Happy New Years

I can't believe the "0X's" are almost gone and we're already starting on the "1X's". I still haven't cleaned out my Y2K bunker. That SPAM is still good right? I was thinking on reflecting back on New Years Eves of the past but, for some reason I'm having some trouble remembering some of the details. Like where I spent them and what I did. A sliver of remembrance pokes through the fog here and there but surely that's some fantasy that my subconscious mind fabricated just to shock me. That couldn't have really happened, could it? New Years Eve falls on a Thursday this year. That's great. It gives me Friday to recoup and Saturday and Sunday to have a normal weekend before the first Monday of 2010. As usual, there are more festivities going on than I can could, or should, possibly attend. The crew here at work wants to kick things off Wednesday evening with Wings and Beers, then later that night an old friend is having her annual Night before New Years Eve Birthday Bash at a club she manages, Then on New Years Eve Night there is a New Years Eve Jam with some picking buddies. That should be a Hoot. My phone just rang a few minutes ago. It was another old friend that has a construction yard out in the country. He was inviting me to a New Years Eve party out there. He says the festivities there will be fairly unlimited. I was told you could bring guns  or bombs or whatever struck your fancy. Sounds interesting to say the least. I think I'm going to try and round up a half dozen or so suicide bombers. At midnight we can light those guys off. They seem to like that kind of thing. I don't know if I'll make all of these events. Next year I probably won't remember if I attended all of these or not.

Many people make New Years resolutions. They're going to lose weight, stop smoking, stop drinking, get a job, get married, get divorced, lower their cholesterol, raise their awareness, write a book, read a book, I've heard it all. Me, I'm not going to promise any of those things. Not even to myself. I'll be lucky to be able to keep doing what I'm doing. Which, I guess, ain't much.

I lost a lot of good friends in 2009 and not in the usual way. These died. As a matter of fact in the middle of the last paragraph I got a phone call alerting me to the passing of another old friend. Over my lifetime I've amassed a great number of people that I consider friends. The reality of that is that as we all get older, the number of them that are lost every year tends to increase as the years go by. A balding old man once told me that as he gets older he spends much more time at doctors offices and funeral homes and much less time at the barber shop. I guess that's true.

As I look back on 2009 it seems fairly uneventful. At least for me personally. Could this be true or do all the eventful things just lose their shine after a while, like tarnish on a new piece of brass. Of course there were a lot of powerful and meaningful things that happened, in general, in 2009. I won't get into that, we'll hear enough of that in the days and weeks to come until the media settles into 2010 or something else happens for the talking heads to cackle about.

This will be my last blog for 2009, unless something happens and I find something else to cackle about. So everyone, be safe, be happy and be careful out there and I hope to see you all back in 2010.

Happy New Year

From

Snappybob!

Christmas Time

Sorry about my post slacking lately but work has picked up, finally, and with the holidays and all the blog kind of got shoved to the side. It's not that I haven't thought about it but with everything on my mind and Christmas too I just haven't had time to think about what to write about. So let's blame it on Christmas and as long as Christmas gets the blame I'll also have to give it the spotlight. So for today's blog I give you the very talented, the always beautiful, the one and only Christmas. Christmas runs the emotional gamut from person to person from totally meaningless to completely taking control of ones life from Thanksgiving to the last bowl of Black eyed Peas on New Years Day.

 From a practical standpoint Christmas is very important, so I'm told, to the economy. I'm no economist but I think it must be very important to a capitalist based economy to get an occasional shot in the arm. A mechanism to keep the cash flow going. A means to keep the poor folks poor and the rich folks rich. It's for our own good I suppose.

For many folks it's a time for religious services. A time to remember and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. There will be services on Christmas Eve, on Christmas Morning and on Christmas evening as well. There will be Christmas Pageants where children will get there first taste of trotting the boards and being the star of the show on stage. My first remembrance of being in a Christmas Pageant was in elementary school where they dressed us up like Angels in a choir and put red lipstick on everybody so the audience could see our lips move. Yes, everybody got lipsticked. There will nativity scenes with farm animals, some real, some not. Homes, lawns and businesses will be decorated with lights and inflatable snowmen.

For many it is a time to gather friends and family together. It's that one time of year that you will see certain people. For some it will be the only time, for some it will be the first time to see the new friends or newborns. For some it will be the last time to see old friends. You just never know. Just think how many people were here last Christmas that are no longer with us. As we depart we will say "We must get together more often" but we won't in most cases. It's the just the Christmas spirit talking. The Christmas spirit is magic but fleeting.

So Christmas is special, I would think, to everyone. Whether you especially despise it, especially endear it, your especially, financially, enriched by it or especially financially crippled by it, it is special non the less.

On that note, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you, my dear readers, a very special Merry Christmas and a very Snappy New Year. I hope to see you all back, ratcheting up my new hit counter in 2010. Comments are always appreciated. Happy Holidays Everyone!

Rattlesnake Tequila

A few years ago my step brother Jerry told me that he was going to make something called Rattlesnake Tequila that he had heard about. If you've never met Brother Jerry or just haven't seen him for a while, here's a pic.

Brother Jerry

As you can see from the photo he is about 9 1/2 feet tall. He's the only guy I know who buys elevator shoes and has to have them specially set to basement just to keep his hat from wrecking the ceiling fans. He's sixty something years young, has most of his hair, all of his teeth and then some and jogs to work and back. He claims he owes it all to Rattlesnake Tequila. I don't think you can buy bottled Rattlesnake Tequila. You have to buy it by the shot or make it yourself. Are you intrigued yet? Here's a recipe I found on this website.

http://www.gumbopages.com/food/beverages/vibora.html

1 gallon (or so) of cheap white tequila

1 small rattlesnake (red diamondback preferred)

Catch the rattlesnake with a "special stick". Place the rattlesnake into a gallon jar, then fill with the cheap white tequila. As the snake drowns, it (allegedly) emits "minute amounts of compounds with certain medicinal properties." When the snake is dead, remove from jar, gut snake, then put back in jar. Put the jar in the sun for three months, then in the shade for three months. Serve as shots. "

The first thing Jerry needed was a rattlesnake. Well this IS Texas and we have plenty of people with access to them but all he was being offered was dead ones. I've often heard the phrase "The only good snake is a dead snake" but for Rattlesnake Tequila you need a live snake and only a live snake will do. Jerry finally found a snake handler some where out in the boonies that had snakes for sale. Jerry went to see him and convinced him that he wanted to raise the snake as a pet. He purchased the snake from the snake handler and brought him home with some, justified, trepidation. It seems the snake handlers hand was severely swollen from a previous snake bite and had several scars from other bites. Jerry and his buddy Tom get the snake home and begin preparations for getting the snake into the jar that will be eventually filled with Tequila. Jerry never forgets the details and had the presence of mind to put this part of it on video. Check it out, click SEE THE VIDEO under the picture of Jerry's Rattlesnake in a jar on this site. Rattlesnake in a jar.

I must admit that I never tasted Jerry's Rattlesnake Tequila and I think the brew has been disposed of by now but the story will live on. Jerry and his brother (my other step brother) Jim are good friends with Texas singer and songwriter Brian Burns Brian Burns website. Jim lives in Amarillo and sees Brian from time to time since Brian's home base is in the Dallas / Fort Worth area. One night Jim was shooting the breeze with Brian and started telling him the story about Jerry's Rattlesnake Tequila. Being the excellent song writer that Brian is he immediately saw the opportunity to turn this into a song that would fit onto his newest album that he was working on at the time, American Junkyard

Well the song has been written, the album has gone to press and the story of Jerry's Rattlesnake Tequila has been told. Of course Jerry is not the first one to make Rattlesnake Tequila and probably won't be the last but he did it and lived to tell the tale. And had the tale told by others. I know a lot of people will recoil (sorry couldn't help it) at the notion of killing a poor snake for the sake of making tequila and Jerry is not the type of person to go around killing things for the fun of it. It was just something he had to do.

Click here for words to song and audio clip in upper right corner.

Right now I think Jerry's on a train headed to Nacona Texas to be in the audience of the Brian Burns Christmas show there on December 4th. I wonder what stories he will bring back from this trip?

Here's some pictures of other jars of Rattlesnake Tequila sitting on bars around Mexico.

Adios Amigos!

Heads Up!.........Red Molly.

Today I'm going to introduce a new feature on the blog. Let's call it Heads Up! Today on Heads Up! we will be featuring a female musical group called  Red Molly. They are an acoustic trio from the New York area that sound like they should be right out of Austin or somewhere else in the hill country. Perhaps everyone else has already heard of Red Molly and this is just another opportunity for me to look silly but I'll risk it. It would, after all, be just another drop in the bucket. I stumbled across these ladies when doing a YouTube search for Steve Goodmans song "Lookin For Trouble". I found a video of these gals doing a rendition of that song at what looked like a party. I was immediately taken with the arrangement and their harmonies really blew me away. I started checking out other videos by them and found this one and then this one and then I watched this one. Well I went and did a Google on them and found their web page. Here' Tis You can listen to a bunch of their songs on there as well. I checked to see if they do much touring and found out the they will be doing a House Concert in Austin on January 30th 2010. They are playing Dallas the night before on Friday(Hear that Buffalo Gal) then Austin on Saturday then Houston on Sunday. Sorry no San Antonio. I guess their tour manager figures Texas only has three real cities Dallas, Austin and Houston. Whatever. Anyway I'm seriously thinking about going. It's $15/person with a pot luck dinner. I guess that means with any luck we can smoke pot after dinner? It IS in Austin. I called the people who are hosting it and they said they could seat about 50-60 people. They are not advertising the January show yet in the Austin area but they figure it will be a good crowd. Reservations would be pretty much necessary. Anyway check out the links and let me know if there are any takers. I figure if all of my readers want to go we can rent a VW Beetle and take the dogs too.

