Tallis - Spem In Allium,
(With A Spectacular Slide Show!)

onion snow

friday, april 8th, 2011

the phenomenon of "Onion Snow" is chiefly found in Pennsylvania, and is a nominal snowfall in late Spring; "supposedly" the last snow of the season. Though in my 21+ years here, I've witnessed large snow events even after the so-called "Onion Snow". No matter, usually the damage is only minor, if one hasn't gone too "hog wild" and set-out thousands of bedding plants, annuals, hanging baskets, tender veggies, tender perennials and nursery stock. If they have, they'll "be buying them all twice" and I don't like to see that happen due to weather damage.

Resist the "urge" to plant anything until well after April 15th, preferably May 1st, or you'll be sorely disappointed if we get colder weather, which we're bound to experience in that span of time.

The "smart thing" to do is WAIT until after April 15th – actually the last frost/ snow date around here is May 1st – but most people simply can't last that long after being "cooped-up" inside for the past 4-5 months. "Cabin Fever" and the Spring Plant Catalogs have ultimately gotten the better of them, and they're out planting at the end of March, and BLAM! Along comes some foul weather and ruins all their gardening plans. You know the ones I'm talking about: those homes with bed sheets covering the gardens, which does no good on a bitter cold night, as the damage is done by the cold's simple penetration of the fabric. Then, after seeing the wilt and blackened plants, they have to buy the plants all over again. Not a fun thing, is it?

The best way to "harden-off" tender plants is to shelter them on a back porch with a large overhang, and allow the "cool winds" to blow on the tender leaves, or much better yet, to put them safely inside a small, backyard greenhouse, which I'm seeing more and more of these days. Anything to keep the frost, snow and bitter cold winds away from the "baby-tender leaves".

The "Onion Snow", which we got both last Thursday and Friday mornings, did damage to plants, but as I don't see anything more coming in the NWS' Forecast for April, we'll consider it over and done with for this Season. Perhaps. One never truly knows for sure. It's the night-time temps which do the majority of the damage.

Remember my old quote from many, many years ago (hells bells, I can't remember exactly when): "Mother Nature's In Charge; We're Just Along For The Ride". It still rings true to this day.

Around The Garden Center

Actually, the 2nd Nor'Easter sort of "kissed us" as it moved-up the East Coast Thursday night and into Friday morning. (I should have stayed up at The Cabin overnight, but who knew?) Up at 5:30am, tired as hell from not getting much quality sleep, I noticed that we had 1-2" of fresh snow on the ground and large, heavy flurries were still coming down, though really nothing to worry about over here in East York. I watered and fed Murphy, made my own breakfast and coffee, and with 30°F temps, it would be a good day to work inside on paperwork and phone calls to last year's LSCP clients who'd done nothing substantial, and try to "prod them" along into more substantial landscape projects this Season. I left for work around 6:45am and while most of the roads were clear, there were some treacherous spots along the way. A few "fender benders" marred the usually smooth trip. I've decided that we're staying on "Winter Hours" for one more week, and will open on "Spring Hours" on Friday, April 8th, since we're still missing 4 Growers' Nurseries and their loads, and have basically nothing hardy to sell, yet.

I changed the Corporate Website Hours from "Spring Hours" (Friday April 1st) back to "Winter Hours" at 8:30am today – April Fools Day – to Friday April 8th or later, to give us more "breathing room" for further deliveries, which have been delayed for one reason or another, and alerted the Staff of my decision. Blue Sterling Nursery is scheduled to deliver on Monday morning, while Lynn Andrews Nursery (NC) and Northern Neck Nursery (VA) are yet unknown as of Friday morning at 9:30am, according to their rep-broker. Meanwhile, we have little nursery stock to sell retail. I spent the morning hanging revised metal and newly-hand-painted wood price signs, for perennial gallons & quarts, in the 6-GHs, talking with vendors, completing signing my 2010 Income Taxes and mailing the PA State's in, while my Federal Return was e-filed yesterday by my local CPA. Alan was cutting back all Hollies, moving them up into GH-5 and fertilizing them with Holly-Tone 12-6-4, to revive them from Winter damage. I also revised the Weekly Work Schedules for both Mondays April 4th & April 11th, to reflect all the changes which had taken place with our Nursery Stock Growers and their errant shipments since 8:00am this morning.

