Gino...if frankenstein had a dog.

I don't normally blog about pets and such but I'll make an exception here.

When I was about 10 years old my parents came into my room at 2 am and woke me out of a dead sleep. "wake up wake up you have to climb over the neighbors wall and get a dog"
Groggily, I tried to understand what they were talking about, not suceeding at all.
Still in my pajamas I threw on a pair of sneakers and followed my parents into the back yard.

The back yard was surrounded by a 7 foot brick wall and I jumped up and leaned over to see what was the matter. I saw a smallish white dog huddled near a bowl of food cowering from a large doberman. This doberman was vicoulsly barking and snapping at this poor dog. The white dog was a stray that had wandered into the big yard for the food.

I never had a fear of dogs for some reason. I hopped over walked past the doberman, picked up the happless white dog and handed him over the wall. The angry doberman was just happy to get back to the food bowl and there was no further incident.

The next day we took the him to the vet who told us that the dog is very old, deaf and toothless but otherwise in decent overall health.

My dad named the dog "Gino" after some ugly old toothless guy that he worked with.
Once I got this dog into the light, I could see that it was no ordinary mutt.

This dog was special. Not special in a show dog kind of way but special in a frankenstein's monster type of way.

This dog had front legs shorter than his back legs making him look jacked up like some canine hotrod. He had very few teeth and the ones he did have were kind of a funky color.

He had large warts in his fur that looked like caulifower growing out of his back.

This dog had a green slimy nose and muzzle due to a chronic sinus infection.

Gino was stone deaf. Deaf as a stone. This dog could not hear shit.

Gino had huge swollen pink bald patches on his body that were actually deformed fat pockets.

The rest of him was covered in wirey coarse curly off white fur.

Gino didn't bark much but his growl sounded like the horn on an old model T, "aoooga"

The dog seemed happy enough and liked to play, but you had to be very careful.
If Gino got riled up, he would have a sneezing attack and blow chunks of green slimy snot all over those unfortunate enough to be in the line of fire.

Yes, the dog was strange, but he was likeable in an old senile uncle sort of way.

We got Gino in 1979 when the dog was supposedly 13 years old. He lived until 1986.We finally had to put him down when he couldn't walk anymore.

I still don't know what he was, but I have to say he never pissed on the carpet and he was handy at scaring off unwelcome guests with his frightful looks and green chunky sneezes.

What does your restroom say about you?

One thing that a good host needs beyond anything else is a well stocked restroom.

How do you think a guest in your home feels if there is no soap, toilet paper, hand towels and the toilet seat is hanging on by one loose bolt?

Yep, some people take a clean comfortable bathroom for granted.

I assure you I'm not one to go over to someones house as a guest and pollute their facilities, but the loo really needs to be in proper working order.

I mean heck, what is the first thing you learn from those Spanish at home tapes....Dónde está el baño....

If you have an unavoidable bathroom issue in your house like having to jiggle the handle, holding the button down for a few seconds, or having to use a coat hanger to chop up turdzilla, it's always best to let your guest know before hand so he or she can be prepared.

And for god sakes HAVE A PLUNGER READY FOR YOUR GUEST!!! I cannot emphasize this enough. Do you know how embarassing it is to come out of the restroom and have to inform your host at a dinner party that the HMS Titanic hasn't yet met her watery grave.

Which brings me to the subject of odor nullification. Some people have very efficient digestive systems which break down food and nutrients down to their base elements. In other words the smells they create could knock a buzzard off a gut truck. Have some spray, a candle, matches, or install an industrial exhaust fan. Nobody likes leaving or walking into a thick wall of palpable stench.

In all fairness, not everything is the hosts responsibility. My mother in law spackles the back of my commode to the point where I have to rent a sand blaster after she marks her territory.

Let me just go crazy for a minute here and lets suppose I walk into the restroom after you have done your duty and the soap, towel and sink are all bone dry. I'm sorry. but get your hands out of the bowl of mixed nuts you dirty sombitch. I'm throwing away everything you have touched and you are lucky I don't go hazmat on your sorry ass.

Speaking of Hazmat, I've taken an informal survey of restrooms in American restaurants.I have come up with some very definite conclusions based unfortunately on the type of establishment it is.

Chinese restaurant: Well stocked, fairly clean but dilapidated with mismatched tile, peeling paint and often doubles as a storage closet. May or may not be safe to sit down, toiliet paper can just barely be defined as such.

Indian: Clean and well stocked, often smells like lemons. It's the one room in the whole restaurant not decorated with sequined elephants.

French restaurant: Often nicely decorated with whimiscal posters and wall tiles. Soothing music piped in.

Thai restaurant: Clean, utilitarian no frills the light switch is on a timer so hurry up about it!

Mexican restaurant: Depends on the style, a large scale family eatery with fake tasteless velveeta mexican food usually has clean facilities.

Home-style Mexican restaurant with good tasty food: Filthy restroom, no soap, odd lingering smells and usually a pile of asswiped toilet paper thrown in the corner. May or may not have a chalk outline where the body used to be.

Japanese: Clean and pleasant, take off your shoes before entering.

Greek. I'm not bullshitting you. Greek restaurants and cafe's have the most spotless well maintained restrooms in the known universe. You would be hard pressed to find anything cleaner and more pleasant.

Italian: Take a little French and mix in a little Greek and voila!

American: They are cleaned on a schedule but not overly so, the locks on the stalls are usually broken but there is plenty of poetry and graphic illustration for your reading pleasure.

I'ts a mad mad mad mad world

Remind me to stay away from Somalia

Its Cactus Jack!

New meaning to cold dead fingers
I guess they do house calls
Sorry to disappoint you Hillary...that rod is for Walter

What is collodial silver?

Good question from Kirsten Namskau

Collodial silver is silver metal that is disolved in distilled water by means of electrolosis.It can be made at home with a simple device or it can be bought in concentrated form.

I usually get it from healthfood stores. Be sure to buy the highest PPM (parts per million) that you can get I usually get 500ppm to 1500 ppm and dilute it as needed.

Here is a good article on collodial silver: http://fennterra.com/articles.html

I have used it to cure just about anything relating to germs or viruses.

I haven't been to a doctor in 13 years thanks in no small part to this substance.

