Mountain Bangers

A light and flavorsome meal is featured. It is gathered from the barnyard, the garden, and the orchard.

1. Heat Italian (turkey) sausage with ham slices on low until browned in crock-pot.
2.  Boil rice (of choice) with a low heat warm with olive oil while mixing greens (of choice), peas, and mushrooms (Scrambled egg is an option).
3. Add an avocado, banana, and strawberry salad.

Invite Cabernet Sauvignon or one of her cousins.

Butterfly Bush

Me grandmother had her one....I gots one!
Caught me first butterfly on hers when I was ~ 3 yrs old.

Meet the Rev Jessie Duplantis.

The good Reverend is asking his followers to fund  a 54 million dollar airplane to aid him in his mission.  It will be the 4th plane in his collection.  Duplantis reportedly lives in a 35,000-square-foot plantation home built in the late ’00s at a cost of $3 million. His net worth has been estimated at $50 million.   Jesus, is there no decency left anywhere.  

elephants of india

                                          

As part of the Holi – the Hindu Festival of Colors to celebrate the arrival of spring – the Elephant Festival has become a large tradition.  In Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, each year elephants are paraded, bejeweled, and painted. The end result is a fabulous transformation from a grey behemoth to a wonderful palette of colors and designs.

On this Memorial Day; A favorite haunting lament by Dick Gaughan, whose voice and guitar I love so well. (he's retired from music and works in computer coding now).

Farewell to Sicily

The pipie is dozie, the pipie is fey
He wullnae come roun for his vino the day
The sky owre Messina is unco an gray
An aa the bricht chaumers are eerie

Fareweill ye banks o Sicily
Fare ye weill ye valley an shaw
There's nae Jock will murn the kyles o ye
Aa the bricht chaumers are eerie
[Puir bliddy swaddies are wearie]
Fareweill ye banks o Sicily
Fare ye weill ye valley an shaw
There's nae hame can smour the wiles o ye
Aa the bricht chaumers are eerie
[Puir bliddy swaddies are wearie]

Then doun the stair an line the watterside
Wait yer turn the ferry's awa
Then doun the stair an line the watterside
Aa the bricht chaumers are eerie

The drummie is polisht, the drummie is braw
He cannae be seen for his wabbin ava
He's beezed himsell up for a photie an aa
Tae leave wi his Lola, his dearie

Fareweill ye banks o Sicily
Fare ye weill ye sheilin an haa
We'll aa mind shebeens an bothies
Whaur kind signorinas were cheerie
Fareweill ye banks o Sicily
Fare ye weill ye sheilin an haa
We'll aa mind shebeens an bothies
Whaur Jock made a date wi his dearie

Then tune the pipes an drub the tenor drum
Leave yer kit this side o the waa
Then tune the pipes an drub the tenor drum
Puir bluidy swaddies are wearie
[Aa the bricht chaumers are eerie]

Nehemiah's Jerusalem

Nehemiah's time was about the second half of the 5th century B.C.  Jerusalem at this time is estimated at about 30 acres in area with a population of ~4500. 
Jerusalem at the time of Jesus was ~230 acres and ~40,000 inhabitants.
Jerusalem today is of almost 50 square miles in area with ~763,800 residnets

Shetland Pony

Research conducted by the University College Dublin, Equinome Ltd and the University of Cambridge suggests that the modern Thoroughbred sprinter got its speed from one gene of a single Shetland pony .

Shetland ponies originated in the Shetland Isles, located northeast of mainland Scotland.

Thank You

The 'Hillboulies'

Scottish champion 'boules' bowlers.  Nice uniforms, catchy name.

the Creek 

by J L Carey jr

A world itself.

A world meandering
Through the backyard
Universe of nettles.

This living,
Breathing
Microcosmic universe.

The creeks orbit,
Streaming, winding,
Forging through it.

