Happy Days

Making Do

Two eggs, two vege sausages, 1 bell pepper, 4 green onions, 10 mushrooms, 1/4 of instant grits, and 1/4 cup of shredded cheese...   when cooked the way I cook it...  everthing in an omelette then cheese into the grits and the grits poured on top, creating a pie in the round frying pan...  cut into fourths, gives me 4 meals.  The cost to me is well under $10...

If I mix mayo with shredded cheese, then I have non pimento pimento cheese at a much less cost than buying pimento cheese in a grocery store.  Pita bread has 5 pieces of bread inside each package.  Now, I have 5 meals for under $10.

If I cook a cup of dried beans in a pressure pot for 15 minutes, then add a cup of rice, a bell pepper, an onion, a tablespoon of garlic and cut up fresh veges...  all mixed together with chicken broth...   I have 4 meals for under $10 dollars.

So, that is $30 for 4 days of meals and there are an endless amount of variations to all three of these meals for about the same amount of money. A variety of meats can be subsituted for the beans and sandwiches.  And breakfast can just be eggs, pancakes, cereal, oatmeal, etc. for essentially the same price as well.

If we double our $30 to cover a week, it is now $60/week times 52 weeks which is $3,120 annually which is $260 monthly.

What does this mean?

This means that a couple can live relatively inexpensively when it comes to food, with just a little bit of thinking...   

Dried beans are cheaper than canned beans and are healthier for you as well...  however, without a pressure cooker, it takes a long time to cook.

Making pimento cheese is cheaper than buying and not that difficult.

Fresh veges are cheaper than frozen or canned veges, but they require preparation and cooking.

Artistic Black and White Photos

 

Nne Faces

Mars is Alive

Color-coded topographic view shows the relative heights of features in Cerberus Fossae: reds and whites are relatively higher than blues and purples. The image is based on a digital terrain model of the region, from which the topography of the landscape can be derived. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Until now, Mars has generally been considered a geologically dead planet. An international team of scientists now reports that seismic signals indicate vulcanism still plays an active role in shaping the Martian surface.

Ever since the NASA InSight Mission deployed the SEIS seismometer on the surface of Mars in 2018, seismologists and geophysicists at ETH Zurich have been listening to the seismic pings of more than 1,300 marsquakes. 

Again and again, the researchers registered smaller and larger Mars quakes. A detailed analysis of the quakes’ location and spectral character eventually brought a surprise. With epicenters originating in the vicinity of the Cerberus Fossae — a region consisting of a series of rifts or graben — these quakes tell a new story. 

A story that suggests an active role is still played by vulcanism in shaping the Martian surface.

Mars shows signs of geological life
Led by ETH Zurich, an international team of researchers analyzed a cluster of more than 20 recent marsquakes that originated in the Cerberus Fossae graben system. From the seismic data, scientists concluded that the low-frequency quakes indicate a potentially warm source that could be explained by present-day molten lava, i.e., magma at that depth, and volcanic activity on Mars. Specifically, they found that the quakes are located mostly in the innermost part of Cerberus Fossae.  READ MORE...

Best Friends

 

Wishful Thinking

The high temps today will be in the low 70s...  not as cold as up north nor as warm as down in the deep south...

The sun is out and there is a gentle breeze...

My daily walk will start in a few minutes as I give my breakfast a little time to settle...  I try to walk a mile or more each day which takes me over 20 minutes but less than 30 minutes now...  my back surgery was 5 months ago so I am walking a little better but not like I was or want to...

My task today is to work on the basement, looking for stuff we don't need anymore to take to the dump, find stuff that we don't want and can be put in a yard sell, and then rearrange what is left so that it is more conveniently found and labeled...

I work on this task about 60-90 minutes...  not because I get tired or bored with the task, but to stretch it out so that I will have this focus for several days...  it is also healthy to move around and do stuff, especially as we get older...

We are cleaning up our home in the event that we can find an alternative house that has what we want, for a similar price that is also smaller in size with minimal land to maintain...  actually no land would be ideal...  but with that said, we don't want to pay HOA fees...  so, it is doubtful we will find what we want...

Final thought:  our three cats likes the two levels as they can go to the lower level and go outside into an enclosure that is fenced in with chicken wire or they can dart upstairs and go out into the screened in porch and look down on whatever it is that is below them...  it is doubtful they will have that arrangement if we move.

Midterm Election Day

 

I stopped voting sometime between 1990 and 2000 and I cannot remember anything more specific than that in the sense of did I stop cold turkey or gradually.

I do know why I stopped and it is because NOTHING EVER CHANGED regardless of whether a Democratic won or a Republican won...

If nothing changed, why did I need to vote?

My involvement with politics began in the 1960 with John F. Kennedy and the same issues that we had back then, we still have in 2022...  WHY?

