my lips. I whip off my cap and start tearing the respirator offa my face, flinging my glasses to who knows where. I'm in a major panic now. I'm trying to unsnap the snap behind my head on the stupid strap and finally get it undone and then... a spider hops outta my respirator and onto the floor.
I applied my boot.
I've got no clue if it was a deadly poisonous variety 'cause I just didn't get a real good look at him before he looked like he does in that picture. Twernt no parts of my face swelling up or falling off this morning, so I'm guessing I never got bit.
Wanna know the worst part? This ain't the first time this has happened. Only the other time I didn't get the thing on my face before the spider scurried outta there. AND I'd just fumigated for bugs in the shop not over 2 weeks ago.
LOL Now everytime I put the thing on today, I was shaking it out and looking around in it.
Gaaaah!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Youtube'n Saturday
As y'all know, I'm a YouTube junkie. I get stuck in the YouTube loop, one thing leads to another and I've gone from watching a vintage Hendrix video to Hank Williams III videos (not for the faint hearted... lol) to Segway Polo. By the way, Segway Polo ranks right up there with one of the dumbest danged things I've seen in awhile. The guys riding the things all seem to have a stick up their rear end and the Segway's are evidently powered by smugness.
I bet Hank III could write a right purty little ballad 'bout those boys.
So this first video is "Boomer Supermarket 1962" but I think it's mistitled... looks more like 1957-1958ish to me. The Nelson's go shopping in a supermarket. Now it's a little tedious watching some of it, but there are glimpses that are pure joy. The butcher pulling down a hanging veal and cutting Mrs. Nelson the roast she wanted. The veggie department dude weighing up her produce and pricing it for her and best of all... stick around for the very end and check out what the cashier rings up her groceries for.
You'll pee your pants sideways. I promise.
Next is all kinds of toy gun fun. The kid in this commercial is Billy Mumy, he was Will Robinson on the old Lost In Space TV series. I laughed out loud when his dad says "You can't read". Talk 'bout the public smackdown. Hopefully he went to Pop's dresser and put a little Atomic Balm in the old dude's underpants.
"You can't read... I'll teach him some driver's seat acrobatics while he's stuck in rush hour traffic on his way to work tomorrow morning."
Lordy.
Anyway check out the Tommy Gun action and the kid hoses the old mans newspaper with his snub nosed 38. Awesome!
And lastly is "Six Finger". I actually Googled this and it was "Egads!". Who would have known there were so many people with six fingers for real. Some of the pictures were pretty creepy.
Okay, I had one of these 'cause it was all 007ish, Man From UNCLE'ish, cool like. I actually remember pulling this thing out on the playground in grade school and all the guys ooohing and ahhhing over it. As I remember it the range of the "flying cap bomb" was pretty dismal. Pathetic is probably a better term. It'd shoot it out like 3 feet or so and was a pain to put the caps in it... but it looked cool. I got it taken away from me by the playground monitor but I can't remember why now. Got it back at the end of the day at the Principal's office, that was the important part.
Watching this video now, man this was a stupid toy. lol
"SIX FINGER SIX FINGER MAN ALIVE, HOW'D I EVER GET ALONG WITH FIVE!"
Have a great Sunday!
J.
.
I bet Hank III could write a right purty little ballad 'bout those boys.
So this first video is "Boomer Supermarket 1962" but I think it's mistitled... looks more like 1957-1958ish to me. The Nelson's go shopping in a supermarket. Now it's a little tedious watching some of it, but there are glimpses that are pure joy. The butcher pulling down a hanging veal and cutting Mrs. Nelson the roast she wanted. The veggie department dude weighing up her produce and pricing it for her and best of all... stick around for the very end and check out what the cashier rings up her groceries for.
You'll pee your pants sideways. I promise.
Next is all kinds of toy gun fun. The kid in this commercial is Billy Mumy, he was Will Robinson on the old Lost In Space TV series. I laughed out loud when his dad says "You can't read". Talk 'bout the public smackdown. Hopefully he went to Pop's dresser and put a little Atomic Balm in the old dude's underpants.
"You can't read... I'll teach him some driver's seat acrobatics while he's stuck in rush hour traffic on his way to work tomorrow morning."
Lordy.