There's a lot of Winter damage to be repaired, hundreds of "little tasks" to do, now 3 missing and late nursery growers' shipments to account for and a growing list of landscape and landscape maintenance jobs which need to be done for customers. Plus, I have meetings scheduled to look-over customers' landscapes, which they claim "aren't looking good". Well hey, it's still Winter – chuck the frigging calendar, folks! – and give the plants a few more months to "shine" until any decision is made to replace any plants. They'll be calling and wondering why we haven't gotten their jobs done yet, in short order, as they always do.

Arthur and Jon were repotting trees and shrubs which had just arrived from Iseli and Piedmont Nurseries, plus our 2010 "leftovers", to give their root systems a better chance of growing and sprouting new top growth, and becoming eminently saleable by mid-Summer. It had stopped snowing and sleeting by 1:30pm and the front was continuing to move-up the coast into New England, which had gotten "hammered" yesterday and was going to get it again later tonight. Better them than us; heh. I closed-down at 3:30pm and went home to a nap in front of my gas log fire, while it continued to intermittently snow and grow colder.

I decided to go to The Cabin for one last weekend, after my usual 8:00pm Church Mtg in Red Lion, PA. (Jump Down to The Cabin.)

Here's Reason #3 why I don't fly commercial airlines, anymore.

On my way back home to York, late Sunday afternoon, I stopped at the "Forever Going Out of Business Sale: 70% Off" Ultimate Electronics Store, and bought some highly-discounted DVDs: Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto" ($9.99), "Edge of Darkness" ($10.99) and Bruce Willis' "Die Hard 2" ($5.99); then stopped at the local Target Store and bought "The Unit: Complete Season 3" ($29.99); and a 4-Pack Action with Charles Bronson: "Death Wish 2", "Death Wish 3", "Death Wish 4" and "Assassination" ($13.99), and another 4-Pack Action: "The Matrix Collection": "Matrix", "Matrix Reloaded", "Matrix Revolutions", "AniMatrix" ($14.99). Those should last for a while, until I get back into CATV Movies, which might take me some time, judging by the way I feel right now about analog vs digital TV and the "dog-and-pony-show" that the assholes at CommieCast/ Xfinity put me through last week.

When I got back to my condo in East York around 5:30pm, Murphy wanted to be watered and fed; he was ravenous and wiped-out 2 3oz cans of Fancy Feast® cat food in under 7 minutes! Jeeeez, I left him with plenty of dry and wet food and water on Friday. His 2 dry food bowls of "Purina® Cat Chow™" and "Kit & Kaboodles®" were almost empty and I refilled them and his water bowl, though he most always drinks from the kitchen sink's spigot. He was glad to see me. I was glad to get home and get myself "mentally-ready" for the upcoming week's very busy schedule. I decided to get to sleep, get up and get into work *early*, so that any "loose ends" could be tied-up before they became a problem for me. I had a lot on my plate for the next 2-4 weeks.

And here's Reason #3 why I don't fly commercial airlines, anymore. Here's Reason #4 why I don't fly commercial. And here's Reason #5, which is closely-related to Reason #4. Any questions?

When I got up at 5:30am on Monday morning, it was a Spring-like 45°F outside, and daytime temps were predicted to be in the low-70s, but I knew that wouldn't last, as a cold front was coming through overnight and Tuesday, with nighttime temps dropping back into the low-30s. Sure, it hit 81°F on Monday but take a picture, as it won't last very long. My decision to "withhold all tender perennials and selected tender nursery stock from retail sale" until at least Friday, April 8th, or even later, was the right one. For if damage were to occur from nighttime temps or daytime snows or ice, I'd be blamed and have to replace the plant material, at my expense, and I'm not going there just for a simple retail sale. I'll counsel customers "to wait" another few weeks until nighttime temps get up into the 40s or better.

I've been living in my condo since 1989, when I began building the 20ac Garden Center & Nursery, in an empty cornfield in May of 1990. It's stocked with all original GE "builder" appliances, carpeting and one (mine) repainting. The GE appliances are slowly crapping-out on me: microwave is functional but without fan and lights, self-cleaning gas stove spewing black smoke (on self-clean cycle which I don't even try to use anymore) all over my kitchen and living room (3 days to clean the darned rooms), dishwasher making so much *grinding noise* that the cat (runs and hides in the basement) and I have to leave the kitchen, washer-dryer showing age and intermittently shutting-down during all cycles. On the positive side, I replaced the GE water heater with a 2010 ($2,650) Rudd-Rheem Point-Of-Use Water Heater, a 2011 ($5,575) Amana (64-sear most efficient "Energy Saver" on market) Furnace and a 2011 ($1,800) 2-ton Amana AC Unit (also most efficient available). Met-Ed gave me a $300 check for the AC unit, and the US Gov't will allow an $1,800 tax credit on my personal taxes for the furnace. The Water Heater got a $500 US Fed Gov't tax credit in 2010. My electric bills have been cut by 50-55%, my water bill by 40% and my Natural Gas bill by 60%. Not too shabby! After 23 years, things wear out: factoid.

