Welcome

Welcome to Phelan and thanks for stopping by.    Stop by often and leave your 2 cents.  I always try to answer all comments.



               HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL. 

God Bless--johnnyb

Recreational Vehicle

We have always wanted an RV so we could travel around, see a little country now that we are retired.  We saved and saved for years and finally have been able to make a down payment on the RV of our dreams.  I hope nobody is too envious of our new acquisition.

I also hope nobody takes me serious on this!  It would be an attention getter though.---johnnyb

Welcome

I want to welcome Mandy and Laura.  Thanks for hitting the button.  I will always try to answer all comments.  Sometimes it might not be the same day, but I will  do it.  If there is anyone that I have missed as a new follower, let me know.  Sometimes my follower plays tricks an me. 

A little before 7 AM our  weather alert machine sounded off.  Very unusual for this time of year.  The alert was for a high wind warning for the area.  Sustained winds of 30-50 MPH with gusts of 70-8- MPH can be expected from middle of the morning through early evening. Just flipping lovely!!  The year started with a blizzard, so I guess it just as well end up crappy weather also.  Night before last we had a thunderstorm go through.  Once again not something that will happen often in the winter.  Thunder snow occasionally,  but this was rain (very little),  lightning (a lot), and thunder (a lot).  Just weird.  We have had a lot of high winds in the past year.  Sustaining winds, night and day, for 2 or 3 days.  Doesn't subside at night.  I hate wind!!!!!  I need to get out and make sure everything is tied down.  We don't have the little ankle biters anymore, so I won't have to worry about them blowing away.  (Kids returned from Montana on Wednesday night, and picked up dogs on Thursday).  

Made arrangements yesterday to get a load of manure for the garden.  Hopefully over the next year we can get the ground amended for a better garden area.  I will start working it in as soon as possible.  The ground is not good at all.  There was a church on that lot years ago.  When they tore it down, it was just pushed into the basement and buried.  Lots of  pieces of foundation, glass nails, but nothing of value yet. 

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year.  My wishes for the new year are that we may all have the best year possible in the conditions we are in, or what may develop over the next months.  May
God Bless all and above all this Great Country that we live in.   I pray for those who have given their lives over the past year to fight for what they believe in, and their families who have also sacrificed so much.  Not just the past year, but for the last 235 years.  So many have fought and died for the freedom we have today.  We must not let anything or anybody take that from us.---johnnyb

HAPPY NEW YEAR  







 

Sunset on the High Plains

Caught these pics sunset tonight.  Just wanted to share the beauty of it.----johnnyb

End of the year, already?

Seems like this year has gone by way to fast.  Haven't done a whole lot this week.  Been doing some cleaning, burning trash, etc.  Had to take the jeep to the doctor this week.  Funny noise that wasn't supposed to be there.  Wheel bearings starting to go bad.  Not serious yet, but will get it fixed soon.  An expense that was not planned.  Not much choice in the matter.  It's the only vehicle we have, so we have to keep it in good shape.  Not only that, it's paid for.   Approaching 200,000 miles on it.  Been a good vehicle. 

 Hope everyone is sliding from this year to the next with not many problems.  I read the other day that people look forward to the new year so they can continue with all their bad habits from the old year.  Lots of truth there.  I don't know if all my habits are bad habits, but they are tried, true and tested!

I guess the above is my quote for the day.  Sounds good to me.

God Bless all---johnnyb

Day After Ponderings

 For the person who thought they got everything they needed for Christmas. 

I hope everyone is enjoying the season.  I see rain is falling in parts of Texas.  Has to be better than a white Christmas.   Just hope there is enough to do some good.  Our daytime temps are in the 40's and 50's.  Melting the snow and drying up some of the mud.  My seasonal depression is easing now that the days are lengthening.  (Hey a couple of minutes is enough to start me towards spring).   A lot of winter left though.
Carol notice some daffodils popping through the ground.  Way to early for that here. 

