The Purge

I hope everyone is having a relaxing, restful, reflective Memorial Day.  Sarge did an excellent lead up to the Holiday and gave us several different areas to think about.  I've got nothing to add except to say a prayer of thanks to the Lord for putting those people on this Earth.  They made it a better place and we should all strive to live up to their sacrifice and make the world an even better place.

/Sermon

One thing I've noticed about Texans is they always seem to be looking at the ground.  Folks in Cities seem to walk the sidewalks looking down at something in their hand.  I think it's some kind of  camera that takes a movie of what's in front of them and displays it on that device so they can, usually sometimes occasionally once in a blue moon, avoid running into the person or thing in front of them.  Pretty cool device.

When it works.

However, country folks in Texas also seem to look down when they're walking around their property.  I wondered why that is, but never being one to pass up sage advice of those who have gone before me, I've taken up the custom.

As those who have read some of my posts from the last 2-3 weeks know, there's been some heavy rain in the area.  Most of the flooding has drained off and our stock ponds are down by about 6 feet.  Leaving about 6-12' remaining.  

Two Weeks Ago

Standing in basically the same place yesterday

The road has drained off also and the damage is as bad as expected.  Got the first bidder coming out this week to take a look and tell me the bad news.  We shall see what we shall see.

But that rain, has caused the grass to grow quite prolifically.  Unfortunately, "Tony the Hay Guy" is unavailable to cut and bail it which has left it quite long.  The horses would love to have a go at it, however, their Doctor put them on a restricted diet and confined them to the corral due to early indications of Laminitis.  He used the word "Euthanasia" as a possible outcome if not treated effectively.

Well....That got my attention.

So, we've been going up to the barn to feed them once a day, one flake of hay, some heartworm medicine, some vitamin and mineral substitutes as well as just check on them.

Hey, it gives me something to do.

Couple of days ago, I'm walking up there through the tall grass, doing that Texas Thing (looking at the ground).

See it?

Mrs J is walking along behind me.  In her Flip Flops.  (She's from Wisconsin, I've tried to explain things to her, but I'm her husband, what do I know?)

I motion for her to stop and she bumps into me.  I start to back up which forces her to back up also.  She's asking questions and I point to the spot on the ground shown about a third of the way down from the top of the above photo.  Yes...It's a snake.

We wait patiently for a few moments, as the snake evaluates the situation and decides to move on.  After about 6' of movement, his tail comes into view and, fortunately, there are no rattles.  It's a  Bull Snake, which makes it an ally, not a foe, in the ongoing fight against rodents..

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Having encountered one before (possibly even this one),  Mrs J and I (as well as Dr Jones) are of a mind on this particular subject. Consequently, the Snake shall now be known as "Reggie".

Turning to things of a more domestic nature, and because Memorial Day has a Military aspect to it, I would like to discuss an advantage of Military life that I did not begin to appreciate until this weekend.

As most folks, be they Military, Ex-Military, or just regular folks with a modicum of intellect (which leaves out most College Faculty and Students as well as Members of both Houses in Congress), are aware members of the Military tend to move often.  Generally at least every 3 years, sometimes more often.

When I retired from the Air Force at the age of 43, I counted up the times I changed my mailing address throughout my life.  That number was 49, which may have been understated by a couple that happened when I was in swaddling clothes, but 49 is a lot.

That meant I had seen a lot of the world.  Cool!

It also meant that I knew how to move.  Useful!

It also meant that I knew how to purge.

Purge, juvat?  Whatever do you mean?  Certainly not THIS definition?

No, Grasshopper, getting rid of unused, unwanted things, AKA crap!

Given the weight limits the military imposes on a service member to move, getting rid of stuff was mandatory.

Unfortunately, "stuff" reproduces more rapidly than over-sexed rabbits.  Exponentially exponentially.

So, Mrs J and I got to be pretty good at getting rid of stuff.

However, our last move was 20 years ago.  We've been in place for 20 years and have fallen out of practice in getting rid of "stuff"!

So, this weekend, my Commander-In-Chief, Mrs J, declared War (yes, it was confirmed by both the Texas Legislature, the US Congress and signed by DJT himself).   In a stirring speech she said  "We shall fight the junk in the Carport, in the closets, in the spare bedrooms, on the screened in Patio.  We shall never Surrender!"

Here's a slightly less stirring version of her speech that some piker plagiarized from her and time traveled back to June 4, 1940 to deliver it and steal her thunder..

In any case, that is why my usual pithy (No, Beans, not pissy, pithy!) commentary has been sparse lately.  We met with initial success in the battle of the Master Closet.  We can see the floor now and  16 x 33 Gal trash bags of clothing has been repatriated from the battleground to charity.

The broken chest of drawers that was awaiting me to get a "round to" for repair had been transferred also.  (Yes I repaired the drawer).  Thankfully, an old friend who was MIA was found and rescued.

Unfortunately, it is not without loss on our part.  Many of my beloved T-shirts, with pithy comments of course, are no more.  Some, but not all, will live on as rags in my workshop.

However, though the Battle of the Master Closet is over, the war is not yet won.  The Battle of the Screened-in Porch is nigh.  The penultimate battle will be the Battle of the Storage Shed, where Intel indicates that the Enemy has enlisted support from Red Wasps, Scorpions, Spiders and, possibly, some of Reggie's less friendly cousins.

Finally, as any great Commander knows, thanking and rewarding her warriors with the spoils of war encourages them to strive harder in further battles.

Lost booty found during the Battle of the Spare Bedroom was consumed with a Steak and Baked Potato

Essayons!
 

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