Guard Dog

I wish you were an engineer with backhaul design experience. I've got to go back to Burlington & Des Moines in a few weeks and I'd love to subcontract THAT out. That is a long drive for me.

Was tequila involved? You better be careful Ros, you might wake up in a back alley with no wallet, hands tied behind you back, pants around you ankles and bite mark on your neck.

I don't know which is more awesome, the story or the picture. Very cool.

What a heartbreaking loss to the Yankees last night. David Price goes all the way to the 9th then chokes and even a 9th inning HR by Longoria couldn't pull it out. Since the Sox got crushed they missed a prime chance to gain ground. Rubber game tonight. I'm going to put it on the radio and grill a steak, sit on the porch and watch the sun set.

Marine Corps style camping wasn't to your liking Shady? What part did you hate the most? The moldy shelter halves, those flat hard rubber b*tches that passed for a mattress? The MREs or sleeping with your rifle in hand? For me it was that worthless poncho liner that passed for a bed/blanket/poncho liner all in one. Ah, now THERE are some memories! Actually the best part about being out in the field is nobody really f****d with you much.

Holy Cow Woldan, that test is longer then the SAT.

Hi GD Welcome back, how was the camping trip? I've never had a bad one but this one was great! Beautiful place and I had it almost all to myself. Unfortunately I had to cut it short for work but that's how it goes. I was thinking about going back weekend after next but I'm going to be real busy and may not make it. I'm meeting with my partners tomorrow to discuss a new bid and I've still got two full time projects now. But getting to just pack up and go is the one upside of not having a family to look after. I'm divorced with no kids (other than a dog who is convinced he's smarter than me) so there really is no reason not to. Thanks for the update, if you don't mind I would like to ask you some questions about your camping trips. The reason is I am fascinated by the concept of people just living in the wild or getting away by themselves for a few days. My parents were divorced when I was 4 and even though I saw my dad every second weekend we never ever went camping as he is a businessman and we always did things in the city. Subsequently I have never been camping in my life, I have spent 1 night in chalets overnight but thats more of luxurious accommodation and not really "roughing" it. So thats the context to my questions, I am not being nosy What food do you take and can you hunt and fish if necessary Where does your much loved dog sleep when you go camping, I assume you have a tent How close are other people to you when you go camping? Do you miss seeing people or do you prefer being isolated What is your routine on these trips? Do you wake up at 6 am and then go hiking or do you fish. Or are there other activities Finally if you are by yourself what would happen in an emergency, like you break your leg? Sorry to bombard you with all questions, anything you can answer would be great A lot of your questions really depend on where you go. Most of the parks here in Tennessee are not big or wild enough to really worry about getting lost in or really being concerned about safety. My cell phone worked the whole weekend at Old Stone Fort. In some to the big national parks like Great Smoky Mountain, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Moab, etc. it makes sense to take extra precautions if you are going off the beaten path into the back country. Most require you to check in with the ranger station and let them know where you are going and how long you will be. Since cell coverage in big parks is sparse I carry a satellite emergency radio beacon called a PLB. It's like an EPIRB you would find on a ship only it's meant for land use. It's small, a little bigger than a cell phone and if you get injured all you have to do is activate it and wait. As far as animals go in this state I'm bigger and meaner than anything I'm going to meet. Out west that would be a little different story so I'd probably not bring Tommy if I were going to Yellowstone or somewhere like that. I'd take other precautions too, carry a pistol and a can or two of mace. One interesting note, my carry weapon it a .45 derringer and I know it would not stop a charging grizzly but a can of mace will. Some parks have designated camping areas, some don't. Some allow hunting and fishing, some don't. You pick your destination based on what you want to do on the trip. As far as hunting I'd rather not do that on public land. And I tend to avoid Wildlife Management areas during hunting season. Too many people out there who shoot first and look second. Hunting accidents are beyond rare in actuality and firearm hunting season is short. I prefer archery hunting, the season is longer and you find a different sort of hunter out there with you. I love fishing and 90% of my camping trips revolve around that so I usually pick places that have interesting fishing like the Duck River this past weekend. As far as rouging it goes, most parks have improved campgrounds with bathrooms and showers and picnic areas available so I would not really call that roughing it. Old Stone Fort does allow primitive camping so I picked a spot on a bluff over the river and backpacked to it. They don't allow open fires in the dry season so I brought a portable single burner propane stove for cooking and as far as food I kept it simple, instant oatmeal, instant coffee, vacuum packed meals, etc. Plus six pounds of dog food in premeasured serving bags. I cooked three Speck I caught Sunday night with mushrooms and onions. Good stuff! I have two tents actually. An 8x8 4 wall and a small 2 man backpack tent. I took the big one when I went to the park down by Pascagoula last November because they have designated campgrounds. For primitive camping I use the small one because the big one is not practical to carry. Tommy sleeps in it right next to me. After reading Hurlshots RV experiences last summer I've been thinking of getting a pop up trailer. Maybe sometime down the road. You should give it a try. I much prefer primitive camping as far away from everyone and everything as I can get. I only saw two other people all weekend once I left the parking lot , and they were canoeing down the river. I live in a very rural area now but even out here there is still the odd street light. If you get far away from electricity the stars in the night sky are the most beautiful thing you will ever see. That alone makes it worth the trip

OF COURSE! It all makes sense now! Hot Pie is the chosen one, the one to dive back the Others. You just see the series in a whole new light now!