From the article:
"To prevent disease, ancient Greeks lined their eating and drinking vessels with silver, as did many cultures throughout the world. . (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1910)Silverware became popular 1,900 years ago when Physicians advised their patients to only eat with silver if they wanted to stay healthy.

During the 14th century, about 25% of the people in Europe died from the bubonic plague. Wealthy parents gave their children silver spoons to suck on to battle the plague. This lead to the expression, "Born with a silver spoon in your mouth".In 1884, Dr. Crede. a German obstetrician, discovered that a mild silver solution put in a babies eyes at birth, would prevent eye infections. This practice rapidly became mandated and is still practiced today in hospitals throughout the world. In 1915 Dr. Leggeroe also worked with adult eyes. He said it was "the most useful opthalmic remedy he had ever seen for eye infections."Pioneers of the American West would put a silver dollar in a jug of milk to keep it fresh without refrigeration. (Health Consciousness Magazine, Vol. 15, No. 4)

Dr. Henry Crooks found that Silver, in the colloidal state, may be applied in a much more concentrated form, with corresponding better results. All fungus, virus, bacterium, streptococcus, staphylococcus, and other pathogenic organisms are killed in three or four minutes [invitro]; in fact, there is no microbe known that is not killed by Colloidal Silver in six minutes or less, at dilution of as little as five parts per million, although there are no side effects whatsoever from high concentrations. - (Use of Colloids in Health and Disease, Health Consciousness Magazine, Vol. 15, No. 4) "

Hope this helps.

Helpful hints

If you see an ant mound in your yard, buy a 5 pound bag of white sugar and pour it generously over all the mounds. The ants will cease foraging and consume the empty calorie sugar and starve to death within 48 hours.

Use rubbing alcohol to remove ink stains

Colloidal silver will kill any germ, virus or fungus with no side effects. I use it for cuts, mouthwash and soured laundry. It also prevents milk from going bad without altering the taste.

Microwave your underwear if you suffer from crotch rot or a yeast infection.

Gargling with pure squeezed lemon juice will clear a sore throat and kill most of the germs residing on the tonsils.

Take 4 aspirin before going to bed if you have been drinking.

Soak your faucet aerators in vinegar overnight if you have hard water. Run a quart of vinegar in your dishwasher to remove scale and get the lime off of your dishes.

Favorite movie quotes.

Pulp fiction... Christopher Walken:
Captain Koons: The way your dad looked at it, this watch was your birthright. He'd be damned if any of the slopes were gonna get their greasy yellow hands on his boy's birthright. So he hid it in the one place he knew he could hide something: his ass. Five long years, he wore this watch up his ass. Then when he died of dysentery, he gave me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable piece of metal up my ass for two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the watch to you.

The Big Lebowski... Jeff Bridges:
[while dunking the Dude's head in the toilet]

Thug: Where's the money, Lebowski? Where's the fucking money, shithead?

The Dude: It's uh... uh... it's down there somewhere, let me take another look.

Blazing Saddles.... Harvey Korman and Slim Pickens:

Hedley Lamarr: My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives.

Taggart: God darnit Mr. Lamarr, you use your tongue prettier than a twenty dollar whore.

Young Frankenstein... Gene Wilder:

Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Love is the only thing that can save this poor creature, and I am going to convince him that he is loved even at the cost of my own life. No matter what you hear in there, no matter how cruelly I beg you, no matter how terribly I may scream, do not open this door or you will undo everything I have worked for. Do you understand? Do not open this door.

Inga: Yes, Doctor.

Igor: Nice working with ya.

[Dr. Frederick Frankenstein goes into the room with The Monster. The Monster wakes up]

Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Let me out. Let me out of here. Get me the hell out of here. What's the matter with you people? I was joking! Don't you know a joke when you hear one? HA-HA-HA-HA. Jesus Christ, get me out of here! Open this goddamn door or I'll kick your rotten heads in! Mommy!

Super Troopers...

Farva: Give me a double bacon cheeseburger.

Dimpus Burger Guy: [into mic] Double baco cheeseburger. It's for a cop.

Farva: What the hell's that all about? You gonna spit in it now?

Dimpus Burger Guy: No, I just told him that so he makes it good.

[into mic] Dimpus Burger Guy: Don't spit in that cop's burger.

Farva: Yeah, thanks.

Second Dimpus Guy: Roger, holding the spit.

Up in Smoke:

Cheech: Don't worry, man. Those aren't narcs, they're Las Emigras; you know, the Immigration Service looking for illegal aliens.

Chong: What's the Immigration Service doing here, man?

Cheech: My cousin needed a ride to his brother's wedding in Tijuana; so he called the Emigras, man. They'll deport the entire wedding party, man. They get a free bus ride across the border and lunch. When the wedding is over, man, they'll just come back across the border

The Blues Brothers...

Jake: [to Sister Mary Stigmata] Five grand? No problem, we'll have it for you in the morning. Let's go, Elwood.

Sister Mary Stigmata: No, no! I will not take your filthy stolen money!

Jake: Well then... I guess you're really up Shit Creek. [Sister Mary Stigmata hits Jake Blues with a ruler for using that kind of language]

Sister Mary Stigmata: I beg your pardon, what did you say?

Jake: I offered to help you... You refused to take our money. Then I said: I guess you're really up Shit Creek. [Sister Mary Stigmata hits Jake Blues with the ruler again]

Elwood: Christ, Jake. Take it easy man. [Sister Mary Stigmata hits Elwood Blues]

Jake: Oh shit! [Sister Mary Stigmata hits Jake Blues]

Elwood: Jesus Christ! [Sister Mary Stigmata hits Elwood Blues]

Jake: Shit!

The Jerk...Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters:

Navin R. Johnson: Now be totally honest. You do have a boyfriend don't you.

Marie: Kind of

Navin R. Johnson: I know this is our first date but do you think the next time you make love to your boyfriend you could think of me?

Marie: Well I haven't made love to him yet.

Navin R. Johnson: That's too bad. Do you think its possible that someday you could make love with me and think of him?

Marie: Who knows maybe you and he could make love and you could think of me.

Navin R. Johnson: I'd be happy to be in there somewhere.

The schools are out of control

When I open my kids backpacks at the end of the day, they are stuffed full of marketing, begging, junk mail, and catalogs. The teachers notes that accompany these materials make participation sound mandatory and non-participation punishable.