We have had plenty of Demcrats in power and plenty of Republicans in power so that these issues could be resolved and yet NOTHING CHANGES...

We still have:

1. Racism
2. Crime and Violence
3. Increasing Drugs
4. Higher Prices
5. Wage Issues
6. Sheltering Income
7. National Debt Increasing
8. Loss of Global Respect
9. Wealthy versus Poor
10. Double Standards
11. Not Caring about Veterans
12. Problems with Education
13. Loss of Morals
14. Loss of Integrity

Again, for the last 50+ years, the problems have not been resolved...  it feels like none of the politicians actually want to solve the problems...

The only things that have changed are  TECHNOLOGY and the VALUE OF THE DOLLAR...

Why don't the Republicans solve our problems?

Why don't the Democrats solve our problems?

I am 75 years old....  born in 1947, so I am not speculating...   I have actually lived in the 1960s and am currently living in the 2000s.

Politics in the USA is PATHETIC...

Perspective

Fifteen years ago, I was diagnosed with Lymphoma and discovered that I had experienced a heart attack while walking on the treadmill.  Ten years ago, I was diagnosed with a second cancer, Melanoma, and the two cancers were treated simultaneously.  Because I had 2 cancers I was not eligible to participate in any clinical trials.

This past year, I underwent surgery to fuse 5 lumbar disks together and have spent the last five months learning how to walk again and walk up a flight of stairs both of which were unanticipated.

At 75 years old, these last 15 years has, needless to say, been interesting.

Sickness after treatment has stopped ever since I switched from chemo to immunotherapies for my two cancers, that I have been told I will have for the rest of my life.

In another 15 years, I will be 90 and I am sure that my physical abilities will be limited, even if I continue to walk a mile each day, which is what I am doing now, except on Sundays.

My perspective on life is no doubt different than your perspectives...   that is not to say that our different perspectives are right or wrong, just different.

I intentionally try to stay away from stressful situations and if I do find myself in one of those situations, then I try to maintain a "I don't give a shit" attitude.

As I write this piece, I am watching FOX News and the whole show is focused on the midterms...  while I am a reformed Democrat but not a full fledged Republican yet I lean in a conservative direction, I really don't care about what happens...

If the lack of gasoline forces my wife and I to purchase an electric car, then we will buy the cheapest car we can and simply stop driving as much...  just where we have to go...  by the time this change actually happens to us, we will be well over the age of 80...  how many places do you think we will want to drive to at that age???  I mean really???

If our economy gets better or worse, it just will not bother us as we will adjust our purchases and our needs...  We will simply survive and BLAME NO ONE...

This is a stress free perspective...

Mysteries of King Tut

It is one of the most iconic discoveries in all of archaeology—the treasure-filled tomb of the young Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun, better known as King Tut. One hundred years ago today British archaeologist Howard Carter and an Egyptian excavation team found the boy king’s final resting place. Scholars have been studying the royal tomb and its owner ever since. 

From this work the broad outlines of the life and times of Tut have emerged. Many mysteries remain, however, including how the young pharaoh was related to Queen Nefertiti (herself a subject of debate), how influential he was as a ruler and how he died. Now new findings are emerging that could fill in some of the missing details. But as ever, debates rage over how to interpret them.

The key to Tut’s discovery was dogged perseverance. By November 4, 1922, Carter and his team had spent five futile years searching for an undiscovered royal tomb in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. The prevailing wisdom said that everything the valley had to offer had already been found. Carter decided to spend what was to be his final field season digging beneath a group of huts that housed the ancient tomb builders. 

“We had almost made up our minds that we were beaten...,” he and archaeologist Arthur Cruttenden Mace wrote in The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamen, their account of the expedition. “Hardly had we set hoe to ground in our last despairing effort than we made a discovery beyond our wildest dreams.”

Beneath those huts, the excavation team uncovered a step cut into the rock. Within days the team had dug out a steep staircase and a 30-foot-long passageway that ended in a door sealed with plaster and stamped with the royal necropolis seal. Carter waited to open the door until his benefactor George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, fifth earl of Carnarvon, who had funded his work in the valley for all those years, could travel to the site. 

The next day the team dug out a steep staircase and a door sealed with plaster and stamped with the royal necropolis seal. Carter waited to open the door until his benefactor George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, fifth earl of Carnarvon, who had funded his work in the valley for all those years, could travel to the site. On November 24, 1922, it was cleared to reveal a corridor, followed by a 30-foot-long passageway that ended in another door. On November 26, 1922, Carter broke open a small hole in the door and stuck a candle through, casting the first light into the chamber in nearly 3,300 years. 

The sight held him speechless as his eyes adjusted. “Details of the room emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold—everywhere the glint of gold,” Carter wrote in The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamen. He was looking into the antechamber of the tomb of Tutankhamun, a ruler who sat his throne for only around 10 years but did so at a pivotal time in Egyptian history.  READ MORE...

