I Alessandro Striggio - Missa "Ecco si Beato Giorno" à 40 (1/4)

fixing all the problems

friday, april 1th, 2011

sometimes I wish all the damage repairs to my business could all be accomplished by using a simple Crayola® Box the way a child does, coloring-over the errors — all of the broken and worn-out pieces — each Spring in the Complex, but complicated physical repairs are both time-consuming and expensive. There are no "write-offs"; only costlier parts and higher insurance deductibles, which effectively means that I "eat the total cost of parts and labor". 99.783% of the time, it isn't even worth filing an insurance claim, as the monthly premium rates and deductibles only go higher. No one else shares in that "financial misery" with me, except me.

Things that didn't appear worn-out or broken last Season, are coming apart now, after the rough Winter we've been through. Back-to-back 20"-plus Blizzards, bitter night cold and long days and weeks of non-use, have caused many pipes, fittings, valves, benches, posts, wires, poly (GH plastic), paint, nails, screws, bolts, etc to show their age and fail, causing us one problem after another. Time and weather both, have taken their toll on the physical property, as well as on those of us who maintain it all.

What will help me get through the next 12 weeks is The Serenity Prayer: "God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the Courage to change the things I can; and the Wisdom to know the difference."

Growing weary of it all doesn't help matters any, as the new employees, of which I have two this Season, are full of "piss & vinegar" enthusiasm and energy, and for the rest of the "old timers" and me to show our weariness at all the problems, just wouldn't be seemly and right for the newcomers. Trying to keep up the previous level of enthusiasm and energy we had for the past 23+ years isn't easy on a daily basis. But we do try.

Sometimes, I just long to be an innocent 4-5 years old again, sitting at my little desk in kindergarten, with a Disney® Coloring Book and my own personal box of Crayolas®, coloring my brains out, and making the world a nicer place than it really is.

Being in the horticulture and agricultrual business and industry for 23+ years, after spending 17 years in the advertising world's NYC's "Madison Avenue", I'm truly ready for another change in my life. This time, I hope it's meaningful and not just another "rung on the ladder of life", as the others have sometimes disappointingly been.

Only time will tell, I guess.

Around The Garden Center

Wowzer! Hundreds of Retro, flat-bottom, wool & silk-knit ties all over the place, and I just ordered 19 more for Spring! My long-running search has finally paid-off, bringing my Collection's total now up to 34. And I ordered another 8 more which I want in my Collection, upping the total to 42! Well, there are 365 days in a year, aren't there?

The Thursday night and Friday forecasts were ominous but expected, since it is March: lows in the 20s with frost, and either a final-Winter's *onion snow*, or the 3"-8" coming Sunday night into Monday morning. Easily enough to rupture all the pipes, fittings and valves we've replaced over the past two weeks, so we drained the entire water system until day/night temps become more "civil", in the 40s range. I certainly don't want to go through all that work and money again. As the Owner, I have to eat and absorb it; some can be written-off on taxes, but rarely enough to do any appreciable good for my bottom line. I was tired, and so was Alan and Arthur. We quit on Thursday at 4:15pm, knowing that we had deliveries coming-in on Friday, and a lot more repairs to make. Next week would be a madhouse, with 3-4 growers delivering nursery stock from all over the country.

The new perennial and nursery stock deliveries will be coming-in fast and furious now, and with two additional employees on the GC&N Key Staff and Landscape Crew, we should be able to get the "old nursery stock" moved-up to the newly-recovered GH-5, and the new arrivals sequestered in GHs-2-3-4. Personally, I'm NOT looking forward to working 7 days a week, for the next 12 weeks. I haven't had a "vacation" since 2004.

I was up at 5:40am on Friday — after having a lousy night's sleep and being-up 3x-4x during the night — ramped-up the condo's heat from 68°F to 77°F, watered and fed Murphy, made oatmeal, scratch pancakes & French Roast coffee for breakfast, and had to get into work earlier than 8:00am, as I had several shipments of tender, "pushed" perennials arriving which needed shelter and heat for the weekend. It was only 23°F/ 19°F Wind Chill, and frost was all over the neighbors' various vehicle windshields; I keep my 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo in an attached-to-the-condo, heated garage. Kim had everything ready for us: GardenWare pot price stickers and bench signage. I also had numerous errands to run before the growers delivered, since we'd be busy all-day doing myriad projects. Every second, minute, hour, day and week now count as we get nearer to the Saturday, April 30th Open House date, our 21st. Hard to believe, isn't it?

Our first perennial & nursery stock order from Quality Greenhouses in nearby Dillsburg (PA), arrived just before noon on Friday, and Alan, Arthur & I had all seven, 5-tiered carts (594 plants) unloaded in less than 15 minutes, into GH-4. I turned-off the 5ft x 5ft fans, shut the 3ft x 4ft louvres and locked the doors, to keep the heat inside for tonight and the coming cold weekend. The plants looked great; QGH always does a nice job with the material they sell retail; it's a real pleasure to do business with them. We got GH-5 covered in 6-mil white poly (plastic) so we can now move all the leftover and incoming tender nursery stock up there to "harden-off" and free-up much-needed bench space for more perennials in GH-3, That took most of the morning for the 3 of us. I got phone calls all day long from growers with revised shipping schedules for the next two weeks, and from our well drilling company who's scheduled to come in to raise the pump and get it out of the minerals and red clay sediment at the bottom of the 420ft shaft, so it doesn't cosmetically-affect our drinking water.

Gas prices at the pump in York (PA), rose 16¢ this week, after briefly falling 8-10¢ last week. Unleaded Regular (87 oct) is at $3.45/gal, Unleaded Premium (89oct) is at $3.55/gal, Premium (93 oct) is now at $3.75/gal and Diesel just climbed to $4.47/gal, in the York (PA) area.

I decided to go to The Cabin for one last weekend, after my regular 8:00pm Church Board Mtg in Red Lion, "just relax" with roaring fires and books, houseclean it "within an inch of its life", empty the 'fridge and freezer, check the pantry contents, re-stack & tarp split firewood and 3ft logs on the back porch, and get it all thoroughly-ready for July & August when I'll reappear on a more regular basis. I will miss it over the next 3 months of working 7 days a week, but sporadic evening or weekend visits can easily be done, since Adam's Junction is a "virtual village"; just not too many overnighters unless I take the following day off. Hey, I'm The Boss aren't I; I should be able to do that once-in-a-while, shouldn't I, considering that I haven't had a "any vacation days" since 2004, when my "true love from 33 years ago" at Drake University (IA), Cheryl, visited for 2 weeks from Colorado. "Too much water under the bridge", for the relationship to go anywhere. A true shame, as we were once a very hot & hip couple. (Skip Down to The Cabin.)

I was back in York by 1:15pm, as my long-time friend Jeff was scheduled to stop by to help me hook-up CommieCast/ Xfinity's new Digital Set-Top Box and Adapter, so I could get 700+ Digital CATV channels — who the hell can watch that many channels, anyway? — with Digital Picture & Sound. Like I give a shit, but they've removed so many of my regular CATV channels now, I only have a few left to watch. I thought that the expensive digital TV Tuner Card from Hauppauge would handle it, but I was wrong again. On March 22nd, hundreds of stations went black on my new HP Pavilion Elite HPE-570t Series and 24" Widescreen Samsung LCD Monitor. (I have the same hardware set-up at my Office, with even faster wireless radio signals from Double Dog Communications.) Seems CommieCast/ Xfinity has it all to their liking and that no one else is privy to their fibre optic lines, OEM hardware, software or signals. Mom & Dad got their new CommieCast/ Xfinity's Digital CATV, Cable Modem (and Set-Top Box) and Telephone "Bundle" last weekend, and are delighted with it, after having "People-PC Dial-Up" for 8 years at 33bps. It's $99 for 3 months, and then it skyrockets to $154/ month, unbeknownst to them; be sure to read "the fine print", folks, as it's *no real deal* you're getting!

I am NOT buying a "bundle of Net Access/ CATV/ Phone" from anyone; my Cable Modem Net Service and CATV are $124.95/ month, even with the much faster "Power-Pass-Pro" feature, and I don't want or need a telephone from CommieCast/ Xfinity, thankyouverymuch. After we finished installing all the hardware and uploading data, all I got was my original 90 Digital Channels on the Kitchen TV, and 700 Digital Channels on the upstairs Loft 1996 Sony 37" Trinitron TV, which I never watch. BFD. What a waste of 3 hours of both our time, IMO. CommieCast/ Xfinity SUCK!

I made dinner around 6:30pm, fed and watered Murphy, laid down on the couch next to my gas log fireplace and slept until 8:15pm. Although the condo temp was up to 78°F, I was still cold, so I wrapped-up in a blanket and two afghans and got real comfy. Since I had an early morning with 2 new employees reporting for orientation and work, I decided to go to sleep early on Sunday. Iseli Nursery would be delivering Monday, around 1:30pm and Piedmont Nursery would be delivering later this week, so we'd be busy. Eaton Farms is scheduled for the week after next. So we had a small "breather" between nursery stock deliveries, but hundreds of "pot stick labels" needed to be made for Friday's delivery from QGH. Kim and Steffi would have to get right on that, first thing tomorrow. Plus, we had to move everything which had "pushed new growth" up into the newly-recovered GH-5 to allow it to "harden-off" before offering it for sale in the Retail Sales Area. Lots to do, lots to do. The low temp forecast for tonight was 19°F, which would probably cause some damage to the new perennials in GH-4, but they'd grow through it as the season progressed. I was asleep by 9:15pm.

Up at 5:45am even before the alarm went-off, Murphy was screeching for water and food, so I took care of him right away, made my breakfast and coffee, logged-on to the weather and news channels to re-orient myself from last night's forecast and events, and left for work around 7am. Steffi (Key Staff PSU Grad) and Jon (LSCP Crew Worker) — my 2 new employees — jumped right into "things" with Kim and Alan, to get done what I needed done. Iseli Nursery's delivery was moved-up from early Monday afternoon and would be here late morning, so we had to hurry and empty-out GH-3 into GH-5, and get "pot stickers" (price labels) done for the QGH delivery (650+ plants) last Friday. The truck from Iseli arrived at 11am, and we had it unloaded and inventoried before 12:15pm. I helped Alam, Arthur, Jon unload potted material, for the first time in years due to my "rejuvenated back" from losing 65-70lbs, and actually had fun. Steffi logged it all in on the Bill of Lading, as we always do to account for every piece shipped by the grower. All accounted for; all in great condition from Iseli, as usual. The fuel surcharges, on top of the nursery stock and freight costs, are killing me this year. I've never seen it this bad. Steffi & Kim had to re-do all the Iseli price tags to account for the $1,440 shipping and fuel surcharge, which is passed-on to our customers, unfortunately.

My Collection of Flat Bottomed, Wool/Silk-Knit Ties has begun to arrive via USPS. I love skinny and fat, flat-bottomed, wool/silk-knit ties, from the 60s, 70s & 80s; in fact, they're the only type of tie I will wear. I have 17 now: — 5 black, 2 navy, 2 brown, 3 yellow, 1 white, 1 apricot, 2 red, 1 silver and no forest green, as yet ... — and I've been searching online for weeks, as well in all the local men's store, to little or no avail. I came across a red one at The Men's Wearhouse in East York and bought it for $7.99, and found 4 more online at Macy's (1 block pattern) and 3 more silk-knit ties at Brook's Brothers (1 in black w/ horizontal silver & white stripes, 1 in navy w/ horizontal light blue & silver stripes and 1 in red w/ horizontal navy & silver stripes), and bought all 4 this Monday as I was finishing my morning coffee before leaving for work. I also found "The Mother Lode" at Amazon, and another "Mini-Mother-Lode" at Amazon. The "others" I've found online at various sites after weeks of diligent searching, are "used 70s & 80s ties", which means I'd be buying something akin to "someone else's used-but-cleaned underwear". Yuk; I'll pass on that opportunity. I'm looking forward to adding those new units to my "Collection" of skinny and fat, Flat-Bottomed, Wool/Silk-Knit Ties. My multiple "tie racks runneth over". I love it!

It was 17°F on Tuesday morning at 5:30am, when I watered and fed Murphy, and made breakfast. I logged-on to the weather and news sites, as usual, to find out what was in store for us for the rest of the week. Aw shit crap; rain and wet snow arriving Thursday afternoon and into Friday morning? That'll put a real dent in those day's activities, since we're supposed to get a Wednesday delivery of 97 flats (2,400+ plants) (6 gallons or 12 quarts per flat) of perennials from Miller's Greenhouses in Landisville (PA), plus a delivery of 200+ perennials from White House Nursery in Upperco, MD. I had three on-site landscape meetings in the Southern York County/ Northern Harford County areas on Tuesday, and many people are looking for are "deals", which we don't give. So I had to tell them to try elsewhere for discounted plant material and labor; we just weren't even interested in bidding on any of their projects against small, crappy Mom&Pop operations, with no overhead and illegal immigrant workers. I did run into one nice 16ac estate whose owners wanted us specifically for our 21-year old reputation of quality, high-end work and our unique 5-Year Warranty. That one I passed along to Rich, my Staff Registered Landscape Architect, for multi-phase design and planning; I'll handle the estimating and scheduling when he's finished with his end of it.

As of the end of Tuesday, I'm still waiting for 5 growers to confirm their delivery dates as well as try to round-up some special orders for my customer's 3"+ caliper tree requests. None of the growers I deal with have trees larger than 2-2½" right now, as they've "grubbed" them all on to burn piles – treating them merely as "common crops" – since the cost of freight and fuel to transport them anywhere has since becoming cost-prohibitive, with Diesel Fuel over $4.55/gal now, just in the York (PA) area. It's well over $5.25 out in the Midwest and nearing $6.00 on The Left Coast. Frankly, the added surcharges are killing my retail and landscape prices. I'm now having to re-work all my LSCP 2011 spreadsheets' mark-ups and final prices. I quit around 5:15pm and went home, while everyone else had left at 3:30pm. It was going to be a very long year with me arriving at 6:15am and not leaving until 5:00pm or even later. At 61, I didn't relish what was ahead for my forever-changed industry and profession. I was tired and "hit the sack" at 9:00pm on Tuesday evening.

On Wednesday, temps were in the mid-20s and I was up at 5:30am again, watering & feeding Murphy, making a hearty breakfast and coffee for myself, logging-on to check the weather and news and knowing full-well that 2,400+ plants would be arriving between 11:00am – 1:00pm (or sooner if the driver made decent time on the route). Snow mixed with rain today and tonight? Fortunately, Kim & Steffi had almost all the "pot stick tags" ready and waiting. They were almost finished with Iseli Nursery's re-make of all the price tags, and as soon as they were ready, I'd take them out to apply them, leaving the others to work on the containerized perennials in GHs 3 & 4. Though all needed to be ready by the weekend's "Spring Hours", no plants would be sold for at least another 2-3 weeks, since all were still tender and hadn't "hardened-off". I was adamant and unyielding about that *directive*, and no one dared to question me about it. No one.

I stopped at the local Sheetz® on the way, to get another coffee, a fresh carton of Marlboros®, and ran into some of my former wholesale lawncutter/landscape customers, who'd gone out of business over the Winter, and they asked for any jobs on my now solid 3-man LSCP Crew, but I had no immediate openings. The time to have called me was back in Jan-Feb and not wait until almost April, since I'd have all positions filled long before now. I invited them to come in and fill-out Job Applications, so we'd have them on-file, in case "things changed" (which I doubted for another 2-3 years in this continually-crashing, jobless economy). I drove to work, unchained the front gate, disarmed the Complex and turned-up the Main Building heaters. Alan arrived at 6:45am, and the rest of the Staff and LSCP Crew showed-up at 7:00am, to get ready for a very, very busy day. Until the Iseli labels were ready, I worked on revising my 2011 LSCP Estimate Spreadsheets to reflect the new mark-ups, higher costs for surcharges and fuel, and then the large perennial deliveries began. I finished tagging over 480 pieces of Iseli Nursery Stock, and then joined-in on the perennial-pricing marathon in GHs 3 & 4. Alan&Co had the new "tree rails" installed for the container trees, also set-up with Drip Irrigation. I had no scheduled landscape appointments on Wednesday, so I could give 100% for the day. After letting it warm-up from 29°F to 42°F, we started tagging all the Iseli Nursery Stock. All deliveries were made successfully and safely ensconced in GHs 3 & 4, for protection from tonight and tomorrow's snow and ice.

Calls came-in all day long asking me for local site visits, and I made 4 of them, nearby. All were for minor lscp maintenance jobs, which I logged on to our Spring Schedule "List" for April, May & June. I left at 5:15pm for the day; everyone else had left at 3:30pm. By 7:15pm, it was snowing hard – a Nor'Easter – with heavy, wet snow sticking to the grass and garden beds but not to the roads. It'll be a mess in the morning if it continues all night. I'm laying down for a quick nap on the King-Sized sofa by the gas log fire with Murphy, before "Justified" came on at 10pm on FX-TV (CATV). Then to sleep at 11:00pm, since I'm getting-up at 5:15-5:30am for work. Yawn.

I've set after Friday, April 8th, for the public release and sale of our newly-arrived tender incoming and over wintered perennials and nursery stock, as a precaution against customers' installing such plants and having them damaged by nighttime frost and cold days. Some people will bitch and moan, but I don't care; I'm not replacing their plants due to premature planting ahead of "the final frost date", usually May 1st. I still have 4 Wholesale Nursery Growers yet to accommodate with their nursery stock, which could also be in an unsaleable condition, until the loads are all "hardened-off" and ready for the outdoor weather. I'll make those release decisions when I unload their trucks, in the coming weeks.