Anyway check out the Tommy Gun action and the kid hoses the old mans newspaper with his snub nosed 38. Awesome!
And lastly is "Six Finger". I actually Googled this and it was "Egads!". Who would have known there were so many people with six fingers for real. Some of the pictures were pretty creepy.
Okay, I had one of these 'cause it was all 007ish, Man From UNCLE'ish, cool like. I actually remember pulling this thing out on the playground in grade school and all the guys ooohing and ahhhing over it. As I remember it the range of the "flying cap bomb" was pretty dismal. Pathetic is probably a better term. It'd shoot it out like 3 feet or so and was a pain to put the caps in it... but it looked cool. I got it taken away from me by the playground monitor but I can't remember why now. Got it back at the end of the day at the Principal's office, that was the important part.
Watching this video now, man this was a stupid toy. lol
"SIX FINGER SIX FINGER MAN ALIVE, HOW'D I EVER GET ALONG WITH FIVE!"
Have a great Sunday!
J.
.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
I Realize It's November But This Is About July 4th
Actually after the post about the blue truck that was my Grandpa's old truck, I've had things rattling around in my punkin'. Things that my Grandpa and I did when I was a kid. He spoiled me something terrible and had a sense of humor that fell right inline with mine.
When I was about 6 or 7 my Grandpa and I were sitting in the front yard just before July 4th, aimlessly tossing firecrackers around. I kinda shudder thinking about this now, but his logic was he didn't want a 6 or 7 year old shooting firecrackers without some adult supervision... BUT, it was okay for that same 6 or 7 year old boy to light 'em then throw 'em (hopefully) just as long as he was there watching.
I dunno. It worked okay, I got all my fingers and stuff.
Anyhow he loved noisy fireworks as much as I did and we're having a big ol' time when I noticed a knothole in the big maple tree in the front yard, that was about the size of my thumb. Well hell, you got firecrackers, you got a tree hole, what the heck you gonna do? Darn tootin'! You're gonna start shoving lit firecrackers in the tree hole.
And I did. A lot of 'em.
After about the twentyteenth firecracker an entire army of black carpenter ants started rolling outta the bottom of the tree. Hundreds. Maybe thousands. Gobs, at the very least. Now both of us were pretty entertained by this, not because it was mean. Nothing like that at all, it was just a reaction to an action that we hadn't really expected and the action was taking place in spades.
So I started shoving firecrackers in the tree hole faster and faster. Ants started covering the ground. Good Lord we'd never seen so many ants in our lives! The ground was moving with the dang things! And then, as with a lot of other things in life, we just ran outta bang. No more firecrackers left to poke in the tree hole. Most likely that was a blessing for my Grandma who was suffering out all the noise inside the house in the kitchen... the room furthest from the ant tree.
Me and Grandpa just sat there in the yard laughing 'bout all the ants when all of a sudden he just stopped talking and was staring at the top of the tree trunk. I looked too. Smoke was billowing outta the hollow center of that old rotten tree which was only a few feet from the house.
The ant tree was on fire!
Later in life I've come to understand this type of reaction as "Karma". Run the ants out of their home with fireworks, your house burns down. Simple as that.
In my young years all I really knew how to do was panic. I started crying that the house was gonna burn down... Grandpa was yelling at me to drag the garden hose out there while he got a ladder. I drug this ginormous old red hose out.
"NOT THAT ONE!" he yelled "It's fulla holes! Get the green ones! So I run back in the garage and come dragging out the 2 green hoses that are hopelessly tangled into a wad that looks like garden hose hell. I'm cryin'. Grandpa is cussin'. We're both fighting garden hose war trying to get enough length to reach from the hydrant to the tree. It's pure pandemonium.
And to think only moments earlier there was nothing but laughin' and firecrackers and ants. Life sure is funny sometimes.
We get the garden hoses all stretched out, the hydrant on and Grandpa is up the ladder spraying water down inside the old maple tree and after about 30 minutes of hosing 'er down... the fire is out. Life is almost back to normal.
I can still picture my Grandma in her apron, standing on the front steps with her arms crossed just watching the whole fiasco take place in the front yard with the 2 boys. Me and my Grandpa.
.
