waiting for the Terlingua rainy season

current interior pic...2011

"BEFORE"...in 2006...my '49 Packard



"AFTER"...today

Flat tires, dead battery, won't start, but does turnover after charging the battery. I had it running and inspected in 2007.

Finally getting down to selling one of the Packards. This is proof positive that cars ALWAYS lose money (except for the craze over old muscle cars lately)....$6,000 of cost now selling happily for $2000. This 1949 model has simply become a storage unit with misc crap stuffed in the car, and the numerous kittens that have taken over our place love to climb up underneath and sleep on top of the big flat topped straight eight 288 motor.

There is a guy coming up from Houston tomorrow to buy this and haul it back home. We'll use half the cash to pay down the 2011 property taxes for this place here in north TX. Not due until Dec of course...but at least it'll be a lesser hit when that comes due. Funny how no income forces you to get rid of things you "used to" think you couldn't do without..huh?

I still have the '48 tan colored Packard, but it's a keeper. All original CA car, still starts and runs, but I need to get it into some covered storage.

Caren and I are looking forward to another trip to South Brewster Co....but only after the extreme heat eases up down there. 115 degrees every day...doesn't sound like a place to drive 8 hours to for "fun". We'd probably end up spending hours each day hanging out at the Legion trying to stay cool.

Even with low grade gas prices lately down to $3.40 here...it would still cost $200+ for gas alone to make the round trip to Terlingua in the 20+ mpg town car.

Late July - early Aug should be getting into prime time for heading west. Call me a wuss.....but I can't seem to handle the high heat like I used to could.

The garden here is pretty much toast...after a good start and several nice medium/smallish fruit, the tomatoes slowed down to nothing now, withered, but still alive. Pepper plants slowed to very little production, Watermelon plant never made a melon, and cuke plants made one usable cuke and a few that died or yellowed on the vine at small sizes. I water these things with rain tank water every day...but I think the 100+ degree days and hot dry winds have taken their toll. Or..it could be the Chemtrails??

Dang..wish I could sell some cats....we think we have about 12+feral cats hanging around here now...(maybe I could contact some Chinese Buffet place?

seeya..

Bigfoot

Nothing exciting to report...106 here yesterday - MID JUNE..??

First..lookie here...a 1913 era political cartoon depicting the set up of the Federal Reserve...not anymore Federal than FedEx...but most of the sheeple actually to think the Fed Re is a part of the US CorpGovt....NOT! It is simply a private club of the biggest, wealthiest, greediest private banks.
Looks like they had to invent a new"boogie-man" from the mountains of the middle east goat herders...since they have killed Osama too many times now. (gotta keep the Dept of Homeland Security and the always "on" TERROR THREAT for the US)
The two parties that are no different..whomever pays the most gets the laws passed to help their corporation. Two headed monster...has been since the 60's.
On a lighter note...my son has a buddy that bought a really sharp, clean looking older Chevy 4x4 with a 454, and 4 wheel drive, etc. He bought it on Ebay, went to Alabama to get it and it broke down on the drive home. Turns out, it is a great LOOKING truck, but mechanically it was a rust bucket.
He's got it in his dad's shop and giving it a mechanical makeover. That's a 1991 Cummins diesel motor with rebuilt auto tranny sitting between those rails now. And he's reworking the nearly wornout front end steering, etc. OUghta be a real Hoss when he's done.
My brother who had the liver swap-out last summer, finally got back to work at Lockheed a few weeks ago. Caren made this "sick liver" cake for him to give him today when the family gets together at my parents' house for Dad's day today. Really turned out nice, if you can say a sick liver looks "nice">?
It was 106 here yesterday with a gusty hot wind. This is still nice though, compared to the miserable living hell our friends out Terlingua way are dealing with on a daily basis.

Happy Dad's Day to all you dads out there...!!!

Bigfoot.

It's toooo HOT to go to Brewster Co....!!!!!

Well...since I cannot get my pea brain to work BACKWARDS...like Blogger's pic imaging does...here are pics inb REVERSE ORDER...!!!

Here's the local blow-hard....hard at work...on his KNEES..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW....new Wally World 12' diam pool...to replace the old one....$79 total with pump and all.

Here's the old one....only slightly used...cause I don't throw NOTHING away.!...makes a good tarp for something??

Here's a rare tarantula.....used to be common here...along with Horney Toads when I was a kid...but very rarely seen now here in North TX.

This is the "team" that handled the (some say faked) OBL whack job...it's those goat herders that brought down the twin towers....AND tower 7 that was blocks away(sure looked like an implosion job)...yeah sure..that's how it happened.!!...baaa....baaa...baaaa...!!!
Okay...off the soap box for now.

Been hot here...but not near as hot as south Brewster Co....gonna be around 110 daily there next week.

I hope Tffnguy, OGT, Frann, JustMe, Robert.D, James, Lee, David.S, even ElvisJW,et al....are doing okay and staying in the shade.

