Losters

From Brian's dictionary... Losters - Term used to describe football fans favorite teams when they lose on the same day. They are not losers, they're losters.

This was a tough weekend for this football fan. It started Friday night when the Cambridge Trojans ended their perfect winning streak, continued Saturday night when the Cornhuskers couldn't salvage a win, and Sunday wrapped it all up with the Denver Broncos going down in defeat to what was arguably the worst team in the NFL.

Something about calling any of these teams losers just doesn't seem right. It is true that they lost, but not one of them gave up. Losers give up, losters don't.

Though the weekend was filled with losters for me, things worked out just great around the farm anyway. Margie's dad and brother came out from Colorado territory and we all but wrapped up the barns repairs. My fear of climbing the tall aluminum ladder to finish up the high painting was for naught as Gary and Tom don't mind that ladder for some reason and finished it for me... whew! Thanks guys!

We've now got a barn door on a new track and the darn thing slides open and closed! Most of the painting associated with the door is done, but I'll be putting up a bit of siding, squeezing some caulking into the cracks, and finish painting. This is one project I'm looking forward to wrapping up as it's been going on for what is beginning to feel like forever.

This warm September weather is spoiling me. I know it's just a few more days/weeks until I'll be lighting the carbon furnace (wood stove), starting indoor projects, and watching football on cold fall days. Only thing is, it somehow seems to be more fun when the weekend isn't filled with losters.

Hiding The Truth

Our Vice President hid the truth and it's a documented conspiracy. What lengths will politicians go to protect themselves? A long way apparently!

Here's what's documented...

Hiding weapons in unmarked boxes for shipment

Making those involved turn their backs for plausible deniability

Moving from one jurisdiction to another to avoid prosecution

Used unmarked boats

Wow... good thing I'm not talking about Dick Cheney, but at times most of us wonder what our politicians are up to behind our backs. The above documented conspiracy surrounds the Burr/Hamilton duel where the guy that's on the $10 bill gets killed.

The sitting Vice President Aaron Burr shot and killed Alexander Hamilton and was acquitted. The duel included hiding the dueling pistols in an unmarked box so the guys rowing the boats to New Jersey from New York (where dueling was illegal) could honestly say they didn't see the weapons, and all involved except the duelers turned their backs in the name of plausible deniability. The unmarked boats were row boats (I had to come up with something else to catch your attention!).

So politicians stretching the truth and conspiracy is nothing new to our political landscape. We've got the VP debates coming up soon and I expect to hear some pretty fantastic oratory stretching and distorting the truth from both sides. Since at least one of the debate participants has documented firearms use in their resume, please check your guns at the door.

You can read all the facts about this event at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burr-Hamilton_duel

Me and Murphy

I know Murphy. He seems to live on the farm with us much of the time and I wish he'd move out and stay out! You probably have met Murphy at one time or another, but unless he lives with you now and then, you really don't get the scope of his influence.

Murphy is that guy that has laws that cover most of the bad things that occur to us each day, but most of us don't think of him and his laws that often unless he has moved in and set up a law kiosk in the back yard. The following is just a Murphy's Law sampler...

1. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
2. Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.
3. Nothing is as easy as it looks.
4. Whenever you set out to do something, something else must be done first.

This week Murphy set up his kiosk on Road 409.

It started by jumping in the Jeep for a quick trip to town. What's this? The check engine light didn't go out. I think this problem will eventually fall into Murphy's Law #2 above because after looking up the check engine diagnostic code the Jeeps computer spits out, and (Murphy's Law #4)getting tools together to further isolate the cause of the malfunction, the light went out. So going from Murphy's to Brian's Law... if it ain't broke, don't fix it, there is every possibility that Murphy's Law #2 will be realized in full effect at some undetermined time in the future at the worst possible moment.

As those of you who have been keeping up with the goings on at the farm know, we've been repairing and painting our barn. I have no idea when the last coat of paint was applied other than to know it's been a while, so the siding really sucks up the paint. So guess what... though we were sure we'd have more than enough paint, we didn't, and the west side is waiting for a trip to McCook for more of the red stuff to finish the job. Murphy's Laws #1 and #4.