Up at 5:30am Thursday, it was a cold 30°F and snowy morning outside, as I watered and fed Murphy and made my breakfast and coffee. Snow? "Onion Snow"; perhaps for us, but New England was to get "hammered" with 8-12" of snow – and that's no "onion snow" – as far as I'm concerned. We got around 2" and the condo, just sticking to the lawns and garden beds, but not to the sidewalks or streets, and another 1-2" at the Garden Center Complex. I had several stops to make on the way in, so I was 10-15 minutes late, and the 20ft box truck was already being emptied of its contents. Nice material, but 90% of it had already "pushed" to the bloom and leaf stage, and needed shelter, quickly. No matter, we worked in the light rain and snow to unload the truck from Piedmont Nursery in North Carolina, tag all the plants and put them away in GH-5 and in the Truck Bldg, to shelter and spare the tender shoots. Actually, I enjoyed driving to work in the snow, as long as it wasn't sticking to the hard surfaces.

I also had to get up to The Cabin to being Jenny home today and get her "re-oriented" from 5 days at the Vet's Office, and would call Dr. Grayson right after lunch to see when it would be convenient for me to pick her up and pay my bill. Dad wasn't coming into work today, so I'd have to make the trip to Adam's Junction to get Jenny after work, in the dark. Did I mention that I hate driving in the dark?

I managed to get some paperwork and a portion of my two websites' many pages' long-overdue work done, and grab a bite of lunch: hot chicken noodle soup tasted good on a raw day like Thursday. My completed 2010 Federal/State/Local Income Tax Returns were ready to be picked-up at my CPA's in Dallastown, so I made a quick dash there and signed the requisite forms, paid his prep fee, and ran another errand while I was in the town. When I got back to the Complex, an elderly couple had a landscape job for us, and I forwarded it to my Staff Landscape Architect, Rich, for his attention and action.

Everyone left at 3:30pm; I stayed until 4:15pm and had some stops to make on the way home.

I decided to go to Adam's Junction and get Jenny from the doggie hospital, so I left after my last errand, called the Vet, Dr Jayson, and told him I'd be coming to bring her home to The Cabin. (Skip Down to The Cabin.)

I was back in York at my condo inside of 15-20 minutes, watered and fed Murphy, and settled-in with a gas log fire in the LR, for a short nap on the King-Sized couch. Murphy joined me and slept just above my head. I was tired from the long day's work at the Complex. As I checked the NWS (National Weather Service) in State College, PA, I saw that the Nor'Easter had passed us by and moved-up the coast, bringing at least 6-10" of snow to New England; better them than us! But that another major storm was building in the Plains and Midwest, and could impact us next week. Yikes!

The “Virtual Cabin” – A Novella

After the Church Meeting let out at 9:15pm Friday, I was on my way northward with duffel bag packed, AR-10 .308 cal (7.62 x 51mm NATO) and my Remy 11-87 SemiAutomatic 12ga shotgun. I had a "list" of things to get accomplished, as well as sleep-in very late on both Saturday & Sunday mornings, since I'll be working non-stop, 7 days a week for the next 12 weeks. I pulled off I-83 and on to the gravel side road to The Cabin, up the 1,000ft drive and under the left side carport. I dis-armed the building, brought-in my gear, re-set the alarm, and gave Jenny a big hug. I refilled her 3 bowls, and she supped gratefully and contentedly. After turning-up the heat to 77°F to take the chill off, I opened the flu and lit a roaring fire in the Living Room's Massive Hearth. Temps outside had fallen to 31°F and it would get colder as the night progressed here in the mountains. I checked all the window locks and motion sensors and secured the back door. Jenny curled-up on her bearskin rug in front of the fire; she'd missed our many previous (prior to my volunteer Deputy Sheriff duty) days and evenings together playing, reading and sleeping; I could tell. Well, we'd have this last weekend together until July and August, when I'd again have Sundays off. As I said, I planned to eat well and sleep late tonight and tomorrow, with a succinct shopping list, some errands to run and chores to do before I left on Sunday evening.

I shaved, showered and changed clothes and sat at the empty Dining Room table, reviewing the "list", cleaning my AR-10, Remy 12ga and Kimber 1911 .45cal on 5-6 layers of newspaper with my Hoppe's Deluxe Gun Cleaning Kits. With the weapons cleaned and newspaper disposed of, the fire itself needed a 3ft log and I added one into the mix of wood. I began gathering-up nearly the 90 stacked-on-the-floor Conservative Books I'd brought to read on weekends, loaded them into fresh boxes and piled them near the front door, for loading and transport in my Jeep on Sunday evening. I could use a couple of bookshelves here, and added them to my "list" for tomorrow. It was almost 11:00pm now, and although I wasn't really tired, I decided to take a (Rx) Lunesta® 1mg, so I'd get some quality sleep and get as much of my "list" accomplished on Saturday, since Sunday was a no-shopping day in Adam's Junction. I'd go to Roy's Shell Station and fill-up first, then to Bev & Tony's General Store for plenty of Iam's® wet and dry dogfood, then to a couple of local antique stores for bookshelves. I sat in front of the fire and stared into the dancing flames, petting Jenny and smoking the last Cuban Cigar. I had some of my new favorite drink — Ocean Spray® Diet Blueberry Juice and Ocean Spray® Diet Pomegranate-Blueberry Juice — on the rocks, no alcohol, 5 calories per 8oz glass. I now needed sleep as the pill was kicking-in, left the fireplace flu half open, turned-down the inside temp to 69°F, turned-off the lights, and went to bed in the Master Bedroom. Jenny quickly joined me and we slept until 8:00am.

The alarm went off at 8:15am Saturday, and I hit the snooze button several times, but finally turned it off, got up and fed Jenny, turned-up the heat to 77°F and went back to sleep until 10:00am. It was a cloudy, drizzly, 23°F day so far when I finally started making breakfast: a glass of OJ, 2 slow/low-fried, sunny-side-up eggs with grits and butter, Country Sausage, home-made hashbrowns w/ butter, Pink Grapefruit Sections, a banana and French-Roast, Turkish-Grind Coffee . I was filled. I did the dishes and pans and put them in the kitchen sink rack to dry. After dressing, I grabbed my "list", motioned Jenny into the Jeep's passenger seat, to sit on a thick blanket over the leather seats, armed the building, and drove-off to Roy's Shell Station to gas-up. Gas prices up here, at the pump, skyrocketed 36¢ this week, after briefly falling 18-20¢ last week. Unleaded Regular (87 oct) is at $3.85/gal, Unleaded Premium (89oct) is at $3.95/gal, Premium (93 oct) is now at $4.15/gal and Diesel just climbed to $5.27/gal, in the Adam's Junction Village area. Ouch. I talked to Roy's son Randy, a trustworthy Eagle Scout like myself (Class of 1963), about taking good care of Jenny while I was gone and gave him a 3-month advance plus some extra cash for "incidentals" for Jenny, key and digital combination to The Cabin — which I would change locks and combinations after returning in July and August — for personal safety reasons. I paid the bill and we drove to Bev & Tony's General Store, to load-up on Jenny's favorite brand: Iam's® wet and dry dogfood, which we drove back to The Cabin to unload and store for Jenny. I said goodbye to Bev & Tony, hugged Bev, and told them I'd stop by Gabrielle's grave with flowers, before I left on Sunday evening. I did.

Every day which goes by, I miss someone else who has died, either of old age or prematurely, and is now gone forever from my Life on this earthly plane. I mourn their passing, but rejoice in the fact that we once crossed paths and shared Life and Love, together.

I stopped by the AJ Fire Dep't to say goodbye to the guys who'd been out on many calls with me, when I was a Volunteer Deputy Sheriff. They weren't public union thugs and punks, and I respected them all for risking their lives numerous times. As I continued my tour around Adam's Junction, I saw Deputy Tim doing my old circuit, and stopped to say goodbye. He asked if I was going to take the job with the Feds, as sniper/sharpshooter, and I said I wasn't. I still hadn't call either the FBI or BATFE Commander's cell phones, to say, "no thanks". I had a 21-year old business to run and employees whose families depended upon me for a living. Besides, "killing" wasn't where I wanted to be at this point in my life; there was just too much living to do at 61, after hearing of a longtime 72-year old friend and customer's death on Friday, I decided on staying put and trying to resurrect my business from the sinking economy, no thanks to the racist, communist, muslim-loving, asshole hate-America, half-breed in The White House (I sure as hell didn't vote for the subhuman Kenyan!) and the corrupt liberal-demokkkRAT/ RINO scum in the US Senate. I just hoped that PA would become more small-business-friendly with a newly-elected GOP government in-place.