We plan to make it there once the "rainy season" begins....late July.

TOO BIG TO FAIL?...or too big to FALL?

a garden gate pic from the deck...see the large "cowboy toilet paper" plant?...might come in handy some day.
This is a shot up at the funkadelic clouds from the big rain storms that moved through the DFW area a few days ago...we didn't get much as most of it went around our place.
And just today, I was sittin' on the back porch chattin' with the wife...and thinking in the back of my head "are these old heavy duty porch metal chairs designed for 330 lbs of humanity?"....and beginning to make ever so slight rocking motions while talking....WHAM down I went...split wine and all.!! ( I told Caren to go grab the camera and record this earth shaking event)

Is this as Sling Blade said..."you mean funny ha ha...or funny queer?".....me thinks funny HAHAHA...hardee har har...(enjoy)

Surprise!! It's Littlefoot!

Littefoot here. . .Here I am during our last trip--staring in awe and wonder at one of my new kitchen cabinets. This was a milestone (for me) in our cabin construction--to be able to move the kitchen area of the cabin into the actual kitchen area! There was much rejoicing and drinking of wine!

Here's Bigfoot caught in the act------of working!

Underfoot, being a pug, is at a great disadvantage when it comes to cooling himself off by cooling the air in his nasal passages (since he has none). So a towel soaked in melted ice water is one of his favorite things on a hot day. (And he told me he likes the pretty colors too. It makes him look like Chinese royalty)

Just a funny photo to give you an idea of where the Foot family's names come from. The shoes on the left are mine--just in case you weren't sure : )

We're hoping to get back to the cabin aroun mid-June and stay for a week or so.

Bigfoot's garden is ready to pop about a million tomatoes all on the same day. We're looking forward to tomato salads every day for about a week.

I'm starting to get into job-hunting mode for the fall. Trying to get something near the cabin, but we'll see.

Since no one liked my last post....try this one!!

MAY trip highlights...!!

Okay...no one even hardly commented on that last VERY funny blog....(maybe it was the goofy puke-pic?...we are all SOOOOOO politically correct these days)

Just returned from a week long trip to the great SW desert. Weather was great, cool breezy morns at around 55-60 each day, sipping coffee on the porch...and afternoons up into the mid 90's most days...but MOST of the time there was a nice breeze..OR an ass-kickin wind.

Got to see Julianne for a bit, and the Legion Sequor crew with new brother (another transplanted Yankee...but a great guy), Tffnguy and I made a trip to Alpine, saw Elvis..(J.Wells) at McCoys for a minute, had brunch at the place with James and Don B....and got to see the very elusive and desired OGT (aka Nick) at the Legion for a short visit at the Legion.

Saw some wildfires off to the east of Hwy 67 between Ft Stockton and Alpine on the way into town.

Got some plumbing work done for water piping inside.

Got a pic of a cone-nosed bettle that sauntered out from under the threshold one afternoon...(then we kilt him dead with some RAID)

And hauled the 12 volt frig down from storage in Alpine (with Tffnguy's generous help)

At home here west of FTW we arived to tall green grass, leafy brushy stuff, and very humid weather, a far cry from the dry breezy temps of south Brewster Co.
(I just now had to go outside and connect the rain tank I use for the garden, as another storm is moving in from the west right now)

Caren has a pot of pinto beans in the slow cooker, and a spiral sliced, honey glazed ham out of the oven now. (You can pic these hams up at the local grocery for $10-13 each right after NewYears...all you can fit in the freezer...and DAMN they are tasty)

We will be heading back west in a couple of weeks for at least a week...maybe two...if the HOT weather doesn't run us off. But as long as you stay in the shade, take it slow (I'm great at this), keep a water mister bottle nearby, and have a small 12V fan to blow across the bed at night....it ain't that bad.

Dismally boring update....

BF again here..

let's see what's new?

• garden coming along well (after 4" rain a few days ago)
  


• still chilly up here in north TX....gorgeous weather every day lately.


• we left the camera at the cabin last trip..(oops)


• The old F250 has "issues".....big, back-kicking deep engine "clunk" when I tried to start last week....not good.


• changed oil in the towncar yesterday and cleaned and oiled the K&N air filter.


• kittens out the ying yang around here...think there is another batch in the '49 packard used to store junk in now.


• My son took the "test" and got his HVAC Contractor's License last week. Passed with one try and made an 88 on this 4 hour long test.


• headed back to the South Brewster Co next week for a few days...only 520 miles one way...and 8 hours if you go the speed limit and don't dawdle.


• I really oughta drag my lazy tail outside today and mow some weeds down...if not... there will be a goat herder's feeding frenzy festival here upon our return.


• Oh...and about that pic....stumbled across that the other day and, in my weird sense of sopho-moronic humor....it made me chuckle....maybe it'll make you chuckle too...(or upchuck)
  
  (I never have liked roller coasters.)

see...toldya it was dismal.