Murphy's 2nd and 3rd laws came into play as the weed war continues. Murphy's Law #3 - I was using the mechanized assault vehicle (riding mower) when the front wheel caught a propane line that I have not gotten around to properly re-installing since we bought the farm (Murphy's Law #2). The combination of Murphy's second and third laws combined to equal Murphy's first law as the effect was to kink the gas line causing a leak. The only good thing about this was that I didn't lose all the propane in the tank, but I also don't own the tool needed to repair the problem (Murphy's Law #4) so a call to the local fix-it guys was required.

Murphy's Law #1 came into play that same afternoon. Margie comes in and says to me "China". I say "what?", and she proceeds telling me that the outside water hydrant next to the barn has started leaking. The China remark goes back to my blog with the same name, and in case you missed it, you can check The City Slickers archived blog entries to read about it. It will involve digging for sure, and Murphy's Law #4 is proving true as I will need a new hydrant to fix the problem.

There's more, but you get the idea. Murphy... Please find another place to set up your kiosk!

You can read all of Murphy's Laws at http://www.murphys-laws.com/

Call Of The Wild

Since we moved to the farm from city life, we've heard a wide range of animal sounds that have bewildered us and still do. Margie is especially interested in what animal makes what sound, and has spend quite a bit of time trying to find sound bits of the animals we "expect" to be around here on the internet. Problem is the recorded sound bit doesn't sound one bit like what is outside our windows now and then.

I suppose some of this is my fault. We were camping in the Pacific northwest a few years ago and I heard something. Now I can't say what I heard as we were camped near a small hydroelectric plant and dam, but at first I'd say it sounded like someone a short distance away speaking in a language that I never heard before. I never gave it another thought, but the sound was there the next night too. Still, I kinda figured that it has something to do with the power plant...and maybe it did, or not.

We were at a privately operated public campground and I wanted to find out more about the camping area, so I did an internet search on the campground name and up pops the result... "BFRO Report 12997: Possible vocalizations at Kulshan Campground" which is the name of the place we were camped. Vocalizations? What is that? So off I go to the BFRO (Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization) web site where I learned that somebody else had reported what sounded like the same phenomena I heard. Unfortunately, on both occasions of the sounds I heard, Margie was asleep and she has always accused me of not waking her just so I could have the Bigfoot experience all to myself.

Now I don't really believe that I heard Bigfoot, but I have no idea what I heard either. What brings this to mind is there is something outside our place that kinda whistles. Now I have no idea what it is and neither does Margie, but we at least have both heard it. She has spend quite a bit of time listening to animal sounds but nothing comes close to what we've heard.

With that in mind, I wish I would have gone with Margie to drop off a banana bread at our neighbors last night as I imagine it was quite a hoot! I have no idea what brought up the conversation, but my darling wife told me she tried to duplicate the sound made by the unknown "beast" in the back yard. Now if you had heard the sound made, and Margie's rendition, you would quickly understand that from her attempts nobody would EVER figure out what was outside... there is just no comparison. I'm quite sure the neighbors now feel that they have confirmed that their neighbors on the hill are really nuts after all, and will start hiding the cows whenever they see us around.

Maybe it's a relative of Bigfoot along Medicine Creek or maybe it's a coyote with asthma. Whatever it is, don't ask Margie to duplicate the call of the wild trying to determine what it is... that is unless you want a good chuckle.

...and the produce parade continues

We just got back from a quick trip to Colorado Territory for the Acme Automated Snowthrower's birthday party. We had a great family get together and barbecue, got to visit with my fellow brother's in law (outlaws so to speak), and enjoyed some typically wonderful Colorado weather. I had planned to install some cable for TV in their house as a birthday present, but that task was completed when we arrived, so all I could do was mow the yard. Just a couple of the weekends high points were the Broncos theft of their victory over the Chargers of San Diego, and listening to the radio broadcast as the Cornhuskers beat up some on New Mexico State. Nebraska sure has the right guy doing the play by play...what enthusiasm!

We've been making some progress on painting the barn. I've decided I'm the wrong guy for the job. The aluminum extension ladder used to reach the high points of the barn is downright scary to me. Call me a coward if you wish... I sure feel like one going up that ladder. During my phone company days, I worked on ladders a lot. Heavy duty commercial grade ladders that is. The darn things weighed a ton it seemed, but were very stable and I'd forgotten how wiggly one of these aluminum jobs can be. Most of the high work is done now, and I've got a new 16 foot sliding barn door channel and trolly wheels on order for the new door to be built next. I'm going to get the barn done one way or the other!

