Bummed

I am already bummed about next Christmas and this one isnt here yet. My work is completely stupid when it comes to trying to get your vacation in. We have a quota and several people in the shop have 5 or more weeks of vacation to get in. Well you black out 7 full weeks for turnaround and volia, you have a headache trying to get you weeks in when you want them.

Our shop accepted a shop policy that states that if your vacation, when first issued for the year, lands in the first three months then you get first pick. These three month rotate to be fair some everyone eventually will get first pick. Well this worked well with about 15 to 20 people in the shop but now we have about 36 people in the shop and I must admit a bunch of crybaby whiners than want to throw a monkey wrench into this policy if they dont get the weeks they want.

The problem is that corporate policy states first come first serve and if there are more people than weeks available then draw names from a hat. But in the hope to guarentee people the week they want every once in a while we adopted the shop policy.

This year I get first pick and if memory serves then this is the first year I have had first pick since hired back in 1999. So everyone in the first 3 months submit there vacation and then after that is locked down then everyone else can jockey for theirs.

Haveing bad luck really sucks and getting screwed all the time when trying to play by the rules really blows too. Some people slipped in their vacation changes in to where instead of only about 6 people putting in for the 6 person quota there was about 12 so the office drew names and guess who got screwed out of next years christmas when it was guarenteed to be mine by shop policy. I also got screwed out of Thanksgiving week too.

The bad thing about this now is that there is nothing I can do and if the Shop forman tries to do anything it will prove that we are going against corporate policy and get his ass in trouble so his hands are tied. The other thing that pisses me off is that one of my so called friends screwed me by getting the Christmas week and when I told him that he screwed me he said, "Too bad for your luck!"

The good thing is that one of the people who also screwed me for Chirstmas week and honestly didnt mean to do it said that when all this crap is over and everyone is settled that he would give me his week but still I am really mad at my so called friend. If he would have offered to make it right I would not have even let him do it but his comment really went through me like a knife. I hope in the near future he does not need me to do anything for him. I will eventually forgive but I WILL NEVER FORGET!!!!

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!

Christmas Light Show - Amazing Grace Techno

This is what I hope to have next year. Ha ha ha.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

I was in the festive mood set by the season so I decided to do a little decorating. Brando was responsible for inside while I worked on an outside display. I hope you like the pictures. I hope it helps get you in the mood.

(Brandos Christmas Tree)

(Brandos Snowman Street Lamp)

(My House Decorations)

(My Lightshow)

Gettin Ready 4 Turkey N Tucky

I am gettin ready for turkey n Tucky. I cant wait to get down there and fill my guts till I feel like a sploded opossum on the side of the road. (What did you say? I spelled opossum correctly?... Of coarse what do you think I am?...A barbarian?) I usually stop just before my jeans button is about to pop. Who knows this year I could be convicted of wreckless homicide if the rivet was to let go and someone is in the line of fire.

When I get down there I will be in full on consume mode and the women and children best just skinny on out the back if they know whats good for them. I luvs me some turkey and fixins like a fat kid luvs cake. Anyone caught in the onslaught should just drag their wounded bodies to the side of the room and assume the tornado position just in case a fork goes flyin.

Yeah you don't get this manly physique overnight. It takes years of commitment and dedication and a pinch of gluttony. We are packing the hand truck with us and taking the seats out of the van so Brando will have a place to stick me and wont have to roll me out to the van like a butterball turkey. Mmmmm turkey..... Sorry I digest...

I hope that everyone can have a belly busting and relaxing turkey day.

NEW EGG LAYING CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD!!!