Violent t-storms moved through the area Monday night and early Tuesday morning, causing power outages everywhere, CATV-Net interruptions and messing-up my digital clocks all over the condo, especially my alarm clock, which was blinking 12:00 when I semi-automatically woke-up at 5:30am, thanks to Murphy, my remaining condo cat. We didn't experience any tornadoes as the Southeast did, but the rain and winds were heavy up here in the Mid-Atlantic Region and Northeast. I was in the office by 7:30am, opened my computer and downloaded 257 emails, many from days or a week ago. Then, after I'd deleted that frigging mess, another 292 emails came through from days and weeks ago. I called my email provider and website hoster, who'd switched us to the shitty Google Mail, to complain and got only his company phone-recording. He didn't return my call. Never in my life have I had so many email problems as I've had with this Google Mail crap!

It poured all of Tuesday morning, so we did "inside work" around the Center – cleaning the GHs, re-potting perennials, shrubs, small trees (Jap Maples, mostly) etc until the weather temporarily-cleared around 11:30am – and I left for a landscape site visit in nearby New Freedom (PA), with one of our current customers who needed their condo front re-landscaped, and some Crape Myrtles for the association's common areas installed. Temps started dropping mid-morning from the upper-40s to the upper-30s/ Wind Chill 21°F, with gusty 45 mph winds, as the cold front moved through to the northwest of us, with snow and sleet on the backside, hitting us for over 2 hours and making the day more miserable. Finally, at 3:00pm, I called a halt to it, and sent everyone home for the day. I had errands to run, and if we were going on to Spring Hours on Friday, I'd be working 7-days-a-week and wouldn't have any time to do anything for myself, except w-o-r-k. At 61 and almost 80lbs lighter than I was on January 10th, I'm getting tired of this 7-days-a-week shit crap, real quick, for the past 21 years. The storm front passed, the sun broke-through around 3:15pm, and temps began dropping to a forecasted 30°F for the night. We had frost. Low temps are forecast for the rest of the week, so that's why I'm not releasing the tender plant material until next Friday, the 15th.

Reason #1 why I carry a Kimber 1911 "Eclipse Target II" .45cal ACP, concealed (PA-CCW). And I love a "home invasion story" with a "happy ending", too.

Nah, I'll retire as soon as I sell my business. I've had enough of "working". IMO, it's time to retire.

Geolocation is a "secret feature" of some browsers and email applications. It allows the creator of that program, or anyone with a Web server, to get a fix on the location of your computer to within a few meters of where you actually live. For the potential dangers read the article from BBC News entitled "Web Attack Knows Where You Live", here. Here's how to get rid of it in your browsers and email. This is meant to protect you and your family from home invasion, robbery, rape and murder from anyone who wants to know your "Web habits", and whether you're home or not.

Gee whiz, every time I turn around, I'm getting hit with another vendor-supplier's "fuel surcharge" fax or memo, on everything from perennials to nursery stock to mulch to garden art to *everything that moves by truck*. And I now have to raise my retail prices to compensate for it and just stay in business. Our mulch business is already down 35% this Spring because of the increasing costs, and it looks to go even higher as the "Summer Driving Season" comes into play. Time to drill here in America, again, and become energy-independent of the middle eastern and south american scum.

Gasoline prices at the pump, are still climbing daily. Unleaded Regular (87 oct) is now at $3.65/gal, Unleaded Premium (89oct) is at $3.75/gal, Premium (93 oct) is now at $3.95/gal and Diesel just climbed to $4.29/gal, in the York (PA) area at many of the larger gas stations. Yikes, and it's going to get a lot worse as the "Summer Driving Season" begins. When ∅bummer took office, oil was $39/ bbl; now it's $108/bbl. And gas at the pumps was $1.78/gal; now it's almost $4.00/gal. Some freaking "energy policy" isn't it?