For the first Heads Up! post I am going to feature a Bonus Heads Up! Fellow Snappybob follower Leigh also has a blog. She just returned from a really nice Photo Safari in Arkansas. She did some extensive camping and hiking and posted some really nice photographs on her blog. It's always a really good read also.
Visit her blog here...BuffaloGal

OK, thanks for dropping in. Hope to see you soon! Bye!

Gorilla Pills

Halloween is approaching and it always brings back memories of my childhood. Some of those memories are centered around Halloween activities and others just center around that general time of year. When I was in grade school the annual school carnival was held sometime in October. We kids never seemed to know exactly when the carnival was going to be until we arrived at school to find workers busily setting up the infrastructure for it. Excitement filled the crisp air as you arrived at school to find stake bed trucks filled with the unassembled carnival equipment. On one particular day when I was in the third grade I arrived to find things in just such a state. We always arrived about 15 minutes early and would play on the playground until the bell would ring for us to go inside. On this particular day I quickly found my friend Harry. We ran around excitedly looking at all that was taking place in the school yard. We finally wound up sitting on some playground equipment when he reached in his pocket and pulled out a little bottle, held it out to me and said “Want some? They’re Gorilla pills.” About that time the bell rang and we started walking toward the school  building. The pills looked like candy to me so I popped a few into my mouth and chewed them up wanting to hurry and eat them before we got into the class room where eating candy, of course, was not allowed. Our teacher, Miss Sharon, was quite strict and being caught eating candy in class would have brought a severe and quick punishment.


Before we go on, a little bit about Miss Sharon might be in order. Miss Sharon was, I’m guessing, about 100 years old. She had been putting up with kids like me for about 80 years and was getting a little sick of it. She had been known to take off her shoes and throw them at the class. There was only one thing in this world that she was afraid of. Only one thing but it scared the hell out of her. For some reason this woman was scared to death of Hydrophobia. Rabies that is. She would tell us in graphic detail about how wild animals would get Hydrophobia, foam at the mouth, go into a wild rage and bite any poor unfortunate soul who happened to be within fang range. People who contracted it would suffer a similar fate and die a miserable, slobbering pile of flesh with only the desire to bite someone else to pass the disease along. We heard this story over and over again.

So anyway, back in class, as I sat down and had swallowed that candy or gorilla pills or what ever that stuff was that Harry gave me I started to realize that this was the nastiest candy I had ever had. The taste was unbearable and I couldn’t get it out of my mouth. Finally I tried spitting on the floor. That didn’t help at all. Then I started to salivate profusely . I used my sleeve to get some out of my mouth. I started salivating more, and more and more. There was no place to put it all! I thought OH MY GOD! I’M FOAMING AT MOUTH! I’m GONNA THROW UP! I got up from my desk and started walking to the front where Miss Sharon was babbling on about some homework or something. As she turned to look at me I tried to speak but my mouth was producing saliva at such a high rate that it was literally flowing down my chin. Miss Sharon took one look at me and with a horrified look on her face said Oh My God your foaming at the mouth. He’s got HYDROPHOBIA! She grabbed me by the back of the collar and rushed me towards the stairs and down to the nurse screaming “I Think He Has Hydrophobia! I immediately started throwing up and trying to tell the nurse that I had taken Gorilla Pills. (The plot thickens)

Now, keep in mind this was around 1962 or so and the Dope Pusher or Dope Fiend was one of the biggest fears of an elementary school in those days. Especially my school since we were fairly close to the State Mental Hospital. So this changed the whole thing.

“GORILLA PILLS?” They ask. “What Gorilla pills?” “The ones Harry gave me” I sang like a canary.

Well by this time my Mom had been called and was on her way, Miss Sharon had probably turned Harry upside down and shook him until the remaining pills dropped out of his pockets. Me and my mom and the pills all went to the family doctor. He identified the pills as Carters Little Liver Pills. A common over the counter cure all that probably didn’t cure anything but were to be swallowed not chewed.

I spent most of the rest of the day at home listening to lectures about taking pills and drug pushers and dope fiends and what not and was finally taken back to school that same afternoon. They made me stand before the class and say I was sorry for disrupting an otherwise uneventful carnival day. I don’t think Harry even got in trouble. That Dick.