Yesterday my little girls set a new world....er aahh yard record for our house but still an impressive feat none the less. I got 8 eggs out of 8 chickens. Did I hear someone yell bullshit? No I promise you that is what happened because the night before I forgot to get the eggs at the normal time and it was waaaaay after dark and when I got them they were all nice and cold from not being sat on for a while. So I am sure there were no eggs left from the day before. I am proud of the girls for stepping up to get this achievement that is something to crow about. So far the lights have seemed to work. I have a 40 watt light in the coop and Christmas lights strung around the bottom so were ever they are bombarded by some light to help them lay. I have the lights on a timer so they do get dark for sleepy time but with the days getting short and the nights getting long every little bit helps. It causes havoc on the egg laying. Scientist have even tested the effects of light on blind chickens and it will even improve egg laying with them also. It is said that the light rays, specifically the red spectrum, is absorbed through their skull to their brain to stimulate egg production. WHOD A THUNK IT???

Busy weekend

This weekend we worked harder than we have for months. Here is a list of the stuff we did:

1. Changed oil in work car
2. Changed oil in Brandos van
3. Winterized the camper
4. Blew the leaves in the front ditch
5. Burned said leaves
6. Cleaned garage
7. Took stuff to storage bay
8. Cleaned Chicken house
9. Moved rabbits
10. Built nesting boxes for rabbits
11. Sealed up vents under the house for winter
12. Used bail of hay for wind brake for dog house
13. Put hay in dogs house.

I had to get back to work for a rest. We got allot done. I cleaned the gutters and pruned and netted the pond earlier in the week for winter also. My lawn mower needs a battery but I think that I will wait till spring. Also after mulching up about a ton of leaves I notices grass sticking out of the mower deck. Upon closer inspection I see that there is rust holes in the deck. As I clean out the deck a bit I realize that there are several large holes in the deck. I guess that I will have to get someone to weld some plate over the holes cause Brando already said that I aint getting a new mower.

OIY!!!

Today I came out of the house to a flat tire. I screamed, "DAMN YOU OBAMA!!" Next I went to the gas station to fill up and had to wait for a pump. Once again I yelled, "DAMN YOU OBAMA!!" Then, on the way to work, I almost hit a deer crossing the rode. "DAMN YOU OBAMA!!!" After finally arriving at work from all this, I find out that half the parking lot in closed and the other half is full. What did I say you might ask yourself? You guessed it. "DAMN YOU OBAMA!!!!"

I don't really blame him for all of this. I don't think he had anything to do with the deer. Its just kinda fun to say and I will thoroughly enjoy saying it for the next 4 years......Who knows?...Maybe 8.

ALL DONE

We finally got everything cleared out of the yard about 6:30 last night and man were we pooped. The only brake we took was when we made a run to Taco Bell about 1 oclock to get re-energized. The brake helped because we were really dragging. My brother-in-law picked a bad time to visit because while I hooked up the horse trailer he helped Brando take down the mausoleum. After pulling in the drive way we had it loaded in record time and my bro-in-law even followed us out to the storage bay to unload all the decorations. Thanks to anyone and everyone who helped get everything put up and tore down. Hope to have the energy to get it put all back up next year. I have 363 days to recoop. Wish me luck.

That Was Halloween

Halloween once again has come and gone. All their is left is the putting all the stuff away. Some people might call it crap but I call it......well at this point, crap. I am not looking forward to getting all this stuff crammed in the garage. Oh well it has to be done might as well grin and bare it.

We had 90 TOTS last night which was a bit low but il take it. The highest we have had was 126 in the past but as Pilot said the two neighboring towns had TOT on the same night. We had a few new faces this year and a few we expected to come didnt show. Halloween in a busy time when you have a child and all the family expects you to make the rounds to their house.

All in all I think the night turned out pretty well. Mort only made one person jump in the ditch this year so he did his job. I only had one kid cry slightly and most came up to the porch. Kids are either getting braver or dumber. I hope not the latter. I hope everyone had a good time last night in whatever you did. And to all..........

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

This IS HALLOWEEN!!

Halloween is just a few days away and as much as I am looking forward to it, I am also ready for it to be over. I feel like I havent done near enough this year for Halloween and feel like I am cheating the people who will come and check out the house. I dont see too much different with the house and afraid it is getting ho hum for the kids. Do I have a valid concern or am I just being dumb. I hope the latter because that would seem fit for me.

Halloween is on its way......Hurry Up and Get Here!!!!

Wolf Creek Cemetery Is HERE!!!

Check out the new site : http://www.wolfcreekcemetery.com/ I had to move it because the Geocities site had a bandwidth hourly cap and would shut it down for an hour when exceeded. ( Site was shut down 50 times in 6 days) Finally I got the site moved and been fine tuning on it a bit. I hope you enjoy it. Looks like the old one but different. Check out the 2008 photos and projects.

Hope to see everyone soon.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Wolf Creek Cemetery Coming Soon

Yesterday my DW, kids and bubby went out to the storage bay and grabbed some of our over sized props for this years haunt. We got them in the yard and went back for the Mausoleum and monster in the box.

Today I am hoping to at least get the cemetery arch way and fencing up. Anything else is a bonus. Maybe the thunder columns will be hooked up with the lightening a thunder generator too. Here's keeping my fingers crossed.

We have piano lessons tonight, and tumbling practice Wednesday and Thursday so I hope to get a few things up before this weekend went we get to go visit my cuzes new house. I can't wait. I also hope to get the opportunity to visit a couple of Halloween stores down in that area too.

We went to Eville this weekend and I was thoroughly disappointed in what all the stores have down there. Alot of the same crap you see every year.

Happy 15th Wedding Anniversary

Today I have been married to my wonderful, marvelous and I must admit sexy wife for 15 years. Whats that??? Did I hear someone yell bullshit in the crowd. Yes, I can understand why everyone may think that I am telling a fib but it is true. There is someone on Gods green Earth that can stand my ugly ass this long. It came as quite a surprise to me also.

If you are reading this I would like for you to stand up..... Go ahead stand up.

Now lets put our hands together and give Brando a round of applause. (Go ahead Brando take a bow.) Ok, thats enough... Now everyone please bow your heads in prayer and pray to give Brando the strength to endure my worthless hiney hole for a few more years. (A few more years is about all I can reasonable ask for. I mean she is a wonderful person but shes no saint. Lets get real here.)

Brando, all kidding aside, I want you to know that you are the light of my life, the sun of my day and the stars of my night. I couldn't begin to think of living this life without you. You are the central hub of the family and a wonderful Mom and wife. I surely was blessed to have been given the chance to be a part of your life. I love you and will always love you until time itself doesn't exist. You are truly my one and only love..... You might say, my SOUL MATE. But who really believes in that stuff anyway?

HAPPY 15th ANNIVERSARY BABY!!!!

I LOVE YA!!!

Hell Why Not Bail Me Out???

( And here is a picture of the assholes that caused it all)

Once again the public tax payer is forced to bail out some big company who's executives lived high on the hog and cooked the book to ride their pony until it dropped. WTF? If I take my money to a casino in Vegas and put it all on one roll of the dice and bust is the federal government gonna bail me out. Hell NO! Id be out on the street as fast as you could bat an eye. What a crock of shit. I know why we are forced to do so not because of all the people who were insured with AIG would be uninsured and there polices would be worth what I flush down the toilet. I feel bad for them but they can get a new policy with a new company unless they are mid claim. However I think that I would be pissed if my retirement was through that company and it when belly up. What a kick in the crotch. I hope they parade the executives that caused this flop out in the middle of the street and give everyone a pair of clippers and as they walk by them clip a piece of them off and then throw and bit of salt where they clipped. I know where I would start first. We are in the mids of a war that is costing us a ton, business that cook the books and fall on there faces and an election year. WTF else could go wrong??? Heaven help us because no one else on this planet seems to have a clue. Maybe we can come up with a bunch of government programs to help deadbeats get mansions to live in. HELL WHY NOT!!! Might as well take all of my check. Its not like I worked for it or anything. This shit really chaffs my cherries.