When I was about 6 or 7 my Grandpa and I were sitting in the front yard just before July 4th, aimlessly tossing firecrackers around. I kinda shudder thinking about this now, but his logic was he didn't want a 6 or 7 year old shooting firecrackers without some adult supervision... BUT, it was okay for that same 6 or 7 year old boy to light 'em then throw 'em (hopefully) just as long as he was there watching.
I dunno. It worked okay, I got all my fingers and stuff.
Anyhow he loved noisy fireworks as much as I did and we're having a big ol' time when I noticed a knothole in the big maple tree in the front yard, that was about the size of my thumb. Well hell, you got firecrackers, you got a tree hole, what the heck you gonna do? Darn tootin'! You're gonna start shoving lit firecrackers in the tree hole.
And I did. A lot of 'em.
After about the twentyteenth firecracker an entire army of black carpenter ants started rolling outta the bottom of the tree. Hundreds. Maybe thousands. Gobs, at the very least. Now both of us were pretty entertained by this, not because it was mean. Nothing like that at all, it was just a reaction to an action that we hadn't really expected and the action was taking place in spades.
So I started shoving firecrackers in the tree hole faster and faster. Ants started covering the ground. Good Lord we'd never seen so many ants in our lives! The ground was moving with the dang things! And then, as with a lot of other things in life, we just ran outta bang. No more firecrackers left to poke in the tree hole. Most likely that was a blessing for my Grandma who was suffering out all the noise inside the house in the kitchen... the room furthest from the ant tree.
Me and Grandpa just sat there in the yard laughing 'bout all the ants when all of a sudden he just stopped talking and was staring at the top of the tree trunk. I looked too. Smoke was billowing outta the hollow center of that old rotten tree which was only a few feet from the house.
The ant tree was on fire!
Later in life I've come to understand this type of reaction as "Karma". Run the ants out of their home with fireworks, your house burns down. Simple as that.
In my young years all I really knew how to do was panic. I started crying that the house was gonna burn down... Grandpa was yelling at me to drag the garden hose out there while he got a ladder. I drug this ginormous old red hose out.
"NOT THAT ONE!" he yelled "It's fulla holes! Get the green ones! So I run back in the garage and come dragging out the 2 green hoses that are hopelessly tangled into a wad that looks like garden hose hell. I'm cryin'. Grandpa is cussin'. We're both fighting garden hose war trying to get enough length to reach from the hydrant to the tree. It's pure pandemonium.
And to think only moments earlier there was nothing but laughin' and firecrackers and ants. Life sure is funny sometimes.
We get the garden hoses all stretched out, the hydrant on and Grandpa is up the ladder spraying water down inside the old maple tree and after about 30 minutes of hosing 'er down... the fire is out. Life is almost back to normal.
I can still picture my Grandma in her apron, standing on the front steps with her arms crossed just watching the whole fiasco take place in the front yard with the 2 boys. Me and my Grandpa.
.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Pancakes, Chocolate Bacon, Sea Kittens And Other Crap I've Noticed This Week.
So I get up this morning and decided that I need to make myself pancakes. This event happens so seldom in this household I have to go to the chest freezer in the basement to retrieve the pancake mix that lies there just in case some fool decides they need pancakes once a year at the buttcrack of dawn.
I get it, set the bag of pancake mix on the counter and stare at it. I shake it some and stare at it some more. Still no pancakes jumping out of it. "Hummph!"
THEN, I happen to read these instructions printed on the bag... (you may wanna click that pic for a larger view.)
Well, Hell. My pancake cookin' went a whole lot better after following THOSE instructions. Dang.
Staying with the whole food thing, I ran 'cross this story last week about this big ol' boy that loves bacon. Now if y'all been reading my blog for awhile, you KNOW I'm a nut for crisp bacon and lots of food combination's based on bacon. Well, this feller has cooked himself up some crispy bacon, stuck it on a gol danged stick, then poured milk chocolate all over the thing.
Half of y'all are going "GAAAHHH!", the other half are going "Hmmmmmmm, sounds kinda good!". I'm of course, going with the latter. Hey, I got you folks a youtube of it! Here!
Now let's move on to one of my more favorite organizations to poke at with a stick.
Wait. Know what's brown and sticky?
Give up?
A stick.
Okay... PETA. PETA this past week hit the news with their new ad campaign of wanting to rename fish... "Sea Kittens". Yes, they're serious. They want everyone to start calling fish Sea Kittens so it'll be less appetizing to eat fish. Lordy Lordy Lordy...