The only thing left to do in class that day was a little spelling exercise where the first person in the first row takes the first word on a list in the book, pronounces it, spells it and then pronounces it again. Then the second person takes the second word and so on. You can probably guess what my word turned out to be. This had to be a setup. I had to stand up in class and say PILL P-I-L-L PILL.

So if anybody ever offers you any Gorilla Pills. Don’t take them. They’re not as much fun as they sound.



HAVE A HAPPY HALLOWEEN.

Or FALL CARNIVAL or whatever PC name they are giving it this year.

World Food Day

Tomorrow, October 17th, is World Food Day. Did you know that there was a special day for food? I didn't know that. But I'm not surprised. Sometimes it seems like there are so many special days in the year that there is not enough days in the year to go around. It seems to water down all the specialness about special days. I kind of like the idea of World Food Day though. I spend a fair amount of time thinking about food. Not that I'm all that hungry usually, Those of you that know me, and from what I can tell, that's both of you, will know that I am an avid gardener. I like to promote the ideals of buying your food locally and I promote sustainable food production. I got an email today from Kitchen Gardeners International. After alerting me that tomorrow was World Food Day they presented me with a list that I thought was kinda cool. I believe the list was created by a guy named Roger Doiron. Here is the list below.

1: number of new kitchen gardens planted at the White House this year AP


1943: the last time food was grown at the White House White House

20 million: the number of new gardens planted in 1943 LA Times

40%: percentage of nation's produce coming from gardens in 1943 LA Times

7 million: estimated number of new food gardens planted in the US in 2009 NGA

$2000: amount of savings possible per year from a 40' x 40' garden KGI

90%: percentage of fruit/vegetable varieties lost in the US the last 100 years CNN

3500: number of vegetable varieties owned by Monsanto Monsanto

18,467: number of new small farms counted in the last agricultural census USDA

4,685: number of farmers markets nationwide USDA

4,100: number of Wal-mart stores and clubs in the US Wal-mart

187,000 ft2 : average area of a Wal-mart superstore Wal-mart

60,112 ft2: average area of a farmers' market USDA

9.5 million: number of imported food shipments arriving in the US each year Huffington Post

226,377: number of establishments registered to export food to the US Huffington Post

200: number of on-site inspections of these establishments conducted by the FDA last year Huffington Post

76 million: number of people who fall ill each year due to food poisoning CDC

50 gallons: volume of sugared beverages consumed per person in the US each year LA Times

22,727: number of Olympic-sized swimming pools those beverages would fill Answers.com

$15 billion: annual estimated revenue of a penny-per-ounce tax on soda LA Times

$20.5 billion: Coca-Cola's gross profit in 2008 Coca-Cola

72 million: number of American adults considered obese CDC

33%: percentage of US children likely to develop obesity or Type 2 diabetes CDC

10-15 years: average number of years their lives will be shortened as a result CDC

57 years: average age of the American farmer USDA

25 days: average shelf-life of a Twinkie Snopes

350 parts per million: sustainable level of CO2 in atmosphere 350.org

390 parts per million: current level of CO2 in the atmosphere NOAA

31%: percentage of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions attributable to food and agriculture IPCC

2020: year by which many geologists feel the world will have reached "peak oil" production UK Research Centre

10 calories: average amount of fossil fuel energy required to produce 1 calorie of food energy in industrialized food systems Cornell

29,100 calories: estimated fossil fuel calories required to produce one order of Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries Men's Health

1 billion: number of hungry people in the world in 2009 FAO

9.1 billion: projected world population in the year 2050 US Census

70%: percentage increase in global food production required to feed that projected population FAO

70%: percentage of world's fresh water used for agricultural purposes UNESCO

1.8 billion: number of people expected to experience "water scarcity" in the year 2025 UNEP

0: number of new, oil-rich, water-rich, fertile and inhabitable planets we are likely to discover in the next 40 years

1: number of people needed to make a positive difference in any of the above: you!

I thought that was an appropriate list for World Food Day. The blue text on the end of the lines that look like links are just blue text. I was too lazy to put all of those links in. Too much stinking linking. Supposedly you can go to those websites to verify the information. I don't know for sure since if I was so lazy I had to put in fake links I was surely too lazy to go and check their sources.

Have a great World Food Day. As luck would have it I will be going to a BBQ to celebrate my Step Moms birthday. She's 80 something. Happy Birthday Mom.

Bye!

Some Photos For Ya

Sorry it took so long to to get some pics up but I was trying to wait until I had a chance to get some really cool stuff for you guys. I haven't had a chance to go out and do a picture taking safari so most of these are just snap shots that I have been taking trying to get familiar with the new  camera. I'm going to throw in a few that I did not take just because they need to be there. I'll let you know which ones they are. All of the ones I took have a little bit of post processing done to them but just what I could do with the limited software that I have. The other night as I was poking around on my computer I found out that I have a copy of Photoshop 7 loaded on there. Dunno where it came from. I think my step brother Jerry might have loaded it on there a long time ago and I just forgot. I've forgot stuff before I think. I don't know nuthin about Photoshop 7 or any of the other numbers either so I ordered a copy of Photoshop 7 for Dummies cuz that's what I am when it come to new software.