For example: PTA crap. The PTA is a self serving organization that does nothing but buy awards and spend money on activities for themselves. They do not serve students or the school. Nobody seems to recognize this. Why in the hell do elementary kids need a vending machine full of candy next to the gym? I'm not kidding.Why does the PTA need a $38,000 bank account for a barbecue and more fundraising?

Book clubs: I literally have a bag filled with 20Lbs of book club advertisements. All accompanied by dire warnings of the penalties for being late with your order.

Request after request for box tops and can labels for some contest on who can eat the most boxes of sugar smack crack cereal. Why on earth would I spend my free time cutting up trash to send to school and why should I feed my kids the garbage that they want labels from?

Boy scouts, YMCA, Unsupervised Adult Friend Campout. BULLSHIT if I'm sending my little ones alone with some god damned perverts. Do parents really leave their kids overnight with strangers these days?

The school even tries to scam me with photo packages that look like the official school pictures but are really some outside company trying to get the kids in for some extra photo shoots that have nothing to do with school.

I get the official stern letters about how it's time for my kids to go sell cookie dough and muffin mix door to door. They don't say what the money is for but if my kid sells 120 cases of frozen dough she gets a stuffed animal. The school makes these door to door sales things look mandatory and "everybody is doing their part". BULL HARKEY DONG! my child is not walking door to door peddling worthless shit to complete strangers who may or may not be on the sex offender list. Anyway, every other brainwashed asshole has already sent their kids off into the dark streets and alleys to sell this crap due to some sick peer presssure, conformity issue.

I get this permission slip the other day asking if it is ok if the school takes pictures, video tapes ,records and posts my childs personal information on the internet.

WHISKY TANGO FOXTROT What fool would agree to that? My god man! Are these people smoking crack?

I'm beginning to think that a frontal lobotomy is a job requirement for school administrators.

Rest in peace Col. Cooper

Jeff Cooper was one of my boyhood heroes.

His proficiency with the Colt 1911 and his practical application of such inspired me to become the shooter I am today.

His wit and social commentary although sometimes brash was always a welcome respite from these weasly days of political correctness and double talk.

Thank you Mr. Cooper.

Rest in Peace.

Personal marksmanship still remains an essential attribute of any well organized man, as well as a desideratum for such ladies as are so inclined. (Besides, it is fun!)
---Jeff Cooper

As these unpleasant people in Iraq keep on potting American soldiers at the rate of about one a day, we have a suggestion for the local command. Let anyone caught in the possession of a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) be pigged on the spot. Not shot, just pigged. That is not even against any stipulation of the Geneva Conference, but I bet it would work. (Being "pigged" is being doused in pig viscera.) ---Jeff Cooper

To fight with the sword may be brutal, but honorable. To fight with a germ is merely disgusting.---Jeff Cooper

It has been said that if you are not a socialist by twenty, you have no heart; and if you are still a socialist at thirty, you have no head. Guru say: If you are not a curmudgeon by eighty, you have not been paying attention..---Jeff Cooper

The Girandoni military air rifle

An example of this gun was carried on the Lewis and Clark expedition. The amazing ability to fire off 20 rounds accurately in mere seconds impressed the Indians so much they called it "big medicine" and decided to leave the expedition in peace after a friendly demonstration.

Lewis demonstrated the Girandoni at each Indian encounter which allowed the party to remain unmolested throughout their journey. Only one person died during the entire two year expedition and that was due to natural causes.

The territory of the United States was more than doubled due in no small part to an ingenious Austrian air rifle

The Girandoni military air rifle is a butt reservoir air rifle with a rifled bore. This conical iron air reservoir serves to hold a supply of highly compressed air and to act as the rifle’s buttstock. An external tubular magazine, along the right side of the barrel is described as holding 20 lead balls which are gravity fed to a transverse loading bar at the breech end of the barrel.

After moving a ball into firing position, the gun is cocked by pulling back on a hammer-like cocking lever. The force of the mainspring is converted into a straight line motion as the wedge pushes the striker against the forward end of the air rereservoir's valve. The tip of the striker pin forces open the valve and releases a short blast of compressed air to force the ball up and out of the barrel. This all can be repeated so rapidly that all 22 balls could be fired in less than a minute. The original air reservoir pressures topped at about 800 psi. Reloading of the tubular magazine was accomplished using 20 round speed loader tubes.

This amazing weapon could launch a lead ball, of about one-half inch diameter, of about 210 grains to a muzzle velocity of at least 500 fps for about 117 ft. lbs. of muzzle energy.

This gun is and it's unprecedented firepower were developed at the end of the 1700s. 1500 of these weapons were issued to the Austrian Army where they remained in service until about 1810.

They were eventually pulled due to the difficulty in recharging the air cannisters (it took 1500 pumps of the issued air pump to fill a cannister) and gunsmiths of the time were ill equipped to repair the guns. There also had to be teams with wheeled pumps and wagon loads of pre charged cannisters to keep soliders supplied in the field which turned out to be a logistical problem.

The June 2006 issue of American Rifleman has a fascinating article on this gun and its role in the Lewis and Clark expedition.

I was also able to find much more detailed information at http://www.beemans.net/Austrian%20airguns.htm

Shooting in the good old days.

I first became interested in guns in the early 80’s. It was probably the Don Pendleton series of action adventure books or a stray issue of Solider of fortune that gave me the gun bug. It didn’t hurt that my head was full of tales of the M60, my father and SouthEast Asia.
My mother was pretty anti gun so I was kept away from toy guns except what I could get off the neighborhood cap gun black market. In May of 1982 my dad owned an auto repair shop and took a Winchester 94 as a trade For some front end work. My eyes lit up when I saw him walk in the door with that gun. The first thing he said to me was " If I ever catch you playing with this gun when I’m not around I will kick your ass". That was sufficient incentive for me to keep my curiosity in check.

One Saturday morning when my mother was out, he grabbed the rifle and told me we were going out to the desert to shoot the Winchester. First stop was an old gun shop off the highway. The old timers (old to me) were all sitting around having coffee, smokes and shooting the shit. They were indeed annoyed by early morning customers. My dad asked for a box of 30-30 and the owner gruffly shoved them across the counter. I was too excited to care that my first gunshop experience was less than friendly.

