Saturday, August 23, 2014

THE 'GREEN THING'

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment. 

The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

The older lady agreed but replied "But our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day."

The older lady went on to explain:

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. 

But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags to make book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings.  Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But, too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then.

We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.  Again she said to the clerk:  “We didn't have the ‘green thing’ in our day.”

Back then we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220volts.  Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But you're right,  young lady -  we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room.  And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember THEM?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.  In the kitchen we blended and stirred  by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not styrofoam peanuts or plastic bubble wrap.  Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power.  We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But you’re right; we sure didn't have the "green thing" back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a paper or Styrofoam cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.  We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing."  We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances.  And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful WE old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?

Think about it……

BTW - Seniors don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss ‘em off... especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much, or tell what time it is if the clock isn’t digital!!

I got this in an email..... I LOVE IT!



Wednesday, August 20, 2014

A SENATE VOTE FOR HARRY REID IN 2014.....


Harry Reid (D, NV) is the U.S. Senate Majority Leader.  He, and he alone, determines what legislation is voted on in the Senate..... here is his most recent record in that position:
The Republican House ... passed more than 200 bills in 2013. Some were minor, and others drew only GOP votes. But nearly a dozen were bipartisan pieces of legislation that drew more than 250 Republicans and Democrats to tackle pressing issues—jobs bills, protections against cyberattack, patent reform, prioritizing funding for pediatric research, and streamlining regulations for pipelines.
Washington is currently gridlocked because of the particular partisanship of one man: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. 

These laws all went to die in Mr. Reid's Senate graveyard. Not that the Senate was too busy to take them up. It passed an immigration and a farm bill. Yet beyond those, and a few items Mr. Reid was pressed to pass—the end-year sequester accord; Hurricane Sandy relief—the Senate sat silent. It passed not a single appropriations bill and not a single jobs bill. Of the 72 (mostly token) bills President Obama signed in 2013, 56 came from the House; 16 came from the chamber held by his own party.

ON 7/15/2014, HARRY REID SAID "'OUR SOUTHERN BORDER IS SECURE!" This man needs to be in a rubber room - NOT the second most powerful man in the federal government!

To the people of ALASKA:  A VOTE FOR (D) MARK BEGICH IS A VOTE FOR HARRY REID! 

To the people of ARKANSAS:  A VOTE FOR (D) MARK PRYOR IS A VOTE FOR HARRY REID! 

To the people of COLORADO:  A VOTE FOR (D) MARK UDALL IS A VOTE FOR HARRY REID! 

To the people of DELAWARE:  A VOTE FOR (D) CHRIS COONS IS A VOTE FOR HARRY REID! 

To the people of HAWAII:  A VOTE FOR (D) BRIAN SCHATZ IS A VOTE FOR HARRY REID!  Nevermind - Hawaii is beyond hope....

To the people of IOWA:  REPLACE RETIRING (D) TOM HARKIN WITH A REPUBLICAN OR YOUR VOTE IS A VOTE FOR HARRY REID! 

To the people of ILLINOIS:  FOR GOD'S SAKE - PLEASE REPLACE (D) DICK DURBIN OR YOUR VOTE IS A VOTE FOR HARRY REID! 

To the people of LOUISIANA:  A VOTE FOR (D) MARY LANDRIEU IS A VOTE FOR HARRY REID! 

To the people of MASSACHUSETTS:  A VOTE FOR (D) ED MARKEY IS A VOTE FOR HARRY REID! 

To the people of MICHIGAN (CORRECTED):  REPLACE RETIRING (D) CARL LEVIN WITH A REPUBLICAN OR YOUR VOTE IS A VOTE FOR HARRY REID! 

To the people of MINNESOTA:  GET SERIOUS ABOUT YOUR SENATOR!  GET RID OF THAT CLOWN (D) AL FRANKEN - SEND HIM BACK TO S.N.L. OR YOUR VOTE IS A VOTE FOR HARRY REID! 

To the people of MONTANA:  REPLACE RETIRING (D) MAX BAUCUS WITH A REPUBLICAN OR YOUR VOTE IS A VOTE FOR HARRY REID! 

To MY FELLOW NORTH CAROLINIANS:  PLEASE SEND (D) KAY HAGAN (WHO GAVE US OBAMACARE) PACKING OR YOUR VOTE IS ANOTHER VOTE FOR HARRY REID! 

To the people of NEW HAMPSHIRE:  A VOTE FOR (D) JEANNE SHAHEEN IS A VOTE FOR HARRY REID! 

To the people of NEW MEXICO:  A VOTE FOR (D) TOM UDALL IS A VOTE FOR HARRY REID! 

To the people of OREGON:  A VOTE FOR (D) JEFF MERKLEY IS A VOTE FOR HARRY REID! 

To the people of RHODE ISLAND:  A VOTE FOR (D) JACK REED IS A VOTE FOR HARRY REID!

To the people of VIRGINIA:  A VOTE FOR (D) MARK WARNER IS A VOTE FOR HARRY REID!