OK Shot #1

This is my grandson Chase. He's a stinker and he's almost two. He's our first and only, so far, grandchild and we're having a blast with him.

Shot #2

This here's the Liberty Bar just north of downtown San Antonio. If you've never been there it's almost too late. The owners of the property told the folks that run the bar that they had to get out because a parking lot would make them a whole lot more money than the 100 + year old restaurant/bar. They are going to move there business down to the art district known as South Town but it will never be the same. I snapped this shot one day while we were on our way home from the Pearl Farmers Market. So long Liberty Bar!

Shot #3

We went to Fredericksburg one Sunday to attend the Alternative Energy Exposition. This really old paddle wheel supplies all of the electricity for the town of Fredericksburg. WOW! That thing is really efficient. I reached over and grabbed it and stopped it for a few seconds and the town fire alarm went off at the fire station next door. I ran into the bathrooms and hid for a while. I don't think they know it was me. I hope they don't read this blog. For $10 a head I don't think it was really worth it. They had some neat stuff and all but most of it was just vendors trying to sign you up to sell you stuff. I had more fun just bopp'in around town.

Which leads us to.

Shot #4

After having some lunch at a little diner down the street we took a little walk up Main Street and I saw this Hobby Horse. I always wonder why they call them Hobby Horses. I guess it would be a good hobby for a kid if ha had plenty of coinage. This horse runs on alternative energy too. Quarters, two at a time. And it will run as long as you have quarters but once you run out it stops. My wife said we we out of quarters. I think she just got nervous about the small gathering crowd that had assembled before I got off.

Shots #5 and #6

These are some house type plants that are in my back yard. I don't know much about house type plants but if I was to guess I would say that these are Rubber Plants.

Shot #7

I went bird hunting the other day after work. I blasted through about half a box of shells and couldn't hit nothin. Even on a good day I ain't much good with a shot gun. I did manage to shoot a caterpillar though. It was funny, while I was try'in to take his picture an ant came up and bit him on the butt. Ha Ha Ha! He was pissed off at that ant.

Shot #8

We went to see a couple of my favorite musicians last Saturday night. They were playing at theWater Street Oyster Bar in San Antonio. My wife Brenda took this shot of me and the headliner Shake Russell with her little Kodak point and shoot. We figured out that night that we had been coming out to see Shake and the various folks he has played with for about 30 years. I haven't seen a bad show yet.

Shot #9

Opening up for Shake was the one and only Claude Butch Morgan. The man of a million faces and the man of a million song and stories. I've been following this guy as long as Shake, if not longer. And again I have never been disappointed. I remember seeing him play at a small club on West Ave called Los Padrinos back in the early eighties. The club was on a really busy boulevard and Claude had just started using the new wireless technology. The club was an open air patio type of thing so Claude started running around the club and patio area singing and playing guitar. Before the song was over he was standing on the center stripe in the middle of the street playing and singing to the cars that were driving by honking and swerving around trying not to hit the guy in the street playing guitar. Thank God he was not hit. He's not quite that crazy today but still better than ever. If you have never seen either of these guys before do not hesitate to go and see them whenever you can. Check out their websites for show info.

Note: I pulled Claude's photo from his website and was not photographed by me.

On a side note, I have heard that some people may be having a hard time reading the text on this blog. If you are having any problems with either the size of the text or the contrast between the color of the text and background let me know and I'll see if I can make it better.

Well that's all I got for today. See you guys when I see ya. Be careful out there. Love ya. Bye!

SnappyBob's Mid-Week News Roundup

The first bit of news came to to me early this week from my fellow Record Breaking Guitar Picker and Luckenback Layabout Gary Woitena. According to
Gary our record breaking attempt is now official with the Guinness Book Of World Record folks certifying us as the official world record holders with the official number being 1868 pickers.

In other news. Remember this guy.

Senor Samplico, his excellency, has informed me that he is auditioning for a part in that all time holiday favorite "The Nutcracker". Now, I never knew His Excellency had any aspirations in the area of Ballet but if you have ever seen him waltzing the aisles of Walmart you would have to wonder why we didn't see this coming. He hasn't won the audition yet but the word around Off Broadway is he has a pretty good chance. Most of his chances are hanging on the wardrobe departments ability to come up with a Tutu in his size.

Caveat:
I'm just having a little fun with Danny. Actually he auditioned for a non dancing part as a favor for a friends daughter. It probably took a lot of guts. Kudos Senor.

