It's a Darn Shame!

I've had to turn on the comment moderation for this blog .... and I'm sure you won't be surprised why...

yes of course....

It's those nasty spammers again! So please bear with me, I do check my blog daily, even if I can't post daily...

and to all my TRUE readers; I appreciate your comments very, very much!

Got this via Email today....

BUSH'S RESIGNATION SPEECH

The following 'speech' was written recently by an ordinary Maine-iac [a resident of the People's Republic of Maine ]. While satirical in nature, all satire must have a basis in fact to be effective. This is an excellent piece by a person who does not write for a living.

The speech George W. Bush might give:


Normally, I start these things out by saying 'My Fellow Americans.' Not doing it this time. If the polls are any indication, I don't know who more than half of you are anymore. I do know something terrible has happened, and th at you're really not fellow Americans any longer.

I'll cut right to the chase here: I quit. Now before anyone gets all in a lather about me quitting to avoid impeachment, or to avoid prosecution or something, let me assure you: There's been no breaking of laws or impeachable offenses in this office.


The reason I'm quitting is simple. I'm fed up with you people. I'm fed up because you have no understanding of what's really going on in the world. Or of what's going on in this once-great nation of ours. And the majority of you are too damned lazy to do your homework and figure it out.

Let's start local. You've been sold a bill of goods by politicians and the news media.


Meanwhile, all you can do is whine about gas prices, and most of you are too damn stupid to realize that gas prices are high because there's increased demand in other parts of the world, and because a small handful of noisy idiots are more worried about polar bears and beachfront property than your economic security.

We face real threats in the world. Don't give me this 'blood for oil' thing. If I were trading blood for oil I would've already seized Iraq 's oil fields and let the rest of the country go to hell. And don't give me this 'Bush Lied...People Died' crap either. If I were the liar you morons take me for, I could've easily had chemical weapons planted in Iraq so they could be 'discovered.' Instead, I owned up to the fact that the intelligence was faulty.

Let me remind you that the rest of the world thought Saddam had the goods, same as me. Let me also remind you that regime change in Iraq was official US policy before I came into office. Some guy named 'Clinton' established that policy. Bet you didn't know that, did you?

Now some of you morons want to be led by a junior senator with no understanding of foreign policy or economics, and this nitwit says we should attack Pakistan, a nuclear ally. And then he wants to go to Iran and make peace with a terrorist who says he's going to destroy us. While he's doing that, he wants to give Iraq to al Qaeda, Afghanistan to the Taliban, Israel to the Palestinians, and your money to the IRS so the government can give welfare to illegal aliens, who he will make into citizens, so they can vote to re-elect him. He also thinks it's okay for Iran to have nuclear weapons, and we should stop our foreign aid to Israel . Did you sleep through high school?

You idiots need to understand that we face a unique enemy. Back during the cold war, there were two major competing political and economic models squaring off. We won that war, but we did so because fundamentally, the Communists wanted to survive, just as we do. We were simply able to out spend and out-tech them.

That's not the case this time. The soldiers of our new enemy don't care if they survive. In fact, they want to die. That'd be fine, as long as they weren't also committed to taking as many of you with them as they can. But they are. They want to kill you, and the bastards are all over the globe.

You should be grateful that they haven't gotten any more of us here in the United States since September 11. But you're not. That's because you've got no idea how hard a small number of intelligence, military, law enforcement, and homeland security people have worked to make sure of that. When this whole mess started, I warned you that this would be a long and difficult fight. I'm disappointed how many of you people think a long and difficult fight amounts to a single season of 'Survivor.'

Instead, you've grown impatient. You're incapable of seeing things through the long lens of history, the way our enemies do. You think that wars should last a few months, a few years, tops.

Making matters worse, you actively support those who help the enemy. Every time you buy the New York Times, every time you send a donation to a cut-and-run Democrat's political campaign, well, dang it, you might just as well FedEx a grenade launcher to a Jihadist. It amounts to the same thing.