Wet Rabbits

Yesterday was the day that what was left of Ike blew threw. I was standing at dinning room winds when the house creeked. I don't think I have ever heard that noise before. The wind gust must have been considerable. Brando looked outside and the rabbits cage lid was blown up and the little bunnies were getting soaked. I put on a shirt and braved the elements to save the little long eared fuz balls. Then about 10 minutes later another gust blew threw and low and behold the rabbit lid was up again. Once again I went to their rescue. I will have to build a latch for the cage. Poor little bunnies.

Match-o-matic II

One of my friends at sent me a test to take to see which candidate I agree with. I must admit that both were very similar to some extent. After taking the test I had picked 10 or of 13 total quotes for McCain. What does this mean? Absolutely nothing. I really was suprised and now I would like to offer this test and have everyone post in the comments how they done. Please post honestly as I have. I am sure I could take the test again and the results might change a bit but I thought that I would offer it to anyone willing to take the test.

Here is the link: http://abcnews.go.com/politics/MatchoMatic/fullpage?id=5542139

Safe at Home

We got back from Houston last night around 8:30 pm. We were on the fence about leaving early until we heard about mandatory evacuations of the Galveston area. We got our airplane tickets bumped up a day and checked out on Thursday morning. While checking out, we over heard the hotel workers turning down someone wanting to stay for the night. They asked if they had rooms empty and the hotel said yes but they could not rent them out with the evacuation. I guess the hotel will be emptied sometime soon. We got the heck out of Dodge or Houston as the case may be and headed to the airport to turn in our rental car.

We looked for gas stations to fill up the tank before turning it in and all the stations were packed with cars. Some on the news showed NO GAS signs out front from all the people filling up to evacuate. We finally found an empty station close to the airport. Traffic was not too bad since we were heading South to Hobby and everyone else was heading North to safety. We got the car turned in and got to a jammed packed airport. The ticket lines was passed the cattle stalls and out to the main walking area. I stood in line while Brando got our ticket at a ticket only window to help move our transaction at the counted with luggage check in a little quicker. The guy behind us said he that he flies out every week and never seen it like this. I told him that if they are anything like Phoenix that they will have us at the counter soon. The line at Phoenix was twice as long and I was checking bags in about 20 minutes. 10 minutes later we had our bags checked and on our way to security. 5 minutes later I was tieing my shoes and headed to the gate.

We ate at Papacitoes and sat to wait for the plane. While waiting we heard that by 9 am Friday the airport would be closed. We were suppose to fly out of there at 1:30 pm. This would have put a crimp in our plans. Our plane was about 20 minutes late and after boarding and getting all the standbys on the plane we took off about 30 minutes late. So we also arrived at St. Louis 30 minutes late. We ate at Hooters and headed home to our wonder little chillin. Mom and Dad had taken very good care of them. The first thing out of their mouth was MOMMY & DADDY! Then came the inevitable, What did you bring us? Kids......

Oh yeah all this happene on 9-11..... We fly to stick it to the terrorists!..... and to flee the oncoming hurricane. Take that you stinking terrorist!!!!

A House Full Of Pizza.....

.... and I can't eat any of it. Tonight Yin and Yuri are doing some of their gymnastic moves in the living room floor called a pizza. It is what I call a back bend but they also call it a bridge but the little kids class call it the pizza. I have a couple of pieces in the fridge and a couple of goofballs in the livingroom floor and being that I am taking my Bros advice about trying to go gluten free to maybe help cure some of my recent symptoms a can't have any pizza. Funny how you don't really want something until you can't have it.

The chickens are doing well but we only got 3 eggs today. Maybe it is just the cycle of things and not a sign of being unhappy with me. We have 2 dozen in the fridge and when Mammer Jammer comes up this weekend, we hope to have enought to keep everyone filled to the brim with eggs.

We are gearing up for our venture South. We leave for Houston Monday morning and the kiddos will stay with my Mom and Dad. Heaven help them. I know them miss the kids when they are gone but I am sure they will have their fill by time we get back on Friday.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Looks like we are in for a bit cooler weather.

The Truth???

Look at these poor Caribou obviously upset about the oil rig encroaching on there territory. I bet the Caribou would like something more aesthetically pleasing like a Starbucks Coffee House on there block. I bet property values would soar then.