I also stopped at Nell's Kitchen Drive-In Restaurant to say goodbye to her and her employees, and re-drove much of the residential section of my 10-square block circuit I'd patrolled for the AJPD for the past few months, just to imprint that quaint, little "virtual" village and its beautiful old homes into my memory. Not much like it in the York area, except across the river in Wrightsville (PA). People I'd met and helped with various things, waved, as they came out to pick-up mail and their morning papers. I would truly miss visiting this "virtual" place with the regularity as I had, over the Winter months. Ooops, I suddenly remembered why I came here in the first place: some antique oak bookshelves! Duh. I was letting my sentimentality get the best of me.

With an empty Jeep once again, and Jenny on a short leash, I headed to the various antique stores downtown on South Mainstreet and on North Mainstreet, looking for 2-3 oak or maple bookshelves, for my Collection of Conservative Books. I'd take a few unread books back with me to York to finish, but I'd already read 95% of them, and would be picking-up even more books over the Spring months to add to my Collection. After going through the "treasures" in all of the little antique stores on both sides of Main Street, I found 3 1930s Oak Stacking Bookshelves with double drawers and a 1930s Glass Front, Antique Oak Barrister's Bookcase bought them both at a fair ($475.25) price, and loaded them into the back and on top of the Jeep, wrapped in waterproof tarps. Jenny barked approvingly, as she didn't like to circumnavigate all those piles on the LR floor and these bookshelves would negate that problem for her, plus organize things for me. I carefully drove back to The Cabin, so as not to break any of the fragile, old glass, and carried them into the LR, placed them against two separate, semi-empty walls, wiped them out, polished them with Pledge®, and loaded-in my books from the boxes I'd packed them in, earlier. Perfect fit with lots of room for any new literary additions. Now, my back was starting to hurt again from doing that lifting.

I vacuumed all of the oriental and braided rugs and Jenny's favorite bearskin, wet-mopped the kitchen and bathroom, used Pledge® on all the oak tables and chairs, Windexed® the inside windows, cleaned the kitchen and bathroom counters, changed the Master BR linens, did 2+ loads of laundry, folded everything, and generally wore myself out with housecleaning. Time for some fresh-air exercise and a walk.

At 3:45pm, I stoked-up the sputtering fire, and began moving multiple wheelbarrow loads of dried, well-seasoned, split firewood from the woodshed in the backyard, on to the back porch, carefully cross-stacking it and tarping it for later use. After finishing loading-up the porch with as much as it would hold, I decided to go for a walk with Jenny on her short leash, grabbed my AR-10 .308cal (7.62 x 51mm NATO), with Leupold Gold Dot CQ/T Scope, and a couple of extra loaded 20-round mags, and set out across the 3-4 acre meadow. No sooner had we gone ½ mile, we encountered a family of 2 large adult black bears and their 3 new cubs down by the stream, fishing for trout and watering themselves. Jenny stayed perfectly still and quiet, while I quietly-chambered a round and opened the Leupold Gold Dot Scope's lens caps and zeroed them in. We just stood quietly behind a tree, downwind and watched. Within 15-20 minutes, they moved-off upstream to try their luck at fishing. Otherwise, they'd be relegated to eating berries in the brambles patch. I patted Jenny on the head for holding herself back, as I didn't want to have to shoot anything today. Jenny and I continued our walk. I kept the AR-10 at-the-ready, since I had no idea what we'd run into this time of year. Hopefully, nothing.

After almost two hours of walking in 26°F, we'd had enough, headed back to The Cabin and noticed that 2 AJ Police Cruisers were sitting in the circle turnaround in front of The Cabin's deck. It was Sgt Clay and Deputy Alex, come to chat and say goodbye for the Spring months. I doffed my muddy 16" English Wellington Boots, invited them inside, and they radioed the Dispatcher with a "10-20 personal 15mins" location. I turned-in my Deputy's Badge and ID to Sgt Clay, plus some other minor Police Gear from the Jeep, and he said that Locker #7 and Parking Space #7 were mine when I came back in July and August. We exchanged cell numbers, shook hands and they left. I re-stoked the fire, made a juice drink, and sat down in front of the fireplace, and nodded-off for a couple of hours. Jenny was also pooped and fell asleep on her bearskin. With The Cabin armed and secured and the heat turned-up, I dreamed of many things. It was nearly 7:00pm and growing dusk. I woke-up with Jenny's head on my knee, licking my left hand. She knew that this would be our last weekend together and she was missing me already. I felt the same about her company. I'd grown very fond of her over the months since I'd adopted her, too.

I was getting hungry for dinner, and so was Jenny, I refilled her 3 bowls (water, dry food & wet food) with her favorite, plus some "treats" I'd bought at Bev & Tony's General Store; she was most appreciative. I made two 10oz Allen Brows 'Prime Grade' Filet Mignons with Bleu Cheese melted on top, oven-roasted potatoes drizzled with EVOO, a can of Bush's Grillin' (Bourbon Sauce) Beans, ¼ of a loaf of warm, crusty Italian Bread smeared with roasted garlic cloves paste and Heller's salted butter, applesauce and my fruit juice. Jenny got a "special treat" of half a medium-rare filet mignon, which she inhaled, although I'd cut it into small pieces for her. Her cocked-head and quizzical look of "is that all?" made me laugh. Once again, filled-up, all dishes and pans done, and drying in the sink rack, I sat back down at the fireplace, nodded-off again and dreamed of nothing in particular, until 11:15pm.

I took "The Pillars of The Earth" by Ken Follett, from the newly-purchased and installed bookshelves, sat back down in front of the roaring fire and picked-up where I'd left-off 2 weeks ago. I enjoyed it until 1:15am, and then had to get some sleep and re-bookmarked it for later. I shut-down The Cabin to 69°F, checked the arming system and front/rear floodlights, closed the hearth flu damper halfway and headed for bed. I was so tired that I didn't need a Rx sleeping pill tonight; just 3-4 aspirin and a heating pad for my back pain twinges. Jenny joined me and I was asleep in under 10 minutes.

At 2:35am, the interior alarm went-off, as did the front/rear floodlights, and I jumped out of the bed, with my Kimber .45cal, quickly got dressed and grabbed the Remy 11-87 Semi-Automatic 12ga Shotgun, loaded with alternating Slugs and .00 Buckshot. I crouched below window level, didn't turn on any lights, and Jenny moved stealthily to the kitchen door, leading to the carport where I parked the Jeep. I could see 2 silhouettes of men standing just outside the door, and heard them whispering about "revenge on Shelley and everyone inside"; then I lost the jist of their conversation. I quickly called the AJ Police Station on my cell phone's speedial and alerted the Dispatcher, who said Deputies Bob and Charles were just leaving the downtown circuit, and she'd have them to me in 5-10 minutes. The old adage, "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away." rang very true. I was on my own. I released the FED holster safety and mechanical safeties from both the Kimber 1911 .45cal and Remy Semi-Auto 12ga, and the silhouettes split-up and one went to the back door, while the other waited at the side door. Since I was already at the side door, I decided to take him out first. The shot through the back door, even if he ducked down, would be a no-brainier with either weapon, with the Kimber doing the less damage to my dwelling, though easily killing any intruder. The shotgun would blow a hole through each door and intruder large enough to drive a VW through, and I'd have to replace both doors Sunday before leaving. Shit. My other option was to go quietly out the front door and kill them both outside, so no damage would occur to The Cabin or to Jenny from these two scum. This was far, far too close for the powerful AR-10 and its specialized Leupold Gold Dot CQ/T Scope, so I'd go with what I have at-hand: the Kimber and Remy 12ga.

I put my black hoody on over my gray GC&N T-Shirt and dark blue Lee Jeans, smeared some mud on my White face, donned black shoes, checked the weapons' ammo loads, had extra 12ga shells and .45cal mags in my black vest, and unlocked the front door, and crawled slowly out onto the porch, gently-shutting the door behind me. The man at the carport's side door had just walked around the left corner, with a 30:06cal deer rifle, and I shot him at 15ft, 3x in the chest, "centermass", and he fell dead. The other perp at the back door came blindly-running around the right side of The Cabin, where I'd crawled to the edge of the deck and as soon as he was fully in sight, I shot him from 25ft with the Kimber, 2x in the forehead and 3x in the chest, also "centermass". He was also dead. Now, Jenny started barking and snarling, trying to keep the third perp from entering the side door, and I crawled back inside The Cabin, only to see another lowlife scumbag club her twice with the butt of his deer rifle, and I shot him 2x in the chest from 6-8ft away, "centermass", and once in the forehead, for "good measure". Three down; zero to go! By then, Deputies Bob and Charles had arrived with an ambulance following closely, and I was tending to Jenny, after securing all 3 perps' rifles. Since they were all dead, no cuffing was needed. I called the local Vet, Dr Jayson Martin, DMV, and he told me to wrap her in a blanket and get to his office ASAP; he'd be assembling a surgical staff and leaving home right now for his office's OR. She had a small cut on the side of her face, but I didn't see any other external damage; any injuries would probably be internal damage, if he hit her more than the two times I saw before I killed him, in the form of broken bones and damaged organs, if any. I turned it all over to the Deputies while I took my unconscious dog to the Vet's at 75-80mph, in town. I'd told the Deputies that as soon as I turned her over to Dr Jayson for tests and x-rays, I'd be right back. I passed several more ambulances coming from Memorial Hospital (which would be turned into Coroner's Wagon Transports) and another Police Cruiser with Sgt Clay in it.

Dr Jayson was true to his word: he had 2 young trauma staff ready and a trauma OR prepped; he immediately took Jenny from me and began prepping her for the testing and possible surgery. I wrote down my cell number, asked him to call me when he knew anything, and ran out to the Jeep to get back to the crime scene at The Cabin. The whole place was lit-up like Christmas, with all the emergency vehicles' lights blinking. I found Sgt Clay and took him inside, and laid it all out from 2:30am. We found muddy boot tracks on both the side and back doors' porches and tracks around each side of The Cabin. A second set of tracks came from the nearby woods to the side door, and that's when Jenny was clubbed as she guarded the door from his entry to get to me. Sgt Clay had it all diagrammed, statements taken and the ambulance crews had "tagged & bagged" the 3 dead perps. My cell phone rang with Dr Jayson on the other end saying Jenny had a mild concussion, two stitches and was "in doggie recovery". I could come see her anytime, as he would wait for me. I asked Clay if I could leave, and he said that he'd go along; and that the mess here would be handled by the 12-15 current on-site personnel who owed me lots of uncounted favors, and they'd put it all back right and clean-up the bloody messes. CSI would be here in the late morning/early afternoon to finish-up the investigation. We sped along to Dr Jason's Office and I ran inside to see Jenny. Slightly-sedated, an IV tube in her forearm, she lamely barked and moaned at seeing me, and began licking me as I got within 6" of her. After an CAT-Scan, she was declared free of internal organ injuries and broken bones; luckily I'd killed the lowlife who'd only gotten two whacks at her. Any more could have proved very injurious or fatal to her small frame. She'd be okay in a few days, the Vet said. He wanted to keep her for observation and stitches removal for another 3-4 days, and I said I'd be down each afternoon after work, since we were still on Winter Hours until Friday. I offered him a credit card to pay for expenses to-date, but he refused. I'd get his bill after it was all over. He did, after all have one of the brothers of Jenny, from the original litter, so we were "related", somehow. Don't ask. I petted Jenny and kissed her on top of the head "good night" and she settled back into a mildly-tranquilized sleep. Long day for her; it could have been much worse, as when she was badly mauled by a large 300lb Black Bear, almost becoming its lunch, which I quickly killed with my .50cal Beowulf.

Poor little Jenny; she's been through a lot in her short, young life. And she's only a few years old, so she's got a long way to go. I hope I can help her get to a nice, ripe old age.

It was now daybreak (6:55am) on Sunday, so Clay and I stopped at Nell's Kitchen for several tray-carriers of coffee and bags of breakfast sandwiches for the workers back my place; my treat. To our complete amazement, all but Deputy Bob had left, and the place was cleaned even better than I had done earlier in the day. I disarmed the building, since the Choice 1 Security System was still running, invited them both inside for OJ, Maple Oatmeal, Eggs Benedict & homemade Hollandaise Sauce, steamed local pork sausages, grits and butter, pink grapefruit sections and lots of coffee. We talked about many subjects, but mainly about my coming back to AJ when I could and the pending job offer with the Feds. I said "yes" to coming back and "no" to the job with the Feds. I had other, more important priorities in my life. Well-satiated from a huge breakfast, Sgt Clay, Deputy Bob and I shook hands and they left after notifying the Dispatcher. They dropped-off the still-warm breakfast sandwiches at the Fire Dep't, Hospital and would take the remaining ones back to the Police Station for the 3rd Shift's "morning munchies". I built a roaring fire, lain-on a 3ft log, made-up the Master Bed, took a shower and changed clothes. Then I laid down on the couch to nap from my massively-interrupted night's sleep. It was lonely without Jenny here, so I closed my eyes and later woke-up at 9:15am. So much for a good weekend's slept.

I had a message on my cellphone from Sgt Clay, that the three perps I'd killed last night were "friends" of the Holtzapples, Groves and Andersens, and had done a lot of hard time together in the PA State Prison, in Danville. They were also in on numerous armed robberies, rapes, break-ins, home invasions, drug distribution rings, car thefts and a long, long list of suspected murders. They wouldn't be missed. County DA, Stan Robbins, would summarily convene a Grand Jury, as is the Law, after all the AJPD and CSI Evidence had been gathered and sorted, to determine charges against me, if any. As far as he was concerned, "The Castle Doctrine" applied and had been in effect since the founding of the PA Commonwealth in June of 1776, and not the bullshit going through the sub-idiotic State Assembly in Harrisburg, these days.

I re-stoked the fire with some split fire wood, getting down toward the end of the inside pile. After splashing some very cold water on my face, I called Dr Jayson's Office to see how Jenny was doing, and got his answering service. He returned my call within 3-4 minutes, and said she's doing fine, had a restful night, and is healing (2 stitches) nicely, despits a couple of minor bruises. She should be ready to come home very soon.

I needed to empty out the 'fridge and freezer of opened, perishable goods, since I'd be "away" for the next 3 months, working 7 days a week at my business, and only visit off and on when I could. I had the 3-4 boxes which my Book Collection originally was packed-in, before I bought those two sets of 19302s oak shelves yesterday afternoon, so I'd use them to transport any foodstuffs back to York. I piled the boxes in the kitchen, and went out on the front porch for a smoke. It was 29°F/ 23°F Wind Chill and I didn't stay long outside; the fire inside felt much better, but at least I was now waking-up from a lousy night's sleep.

Not wanting to dirty and wash anything, since I'd put everything away yesterday evening after dinner with Jenny, I opted to go to Nell's Kitchen for breakfast. The Cabin was pristine and everything was in its place, for a change. I dressed in layers, slipped-on my Kimber 1911 "Eclipse Target II" .45cal ACP, and took my AR-10 along in the back seat of the Jeep. I turned down the furnace to 70°F, armed the building and drove through town to the north side where Nell's was located. People were just on their way to Church at 8:15am and hadn't heard the "news of last night's shoot out".

I pulled into Nell's, parked and went inside to an almost deserted restaurant. I figured I'd sit at the counter instead of at a booth in the restaurant area, since Nell was having her 15th Anniversary and it was decorated with balloons, streamers and everyone at the restaurant got a "gag-hat" to wear. Though, "something didn't seem just right" at the counter. I looked around the right side end of the counter and the restaurant was empty of both customers and wait staff, as was the counter. I slid my coat back and unsnapped the strap on the Galco FED Paddle Holster, holding my 5" .45cal Kimber. I said loudly, "Well, if I can't get any service in here I'll go to Uncle Rays' Joint or Sarah's Place to eat!" and walked out the door to the Jeep. I used my cellphone to call the Police Dispatcher and have her put me through to Sgt Clay pronto. I told him what I'd found at Nell's, but that I wasn't a Deputy any more – no Police Deputy Badge or ID – so I had to bail out of the place. He deputized me over the phone, said he and 2 Deputies would be on their way in seconds and that he'd bring my Badge and ID. I was to go ahead and take the perps down, right now. He'd cover for me.

I pulled the Jeep out of the parking lot and into the driveway down the street, on the opposite side of the free-standing garage where it couldn't be seen from the restaurant. I grabbed the AR-10, chambered a round from the 20-round magazine, threw 3 more 20-round .308cal magazines in my coat pocket, as well as 5 more 8-round .45cal mags in the other pocket. The AR-10 was massive "overkill" for this range – I wished I'd brought the Remy 11-87 Semi-Automatic 12ga Shotgun with an EoTech Red Dot Scope, but who knew? – and I snuck through the back alleyway to Nell's, hoping that Clay and his Deputies would get here quickly, before a bad hostage situation developed when people from Church started arriving. Damn, all this on an empty stomach, too.

I checked-out the back windows of Nell's, tried the backdoor and all were locked. I could see three perps, all with 9mm handguns and one with a sawed-off shotgun; I'd have to get him first with the AR-10, since my .45 wouldn't be much good against a scattergun at close range. All the employees were locked in Nell's office and I could clearly see the phone cord had been ripped out of the wall and was lying on the floor. At least they were safe, for now. Standing on 2 steel milkcrates to get a level shot inside the restaurant through this 8ft high window, I took aim at the man with the shotgun, through the window's glass, and fired. The .308cal lifted him 12-18" off the ground and threw him back 10-15ft, at this 25-30ft range. One down; two to go. The two others ran for cover behind a booth and a door. I fired 3 rounds at the backside of the booth, in a triangle pattern, 18" apart, and the 2nd man slumped out from behind the booth. He'd been hit in the left shoulder and was trying to shift the 9mm to his right hand when I fired again, hitting him "centermass" and killing him outright. The 3rd perp kicked-open the door and came out shooting with a 9mm in both hands. Bullets broke the glass all around me and I could feel blood trickling down my face as I was either grazed from a bullet or cut from all of the flying glass shards. My single shot to his stomach stopped him cold and he flew backward into the closed door and slumped to the floor. I shot him again in the forehead, just for good measure.

