The party went well.





And today we took Laura wheelin' with us.

For more Jeep pics, go to the Jeep page.
Philippians 4:19-20
The party went well.





And today we took Laura wheelin' with us.

For more Jeep pics, go to the Jeep page.
Philippians 4:19-20

I woke up this morning around 0400hrs. At 0500hrs I rolled out of bed, got dressed and headed to the kitchen on the deck.
I got a fire started in the pit and began work on the meat. Two briskets, one pork loin about the size of my leg cut into 1/3's and a whole, not a half, but a whole pork butt. The pork butt was prepared using some Tony's Injectable Marinade as well as a dry rub.
Between baby-sitting the pit and keeping the dogs out of everything, it's been a busy morning.
Folks should start arriving around 1600hrs. Pics to follow.
Isaiah 61:1

This is from John Nolte's blog:
What to resent more? The fact that they’re raping my childhood or that they’re forcing me to use the term, “raping my childhood?”
Here you have these larger-than-life, legendary characters to work with and what are they doing? Making the Starship Enterprise look like a casting session for “High School Musical: The Pouty Prom.”
The original “Star Trek” is iconic and timeless because of the characters. Yes, there was some great storytelling involved, but the best stories always involved the characters — those actors in those roles and the warm, real, complicated relationship that existed between them. No operatic nonsense, no hyper-effects, and no WB Channel-ing can tart its way through that.
And they’re messing with the mythology. In the first trailer, looking for Emo thrills, young Kirk expertly handles a sports car. But if you remember the episode, “A Piece of the Action,” Kirk can’t drive. (This matters) And how do you do Kirk without William Shatner? Shatner is Kirk. Kirk is Shatner. Why not just ask someone to do Rooster Cogburn or Will Kane or Jim Rockford or Fred Sanford? Not to take anything away from the creators, writers or directors, but iconic characters are the creation of the actor. And there’s a reason Shatner’s a legend. There’s a reason he’s been in four hit television shows, written a number of best sellers, and won two Emmys. He’s an honest to goodness star, and the people who laugh at him are generally those whose careers haven’t lasted a quarter as long as his.
To end on a positive note, I see Bruce Greenwood’s been cast as Christopher Pike. Greenwood’s a marvelous and under-appreciated actor.
Other than that, I got nothing.
____________________________________________________________
I completely agree with what John says.
On a different note I got my brand-spankin'-new National Geographic Photography Backpack today. Check it out.


Pretty friggin' sweet, huh?
Job 19:25


I just got my dream camera; the Sony a700. I've wanted this for the past 2 or 3 years. The $1600 price tag has been the only deterrant. Well I just got it for $700. Awesome. Until Sony built the a900 it was the best DSLR on the market. So, now it's the 2nd best but I can live with that (the a900 is $2995).

I had to condense this picture quite a bit to get it on here. The original file size was 9mb, it's now 78kb. So, you can imagine what the original looks like.
Psalm 90:12

Is a stupid monkey.
And if I ever get a chance to meet him, I will tell him that after I slap the $h*+ out of him.
Watchmen started out so incredibly well and continued to get better; until the ending. WHY? WHY CAN'T HOLLYWOOD JUST DO ONE FRIGGIN' COMIC MOVIE RIGHT?!?!?!? WHY?
Luke 10:19

We went to Austin yesterday and had supper at the oldest restaurant in Texas. It's called Scholz Garten (http://www.scholzgarten.net/default.htm). It's a pretty cool little place and the food is good (but the Jägerschnitzel is just too small).
After that we went and saw Bill Cosby at the Bass Concert Hall at UT. Yes, that Bill Cosby.
Tab and I have been listening to Bill Cosby since elementary school. We have passed it on to our boys as well. I think they were more excited than we were. CW was about to blow a blood vein. We were 3rd row from the stage and when Bill came out he scooted his chair up a bit and we were about 15 feet from him. It was a super-cool experience. He did a whole new routine but ended the show with the "Dentist" sketch from Himself; and that's when I thought CW was actually going to pop!!
Matthew 13:16

