Author Archives: Joel

The good news: Landlady’s new furnace works great.  Meadow House quite livable. The bad news:  Landlady’s house has no water.  Neither does the barn.  Neither, of course, does the Interim Lair. I saw early that I had no water, and … Continue reading →

…And for once its timing is impeccable! Al the Propane Guy came to the Meadow House right on time, late yesterday morning. Now, AthePG’s -er-idiom is that he always shows up on time and equipped to do the job. But … Continue reading →

Just rilly busy. Landlady and I have been putting up roof insulation in The Meadow House, and it’s a slow go. Today more of the same, plus Al the Propane Guy came by to move the big propane tank from … Continue reading →

The true identity of Little Bear’s father may never be known, but we now know without question who his mother is. It’s Click the cat. I fell asleep very early last evening, which meant I woke up unreasonably early – … Continue reading →

No Security Pat-Downs for Boehner “Over the last 20 years, I have flown back and forth to my district on a commercial aircraft,” Mr. Boehner said at the time, “and I am going to continue to do that.” And so … Continue reading →

Hee. I love this guy. Get a load of this: Andrew Traver has been tapped to lead the nation’s top crime-fighting agency, which hasn’t had a director in over four years. (See our August report about the unprecedented vacancy here.) … Continue reading →

Yesterday at the Lair I fired up M’s tractor – which has been parked there the past two weeks – to drive it through the wash back to Landlady’s property. The wind was picking up, and by the time I’d … Continue reading →

Sometimes the smart thing to say is nothing. Just shut up. It’s none of your business, you can’t change it and wouldn’t if you could. Speaking up won’t help, and could do great harm. Just. Shut. Up. Whatever his other … Continue reading →

I was informed a few years ago – by a man with a gun who stole my all-time favorite truck – that driving was a privilege you only get if the government gives it to you. We are now told … Continue reading →

I had an awful moment today. A few days ago I went down to M’s Dome for something and found that, through a failure of a garden hose sprayer nozzle, the entire cistern had emptied itself into the wash. This … Continue reading →

So! You went to war to keep what safe? Whatever – Welcome home, soldier. This might be a good time to remind everyone that approximately 233 people re-boarded that plane with assault rifles, pistols, and machine guns–but nothing that could … Continue reading →

…until the U.S. matches the longevity record of the Evil Soviet Empire in Afghanistan. And how’s that pullout coming? The U.S. military is sending a contingent of heavily armored battle tanks to Afghanistan for the first time in the nine-year … Continue reading →

My neighbor J came over this morning and helped me move my woodstove over to The Secret Lair.  I showed him what I’ve been working on, installing the two 55-gallon barrels in my septic pit. He got real quiet.  Then … Continue reading →

Just do it.  Via TJIC

From the Silly Questions department comes this brief piece from the Christian Science Monitor: Are TSA pat-downs and full-body scans unconstitutional? It’s nothing you haven’t read a million times, and not really worth your clicky. I just thought the title … Continue reading →

I’ve got the barrels in place for the Lair’s septic system. I had a terrible moment when I dug for the lower barrel and found it was so low that there was no way it would ever connect with the … Continue reading →

From the hopefully-immortal Iowahawk: Comply With Me* (With deepest apologies to Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen & Frank Sinatra) Comply with me, before you fly awayRemove those shoes and take a cruiseThrough my peekaboo X-rayComply with me, I’m your friendly … Continue reading →

…if I suggested that the world would be a better, cleaner place if this person and all his sycophants choked to death on cans of caffeinated alcohol? I note that Sch**er adds a nice incongruous touch: Let This Serve as … Continue reading →

A couple of weeks ago I signed the blog up for something called “Survival Ring,” in hope of directing more traffic here. It hasn’t had any good result, but I just got a comment from The Grey Lady: Joel I … Continue reading →

On a Happy Happy Joy Joy note, I see that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says: …using a cell phone while driving is so dangerous that devices may soon be installed in cars to forcibly stop drivers — and potentially anyone … Continue reading →