Howdy Campers! It's been a busy week here at Rancho Juvat. I finally figured out how to scroll desktop pictures in Windows 10, so now I'm treated to a variety of pictures that, for one reason or another, all kinda fit this theme.
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The good news this week is Mrs J and I are about to head to Moscow on the Colorado. Now that's not generally good news, however, purpose of said expedition is to rendezvous with a well tanned and well rested MBD and SIL. We're certain they will regale us with stories of fire dancers, poi, volcanoes, beaches and virgin Mai Tai's. In exchange for said stories, we will return Splat, to their care.
Splat, you will recall is the newly ordained callsign for their dog formally (and formerly) known as "Piper". Perhaps these pictures will give you an understanding of the appropriateness of the callsign.
And...
She's a very affectionate dog and loves company. However, we learned a hard lesson this past week. When we step out for a while, it's important to put her in her crate. When left alone, we found that she loves books, nay, devours them as a way to stave off boredom.
She went through the new Nora Robert's Novel "Legacy" in a matter of minutes. She's still a pup and has great potential and personality. Heck, even the cat's have stopped hissing at her, although Schmedley is still giving her the hairy eyeball. But...She still does that to me, also.
I was starting to go stir crazy (crazier?), so Mrs J suggested we take a little road trip for lunch Saturday. We decided on Pecan Street Brewery over in nearby Johnson City. Nearby being a Texan term for "less than an hour drive." They're in Pandemic Economic Recovery mode right now, AKA "Open for business, but extremely short handed". So there was a 25 minute wait. They took a cell phone number and said they'd text when the table was ready.
After viewing others waiting for a table, Mrs J and I decided we'd stroll around the downtown, the "Old" part of town.
First up was the old jail house, no longer in use.
For those of you who read historical markers.
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| Don't worry, you're among friends. Mrs J found |
I must have had an influence on Mrs J.
I know, Beans, I know.
Next up was the County Courthouse. It was completed in 1913. Which means it's almost as old as OldNFO.
It had the requisite artillery piece out front.
Having exhausted the history exploration, we went into the Johnson City Flea Market which happened to be open.
Mrs J wanted to buy this pair of men's underwear for me for some unknown reason.
Yes, I've sunk to Bean's level of blogging.
I did think this would make an interesting future woodworking project. Padauk, maple and walnut, they were asking $175. That would probably keep me in underwear for a while.
About this time, my phone buzzed and we hustled back to the brewery where I had that BLT again. They make them with an inch of bacon and stick lettuce and tomato somewhere in there, but at that point who cares about vegetables?
Oh, and I had a very nice English Pub style ale.
A very relaxing day it was. Hope your weekend went well also.
Peace Out, Y'all!
Well what's the deal with an inch of bacon.....wait....oh.... an inch THICK....well now, all right! BACON!! No mistaking the purpose of that jailhouse is there? Crates and some dogs go together like....bacon, lettuce and.....you get the idea. A friend has to do that with her pup otherwise the dog bed disappears.
ReplyDeleteYeah, as I mentioned that wasn't a blt. It was a Bacon!lt. It also comes with a pesto mayo which makes it even better.
DeleteAs to the crate, she doesn't even seem to mind it. Goes right in when told to. So...our bad, we forgot, but the book is still readable, so just a warning shot across the bow. " Don't do that again Grand-Dog-Parents! Love Splat"
Ah, a mini-travelogue of the local area. There are always some gems to be found.
ReplyDelete"Splat," now that's an awesome callsign.
We've been to and through Johnson City numerous times, to our friend's winery and through it to points east. US290 is a major east-west conduit for central Texas. Just never thought to stop and smell the roses, so to speak.
DeleteFrankly, I'd be afraid of that callsign.
DeleteYes, from yours and my point of view, splat would be the event. The Tactical Call sign committee universally agreed that this word represented the aftermath.
Delete"Splat" looks very appropriate, but it reminds me of "Crash" when used as a callsign. As to crates, my son had a wonderful mostly lab who was VERY destructively chewy as a pup. Almost chewed the doors off a bathroom cabinet, so was put in a.cage that sat on the floor of the kitchen. It had four sides and a top but didn't have a bottom, so said pup chewed up big hunks of the linoleum floor. Thank goodness he (pup, not son) grew out of that phase fairly quickly and became a wonderful companion.
ReplyDeleteThe stone jail on the square in Granbury is also of that era and just as imposing.
Keep your head on a swivel in Moscow on the Colorado - it's quite the mess these days from what I read and hear. Has gone from a nice weird to insane
Tom,
DeleteI've heard good things about Granbury and think we'll plan an excursion there. It's outside the "nearby" radius, but not so bad as to require an overnight. Not that that's a prohibiter, more of a planning factor.