And the produce parade continues with neighbors sharing more tomatoes, melons, and most recently a sack of apples. Our two tomato plants have taken over the front of the house with vines 5 feet tall covered with tomatoes of all sizes. It is going to be a challenge to keep the frost away, but the forecast is for warm days for the next week so perhaps the things will get it in high gear and ripen something!

A trip to Denver sure reinforces our decision to move to Nebraska! I'm amazed just how quickly we've embraced country living here away from the hubbub of the city. The farm is starting be a real farm too! My farming neighbor has agreed to farm some of our place as a win/win as far as I'm concerned. He gets use of the land to grow what he wants on it, I don't have to worry about mowing it and weed control. I'm beginning to feel like the guy described in a John Denver tune... Thank God I'm a country boy, or at least I think I'm turning into one.

Elephants and Donkeys

Politics sure bring out the biased side of folks, no matter which side of the political fence you sit on. I've spent an inordinate amount of time reading as much as I can about our primary choices for the leadership of our country, but making a decision isn't real easy for me. I don't necessarily follow party lines, and I, like everyone else, has an opinion about what I think our country needs to, or should do to improve our world status, put our economy back on track, and generally provide the types of services and leadership of our country I think necessary.

Change? Yep, I think everybody thinks some things need to change, and both parties are embracing change now. Experience? Yep, there are questions on both side of the fence regarding the respective candidates. Age? Yep, it's mentioned against both sides of the fence as an extension of experience and longevity. The media? Yep, I wonder if these guys are watching the same interviews I watch, 'cause it's pretty obvious that depending on who is doing the interview evaluation, the story, while generally factual, can be persuasive and slanted to the left or right easily. Rarely do I read an article I consider unbiased one way or the other.

How you say and present things is more important than the facts it seems, and if you spend much time on the internet reading up on the candidates and the responses to these articles, it's pretty obvious that name calling and misleading information is rampant all in the name of getting the facts right.

So today I've decided to present a couple of unbiased facts that you might want to know...

The Republicans say their elephant is strong and dignified, and Democrat's say the donkey is smart and brave. OK, so why do they have them anyway? They go back to 1800's politics, and were both made famous by cartoonist Thomas Nast. It seems the donkey came first when Andrew Jackson's opponents called him a jackass. Jackson used the strong willed animal on his campaign posters, and Nash popularized it in his newspaper cartoons. The Republican elephant showed up in Harper's Weekly years later in another Nast political cartoon and has stuck ever since. Source

Facts are facts so there ya go, unbiased reporting from The City Slicker.

THE Game

November 25, 1971 - My family moved to Colorado in 1968, but my love for the Cornhuskers never faded, and I was certainly not disappointed on that day. It was Thanksgiving, the #1 Huskers were playing the vile #2 Sooners of Oklahoma in Norman, and what ensued is the stuff of legend. The "Game Of The Century" it would become known as, and long term Husker fans will never forget it. Nebraska 35 - Oklahoma 31.

January 26, 1998 - The Denver Broncos were big Superbowl XXXII underdogs against the Packers of Green Bay that day. It was the Bronco's 4th shot at the NFL championship title and John Elway's third trip. Bronco fans were scared. You see, Bronco fans are different than most...we bleed orange and blue, or so we like to say, and having been defeated in each of our previous trips to the big game, we were pretty sure another trouncing was likely a matter of 60 game time minutes away... still we watched. The game was considered at the time the greatest Superbowl ever with the Bronco's winning after Bret Favre's 4th down pass was tipped away with 32 seconds left. Denver went wild! Broncos 31 - Packers 24.

September 5, 2008 - It was a beautiful night for football in Cambridge as another high school football season got underway for the Trojans. The Blue Hill Bobcats rolled into town hoping to beat the home team, but it didn't work out for them on this evening. The Trojans defense was tough shutting out the Blue Hill offense with only a blocked punt in the end zone for a safety to show for the Cats scoring efforts. Cambridge 19 - Blue Hill 2.