After driving into the desert in our old pickup (resurrected out of about seven others), we came to a spot where we could take some shots at some old antifreeze jugs. I noticed as I watched my dad load the 30-30 that the bullets were sharply pointed. Although at the time it wasn’t much more than a passing observation. I lifted the gun for the first time, tucked it into my shoulder and squeezed the trigger. It slammed into my shoulder with a painful jolt and I saw dust kick up about 4 feet in front of my target. I threw the lever and chambered another round and fired close enough that time to throw the jug a few yards. I was hooked! I was also proud of the purple oval on my shoulder. The 20 shells went too fast for my liking. Being being 12 years old I didn’t have the 10.99 for another box. I had to be happy with what I got.

When we got home, my mom used her psychic powers to figure out where we had been. (must have been my perma-grin) and she promptly made my dad sell the gun.

That summer I went up to Missouri to spend the summer with my grandparents (as was the custom back then) and was pleased to find my uncle back from the Navy with a New Walther PPKS .380. He showed it off and then took me out to the raildoad tracks To shoot at cans. The recoil was punishing and I didn’t hit anything but now I was doubly hooked. Again, the 12 or so rounds he had was not nearly enough of a fix for this new gun junkie. All I could think about was the next time I could go to the range.

I used every dime of my allowance that summer to buy gun magazines, Mack Bolan books and to mail off for gun catalogs from the ads in the magazines. The next few years all I could do is shoot the occasional BB gun in the neighborhood and read about guns. There was a class 3 weapons dealer in the strip center close to my house. They were usually cool about letting me oogle the uzi’s mac 10’s and MP5’s as long as I kept my sweaty palms and drool off the display case. I’m sure they were tired of seeing me in there every other day.

When my parents divorced in 85 It was the perfect opportunity to talk my dad into buying my first gun. It was a Ruger MKII .22 auto. We bought it from the shop that had been been letting me fog up their automatic weapons case for the last 2 years. Shooting ranges were far away and too expensive so we bought a brick of .22 and found a dry creek off the highway where we could shoot the trash that washed up from the infrequent rain storms. It was heaven. and I was starting to get good at shooting small toys, pennies skipping rounds off standing water. What a blast! Even loading the single 10 round mag it didn’t take us long to blow through the entire brick of ammo. My dad was having as much fun as I was and he sure never missed his turn.

That Christmas We picked up a Ruger 10/22 with a folding stock and 2 ramline 25 round mags. Now we were shooting 2 bricks of ammo a week spraying long lines of soda cans as fast as we could pull the trigger. Those days were the greatest.

8 year old sacrifices his rifle and gets it back 50 years later.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2489339


SYRINGA, Idaho Sep 25, 2006 (AP)— It was a ricochet nearly 50 years in the making. At age 8, Terry Jackson gave up his prized .22-caliber Winchester short-barrel rifle to get his grandmother a washer. Recently, the 57-year-old got the gun back through a series of chance encounters and conversations.
"I didn't even have much reaction," said Jackson. "I was so dumbfounded."
As a boy, Jackson felt bad that his grandmother was too poor to have a washer. So he took the rifle he had earned money for by mowing lawns and doing other chores to a pawn shop. "That was the only thing I had that was worth anything," Jackson told The Lewiston Tribune. The pawn shop owner agreed to trade a wringer washer for the rifle. When the washer was delivered to his grandmother, Edna Jackson, she refused it until realizing the sacrifice her grandson had made.
"She just couldn't believe it," Jackson said. The rifle, meanwhile, remained with the pawn shop owner, Bill Jackson. He never sold the rifle, instead giving it to family friend James Grow in the 1980s, recounting the story that accompanied the rifle. "He told me the story but I never thought anything about it," Grow said. "I didn't even know who Terry Jackson was at the time, although Bill did tell me his name." Grow said Bill Jackson told him the gun might be worth something someday. He never shot the rifle and kept it in his closet. Grow become an attorney in Lewiston, and Terry Jackson recently hired Grow to do some legal work. The connection might not have been made about the rifle except for a conversation Becky Brotnov, Terry Jackson's companion, had with Grow during a business lunch.
She told the story of Terry Jackson giving up the rifle to get the washer.
"All of a sudden it dawned on me, I own the gun," Grow said. After hearing the story, Grow said he knew he wouldn't keep the gun. So he recently drove to Terry Jackson's home to return the rifle.

"That was a really nice thing he did for his grandma," Grow said.

Diamonds in the rough.

One of my favorite pastimes is to find something old and junky that nobody wants and make it into something really desirable or at least useful.

I'm not very good at building things from scratch but if there is a repair to be done or a need to rig up something I can improvise with the best of them.

I remember when I was 5 years old my grandmother liked to read and crochet a lot. One day she dropped her glasses, broke them and lost the screws to the ear pieces. She was really upset because she couldn't get a new pair until her vision coverage renewed.

I picked up the pieces and some stuff from the junk drawer and got to work wiring the frames back together with bread twist ties and replacing the lost screws with small safety pins.

The glasses weren't pretty but they worked. My grandmother was surprised and pleased with my ingenenuity. Best of all, she was able to read to me again. Well actually, the best thing was her to not driving on the sidewalk anymore...

I used to really enjoy going through old places looking for old stuff. One time I found an old wooden chest that was broken in several places, with bent up hardware and had been used as a table for spray painting other items.

The thing looked awful but when I opened it I noticed it was made out of solid cedar and had a label showing it made in the 1920's.

I took the chest outside, stripped, sanded, glued, clamped polished and put several layers of tung oil on the old box.

When I was done the thing looked like a million bucks. Now its prominently displayed in my living room and used as a coffee table.

Several years ago I saw an old weather worn car for sale in a parking lot in a bad part of town. the price tag was $400. The car was a 1978 Lincoln Mark V. After inspecting the car and talking to the owner I was able to drive the car home for $300.

I did some checking and noticed the car only had 45k original miles on it, complete power everything and beautiful two tone leather interior. the trunk was full of expensive tools and many car parts that I needed to get the lincoln back in shape.

After replacing the shocks, brakes, buffing the paint and a tune up this car turned out to be a real beauty. It had 460 CI V8, power seats, mirrors, automatic lights, cruise control. This car drove like a dream. It was probably one of the most comfortable cars I ever owned.


I'm always looking for a new project. It has to be ugly, cruddy and appear worthless for it to pique my interest.

I was making my way through the gun shops and pawn shops for one of my normal deal finding runs when I ran across an old pump shotgun that was ugly as heck but mechanically solid.

It was a Remington 870 Wingmaster and the serial number placed it as one of the very first made in the initial year of production.

The gun was a mess, covered in maroon spray paint, green paint on the stock and some kind odd black chunky crud covered the rest of the gun inside and out like it was dropped into a vat of industrial waste. The Shop owner let me have it for $69 but wouldn't come down because it was dove season.

After a great deal of scrubbing I found that under the crud the gun was 100% perfect with the finest walnut stock I have ever seen, the bore shone like a new mirror after a few passes with a brush. The crud had actually protected the gun for the past decades.

It has a 32in barrel and a external dial a choke which to my surprise is extremely effective. It's now one of my collection favorites.

I'm still looking for new old stuff to fix up. I don't believe in recycling in general but I hate to see a well crafted item go into the junk heap due to someone's laziness or ignorance.

Check out the new bloggers on my links list.

Many of you have been kind enough to add me to your list of blog links.

I've recently updated my list so be sure to check out some of these great blogs on the right side of the page, if you haven't already.

Sometimes I'll visit a new (to me) site and see many familiar names and faces over there posting already.

It's like we are one big inbred family ;)

Car Skeet. You've got to see it to believe it

http://www.glumbert.com/media/carshoot

Just for you bloggers.

I found something interesting you bloggers might like.

http://login.gostats.com/signup.xml

You can signup for free at gostats, put their banner on your page then you can go to the summary page for your blog over the following days and see exactly who is visiting and when.

Repeat visitors will show up with total visits ever and it will also let you know what link they followed to get to your blog.

I was able to find out the government is really interested in my blog. I guess recipes, sociology and dick and fart jokes get them all hot and bothered.

Anyway, I also went to my gostats rankings and found I'm in the upper middle right smack dab between a Welsh Elvis imersonator-http://theelviscollection.co.uk/ and some cheesy male celeb site .http://www.hunkymalecelebs.com/daniel_craig/.
Now I feel special in a dirty hunk o hunk o burnin male celeb kinda way.

Oh well....maybe next month I'll move up (or down) in the rankings next to a Charles Manson tribute and rocking-accordian-cover-songs.com

More great things

The Gibson SG is one of the best looking guitars out there. Timeless beauty. It has a pretty darn good sound too.

Walter Sobchak Dude, this is a league game, this determines who enters the next round robin. Am I wrong? Am I wrong?

Smokey: Yeah, but I wasn't over. Gimme the marker Dude, I'm marking it 8.

Walter Sobchak: [pulls out a gun] Smokey, my friend, you are entering a world of pain.

The Dude: Walter...

Walter Sobchak: You mark that frame an 8, and you're entering a world of pain.

Smokey: I'm not...

Walter Sobchak: A world of pain.

Smokey: Dude, he's your partner...

Walter Sobchak: [shouting] Has the whole world gone crazy? Am I the only one around here who gives a shit about the rules? Mark it zero!

The Dude: They're calling the cops, put the piece away.

Walter Sobchak: Mark it zero! [points gun in Smokey's face]

The Dude: Walter...

Walter Sobchak: [shouting] You think I'm fucking around here? Mark it zero!

Smokey: All right, it's fucking zero. Are you happy, you crazy fuck?

Walter Sobchak: ...It's a league game, Smokey.

Yeah I know Bob Barker is a liberal shit for brains that gives money to PETA but I've been watching this guy give away new cars since they retailed for $2200 and I'm too old to quit now.

No I don't go to conventions or wear Spock ears but Star Trek is the cultural Icon for my generation.

I think we all need to laugh more.

Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing. Redd Foxx


“Women don't want to hear what you think. Women want to hear what they think -- in a deeper voice.” Bill Cosby

“Don't talk to me about Naval tradition! It's nothing but rum, sodomy, and the lash” Sir Winston Churchill

Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die. Mel Brooks

I knew a man who gave up smoking, drinking, and rich food. He was healthy right up to the day he killed himself. Johnny Carson

The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues. Elizabeth Taylor

"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun.'" Unknown

"Baseball is very big with my people. It figures. It's the only way we can get to shake a bat at a white man without starting a riot." Dick Gregory

"You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on." Dean Martin

"A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments, soccer games, romances, best friends, location of friend's houses, favorite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams. A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house." Unknown

"God gave men both a penis and a brain, but unfortunately not enough blood supply to run both at the same time." Robin Williams

"I won't say ours was a tough school, but we had our own coroner. We used to write essays like 'What I'm Going to be If I Grow Up.'" Lenny Bruce

Let me tell you something that we Israelis have against Moses. He took us 40 years through the desert in order to bring us to the one spot in the Middle East that has no oil! Golda Meir

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. Groucho Marx

I have six locks on my door all in a row. When I go out, I lock every other one. I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the locks, they are always locking three. Elayne Boosler

Wild and wooly world of wonderous words.

Going back and cleaning up some of my previous posts I noticed that my blog has no
rhyme, reason or regular theme.

I'm sure some readers may be interested in a recipe one day and offended by toilet humor the next . The things I blog about are based on whatever pops into my brain at any odd hour and may be inspired by repressed memories, insomnia or a latent psychological disorder.

My goal is to inform, entertain and inspire. I don't expect everyone to be interested or agree with everything I write. Don't be shy about trying to change my mind if you feel strongly about something.

I wanted to say thanks to the regular readers that stick around and to those who have added me to their blogrolls.

It looks like blogger is getting around to fixing their posting problem, thanks for hanging in there with me and my ill fated decision to upgrade to beta.

Strange people immortalized

I once had a friend who was fixated on death, danger and "fuck the consequences" behavior. I'll call him Juan

When we were kids we found and rebuilt an old tree fort that was up in a giant 1000 year old tree. I myself have a fear of heights but I would carefully climb up the 50 feet or so to the tree house platform.

My friend would proceed to walk out on a limb about the diameter of a telephone pole, jump up and down and dance around without regard to the 5 story drop and the jagged rocks below. I think he enjoyed seeing me get nauseated.