Been thinking about the past year and everything I wanted to get done.  Got the sleeping cabin finished.  That was our #1 priority.  There were other things, but there is next year, (I hope).  We have projects in mind to help with our prepping.  Some we will be able start during the late winter months.  On thing high on the list is a manual water pump.  Seen some advertised, but haven't  followed up yet. Right now water would be a problem if the electricity went out.  Got to have water!!  We hope to add some chickens.  We are going to raise quail again this year.  It seemed to be a success last year.   Our friend from Colorado called last week to say that the quail had been ordered for the first week in June.  It was a very interesting experiment and alot of fun.  Quail are such strange creatures.  Our dogs will be looking forward to them also. The list will probably get longer as time goes.  We are looking at more storage for canned goods.  There will never be enough room for that.

Time to go.  Coffee is cold, dogs and I have had our cheerios, so I guess we are ready to meet the day head-on, at least until nap time!

Thought for the day--"many people look forward to the New Year for new start to old habits."--unknown.

God Bless all---johnnyb

Merry Christmas

From us here in the "middle of somewhere", we wish all a Very Merry Christmas, and the best wishes for a the coming year, good bad or indifferent!

God Bless all on this day----johnnyb, carol, dinka, annie, bella and the two ankle biters,  hurley and bo.

Gangsta' Baby

Just some humor to share.  God Bless---johnnyb

Crafts, canning and dogs

Another winter storm blowing through the area today.  Nothing big,  just a pain in the you know what.  We are dog sitting for a week.  Two Yorkies.  Quite a difference when you are used to big dogs, and then here comes the ankle-bitters.  They are getting along pretty good.  The smallest of the two has put the Labs in their place a couple of times,  but then has paid for it another time. It will be a fun week.  They belong to the daughter and family in Nebraska.  They left yesterday for Montana to visit one of their boys and wife.  He is in the Air Force.  They made it as far as Cheyenne last night and had to shut it down because of the weather.  Will continue on today.

Carol and a friend have been doing some crafts.  They made baskets this week.  They had fun doing it, and will do something else next week.  Keeps them out of trouble and off the streets.  Safer that way you know.  I'm probably in trouble now.  Oh well.  such is life.  The baskets turned out pretty good for being kind of experimental.  All materials were re-purposed except for the staples used to fasten sides to the bottom. 

Carol canned chicken and chicken broth yesterday.  We had bought some chicken parts and pieces (legs and thighs) on sale.  Will make good  eating.  Chicken and home-made noodles kind of enters my head.  Haven't had that for......oh about 2 weeks!    We freeze a lot of stuff and the can it in the winter.  Don't have to heat the house when it is 110 outside!  Just nice to have the food stocked away.

Hmmmm--Looks like Carol is the only one doing anything around here.  Not really.  My work is all behind the scenes.  You will find my name in the credits! (You will have to take my word for that, because if you notice there are no credits).

Thought for the day-"23. What this country needs are more unemployed politicians."-- Edward Langley, Artist (1928-1995)

God Bless all.  Be safe.  If you can't be safe at least be careful----johnnyb

Baby picture????

After Duke's comment  on my post of  Men Who Lack Supervision #1 that he wouldn't send any more home pictures, I decided to post one of his baby pictures.

God Bless all--johnnyb

Men who lack supervision #1

 Just some humor to start the week.  God Bless all--johnnyb

Lazy Saturday Morning.