The President is a great orator. That doesn’t make him a great leader. I know, I know - give him a chance. But if you were able to glimpse into the future and could glean important information, vital information that a nation’s leader was actually unknowingly leading his people over a cliff; wouldn’t you…want to tell someone about it?
I am no genius. I’m a pretty average, normal guy…but a guy who has been paying attention. I remember the past, as it helps me extrapolate into the future and make better decisions for myself and my family. Avoid the pitfalls. Swerve around the danger. I don’t doubt President Obama is a smart man, loves his family and truly wants what he considers to be the best for America.
But obviously, he hasn’t been paying attention.
The President said today, following up on his speech before the joint session of Congress: “…because we know that business, not government, is the engine of growth in this country. It is entrepreneurship and industry that are the well-springs of an economy that has been the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history.”
Huh? Did these words actually emanate from the mouth of one Barrack Obama today? One week after he signed a bill that evidences a completely opposite point of view? “Business, not government, is the engine of growth”?? Then why, may I ask, are we not letting business grow, instead of government?
Wow, I’m jolted into a major communication disconnect. Whiplash neck spasms in tag team Wrestlemania, C-6 and C-7 locked in a smackdown. Calls are going out to my chiropractor and my accountant, in that order.
The President’s words today sound awfully familiar; don’t they to you? The President almost sounded like …Ronald Reagan for a second. Almost sounds like his statement was cut-and-pasted from a previous Reagan speech. But after last light, RR must be rolling over in his grave. And President Bush doesn’t get a pass. As was pounded in last night, the Obama administration ‘inherited’ this deficit, this debt, this crisis. (Nevermind the whole Freddie Mac, Fanny Mae fiasco and the Democrat’s mishandling that lead to the mortgage meltdown…are you listening Dodd, Frank, and Pelosi?) President Bush acted like no Conservative I’ve ever known when he okay’ed the TARP legislation. And by the way…where is that $700B and why did it not accomplish what it was supposed to? So here’s a bent twist to syllogistic reasoning (If A equals B and B equals C, then A equals C): Now we have, If A equals B and B equals C, then O equals S, unless M doesn’t do what we want it to, and we have to tap G to T the R and then ZZ equals Top.
So problem solved — Let’s throw more money at the problem, smile and declare it a Success. I feel good now.
The truth is often found in the simplest of answers: Socialism does not work. Scream it from the rooftops to all the dumbed down voters who didn’t pay attention to world events the past 50 years.
But how does Obama’s Conservative words square with his recent actions? Does it sound to you like he truly believes that “business, not government, is the engine of growth in this country”? Oh, wait - I forgot to translate the statement. Sorry, my bad. I, being a formal college-indoctrinated liberal, actually speak fluent Lefty. And since you, the reader, deserve the truth, I shall now provide for you that valuable service.
“…business, not government, is the engine of growth in this country.” Translation: “Business is a slave of my newly re-imagined government. Yes, it is the engine, and yes I will have my hands firmly on the steering wheel, it will go when I stomp the accelerator and not before, and it will be fueled by the incredible debt I am now piling onto your future generations.”
And moving on to the rest: “…it is entrepreneurship and industry that are the well-springs of an economy that has been the greatest force of prosperity in human history”. Translation: While all that sounds really neat and noble and all that…what I really mean to do is shackle entrepreneurship and industry with carefully tightened regulation, restriction, taxation, marching orders, and constraints, forcing business and industry to produce products nobody wants to buy but that I think we really, really need to make, in order to save the planet for the children and for working families…until innovation is frustrated, incentive is exhausted, and once and for all, the beast that is Capitalism is sucked completely dry.”
Any questions?
I mean… What sort of flim-flam, talking-out-of-both-sides-of-his-mouth, snake-oil salesman, con artist are we dealing with here? And I thought Bill Clinton was slick!
And the sums involved! Can any of us actually contemplate how much a trillion dollars is? Sure, we say, flippantly - it’s a thousand billion. Big deal. But really, it’s a number so big, we can’t even picture it. Grains of sand on the beach, number of stars in the sky type of thing. A few hundred million we can maybe picture. But a trillion or two, or three? It ceases to hold any meaning to us.
So he’s able to slip that on to our tab. Megamyopia - it’s so big we can’t even see it.
But! Tell ya what I’m gonna do…come closer little lady, that’s right, step right up, here’s what I’m gonna do. If you act today, I am including in your purchase of Dr. Barry’s Magic Elixir Stimulus Package, an absolute free no-cost-to-you TAX REBATE! No, don’t look over there behind that curtain, look here, see, it’s MONEY! Free MONEY! Just don’t save any of it, SPEND IT NOW, hurry, run off and spend all of your fee money!
I got a headache.
There it is. To lighten the sting, to lessen the blow, we get a payoff. Tax breaks for everyone earning less than $250K. And why that arbitrary cutoff? Because the number of voters earning over 250K is so small as compared to those earning less. (The Dems play the numbers game dontcha know…but we mustn’t call it pandering, lest we be ‘haters’.)
