Author Archives: Joel

I’m off to the big town today and won’t be back for quite a while. Headlines having failed me, here’s something from a couple of years ago which I cynically put up last night to fill space this morning… There’s … Continue reading →

And we’re back. Sorry about that, the host took one of its little vacations there for a few hours. Seems fine now, though. At the moment I’m on the lookout for the rodent from hell, which left me a little … Continue reading →

Via Claire, a tale of How to live a middle-class life in New York City on less than $5,000 a year. Chapter One, in which we meet Marie the Freegan Frenchwoman. The opening scene… Marie was mixing basil for pesto … Continue reading →

C’mon, you know the feeling. You need to get that wheel off your car and four of the lug nuts cooperated well enough. But the fifth one, hell, somebody must have welded that thing on. And you sweat, and you … Continue reading →

A couple of years ago I piled tons of horseshit on a patch of land rumored to belong to the BLM, just because it seemed fair to give back to my great nation’s government as good as I got. After … Continue reading →

Just got an email… “One thing I’d like to acquire soon is a reasonably good cordless drill.” The one from your Amazon wish list arrived at your mail drop on April 29. Your blog is faster than your mail, sometimes … Continue reading →

Al Sharpton’s daughter sues city for $5M after spraining ankle She learned at the feet of a master. Shakedown artist Al Sharpton’s eldest child wants $5 million from city taxpayers after she fell in the street and sprained her ankle, … Continue reading →

So yesterday there was this big spring windstorm, right? And I did what I’m paid to do, wandered over to J&H’s former hacienda to make sure everything’s still bolted down. Which, as it happens, it wasn’t. J built a greenhouse, … Continue reading →

I need one of these. 🙂

Robert Heinlein opens his novel The Door Into Summer* with a vignette about a cat that refuses to believe it’s winter outside until it has satisfied itself that the weather outside every exterior door in the house is winter – … Continue reading →

What a ridiculous day. Six weeks, even a month ago this weather would have made sense. My satellite connection has degenerated from Glacial to Why Are You Still Sitting There? With the winter bedding, heavy clothes and all the woodstove … Continue reading →

That’s from 20 minutes’ work on one-half of Little Bear. His undercoat is coming out in chunks and he really needs to be brushed at least once a day, but he hates it and has learned that once he’s under … Continue reading →

Yeah, go ahead and have a good guffaw. Uncle Joel is cleaning stuff…like that ever works out well… Somebody said, ‘if my job gets taken by a black box, I’ll get a job making black boxes.’ The horses are gone … Continue reading →

A heavy preponderance of calves including recently-weaned steers. A lot of these little ones are still sucking.

Okay, I’m not really encouraging this – in fact I’m doing everything in my power to discourage it. But let’s face facts here: I’m just happy he came home afterward without coercion. The Lair snuggles into the crotch of a … Continue reading →

A favorable court decision from Ohio, concerning open carry… The police eventually arrived, ordered Northrup to stop, demanded that he turn over the gun, handcuffed him, and kept him handcuffed in a police car for 30 minutes. Eventually, they let … Continue reading →

I was one of the indians watching from that mesa over there. No lines, no camera time, but “I know they’re out there.”

Sorry about that. Yesterday was a gray day, and Wildblue is messing with me so I need to exercise extreme patience if I want anything to happen. Today has dawned sunny and not very windy – so far – and … Continue reading →

…it’s possible the problem is you. George Zimmerman injured in Florida shooting: police Been around guns most of my life. Competed in the late seventies and early eighties. You know how many ‘shooting incidents’ I’ve been involved with? Zero. My … Continue reading →

The pleasure you get from moments of plenty. I’ve spoken before about my Scrooge McDuck moments. They’re really quite pleasant, in a possibly-sinful way. This morning I cleaned and prepped 200 .44 cases, which I can fill with primers, powder … Continue reading →