Sitting here having my coffee and contemplating the day.  The dogs and I have had our toasted oats for the day.  Theirs is the honey toasted and mine regular.  Too much sugar in the honey toasted for my system.  Dinka, the Grand Dame of the crew just has a dog treat.  Or usually treats, plural.   Her routine starts anytime between 7AM and 10AM.  Usually the latter.  She never has been an early riser.  Upon rising she immediately wants out, regardless of what we may be doing.  She usually will not accept a treat at this time.  Not the way it is done.  After a time of wandering aimlessly about, trying to find the exactly perfect spot,  and I mean it has to be perfect, she will do her morning "stuff".  After this she comes to the back door and barks.  She won't come in, but sits there looking at me like I am a complete idiot.  At this time she will take a dog treat and either eat it or bury it for future use.  When the snow melts we will probably find all of these brown crumb spots all over the yard.  Then she will come back to the door and we do it all over again.  It's like Johnnyb's mcdoggles drive up window.  We watched her the other morning wander around the yard for quite a while looking for  a place to bury the treat and finally gave up and ate it. dog's can be such a source of amusement if a person will take the time to watch.  The other two, Bella and Annie,  have a different routine.  You can almost set your watch by them in the morning.  They are ready to go out a 7AM every morning.  Bunny patrol, you know.  Important stuff.  Once in a while they will catch a rabbit, but not often. The rabbit will generally make it through the fence before they catch it.  Then they are back in for cheerios,  and back to bed. 

I hope everyone has a good weekend. Please pray for all that are in need.  I guess when you think about it, that would be about all of us.  We all are in need in one form or the other.   Prayers are answered, just not always like we want.

God Bless all--johnnyb

Welcome

Thanks and welcome to those who have hit the follow button.  Stop by often and give your 2 cents.   I will try to answer all comments.

The dogs are bored today. Foggy and chilly. They don't stay outside too long. Bella likes to have her picture taken.  Actually she like the flash.  She is becoming paranoid with light reflections.  She can spend hours outside waiting for a reflection from a door or whatever.  She is a nut.  Freezing moisture all night.  Everything was ice earlier this morning.  It has since warmed above freezing and the ice is gone.  It probably will return tonight. 

Carol and I have been putting some thoughts on some craft projects that she and a friend are going to work on.  They like to use re-purposed materials to do the projects.  I am the head of the research department (scavenging and foraging.)  It is fun. Keeps me out of trouble.

Thought for the day--"It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but even more to stand up to your friends."--J.K. Rowling

God Bless all--johnnyb

Early Christmas

We had kids here for the weekend.  One daughter and family from west central Kansas spent the weekend.  Another daughter  and SIL from  Nebraska were here on Saturday.  Always fun to have grandkids around for a while.    Two are teenagers and one is a 6 y/o terror on two legs..  I would be worn out if I had to try to keep up with him for a while.  I, the SILs and older grandkids did some shooting .  We always try to do so when they are here.  I finally got to shoot my Model 1891 Argentine Mauser.  My dad had bought it back in the 1960's.  I had shot it a little at the time, but it was never shot much.  It had just set around for years in a back closet.  My brother didn't really want it, so I took it a couple of years ago.  I cleaned it up checked it out the best I could.  Everything seemed to be ok with it.  Amoo was a problem.  765 X  53.  Finally found some.  It is fun to shoot.  The gun is all original.  All serial numbers on the gun match.  Right down to the cleaning rod.  Only thing I don't have is a bayonet.  I have seen them somewhere on the net.  Will have to search.   Would be a great addition to the weapon.  Anyway we all had fun shooting it.  Probably won't shoot it a whole lot.  Nice to have.  Good conversation piece.  By the serial number, it was manufactured in 1892.

Weather warmed a little the past few days.  Melted the snow a little.  We are supposed to have some freezing drizzle and a little snow tomorrow.  Bring it on!  Not much I can do about it.  Got good books to read,   a few inside projects to do, and a couple of new seed catalogs to look at, so I am set.

Lesson for the day' mostly for the benefit of my female friends:

REMEMBER THIS AT CHRISTMAS TIME …

 

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December. 

Female reindeer retain their antlers till after they give birth in the spring.

Therefore, according to EVERY historical rendition depicting Santa's reindeer, EVERY single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be a girl.

We should've known…...

ONLY women would be able to drag a fat-ass man in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night and not get lost.