This is what you see in the media about the drill site in the Arctic National Refugee.

This is what is really there.

What??? You can't see anything??? That's because at there proposed drill site there is nothing to see. Nothing but a few Caribou. Don't get me wrong, I think that we do need to reduce our use of oil both foreign and domestic but unfortunately the technology to do so isn't there yet. It is on the horizon but until then we need a plan to help everyone out. I personally don't gripe about what I pay at the pump. I pay the same price as everyone else out there and I along with everyone else that has and operates a gasoline or diesel combustion engine are part of the problem.

I think that the money I pay at the pump is a fine for being part of this global problem. If the fine gets big enough then I personally will find ways to reduce my use of it. The reason big oil hasn't been charge with any wrong doing is because they haven't really done anything wrong. I hate to see people making billions of dollars in profit but in the right context this is not outrageous profits. These companies in prospective are making roughly 10% profit. They have to spend 100 billion a year to make 10 billion profit. They do it because they have the deep pockets to do it.


I wonder what Wal-Marts profit margin is??? I can assure you it is several times over 10%. But they only make several million a year in profit and the public outcry goes unnoticed because of the big oil profit. Most companies couldn't stay in business with only a 10% profit margin when the federal regulations are changed for day to day. Everyday the EPA, OSHA and federal government change the rules on what is legal to do. Can you play a game where the rules change from second to second. How would you feel if you made 10% on your 401k with inflation at 5 to 6%???


Try building a multi million dollar unit as big as a city block in a refinery that will not make you a dime because the EPA mandated that you must have that unit only to say that in 4 years that it is illegal to run that unit. Try opening up a refinery today to help relieve our refining capacity shortfall and see how the EPA will help you. NO NEW REFINERIES HAVE BEEN BUILT SINCE THE 80s AND SINCE THEN SEVERAL HAVE SHUT DOWN DUE TO THE EPA. I wonder why gas is 4 dollars a gallon? Just something to think about.


OK I am off my little soapbox. I am not really pro anything. I would like things to be good for everyone on GODS green Earth, however I don't think we are going to get there by posting information to support my own agenda either. Lets just see how hard we can spin this. The people that need elected will spin this issue which ever way the public opinion needs them to spin it to get elected or reelected. The TRUTH is there really is NO TRUTH just the way it is. There is no politician that is not biased and to think there is you are a fool. If we could spin this hard enough maybe we can spin the Earth fast enough to get rid of this problem, which is all of us. Who is the enemy here? Look in the mirror. I shave the enemies face every day.

My advice for the reader is to not to believe the HYPE of everything you see and hear in the media. Look at several sources of information and make an educated opinion about the subject. The majority of the population seems to make there opinion on what the headlines read in there politically ran daily newspaper. I challenge you to look beyond your own agenda and beyond what people are PAYED to print.

STRIKE AVERTED!!!!!

STRIKE AVERTED!

I think The Girls and I have come to an agreement. They will lay the eggs and I will continue to feed and water them. Clause 3 paragraph 2 states that the care giver will make sure the workers of The Girls & Double U Egg Factory, (they get top billing), will provide ample food and water at all times. There was a jocking for position at the signing and they threw in a last minute amendment for an occasional romp around the yard.

Feeling particularly bad about the horrible conditions that The Girls had to endure, I was caught in a weak moment and agreed to all demands. Now I check on there amenities every day when I get home and check on them, of the evening, to see if there are any problems with their accommodations. So far egg production has increased to 4 eggs a day. Now we are seeing white eggs so the offenders are now starting back to work.

What they don't know is that they are working for chicken feed and their union rep. didn't mention anything about a health care or pension plan. I hope they don't get wind of that or I may be hiring scabs. Oh well, they signed a 2 year contract so after the contract is up and they strike again there maybe some jobs on the chopping block. Literally!

(Oh yeah it is also written in the contract that when referring to them in writing, I must capitalize The Girls. What can you say? There only chickens.)