2010

A Tribute to the Dog

The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog.

A man's dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master's side.

He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer; he will lick the wounds and soars that come in encounter with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince.

When all other friends desert, he remains.

When riches take wing and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens.

~ Senator George Vest, 1870

Eagles at the Conowingo Dam

Merry Christmas

In the Neighborhood....Big Snow 2009

PHOTOS

Great Shots in 2009

A Goat Named Tiger

As the French say...

Tombstone of Note

Beautiful Barn

The Pub on the square in Gettysburg

ready for the holidays

Happy

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Women

"The surest remedy for the male disease of self-contempt is the love of a sensible woman."
~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Nine Words Women Use

(1) Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are

right and you need to shut up.

(2) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour.

Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more

minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

(3) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something,

and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually

end in fine.

(4) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't do it!

(5) Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement

often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot

and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you

about nothing. (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of nothing).

(6) That's Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a woman

can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard

before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

(7) Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say

you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she

says "Thanks alot"- that is pure sarcasm and she is not thanking you at

all. DO NOT say "you're welcome". That will bring on a "whatever").

(8) Whatever: Is a woman's way of saying FUCK YOU!

(9) Don't worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning

this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is

now doing it herself. This will later result in an man asking "What's

wrong?" For the woman's response refer to #3.

*****************************************************

From the movie As Good As It Gets:

Melvin Udall: I've got a really great compliment for you, and it's true.

Carol Connelly: I'm so afraid you're about to say something awful.

Melvin Udall: Don't be pessimistic, it's not your style. Okay, here I go: Clearly, a mistake. I've got this, what - ailment? My doctor, a shrink that I used to go to all the time, he says that in fifty or sixty percent of the cases, a pill really helps. I *hate* pills, very dangerous thing, pills. Hate. I'm using the word "hate" here, about pills. Hate. My compliment is, that night when you came over and told me that you would never... well, you were there, you know what you said. Well, my compliment to you is, the next morning, I started taking the pills.

Carol Connelly: I don't quite get how that's a compliment for me.

Melvin Udall : You make me want to be a better man.

Carol Connelly...That's maybe the best compliment of my life.

Melvin Udall: Well, maybe I overshot a little, because I was aiming at just enough to keep you from walking out.

Cool Map of a Bad Situation

County by County Unemployment

Rules of Action

Action

Sunday's Sunset

Stone House

This house was used as a field hospital during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Funny Stuff

Seriously Funny Print Ads

Fall Colors

Martini the Dog

Along the Heritage Rail Trail...

Howard Tunnel

the oldest continuously operational railroad tunnel in the world.

This painting on rock at the north entrance of the tunnel

Earl Snyder's Halloween Surprise

Earl Snyder made two very bad decisions that day. During breakfast, after his wife had spilled coffee over the table, he flew into a violent rage, grabbed her by the hair, threw her against the refrigerator, then landed his fist on her face again and again. She lay bloodied on the floor as he stormed out the back door. “Stupid bitch,” he yelled back at her.

That afternoon in the woods near his house Snyder began killing squirrels. One shot led to another and, after a few hours, he had killed 27 squirrels which he told himself must have been some sort of record for an afternoon hunt. The desire to share this thought led him to the Belly Up Bar. Inside he downed several shots and beers and happily recounted to others both the beating of his wife and the amazing number of squirrels he had killed that day.

Hours later he walked out of the bar into the fading twilight. By the time he turned his Silverado into his dirt driveway it was nearly dark. He parked under the old oak tree at the side of his house.

It happened as he pulled himself drunkenly out of the truck. Several squirrels dropped out of the tree and landed on him. Claws dug into his skin. He felt panic. He frantically tried to brush the squirrels off of him, but they clung to him tightly. Then dozens more squirrels fell out of the tree. In seconds squirrels covered his whole body. He screamed and flailed at them, but they dug in. Teeth bit into his flesh. Snyder fell to the ground, and the squirrels swarmed over him gnawing and tearing at him. He wailed in pain.

The screams brought Snyder’s wife to the window. She saw what was happening. She did not move to help him. She did not look away.

Finally the screaming ended, but the squirrels continued in a rapacious frenzy. Flesh and muscle were torn away from bone. Snyder’s body was in a thousand bloody pieces under the oak.

Earl Snyder had lived his last Halloween.

Brought to you as a public service...

PLAYMATES

Glimpse of Autumn

Sartorial Splendor

Hey, You Big Baby

Solar Decathlon 2009

I checked out the Solar Decathlon 2009 at the National Mall on Tuesday. It's a competition in which 20 teams of college and university students compete to design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house.

I found a large enthusiastic crowd at this year's decathlon with long lines waiting to get into each house, in contrast to two years ago where the crowd was sparse at best.

The houses impressed. Passive solar principles and photovoltaic blended nicely together, and the choice of building materials was innovative and back-to-the-earth at the same time.

One of the best aspects of this was seeing college students working on a solution to a critical world problem.

Cheers!

Penn State

University of Illinois (current point leader)

California

Please read more.

SOLAR DECATHLON

MUG SHOTS

43 seconds

Is this for real?


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Mother Earth Harvest Fair

Last Sunday afternoon I went to the Mother Earth Harvest Fair at the Spoutwood Farm near Glen Rock , PA. It was like walking back into a kinder, gentler time, perhaps between the American Revolution and the advent of the industrial era, and it was like having the Whole Earth Catalog come to life before you.

I fell into the frolicsome freak parade with: Believers in the Middle Earth, the organic folks, those who think rattlesnakes won't cross rope, believers in aroma therapy, meditative hypnosis, and the healing power of herbs, the Solar enthusiasts, salt-of-the-earth people, back-to-the-earth people, people who believe in fairies and people who believe they are fairies, old hippies, new hippies, body artists, the Gaia theorists (who believe that the earth is a remarkably complex, living, self-regulating super-organism), tattooed men in kilts, women with rainbow hair in Birkenstocks, Grace Lefever (the grand dame of York County nutrition), musical guests, a man with a blue face, some guy who had dressed himself as a grassy knoll, and a host of dogs.

At the foot of a hill, a drum circle pounded out an incessant, mildly hypno-erotic beat which could be heard all over the farm and which sort of held the disparate earth elements together.



Here were people who believe in alternatives -in medicine, energy, farming, lifestyles - all slightly off kilter but all in one peaceful spot having some easy, old-timey fun.

A great way to spend a warm fall afternoon.




SPOUTWOOD FARM

The Grand Pyramid of Pumpkins

Amish on the Beach at Dawn

From a British newspaper...

via Cherry Hill, New Jersey...

BUZZING UNDIES MAKE SHOPPER FAINT

A woman collapsed in a supermarket when her vibrating panties made her faint with pleasure.

The kinky 33-year old housewife was wearing a pair of battery-operated Passion Pants bought from a sex shop, while she did her shopping, according to the British tabloid The Sun.

But she got so stimulated by the 6cm bullet in the panties that she lost consciousness.

She fell and hit her head in the crowed supermarket in Swansea, Wales.

When paramedics arrived they found her black imitation leather knickers still buzzing.

They took them off before an ambulance took her to the hospital.

The woman, whose identity has been kept private, suffered no long-lasting ill effects.

And as she left the hospital, a paramedic gave her back the Passion Pants in a plastic bag.

A spokesman for the ASDA supermarket chain told the Sun: “We like to think shopping with us is exciting enough already.”

A Thought for the Weekend

Dogs on the Beach

Awesome Sand Sculpture