So, even though, according to President Obama, “entrepreneurship and industry that are the well-springs” of the economy…we are going to punish achievers earning more than 250K with higher taxation. Everyone else gets a pass, in fact, “the checks are in the mail.” Now…not everyone in the upper income bracket is a heartless, shiftless and arrogant, extravagance-addled, cruel and selfish jerk. (Though you wouldn’t know it to listen to the class-warfare spewing mainstream media.)
Many of my good friends are quite affluent. They are decent people who work hard, love their families, live life with vigor and vitality and love America. Aren’t theirs ‘working families’ as well? Gary Sinise is a friend of mine. He earns, I’m guessing well over the $250K line. But his is a ‘working family’. He loves his wife, his kids, his country. Yet, he is in the earning class that is daily maligned by public sentiment as ‘rich guys’… ‘wealthy, greedy bastards’ who don’t care about the ‘little people’. So let’s get even with them. The party’s over, dudes…time to pony up. You wanna dance, ya gotta pay the band. Cough up, tightwad, The One told us you’re not paying enough (even though your relatively small group is paying well over 50% of the taxes) so it’s time to get out the checkbook. Because you ‘can afford it’.
And that’s another thing. How do we know what someone else ‘can afford’? And what business is it of ours anyway? Only the truly greedy and envious can make the claim that they know what somebody else can or cannot afford. Isn’t it ironic that those who decry the rich as ‘greedy’ …are they themselves the truly greedy; as it is they who covet something to which they have no rightful claim.
But back to my evil and greedy rich friend Gary Sinise. Nevermind the tremendous contributions he makes towards the Arts. Nevermind the community events he volunteers to organize each month. Nevermind the exhaustive effort, time and sacrifice Gary expends selflessly year-in and year-out flying to the Middle East to entertain and uplift our troops; the men and women who lay their lives on the line daily to preserve our freedoms. But…he achieved more than the average Joe, so he must be punished.
For the rest of us… Oh joy, we get money back! (Even though some will get checks who paid no taxes, maybe aren’t even legal citizens, but…are prospective Democrat voters, hint hint.) “The check’s are in the mail,” said the President last night. Hmmm…tempt millions of people with immediate gratification, even though we are going further and further into astronomical debt. Does this sound at all familiar? As in…the very thinking that lead to our economic catastrophe? There is another phrase for attempting to mollify people from looking too closely at your actions - Hush Money.
But oh we all feel good about it…because we’re doing it for ‘Working Families’, dontcha know. This is the new feelgood buzz word, replacing the former Lefty fave, ‘for the children’. If you are jamming it to the citizen taxpayer, (er, I mean asking the people for more patriotic sacrifice)…you can’t do any better than to do it ‘for the children and working families.’ Cue music, We Are The World. Pass the Kleenex box, please.
And since, sniff sniff, everything Bigger Government is doing to us is being done For the Children and Working Families, who can oppose it with impunity? What, do you want to be a child-abuser, a hater of families, a bigot, tightwad homophobe, misogynist, creepazoid from hell? Well…but I just wanted…to hang on to my business… Ha! You selfish bastard! Where’s your patriotism! Give peace a chance for the change and hope we need, you asshole!
Nope, we have to go along with this. And we have to feel good about it. (hey, buddy, at least use some K-Y, huh? Maybe slip on a Sinatra record first?)
It is now considered patriotic to celebrate our own evisceration.
Many a runaway train has been jammed into the tunnel of ‘crisis’. What has emerged from the other side has rarely been desirable, or even recognizable. I am disparaged constantly for being a ‘doom and gloomer’…a sour-grapes pessimist…a hater. “Give the man a chance, my god!” they scream at me. “It’s only been a month! Don’t you want us to succeed, don’t you want America to recover??”
Well…yes and no. I love America…just not the concept of America the Lefties envision. Ameroeurope holds no appeal to me. Nor does Ameranada. Or Amerexico. And Ameranistan is right out.
Every time I see Mr. Obama’s big charming smile I am reminded of the famous bump-and-run technique of an expert pickpocket. They casually bump into you (crisis), then quickly put hands on you asking if you’re all right (caring concern), then touching you further ask if you’re sure, they bumped you pretty hard (offer to make things better), then smile and quickly leave - with your watch and wallet (taxation).
But, the Stimulus Package is officially enacted. It’s done, it’s happened. We don’t get a do-over if God-forbid, this thing doesn’t work. If this old hackneyed Keynesian socialist experiment in futility doesn’t defy the historically consistent pattern of results that have thwarted collectivists since the beginning of time… if the arrogance of its invention is not charismatic enough to lift the mechanism of the physical universe from its hinges…and the President’s plan actually works? I will tear off my clothes and dance in the street. Because everything I know will be wrong. And I will be ready for the dudes in the white coats. Please take me to my padded cell, sirs, and be quick about it. Martinis and Zoloft and please turn the TV to either The WWF or CNN, makes no difference.
Reversing this rape that has begun on our nation will take ten generations to reverse - if it can be reversed at all. America as we knew it is gone. A memory. A story to tell our grandchildren.
I’d love to believe in this monstrous spending plan. But even if you dressed up a turd… it would still be a turd.