Last night was my first Nebraska high school football game in nearly 40 years. It's the first small town football game I've been to ever, and I can't help but make some observations. We got to the game about 4 minutes into the 1st quarter and got to sit on the 45 yard line right next to the band. The running track surrounds our towns football field, and many folks watched the game from the sideline on the track, moving up and down the field with the teams. I'd forgotten high school football game quarters are 12 minutes long. Halftime found each team in an end zone instead of a locker room as is common in large venues. The most common penalty was offensive holding. Many players work both sides of the ball, that is to say they play offense AND defense. The fans are polite, not boisterous.

It's not whether you win or lose, but how you play that's important around here. Sportsmanship is at the top of the totem pole as it should be, and couldn't be more evident than at last nights game. No boos or vulgarity, only the appreciation of a good effort by both teams.

After the game, one of the folks we know in the area asked if we had a good time, and the answer is YES! I may have to tone down my enthusiasm during the game around here as I get pretty excited and loud, and I don't want people to think I'm crazy, but once I get my orange and black attire acquired, folks on the Cambridge side of the field will without any doubt know a new supporter has hit town, and he loves THE game of football, whoever wins.

Go Denver Broncos! Go Big Red! Go Trojans!

High Treason

I was watching a movie on TV the other night called National Treasure. It's a pretty good action flick about treasure hunters looking for a cache of items collected by the Knights Templer and acquired by the Masonic founding fathers of the USA. The founding fathers left clues about how to find the treasure, so our hero's searched through historical artifacts including the Declaration of Independence to try and solve the mystery. I won't divulge if they got the gold, but they made a statement about the men that signed the Declaration that is true.

Had the colonies not defeated the British during the Revolutionary War, the men that had signed the document that got this country rolling would have all been executed (by some rather grizzly means) for high treason. I'm sure glad they put their lives on the line so we can enjoy the liberty and freedom they envisioned for our country.

Times sure have changed since then! I watch Cops on TV now and then, and it amazes me that crooks give up their rights instantly and allow a search of their vehicle, and of course the bad guys always have contraband in their car. If the perpetrator tries to object, the authorities say "if you have nothing to hide, why not let us search?", and the crook gives in. Another liberty gone because if ignorance? Maybe, but I suppose most folks think it's great that the crooks get busted.

Recently Google, the largest internet search engine was forced by the government to supply records of what we look up on the internet. Telephone companies have had special legislation passed to exempt them from lawsuits arising from government wiretaps, and special software has been developed to monitor the internet for "red flag" words and phrases with the reasoning that terrorist attacks can be averted. This is probably true too but I wonder...

"The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either" - Benjamin Franklin

I agree with old Ben on this one. What are we willing to let slip away in the name of National Security? Only you can decide what is important to you and what you are willing give up, but I hope you will keep in the back of your mind that those that signed the Declaration of Independence risked their lives for liberty and freedom and we owe them by sustaining the ideals. Is it possible that government of the people, by the people, and for the people is slipping away?

Brushslingers

In days gone by, outlaws roamed the west with little fear of being caught by the long arm of the law. Names including Billy the Kid, the Clanton's, the Dalton's, Jessie James, and the Youngers robbed banks and rustled cattle with little regard for anyone other than themselves. Besides being outlaws, they were also called gunslingers.

From the Merriam-Webster dictionary - Gunslinger: a person noted for speed and skill in handling and shooting a gun especially in the American West.

Nowadays, we don't hear much about gunslingers beyond old TV shows and movies, and I'm glad there are not bands of armed men roaming the countryside in search of easy money and fame anymore. However, a new brand of outlaw (inlaw) has emerged here in Furnas County I'd like to mention today.

From the Brian Hoag dictionary - Brushslinger: a person noted for speed and skill in handling and painting with a paint brush.

This Labor Day weekend, we were visited by a couple brushslingers from Colorado territory. They showed up with old clothes, ladders, and determination. Their target? Our barn!

Now I admit that I can swing a paint brush, but these guys really do it. Even though it was a holiday weekend, they showed up and spent 3 days scraping, painting, and generally working me and Margie into the ground. However, the result of their visit is no dead bodies, and a barn about 2/3 painted. The weather was terrible for painting with winds pushing 50 out of the south, and temperatures well into the 90's.

So thanks Paintslingers! The barn is looking a lot different than it did Friday, and unless Doc Holliday, the Earp's, and the Clanton's show up for a paintfight behind the barn, we're on our way to eliminating barn envy.