Melancholy, Nostalgia, I canna hepit.

dick gaughan

As I walked by Loch Lomond side On a fine spring morning The sun fought with the icy rain That came on without warning And all the wee birds sang again As the mountains shed their winter snow A finer sight I'd never seen That day upon the road By Glen Douglas then I travelled west Across the hills to reach Loch Long It put my mettle to the test And in my heart a joyful song From Scotland and her beauty wild So many years I'd been away I felt the wonder of a child That day upon the road But before my eyes the scene it changed Man-made structures flanked the hills Caverns grim of concrete gray In rows so menacing and still I wondered what these things could be No reason for them, could I find A change of mood came over me That day upon the road A shepherd working in the glen Told me what had happened there To make the work of many men The storehouse of tomorrow's fear For in these mighty caverns grim Avenging swords in rows did stand To unleash war some dreadful day With pain and death in every land I felt so sad just standing there In a place I'd once loved well Now used without permission asked To house the very teeth of hell But all those folk who strive for peace My heart went out to all of them Their struggle's on, it musn't cease - I tell you now, as I told myself that day upon the road

The world IS truely coming to an end.

Bay mussels in Washington's Puget Sound have tested positive for oxycodone. "We found antibiotics, we found antidepressants, chemotherapy drugs, heart medications and also oxycodone," according to biologist Jennifer Lanksbury, who led the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife study.

a pup having a bad day

another gold rush

A 100 oz gold nugget was found in the northern part of the state, in the same area that prompted the California gold rush....worth ~$170,000.

I LOVE THE SCOTS

Ardnamurchan Trust, a Highlands charity, working with a local whiskey distillery, has initiated a uniquely Scottish campaign to encourage local children to get an education.  Casks of whisky are to be bought for children age 10 to 17 in a west Highland community for them to sell when they turn 18.  Once 18, they can sell the spirit back to the distillery or a bottling firm, potentially making more than £3,000, to fund further education or training.  Or, as in my case, drink it.

One of the neighborhood bears got stuck in a car.

Poem by Chief tecumsah

“So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.

Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and grovel to none.

When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself.

Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision. When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.”

crab apple tree in bloom

Them fine apples not be far behind now.

living Psalm 55

"Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
    I would fly away and be at rest.
7 I would flee far away
    and stay in the desert.
8 I would hurry to my place of shelter,
    far from the tempest and storm.”

Almost heaven Appalachia

lilacs in bloom

 jpr: my lilac is in bloom....smells heavenly. My mock orange is budded already???

solar analema

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N58I2grkq2Q

If you could record the position of the sun in the sky at the same time every day, let’s say sometime around noon and subtracting one hour if you are observing daylight saving time, you would notice that the sun takes a rather strange path. You might notice that at certain times throughout the year the sun's position not only varies higher and lower (North and South) as you would expect with the change of the seasons, but also slightly east and west. This figure-8 path that the sun makes in the sky is called the analemma

Absurd, poverity, childhood hunger, famine, yet

A rare bottle of Scotch distilled in 1923 and bottled in 1986 solid for more than $1 million at auction this week.   A less well known bottle, same dates,  netted $900.000 at the same event.

More strange English sports.

Tractor soccer, 3 to a side, no goalie.  Get the impression the English have too much free time?

women getting "down"

more women are financially able to marry for love and not $$$.............................?????

England's National Amputee Football Club

Thought for the day.

THE ELEPHANT by Ogden Nash

Elephants are useful friends,

Equipped with handles at both ends,

They have a wrinkled moth proof hide,

Their teeth are upside down, outside,

If you think the elephant preposterous,

You’ve probably never seen a rhinosterous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUzpPwzA2QQ

nap time

Giant Panda Breeding Center in Chengdu, China. 

wolf rüdiger hess

Rudolph Hess' son...Wolf Hess 18 November 1937 -- 24 October 2001

jpr: Is there not something familiar about Wolf?