An Army

 

Ignorance is Bliss

What this means is...  if you don't know something then you don't worry about it...

CNN, MSNBC, ABC, and NBC do not report all the news so that you, the viewer, will be ignorant and not worry about...

1. Many Dems dont think we have an immigration problem because the Republicans invented it...
2. Many Dems don't think that we have an inflation problem because the Republicans invented it...
3. Many Dems don't think we have a crime and violence problem because the Republicans invented it...
4. Many Dems don't think we have a fentanyl problem because the Republicans invented it...
5. Many Dems think our economy is perfect because Joe Biden claims that it is healthy as hell...

THESE ARE FIVE EXAMPLES OF IGNORANCE...

It amazes me how 50% of the people think the Reblicans are the ones who caused all the problems that don't really exist...  and, that it actually comes from Donald Trump although he has not been in office for over 2 years...  his actions caused all of this...

Many Democrats still think Trump colluded with Russia even though the Democratic DOJ cleared him of all wrong doing...   these idiots still believe what they heard on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, and CBS...

Do you now see how ignorance is bliss works???

W 

 

Tomorrow Means CHANGE

The residents of East TN have an expression:  WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND...  and, it is my belief that this expression is going to be in full bloom by the end of today...  election day for the midterms...

Once the general public takes into consideration the following:  inflation, immigration, gas prices, crime and violence, unemployment, a non growth economy, and the Afghanistan withdrawal debacle just to name a few...   the democrats are literally going to get their asses kicked at the polls and that will be the end of;

• Pelosi
• Schumer
• Schiff
• Nadler

The four horse persons of mediocrity...

Now I am not normally a person who wants revenge or payback...  but, in this case I will make an exception...

If you want to watch the TRUTH on the news watch FOX News...  It has led the rating war for over 88 weeks in a row...  over CNN and MSNBC mostly but also CBS and ABC...  people are tired of all the lies that the dems spit out of their mouths like vomit.

Now, I don't want Trump to run for President in 2024 but after all the shit that they have done to him, his family, and those who worked with him, I think this country deserves a little REVENGE...  and, I hope he does run and CLEANS HOUSE...  starting with the FBI.

I have not figured out who is pulling Biden's strings because I know he is not smart enough to have thought all of this up on his own...  Maybe Obama or maybe George SOROS...   I doubt if the adulterer Clinton has had any input into this fiasco becasue he could have talked his way out of it...  lol

But after the midterms,

• Gasoline will be back online
• The border wall will be finished
• Illegals will be kicked out
• Police Depts will be funded again
• illegal drugs will reduce
• Our economy will grow
• Putin will be told to go screw himself
• China will be placed into check
• NOKO will be told to shut up
• CRT will not be taught in schools
• abortions will still be allowed
• twitter will promote free speech
• our WOKE military will change back
• gays will still be able to get married
• blacks will still be able to become wealthy

A Polite Warning

 

I am retired, a vietnam veteran, a southerner, a tarheel, well educated, well traveled, well loved, well experienced, a cat lover, conservative with some liberal views, 75 years of age, married, a heart attack survivor, a cancer survivor (still being treated), lumbar fusion surgery survivor, creative writer, novelist, world traveler, born under the sign of scorpion, and an INTJ who does not GIVE A SHIT whether you read this blog or not.

I have tried several directions in order to attract attention, none of which has worked very well...  so since I prefer to write novels, I will post only one superficial article a day that you might or might not want to read.  I will post some kind of image with that article and I may write something myself...  but, I am not spending anymore time than that on this blog.

I will continue to post one poem a day on my Reflections blog as I have been doing for several years now.  Writing one poem a day is a piece of cake and takes very little time and is rather entertaining to capture my feeling in a poetic style.

But, this Journal Blog, will be given a minimal amount of attention...  about the same amount of attention that it has been given...  it's nothing personal, it is just me making sure that there is a good return on my invested time.

When you get to be 75, you can afford to have an I don't give a shit attitude...

Keep the faith...

PS - the use of warning was just to see if I could get your attention...

Growing Brain Cells

The story could have been straight out of science fiction – scientists have grown human brain cells in a lab, and taught them to play the video game Pong, similar to squash or tennis. But this didn’t happen on the big screen. It happened in a lab in Melbourne, Australia, and it raises the fundamental question of the legal status of these so-called neural networks.

Are they the property of the team that created them, or do they deserve some kind of special status – or even rights?

The reason this question needs to be asked is because the ability to play Pong may be a sign that these lab-grown brain cells have achieved sentience – often defined as the capacity to sense and respond to a world that is external to yourself.

And there is widespread consensus that sentience is an important threshold for moral status. Ethicists believe that sentient beings are capable of having the moral right not to be treated badly, and an awareness of the implications of sentience is increasingly embedded in research practices involving animals.  READ MORE...