This type of behavior continued through our teenage years . I once walked past the restroom and saw Juan holding a cocked and loaded .45 to his head with his finger on the trigger and thumb on the hammer. I calmly asked him what the fuck he thought he was doing. He said, "I want to know what its like to be close to death" I asked, "what if your thumb slips" Juan replied "well it won't matter then... the worms crawl in and the worms crawl out"

I finally got him to put the gun down by convincing him that if he killed himself in front of me I would probably be sent to a psychologist and then have to deal with his family. He just said "oh yeah that would suck for you wouldn't it".

This guy had genius quality smarts, but had not a lick of common sense. He once saw a show on Houdini so decided to take handcuffs and secure himself to his bed and throw the key across the room.

Once he realized he wasn't Harry Houdini......

It took him several hours to work the glued joints of the bed apart so he could drag the headboard across the room and retrieve the key.

I saw Juan take a BB gun away from his little brother because the little twerp was pointing it at the neighbors. He decided to unload the gun for safety by putting his finger over the barrel and pulling the trigger. I think brainiac still has that BB lodged in his index finger.

When Juan was in his early twenties he got laid off from his job, so he decided to move to Colorado and live off the land. He took his crappy car, 60 dollars, no food, no warm clothes etc... and drove to Colorado, up a mountain and lodged his car on a rock popping the oil pan and stranding himself about 12 miles from the nearest town. He lived on berries, and snow melt for about 3 weeks before he realized that roughing it wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

He ended up working in a pizza parlor in town and living in an ice cave at night. He had to walk and hitchhike 12 plus miles to and from work each day. I don't think he had a clue what living in the wilderness was going to be like. Maybe he watched too many episodes of Grizzly Adams.

As far as I know Juan is still alive and mostly intact. Dumb luck I guess.

Amazing Artwork

Check these out.

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around a couple of these.

http://princesssaphire.blogspot.com/2006/09/interesting-art.html

Goodbye Kofi Annan

http://www.washtimes.com/world/20060919-103638-2541r.htm

"The events of the last 10 years have not resolved, but sharpened, the three great challenges ... an unjust world economy, world disorder and widespread contempt for human rights and the rule of law," he told the assembled world leaders

I'm sure all those oil for food bribes didn't do much for rule of law did they Kofi?

Liberals and Oreos

Michelle Malkin on liberal hate speech.

http://hotair.com/archives/2006/09/19/liberals-and-oreos/

Great things.

Venture Brothers. One of the best "grown up" cartoons ever.
Dirty Harry Callahan. :We're not just going to let you walk out of here.
Crook: Who's "we", sucker?
Callahan: Smith, and Wesson, and me.

Hong Kong Phooey...Number one super guy.....Hong Kong Phooey.. Quicker than the human eye..

They don't make em like this anymore

Thats right... You big dummy!

There is a moral to this story

A teacher gave her fifth grade class an assignment:

Get their parents to tell them a story with a moral at the end of it.

The next day the kids came back and one by one began to tell their stories.
"Tony, do you have a story to share?""Yes ma'am.

My daddy told a story about my Aunt Karen. She was a pilot in Desert Storm and her plane got hit. She had to bail out over enemy territory and all she had was a flask of whiskey, a pistol and a survival knife. She drank the whiskey on the way down so it wouldn't break. Then her parachute landed right in the middle of twenty enemy troops . She shot fifteen of them with the gun until she ran out of ammunition, killed four more with the knife, then the blade broke, and then she killed the last Iraqi with her bare hands."

"Good Heavens" said the horrified teacher. "What kind of moral did your daddy tell you came from this horrible story?"

"Stay the FUCK AWAY from Aunt Karen when she's drinking."

Pool meets dominos

Fanstastic pool trick.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=BmMC2RifkXw

Cool cannon video.

Home made cannon video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmBRZ7UR3Rw

Guantanamo. The new vacation hot spot.

Since I am a regular blogger guy I have hired a celebrity (James Brown) to translate the following information.....



Facts about Guantanamo



1. The detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility include bin Laden’s bodyguards, bomb makers, terrorist trainers and facilitators, and other suspected terrorists.

"I got soul, ha, and I'm super bad, heh! Got the mullah that tells me what to do We are some nasty dudes! Uh huh!"

2. More money is spent on meals for detainees than on the U.S. troops stationed there. Detainees are offered up to 4,200 calories a day. The average weight gain per detainee is 20 pounds.

MMMM! MMMM! Chicken and Mash taters. WOW! My pants is bustin! Wooo!

3. The Muslim call to prayer sounds five times a day. Arrows point detainees toward the holy city of Mecca.

Step off! Shake your hands! Point yo self to the holy land! OW!

4. Detainees receive medical, dental, psychiatric, and optometric care at U.S. taxpayers’ expense. In 2005, there were 35 teeth cleanings, 91 cavities filled, and 174 pairs of glasses issued.

Doctah! Doctah! Help Me Please Please Please!

5. The International Committee of the Red Cross visits detainees at the facility every few months. More than 20,000 messages between detainees and their families have been exchanged.

I sent a letter to my honey.... woooooo ooooo.. my hot hot burka burka baby OHHHH... UH HUH gonna light my shoes!

6. Recreation activities include basketball, volleyball, soccer, pingpong, and board games. High-top sneakers are provided.

Gots me a turban...some hightops and the bassaball blues oooh no! dem no skills bassaball blues...

7. Departing detainees receive a Koran, a jean jacket, a white T-shirt, a pair of blue jeans, high-top sneakers, a gym bag of toiletries, and a pillow and blanket for the flight home.

Wo! I don wanna I don wanna ever ever leave.
Don't make me go back home baby ohhhh noooooo please don't make me go.....

8. Entertainment includes Arabic language TV shows, including World Cup soccer games. The library has 3,500 volumes available in 13 languages — the most requested book is “Harry Potter.”

Hey! gimme!, huh! gimme some Goblet of fire! uh! gimme, gimme Some Surround sound mama, a super bad brother Askaban, ha! heh!

9. Guantanamo is the most transparent detention facility in the history of warfare. The Joint Task Force has hosted more than 1,000 journalists from more than 40 countries.10. In 2005, Amnesty International stated that “the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay has become the gulag of our times.”