To the people of SOUTH DAKOTA:  REPLACE RETIRING (D) TIM JOHNSON WITH A REPUBLICAN OR YOUR VOTE IS A VOTE FOR HARRY REID! 

To the people of WEST VIRGINIA:  REPLACE RETIRING (D) JAY ROCKERFELLER WITH A REPUBLICAN OR YOUR VOTE IS A VOTE FOR HARRY REID! 

HELP SAVE AMERICA FROM HARRY REID AND BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA WHILE THERE IS STILL TIME!




Tuesday, August 19, 2014

THE CRISIS IN FERGUSON, MISSOURI

"You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."  Rahm Emanual

There IS a crisis in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson.  The fact that Al Sharpton is there in front of the cameras ginning up racial divide says it all.  A young black kid was killed by a white cop a week ago.  A tragic event for sure.  Forty FBI agents are in town investigating the shooting.  (Not a single FBI agent went to investigate the Benghazi murders of four Americans, but I digress.)  This video shows the dead teen, Michael Brown, and a friend robbing a convenience store.



And a few minutes later.....



A community is in a spiral into hell as the nationally known race baiters, Barack Obama (who criticized the arrest of Henry Louis Gates before any facts were known , and who also remarked that if he had a son, he would look like Trayvon Martin) and Eric Holder (who is probably the only person in the United States who could find no laws broken when the New black Panthers were intimidating voters in Philadelphia) weigh in on the shooting - Holder is actually GOING to Ferguson.  There has been looting and rioting ever since the shooting.  Many of these people are NOT from Ferguson.  And as an aside, what the hell is to be gained by DESTROYING YOUR OWN NEIGHBORHOOD?  Anyway....

All that is just background.  Pick your news source and read the slant - it goes in hundreds of directions.



But now it seems the Rahm theorem is kicking in....  The Missouri Democrat party is setting up voter registration stations in the middle of all the rioting and looting.  You just can't make this shit up!  Totally disgusting!

Nor can you make up the total stupidity of the participants in all this violence.... ignore the guy with the sign.... and look behind him at the man pushing a baby IN THE STREET in a stroller..... WTF is he thinking!


Photo from:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/19/missouri-gop-chief-voter-registration-booths-in-ferguson-are-disgusting/

Monday, August 11, 2014

BABY POOP

No truer words have ever been spoken.... Baby poop - a combination of velcro and nuclear waste.....

R.I.P. Mr. Williams........ you will be sorely missed........... goodbye and Godspeed

Saturday, August 9, 2014

CONGRESSIONAL RECESS..... ALAS

Thank goodness most of the politicians have abandoned D.C. for a month.  I have been soooo overdosed on politics and my frustration with all thing Democrat AND Republican.  Time to take a break myself....

So I bought the first two seasons of HOUSE OF CARDS!


Whispering 'thanks for the heads up'..... :)

Friday, August 8, 2014

HUMMINGBIRDS – MY STORY.... [UPDATED 4/24/2019] [UPDATED 7/22/2021]

July, 2021
Well here's a NEW update!  I'm using the Simply Orange 89 oz bottles!  One FULL bottle will give you three refills on the 32 oz feeders!!!  

For each bottle:  one drop of red food coloring
                              12-13 drops of  McCormicks PURE ORANGE EXTRACT
                               1 and 1/2 cups SUGAR
Add the ingredients to the bottle and fill about 3/4 full of VERY VERY HOT WATER.
Put on the lid and shake until the sugar is dissolved.  Top off the bottle with cold water and refrigerate
      
 I MAKE 6 OF THESE EVERY OTHER DAY!

4/24/2019.... seems Simply Orange has gone to a 52 oz juice bottle, so if you plan to use those for your nectar,  use a scant one cup of sugar and watch how that goes... sugar is the key energy ingredient so I wouldn't recommend using much less than one cup of sugar.... it just means you will be making nectar a little more often!


I totally love hummingbirds.  I probably have 60 Ruby-throated hummingbirds here this summer, and the scary thing is – each female will have two 'litters' of two babies each, and these will grow to adulthood very quickly, take off for parts south (Mexico, South America) and come back NEXT summer to my ‘doorstep’ along with their parents and grandparents.

If a hummingbird survives its first year, it can live for 10 years.  Amazing tiny little creatures.

If you want these little birds to be part of your life, you have to work for it and be dedicated.  Don’t start feeding them unless you are ready to KEEP feeding them.  This post is about my experience with them. 

I’m serious about the dedication required to keep these birds happy and healthy.  Right now, after the first ‘birthing’ of the summer, I’m making 3 gallons of ‘nectar’ every two days.  That’s about a 4 pound bag of sugar every 2-3 days.  (I’ve also used a ton of sugar making pickles this summer, so I won’t be surprised if ATF knocks on the door looking for my whiskey still!)

Firstly, you have to know when they are coming… this is the site I check to see when the Ruby-throats are moving north:


This will give you an idea of when to start looking for their arrival.  Time to assemble your gear!