As to MOTC, the rendezvous point for the hand off was a dog friendly brew pub downtown on Oltdorf St. We assessed that Mrs J and my ages added together was a bigger number than the sum of the next 5 oldest people there ages. That having been said, there were several dogs present and after much sniffing and tail wagging, all settled in for the fun. I did notice a lull in the conversation when a patrol car and ambulance came by sirens wailing, but when they passed, things returned to normal. You're right, I try to avoid MOTC as much as possible.
Years and years ago Dad finally got the beagle pup that he'd wanted for a long time.
ReplyDeleteThe beagle pup chewed the fabric off of the kitchen chairs, and after the chair were repaired and stacked on top of the kitchen table while we were out, he pulled the tablecloth enough to get the chairs to fall on the floor and then he chewed the new fabric.
I never got around to asking if the dog really went to a "farm" or was it the same farm that we will spend eternity buried in.
We still had dogs in our lives, but no more beagles.
Our first dog when I was a kid was a beagle. The kids all loved him. Mom not so much, for many of the same reasons. We and my parents had dogs pretty much continuously since, but, as you say, no more beagles.
DeleteBeagles are willful little shites. Noisy, hyper, toothy pains in the butts. DAMHIK.
DeleteYeah, but "First Dawg" you know?
DeleteHave the name of the roadside sign app handy?
ReplyDeleteSorry Rob, I misspoke, I asked her for the name, it wasn't an app, She'd search for the Texas Historical Marker and Marker Number. She was doing this so fast, I'd read off the number at the 1 mile ahead marker and she'd be reading it to me by the time we passed it. I just assumed she had an app.
DeleteOne of her go to sites is https://texashistoricalmarkers.weebly.com/ and add the marker number.
Thanks!
DeleteMy Pleasure.
DeleteShredder works as a good call sign too I suppose. Sounds like that BLT was delicious, although the L and the T were silent. We have the same problem with restaurants and other businesses out here. We are wide open, no restrictions, but people don't want to work since they're still being paid generously by our president. I also hear that big companies are poaching employees from others that never shut down, so they don't have the money to give huge bonuses and raises that are being given by covid stimulized businesses.
ReplyDeleteTuna,
DeleteI think that's a big problem pretty much everywhere. I'm vacillating on whether the cause is poor planning on the gummint's part or intentional. Leaning towards the latter most of the time.
Combined with the eviction moratorium and lots of the things being said by the puppet, well, it's the kulakization of our nation. Grrrr.
DeleteYeah, my impression on his handling of that moratorium is dangerously close to a line that he really shouldn't cross. If the rules that restrict government officials to actions we agreed on don't apply to him, why should they apply to us?
DeleteHe went against the Supreme Court. Of course, Chief Justice Roberts is a wobbly squishy idiot, so...
DeleteYeah. What happened to a government that answers to the people?
I wonder what a bacon sandwich would be like?
DeleteIt's good Dave, real good. Not that I'm trying to torment you, but.......
DeleteBeans,
DeleteAt some point, Mr. Roberts is going to have to grow a pair. Just sayin'
Sounds delicious and looks fun Juvat. It is nice when small towns try to retain their personality.
ReplyDeleteSplat seems appropriate. When we first got Poppy The Brave, she also "moved" through a number of volumes.
How is the hand doing?
The Hands, (both are done now), are doing well. The right hand still has a bit of incision scab showing, the left is virtually invisible. Both still require a lot of massaging. I have my final checkup with the surgeon later this week. I don't expect any surprises (but then who suspects surprises?)
DeleteJohnson City.... There was a gun shop on the west side of Sabinal. The owner used to be a Texas DPS officer in the 50's. We were talking once, and he mentioned he got a call out near Johnson City. Seems the mom of LBJ had run over a mailman. And she wouldn't move the car and he was stuck until she did. He zipped over to help out, when LBJ showed up. He said he very nearly arrested them both, as they would'nt move the car until the mailman agreed not to sue.
ReplyDeleteEverytime I hear Johnson City, I think about that.... Glad you made it out alive...
STxAR,
DeleteYeah, the Ranch is on 290 between FBG and JC (technically just east of Stonewall). Every time I drive by I render what I consider a proper salute to the 36th President. (It's 4 fingers short of a proper military salute.) Course the 4 Asses that followed have generally continued the swirling tail slide into the toilet that party has planned for the US.
That having been said, the populace was friendly and helpful, so maybe it's not all gloom and doom.
My wife's first dog as an adult was a German Shepherd/Newfoundland mix. Whom decided during her late puppy portion that everything was edible. 2 pounds of chocolates and 2 plastic jars of kitty vitamins (including the plastic jars)? She met us at the door, obviously after getting out of her kennel, with her legs crossed and as she was leaving the porch the flow began.