I just saw an ad on Fox TV for Chevron, where several common morons demanded to know "where do Chevron's profits go?" They made $21 billion in 2010. So what? In the ad, Chevron goes into great detail about "where their profits went". Hey America: it's none of your damned business where any businesses' profits go! It's their business, dammit. Start your own f•cking business, make a profit instead to taking from others, and you'll see what I mean!

I was up Thursday morning at 5:00am, watered and fed Murphy, made breakfast and left for work much earlier than usual. There were 2 nurseries scheduled to deliver in the morning, and I had to get ready for their delivery. I had to drive to nearby Shrewsbury (PA) and guide one trucker to the GC&N, since he didn't have GPS (neither do I), but that's what happens sometimes with "out-of-state old timers" who prefer maps or MapQuest.com's written instructions. That leaves 2 other nurseries to deliver their nursery stock next week, since they're having trouble digging B&B (balled and burlapped) plant material because of all the rains and mud. This is the latest we've ever had deliveries from grower-vendors; usually they're all in here by April 1st, and we can get out and start some landscape maintenance jobs before and after the Open House, but this year is a whole different story, it seems.

The “Virtual Cabin” – A Novella

After my usual Friday 8:00pm Church Meeting, I was on the way to Adam's Junction, to stay at The Cabin, having watered and fed Murphy at my condo in East York, before I packed and left. I was at the side road in 15 minutes, headed for The Cabin, hoping to sleep away both Saturday and Sunday, eat lazily, do some reading from the new bookshelves – the 1930s Oak Stacking Bookshelves with double drawers and the Glass Front, Antique Oak Barrister's Bookcase – I'd bought on my last trip up here, last weekend. I was looking forward to some roaring fires late into the night, no Police Deputy Sheriff duty and two days off before my 2011 Retail & Landscape Season would begin in earnest, since we'd had a "quadruple whammy" on April Fool's Day: 4 missing Grower's Nursery Truckloads, several inches of snow, cold temps and deliveries of way-too-tender perennials and nursery stock for outright public sale. I was less-than-ecstatic, as our 2011 Retail Season would be delayed for weeks, and so would the income from it. That just added to my other worries about many other business-related things.

It was still snowing with a solid 6-9" on the ground, when I slid into the left side carport, disarmed the building, gave Jenny a great big hug and refilled her 3 bowls immediately. I brought-in my duffel bag, my Sniper-Grade AR-10 .308cal (7.62 x 51mm NATO), with Leupold Gold Dot CQ/T Scope, the awesome Beowulf .50cal with an EoTech Red Dot Scope, and of course, my personal favorite, the Kimber 1911 "Eclipse Target II" .45cal ACP, which I wear (1990-CCW) as my daily "carry piece". I turned-up the furnace to 78°F and built a roaring fire, with plenty of split firewood in a pile next to the hearth, flanked by 2 3ft logs for good measure. After unpacking in the Master Bedroom, I took a shower, shaved and changed into some clean clothes. Ahhhhhhhhh, to be away from York and so-called "Civilization" for one more weekend was all that I could ask for, at this point.

I was glad to get the two extra days off and come to my "virtual" Adam's Junction to relax, but realized that my Retail Season had been cut-short and that much of the incoming perennials and nursery stock was too tender for sale just yet. The cold nights and freakish daytime, snowy weather would have to moderate before I could begin public sales in earnest.

I called Roy's (Shell Station) son Randy, my fellow Eagle Scout, driveway snowplower and dog-sitter, on his cellphone and told him that I had Jenny handled for the weekend, but that he'd have to take-over on Monday morning. Jenny was so happy to see me that she was underfoot all evening, except when she was curled-up on her bearskin. She was up in my lap licking my face, and I gave her a good rubdown and brushing with her favorite brush, after which she went fast to sleep. Her 2 cuts on her face were healing nicely, as were the many on mine. The Vet had given her a nice bath and she smelled good. I refilled her 2 litter pans on the rubber tarp in the 2nd Bedroom. I had her short leash on the Dining Room Table, along with my 2 rifles, ready for a late-morning's walk, since I planned on sleeping late tomorrow and Sunday. Both rifles were spic 'n span, as was my Kimber 1911 .45cal, so no cleaning was required. I had plenty of magazines and ammo along, just in case.

I got Glenn Beck's, "Broke: The Plan To Restore Our Trust, Truth and Treasure", from one of the new (old) bookcases, sat down in my comfy leather chair in the Living Room by the hearth, and began to read from my last bookmark. It was 10:00pm and I finished the read by 11:45pm; I heartily recommend you also read it. I hadn't eaten dinner, was hungry and made an English Muffin with a very low-heat, slow-fried, sunny-side-up egg on top of half, the other half well-slathered with Keller's® Butter, a piece of American cheese covering the egg, all drizzled with EVOO. Yum! I put on my parka and went outside to have a smoke, but had to stand since the deck and large picnic table were covered with almost 10" of snow. The frosty air felt good, as did coming back inside after I finished the Marlboro. Time to sleep. I armed the building, tested the spotlights, turned-down the furnace to 70°F, closed the hearth flu halfway and crawled into bed. Jenny soon followed after I'd turned-out the lights, except for the ubiquitous front porch light.

I was up and back-to-sleep 2-3 times during the night, thinking about the coming Season, but trying not to. Having the responsibility, at one point in time, for 28 employees and their families during "the good years" was a lot of fun, but now that "the bad years" have been upon us since 2008, having the same responsibility for only 6 employees and their families was still weighing-heavily upon me. I take such things very seriously and don't relish having to "let people go" from my employment. I was up at 6:15am and instead of watering, feeding Jenny and going back to sleep for the next 3-4 hours, I got up and took care of the dog, made breakfast – OJ, Eggs Benedict w/ fresh Hollandaise Sauce, sausage and French Roast coffee – and just stayed-up for the day. After making the bed and turning-on the Police scanner to see what was happening, I decided to check on the 30+ "Princeton" American Elm saplings which Tim Swanson and I had installed last Fall. I took my Kimber 1911 .45cal w/ 3 extra 8-round mags, and my Beowulf .50cal w/ 5 extra 11-300gr round mags (incredible short-range stopping power) along for the 3-4 acre hike. Jenny was sleeping peacefully, so I decided not to wake her to go along.

I was no more out of the front door on the deck than I saw a female mountain lion and her 3 cubs begin to cross the front meadow, in search of some food. She was teaching them how to hunt and survive, and I decided to stay on the deck and wait her out. The temps had already reached the upper 30s by 10:20am, and the snow we'd gotten yesterday and last night, was melting fast. I had on my "Marlboro Gear" Down-Filled ¾ Parka Coat, my 16" English Wellington Boots, my 16" Bowie Knife on my belt, and my "Jack Bauer" Satchel Bag full of extra mags and ammo, plus flashlight, portable eyeglass scope, map, radio, compass, survival kit, first-aid kit and a bunch of other "necessities" for any outdoor "trek", as I learned in the Boy Scouts (Eagle Scout, Class of 1963; Order Of The Arrow/ Vigil Honor), back in the late 50s and very early 60s. That said, the mother and her cubs passed through the meadow, and I came off the deck to start examining the Elms.

When we planted them last Fall, Tim and I had numbered all the Elms with a small, red wrap-around tag, so I'd know the location on my property map and I'd also know which ones weren't doing well, if any. All 30+ were fine, despite a few being "deer rubbed", but they'd recover just fine. I should have used some tree bark protectors for the saplings further away from The Cabin, as they were the ones most likely to get hit by the younger bucks. No matter, the wounds would quickly heal from the sap pushing-up from the rootball, and the trees would be fine in a short time. No need to shoot any animals.

I went back to The Cabin, shed my Wellingtons, threw my parka, satchel and .50cal into the back seat of the Jeep, put on a down vest and my 12" LLBean Maine Insulated Hunting Boots, turned-down the furnace, armed the building and headed for Adam's Junction, to do some food shopping for the weekend's stay. I also was running out of Marlboros, and that was a definite "no-no", in my book. I stopped at Bev & Tony's General Store first, to get smokes and some other incidentals, say "hi" and then went by Nell's Kitchen, to see how everything turned-out after last weekend's incident with the 3 perps. They'd been through a thorough CSI investigation, cleared and re-opened the next day for business. I put an order in for a "Philly Cheesesteak", and waited patiently at the lunch counter, sipping a glass of water. I felt a slap on my back and it was Sgt Clay, stopping-by for some coffee, doing the 10-square block downtown circuit I used to do as Deputy Sheriff. He was surprised to see me, said my facial cuts were healing nicely, and I told him of the tender plant material arriving and the snowy, cold weather we'd had putting our Retail Season off at least another week, maybe even more.

He asked if I'd be interested in doing some "volunteer Deputy work" this weekend, and I said that I'd just come up to rest and relax, before it all started in earnest, next weekend. He understood, paid for his coffee and left for his rounds. I paid for my food, and also left to take a drive through the quaint, old village. I saw Clay's Police Cruiser double-parked downtown, in front of the First National Bank, driver's door wide open and he was nowhere in sight of the unit. I pulled to a stop across the street and looked-into the bank, but could see no one standing. That meant all were laying down, during a possible "robbery-in-progress". I went over to Clay's unit, called it in to the Dispatcher on his radio, and she said she'd send 2 units out right away. Then I heard several shots. It was the 2 perps "announcing" a robbery. No one hit as yet, that I could see. Several holes in the ceiling, but those could be repaired.

I crouched and ran back to my Jeep, grabbed the Beowulf .50cal w/ 5 extra 11-300gr round mags (incredible short-range stopping power), kept my Kimber .45 holstered, and crept toward the Bank's side door. It was locked, so I tried the rear door and it was also locked. I peered through one of the side windows and saw everyone, except the 2 bad guys, lying on the floor, including Sgt Clay. I couldn't go through the front door or wait for the Deputies to arrive, or we'd have a serious hostage situation on our hands, so I had to shoot through the window's tempered glass and take-out both perps very quickly. Or I could jettison the .50cal, and walk through the front door and take my chances with my .45cal after they'd ID'd me, or shot me outright. Nah, I'd take the "window shots", and with the Beowulf's 300gr ammo, it'd be even more of a "fish in the barrel" shoot, just like the .308cal AR-10 was, last weekend, at Nell's. Shit, my face hadn't even healed yet and I was going to do another "tempered glass window shot"? Okay, here we go.

I took "centermass" aim at the 1st perp with the sawed-off shotgun and sidearm, and fired. He went flying across the room into a wall, and then I quickly shot the 2nd perp also "centermass", who also went flying across the lobby into the kiosk-stand where the pens and deposit/ withdrawal slips etc are kept for patrons to fill-out. I was amazed that very little of the bank window's tempered glass blew-back on to me, and none cut me up, like last week. The 300gr Beowulf .50 cal ammo went through the thick glass "like a hot knife through soft butter", but it was different tempered glass than Nell's had, so the results were different. Sgt Clay was on his feet in an instant, retrieving the perps' guns, and his own, and cuffing them. No need to hurry, as they were both quite dead from the 300gr rounds blowing huge "centermass" holes through their chests. The lobby's walls, floor and ceiling needed some serious clean-up, as did numerous patrons, who were splattered with blood and flesh. So much for my peaceful morning and weekend stay in Adam's Junction.

The 3 squad cars and 2 ambulances showed-up 1-2 minutes later, and 4 Deputies entered the Bank's lobby with guns drawn, only to be told by Sgt Clay to holster them, and begin cataloging the crime scene. PA State Police arrived to lend assistance, and sealed-off the area as a crime scene. CSI would be called-in from Harrisburg for a Sunday or Monday investigation. I walked in the front door, with the Beowulf .50cal on safety, and looked at the disheveled Sgt Clay with some amusement. Waving me to come with him, he sprinted to his Cruiser, got my Badge and ID, deputized me outside the Bank, and I put the Deputy Sheriff's Badge on my belt, next to my Kimber 1911 "Eclipse Target II" .45cal ACP, and Galco FED Holster. I was officially back "on duty". Dammit; can't catch a break these "relaxing" weekends.

After giving Deputy Tim a statement and okaying a rough, preliminary diagram of what happened, I walked outside with Clay and he thanked me for taking such quick, decisive and final action. I told him that I'd be at The Cabin for the rest of the weekend, should CSI arrive on Sunday and need anything more from me. He told me to keep the Badge and ID, "just in case" I'd need it, since I seemed to be everywhere when TSHTF. I "10-4'd" that and drove back to The Cabin, to enjoy my now-cold Philly Cheesesteak for lunch. It was only 11:45am and already I'd had a 'day full of it".

I parked in the crushed bluestone, circle-turnaround drive, disarmed the building, turned-up the furnace to 76°F since it'd only hit a high up here in the mountains of 39°F by 12noon and wasn't going any higher today, and Jenny was ready for some lunch. I fed and watered her, nuked my cheesesteak, cut it in half and had my lunch, with some Ocean Spray® Diet Blueberry-Pomegranate Juice (5 cals/ 8oz glass), and built a small fire. I put the other half in the 'fridge for dinner or a later snack. I was down to 182 lbs from worrying about my business, not eating 3 meals a day and doing things like I did this morning, which burned-off 3,000+ calories of fat. I laid down on the couch near the fire, closed my eyes and replayed over-and-over-again, what had happened at the First National Bank, this morning. I felt that I wasn't handling the repeated "stress" of my business and Adam's Junction Police Work very well, these days. Maybe those two guys didn't need killing? Or did they deserve what they'd gotten?

