Monthly Archives: April 2012

All Good Things.

Posted on April 5, 2012 by | 34 comments

Good morning readers.  Thanks for coming by for a read this morning.

I got an email notice yesterday that the domain name for this blog’s up for renewal.  I’m not certain what that means in terms of the fate of what’s here if it’s not renewed, but I’m feeling fairly confident I won’t fork over any money to renew it.  When the blog first began, Jeanne paid for it because she had a million of my old writings she wanted to post.  Mostly that hasn’t been the way it’s worked out.

The blog’s been fun for me, but I’ll confess the hard physical labor this spring’s already robbing me of a lot of energy.  I’m going to have to ration out what I’ve got, I’m figuring, if I want to get any of the things done I know I need to do this year.

If I want to write a blog I can do it on one that’s free, I reckons, and not throw away money, mine or Jeanne’s, to keep this one going.  Having money tied up in it injects an obligation to post on it regularly.  A self-imposed deadline in a reality where I’m truly not interested in having me back behind me cracking a whip, bludgeoning me to write when my old bod is insisting just sitting back sipping a cup of coffee would be time better spent.

I appreciate the interest all of you have demonstrated by your visits and wish you well.  If Jeanne decides to renew the domain name I’ll probably post occasionally.  If she doesn’t, likely the thing will just fade out of existence and I’ll post occasionally on some free blog site. 

Thank you, each and all.

Old Jules [Jack Purcell]

Today on Ask Old Jules:   Define “respect”?

Old Jules, how do you define respect?

34 Comments

Posted in 2012

Tagged , , , , ,

Pre-Dawn Reflections

Posted on April 4, 2012 by | 8 comments

Nobody ever saw a bathtub without picturing her in it.  Not because she was a pretty thing.  She wasn’t.  But somehow she managed to draw the attention of every kid in East Ward Grade School those early years of the 1950s.  Not just the fact she needed that bathtub.

Poor girl had stringy hair and in surroundings where half the kids were wearing clothes their mothers sewed for them out of flour sacks, and wore hand-me-downs, she was conspicuously poor.  Conspicuous enough to draw a brand of cruelty most of us probably felt ashamed of while we indulged it.

If she was in line for some reason those coming behind would make a game of trying to not be in line behind her, curling back to force someone else forward, them doing the same.

“Patsy Baines wants to be your girlfriend.”   “I saw you walking home with Patsy Baines.”

If I hadn’t been so frightened of being treated the way we treated her I’d have realized a lot earlier in life how little respect I have for human beings.

Wonder why the hell she came to mind this morning.  I don’t believe I’ve thought of Patsy Baines in 50 years.

Old Jules

Today on Ask Old Jules: War and Peace?

Old Jules, what are some of the disadvantages of war and advantages of peace?

8 Comments

Posted in 1950's

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Seven Sisters were enough

Posted on April 4, 2012 by | 3 comments

http://spaceweather.com/

EIGHT SISTERS: For one more night, the Seven Sisters are actually Eight. Look west after sunset to see Venus on the outskirts of the Pleiades star cluster, temporarily adding its bright light to the cluster’s delicate luminosity. Amateur astronomer Doug Zubenel photographed the conjunction last night from DeSoto, Kansas.  The view of Venus, an eighth sister among the Pleiades framed by branches bearing freshly opened oak leaves, was nothing short of mind-blowing!!” he says.

“Tonight, Venus exits the cluster, so this is your last chance to see a meeting that occurs only once every 8 years. Don’t miss it.

 

Orion’s Phallusy

Orion yearned those Pleiades
Dragged
In endless stellar chaste pursuit
Loved them as no mortal man
Ever loved a woman
Who ever caught one
Orion never had to gnaw off that starry arm
That held the club
To let her sleep
While he got out
The morning after
Orion never had to say,
“I’m going out for smokes
I’ll be right back,” at 3 am
When she said,
“I think I love you.”

Old Jules
Copyright 2003 NineLives Press

3 Comments

Posted in Astronomy

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Save Those Sash Weights – Wokkyjawed Repairs Part 2

Posted on April 3, 2012 by | 4 comments

Spring winds here lean toward drama, which offers a challenge for any temporary roof repairs.  I had a couple of garage sale tarps, the blue one frayed badly, the brown one a person could only see daylight through in a few places.

There was nothing obvious to do that would hold those tarps, nail-wise to keep them from ballooning in the wind.  The sash weights, hopefully, will do the job. 

The old water hose cows chewed through several years ago finally found a use, as well.  Trotline cord threaded through pieces of it will hopefully keep the friction down enough to keep it from wearing through the tarps until materials for a better repair can be found.

Old Jules

4 Comments

Posted in Redneck Repairs, RedneckRepairs, Senior Citizens, Solitude, Survival, White Trash Repairs

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Wokkyjawed repairs

Posted on April 3, 2012 by | 4 comments

Good morning readers.  Thanks for coming by for a read this morning.

If you’ll take a close look at that ladder I climbed a dozen times, or more, you’ll see a person might wish to study on the design a few moments before he puts his weight on it.  Luckily, I’m the luckiest man in the world and even noticing what I’d done after the fact didn’t leave me with a broken ladder, broken head, worse for the wear in any way.

Seems to me I’ve observed at one time or another that plenty of ways of a man ruining his day present themselves on a job of this sort.  And almost no ways exist to come out of it feeling a lot better than he did going in.

The tree trunk was exerting a lot of social pressure on everything trying to hold it up.  At the base it was unstable, something awful.  I had my heart set on it not coming down and crushing my rooster containment center if I could help it. 