I'm sure you've all been losing sleep worrying about how my new camera is coming along. Well all I can say is "I love It". All the versatility of my old 35mm SLR and more. I must admit it was a little intimidating at first. On my old SLR I had a knob for shutter speed, an aperture ring, a focus ring and an ASA setting. Now I have whistles and bells and menus and sub menus and on screen info telling me stuff to make me nervous as hell. All in all though I couldn't be happier with it. It does everything you would expect from an SLR and takes great automatic and programed snapshots as well. And who can complain about being able to see your photo results right away. That must take a whole lot of the anxiety out of wedding photography, not that I want to go back there any time soon. Sorry I don't have any pictures to post yet but I have been so busy getting acquainted with this thing that I haven't had a chance to upload any pics to Photobucket. Perhaps next week.

In the process of learning all about me digital camera I found a very useful website for me to get info. It's call The Nikon Cafe. It's a forum for Nikon users and photographers in general. I mention this because they have a very interesting thread that has a lot of cool pictures if you want to go look. One of the guys on the forum bought a fairly nice used lens for the purpose of reselling to make a little money. But on second thought he offered it up to anyone on the forum who wanted to use it for a week to take pictures to be posted there. The would be that you sign up on a list. The lens is sent to you when it is your turn. You use it for a week, upload your pics and send it to the next person on the list. So this lens has been crisscrossing the US and abroad for a while now. Unfortunately they cut the list off at 60 so I can't get in on it. If you want to check it out I'll put a link at the bottom. You have to scroll through a few pages of chit chat to get from one series of pics to another but it's not too bad. Have fun it's called "Seeing the World Through a Single Lens".


http://www.nikoncafe.com/vforums/showthread.php?t=180602




That's All Folks, See You Next Time.

New camera arrives today.

After extensive research on what kind of camera I could get to replace my old Sony (see previous blog where I talk about how Sony Cameras SUCK!)After looking around at the point and shoots I realized that for a little more $$$ I could get a digital SLR. Not only that, I could get a Nikon Digital SLR. You can read a review of it here.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40.htm

According to UPS it is supposed to be delivered today. I must admit I feel kind of guilty because my wife's birthday is today and here I am getting a new camera in the mail. It figures that it would have to show up today. This stuff just happened to me. I don't know why.

Anywhooooo. Look for some new pictures here on the blog in the coming days and weeks as I share my dazzling photographic flying circus. Maybe I'll post some bloopers too.

Hope to see YOU on the business end of the lens soon.
Bye

Cold Beer, Midnight Trains and Bean Dip

One night my wife and I went over to some close friends house for dinner and drinks. Being a fairly long drive, it was mutually pre-planned that we would spend the night and return home the following day. Dinner was delicious, Bar BQ with all of the trimmings, followed by a few beers, a dip in the pool and then some more beers. We played cards and watched the trains go by. The couple lived in an area next to a railroad line, and me, being a lover of trains, I took great delight in seeing so many trains at such a close proximity.
As the night grew later, everyone was getting tired and ready for bed. Everyone, except for me, that is. I was still anticipating the next train to go by and another beer or two didn’t sound out of the question. The couple assured me that I would be welcome to remain in the back yard and watch the trains and come in whenever I was ready. They only asked that I turn off the light in the backyard because it shined through the window of their bedroom and kept them awake. Having the light off was no problem for me as I like it dark when I sit in the yard at night. The lady of the house told me that if I got hungry just to help myself to any of the snacks that were in the kitchen. The couple retired for the evening, as did my wife, leaving me alone in the back yard, sipping my beer and waiting for the next freight train to pass.
It was a nice South Texas summer night. There was a light breeze, the sky was clear and the moon was shining on the pool in the yard. In between the roar of the occasional train the neighborhood was quiet and tranquil. Even the dogs had gone to bed.
As the night wore on the beers were beginning to have their effect and I needed to visit the rest room. After using the facilities I was exiting the house though the kitchen and I noticed an array of chips on the kitchen table. I thought perhaps a snack before bed would not be a bad idea. There were corn chips, potato chips, tortilla chips etc. and I DID notice earlier seeing a new unopened can of bean dip on the picnic table outside. YES, a midnight snack is just what I needed. I grabbed a bag of the, “Big Dip Fritos” from the table, a fresh beer from the ice chest outside and the can of bean dip from the picnic table outside. I then returned to my train watching spot to await the next passing train and enjoy my snack. I wondered if the train crew ever got to eat this good on their journeys riding the rails around the country.
After settling in, I opened my fresh beer and opened the bag of Fritos and selected a Frito just the perfect size and shape to allow me to get a good scoop of bean dip. The first scoop out of a bean dip can is always the best one. I found the pull tab on the bean dip can and pulled it open and tossed the lid into my little trash can of empty beer bottles. Like a child jumping into a pile on newly raked leaves I plunged my chip into the bean dip and popped it into my mouth.
At that very moment a train sounded it’s horn from around the bend. It was like an alarm warning of some impending danger that I was already aware of. The taste of the bean dip was distinct and pronounced. This was not bean dip, it was cat food. Fish based cat food. I immediately spit it onto the yard and began looking for the garden hose. It was dark and I was panicked. There was no garden hose to be found. I grabbed my beer and tried to wash my mouth out with beer but it wasn’t working. I then ran to the pool and started dipping my head under the water like a duck looking for a fish. Nothing I did would completely remove the taste from my mouth. The neighborhood dogs were now barking, the evenings tranquility was gone and my infatuation for trains had passed like the last Laredo bound Union Pacific. I took the can of cat food and buried it deep in the trashcan and went to bed.
The next morning I woke later than everyone else. I could hear the chatter of friends and family that had arrived for a Sunday brunch. I arose and headed for the bathroom to wash my mouth out one more time and then went to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. Surely some coffee would help. Everyone was gathering on the patio visiting when I went outside and took a seat. The coffee was helping my somewhat dull headache. Our hostess stopped by, greeted me good morning and asked if I would like some brunch. She said “I made some tuna fish sandwiches, If you’d like one.” I politely declined. As she walked away I heard her talking to the family cat. “Are you ready for you dinner kitty? Now where is that cat food? I know I set it out here on the picnic table somewhere.”
I didn’t mention my midnight snack for a long, long time.