I think Walking Dead season 3 comes out on DVD in June. I haven't seen it since I finished season 2 a few months back. I can't stand waiting for weekly episodes so I wait to get the whole thing. Finally I'll be able to stop skipping and start reading all of your posts on the show

It only aches when it's cold! For the most part I'm not doing anything strenuous like rock climbing or anything. I don't run or lift weights anymore after that but otherwise there isn't much I can't do.

Hi GD Welcome back, how was the camping trip? I've never had a bad one but this one was great! Beautiful place and I had it almost all to myself. Unfortunately I had to cut it short for work but that's how it goes. I was thinking about going back weekend after next but I'm going to be real busy and may not make it. I'm meeting with my partners tomorrow to discuss a new bid and I've still got two full time projects now. But getting to just pack up and go is the one upside of not having a family to look after. I'm divorced with no kids (other than a dog who is convinced he's smarter than me) so there really is no reason not to.

You know the funny thing about Game of Thrones, both books and show? Nobody has ever said they were just alright. They either love them or don't like them at all. Funny isn't it?

I'm packing up the truck tonight and going fishing and camping for the next five days! I can not wait to get out of here. I'm going to Old Stone Fort State park and the Duck River therein. It's right on the western edge of the Smokes and it's one of a the few that will let me take Tommy to all parts of the park. I always figured I wouldn't be caught dead in a place where my best buddy wasn't welcome. Speaking of which we're going to the VFW for dinner, drinks and a few dog biscuits for him. See you guys next week.

Now reading Child of Vengeance by David Kirk. Wow is it good. If you are a fan of James Clavell's Shogun or even Shogun Total War put this one on your list!

I just can't get into Dr. Who anymore. I watched it from Jon Pertree all the way up to Colin Baker (who I thought was really underrated) but couldn't get into it with Sylvester McCoy and just can't follow this new version. You know I spend more time using my XM radio now than my TV. I bet I could do without it if I had to.

They have security and cleaning services at night but I believe they are contractors & they insist on a school staff member being with us. They won't let them work at night. I was at Pritt HS today, they had a student escorting me. He was a office aide or something like it. He was really interested in what I was doing and kept asking me about the project, technology etc. He asked me how you get a job like this. I laughed and told him that all you have to do is try you hand at a number of different careers and fail miserably at every one of them.

I was going to bet I was older than you my friend...but I think I'd have lost!

They just have a strict set of rules regarding working time and who can be where when. I forget that schools really are a government operation and that makes them inflexible just by definition.

I started walking down the first six schools to get the new DAS systems today to plan the layout. I don't know how teachers do what they do. I was in a middle school today that has a staff of 90 and over 1200 students. That's like herding cats! I don't have kids and my niece and nephew are grown now so I don't spend any time around kids so it just boggles the mind how a teacher can get and hold their attention for the time it takes to teach a class. I'm finding the schools to be somewhat difficult to work with though. I thought it would make sense to do all the installation work at night but apparently the union won't allow anyone to work at night to escort us and the administrators insist on school personnel, escorting us, not security contractors. I told them doing it at night I could have the whole thing done in one night. During the day it would take 2-3 days. The told me, politely, that was my problem. And it is.

Great post Alan! Humans are basically good but also fundamentally flawed I think. There are always going to be evil bastards among us like the cowards who plant a bomb then run away, and there are always going to be selfish bastards like the politicians and "journalists" who are attempting to use this tragedy for their own political ends to push an agenda (Yes I'm talking about you Barney Frank and Salon) or like all the scam artists setting up fake charity "victim funds" to trick people into donating. But the inspiring thing is all the people who ran to help, not just police and first responders but regular folks, even after the second bomb went off. They didn't know if there was a third or a fourth out there. They saw people who needed help and they ran to help. I find that inspiring.

My body tells me it's spent 60 years dealing with my crap and it doesn't like me... AKA I have "Old man back" and "old man feet" and a "trick knee" from my work at McDonalds. There is a line from a song, don't remember which one but it" "I'm much too young to feel this damned old" My favorite is a quote from Mickey Mantle "If I'd known I was going to live so long I'd have taken better care of myself"

Unless there are some big changes my predictions in the OP are going to be ALL wrong. The Rays are just killing me. If they get a man on base it's like seeing a cat in a hot air balloon, nobody knows how he got there and his odds of getting home don't look too good.

It's not the age it's the mileage.

You gotta watch yourself there. I worked there for six months and kept a VERY low profile. Where were you?

It's a right to HAVE it, not tote it around with you while it's loaded. Besides, I'm cool with that. I have one in two states myself and if you are going to have folks armed I'd rather they demonstrate some competency with handling them.