Guard Dog

I fixed a leak in the barn roof this morning. I worked in the garden for a little bit. I was going to watch the UF/Miami game but I think I'm going fishing instead. Whatever I catch is going in the pan tonight.

Just another heartbreaking loss to a bad team last night. These last two weeks watching the Rays has been like watching a landslide in slow motion.

It is a beautiful night. The stars are out, fireflies are flashing down by the creek. Owls, whippoorwills, you gotta love nighttime in the US South. I'm going to pour a double of fine 9 year old bourbon and take my XM radio out on the porch and listen to the football game. At least until 9 when the Rays/Angels game starts. See you guys tomorrow!

The real problem with the Cowboys is Jerry Jones being unwilling to rebuild the team. In the NFL it is just necessary to blow it up and rebuild every 6-8 seasons. Usually the turnaround is quick. Romo is not the real problem, there are no better QBs to replace him with in any given free agency period and the Boys are always just good enough to not have a shot at the high draft picks. So they try to improve piecemeal and the problem with that is as you improve one position, another is going down in quality. Sometimes it just has to be like pulling off a Band-Aid, better to just yank it off an be done with it.

I'm a Bucs fan. This is going to be a very important year for us. It's now the second season of Schianos rebuilding effort and it's Josh Freemans last chance to put up or shut up as QB.

I disagree. WWII allowed us to gain the military and technological advances that put us at the top of the food chain. WWII was a whole different story. We were attacked. Prior to that there was not much interest in involving ourselves in what was seen as a purely European affair. But then again nobody really knew Hitler was busy exterminating an entire race either. That might have shifted sentiment if it was known. WWI was a good example of a bad intervention. I could easily make the case they US involvement did nothing for us and may have actually made things worse. Korea and the Gulf War were also good interventions because we were defending an ally from an invasion. Vietnam, Iraq, Libya, now this were all expensive mistakes from which nothing good came on our part.

Everyday I see more and more evidence that the single wisest foreign policy decision the US ever made was the Monroe Doctrine. It's been all downhill since we abandoned it.

I told you guys about my nephews career crisis (or lack thereof) a few weeks ago and that he was thinking of joining the Marines. I told him it was a good idea so long as he wanted to be a Marine. If he just wanted to join the military then he should look at all the other branches before deciding. He took my advice met with all the recruiters and ended up enlisting in the Navy. He's going in November. I think it was a smart move for him. Like I said back then, being in the Marines in not easy, you have to want it.

It beats a 5-gallon bucket filled with water. The wife'd never forgive you...and neither would the prosecutor. Yeah they tend to take a dim view of that kind of thing!

My boys have found the mojo again it seems. Even Helickson is back in form. Oh, and Keyrock, that 20-4 victory only counts as one win!

Hurlshot I have two words for you: Children's Benadryl. Problem solved!

Liveleak source has more holes than a sieve: There is no newspaper called the Oklahoma Post A google search of John Blue Reed the alleged defense expert finds nothing There were no Tomahawk launches from the Med. The two observed "ballistics" were likely from the Israeli Sparrow Missile Test. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/04/world/middleeast/israel-us-missile-mediterranean.html?_r=0 The picture is of an F-22 Raptor that crashed outside of Nellis AFB on Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2004. And here's two shots of the original http://www.flickr.com/photos/happyhappyjoyjoy/1302616031/ http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?113454-F-22-crash-video (scroll down to post #11 on 06-05-2007 by He219 ) According to multiple sources, the S-300 system has not been delivered (yet) . http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/09/01/report-russia-suspends-delivery-of-s-300-missile-defense-system-to-syria/ http://rt.com/news/syria-s-300-delay-russia-277/ http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/07/22/Syrian-deputy-PM-set-for-Russia-talks-as-violence-rages.html And the S-400 is not yet available for export http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070823/73849589.html Got to be one of the lamest troll attempts I've seen, Oby. Oby is getting lazy in his old age!

Well the Syrian Liberation Front and Syrian Islamic Front are both backed by Hezbollah according to the BBC & Reuters. The Al-Nursura brigade in the south has come out and publicly pledged loyalty to Al-Qaeda. Between the three they have some 60k fighters and are far more organized and better armed than the one group me MIGHT be able to work with, the Free Syrian Army. If Assad is deposed do you think these three groups who all want different things will site down and compromise on a government? Do you think there will be a vote? No, they will do what they do best in the Middle East, start killing each other. And everyone else in the way. Why in the world should we expend our blood and treasure to make that happen? And anything that hurts Assad helps them.