The only thing I can see that this is gonna do for me is when I drive through McDonalds and order my Filet O Sea Kitten Sandwich, fries and shake... I gotta spit out 2 more syllables than usual.
What? Don't believe it's true. Hell yeah I got the website. Make sure and read the bedtime stories... the cartoon of the kid eating the mercury laden fish made me laugh out loud. Not that a kid eating mercury is amusing to me, it's the whole nanny state ludicrousness of the whole thing.
Here, read about Sea Kittens.
And whilst I'm railing on PETA here's another unbelievable. PETA offered Ringling Bros an Animatronic elephant in exchange for all of Ringling's elephants to go into retirement. Yeah, animatronic like ol' Abe Lincoln in the Hall Of Presidents at Disneyland. LOL It goes on to state how mistreated they are. For crying out loud... the elephants (and other animals) are their lively hood. Most likely they're getting fed better and housed better than half the people working for RB. What about PETC? People for ethical treatment of carneys.
I'd post a link to PETA again for this... but I figure most, if not all of y'all wouldn't click it no how.
Here. Here's a link that's a lot more fun.
A few of y'all have wondered about seeing the woodworking show that we shot last Thursday. As soon as it's done and available I'll let you know. Martina posted the phone number to order it from on another post here at S & C. I'll put it up again as well.
Have a great week!
Jace
.
I get it, set the bag of pancake mix on the counter and stare at it. I shake it some and stare at it some more. Still no pancakes jumping out of it. "Hummph!"
THEN, I happen to read these instructions printed on the bag... (you may wanna click that pic for a larger view.)
Well, Hell. My pancake cookin' went a whole lot better after following THOSE instructions. Dang.
Staying with the whole food thing, I ran 'cross this story last week about this big ol' boy that loves bacon. Now if y'all been reading my blog for awhile, you KNOW I'm a nut for crisp bacon and lots of food combination's based on bacon. Well, this feller has cooked himself up some crispy bacon, stuck it on a gol danged stick, then poured milk chocolate all over the thing.
Half of y'all are going "GAAAHHH!", the other half are going "Hmmmmmmm, sounds kinda good!". I'm of course, going with the latter. Hey, I got you folks a youtube of it! Here!
Now let's move on to one of my more favorite organizations to poke at with a stick.
Wait. Know what's brown and sticky?
Give up?
A stick.
Okay... PETA. PETA this past week hit the news with their new ad campaign of wanting to rename fish... "Sea Kittens". Yes, they're serious. They want everyone to start calling fish Sea Kittens so it'll be less appetizing to eat fish. Lordy Lordy Lordy...
The only thing I can see that this is gonna do for me is when I drive through McDonalds and order my Filet O Sea Kitten Sandwich, fries and shake... I gotta spit out 2 more syllables than usual.
What? Don't believe it's true. Hell yeah I got the website. Make sure and read the bedtime stories... the cartoon of the kid eating the mercury laden fish made me laugh out loud. Not that a kid eating mercury is amusing to me, it's the whole nanny state ludicrousness of the whole thing.
Here, read about Sea Kittens.
And whilst I'm railing on PETA here's another unbelievable. PETA offered Ringling Bros an Animatronic elephant in exchange for all of Ringling's elephants to go into retirement. Yeah, animatronic like ol' Abe Lincoln in the Hall Of Presidents at Disneyland. LOL It goes on to state how mistreated they are. For crying out loud... the elephants (and other animals) are their lively hood. Most likely they're getting fed better and housed better than half the people working for RB. What about PETC? People for ethical treatment of carneys.
I'd post a link to PETA again for this... but I figure most, if not all of y'all wouldn't click it no how.
Here. Here's a link that's a lot more fun.
A few of y'all have wondered about seeing the woodworking show that we shot last Thursday. As soon as it's done and available I'll let you know. Martina posted the phone number to order it from on another post here at S & C. I'll put it up again as well.
Have a great week!
Jace
.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
One Step Closer To That Ceeement Pond!
What a blast today! In case you missed yesterday's post, click here. I told y'all 'bout the local cable tv company starting a local station and they were coming out today to shoot a woodworking show at my shop. I can't begin to tell you how much fun it was and what a great NEW experience.
