Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Changing of the seasons

At midnight last night, it was almost 80ºF outside. This morning at 6:00, it was 43ºF. Seems that a winter storm has moved in, bringing a lot of cold rain here in the valley, and snow in the mountains.
The picture below is of the Oquirrh Mountains, just a few minutes west of me (I took this shot standing in front of my mailbox). They reach up about 9000 ft, and I am at 4350, so the snow you see on there isn't that high above us; I wouldn't be surprised to see a light frost tomorrow morning.



When I first woke up I knew we had bad weather, my joints have gotten quite reliable in warning me.

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Sunday my wife slipped and fell, landing on her right side. She was feeling a bit dizzy and nauseous, so I took her to emergency (I've had concussions before, and was worried about the possibilty). Luckily, she didn't have a concussion, but did manage to bruise her knee, elbow, ribs, and sustained a mild whiplash mainly affecting her trapezius muscles. Cold packs the first couple of days and now a heating pad seems to be helping. She just started a new job last week, so she didn't want to try taking time off from work. I'm just glad the injuries didn't turn out to be too bad.

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Looks like SCOTUS is going to be looking at whether the Second Amendment applies only to the federal government, or is also applied to the states. I don't see why not; it seems like a no-brainer to me. I don't see anyone trying to say that the Thirteenth Amendment doesn't apply to states.
Of course, even if they rule in favor of gun owners, it doesn't mean that it will make it any easier for them. Most anti-gun tactics these days favors incremental steps and sneaking around to the back door. Things like ridiculous requirements, excessive taxes and costs on licensing are all tactics to inch their way to banning private firearms. It has nothing to do with public safety; firearm control is all about control. Make people feel like they can't take care of themselves, and they will turn to Big Brother to protect them. Anyone who says it is about crime and safety is either a liar or uninformed.
Just my opinion.

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Looks like there's a bill in the Senate wrapped around the climate change politics raging around the world right now. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., (a pair of idiots from two of the goofiest states in the US) want to start charging companies that they feel have too big of a "carbon footprint". What this will accomplish is twofold; small companies may not be able to meet these requirements and have to fold (just what we need, less jobs in this country), and the larger companies will just pass on the cost to consumers, thus booting up the cost of living, something we all like, right? Personally, I think there are a couple of reasons for it, to increase taxes without actually saying they are taxing people, and the old ploy of the politician in which they pass bullshit laws so that they can try to trick their voters into thinking they are doing something useful.

We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.
- Aesop

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Any favorites in this bunch? With the cool, rainy weather, I got feeling like more of my oldies. Some of these are older than most of my readers, I think.

"The Green Leaves of Summer" by Dimitri Tiomkin
"A Summer Song" by Chad and Jeremy
"Bob Wills Is Still the King" by Waylon Jennings
"Runaway" by Del Shannon
"Witchy Woman" by Eagles
"Moon River" by Andy Williams
"Burnin' for You" by Blue Öyster Cult
"Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty
"If We Make It Through December" by Merle Haggard
"Promenade" by Modest Mussorgsky


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Saturday, September 19, 2009

Hi, remember me?

It's been over a month since I posted; haven't really been feeling up to snuff most days. Lack of sleep for the most part; this has been a bad couple of months for my back. When you are not feeling well, and tired most of the time, your mind gets a bit fuzzy and lazy.

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Just got back from a visit to my cardiologist. My heart seems to be doing fine for now, and he is happy with the fact that I've managed to lose some weight (about 37 lb) since my visit with him a few months ago. Hopefully I'll be able to get it down some more in the next few months.

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While I was at the gym yesterday I caught part of Qadafi's speech at the UN on the TV there. That had to be one of the longest skeins of pure babbling drivel that I have ever heard. He bounced around all over the map, mainly just talking bullshit for an ungodly long time, and put me in mind of a hashhead who had also been overcome with dementia. About the only thing he said that made halfway sense was in wanting to move the UN to another country other than the US. I agree; I also think we should drop out of the UN, as I can't really see where they do much good in the world, and the money could be better spent over here.
Just my opinion.

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Not the most cheerful of playlists today; any favorites in this bunch?

"Summertime Blues" by Eddie Cochran
"Hellhound on My Trail" by Robert Johnson
"Don't Fear The Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult
"Black Rose" by Waylon Jennings
"Brandenburg Concerto No. 2" by JS Bach
"Holy Water" by Bad Company
"Born Under a Bad Sign" by Cream
"I Wanna Go Back" by Eddie Money
"I Drink Alone" by George Thorogood
"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" by Hank Williams

If you're not familiar with the last two, here they are:






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