Aftermath

Russians Against Putin

It only took a few hours after Russia’s Vladimir Putin hailed his mobilization as a sparkling success Friday for a torrent of humiliating reports to emerge that suggest the war effort has been more successful in turning the country against him than defeating mythical Nazis in Ukraine.

The most staggering contradiction to the Russian president’s boastful claims came perhaps in Kazan, where dozens of drafted troops were captured on video late Friday berating military leadership outside a collection point for the newly mobilized.

The angry crowd complained of a lack of water, food, and “rusty” rifles from the 1970s that one soldier said were too “dangerous” to even use, according to local outlets. Spectacularly, the troops were not cowed by a military officer who threatened to call in riot police.  READ MORE...

Take That and That...

Gerrymandering

The districts that will determine the House majority were crafted not only by fellow Republicans protecting their incumbents but by courts and commissions that drew many of the nation’s battleground districts — and by Democrats who may have reached too far with their own maps. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images




Republicans are trying to flip control of the House this week. And their paths to victory were meticulously fashioned via redistricting long before the votes were cast.

The districts that will determine the House majority were crafted not only by fellow Republicans protecting their incumbents but by courts and commissions that drew many of the nation’s battleground districts — and by Democrats who may have reached too far with their own maps.

The main consequences of redistricting this year: There are fewer tightly divided districts than ever. Partisan control of redistricting in dozens of states allowing lawmakers from both parties to shore up incumbents at the expense of competitive seats.

Republicans are likely to benefit from redistricting more than Democrats, after they pushed through aggressive, seat-flipping gerrymanders in states such as Florida. Meanwhile, some Democratic attempts to draw maps to their advantage, including in New York, were struck down by the courts.    READ MORE...

Let The Games Begin

Now that I am retired and have no place to go other than to doctors appointments, I take a shower and shave every other day.  That is not to say, I don't shower on those those days if there is a doctors appointment because I do.

I maintain  a laid back attitude, getting up in the mornings when I wanted to, walking 1.5 miles each day when I want to, cooking my meals when I want to, and watching HULU when I want to...  understand that I let my wife think that she tells me what to do and when I need to do it....  and I do this because I know that if momma ain't happy then nobody is happy.

In previous posts, I have shared with everyone the benefits of living in East TN and that has not changed.  I like this area better than the Piedmont of NC where I am from after high school.  But, it is more than just liking this area because there is no state income tax so that saves lots of needlessly spent monies.  Instead we have a state lottery and since I don't gamble, I don't waste my money there either for a million to one chance of winning.

We just got take out Asian food (rice, chicken, broccoli, mushrooms, onions, zucchini, and wonton soup for $12 each.  We were serve more than we could eat, so each of us have two meals...  each meal costing $6...  Share with me if you can another place in the US of A where you can get a meal like this for the amount of money we paid...  and, it is delicious on top of that.

My wife and I have been debt free for over 15 years, so we are not burdened by having to pay a montly mortgage or pay down some line of credit we needed.  Cash and carry is how we roll nowadays.  I pity all those hard working people that have debt hanging over their heads and finding themselves working to basically pay of debt...  just another form of slavery in my opinion.

The midterms are just around the corner and we don't give a rat's ass who wins (what party that is) because whether the liberals or conservatives are in control, none of their decisions will really impact us.

• We get two tanks of gasoline a month, at the most which at inflated prices is about $100.
• The illegal drugs that are arriving in the US don't impact us because we don't take drugs.
• The illegal immigrants coming across the border do not impact us either as we are a long ways away from our southern border.
• Increased food prices don't really bother us much as neither one of us eats that much.
• Inflation does not negatively rock our world because we saved more than enough money
• Neither one of us gives a shit about CRT being taught in schools
• Neither one of us gives a shit about the LGBTQ+ movement
• Neither one of us gives a shit about going green
• Neither one of us gives a shit about racism

I am 75 and my wife is 70, so we ain't living much longer anyway so we don't really care if China has a bigger military than we do.  If China beats the USA in a war because of our WOKE military, what are they really going to do with the old people.  It is the workers that they will be controlling.  China will want to save our economy because it will make the wealthier and put them in a better position to control the world.

Instead of paying taxes to the US government, we will pay taxes to China.  Besides, according to the IRS tax guidelines, my wife and I have not needed to pay the government any money at all.  In fact, for the last several years, the govt has paid us $120.

As we head into winter, we are secure in the knowledge that life has been good to us and continues to give us its blessings.  We in turn support this country in everything it does whether we go in a liberal direction or a conservative direction.  Life will always be the same for us.

Not everyone is blessed like we are but if that is to change then it will have to come from the BILLIONAIRES as the rest of us are just making do...