Martina is the producer and she's just incredible at her job. The camerman and editor is Drew... the guy is amazing. He had fancy schmansy lights of all kinds all over the dang shop with little silver umbrellas and wires and cords and the most impressive camera I've ever seen. It was so new it didn't even have a crank on the side of it! Really! It run off 'lectricity just like your clock radio!
Technology... I tell you what.
I got a little microphone that clipped on my shirt, had a wire that ran down my back with a thing clipped on my pocket. I felt so important! It kinda went to my head, sorry to say. I got a little indignant at one point and ran outside to go sit in my ginormous RV in the studio lot, you know, just to pout. I realized I didn't have one when I got outside so I sat in the blue truck instead, smoked a cigar and ate beef jerky. I got over myself pretty quick though, it's just not that much fun sitting in the blue truck.
Seriously though, the professionalism of these 2 young people is pounds of impressive. Drew is a genius with lighting, making it all look perfect through his camera. We'd do a take and I'd get to a point and he'd stop... then we'd do a partial re-shoot from a point that he'd want me to start at. I dunno how all that works out in the end with the editing and stuff, but him and Martina had it all figured out.
I did a little introduction of myself, some blatant plugging of my business, wearing a Keota cap and then we moved on to a full fledged demonstration of doing a "dutchman inlay". I'd done a photo essay of this on The Wood Works a couple of years ago and it went over pretty good, and I thought that it'd be a cool thing to do for the show. It went real nice, I didn't let any power tools get out of control and I didn't cut any appendages off during the process, although I did start bleeding from a box knife wound I did to myself yesterday on my left hand. LOL
We won't be able to youtube this or anything. CVTV will own it and they'll sell DVD's of it as well as broadcasting it several times on the air. Perhaps in time, a year or so down the road it might be a possiblity though with permission.
We're gonna try and shoot another "episode" before December too!!! Drew will be leaving the company and a new cameraman will be taking his place. I'm sure the new guy will be good too, but Drew really impressed me. I want to get the next one done before he leaves.
Sally fixed us a huge lunch after we got done, and Martina and Drew packed up all the myriad of lights and equipment and away they went! It really was sooo much fun, folks. I've got some pics (of course) that Martina and Sally took.
I need to work on my posture... Lordy I look like a midget... Martina, Me and Drew.
And Drew and Martina asked for a good "normal" pose while setting everything up, doing I don't know what with buttons and dials and crap like that. I'm here to please.
A totally cool experience. I loved it!
Martina, Drew and CVTV... y'all rock!
.
.
Martina is the producer and she's just incredible at her job. The camerman and editor is Drew... the guy is amazing. He had fancy schmansy lights of all kinds all over the dang shop with little silver umbrellas and wires and cords and the most impressive camera I've ever seen. It was so new it didn't even have a crank on the side of it! Really! It run off 'lectricity just like your clock radio!
Technology... I tell you what.
I got a little microphone that clipped on my shirt, had a wire that ran down my back with a thing clipped on my pocket. I felt so important! It kinda went to my head, sorry to say. I got a little indignant at one point and ran outside to go sit in my ginormous RV in the studio lot, you know, just to pout. I realized I didn't have one when I got outside so I sat in the blue truck instead, smoked a cigar and ate beef jerky. I got over myself pretty quick though, it's just not that much fun sitting in the blue truck.
Seriously though, the professionalism of these 2 young people is pounds of impressive. Drew is a genius with lighting, making it all look perfect through his camera. We'd do a take and I'd get to a point and he'd stop... then we'd do a partial re-shoot from a point that he'd want me to start at. I dunno how all that works out in the end with the editing and stuff, but him and Martina had it all figured out.
I did a little introduction of myself, some blatant plugging of my business, wearing a Keota cap and then we moved on to a full fledged demonstration of doing a "dutchman inlay". I'd done a photo essay of this on The Wood Works a couple of years ago and it went over pretty good, and I thought that it'd be a cool thing to do for the show. It went real nice, I didn't let any power tools get out of control and I didn't cut any appendages off during the process, although I did start bleeding from a box knife wound I did to myself yesterday on my left hand. LOL
We won't be able to youtube this or anything. CVTV will own it and they'll sell DVD's of it as well as broadcasting it several times on the air. Perhaps in time, a year or so down the road it might be a possiblity though with permission.