Suddenly, the parking lot filled-up with police cars and ambulances. I wiped my face and the running blood smeared my eyes and glasses, blurring my vision. I put the safety on the AR-10, slung its sling over my shoulder, jumped down from the steel crates, and slumped back against the building's rear wall. Clay and two medics came running around to me, while the 2 Deputies and other medical personnel entered the restaurant. Clay shoved my Badge and ID into my coat pocket, making it official. The medics led me to an ambulance and a stool, where I sat while they cleaned me up and treated my superficial wounds of glass by tweezering them out of my forehead and cheeks; antiseptic and heavy-duty band-aids, but no stitches required. "Can't you even get breakfast by yourself without making a real mess", was Clay's retort, with a big smile. "Heh, heh, heh", I chuckled back. The dead men were also ID'd as Groves, based upon their wallet IDs, but hadn't been associated with any of the scum we dealt with previously. This was a whole new "wing" of that criminal-prone family now getting involved in this village's business. Nell's was officially "closed for the day" as a crime scene, but at least she and her 5 employees were unhurt. She and they came to see me sitting by the ambulance, and brought cups of coffee and donuts for everyone and thanked us – me especially – after they'd heard the whole story.

My shirt, vest and jacket needed cleaning from all the blood; amazing how such relatively-small slices on the forehead and cheeks can bleed so profusely. At least I hadn't taken a 9mm round anywhere. CSI would be busy here, between The Cabin and Nell's, recreating the forensic evidence from the crime scenes based upon existing facts, and making their own final reports. I followed Clay back to the Station, where he debriefed me on the incident, made his written report and noted my injuries and subsequent treatment. I told him that I was headed to The Cabin to get cleaned-up, but was going to stop by the Vet's and see Jenny, on the way. I'd be back later to turn-in my Badge and ID, and file an official report on the incident. I'd imagine Capt Bunce wouldn't be terribly happy about all the dead perps and would probably make some more "off-handed comments" about me and my use of gunplay, as he did several weeks ago. Clay said to leave that to him. I left.

I stopped at Dr Jayson's Vet Hospital and was taken into see Jenny by one of the Ass't Vets, who commented on all the blood and bandages I was now sporting. "Rough morning at the breakfast table", I quipped. As soon as I entered the room, all the dogs and cats let out a howl at the sight of me, covered in dried blood and bandages, and Jenny went nuts. I petted her and calmed her down with an "I'm OK" and she accepted it as truth. "Just a bunch of scratches, old girl", I said. I watched her eat, gave her a kiss and a pat on the head and left for The Cabin to get "clean and normal" again.

I put the bloody clothes into the washer and took a shower, getting the matted, dried blood out of my silver hair and off my face. I had plenty of Band-Aids® to replace the medic's gauze and tape efforts, which made it all look worse than it really was. I even had a cracked lip, which must have happened with the AR-10s recoil through the glass, while holding it too tightly during the aim-point. After getting into some fresh, clean clothes and doing a load of laundry, I realized that I needed to get back to the Police Station to get some things done and settled from this morning's incident. I armed the building and left.

Clay was in Capt Roy Bunce's office having a "heated discussion" when I arrived at the Police Station, and I could hear my name mentioned a couple of times. Bunce motioned me to come into the office and join them. His eyes widened as he saw all the Band-Aids® on my face. He wanted to know why I had to kill 3 more people so early on a Sunday morning. After calmly explaining what happened, it was obvious that Clay had gone on the defensive and hadn't fully-explained the situation. Capt Roy immediately calmed-down and the red in his chubby face disappeared. Clay's BP easily dropped 50pts, too. I handed Clay my Badge and ID, in front of a witness, as is required by PA Statute, and I was officially a civilian again. I still had a report to write-up, but that wouldn't take very long and I'd be gone from their lives for the next 3 months, except for the occasional visit to The Cabin; no more Police Duty and staff arguments, I said. That satisfied Capt Bunce, who'd rather talk his way out of an impossible situation, than kill the perps before they put him into one with hostages. Or into a bodybag. Bunce was "old school": talk and not shoot. Clay and I felt Bunce was too meek for the job, but as long as he stayed out-of-our-way, we could tolerate him and his eccentricities. The 5 Deputies agreed. It was time for Roy to retire and Clay to become Police Chief, IMO. I used Tim's office to write-up my short report and handed it in to Clay, shook hands and said goodbye to him, the Deputies and to the staff on-duty.

It was nearly 11:15am, Church was letting-out now and the streets were becoming busy. With Nell's closed for the day, Uncle Ray's and Sarah's Place would get all the lunch crowd's business. I drove back to The Cabin, and continued packing-up. Not all the bloodstains came out of my morning's shirt, so I threw it away; the down vest and corduroy barn coat were clean and okay. I packed them in my duffelbag with the other clothes from the Master BR's chest-of-drawers. I called the Vet's and made sure they had my cellphone number to call me when Jenny was to be brought home; I'd drive-up and do it myself and get her re-settled into The Cabin. No one else was to do it. I cleaned-out the ashes from the hearth, closed down the flu, emptied and washed Jenny's 3 bowls, cleaned-out her litter pans in the 2nd BR on the tarp, turned-off the empty 'fridge and freezer, checked all window and door locks, piled the packed boxes into the Jeep, armed the building and left for York. I'd be back in a few days for Jenny. I had a busy week ahead of me at the Garden Center Complex, with 2 new employees reporting for work orientation on Monday, plus a slew of perennial and nursery stock deliveries arriving. Spring Hours started on Friday: Mon-Sat, 8am-5pm; Sun 11am-4pm. This would go on until July and August, when we'd cut Sundays from the schedule, but return to 7 days a week in September through mid-November, for the traditional Fall Sale. 7 days a week; I hate it with a passion.

All that would help get me through the next 12 weeks would be The Serenity Prayer: "God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the Courage to change the things I can; and the Wisdom to know the difference." Not much else would help me at this point-in-time. (Jump back up to "Around The Garden Center".)

Dr Jayson's Office called twice a day with reports of Jenny's progress, and said she could come back home on Thursday. We were supposed to get a Nor'Easter Thursday afternoon into Friday, so maybe the timing would be perfect, and I could stay the night with her. I'd see what developed, while perhaps Dad, Alan, Rich, Arthur, Jon, Steffi & Kim could cover for me until Saturday's and Sunday's business hours. I'd still try to make my Friday 8:00pm Church Meeting in Red Lion (PA), but that too, was subject to the weather.

Despite heavy I-83 north traffic, I was on the side road to the village of Adam's Junction and at the Vet's within 25-30 minutes. It had snowed and 4-6" was still on the ground, but at least the roads were clear. Jenny heard my voice in the waiting room and I recognized her bark. I paid Dr Jayson for his services, after he kindly-deducted $250 from the bill for Jenny and his dog being from the same litter, lifted Jenny into the front seat, belted her in, and drove to The Cabin. It was still snowing. After parking under the left side carport, I disarmed the building and took her inside, turned-up the furnace to 78°F, and took her clean bowls from the sink dish rack, and filled one to the brim with fresh water, one with Iam®'s dry food and one with Iam®'s wet food, her favorites. I checked all the windows and doors, the hearth flu, front & rear floodlights and alarm timers, and reset them to correspond to DST hours, which I'd forgotten to do last week.

I really wanted to stay the night with Jenny, but I knew that Roy's son, Randy, would take good care of her during the weeks and months I was gone, with the occasional visit from me during the week or on weekends, if the weather was inclement. There was plenty of dry and wet food, and Randy would take her for short walks; he too carried a Colt .357 Magnum sidearm, so errant critters wouldn't be a problem on their walks around the front meadow. I'd had a long talk with him, giving him specific instructions for Jenny's care and feeding, and I trusted him to do the right things. He and I had each other's cellphone numbers, so we could get in touch instantly.

After Jenny ate, she curled-up on her bearskin, and I sat next to her, petting and scratching her favorite places, and finally had to call it a night. I would liked to have taken her back to York for the Spring months, but that just wasn't to be. She belonged here, where her "roots are", as all "virtual dogs" do. I'd see her again in a few days; perhaps sooner if the snowstorm was a bad one and I could make it up here safely. She watched me turn down the furnace, arm the building and leave, knowing I'd be back soon. (Jump back up to "Around The Garden Center".)

muslim "Heritage" In America?

Old' shit-for-brains, Barack Hussein ∅bummer, during his Cairo speech, said: "I know, too, that islam has always been a part of America's story." Say what, ∅bummer?