ReplyDeleteThe wife's arm-rest teddy bear? Used to have a nice face, dog ate it, teddy punched dog, ever after wife could hold teddy up and say "What's this?" and dog would hang head.
Eating the blanket that was within reach of her when she was in her cage? I found lavender wool poop for months.
And after eating a couple books, she read a book by a bunch of monks somewhere that dealt with difficult dogs. And used one of their techniques. Next book got masking-taped into dog's mouth for an hour. Never ever touched another book, or anything of 'mommy's.'
Too bad that cannon has been demilitarized, else one could use that to shoot at LBJ's place as a proper salute.
And BLTs... Much prefer making my own, as there's the perfect combination of not-quite-crunchy bacon, fresh tomato slices, the outer crisp green leaves of iceberg lettuce, the proper generous slather of mayonnaise and a good white bread (maybe with sesame seeds on top.) Mmmmm. Dangit, now I want BLTs. And there's no tomatoes in the house. Grrrr.
Sounds like you had fun. Is typing any better now after the surgeries?
In reverse order, Yes, the carpal tunnel syndrome is non-existent now. Hands still ache from the surgery occasionally, and I need to remember not to try to lift anything by spreading a hand over the top of anything wide. Frequent massaging of the palm muscles has helped a lot (thank you whomever told me about that). Hand strength is returning fairly quickly, I no longer require pliers to unscrew the ketchup bottle. (for real). Follow -up with the Doc on Wed, I expect not problem.
DeleteI'm glad she survived, I'm not a vet (ernarian, I am a eran), but I understand that chocolate can be particularly lethal to dogs. Masking tape the book to the dog. Hmmmm, that would certainly get MY attention and I'd never touch another book.
Yours and my BLT's sound pretty much the same. You might add a bit of pesto sauce or fresh basil to the mayo. Really adds to the flavor.
Don't think that cannon would have the range. The ranch is about 15 miles west. James Polk Johnson was LBJ's grandfather's Cousin, Not sure what that relationship is, so let's just say "distant". Stonewall was where he was born and died (according to Wikipedia), there's not a hospital in Stonewall, so....He is buried there though.
Your excellent description of a BLT made my mouth water. Now I gotta go get bacon and tomato!
DeleteYou have a truck. You can get a trailer hitch. Gun has a trailer ring. If everything's working, you can shoot and scoot and avoid pesky counter-battery fire.
DeleteTuna, You're Bingo Bacon? 😢
DeleteSince it's just Mrs J and I, bacon in the fridge tends to go bad, but. serving size bags in the Freezer? Don't get much better than that. Last virtually forever, thaw quickly and cook as good as new. Learned that during the early pandemic hysteria.
Yes, but ammo is so expensive now. If I could mount it off the roof of the truck and train it like a turret, then.....I could have some fun.
DeleteI'm guessing that not everyone in Johnson city was named Howard. They probably didn't laugh at that part of Blazing Saddles.
ReplyDeleteI had forgotten that Joke Captain. Thanks for the remembrance chuckle.
DeleteTouring those old towns 'can' be educational... And I'm not 'quite' that old! LOL Sounds like a good BLT, compared to what the wokies are selling!
ReplyDeleteWell, you're right, within a year or two, though. It really was good.
DeleteI had a tasty (for him) bite from a 110 pound "puppy" four weeks ago. You can still see where the two canines went in, followed by the teeth between them. What a playful creature he is. Not mine. Wouldn't be - ever! Unfortunately my Miss Jeanie's best friend's husband is the retired Veterinarian who thinks he knows how to train a puppy.
ReplyDeleteDo I sound somewhat Piss - - angry? The episode did help me gather stuff for our "go bag". Ahhh, the old "learn from experience what you need" thing.
Sort of like more rudder instead of stick whilst fooling around in the air.
Yeah, I can see how that would "try men's souls". Hope you're doing ok though.
DeleteAh yes, rudder rather than stick. I know of wence you are speaking. It was useful in the Eagle also, even though the computer did most of the actual flying. It was very nice way to get the nose to point when you were in a very slow high AOA scissors. The computer took care of not stalling, the rudder moved the pipper towards the target. The Eagle drivers that were born in the Eagle, and thought they were Manfred, learned a bit when the second generation of transition guys came into the squadron. The first Eagle drivers had retired or gone to staff (staff being the polite form of "Hell"), thought they were unbeatable. They were good, some very good, but unbeatable? Nope.
Thanks for reminding me of an excellent ride against my Squadrons o-3 Weapons Officer. Fond Memories, Fond Memories.
@juvat/
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of "stick & rudder" go back (if you've the time & inclinations)and see my (very late) comment on your post re: *SPNS :)