We're gonna try and shoot another "episode" before December too!!! Drew will be leaving the company and a new cameraman will be taking his place. I'm sure the new guy will be good too, but Drew really impressed me. I want to get the next one done before he leaves.
Sally fixed us a huge lunch after we got done, and Martina and Drew packed up all the myriad of lights and equipment and away they went! It really was sooo much fun, folks. I've got some pics (of course) that Martina and Sally took.
I need to work on my posture... Lordy I look like a midget... Martina, Me and Drew.
And Drew and Martina asked for a good "normal" pose while setting everything up, doing I don't know what with buttons and dials and crap like that. I'm here to please.
A totally cool experience. I loved it!
Martina, Drew and CVTV... y'all rock!
.
.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Line Up For Autographs 'Cause It's All Swimmin' Pools And Movie Stars From Here On Out.
That's right, you heard it here... uh... second, the boys over on the woodworking forum heard it first. At any rate, I'm gonna be famous.
It's true!
So you're probably wondering what the hell has that man done now to rate all of this. Well, I'm gonna be a TV star, just like Little Joe Cartwright, but not as dead and there won't be any horses or a fat older brother, and I'm gonna be doing woodworking.
Actually, that ain't nuthin' like Little Joe, but he was a TV star and I'm gonna be one too!
So here's the scoop. The local cable/internet/phone/cellular company started a new station this spring that goes out to all of it's cable customers, hit's 'bout 8 or 10 of the local towns. ( I just made up that number, I ain't got the foggiest notion how many it goes to. I might be close though.) (We'll pretend that I am so I can get on with the rest of this story.) (whew!) Anyway, mostly what they've been doing for programing, which is all original, has been HS sporting events and interviews with folks with a cause, stuff like that. A cool little detail to all of this... Martina (singing in this youtube), from our band (a very cool chick as chicks go) has a pretty big hand in the thing. She does the interviewing and the planning of the shoot.
So I'm in the shop a few weeks ago working on a chair and got this gigantic brainstorm that I, Jace The Sawdust Maker, had the potential to be a celebrity, even if it's in my own mind. I gave her a call, pitched the idea, everyone started talking in really high pitched voices, and by the time the day was over we'd set up a day and time to shoot this thing, me doing some sort of woodworking technique.
That day is tomorrow morning... the 6th of November. Yessiree bobalouie. Californey here I come!
AND.. yeah it just gets better and better, hopefully it'll go over pretty well in the local towns, and we'll make it a little bit of a regular thing.
HA! 'Fore you know it, I'm gonna be nationwide.
Seriously though, I'm real pumped for this thing tomorrow, and real appreciative that the cable company is giving me the opportunity to do it and for my bud Martina kinda givin' it the the impetus to make it happen.
A side effect to this whole thing... I had to clean my shop and it was a helluva deal. LOL took me 3 1/2 days! Really! 3 1/2 days. Here, take a look at all the pics and stuff of it over on The Wood Works. That right there is a whoooolllllle bunch of cleaning.
Hopefully I'll have some pics of the blessed event in my next post.
Wish me some luck tomorrow, I don't wanna get nervous and throw up on camera or glue my hand to something, or get beat half to death by my flap sander..... or worse. :-)
NITE!
.
It's true!
So you're probably wondering what the hell has that man done now to rate all of this. Well, I'm gonna be a TV star, just like Little Joe Cartwright, but not as dead and there won't be any horses or a fat older brother, and I'm gonna be doing woodworking.
Actually, that ain't nuthin' like Little Joe, but he was a TV star and I'm gonna be one too!
So here's the scoop. The local cable/internet/phone/cellular company started a new station this spring that goes out to all of it's cable customers, hit's 'bout 8 or 10 of the local towns. ( I just made up that number, I ain't got the foggiest notion how many it goes to. I might be close though.) (We'll pretend that I am so I can get on with the rest of this story.) (whew!) Anyway, mostly what they've been doing for programing, which is all original, has been HS sporting events and interviews with folks with a cause, stuff like that. A cool little detail to all of this... Martina (singing in this youtube), from our band (a very cool chick as chicks go) has a pretty big hand in the thing. She does the interviewing and the planning of the shoot.