We took the Jeeps out today after Pop, Mom, Nannie and Dillon left. We haven't really gotten Tab's dirty so we found some good sized mud puddles on Fort Hood. Go to the Jeep page to see some pics.
Matthew 17:16-17

The 18th of February was a bad day... For the dogs. They had their "Beagle-hood" removed.
Check out their photo page to see how pitiful they looked.
Matthew 16:24



And here's a picture of the Revelator with her new "shoes."

Mark 1:36

Q: HOW MANY LIBERALS DOES IT TAKE TO SCREW IN A LIGHTBULB?
A: SEVENTEEN.
TWO, to notice that there is no light by bumping in to each other, debate whether the collision was due to a sudden increase in the amount of prevailing darkness, or rather, an uptrend in the known absence of illumination…and then blame it on George Bush as part of the 9/11 Conspiracy.
ONE, to start a website that links the dead light bulb as further proof of Global Warming.
FOUR, to set up a mobile texting network to demand a United Nations tribunal investigating Bush/Cheney’s collusion with Halliburton, the Trilateral Commision, the Skull and Bones Society, the NRA, the CFR, NASCAR, the Boy Scouts of America, Lyme disease, and Satan.
NINE, to establish an emergency bi-partisan Congressional Committee to Study the Crisis, spend seventy-five billion dollars as quickly as humanly possible, and eventually arrive at the conclusion that the only thing the government does that’s worth a damn is found in the U.S Military. So they send in…
ONE brave serviceman to enter the darkness and climb up and screw in a new light bulb.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gary Graham was born in Long Beach, California and grew up in and around Orange County. The son of a medical doctor, he too aspired to a career in medicine. However, despite showing prowess in the medical sciences, Gary left pre-med to study theater arts at the University of California, Irvine, in the early seventies, before he won his first feature film role opposite George C. Scott in “HARDCORE.” Since that time Gary has appeared in numerous feature films such as “ROBOT JOX”, “THE LAST WARRIOR”, “MAN TROUBLE”, and “HOLLYWOOD KNIGHTS”, many TV movies and series, and from 1990 to 1996 starred as Matt Sikes in FOX TV's “ALIEN NATION”. More recently he was seen in recurring roles as Capt. Ingles on “J.A.G.” and as Ambassador Soval in “STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE”.
Still active in the film business, Gary now is a producer for the new reality TV show, “THE ULTIMATE SHOOTER” and is working with Jace Hall and HD FILMS at Warner Brothers writing and producing the new internet webseries, “WHAT IF..?”
He lives in a small town outside of Los Angeles, where he enjoys spending time with his family, working weekends as a volunteer Ski Patroller, golfing and flying.

Washington, D.C. — The Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, California is a dusty, windswept installation, high in the Mojave Desert. Though it is more than 150 miles from blue water, it is the world's largest U.S. Marine Base. Perhaps that is appropriate since this is the place where Marine units prepare for deployment to Afghanistan — which is more than 250 miles from blue water.
Twentynine Palms — yes, that's how they spell it — is also "home" to, among others, the legendary 7th Marine regiment. Last summer our FOX News documentary team was embedded with the 2nd Battalion of this celebrated unit in the shadow of the Hindu Kush. This week I spent time with them as they remembered their fallen comrades and prepared for another deployment. Though they aren't allowed to say where they are heading, it's very likely to be back to Afghanistan.
• Catch the 'War Stories Classic: The Tet Offensive,' Monday, February 2 at 3 a.m. ET