Really? Were those muslims that were in America when the Pilgrims first landed? Funny, I thought they were Native American Indians. Were those muslims that celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day? Sorry again, those were Pilgrims and Native American Indians.

Can you show me one muslim signature on the United States Constitution? Declaration of Independence? Bill of Rights? Didn't think so.

Did muslims fight for this country's freedom from England? No.

Did muslims fight during the Civil War to free the slaves in America? No, they did not. In fact, muslims to this day are still the largest traffickers in human slavery. Your own half brother, a devout muslim, still advocates slavery himself, even though muslims of Arabic descent refer to "black muslims" as "pug nosed slaves." Says a lot of what the muslim world really thinks of your family's "rich islamic heritage," doesn't it Mr. ∅bummer?

Where were muslims during the Civil Rights Era of this country? Not present. There are no pictures or media accounts of muslims walking side by side with Martin Luther King Jr, or helping to advance the cause of Civil Rights.

Where were muslims during this country's Woman's Suffrage era? Again, not present. In fact, devout muslims demand that women are subservient to men in the islamic culture. So much so, that often they are beaten for not wearing the 'hajib' or 'burka', or for talking to a man who is not a direct family member or their husband. Yep, the muslims are all for women's rights, aren't they, ∅bummer?

Where were muslims during World War II? They were aligned directly with Adolf Hitler, and the Nazis. The muslim grand mufti himself met with Adolf Hitler, reviewed the troops and accepted support from the Nazi's in killing Jews.

Finally, Mr. ∅bummer, where were muslims on Sept. 11th, 2001? If they weren't flying planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon or a field in Pennsylvania killing nearly 3,000 people on our own soil, they were rejoicing in the Middle East. No one can dispute the pictures shown from all parts of the muslim world celebrating on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and other cable news networks that day. Strangely, the very "moderate" muslims who's asses you bent over backwards to kiss in Cairo, Egypt on June 4th were stone cold silent post 9-11. To many Americans, their silence has meant approval for the acts of that day.

And THAT, Mr. ∅bummer, is the "rich heritage" muslims have here in America.

Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to mention the Barbary Pirates. They were and still are, all murderous muslim garbage, richly deserving of summary death.

And now we can add November 5th, 2009: the slaughter of 13 American dead and wounding of 29 other American Soldiers at Fort Hood by a muslim major who is a doctor and a psychiatrist, and who was supposed to be counseling soldiers returning from battle in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The "heritage" of any and all subhuman muslim slime, garbage and scum in America is that of wanton destruction, murder and death. From 9-11 to so-called "honor killings", to massacres on US Army Bases and the many plots to blow-up people, places and things, the subhuman muslim filth are indeed, "The Enemy Within Our Gates".

The real enemy is islam, not just "radicalized muslims", Rep Peter King (R-NY). Wake-up America and smell the islamic stench surrounding us all!

Memo to Mr. ∅bummer: "allahu akbar!" is a war cry, you racist, dumbfucking, hate-America, piece-of-pigshit, Kenyan asshole!

That finally, Mr. ∅bummer is the "muslim heritage" in America. All muslims and everything islamic should be outlawed in America, and should be made prunishable by summary execution, IMO.

∅bummer, your "muslim heritage" is piracy, plain and simple, going back hundreds of years and continuing today.

mo-Ham-head + allah = Satan!

Any questions, half-breed, sambo, lowlife scumbag, you stinking ∅bummer asshole?

The Global Warming Money Pit

Have you seen this video: "BBC: The Great Global Warming Swindle"? It was outright-banned from leftist, hate-filled, dirtbag, lowlife scumbags, Google.com's and YouTube.com's websites, by the mentally-ill, left-wing, global warming idiot wackos, but I've preserved it, for posterity, aka you, me and *ours*. Watch, be informed and download it for others to see. It's on my corporate server, and will stay there, BTW.

Here's what the Global Warming Scam is all about. Sweet, huh? They're so transparent, aren't they?

Here's everything you need to know about the Global Warming Fraud, and why it's a good thing. It's a l-o-n-g article, so get a sandwich, iced tea and settle-in, for a very informative read. I'm right there with you, BTW.

The "Greenhouse Effect" is a natural and valuable phenomenon, without which, the planet would be uninhabitable. Global Warming, at least in recent times, is real. CO2 is not a significant greenhouse gas; 95% of the contribution is due to Water Vapor. Man's contribution to Greenhouse Gasses is relatively insignificant. We didn't cause the recent Global Warming and we cannot stop it. Solar Activity appears to be the principal driver for Climate Change. CO2 is a useful trace gas in the atmosphere, and the planet would actually benefit by having more, not less of it, because it is not a driver for Global Warming and would enrich our vegetation, yielding better crops to feed the expanding population. CO2 is not causing global warming, in fact, CO2 is lagging temperature change in all reliable datasets. The cart is not pulling the donkey. Wake-up, folks.

Here's a listing of The Best Global Warming Videos on the Internet.

Hey, fat, shit-for-brains, bloated, liar, huckster, fraud, criminal, charlatan, scumbag, loser, disgraced ex-VP AlGoreBore (LIAR-TN), is back using $300 million of OPM (Other Peoples' Money) to promote his Global Warming Bullshit, after the worst Winter in over 100 years. Welcome back, fatso huckster asswipe, AlGoreBore!

CO2 bad? No; CO2 is good, and we need more of it, or we're in for a very cold period, very soon. Here are the facts about CO2.

Roger Revelle of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Harvard University and University of California San Diego, spits on the lying scumbag, AlGoreBore. My, my, oh my. (((snicker))) No, there's no consensus on Glo-bullshit Warming, other than it's a LIE! Just ask Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT, Richard S. Lindzen; he's eminently-qualified to call AlGoreBoreAsshole, a LIAR! As I am.

There's another "ice age" coming, not the AlGoreBoreLiar 'Glo-bull warming' crap.

Larsen B Ice Shelf in Antarctica collapses in 2002 = Glo-bullshit Warming? Doubt it.

Read this Glo-bullshit Warming idiocy. Go ahead; I'll wait.

AlGoreBore's "hypocrisy"? See it right here!

You need to watch this 30 minute film; it's an eye-opener if you think that we're running out of crude oil, and that America has no reserves. We have more oil and natural gas in Alaska alone, than all the rest of the world's known reserves, COMBINED! Grab an adult beverage, and watch it.

Better get out your Winter coats, 'snuggies', wool socks and snow shovels, as it seems we've got an 80-year "Little Ice Age", on the way. Yawn; no biggie.

AlGoreBore's "Glo-bull Warming Bullshit" has spawned so-called 'cottage industries' around the world, worth hundreds of millions and probably billions of dollars, for green corporation validation, carbon credits, foundation & university climate studies, grants and a host of other BS-related crap to his lies and garbage. Global warming competes with cancer and competes with AIDS for a finite amount of money. This year's natural resurgence will surely see the global warmists, led by celebrity warmist, Gore, compete viscously for those US Taxpayers' hard-earned dollars. And I'm betting that the really important disease, cancer, loses to Glo-bullshit Warming and AIDS. Dammit.

F*ck all the "Glo-bullshit Warming Alarmists"! I say, FUCK-THEM-UP, and cleanse the planet, if they try to physically-intimidate and hurt anyone! I will; count on it! "Get in my face", assholes, and that'll be your last day on this Earth! If there are any "dissenting scientists" out there, who need protection, just get in-touch with me, and I'll guard you & yours. You can count upon that, folks!

Have you taken "The Global Warming Test"? If you have a sentient, functioning brain, and a simple knowledge of "the facts", you'll easily get a 10-of-10, as I did. Go ahead, and give it a try!

Read this article and pick-out "The WWF's Big Lie". If you chose this paragraph — "Summer sea ice is now forecasted to completely disappear in the summer months sometime between 2013 and 2040 — something which hasn't happened for over a million years." — you'd be right. There isn't, and never has been and ice on the earth dated at a million years old, and who the hell was around back then to begin recording it? The lying sacks-of-shit at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) are typical lowlife, left-wing wacko scumbags, in-bed with the "Glo-Bull Warming" Crap, of asshole AlGoreBore and his phony, money-making scam. The oldest, and not reliably-dated ice cores are >160,000 years, and those are shaky in fact, at best. So where did the lying WWF pull the million year crap from? Their asses, of course!