God Bless all,  have a good week and keep all others in your prayers---johnnyb

Out of the deepfreeze

The weather is finally warming bit. Warmed into the 30's yesterday. Tuesday morning it was -14 degrees F. 10 degrees above zero this morning. There is forecast a few flurries today and then warming for the weekend. Upper 40's by Sunday. The snow starting to melt, so it will be slushy mess in a couple of days. Good moisture since the ground is not completely frozen yet.
Had a couple of pheasant hunters staying in our cabin for a couple of nights. The small heater
didn't keep up well when it was so cold that one night. We had worried about them, but it was no problem. They live in Colorado in the mountains, and said they usually sleep with the windows open during the winter. One said at his house, you could make ice cubes in the bedroom. We had plenty of blankets anyway. I was afraid the heater wasn't working good, so I went to town and got another. Figured between the two it would keep the temp up a little better. It did, and they told me it got too warm and they had to shut one off! They are a part of a group 7 that hunts here every year. The guy that brings them here owns a house right next to us. He just had too many for the beds he has, so we took the overflow. Most are from Colorado, a couple of them from eastern Nebraska. It is always fun having them here. We have been friends with the one that owns the house for about 16 years. He comes here a half a dozen times or more a year. Hunting in the fall, winter, and spring, and just chillin' in the summer. Very good people. We take care of his house and yard when he isn't here.

We have kids coming for an early Christmas this weekend. One daughter and grandkids. Always fun to have them. One grandson likes to do some shooting, so I have been making sure everything is in order in that category. Shoot mostly black powder. He thinks it is pretty neat.
The rest of our Christmas is kind of helter-skelter. One son is State Trooper, another son is an Emergency Dispatcher, SIL is a city policeman, another daughter's significant other is Deputy Sheriff. Only the dispatcher and the deputy are in the same town. Shift work is hard to plan around. The other daughter and family only live 20 miles away, so that is not a problem. They work 9-5 jobs so it is easier.

We both enjoy rodeos, and have been watching the National Finals this week. It just makes my bones hurt even more just watching. I don't see how they can do it day after day. I suppose they will feel it more in later years. We used to go to more rodeos, but the price of gas kind of prohibits it.

Quote for the day--"We could certainly slow the aging process down if it had to work its way through Congress".- Will Rogers

God Bless all, be good, and if you can't be good, at least be safe!--johnnyb

Storms end

The blow is over. It wasn't too bad. A few drifts, but nothing major. No roads closed or anything like that. Ended up with about a foot of the white stuff. As you can see from the pics, the dogs had fun playing in the snow. Temperature is about 4 F this morning. Had to get that from the internet as the thermometer froze up yesterday. Supposed to be colder tomorrow night. -5 to -10 degrees F. The brass monkeys will be in trouble again. Poor guys. Oh well, it could be a lot worse. I'll not complain too much because we aren't as cold as some parts of the country. It will warm up someday, and then we can get into garden mode. House is warm. Burning about a bag of wood pellets a day. Lots cheaper than propane.

Need to finish my coffee and start removing some of the drifts from around the house. God Bless all--johnnyb

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow

We are getting a nice winter storm this morning. Weather reports say 4-10 inches for this area. We already have about 4 inches so I'm guessing we will be in the upper end of the spectrum. No wind yet, but it is supposed to pick up to about 30 MPH during the day. It will probably pile up in the road ditches and fence rows where it doesn't do much good. Oh well it is December, so this can be expected. It is kind of pretty so far. I've got coffee on, the dogs have been out,(and right back in), got some good friends to follow on their blogs and a good book to read. I think I am set for the day.

Quote for today-"Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.-- Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University

God Bless all and be safe--johnnyb

Life as a child

Just want to pass this little story on. Author unknown. Just plain amusing.


Life as a child.

Around age 10 my dad got me one of those little badass compound bow beginner kits. Of course, the first month I went around our land sticking arrows in anything that could get stuck by an arrow.