I had the Beowulf .50cal laid-out on 5 sheets of newspaper on the Dining Room Table, to be cleaned with my handy-dandy, all-purpose Hoppe's Premium Field Gun Cleaning Kit, for later when I "felt better about things'. Right now, I could use a snifter of 50-year old Brandy or Cognac, but had given both (and all alcohol) up on January 10th, along with numerous favorite foods to lose 75-80lbs and get my BP down. Fruit juice would have to do, right now, and some sleep on the couch, as I threw a few more pieces of split firewood on the dying fire. I should have stayed in bed and asleep this morning after feeding the dog; I'm famous for "20-20 hindsight" these past few months. It was getting on to 8:30pm, and I was ready for some sleep. So I turned down the furnace, armed the building, checked all windows and doors, front/ rear floodlights, closed the hearth flu halfway, took the Kimber 1911 .45cal and just-cleaned & oiled Beowulf .50cal into the Master Bedroom and headed for sleep. After last night's fitful sleep, I truly hoped tonight would be a restful one.

It wasn't; I still had a lousy night's sleep. Up-and-back-to-sleep 3x with assorted weird dreams and worries about many other business-related things that will hit me when I return to York. I had an extremely busy week coming up at the Center and was thinking about all of the appointments and calls I needed to do to "catch-up" from the lack of work this past week, no thanks to the Winter-like weather.

I turned-up the furnace, watered and fed Jenny, took a shower, made breakfast – OJ, grits, sunny-side-up eggs, an English Muffin, ¼lb of bacon, red grapefruit sections and French Roast Coffee – did some vacuuming, changed the Master BR linens and did 2 loads of laundry. It was only 24°F outside in the mountains, so my Jeep, which I'd parked by the front/side deck, was covered with frost. I had 13 messages on my cellphone to go through – one from Sgt Clay telling me that CSI wouldn't require me for their investigation today, as the Bank needed to re-open Monday (plus clean-up the lobby), so no need to prepare for that inquisition – and I deleted most of them as not important. The few that I deemed as important, were answered later in the morning. After doing the dishes and putting them in the sink rack to dry, I decided to go for a drive through Adam's Junction, since it would be mostly deserted on a Sunday morning as people readied for Church, and re-imprint the homes and buildings on my memory. It was a nice, bright, sunny but chilly morning, for a drive through the village. This time, without any rifle in the back seat; just my Kimber 1911 "Eclipse Target II" .45cal ACP sidearm, along for the ride.

I stopped at Bev & Tony's General Store to get 10 50lb bags of cat litter for Randy to refill Jenny's litter boxes, and a number of personal care items to re-stock the bathroom at The Cabin. We chatted for a while, but Gabrielle's name never came-up in the conversation, until I brought it up and said I'd be getting some more flowers for her grave today. Actually, I'd planted 10 daffodil bulbs and several perennials on her grave near the headstone, and the daffs were blooming nicely, with the perennials soon to follow. I'd add 2-3 perennials from Midlands' Garden Center, on the outskirts of Adam's Junction; Bob & Karen carried mostly bedding (annuals) plants, but they did have a few nice perennials in stock, which I prefer. I paid and left and continued my drive through town. The Patagonia's Bakery was open and I stopped-in to see what Old Mrs Patagonia was baking on a Sunday morning. Bread, bread and more kinds of bread than I could count, and then I saw the "Hot Cross Sticky Buns" just coming out of the oven, and bought a half-dozen. Hadn't had them in years.

I ate the 6 Sticky Buns as I drove around town and stopped-in at Roy's Shell Gas & Service Station to fill-up for the rest of the day and ride back to York. His son Randy and another employee, were working the 6 pumps, cleaning windshields, checking oil and other fluids, and took care of me while we talked about what I needed him to do for Jenny, while I was away for the Spring months. Gas (unleaded Regular 89 oct) was at $3.75/ gal and climbing a few cents almost every day now. Premium (unleaded 93 oct) was $3.97/ gal and climbing, too. He said there'd be $5.00/ gal gas before mid-Summer and I believed it. Diesel was already $4.04/ gal on I-83, I-81, I-80 and I-76 (PA Turnpike) and the truckers weren't happy about paying it. Both Roy and Randy had been accused of "price-gouging" by several truckers, but no fights had broken-out as yet; that was just a matter of time until it happened, IMO. I paid almost $53 for 14 gals of Regular Unleaded, got a receipt and left.