Late last week, General James Conway, the Marine commandant, suggested that as many as 20,000 U.S. Marines could be committed to the campaign in Afghanistan. On Wednesday this week, President Obama and Vice President Biden went to the Pentagon for a "Getting to Know You" gathering with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Nothing that leaked out of this "off the record" meet and greet disputed the proposal that the Marines be phased out of Iraq and sent to battle the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
The timing for such a move would seem to be right. This week millions of Iraqis lined up to dip their fingers in purple ink and cast ballots in the country's first free and fair provincial elections in the history of Mesopotamia. Not only are half the voters women, but among the candidates vying for 450 seats in the assemblies of 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces, more than 200 are women. Had radical Islamists — Sunni or Shiite — had their way, none of this would ever have occurred. Importantly, it happened only because young American soldiers, sailors, airmen, Guardsmen and Marines persevered in Iraq.
Failing to declare this election a major victory in the war being waged against us by radical Islam is a mistake. Obama could have mentioned the Iraqi elections in his "first formal television interview" — given on Monday to Hisham Melhem of Saudi-owned, Dubai-based, Al-Arabiya, satellite network. Regrettably, he never mentioned it.
Instead, he talked about "communicating a message to the Arab world and the Muslim world, that we are ready to initiate a new partnership based on mutual respect and mutual interest." He also responded to his interlocutor in ways that denigrated his predecessors with phrases like, his desire "to listen, set aside some of the preconceptions that have existed and have built up over the last several years."
During the interview, Obama also spoke wistfully of the "respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago," and added, "there's no reason why we can't restore that."
Some will say it isn't fair to make our new commander in chief stick to the facts. That's the trouble with television interviews. They are on tape and stay around for years. If you are going to do them, it helps to know the facts.
Let's see, 30 years ago — 1979 — the year that Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran, the "Islamic Revolution" was proclaimed, the U.S. was first described as "the Great Satan," our embassy in Tehran was sacked and 53 Americans were held hostage for 444 days. That's probably not the kind of "respect" Mr. Obama had in mind.
How about 20 years ago — 1989: While investigators were still combing the wreckage of PanAm flight 103, in Lockerbie, Scotland, Libyan dictator Muammar Ghadafi sent MiG-23s to attack a U.S. Navy Carrier Battle Group in the Mediterranean. Final score: U.S. Navy 2, Libya 0. Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa to kill Salman Rushdie. Islamic radicals murdered the President of Lebanon and Saddam Hussein issued mobilization orders in preparation for invading Kuwait the following August.
Some "partnership."
Unfortunately, the Al-Arabiya interview isn't the only troubling talk coming from the Obama administration that could well leave members of our all-volunteer force wondering just what is expected of them. In congressional testimony this week, Defense Secretary Gates said that even though Afghanistan was the new commander in chief's "top priority," we also "ought to keep our objectives realistic and limited in Afghanistan."
I have spent my life in and around our military. Everyone I've ever known in our Armed Forces believes in "realistic" missions and goals. But, I've yet to meet the man or woman in uniform who is willing to sacrifice all for "respect," a "partnership" or a "limited objective."
— Oliver North hosts War Stories on FOX News Channel and is the author of the new best-seller, "American Heroes: In The War Against Radical Islam." He has just returned from assignment in Afghanistan.