That got boring, so being the 10 yr. old Dukes of Hazard fan that I was, I quickly advanced to taking strips of cut up T-shirt doused in chainsaw gas tied around the end and was sending flaming arrows all over the place

One summer afternoon, I was shooting flaming arrows into a large rotten oak stump in our backyard. I looked over under the carport and saw a shiny brand new can of starting fluid (ether). The light bulb went off in my head.

I grabbed the can and set it on the stump. I thought that it would probably just spray out in a disappointing manner. Let’s face it, to a 10 yr. old mouth-breather like myself ether really doesn't 'sound' flammable.

So, I went back into the house and got a 1 pound can of Pyrodex (black powder for muzzle loader rifles). At this point, I set the can of ether on the stump and opened up the can of black powder.

Did you know that a 1955 40-horse Farmall tractor tire will take 6 rounds before it goes down? Tough son of a gun!

My intentions were to sprinkle a little bit around the ether can but it all sorta dumped out on me. No biggie, 1 lb. of Pyrodex and 16 oz. of ether should make a loud pop, kinda like a firecracker you know?

You know what? Forget that, I'm going back in the house for the other can. Yes, I got a second can of Pyrodex and dumped it too. Now we're cookin'.

I stepped back about 15 ft. and lit the 2 stroke arrow. I drew the nock to my cheek and took aim.

As I released I heard a clunk as the arrow launched from my bow. In a slow motion time frame, I turned to see my dad getting out of the truck... OH SHOOT!

He just got home from work. So help me God it took 10 minutes for that arrow to go from my bow to the can. My dad was walking towards me in slow motion with a "what in the world are you doing?" look in his eyes.

I turned back towards my target just in time to see the arrow pierce the starting fluid can right at the bottom. Right through the main pile of Pyrodex and into the can. Oh shoot.

When the shock wave hit it knocked me off my feet. I don't know if it was the actual compression wave that threw me back or just reflex jerk back from 235 fricking decibels of sound. I caught a half a millisecond glimpse of the violence during the initial explosion and I will tell you there was dust, grass, and bugs all hovering 1 ft. above the ground as far as I could see. It was like a little low-to-the-ground layer of dust fog full of grasshoppers, spiders, and a worm or two.

The daylight turned purple. Let me repeat this... THE FRICKING DAYLIGHT TURNED PURPLE. There was a big sweetgum tree out by the gate going into the pasture. Notice I said "was". That son of a gun got up and ran off.

So here I am, on the ground blown completely out of my shoes with my Thundercats t-shirt shredded, my dad is on the other side of the carport having what I can only assume is a Vietnam flashback:

ECHO BRAVO CHARLIE YOU'RE BRINGIN' EM IN TOO CLOSE!! CEASE FIRE. DAMN IT
CEASE FIRE!!!!!

His hat has blown off and is 30 ft. behind him in the driveway. All windows on the north side of the house are blown out and there is a slow-rolling mushroom cloud about 2000 ft. over our backyard.

There is a Honda 185 3-wheeler parked on the other side of the yard and the fenders are drooped down and are now touching the tires.

I wish I knew what I said to my dad at this moment. I don't know - I know I said something. I couldn't hear. I couldn't hear inside my own head. I don't think he heard me either... not that it would really matter. I don't remember much from this point on. I said something, felt a sharp pain, and then woke up later. I felt a sharp pain, blacked out, woke later ... repeat this process for an hour or so and you get the idea.

I remember at one point my mom had to give me CPR, and Dad was screaming Bring him back to life so I can kill him again." Thanks Mom.

One thing is for sure... I never had to mow around that stump again. Mom had been complaining about that thing for years and dad never did anything about it. I stepped up to the plate and handled business.

Dad sold his muzzle loader a week or so later. I still have some sort of bone growth abnormality, either from the blast or the beating, or both.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, get your kids into archery. It's good discipline and will teach them skills they can use later on in life.

Author Unknown