Sunday snicker

In 1988 Enzo Anselmo Ferrari, after living a full life, died. When he got to heaven God was showing him around.

They came to a modest little house with a small Ferrari flag in the window. “This house is yours for eternity Enzo,” said God. “This is very special; not everyone gets a house up here.”

Enzo felt special, indeed, and walked up to his house. On his way up the porch, he noticed another house around the corner. It was a huge mansian with a carbon fibre sidewalk, a 50 foot tall flagpole with an enormous Porsche flag, and in every window, a Porsche crest.

Enzo looked at God and said “God, I’m not trying to be ungrateful, but I have a questions. I was a good manufacturer, my cars won Le Mans and F1 championships. Why does Ferdinand Porsche get a better house than me?”

God chuckled and said “Enzo, that’s not Ferdinands house, it’s mine!”

Seeing what happens

The Air Show starts today and the Navy Blue Angels are part of said show. I took the above shot from our driveway and a few things became abundantly clear. I forgot my Navy training about how fast they fly, and our driveway is surrounded by a lot of old growth trees.

This means that when I hear the jets coming the camera has to be ready as the jets are only visible for 2-3 seconds. In that time you have to frame your shot, focus the lens, and take the picture. I’ll try to get some better shots today. I also found out I didn’t forget a few choice cuss words.

And I forgot how loud military jets can be when they are really booking. But at least the old training helps me locate where they’ll come out of the treeline. Perhaps I should try an auto-focus lens yet somehow feel that’s cheating.

This little critter was a lot easier to photograph as he is nowhere near as fast as the jets. With all the noise of the jets passing over this guy just stayed on the wall for about a half hour alloying time to get a few shots.

And like other areas of the country, we have a heatwave going on and I think that’s why the Mama cat didn’t have the kittens out. Mama cat herself came around to get her ears scratched and food bowl filled but the kittens must have been hidden in a shady spot.

Enjoy our Saturday since it’s here and we can’t change it anyway. Now for more coffee before the Air Show starts in about an hour and a half.
Comments are always welcome.

Who needs TV?

The Blue Angels are here for the Air Show that starts tomorrow and the rain has stayed away. I went to mow the yard yesterday and found the cord for the charger of the battery powered mower unplugged. I”ll try to get the mowing done today.

When I got the camera out and got on the porch I noticed an bright orange spot and a smaller black spot on the lawn. The pictures didn’t come out great as I was shooting through two storm doors. Yes, a cat was thinking the squirrel was lunch while the squirrel ate his.

And the clouds were a distraction that was something to see. At first I thought there was a fire somewhere but as I looked in all directions noticed it was just Mother Nature putting on a show.

Then Mama cat decided to bring a few of her kittens out of the garage to explore the great outdoors. The kittens were checking things out and didn’t run off as I got a little closer. I know if I pushed it to get closer they would have vanished for the day and I was having too much fun watching them frolic.

The two stayed out even as mom left to see if the food bowl by the porch got refilled. Mama cat is eating like she weighs double what she does but I imagine she gets quite a workout with the four kittens. When the other two show up we’ll get some pictures of them to share.

Enjoy our Friday, it’s the only one we get this week. Now for some more coffee before things get busy.
Comments are always welcome.

Didn’t see it

I had good intentions of watching the debate between half the Democrat candidates last night, and did turn the channel over. Just when Beto started speaking Spanish. Since the debate was also being televised on Telemundo, a Spanish speaking network, it seemed odd to use Spanish on a mainstream media channel also.

Once the candidate changed languages I switched back to what I was watching as it seemed like pandering only to Spanish speaking voters. So although I didn’t watch the debate, NBC spent a good portion of their Today show patting themselves on the back and praising the candidates.

So instead of putting up with the biased channel I switched to another showing reruns of NCIS. Don’t know about you but I’m going wait until the field is narrowed down some. It’s too early to get hyped up about a debate with that many people involved. Especially when only one can get the nod. Then it may get interesting enough to waste some time watching.

Now I go to mow the lawn and prepare for the Air Show that starts tomorrow with hopes of getting a few usable shots as planes fly by. If none do the birds and wildlife will still be out.

Enjoy our Thursday as that means the start of the weekend is only a dream away. Now for another cup of coffee before going out in the heat to cut the lawn down to size.
Comments are always welcome.

My take

We forewarn those who are liberals, progressives, or need safe rooms because their feelings are easily hurt, that this post is not for you. If you continue we take no responsibility if you can’t find a safe room with coloring books.

Tonight and tomorrow night NBC is covering the Great American Giveaway and Hate Trump Festival. By that I mean the debate amognst half of the Democrat candidates running for president at each event. We’ve all seen the talking heads interviewing the candidates.

I’m sure those who watch will hear how these people want to save our economy while I personally see nothing wrong with it. Candidates will talk about free Medicare for All, forgiving student loans, and other “free” things they want to give us. The only problem with that is, it isn’t free for all. Somebody has to pay for what others get for free.

These career politicians will mention what they’d do if elected because they can’t run on what they’ve done during their time as politicians besides getting rich. It may be amusing to watch but I’ll take a pass.

And I think president Trump will be mentioned along with things that happened years before some voters were even born. The audacity of Trump to run, and win, when he isn’t even one of them. Personally, that’s why I voted for him.