The shed is complete. Pictures will follow later.
Mike and I went to the Belton Gun Show today. Daddy got a new toy.

The Springfield Armory XD-9 Subcompact. It freakin' rocks.

My friends Dave and Tony; their Dad passed away yesterday. Herman Nauta was 68 when he lost his fight with Pancreatic Cancer. I met him only once, about a month ago while he was in the VA Hospital in Temple. He was a really cool dude. Retired soldier and Viet Nam vet, Herman will be buried with full military honors next week.
Please keep Dave, Tony, their Mom and the rest of their family in your prayers.
Mark 16:16-17

Things around here have finally slowed down a bit.
Yesterday I cleaned my BBQ Pit and then took my Jeep for an overdue "Sunday Drive." Along the way (which ended up right at 50 miles round trip) I stopped at Chalk Ridge Falls and took a "Sunday Hike" for about an hour and 1/2. The sun was out and it was probably in the high 40's to mid-50's. Nice day.
Once I got home Tab and the boys showed up about 20 minutes later and we pretty much sat on the back porch, enjoying the weather for the rest of the day.
I could use one more day just like that...
John 14:6

We loaded up this morning around 0810hrs and headed to Burnet. In Copperas Cove I was the lucky receipient of a speeding ticket from CC's finest (or not so finest). Yeah... 48mph in a 40mph zone. He wanted to know, "Why I was driving so fast." Putz.
Longhorn Cavern is about as plain as a cave can get. The history's cool and all but the cave is well, unspectacular. But we had a good time. I even ran into an old friend from scouts. Bruce and I attended the WoodBadge leaders course together about 6 years ago when we we still living in Clear Lake. It took me about 5 minutes to finally put the name to the face and then I walked up and said, "Bruce?" Sure enough, it was Bruce. He was there with his wife and son for a weekend excursion.
We had lunch at Storm's in Burnet and then went "downtown" to the city square. I got some pictures of the courthous and jail (all pictures from today will be uploaded to the main page tomorrow, so check back Monday).
Daniel 1:8

Except for the painting and interior design...


Numbers 6:24-26
Happy New Year

No new treehouse pictures.
I forgot to mention that I got my baby back on Friday. She cost me $3380.66 but I have my Jeep back in working order. Well, mostly working. I'm gonna have to take her back; she won't get above 60mph. Weird, huh?
Luke 3: 4-6