I gots the gulag blues baby but its better way way better than a suicide belt and sand in my shoes woah ohhh

Hat tip to Christopher Taylor at Word Around the Net

Is there a name for this behavior?

What do you call someone who does the same thing over and over and always gets a negative consequence?

Its not unlike a person touching a red hot stove over and over again. Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

What is the motivation?

I don't call my mother much because when I get her on the phone she makes snide shitty comments about me not calling her. Makes for a redundant cycle.

A friend gets drunk and stupid, hurts himself and makes really bad decisions over and over causing his life to be in shambles. He doesn't see anything wrong with it.

A diabetic who is losing toes and eyesight keeps shoving candy and sweets into her mouth like they are going out of style. Isn't there a consequence dire enough to stop the behavior?

A family friend continues to date "bad boys" even though the last four(in no particular order) beat her up, tried to molest her daughter, stole all her money and jewelry, and stabbed a neighbor with a butcher knife for coming to her aid. She is on bad boy number 5 now who is about to go to prison for trashing her house punching her pregnant belly.

I worked in a bar where the same couple would regularly get into fist fights and bully the other patrons . I asked the owner to ban them from the bar. He wouldn't do it because "they are really sorry when they sober up."

Does the cycle only end with death?

The human race has survived this long I think because of natural selection and survival of the fittest. Now we live in a society where you can do lots and lots of stupid self destructive things and live to tell about it. They also procreate and make another generation of social and emotional misfits.

I'm curious to see what would happen to the people who sabotage their own lives if the societal safety net was suddenly pulled away.

This is what we are up against folks.

If you have any doubt to the severity of the situation Americais up against, I suggest you watch this video

Video link

I usually have little sympathy for celebrities

I'll make an exception when it comes to Duane Chapman.

Mexican authorities weren't doing jack shit to capture the millionaire rapist playboy Luster in 2003

Hell! The police were probably bought off by the Max Factor heir.

Dog Chapman went in with cunning, skill and years of experience and got the bastard rapist in the blink of an eye.

The Mexican cops got pissed off because dog stepped on their toes and made them look like the corrupt incompetent assholes we all know they are.

Now Mexico is using their extradition treaty to get revenge on Chapman and his family. You cannot make me believe this isn't retribution pure and simple.

Whatever chicken shit judge signed that extradition order should be immediately fired.

Here is more on the story:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/09/tv_bounty_hunte.html

Weird day, weird topics.

So this morning I go to take the kids to school and I've got a flat tire on the urchin bus. Probably from my dads gravel driveway on my last visit.

Luckily the other car was in the garage. I pile the kids in and starter er up. The computer says I have 2 flat tires. I walk around the car and don't notice anything.

So I drop off the little ones and notice the computer is telling me I'm out of gas. 52 dollars poorer I head over to the auto parts store to get a plug for my tire.

I head back over to the house and use a small electric pump to fill up the SUV tire.

The poor little air pump wasn't designed to fill up a truck tire so it's chugging along like the train who wanted to but couldn't because his mother didn't believe in breast feeding.

I grabbed a bottle of spray and wash, tweezers and my tire repair kit and head out to the driveway. I forgot to mention that I'm going on about 30 min sleep in the last 36 hours.

So I lay down in the grass and spray the tire with soap looking for the telltale bubbles caused by escaping air. Suddenly the sprinkler system comes on and starts spraying me on the butt.

Using words that are not even in the unabridged dictionary I unplug the sprinker power supply and get back to work.

I notice that the hole in tire is a long deep cut that cannot be patched using my kit.

I go inside and change my clothes and wait for the cable repairman who is supposed to install a new box. Sitting on the couch I find myself waking up 90 min later having not heard the phone or doorbell causing me to miss the cable guy. Sheeeit!

So, I head over to the tire shop down the street give them the keys and get sent to the waiting room. Its not unlike the waiting room at a hospital except it smells like new tires.

The TV on the wall is showing a news story about PETA suing an animal sanctuary for mistreating a 49 year old chimp that was recently released from a reseach lab. the judge threw out the case due to lack of evidence and the chimp being perfectly happy and healthy.

This guy sitting next to me says in a sing song lispy kind of voice "well jesus thats bull doesn't PETA know whats best for animals?"

Being obscenely tired, grouchy, my shoes still squishy from the sprinklers I spout off:

"PETA doesn't give a shit about animals they have been caught killing thousands of pets entrusted to them for adoption and care" These PETA freaks are going for media attention and thats all"

The lispy guy seemed satisfied with my answer.

My outburst kind of woke up the people in the waiting room and probably caused them to go check to see if their car were ready.

I get my SUV back now $177 poorer

My next stop was the grocery store. Everything was uneventful except for the green bread, my argument with customer service about keeping rotten food on their shelves, and the box of orange soda that exploded on me for no particular reason causing me to be wet and squishy once again.

Logically I shouldn't believe in such things but today felt like a Karma adjustment.

What is happening to us?

Girls gone wild commercials usually start at about 10pm. Don't these drunken sluts have fathers, uncles or some other family member that is going to see them going down on other girls or getting naked in public? Do they care? Heck maybe the parents are proud of their daughters doing bodyshots and inserting beer bottles on national TV. I'm sick of it. The channel gets changed when that shit comes on.

My son came home the other day from elementary school and asked me what a lesbian was.I asked him where he heard that word. He says, "Maureen in my class told me Britney spears is a lesbian because she makes out with other girls on TV"

I told him not to listen to that crap. So now I'm thinking, do I have to explain crotch gobblers to my 9 year old son? Should I just drop the subject and let him go on wondering?

We need to extend the age of innocence just a little longer. I was 35 years old before my dad and I started talking about lesbians and drunken sluts putting things where the sun don't shine.

I think kids will have plenty of time for the seedy, profane and purient when they grow up. There is no reason to corrupt them with stupid bullshit.

This is not about the birds and the bees. When a kid asks where babies come from, tell them, show them a medical book, draw a picture and make sure they understand. Ignorance is not innocence.

Reproduction is not dirty if you don't present it as such.

I am reminded of 11th grade. We had a Swedish exchange student in our math class. This guy was the typical tall blond guy in designer clothes. On his first day he starts telling everyone how backward we Americans (Texans) are about sex and how he "fucks his girlfriend right in front of his parents back in Sweden. The teacher politely asked him to refrain from using profanity in her class . Then Sven starts loudly re-creating scenes from the exorcist...if you catch my drift.
I think they sent the guy back to Sweden in less than a week.