That’s my take on it, if you see things differently, that is your right. Enjoy our Wednesday as it means the weekend is that much closer.
Now for some coffee with bacon and eggs.
Comments are always welcome.

Birds were out along with the sun this morning as I got ready to go over and visit Dad. After he had breakfast we made small talk until he began to talk about his time in the Navy. And I learned something.

He said his ship was in the harbor when General MacArthur, aboard the USS Missouri signed the surrender agreement with Japan on September 5th, 1945 just outside Tokyo.

He could see the ship from his but not see the actual signing. He talked of his time as a Gunners Mate and that he had crossed the ocean 3 times during his service. When the war ended he got assigned to a cargo ship and said they pushed all the cargo overboard, brought home-ward board soldiers aboard, and took them home.

And we talked of those we met while serving and those who didn’t come back. One of his brothers didn’t make it back and was buried over there. we laughed about boot camp and how some got sea sick when the ship left the port.

Actually I learned a lot. This was the first time he talked of his time during the war in such detail and I savored every word. I don’t know why he finally decided to open up yet am extremely grateful that he did. When I left we were both smiling.

Enjoy our Tuesday as hump day is only a dream away. Now for some coffee and leftover pizza.
Comments are always welcome.

Ever think about….

Parts of the country look similar to the picture above and when it’s not raining, it’s cloudy. Here on the east coast of Iowa we are far above the normal rainfall numbers for the year but not close to the number 1 spot.

While a lot of us are getting wet there are parts of our country that are not. The American southwest is basically a desert up to and including California. That begs the question- when is this part of the country going to run out of water?

To compound the problem, more and more people migrate to the area for various reasons. Some say the weather is better for what ails them in their old age while others tire of cold winters. We wonder when the area will start discussing the issue.

An estimated 1 million illegals cross our borders each year and they need water to drink, bathe, and cook. We wonder where all this is going to end. It can’t be sustained. This thought made me wonder if this problem is worse than first thought and the government came up with climate change as something to blame a shortage on should it happen.

This may be difficult to believe as parts of the country have been underwater with flooding recently, and there may not actually be a problem. But, as more people move in and businesses needed to keep the area afloat, water usage will go up while water sources do not.

Just something I was thinking about this morning before the first cup of coffee. Enjoy our Monday. Now for some coffee.
Comments are always welcome.

Sunday snicker

A German Shepherd, a Doberman, and a cat died. In heaven, all three faced God who wanted to know what they believed in.

The German Shepherd said, “I believe in discipline, training, and loyalty to my master.” “Good!” said God. “Sit at my right side.”

“Doberman, what do you believe in?” asked God. The Doberman answered “I believe in the love, care, and protection of my master.” “Aha,” said God. “You may sit to my left.”

Then God looked at the cat and asked, “And what do you believe in?” The cat replied, “I believe you are sitting in my seat.”

Of races and kittens

The Great Race starts today in Riverside, California and will end on June 30th in Tacoma, Washington. Not sure if this will be televised, but if it is we’ll be watching. If it comes through your town it’s worth a look.

In local news, this guy showed up in the driveway to get his picture taken on his way to food dish. He looked overdressed for the occasion
but we didn’t hold that against him.

And a few of the feral kittens posed by the door and must have found me interesting this time as instead of running they kept looking at me holding the camera. They aren’t weaned yet and are learning how to run around and play without doing a nosedive.

When they’re old enough a neighbor will take them out to a friends farm to start a new life there. They won’t stay little forever and we don’t want a leap in the number of feral cats in the area. Mama cat may go with them to keep the family together.

We figure they’d have a better shot at survival on a farm than here as many seem to think our alley is a drag strip. Too many other little ones have been run over. They are cute though.

Now I need to get the lawn mowed between rain drops and clean the glass on the door to get some better pictures. Enjoy our Saturday as we will. Now for more coffee and some leftover pizza to get me through the mowing.
Comments are always welcome.

Since you mentioned cars

It’s the ‘Back to the 50s’ weekend and as you’re reading this over 12,000 street rods and customs will begin entering the Minnesota State Fairgrounds for the 46th annual event. It will run Jun 21-23 at the fairgrounds in Falcon Heights (St. Paul), Minnesota. This is the car show on many a bucket list.

Speaking of cars, the wife picked up the new car she wasn’t looking for yesterday and we’re learning how to make all the bells and whistles ring and whistle. The car is a 2019 Fusion Sport and with it comes a hefty increase in horsepower.

Her old Fusion had 225 horsepower and enough power to get out of its own way. This new one has 325 horsepower and does it a little quicker. The only thing we don’t like about it is the shifter, or lack of in this case. It has a knob you turn to shift the gears that reminds me of an old television set we had years ago.

Everything looks about the same as her old one and is the same spot but now does different things. The monitor is in the same spot and when you put it in reverse the back-up camera fills the screen, but the icons for everything has changed. The GPS feature with the little arrow on the map telling you where you are drives me nuts, but she likes and it is her car.

I’m more of a hand on the shifter, other arm resting on the window sill kind of guy. Time will tell if it lives up to all the hype. Enjoy our Friday as we will even with rain in the forecast. Now for more coffee.
Comments are always welcome.