examination time

Cheating Statistics

• Cheating typically begins in middle school
• Nine out of ten middle schoolers admit to copying someone else's homework; two-thirds say they have cheated on exams
• Cheating most often occurs in science and math classes
• 75%-98% percent of college students surveyed each year admit to cheating at some time in their academic careers
• The college students who are most likely to cheat are engineering and business majors

yoga gone bad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7ihdsjIqhI&oref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DT7ihdsjIqhI&has_verified=1

Elbert Hubbard: "We are punished by our sins, not for them."

a beautiful wishing well

"When the gods wish to punish us they answer our prayers."
Oscar Wilde 


" Wish I had an answer to that because I'm tired of answering that question."
Yogi Berra 

"My uncle's dying wish - he wanted me on his lap. He was in the electric chair."
Rodney Dangerfield 

Another useless factoide

Irish born players have a long history in major league baseball.   But the most famous was Tim Sullivan, from County Clare, who has had the greatest impact on the World's sporting lexicon, shortening the word "fanatic" to "fan" to describe those that passionately follow baseball.  Who knew?

surprise...kinda

jpr: Just needed a wake me up with a smile!

a stream for walking

jpr: This is the type of stream we walked along as children and I took my sons to seek adventures.

trash or man's spent wealth

jpr: I think she still has the original paint.

a happy face

jpr: contagious...no?

Big Bully Busick

Big Bully Busick, WWF star, died in Weirton this week.  RIP

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bully_Busick

appalachian chicken coops

keeps them safe from critters!

Got Religion?

prophetic guy; i'm a follower

Queen of the May

O Mary! we crown thee with blossoms today Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May

  a lovely lovely voice   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQbhbUil750


jpr: i suspect  we Irish at work here!

lawn mower drunken driving is an epidemic

(1)  south carolina mayor stopped but not arrested going down highway for gas at night???

                              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqyKOwfpp9A

(2)

NDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana man was arrested and charged with driving a lawn mower while intoxicated, police said.

On Saturday, officers pulled over Barry Ridge, 46, of Franklin, Ind., while he was driving down County Road 100 North on a red lawn mower, according to the Johnson County (Ind.) Sheriff's department.

The Franklin Police Department received a complaint early Saturday evening from someone upset that Ridge drove onto their yard and started mowing the grass. Ridge then headed down the road.

world's smallest bird

The Bee Hummingbird. I caught this one last summer inside my whiskey glass out on the deck.

Appalachian parking lot

Oh March thou willful villain!

It is fortunate that the nature of the rose is to delight in spring's chill.

bluebird nest box

Even though the bluebird population has greatly decreased, the future can still be promising for them. The most important step we can take to help bring back the bluebird is to provide nesting sites by setting out a bluebird box or starting a bluebird trail. A bluebird trail is a series of bluebird boxes placed along a prescribed route. In areas where nesting boxes have been put up in suitable habitat, bluebird populations are increasing. Bluebirding is a great environmental, hands-on project that people of all ages can enjoy.

see http://www.nabluebirdsociety.org/gettingstarted.htm

Jupiter and its moons

The planet Jupiter has 67 confirmed moons. The four largest moons are called the Galilean satellites, after Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, who observed them in 1610.

jpr: The motion of the four largest moons can be observed with an inexpensive binocular. Help to locate Jupiter in the night sky http://www.astroviewer.com/interactive-night-sky-map.php.

Need I say more.

The Gabby Hayes Show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mshAZhYoJEk

Only 13 episodes in early 1950s. Fred "Mr." Rodgers was floor producer. Gabby narrated an old western cut to fit half  hour tv show.

Outrage: Trump Wont Release JFK Assassination Files!Dick Morris TV: Lunc...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnSNfxjrwck

Amazing

Easton Roy, a retired roofer,  played 40 minutes of rugby this week to celebrate his 95th birthday.  He scored several times despite not having played for 10 years. The veteran played for Stirling County RFC for 60 years before giving the younger players a chance.  But the winger ran out last Friday in a charity match featuring club legends and current players. He is thought to be the world's oldest rugby player. NO DOUBT