Is there that much of a culture difference? Are Americans backwards and prudish? It sure doesn't seem that way anymore

This comment deserves a prominent answer

Comment from princess sapphire:

"What are we fighting now? Islam? Terrorists? Islamic fundamentalists?, Islamofacists? Islamicists? Rag heads? ...hammer "

the line to differentiate these groups of ppl is so fine. it is so ironical that ppl are using their religion to create a world of war. wat is their motive? power hunger? seeking 'revenge'?

if only there is someone out there who can find a reason or way to make them stop..

-PS

PS...

Sadly the only thing these terrible people understand is violence and power. Even in the more moderate countries, the extreme poor who cannot afford an education are sent to a free "madrassus" where they are educated and indoctrinated into a culture of hate. The parents often feel they have no choice but to send their kids off to these free schools because of ignorance, coercion or desperation. These schools are funded by wealthy patrons who are either aware of the teaching of hate or by unsuspecting charities who truly believe they are helping the less fortunate learn to read and write in a good Islamic fashion.

The only reason tyrannical dictators like Saddam, Khadaffi, Arafat and the Ayatolla Khomeni are so successful in the middle east is the fact that their rule instills such fear in the populace people dare not push for social, economic or political reform.

Often the anger and frustration built up by living in terrible oppression is then channeled outward at a new target such as Israel, the United States or Great Britain.

One way to end this cycle is to encourage moderates to broadcast more positive messages through the many middle eastern satellite television channels. I'm sure nobody is surprised that Iran has already banned some of these television channels and others have threatened to assassinate the broadcasters. Here is a prime example .

Maybe we will end up winning the war on terror with soap operas and reruns of Gilligans Island.

Parenting tips

Here are some tips on what I've learned so far from my own childhood and from being a parent myself.


Toys: Rampant consumerism has turned our children’s toy boxes into overflowing quagmires of broken and forgotten toys. Think about cleaning out that mess and having the kids help decide which ones will go to charity. They will find it much easier to find and enjoy what they have.

Inexpensive gift ideas
Go get your children a cheap set of encyclopedias from the thrift shop for 5 bucks.
You can get little golden books for 20 cents a piece. Garage sales are a great place to
Find dolls, stuffed animals, bikes, tricycles for reasonable prices. Take the kids let them spend their own allowance and teach them the value of a dollar.

Feeding kids:
Children can be picky. It’s frustrating when you prepare a healthy meal and your kids sit there and make faces at it. Here is the trick. Only give them a very small portion of new foods; maybe even one bite. For some reason kids can be overwhelmed by a giant pile of peas or green beans. Insist that they take one bite of each item on their plate. This may be tricky at first but the key is be firm and consistent. Once they take their one bite of the offending vegetable, casserole or whatever let them up from the table. If your child flat out refuses to eat what you serve just let them go to bed hungry. Don't worry they will not starve themselves and will eventually try the food you prepare.

Don’t give up! In a short amount of time even the most stubborn defiant children will take their one bite and move on. Eventually you can add more variety to their diet with minimal fit throwing and gnashing of teeth. This method will make family dinners, dining out and eating at a friends house much less difficult and stressful.

Everyone will comment on how amazing it is that your kids eat spinach and tofu.

Discipline:
Everyone has their own ideas on how to discipline children. I have found some techniques that really work.

Set rules: Write out the rules and put them in a prominent place. Even if the kids can’t read you can read them out loud and point to them as a reminder from time to time. Make the kids learn the rules and be able to recite them back to you:
For example:

Don’t jump on the bed.
Don’t hit
Don’t throw trash on the floor

Don't forget to set consequences:

Time out
Early bedtime
No computer games

Be consistent:
This is the most important rule of all. If you are not consistent, don’t enforce the rules and punishments all the time you will not be taken seriously and the kids will push you with ever increasing bad behavior until they get you to your limit. Don’t let it get that far.

Don’t be lazy: Keep your promises to them and they will give you very few worries as they get older. Oh yeah, they will also grow up to be well adjusted responsible adults.

Don't forget: Your kids eventually get to pick your nursing home.

Boundaries:

Kids want boundaries, it makes them feel safe and secure. This new age crap of letting your child explore and set his own boundaries is for the birds. Kids need parenting. That is why we are here. Children also need guidance, rules advice, help, nurturing and affection.

Play with your kids:
Yeah. I know you are tired and stressed from work but make some time to read a short book to your kids, play a game with them, look at their homework or eat a snack with them. They will remember the time you spend with them and it will go far in building their self esteem.

Make your kids take responsibility:
It is amazing to me how many kids never have to face the consequences for their actions. If your kid breaks a flower pot give them a broom and a dustpan and make them clean it up. Even if they are 4 years old at least make them help.
If your child breaks a neighbors window make them pay for the repair out of their allowance or with chores. When your child gets a note sent home for behavior at school make the child write an apology letter to the teacher.

Consistently doing these things will make your child think before doing stupid things.
Doing these things will pay off when you have teenagers making decisions about drugs, booze, sex and other scary things.

Let your child pay for their own toys:
If junior wants super alien tech commando with lava acid spray. Don’t buy it for him.

Tell junior how much it costs and what he can do to earn the money. Taking out the trash could pay a dollar, Sweeping could be 2 dollars etc… Don’t make it too hard, just enough So they know work brings money. Once they have the twenty bucks for their toy ask them if they still want a plastic toy for all that hard work. Chances are they will see the value of money and make a wiser decision than if they were just handed the cash with no strings attached.

If they still choose the plastic toy you will notice that it will be cherished and cared for much more than the ones that were given freely or on a whim. Only the things you work for are worth having and taking care of.

Make your child be responsible for cleaning their own room and managing their dirty clothes. Even if they don’t clean to your expectations it is good practice for when they move out on their own. It will teach them not to be a dirty slob who makes their spouse clean up after them ultimately leading to a nasty divorce and your kids and grandkids moving back in with you.

Parenting is work: You won’t be perfect but some effort in the places I’ve outlined can go a long way in making your kids lives happy and healthy…not to mention making the parents happy and healthy too.