Churkey's Brood: The Final Tally

Unlike Octo-Mom, Churkey knows when enough is enough! After hatching out 5 healthy chicks, Churkey buried the rest of her eggs and I finally took them away from her. We ended up with what we think is Churkey's own baby (the yellow peep), 2 Buff orpingtons (the orange buggers), 1 Easter Egger (The Perry Cox/Slagathor cross) and 1 Rhode Island Red/Easter Egger cross (Perry/Ginja or Cinnamon).

Churkey celebrated the end of her egg sitting by enjoying a nice meal with her peeps before putting them all to bed. Sleepytime!

There's a Saying...

"If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and talks like a duck...it's probably a duck!"

Today's move by former PA "Republican" Arlen Specter to join the Democratic party, was merely a dog and pony show. Let's face it, the guy has been voting like a Democrat for as long as I remember.

Good riddance!

Spring Pilgrimage: Spring 2009

In attendence: Highmark, Greenhammer, Sparrow, Edicus, Meersky, Griffin/Tracer, Jeffy, Francois/Kimee, Bluey, Choder, and of course, Irish, our gracious host.

The Highlights:

Greenhammer spins sauce out of tomato juice as the naysaying mob of philistines browbeat him every step of the way. Good job for our Italian Canadian!

Highmark exclaims "Bluey's tomato water (a few years ago) was so bad, it stole the flavor from the cooked spaghetti noodles".

Edicus Rex almost singlehandedly turned a 2 hour 9 hole Sugar Hill Open into a 4 hour event with his crazy antics. We played as a sixsome and Sparrow was almost arrested on the 8th hole tee box for drinking non sanctioned beer. Bluey took the trophy by 1 stroke over Sparrow, who hit like a little girl on several shots.

The boys played Cash and Guns, Diplomacy and also had a round of Pilgrimage Jeopardy, won by Greenhammer and Bluey on the final question. Diplomacy was marred by overzealous UN inspector, Francois, who did all he could to hose Germany (Bluey). Now that we're all a go with the rules, we've gotta give that one another try.

Pens thumped the Flyers out of the playoffs and Francois took grief. With Filonius Assault missing, the NFL draft did not ruin the pilgrimage.

Most of the crew enjoyed a saturday night beach fire. While windy with spots of rain, the weekend held 70 through all three days.

Griffin cooked some kickass burgers while meersky complained about the hotdogs containing chicken lips.

Greenhammer and Tracer go to the "store" and come back 3 hours later. Unspecified sources imply Greenhammer came back with an inside out shirt with the tag in front and Tracer's hair had that "slept-in" look.

Griffin and Meersky battled to the end in the stones championship, won by Meersky.

Oddly enough, there was no football, softball, or dodgeball. Age is becoming a factor.

Cornhole got some play, but I did not see any Magic played this weekend.

Edicus and Bluey finished Halo 3 from start to finish from 11pm - 7am on Friday night/Sat morning. Bluey may have slept through parts of the campaign...

Choder and Greenhammer took turns fumigating the cottage.

New deathpool names have been drawn and can be found on the pilgrimage site. I've got JimmyP and greenhammer. Not exactly high riskers there. I'm praying for Canadian national healthcare to help a brother out with Greenhammer.

We may have broken a record for laptops at the pilgrimage. No one uttered that laptops are ruining the pilgrimage but we did have a hard drive go belly up (Irish's) while Choder placed a call to Bangladesh to get it repaired.

Kimee documented Francois' white man rage where it concerns his beloved Flyers.

Guys/gals, I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of stuff. Please feel free to add your stories.

The First Peep of Spring!

On Friday (4/24), while I was away at the Spring Pilgrimage, Tay informs me that our mother hen, Churkey, hatched her first peep of the spring. Here are the first pictures. She was sitting on 4 Buff Orp eggs, 3 EE eggs and 8 other assorted eggs from our flock. After collecting 15 eggs like an Octo-mom, I set her up in a brooder in the garage, so she could get down to business.

Update: Late Sunday night 4/26, two more Buff Orpington peeps are hatched! Pictures to follow.

Mets: For The Love of Jesus, Fire Jerry Manuel!

I was never crazy with the idea of firing Willie Randolph without also jettisoning bench coach Jerry Manuel last year. These guys are basically cut from the same cloth, good baseball guys, but lacking any sort of a pulse to inspire a team out of the funk which the Mets have resided since losing Game 7 in the NL Championship a few years back.

With the Mets sitting at a 6-8 record with no threat of going anywhere and no team demeanor change, it's time to cut the cord to the past and get us a fiery manager that is going to kick this team's ass. It's an absolute embarrassment that this team hasn't won a championship yet!

Fire Manuel!!!!!!