Feeders:  I recommend the quart feeders made by FIRST NATURE.  In North Carolina, they are sold at Walmart and Lowe’s.  Think positively and get at least TWO 10-seaters. (I have 6)

You will also need a brush like the one pictured above (Walmart).  The bristles are very soft and work great for a soapy scrubbing of your feeders and nectar bottles.  Save that brush and only use it for cleaning the feeders.  I also recommend you start drinking Simply Orange or Minute Maid OJ in the 59 ounce plastic bottle.  The bottles are very sturdy and fit in the refrigerator.  And one full bottle will ALMOST fill a 32 ounce feeder twice. (See the picture above)

For one feeding location you’ll need three of these 'nectar' bottles if all goes well.  You will also need a large funnel, a medicine dropper (local pharmacy), red food coloring, and a bottle of PURE ORANGE EXTRACT. (The red food coloring isn’t totally necessary but it lets YOU see when the feeder is almost empty; the orange extract is the ‘secret’ ingredient, and both of these are available in the spice section of any grocery store).

The ‘nectar’ for a 59 ounce jug consists of:

1 cup            sugar
1 drop       red food coloring
5-6 drops    pure orange extract (my secret ingredient)

Add ingredients to the jug and fill the jug 2/3s full with VERY HOT tap water, add the lid, and swirl until all the sugar is dissolved.  Top off with cold water and REFRIGERATE!  Below is my supply I just made.... it will last me almost TWO DAYS! When the 'crowd' is all here, I make 8 bottles which requires almost a full 4 lb. bag of sugar.

Before ^  (I'm up to 6 bottles at a time)
(Notice my sugar jar is nearly empty!   I've created a monster!)

Choose a location for the feeder that is preferably NOT where it will get full morning or afternoon sun.  The nectar in the feeder can get really hot from the ‘greenhouse’ effect of direct sun.  If you can find such a location that also happens to be outside a window – that is PERFECT.

When the birds start approaching your area (map) begin by putting out a feeder about 1/3 full of nectar…. And keep your eye on it for birds.  At first, you may only get a few that are in transit, heading north to familiar territory, but some will stay if they like you.  Early in the spring, the feeder needs to be emptied after no more than 3 days, because the nectar will become rancid.  EVERY TIME YOU EMPTY THE FEEDER, CLEAN IT THOROUGHLY WITH WARM SOAPY WATER, BEING VERY CAREFUL TO SCRUB THE INSIDE OF THE CONTAINER WITH THE BRUSH.  Also, use the brush to scrub both pieces of the ‘perch’.  Run your fingers over the inside of the perch and inside the neck of the container – IT SHOULD NOT FEEL SLICK OR SLIMY.  This is why I suggest three feeders – one in use and a couple clean in waiting.

When you start seeing hummers, increase the volume of nectar in the feeder.  When you carry a fresh feeder out, soon the birds will be buzzing around your head.  Stand beside the feeder and let them get used to you and soon they will even sit on your fingers and eat!

As summer gets warmer and your hummer population increases, try putting out a COLD refill (another reason it needs to be refrigerated) around 4-5 in the afternoon.  It’s so adorable to watch them drink the cold nectar – sometimes they will fluff out their feathers and shiver – but they LOVE a ‘cold one’ and soon they will rush to the feeder for a cool drink late in the day.  I call that time of day Happy Hour. (You can see the condensate on the outside of this cold feeder.)

A cold one....

The MAIN thing with hummingbirds is…. once you start feeding them, you really have to KEEP doing it.  I’ve found if I go away for a day or two, I have to get a neighbor to change my feeders for me!  It’s worse than having a dog that needs to be walked!

In the past, I’ve had one feeding station on the west side of the house, but like an idiot, one summer I added two more – this time on the east side.  I’m up to 50-60 hummingbirds, and they have had their first round of babies. 

After a few weeks - start looking for the new generation of babies.  You'll recognize the newly raised young by their downy feathers still showing, and their speckled throats.... look around your house - a hummingbird nest is about the size of a golf ball with the top sliced off.  There will be two babies from each pair of parents TWICE EACH SUMMER.... so your visitors will multiply rapidly!


A quarter on a nest.....

Remember – keep the nectar refrigerated – it will keep for 4-5 days in the fridge.  And you absolutely MUST clean the feeders with warm soapy water to have healthy, happy birds.

And one last thing….. if you care for these little birds, they will return to your feeders NEXT spring, and every spring thereafter.  When you think how far these little things fly every spring and fall….. it’s truly a miracle.  Enjoy!

Here are some fun pictures of my annual visitors... and this is at just ONE feeder!



BE SURE YOU CHECK THIS LINK BELOW AND WATCH THE 0:30 VIDEO - WAS THE DAY AFTER HURRICANE ARTHUR BRUSHED BY US... IT'S INCREDIBLE!

http://reidsright.blogspot.com/2014/07/zzz.html