In this day and age, it's easy enough to find the truth. It's all over the Internet. It just isn't on the pages of the New York Times, USA Today, or on NBC News. But even if it were, I doubt you'd be any smarter. Most of you would rather watch American Idol or Dancing with Stars.

I could say more about your expectations that the government will always be there to bail you out, even if you're too stupid to leave a city that's below sea level and has a hurricane approaching.

I could say more about your insane belief that government, not your own wallet, is where the money comes from. But I've come to the conclusion that were I to do so, it would sail right over your heads.

So I quit. I'm going back to Crawford . I've got an energy-efficient house down there ( Al Gore could only dream) and the capability to be fully self-sufficient for years. No one ever heard of Crawford before I got elected, and as soon as I'm done here pretty much no one will ever hear of it again. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to die of old age before the last pillars of America fall.

Oh, and by the way, Cheney's quitting too. That means Pelosi is your new President. You asked for it. Watch what she does carefully, because I still have a glimmer of hope that there are just enough of you remaining who are smart enough to turn this thing around in 2008.

So that's it. God bless what's left of America.
Some of you know what I mean. The rest of you, kiss off.

P.S. - You might want to start learning Farsi, and buy a Koran.

The REAL story Of The Afghan War

I recommend reading this post to get a true picture of what's happening in Afghanistan. (The now, not-so-forgotten-war). Not only does this blogger tell it like it is, he also points the finger at the media for it's lack of credulous journalism...


Take a moment or two to find out what it's REALLY all about. From someone who has been there. Bill and Bob's Excellent Afghan Adventure -
Waxing Kipling

Fall in Full Bloom

Marsh Grasses - October 2008 - Sandy Neck


Fall Colors - October 2008 - Sandy Neck


Looking out over the marsh - October 2008 - Sandy Neck

The Harvest

My grandfather, was a cranberry bog owner. He was also a talented finish carpenter, but that's another story. When I was a kid, Grandpa owned several cranberry bogs on the Cape and in Mattapoissett. All year long, he would work endless hours, weeding, watering, and worrying about his bogs. Picking machinery needed to be fixed? He fixed it. Pumps that didn't pump? He fixed them. He built sheds to house the materials needed, he layed irrigation pipes, he got up at 3 am to turn on the bog sprinklers when frost threatened to destroy his crop. He spent countless hours bent over pulling weeds in the hot sun. (I remember how the back of his neck looked like leather!) He very rarely sprayed his bog with pesticides. (Remember, DDT was still okay to use back then!) One of his bogs, sat down in the holler, behind my Mom and Dad's house. As time passed, he eventually sold most of his bogs. By 1973 the bog behind my house was the only one he owned. As kids, we were very much a part of the harvesting process. Grandpa always "dry-picked" his bogs. Instead of flooding the bog, he ued a machine called the Furford Picker. The picker scoops the berries off the vines, carries them up a little elevator to a burlap sack, and fills the sack. (I can still smell the burlap! He used to keep all the sacks in the little shed at the edge of the bog and whenever he would open up the door to the shack, you were immediately hit in the face with the odors of burlap and motor oil.) A full sack generally weighs 40-50 pounds. He would then bring the sacks to the edge of the bog and put them in a pile, where my brother would load it into a wheel barrow and bring to the hopper.

The Furford Picker - shamelessly stolen from google -

The sacks are then poured into the hopper. The hopper is a contraption that allows separation of berries from any vines that got pulled into the sacks in the picking process. We used to stand at the hopper and pick any berries that didn't come loose of the vines and drop them down through a wire mesh, into a wooden box that held the "cleaned" berries.


It's that time of year again, when folks start using the cranberries in their recipies... fall, harvest, pumpkins, scarecrows.... I often think of those days when as a kid, I couldn't wait to be done with cranberry picking so I could get back to the business of riding bikes and playing with my friends. Now, well, I wouldn't mind one more harvest with Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Dad, Aunt Carol, Uncle Allan, Aunt Mary, Uncle Bill, my brother Rick, and all the assorted cousins....

Patriotism

This video of Robin Williams portraying the flag is a MUST see!