Shit-for-brains, mentally-ill, fat, bloated liar, AlGoreBore's (LOWLIFE-TN) "ally", in NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), which is run by AlGoreBore's chief scientific ally/"asshole/butt-buddy"— Dr James "Moron-Cretin-Asshole" Hansen (DIRTBAG-NASA) — and is one of four bodies responsible for monitoring global temperatures, announced that "last month was the hottest October on record". Total, factual bullshit and lies. This was startling. Across the world there were reports of unseasonal snow and plummeting temperatures last month, from the American Great Plains to China, and from the Alps to New Zealand. China's official news agency reported that Tibet had suffered its "worst snowstorm ever". In the US, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration registered 63 local snowfall records and 115 lowest-ever temperatures for the month, and ranked it as only the 70th-warmest October in 114 years. So what explained the anomaly? GISS's computerized temperature maps seemed to show readings across a large part of Russia had been up to 10 degrees higher than normal. But when expert readers of the two leading warming-skeptic blogs, "Watts Up With That and Climate Audit", began detailed analysis of the GISS data they made an astonishing discovery. The reason for the freak figures was that scores of temperature records from Russia and elsewhere were not based on October readings at all. Figures from the previous month had simply been carried over and repeated two months running. Read this article, and find out why both lying, corrupt, criminal, subhuman idiots, GoreBore & Hansen, should be stood against a wall, and shot, IMO. In fact, the pathetically-socialist, left-wing UK, has just begun to awaken to what the "Climate Change Bill" will do to destroy their nation, or what's left of it. IMO, it's probably too late now to save the UK, but at least some of the more Conservative people over there, will at least get the chance to flee to America (or elsewhere), before we also "go down the proverbial dumper", as they've done. Heh.

On Friday, January 2nd, I ran a fully-attributed story in my weekly "Journal", which had links to other stories and facts, thoroughly-debunking AlGoreBore's trillion dollar scam and fraud, Global Warming". The Daily Telegraph UK's columnist, Christopher Booker, was the erudite author, and here is the link to that story. Nice job, Mr Booker!

Now, lowlife shit-for-brains dirtbag, Arkansas Gov Mike "DumbAss Turd-Boy" Beebe (ASSHOLE-AR), said that global warming is serious problem, not a "hoax," and requires more than a state response. "I think it's a threat, and I think global warming is occurring," Beebe-The-Shithead said in response to a caller to his statewide radio program who said he believed the climate change crisis was a "hoax." Idiot. Stupid idiot. Global warming is bullshit, you two-bit asshole! Crawl back inside of AlGoreBore's rectum, dumbfuck!

And global cooling goes merrily along, without any help from us mere humans, as it has for millions and millions of years.

Another "lie/error" in the favor of Glo-BULL Warming's false bullshit and lies? Got duct tape?

Here's the truth: Lord Monckton of Brenchley's Science & Public Policy Institute.

The commie/fascist/socialist liberal-demokkkRAT filth in the US Congress, have refused to allow Lord Monckton to testify the truth, against con-man, liar, scumbag AlGoreBore's LIES! This is Commie Russia, NOT Free America!

We are in a mini-ice-age for the next 30 years; get used to it!

UN: Glaciers are melting in some part of the world, while increasing in other parts of the world. So frigging what, dumbass UN scumbag trash? It's been happening for millions of years, idiots!

"Slime Magazine" can't even get it right. Read Bryan Walsh's crap and tripe about blizzards.

Things Which Make Your Head Explode

It just blows my mind that the US and NATO are helping subhuman, murderous muslim pigshit/trash/filth in defeating Libya's army. ∅bummer-Soetero is helping them take over the middle east. Where's the duct tape?

No surprise here: Detroit loses a staggering 25% of its population in a decade. BFD. Would you want to live in a crime-riddled, third-world shithole like Detroit?

Everything that the Madonna-whore touches, turns to shit: "A high-profile charitable foundation set up to build a school for impoverished girls in Malawi, founded by the singer Madonna and fellow devotees of a prominent Jewish mysticism movement, has collapsed after spending $3.8 million on a project that never came to fruition."

islam is pigshit and has no rights or privileges in America! Get the subhuman, murderous muslim garbage outta here!

Hey, Dallas Cowboys: get rid of the lowlife sambo, Dez Bryant. He's untalented dogshit.

Connecticut is now trying to ban clips magazines which hold over 10 rounds? Quick, get me some duct tape!

It's the 32nd Anniversary of TMI's "meltdown" on March 28th, 1979, in Middletown (PA). Happy Birthday, Three Mile Island.

"...'flickers of potential Al Qaeda (murderers) and Hizbollah (murderers) in opposition groups' ... says the moronic idiot, Adm James Stavridis, who is NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, and also the commander of US European Command. What an ignorant dumbfuck! What's a "flicker", you shithead? There are muslim pig-shit, boy-buggering muslim brotherhood and al queerda all through "the rebels", you dumb asshole! This is the beginnings of a takeover of the middle east, called a "muslim Caliphate", where all of us Infidels will be slaughtered, Stavridis, you piece-of-shit-moron! WAKE THE FUCK UP, ASSHOLES!

US Sen Asshole Dickhead "Turban" Durbin (TRAITOR-IL) claimed Tuesday that American muslims face charges today that they are "not real Americans", as he convened a hearing on muslim civil rights to counter a hearing held earlier in the month on islamic radicalization. Durbin, a lowlife dirtbag liberal-demokkkRAT who called our US Troops "nazis" and worse names, along with several other senators treasonous cocksucker senators, expressed concern that US muslims are facing widespread discrimination in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, which were muslim instigated. US Sen Asshole Ben Cardin (TRAITOR-MD), claimed Muslims are the victim of "demonization". US Sen Asshole Patrick Leahy, (TRAITOR-VT) claimed hate groups increasingly are targeting muslims in the United States. And rightly so. All filthy, stinking, pigshit-slurping, murderous muslim garbage should be completely annihilated and wiped-out in the US and Europe, IMO. They're "The Enemy Within The Gates".

Good shooting, Border Patrol Agent! Next time, empty all 8 rounds into the illegal dirtbag wetback smuggler!

Shit-for-brains, dumbass US Sen "UpChuck" Schumer (TRAITOR-NY) got caught "peeing with his zipper up", when given instructions by the state-owned-and-run media scumbags and liberal-demokkkRAT caucus filth.

Half-breed sambo, racist, hate-America, Kenyan-born lowlife dirtbag president ∅bummer "on Wednesday will call for a one-third cut in oil imports by 2020, part of a plan he says will reduce US dependence on foreign petroleum." Huh? Get ready for $7-$10/ gal price in gas, unless drilling permits start flowing from The White House and DOE/ EPA, friends. Open The Gulf of Mexico drilling again, drill the living shit out of ANWR, liquefy Oil Shale and produce billions of gallons of Oil etc!

Shut the US Government down, dammit, until the Tea Party gets what it wants in budget cuts! F•ck the GOP-RINOs; let them die-on-the-vine, in the 2012, when they're thrown out of office forever!

Rug-roh! Japan's got a really bad nuke contamination problem and the US and IAEA is covering it up.

Holder's corrupt, racist, hate-White America InJustice Dept investigates itself and declares "no wrongdoing" in the blackie panther voter intimidation case in 2008?

Hershey Co just raised chocolate prices 10%? Hell, I gave-up chocolate, alcohol, bread, dairy, pasta etc on January 10th, and lost 75lbs. No big deal to me.

Some People Just Need Killing

This will do it!

It's not my intention to be the judge here — that's God's "job" — but rather to "hasten the meeting" so that He can send the following subhuman filth to the "Fires of Hell", "River or Lake of Sulphur", or whatever He deems appropriate. I'd gladly/happily volunteer, at no cost to any of my Hard-Working, Fellow US Taxpayers, to gladly/gleefully/happily headshoot these murderous, lowlife dirtbags of all stripes — their skin-color doesn't matter to me, at all — and rid American Society's innocents (especially our precious children and the frail, defenseless elderly) of them, once-and-for-all. And yes, I'd rather see one innocent man convicted and executed, than 10 murderers/robbers/child rapists-murderers freed, to rob, rape and murder again. Hey; call me an "Old Fashioned Conservative"! Too harsh? Nah. Just & RIGHT!

Yes, I agree with the premise of this article, that "the death penalty is a Noahic Covenant with God, in a post-flood world".

Authorities have captured a 19-year-old California subhuman sambo piece-of-lowlife-shit – Michael Sykes, of More no Valley, a suspected gang member – they say is responsible, along with six other subhuman filth and dirtbag garbage, for the gang rape of an 11-year-old girl inside a park bathroom. Kill them all! Please let me do it with my .45cal! I'll do it for FREE to CA Taxpayers, and defer the 45¢ per .45cal round, myself. Rid society of this garbage, dammit! No prison for them! KILL THEM ALL!

Kill the clown for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl nine years ago. No statute of limitations for Jose Guadalupe Jimenez, who is charged with two counts of lewd acts upon a child, a count of aggravated sexual assault of a child, and a count of forcible lewd act on a child. KILL HIM!

A woman convicted of sexually abusing her 2-year-old daughter and streaming the acts over the Internet to a teenager in the United Kingdom was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Thirty-three year-old Julie Carr was also convicted of producing child pornography and gross sexual assault and exploitation of a minor. Kill the filthy, evil bitch!

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