Could'a, Would'a, Should'a Had a V-8

I like V-8 juice. I like V-8 juice a lot. I like V-8 juice in the morning. Sometimes I like V-8 juice in the afternoon. Sometimes I like V-8 juice too much. Sometimes I get V-8 cravings and I just have to get some. This morning was one of those times. I was at work and it was around break time anyway, well, plus or minus an hour or so. There is a sleazy convenience store across the street so I nonchalantly get in my truck to go score a can of V-8 from the sleazy store across the street but then I started to have second thoughts. Like, how long has this bottle of V-8 been sitting on the shelf of the sleazy store? I could check the expiration date if they have one but even if they do who's to say that what's his name that runs the place ( I can't ever remember his name but it sounds like -Yabba Dabba Doo- or something) hasn't been using some sleazy store technology to change the expiration dates. So I decide to go to the less sleazy store a few blocks away. When I go in I find that, as usual all they have is V-8 Hot & Spicy or one of the other flavors like V-8 Fusion blueberry or pomegranate or whatever. So, I've gone this far, I might as well go to the store that is a clone of this store down the street. Same deal, no regular V-8 just the trendy stuff that obviously nobody buys since that's all they have left and all the regular is gone. I am getting really tired of seeing only "Spicy Hot" and I'm starting to feel sorta spicy hot by this time. My last chance was to go down the street to a Walgreens. Surely they will have it. NOPE! SPICEY HOT!!!!!!! OK That's it. I'm not going to get my V-8 today. So I start driving back to work and realize I've made a big circle and will wind up driving right by the sleazy convenience store across from my work. I've been to 3 places already and nobody has it but I have to try. Sure enough they have it. I can't find an expiration date. Maybe Yabba Dabba Doo rubbed it off. Anyway I buy it and they charge me sales tax. Are they supposed to charge sales tax on juice? I told you they were sleazy.

Don't forget your V-8.

Hey they even have soup.

http://www.campbellsv8soup.com/

Where's the Nonsense and Pick'in record video

I tried to post some nonsense yesterday. I had some really good, and I mean good for noth'in nonsense. Totally useless stuff that was floating around in my head. But, I thought that it might be somewhat entertaining so I was going to post it. After all, that's part of what my product description is here, Nonsense. Well it seems that Blogger is owned by or at least run by Google and that was stirring up issues in posting. All of the sudden Blogger or Goggle or who ever was telling me that I had not authored any blogs and was inviting me to go ahead and create my first one. I was like WTF??? So it took me about an hour to figure out WTF and get it straightened out, with of course no help from Google or Blogger. I was about ready to throw this whole thing in the pissser and start over with some other blogger service and I might yet but for now I will stick it out and see how it goes. Anyway, I was not feeling too nonsensical after all that BS so I guess I'll just save that for another post. Those of you that know me, and from the looks of things, that's everybody, you know that sooner or later, and probably sooner, the nonsense will show it's ugly, juvenile, absurd and uncalled for head.

So until then, my friend Senor Samplico sent me a link to a YouTube video of the Pick'en For The Record event. You will see a lot of video's of this event on YouTube. There were a lot of people roving around taking video. I'm sure many of them wound up on YouTube. If any of you find one showing a clear shot of Snappy and the crew post a link in the comments section. Here's the link to the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikMnOi-OGys

See ya

Please excuse any misspellings, it seems Blogger or Google or whoever has upgraded to No Spellcheck
WTF???