Just for You Bud! ("Buck")

The Budweiser Clydesdale Horses were in town last week, and of course, I had
to drop in and pay them a visit. I had seen them on my tour of the Bud plant in St.Louis several years ago. Just as they were then, they are now.... majestic creatures!

Please note this fine handsome boy's name.... surely named after the famous Beer Conniseur and Cigar Smoker "Buck" from Portales NM in a clear cut case of trying to change his tastes from foreign to domestic

This fella was just back from a shampoo and sponge bath...what a life!

I can't take credit for this photo... wish I could! HT to Cape Cod Times/Merrily Lunsford for catching this guy in a perfect pose!

Not your Average Fall Sunset

I want to hunker down in my flannels and wrap myself in a warm fleece blanket, hot cup of cocoa and a good book.

Fire in the fireplace, crackling and bright.

The smell of apple pie baking in the oven... cinnamon and spices... mmmmm.

No... no.... I want to walk the beach, toes in the warm sand!

Blue sky through the green leaves above my head!

Warm breeze brushing by me in my hammock!

Now just an "Apple" pickin moment!

What a glorious day for apple picking in New England! We headed up north, to Bolton, MA to visit the Berlin Orchards... a tradition this time of year.

Plenty of apples on the trees this year... Berlin Orchards boasts 15 different varieties!

The orchard is located only minutes from I-495 but you'd never know it! Nothing beats being in the "sticks" or out in the "boondocks"!

This is the wagon they use for the hayrides! This fellow has been there for years, and we always wait to ride in his wagon because he has a special talent....

Rows and rows of apple trees, as far as you can see...

all loaded with beautiful Macouns, Mutsus,Courtlands and Macintosh apples...

The folks that own the orchard, make sure you know "HOW" to pick an apple, so you don't damage the trees!

After you've read the instructions, you make your way over to the farm stand to pick up either a 1/2 bushel or whole bushel bag to take with you...

You can also buy pumpkins while you're there....they have quite a few to choose from!

For the kids, there are "kids"....

and a lamb or two....

Just for fun, you can braid this guys tail...

and listen to the Berlin Orchard Country Scarecrow Band!


Now, all I have to do is dig out Grandma's Apple Pie recipie....

Bear Tales

On of my favorite blogs, Bag Blog, had a picture of a teddy bear that she has had since she was a child. It got me to thinking about my own teddy bear... who unfortunately met his demise when I was about 11 years old. When my Uncle first gave him to me (as a baby), he looked very similar to this....
Over the years, his hair grew thin, then sparse, then non-existent. (He was a bare bear!) His button eyes fell off, replaced by magic marker eyes and eyebrows. His nose button managed to remain in place but his mouth, which had at one time been discernable, no longer existed. He survived eleven years of; being hugged, slept with, kissed, thrown, tossed up in the air, tossed back and forth as a baseball, torpedoed at a taunting brother, endless washing machine cycles, and traveled from home to Grandma's house, to various Aunt and Uncle's houses, and back home again. He died at the hands of my brother.... who tossed him out of the upstairs window intentionally, down into the empty chamber pot that sat below . Yes, I said chamber pot! In old New England houses, the staircases are steep and narrow. My mother, being a "worrier", thought it better for us to use chamber pots at night, rather than try to negotiate the stairs in the dark. Every day our chore was to bring the pots downstairs to empty. After emptying them, we would put them out by the water spigot to be cleaned with bleach, etc. My brother swears to this day he didn't know the pot was down there, but I never believed him! My mother, who saw my poor little bear lying in the chamber pot; hairless and beaten, decided it was time for him to go the way of all old toys.... and in an uncerimonious jerk, she tossed him into the trash can! (I have fully recovered, rest assured). In doing a google search for the above picture, it became clear that many, many people had teddy bears. It made me wonder if all of those grown ups who grew up with a teddy bear, might have a story to tell about the life and times of their own bear? Let it be known, from this day hence, that this post will serve as a forum for "Bear Tales"! Please feel free to leave your bear story in comments....

Have a Beary Nice Day!