My condolences LadyC. I know exactly how that feels. I have one dog now, I used to have 15 once. I think of them all everyday. There is an old saying "Old men miss many dogs". That works for cats too. You did everything that could be done for that cat. I am certain at some level he knows and loves you for it.

Except in this case any intervention only benefits immoral people. Fact, the rebels are terrorist backed Sunnis who are only fighting because Assad & the Ba'athists are shi'ites. Fact both sides have committed atrocities against civilians. Fact, no matter who wins civilians will be brutally executed by the hundreds and thousands as either side takes revenge/celebrates. Fact, no intervention that is being discussed will prevent any of that. By attacking the army we would be helping the rebels. If that turns the tide of the conflict enough that they win they THEY will have whatever weapons Syria has only now we will be complicit in anything they do afterwards. Including the inevitable massacres and ultimately attacking US or Israel. To hell with them all. I truly hope they completely kill each other off. And before you bring up civilians again, remember, they are screwed no matter what!

Tailspin might be an understatement Keyrock. They have lost 9 of 10 and have yet to score more than two runs in any game in that stretch. They need to pull out of this because now Cleveland & NY are catching up in the WC race.

Ah to be young and in college again. Actually college wasn't much fun for me. I took all night classes and worked full time and was desperately broke most of the time. But I AM envious of you guys getting to do it right!

Yep. Sometimes it's smoked or pressure cooked to make pulled pork. I just cut it into chunks for dipping in a Coca Cola based BBQ sauce I made. VERY tender.

Now reading The Returned by Jason Mott. This definitely lived up to the hype.

I just sent a two paragraph email to both of my senators and my house rep explain that I was opposed to any intervention in Syria for the main reason that any intervention ultimately benefits Al-Qaeda. The secondary reasons were that the aim of the rebels was not to create a free and democratic country rather to replace a brutal military dictatorship with a brutal theocratic dictatorship. That is NOT an improvement. US aid should never become a destabilizing force. I'm curious what their reply will be. If there is one. From the Senators at best you get a non-committal form reply but my house rep is a good man. He usually sends back a personal reply.

I've come to the conclusion that Bruce is after every somewhat attractive lady. That just means he has a pulse. Hey, can't fault a man for being a man. That's like getting mad at a compass because it points north all the time!

You lost me Wals. I'm not seeing the connection at all.

I'm smoking a Boston Butt. I made a dry rub of salt, sugar, paprika, mustard, garlic powder, ground pepper, and celery seed, & cayenne pepper. I rubbed it down and bagged it up in the refrigerator overnight. Now I'm smoking it at 225 for 7 hours. I'm also making steamed corn on the cob and rice with sautéed mushrooms & onions. For dessert I've made bread pudding this morning and it's cooling in the fridge.

It's been a great weekend for me. It started with dinner with GF at a very nice place in downtown. Then it was drinks and live blues at the roof top lounge on the Peabody with the Memphis skyline in the background. Then it was back to her place. That's where the surprise came. Since I was going to be gone overnight and I couldn't leave my dog home alone all night I brought him to her place. He was NOT happy and made his unhappiness known by barking all night and making a mess. Well, she is not allowed dogs in this place and the neighbors complained so that is a problem to be worked out later. Anyway we laughed about it and cleaned up his mess and then later we were, you know, enjoying ourselves in the bedroom and he jumps into the bed and stares at us the whole time. He never does THAT at home. Then he started interfering and that was the end of that. The next day we took him to Overton Park and we spend the day hanging out there. Sunday night we came back to my house where, thankfully, Tommy started behaving himself again. So we just relaxed today, I'm smoking a Boston Butt Roast in the smoker and drinking Sam Adams on the porch. Tommy is chasing crows down in the trees and the GF is taking a nap on the couch. All in all a good way to end a good weekend. And I broke down and told her where we are going for her birthday present next month. She is very excited. I didn't know this but she has never flown before.

Wow I had an amazing 3 days, so many interesting, bizarre and enlightening things happened. The highlights were The speech went incredibly well. My dad and the guests were touched by what they said was the great sincerity and sentimentality of what I said Amazing food at these funky restaurants the whole weekend My brother brought an Australian lady friend to the beach cottage and this lady was super sexy and hot. And really interesting ( she has just got through an African hiking trip Bruce are you after your brother's lady?