Taranchulas in the Morning.....More Pics

September is right around the corner and with it some hopefully cooler and wetter weather. I'm starting to prepare my beds for the fall and winter veggies but if things don't change pretty soon I can't hold out much hope for a good season. I went to the farmers market yesterday morning and came home empty handed. There was no produce to buy. There were the usual vender's of nuts, breads, mushrooms, meats and pickles but no fresh produce. The drought has taken it's toll on locally produced veggies and if things don't change the farmers in the area will not have any fall crops to sell either. On an optimistic note, I saw a Tarantula clinging to the side of my house this morning when I went out to get the newspaper. I hope I see some more in the coming days. I live close to a creek and the Spiders and snakes usually seek higher ground before the creek rises. We'll see.

I had one response to my request for more pics of the Pick'in For The Record event. Thanks Pam. I selected a couple for your viewing pleasure. Here they be.

Here's a shot of the stage. This is the closest I've seen the stage. I never got that close the day of the event. I sure am lazy.

Here is a pretty good shot of the crowd. Well part of the crowd anyway.

I wish I could have taken more pictures but my digital camera is broke. Don't ever buy a Sony camera cause they suck. This is my second Sony digital camera that is now useless. They just quit all of the sudden. No power and they fry any batteries that you put in them. I took it to the camera shop and they said to fix it they would have to send it back to Sony. Sony charges a flat $201 dollars to fix their cameras no matter what's wrong. I think I'll just slap another $100 bucks on that $201 and buy a good camera. Anybody have any recommendation's on good reliable digital cameras?

Bye

Pictures OF the record FOR the record

As promised here is the first installment of pictures from the "Pick'in For The Record" event held in Luckenbach Texas on Sunday August 23, 2009.


This guy was a real nuisance. We kept trying to run him off but he kept coming back. There's one in every crowd.

My old friend for life came out of hiding for this event.

Meet: His Excellency Senor Daniel Pedro Gonzalez Chorizo Sampleco.

Below is the crew that was with us from San Antonio. From left to right: Kathy, Gary, Lawrence, Vito, Bobby, Jimmy and Danny. Not pictured is Mary Ann who was there to play but too late for the group photo unfortunately.

Here's the crew in "Record Breaking" action.

We did it. Hip Hip Hooray!

These pictures can't do justice to the enormity of the event or the feeling of doing it. The best part was doing something like this with some of my best and oldest friends. I just wish more of them could have been there. It was truly a great day.

We Did It

We bought the new couch and love see my wife was wanting. We spent a little more money than we wanted to but this was the first couch I have ever bought that I didn't have to strap into the back of my pickup truck haul into the house myself. So life is good.

The other thing we did this weekend is was to help set a new record for the biggest guitar picking session ever assembled anywhere in the world. (see Fridays entry). We wound up with 1859 guitar pickers to beat the record of 1803 or so set in Germany several years ago. We beat it by a slim margin but it was alot of fun and it was for a good cause. Several of my close friends joined me in this task so that made it especially special.

Later

Friday at last

Well here it is Friday at last. My weekend will be busy as usual. My wife has been shopping for living room furniture so I am sure part of my weekend will be spent hauling furniture around town, trying to turn couches in impossible angles to get them in the front door. I just hope she gets a comfortable couch because I will probably need it when I'm done.

Being a semi-amature musician, I plan to spend Sunday in Luckenbach Texas playing guitar with a few friends.......about 2000 of them if they all show up. Actually it's a benefit called "Pick'in For The Record" to help returning vets with brain injuries to receive guitar lessons and other music therapy. You can check out their website here. http://www.voicesofagratefulnation.org/. The goal is to beat the previous record set in Germany of 1800 guitar players playing at one time. So we are shooting for 2000. 1600 had signed up to do it as of yesterday. We're trying to get into the Guinness World Record book and make some money for a charity at the same time. You get a free T shirt too and some kind of dog tags. Far out. Should be cool and a nightmare at the same time. I haven't had a cool nightmare since I was taking that quit smoking drug Chantix. Anyhoo, we are going to be playing two songs. This Land Is Your Land and the Luckenbach Texas song. I still haven't learned them yet. I guess I should, or maybe I'll just fake it. Wouldn't it be a drag if we just had enough people to break the record and when we got though playing the Guinness referee or whatever said "Hey that Dude up there was fakin it" "No deal, No record your disqualified." Can you imagine 2000 guitar players chasing me around Luckenbach trying to kabong me on the head with their guitars. Talk about your un-cool nightmares.

Tune in next week for more adventures of SnappyBob!