So I'm in the shop a few weeks ago working on a chair and got this gigantic brainstorm that I, Jace The Sawdust Maker, had the potential to be a celebrity, even if it's in my own mind. I gave her a call, pitched the idea, everyone started talking in really high pitched voices, and by the time the day was over we'd set up a day and time to shoot this thing, me doing some sort of woodworking technique.
That day is tomorrow morning... the 6th of November. Yessiree bobalouie. Californey here I come!
AND.. yeah it just gets better and better, hopefully it'll go over pretty well in the local towns, and we'll make it a little bit of a regular thing.
HA! 'Fore you know it, I'm gonna be nationwide.
Seriously though, I'm real pumped for this thing tomorrow, and real appreciative that the cable company is giving me the opportunity to do it and for my bud Martina kinda givin' it the the impetus to make it happen.
A side effect to this whole thing... I had to clean my shop and it was a helluva deal. LOL took me 3 1/2 days! Really! 3 1/2 days. Here, take a look at all the pics and stuff of it over on The Wood Works. That right there is a whoooolllllle bunch of cleaning.
Hopefully I'll have some pics of the blessed event in my next post.
Wish me some luck tomorrow, I don't wanna get nervous and throw up on camera or glue my hand to something, or get beat half to death by my flap sander..... or worse. :-)
NITE!
.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Blogolians... We Have Trenchage!
I couldn't be happier if I were twins, and the world probably don't want any part of that. I'm sure Sal doesn't. I own my very own trench (filled now). If you missed the first part of this saga, it's here.
The trencher dude, Mark, called and asked about the area that he'd need to maneuver in and we talked and he decided to bring his mini-excavator instead. It was perfect.
Whatta great guy, Mark is my new best friend forever. He unloaded and went right to work...
I had to bust out a 2' wide wound across the driveway, but that's not as bad as it sounds. It wasn't a thing of beauty to begin with... kinda looked like the Keith Richards version of a driveway with all the cracks and creases that run across it.
Lordy that's harsh...
Anyways, Mark trenched on...
And then we tossed the tile in that contains the lines and insulation and wiring for the outside wood stove and he covered the whole schmazz up.
I dunno if you noticed it or not, but that's the look of happiness on my face. Here... look again.
See?
Okay, now onward. All I gotta do now is get my neighbor over here with his loader to pick the stove up, it's about 1800 to 2000 pounds, and sit it where it's gonna live. It's cooking hot here right now, a whole bunch of 70 degree days in a row, so I got a few days... and I'm gonna need it. I sorta got my week pretty full with a whole buncha stuff, which brings me to...
I'm on day 3 of "the shop cleaning". A little event coming up this week that I'm major pumped about, I'll fill you in on the next post.
Sal and Nicky scored some tickets to see Sarah down at the state capitol tomorrow morning, so were scootin' down there to see what she's got to say. Oughta be some fun eh?
Later!
.
The trencher dude, Mark, called and asked about the area that he'd need to maneuver in and we talked and he decided to bring his mini-excavator instead. It was perfect.
Whatta great guy, Mark is my new best friend forever. He unloaded and went right to work...
I had to bust out a 2' wide wound across the driveway, but that's not as bad as it sounds. It wasn't a thing of beauty to begin with... kinda looked like the Keith Richards version of a driveway with all the cracks and creases that run across it.
Lordy that's harsh...
Anyways, Mark trenched on...
And then we tossed the tile in that contains the lines and insulation and wiring for the outside wood stove and he covered the whole schmazz up.
I dunno if you noticed it or not, but that's the look of happiness on my face. Here... look again.
See?
Okay, now onward. All I gotta do now is get my neighbor over here with his loader to pick the stove up, it's about 1800 to 2000 pounds, and sit it where it's gonna live. It's cooking hot here right now, a whole bunch of 70 degree days in a row, so I got a few days... and I'm gonna need it. I sorta got my week pretty full with a whole buncha stuff, which brings me to...
I'm on day 3 of "the shop cleaning". A little event coming up this week that I'm major pumped about, I'll fill you in on the next post.
Sal and Nicky scored some tickets to see Sarah down at the state capitol tomorrow morning, so were scootin' down there to see what she's got to say. Oughta be some fun eh?
Later!
.
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