Author Archives: Joel

Going… Gone! It’s too late to worry now. Two down, one to go.

This kinda sucks. September lasted for an eyeblink. This morning’s got me rummaging around in the barn pantry for my winter woolies. Yeah, I knew I’d be peeling it off in an hour, but still. It sucks. Ghost was really … Continue reading →

Yeah, I know. I’m a dick. But I didn’t become a hermit because of my people skills… Introducing a new neighbor, whom we’ll call SurvivalDave. He’s kind of a wannabe, but they can be cute when their hearts are in … Continue reading →

S, a regular reader and commenter here, had some comments to add to last week’s “20 Questions” post, but for some reason his comments kept getting knocked off the blog. I still don’t know what that was about, but when … Continue reading →

WARNING: The contents of this video are gross and offensive. Really. No Joke. So it seems there’s this NGO called 10:10, and it got a lot of government money to convince people to “reduce their carbon footprint” because otherwise we’ll … Continue reading →

Aristippus passed Diogenes as he was washing lentils. He said, “If you could but learn to flatter the king, you would not have to live on lentils.” Diogenes said, “And if you could learn to live on lentils, you would … Continue reading →

The Grey Lady has been a friend of the blog since…well, pretty much as long as there’s been a blog. And a generous one! When the Official Blog Camera died, she sent a new one – just in time for … Continue reading →

A flurry of e-mails later, TUAK is back in business through the entire winter! Which also means I get to continue enjoying the wonders of e-mail and net access. No details right now, I’ll tell you more after we get … Continue reading →

Folks, as you may know or have guessed, I’ve been on a satellite link that I only partially pay for. Landlady has been subsidizing it for as long as it’s been up, and of course when Claire was here she … Continue reading →

I hate frickin’ tumbleweeds. It’s mid-autumn, which means cool nights and warm days. The monsoon – a fairly wet one this year – has pretty much gone away. Which means the tumbleweeds are mature, and oh, we got us a … Continue reading →

Back in June I uncritically repeated a claim that was not entirely dismissive of a cop’s hero story. I should know better than to do that. It appears the story was unraveling even before I saw it, but the local … Continue reading →

“Look, the voters’ only choice is between GOP policies and ours. They’re screwed either way. But there’s another way. The way of courage. The way of love of the Homeland. Without getting our fingerprints on it, we must scare the … Continue reading →

Since somebody asked a few days ago, I’ll tell you that Paulo is recovering nicely from his impromptu surgery. He’s eating well, and surprisingly quickly coming back to his sweet self. Today while I was cleaning his paddock he was … Continue reading →

…But the song in my head comes from a bootleg copy of a Leslie Fish riff on a Rudyard Kipling poem. Which means no crappy video of a crappier ’70’s song today. Sorry. I’ve never figured out how to post … Continue reading →

So today J&H poured concrete. Eight yards worth. Three pads: One for the front door entry, one (the one that started the whole thing) for a new storage room attached to the house (which will also incidentally insulate the pipes … Continue reading →

Jon Stewart has something to say about the Repub’s Pledge to America… Meet the new boss/something something old boss…

You can’t even make the weak argument that the executive at least has to claim this power in the course of protecting national security. Because it doesn’t matter. Obama is arguing that he has the right to keep everything about … Continue reading →

If you’re not familiar with the Hardyville columns, you’re in for a treat. It was a long-standing feature of Claire’s columns that she decided to bring to an end a couple of years ago, and that I feared would fade … Continue reading →

M: (After replacing the fuel filter) “Think we can start it up now?” Me: “Can’t hurt to try.” Tractor: Crankcrankcrankcrank…crank…crank. Me: “Stop. Memory kicking in. I suddenly recall that with real diesels, you can’t start the engine after opening the … Continue reading →

Me: “Augh. Concrete is just spilling out of this hole. I’ve got to plug it with something.” M: “Here you go.” (Cobbles together Rube Goldberg contraption of blocks and boards) “What could go wrong?” Me: “GYAAH!” (Contraption collapses, and Uncle … Continue reading →