… you go to the hardware store looking for a tool to cut a stubborn piece of molding off a wall and the clerk offers to loan you his Sawzall. —– A motorist repeatedly flashed his headlights at me as I was on the highway about to hit the town limits this afternoon. Sure enough, there was a cop lurking next to the first business around the curve. I realized it’s been years since another driver gave me that signal. Has that particular little courtesy gone out of fashion? Or have people been scared away from it by hostile traffic…
Category: Rural and small-town living
Life far from freeways, Starbucks, malls, and other benefits/distractions
I’m supposed to be deadlining right now. And I am. I will be. I already know what I’m going to write; it’s only a matter of writing it.
But I’m grouchy and out of sorts and feeling generally useless, so I thought I’d get some of that out of my head.
—–
Eighty-four square feet, 305 possessions. I’m glad my own tiny-house phase is over, but I’m also glad I had it. I’m really glad it never went down to 84 square feet. Join the IRS. Cheat on your taxes. Misbehave. Win awards. Where do I sign up! Not just renegade ranchers, but the Texas attorney general, is ready to say, “Come and take it! (H/T LarryA in comments.) Rebels, rebels everywhere. And some intriguing background on who really “owns” all that Nevada land. (H/T Pat and naturegirl in comments.) Fellow plane passengers perform one, tiny non-violent act of resistance to save…
So … some uninsured Californians get covered under Obamacare. Whoopee. Months later they’re desperately banging on the doors of free clinics for the uninsured because they can’t get doctors to see them. (How many of us kept shouting, “It’s not about ‘coverage.’ It’s about access to actual care!”) Wanna see the impact of state sales taxes on business? Check out Amazon’s numbers. (Well, that may help explain why after a strong start to the year, my personal Amazon links are producing spit and bubble gum this month.) Could low blood sugar be wrecking your marriage? So this is what the…
Alas, one (normally) educated community didn’t get its Eastertime passion play this year. Because some gov-o-crat thought a passion play was a sex show. But keeping everything equal, religious folks apparently dished out some maltreatment of their own. Today’s good news. Cop tries to shoot harmless dog. Shoots self instead. (As you can imagine several people sent links to this.) Anybody seen a Leveraxe? Now, that looks like one cool tool, if it works as advertised. Funny how even a tool nearly as old as civilization can get a major makeover when the moment’s right. Unfortunately the Leveraxe isn’t on…
I don’t have solid proof that that these stomach-turning photos are the work of those guardians of the range, the BLM. But they are consistent with other evidence and claims coming from the scene. Don’t click those links, especially the first one, if you’ve just eaten or if you have a particularly soft heart for animals. (H/T CB)
Like most here I’ve been watching the standoff at the Bundy ranch. I’ve had nothing new to add to the discussion, so I haven’t blogged about it. Like others, I was just trying to figure what to make of it. I only hoped it wouldn’t end up being another Weaver/Waco massacre.
Not this time:
(Image via Sipsey Street, where Mike Vanderboegh has some spirited things to say about it.)
Last night I jammed my two little leftie toes on a table leg while wandering around in the dark. Well so? That’s usually one of those things where you hop around and cuss for a couple of minutes then life goes on. But this kept hurting all night and by morning those two toes were fat and red and the foot around them was fat and blue.
Still, we’re not talking about a major health crisis here. Just an owie.
I’m rarely ever sick and it’s been years since I’ve been injured. Meanwhile, nearly everybody I know has had health problems lately — from colds that turn into pneumonia to a flu that lingers for six weeks (in one case even leading to neurological problems) to … cancer.
So I have a lot of nerve getting all pouty about an owie.
I’m working on a project with a couple other writers. We’re each doing our own thing, but coordinating about the topics we choose. Today one came up with a rare good-news gun-rights story and offered it around. “Nope,” the other replied (or words to that effect), “I write best when something pisses me off.” Oh lordy, that is so true of so true. And it’s sooooo bad for the blood pressure. And for a person’s sanity and humanity. —– We’ve been having this exuberant burst of spring — today, even summerlike! — weather. I went to the hardware store for…
Lovely subject line, isn’t it?
Unfortunately, it doesn’t describe where the political world stands (no surprise). But it does describe a cool new website and a beautifully laid-out and informative digital magazine.
Brink of Freedom is a great place. It combines a freedomista attitude, high energy, and useful self-sufficiency how-tos.
Michael W. Dean of Freedom Feens turned me on to the site and introduced me to its founder, Josiah Wallingford. (Don’t you love that name?)
Go check it out for yourself. It’s the kind of place you could spend hours. But while you’re here, here’s a little background Q&A with Josiah, as well as links to pdfs of BoF’s January and February editions: