12 guage

check

Shells

check

.357

check

Bullets

check

Sword

check

straight razor

check

Beer

check

Ice

check

Rum

check

I’m good to go.

Be back later.

Is Stretch's middle name.

Well, that's what it says on the other side of his tag.

ARMADILLO

Nov 23 - Dec 21

You have a tendency to develop a tough exterior, but you are actually quite gentle. A good evening for you? Old friends, a fire, some roots, fruit, worms and insects. You are a throwback. You're not concerned with today's fashions and trends. You're not concerned with anything about today. You're really almost prehistoric in your interests and behavior patterns. You probably want to marry another Armadillo, but Possum is another, somewhat kinky, mating possibility.

Nope...I'm into the Grits.

From my good friend Chrissy.

Her mother lives in Lake Charles...which got hammered.

"Hey Guys,

I've basically put the same post at Sadie's, Feisty, and Just Us Chickens.

I need to get to my mom in the next few days and need to know what the roads and gas situations are like.

Can you please ask your readers who are between Houston and Lake Charles (and to the immediate north of those areas) for information on gas and roads?

Feel free to post my email: justdotchristina@gmail.com

Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

Love to all,
Christina"

If anyone can help...I'll make it up to you.

Thanks...Sam

The best BBQ Crabs I've ever had in my life came from a little joint in Port Arthur, Texas.

Looks like it is right in the new projected path of Rita.

Damn!

To my point:

I'm about 120 miles, as the helicopter flies, from the Atlantic coast. We have many hurricanes in North Carolina, and I've experienced 80 MPH winds, here at home, on several occasions. The Cape Fear area, Wrightsville Beach, and Wilmington usually get creamed. They are ground zero.

What's different this year, so far?

There have been no Cape Verde storms.

The hurricanes that most often strike the North Carolina coast, or the Atlantic coast for that matter, develop off the Cape Verde islands, off coast of Africa...Cape Verde-type hurricanes are those Atlantic storms that develop into tropical storms fairly close to the Cape Verde Islands and then become hurricanes long before reaching the Caribbean.

They build early on, and roar across the Atlantic, full force, with nothing to stop 'em, and then slam into the east coast.

What I find interesting is this: These two latest Cat 5's, developed as tropical storms in the northern Caribbean, barely reached Cat 1 Hurricane status before skirting south Florida, and then went Cat 5 ballistic over the Gulf.

This never happens. It’s not global warming…it is something else.

Just my opinion…

Have you ever wondered what a strike fighter pilot is thinking the first time he or she releases a weapon in combat?

If so, go read this and this and this.

"The host of a new Dutch talk show plans to take heroin and other illegal drugs on air in a program intended to reach young audiences on topics that touch their lives..."

This is sicker than sick.

Yesterday at 7:34:20 pm, I broke the barrier. Visitor 100,000 stopped by The Brier Patch…and they wern’t from Google.

They came from The Grouchy Old Cripple. How cool is that? I’ve actually gotten toe-up with him.

Denny, dinner is on me in Helen.

How about that girl on the left.

Thanks man…I’ll see you soon.

Last night, I received thousands of comment and ping spams. I went into NUKE mode. Kind of like Chemotherapy.

I killed the good with the bad.

Sorry about that.

I'd say Mahmoud is a bad guy.

What the hell!!!

...Maawad, who is in the United States illegally, told the judge during a hearing Thursday that he is studying science and economics at the University of Memphis...

..."My school is everything. I stay in this country for seven years; I stay for the school," he said.

I say...Bullshit!!!

My hat is off.

"...It will be academically interesting to see how the perpetually aggrieved and enraged critics of an administration that has stolidly refused to admit any class of mistake in Iraq will respond now that he has, at last, admitted to error. But never mind:..."

Neptunus Lex

I've been talking to him for a long time.

For those of you who've stopped by...I appreciate it.

I can relate to the "Tar Baby".

Thank You.

I've posted about my love of squirrels on many occaisions.

The Baboon Pirate witnessed a Two-Fer this morning.

Bwahahahah!!!!!

Sometimes I receive comments on an old post. I put this one up on 12/04/2003.

The question is:

Is there such a thing as an original thought?

The response I received a short while ago was:

"Any attempted original thought is simply a modification of an old one or a new application of and existing one, similarllly an invention is just a modification, addition of, or a compilation of existing stuff. A genuine invention would contain an original thought(s)"

Interesting.

As you know…I often cook with fresh Habaneros. If you see something that resembles a Space Shuttle launch in the southeast sky…don’t be alarmed.

It is my ass.

Love ‘em & hate ‘em…

I'm into the pain...the endorphin rush!!!

It is a subject that is bound to stir the pulses of any man one talks seriously to about, for in this age of inventive wonders all men have come to believe that in some genius' brain sleeps the solution of the grand problem of aerial navigation--and along with that belief is the hope that that genius will reveal his miracle before they die, and likewise a dread that he will poke off somewhere and die himself before he finds out that he has such a wonder lying dormant in his brain.

- Letter from Mark Twain, San Francisco Alta California, August 1, 1869

As you know, Dick Penn sunk his rescue boat as he set out on his rescue mission with his rescue entourage and rescue documenters. Problem is, they didn't have enough room in the boat to rescue a turtle.

Hypocrite! He should have stayed in Iran. Fucking Traitor!

They all got wet.

The plug is useful for more things than sticking it up your ass.

Dumbass!

Bwhahahah!!!

It changes with the seasons. I can’t really say I favor one over another. I can find something good, and bad, with all of ‘em.

Right now, my favorite is summer. There is nothing like fresh home grown vegetables and herbs. Walking into the garden, and picking what you need, right now, is way too cool. Putting up all you can, eating all you can, and giving away the rest is also very cool. We’re good to go for fall, winter and spring.

As I’ve just said, we grow more than enough for us to eat, put up for winter, and give away…but I want a bigger garden. Next year, I’m doing it. I like giving away fresh vegetables. I’ll just find more people who’ll take ‘em.

Shouldn’t be too hard.

My Internet Chic is Hard Core.

I love that woman.

In my opinion, Louisiana (New Orleans in particular) and the Gulf Coasts of Mississippi and Alabama have suffered three disasters.

1. Storm (wind and rain)

2. Flood (water)

3. Scum (people)

I'm just saying.

Anyway, I feel better. I just capped a big-ass squirrel, from my kitchen, on the move, from about 45 yards with my .177 one-pumper. Good shot, if I don’t say so myself.

Damn, there can’t be many left. I’ve already killed 30 or 40 this year…and the year before that…and the year before that…and the year before that…and the year before that.

I liken the yard rats to the scum in NOLA…we should just shoot ‘em, and be done with it.

...I’ve taken sides in these essays, obviously – that’s what I do. But I have never, until now, felt the need to take the gloves off and really let fly. I always feared I would regret it, later. I still do. Only now, I fear I will regret it worse if I do not...

-Bill Whittle

So now we must look at Tribes.

This is a must read.

Well...everyone has an opinion.

...handgun stopping power is too important a subject to be left to urban legend. I swear...I'm not laughing!!!

What is advanced stopping power all about?

I've been tagged by Uzi. Better than being shot.

1. Number of books I own:

At least 1,500. They are everywhere...I mean everywhere.

2. Last book I bought:

Lost City by Clive Cussler...an airplane ride book bought in desperation one minute before I boarded. "Specially designed for comfortable reading", which means it's double spaced, is longer, is thicker, and has more pages. Reminds me of something else.

3. Last book I completed:

Pompeii by Robert Harris

4. Five books that mean a lot to me:

I can't even begin to name five...sorry.

5. What are you currently reading?

The World of the Ancient Maya - John S. Henderson

I really love New Orleans.

I've had so many good times there.

Damn! Damn! Damn!

Help out if you can.

Tonight, we’re making Ravioli from scratch. Since my vegetable garden is “nuclear” this year, and our herb garden looks like it has been grown in Cambodia, and since we can’t eat, “put up”, or give it all away, we’ll be stuffing some of ‘em with fresh Habanero, cheese and herbs.

This will be interesting.

It took me years to learn how to prepare a Habanero chili. It is all in the cut. The seeds will flat out make you miserable, but can be controlled or tamed by moderation. The remaining temperature is controlled not only by the seeds, but also by the pulp or meat. In other words, you can control the heat…just wear rubber gloves while doing it.

I love the flavor of Habanero, but you’ve got to be careful with ‘em; otherwise they will burn your ass. Literally.

So tonight…Habanero Ravioli it is.

Here's the link to the The Times-Picayune.

For obious reasons, and for the first time ever, they can only publish electronically.

They get a little more personal, and go a little deeper, than the nationals.

Check 'em out.

Occasionally, it gets a little cramped here in the Brier Patch. I have five laptops, five desktops (all of various flavors…Linux, Unix, Mac, and fucking Windows) and all of the associated peripherals. Fact of the matter is: I’ve got a lot of shit. I need want all of this stuff?

I just bought the top of the line HP all in one’er. Color photo printer, color copier, color faxer, color flatbed scanner, color everything. Everything is in living color. No shit. Anyway, this “unit” takes up about 10 % of the space that all of my other junk did. Very cool.

While I was at it, I snagged a new cell phone. Hell, if you try to look at it sideways…you can’t even see it. Too thin. I can’t go anywhere without a laptop, so a Blackberry is overkill. Too big, and no bang. Way overrated.

I’m reconfiguring my office, after all, Stretch needs his own chair.

I’m just saying.

Yabu, whom I met in New Orleans last month, has a blurb up that mirrors my thoughts, exactly.

These people have some Bad Bad Juju goose-stepping through their brains.

What is wrong with these people?