Miss California Sparks Furor With Gay Marriage Comments on Miss USA Telecast

I'm really beginning to love how the left is absolutely intolerant of others opinions, while demanding that their opinions be revered as gospel.

Now, it isn't possible to become Miss America unless you believe in gay marriage?

Why the hell in God's name is this even a question asked of the pageant's contestants?

With every passing day, the left is surprising me more with their eroding support of free speech and intolerance towards others.

The left is slowly becoming communist Russia.

Any dissention from their doublespeak marks you as a racist, homophobe, terrorist or retard.

Where is the ACLU on this one? Oh yeah, much like the NAACP, it is only interested in supporting liberals in this country. Neither group would piss on a conservative if they were on fire.

Here is the article at Jammer's request: Big surprise, the judge in question is gay. So, I guess there was only one real right answer to his question.

Maybe she should have said "world peace?" and left it at that!

Bluey Is A Racist Redneck Teabagger!

...and apparently a whole lot of other nasty things according to MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olberman in his interview with Janeane Garafolo.

How the NBC network can air such tripe is a testament to what a joke the network has become.

I have blocked NBC, MSNBC and CNBC from my cable system, even giving up my favorite show Scrubs in the process. It's really a small price to pay. Tay also gave up her favorite show Judge Judy in support. Bravo!

Washington, PA: TEA Party Pictures

Tay and I attended the TEA party festivities tonight and were more than happy to see many other folks also upset about our government's runaway spending. The event was hosted by Rose Somma Tennent. The gathering was exremely orderly and peaceful. Just a few hundred people interested in holding their local and national politicians to fiscal responsibility. Enjoy the pictures!

America's T.E.A. Party Today

Today, many "Taxed Enough Already" TEA party protests will happen around the country, and fittingly on tax day. We already pay 50% plus percent of our earning on taxes and with the spectre of more government spending on the horizon, it is time for us to say enough is enough.

It shouldn't matter if you're Republican or Democrat. Any hardworking individual, who has to work almost half the year to reach tax amnesty, should be up in arms.

This "cradle to grave" demand for government care from the deadbeats in our society has to end. Our own federal and state governments are bankrupting our country with outrageous and borderline criminal spending. Our government is really not running in a different path than GM. It's just got another twenty years more of rope to hang itself. We still have time to reverse this.

Wasn't the Federal government formed to serve the people and not the other way around? It's time to hold all of our politicians accountable for using their influence and our tax dollars to serve their own self interests and to make sure they are elected indefinitely.

The American budget on the horizon has the potential to turn many of our states into welfare states. If you don't think folks will be leaving tax oppressive places like California in droves soon, you're kidding yourself. I don't want that to happen to Pennsylvania.

That's why I'll be at the Washington, PA TEA party at the courthouse tonight that runs from 5-7pm.

If we don't stand up to the federal government soon, we will soon be slaves to it. You can argue that we already are... This is one issue that both parties should support!

Citi-Field: The Beginning of An Era!

I remember going to Shea Stadium when I was a kid. I always thought it was a horrible park to watch a baseball game but I had so many pleasant memories there.

Seeing Tom Seaver pitch, Dave Kingman hit and the 1986 Mets in their championship year.

I'm psyched that New York finally replaced Shea, where the upper deck seating should have come with a bungee cord. It seemed that high and far away from the field.

Citi Field seems to have embraced the cavernous design of Shea but achieved intimacy and some gorgeous sightlines. I always loved that Shea was a pitcher's park and despise short bandbox stadiums that have inflated HRs to epic proportions. Bravo to the architects and Lets Go Mets!!!!

US 3.5, Pirates 0.

I was really starting to worry about this country as the Somali pirate crisis wore on. I was glad to see Obama give the "go order" to snuff these criminals out with US Naval snipers. Had the US given these guys a dime, it would have sent a very bad signal. The pirates can talk all they want but I think they'll think twice about trying to board a ship flying a US flag again. Bravo!

Luna's One Kitten Litter?

Our cat, Luna, is defying logic and gave birth to only one kitten last night. 24 hours later and nary an addition to her litter.

At this rate, we should probably call this kitten Uno or Una.

The kitten is healthy, strong and large and tiger striped like Mom, but has nobody to cuddle with when Mom takes a sabbatical.

I'm not complaining since I can definitely handle a one kitten litter but I surmise we'll probably get an addition later tonight...

Aussie's Sweet 16

Aussie had quite a day. Even though a bomb threat at her school wiped out the birthday lunch she was supposed to share with her boyfriend, R-Dizzle, she still managed to pass her Driver's Permit Test, attend her orientation meeting for her new gym membership, and get some driving time in on the local roads.

We all went to the Union Grille for dinner to celebrate. Happy Sweet 16 Aussie! We love you!