I tried to insure against the possibility by lifting the base of the trunk with a bar and slipping in a couple of chunks of historical tree. 

But even with all my precautions the trunk dropped a few feet when I finally made the last cut breaking it free of the building.

Tough day, everything else being equal.

Old Jules

Today on Ask Old Jules:  Psychometry?

Old Jules, what do you know about psychometry? I would love to know how to get started.

4 Comments

Posted in 2012, Country Life, Homesteading, Redneck Repairs, RedneckRepairs, White Trash Repairs

Tagged , , , , , , ,

While the Finest Minds in the US Dribbled Basketballs

Posted on April 1, 2012 by | 7 comments

Keeping in mind that this object didn’t exist in our reality until a few days ago:

http://spaceweather.com/

Just an afterthought, readers, to fill the gaps between the spectator sports, the Men Who Want to be King, and my own head-spinning attempts to establish clearly what’s not happening when.  

APRIL 1st ASTEROID FLYBY: Newly discovered near-Earth asteroid 2012 EG5 is flying past Earth today about halfway between Earth and the Moon. There’s no danger of a collision. At closest approach on April 1st, the Dreamliner-sized space rock will be about 230,000 km from Earth. This morning in Brisbane, Australia, amateur astronomer Dennis Simmons photographed the incoming asteroid.

http://www.accuweather.com/en/outdoor-articles/astronomy/asteroid-2012-eg5-to-pass-clos/63486

The asteroid 2012 EG5 will pass close to Earth on Sunday morning at 5:32 a.m. EDT. 

Asteroid 2012 EG5 is about 150 feet wide. While it will pass within 0.6 lunar distances (143,000 miles) of Earth, NASA reports that there is no danger of the asteroid striking the Earth.

Astronomers discovered the asteroid on March 13 while searching for large space rocks close to earth.

A second asteroid, 2012 FA57 was discovered by astronomers on March 28. Asteroid 2012 FA57 will pass by Earth on April 4. It will safely pass outside of the moons lunar distance.

The asteroid 2012 EG5 will be the third asteroid to pass close by Earth within a week.

Two smaller asteroids pass by Earth on Monday. The closest asteroid 2012 FS35 passed within 36,000 miles.

These [other two] space rocks were small enough that they would not survive a trip through Earth’s atmosphere.

If more people would watch TV election rhetoric or spend more time watching spectator sports this kind of thing wouldn’t happen.  NASA and all those people looking at the sky are beginning to present a serious threat of creating something catastrophic happening.

A bunch of jockstraps  chasing one another around a stadium are comparatively harmless compared to what these folks are doing.  An asteroid the size of an airliner falling on, say, Washington, D.C., might injure innocent human beings who just happened to be passing through on their way somewhere else.  Some degree of collateral damage seems inevitable, though maybe acceptable, overall.

In any case, that one passed a bit more than mid-way between the moon and earth.  It only has to miss an inch higher than the highest obstruction to be completely harmless.  Space is big and the odds are good any next ones will miss us at least an inch.

Just saying.

Old Jules 

 

 

7 Comments

Posted in 2012, America, Astronomy, Science, Solitude, Survival

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

If You Can’t Trust an Oak, Who Can You Trust?

Posted on April 1, 2012 by | 4 comments

Good morning readers.  Thanks for coming by for a read this morning.

The analogy between Robert E. Lee, Gettysburg and that oak is still nagging at me, but I doubt I’ll belabor this post with the troubling similarities between the two this morning.  Though I might.

Gale came down the morning after the Gettysburg event and we performed an after-action analysis of the damages, the implications, and ultimately the other oaks surrounding the cabin showing some level of potential for similarly Gettysburg-like thinking.  We concluded there’ll be several other trees coming down because they’re already losing bark, or obviously dead.  Others I’ll prune the larger branches on the cabin-side so’s the weight left will cause them to fall away from anything they can damage.  Hopefully.

Fact is, the leverage a few MPH of wind in the upper growth exerts a huge mechanical advantage and a person might be prone to over-confidence about the salubriousness of fooling with the weight and balance.

Somewhat the way Pickett trusted the judgement and wisdom of old Robert Lee until the pricetag of trusting was already paid.  Lee locked his mind in one direction and managed to blind himself to the obvious, and he said what Pickett wanted to hear. 

But I said I wouldn’t go there this morning, and I’m not going to go there just because old Pickett spent the rest of his life blaming Lee for allowing him to do exactly what he wanted most.

Even Meade, the Union commander, trusted Lee so much he was ready to abandon the superior ground, pull back his larger force, more guns, rather than mistrust Robert E. Lee, his opposing commander.  Meade’s officers voted to hold position, or there’d have been no Gettysburg.

But I said I wouldn’t go there this morning, and I’m not going to go there

A while back I was trusting the invader cat to be a pregnant female because it was pacing around meowing something awful.  Trusting it other times to be a female in heat for the same reason.  But I discovered around the same time I made the discovery about the oak, that the invader cat has a pair of jingle-bollocks.  I don’t know why the hell it’s meowing.  But I trust a pair of jingle-bollocks more-or-less completely when it comes to it.

A lot more than I’m ever going to trust an oak again.

Old Jules

Today on Ask Old Jules:  1940′s and 1950′s in the USA?

Old Jules, what were some of the social, political, and religious aspects of the 1940’s and 1950’s?

4 Comments

Posted in History, Senior Citizens, Solitude, Texas

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,