I drove back to The Cabin, noticed that the creeks and streams were running fast and high from the past two-day snowmelt, built a nice cozy fire and laid down on the new couch for a nap. Jenny "knew" this would be my last day with her, for a while, and she jumped upon the couch and curled-up right next to me, and not at the foot of the bed, as she usually does in the Master BR. It was already 11:20pm, and I wanted to be on the road back to York, by 4:00pm, so I had some time to doze-off. And I did have a better 4+ hour sleep than the past 2 nights combined! Maybe it's Jenny who's helping me sleep, with her "new position"?

I was up at 4:50pm, packed the Jeep, began to close-down The Cabin once again (after doing it last weekend), refill Jenny's 3 bowls, gave her a kiss and pat on the top of the head, brushed her with her favorite brush, secured everything, armed the building and left for York. Time for a real dose of "reality", once more. (Jump up to "Around The Garden Center".)

muslim "Heritage" In America?

Ol' 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?

islam is a perverted and demented political system, with its own 6th century barbaric laws, controlling every aspect of each mindless muslim follower's pathetic life – from when to eat and drink, when to shit, what hand to use to wipe their asses, when to fart, when to rape, when to kill their own mindless adherents and Civilized Western Infidels, how to hate and murder, how to dress like a woman, how to fight like a girl, how many pre-teen boys to bugger, how many times to pray to the asshole moon-god allah and pigshit child molester mo-ham-head, – that all 1.2 billion of them richly-deserve *complete and total eradication from this earth*, IMO.

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 Nazis 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!

Slaughtering people for burning a piece-of-pigshit book, the unholy koran, which I'd wipe a dead pig's ass with or burn, is your "heritage", you racist, dumbfucking, hate-America, piece-of-pigshit, stinking ∅bummer asshole!

∅bummer: you're a out-and-out liar!

Your subhuman muslim filth "heritage" had a huge part in the OKC Bombing in 1995, Mr. ∅bummer. Read the Truth about what really happened in OKC.

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 punishable 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, you half-breed, sambo, lowlife scumbag, stinking ∅bummer asshole? Thought not.

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.

Amazing fact that all 7 glaciers on Mt Shasta (USA) are growing, not melting. Explain that, Glo-Bull Warming Assholes!

Things Which Make Your Head Explode

"Unemployment rate falls to 8.8 pct, two-year low". Total Bullshit! Manipulated numbers, shedding those who are looking for jobs anymore, from the unemployment rolls. The real numbers are over 21.5% unemployment in America! ∅bummer and his racist, hate-America, Kenyan-born, lying bastards are "cooking the books", once again to make themselves look good again.

If it's not the lowlife, liberal-demokkkRAT-controlled, union thugs and punks from Wisconsin rioting and sending death threats to the GOP Governor and State Assembly Members, it's the Indiana lowlife, liberal-demokkkRAT State Assembly morons walking-out of session for 3 hours and being fined for it. Crybaby liberal-demokkkRATs, all of them. The should be stood against a wall.

Corrupt, racist, half-breed, hate-America, hate-Whitey, murderous muslim filth lover, USAG Eric "F•ck America!" Holder, has finally "decided" to use GITMO US Military Tribunals instead of US Civilian Courts (in NYC of all places) to try the 9-11 murderous, subhuman muslim garbage, after wasting many, many months and denigrating Bush 43, Rumsfeld etc. Holder belongs in a dark, damp 4ft x 6ft cell, for life plus 100 years. Or better yet, "stood against a wall". He's a traitor and a liar, as is ∅bummer.

Shut the damned government down, dammit! Pay the US Military and current MediCare benefits, and stop the freaking outrageous spending on Social Security etc! This Nation is drowning in its own massive debt: time to defund Palnned Parenthood, NPR, the EPA, NEA, Energy Dep't and many other US Gov't branches who just waste billions and trillions of our hard-earned US Taxpayer dollars!

C'mon, Johnny Edwards: kill yourself, as you promised, asshole. We're waiting, moron!

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".

"Our goal is to create anarchy. You'll have to kill us to stop us." I can get behind that and kill them "if they want it" so badly that they ask for it. Just show me "who and where they are", and I'll help "take care" of it.

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