Canning Corn

Tay tried her hand at canning corn today (raw pack). About 35 ears of corn produced 6 quarts.

Bluey Obituary: Mary Jo Kopechne's Ghost

Just past midnight on Saturday, July 19, 1969, Senator Ted Kennedy drove his black Oldsmobile sedan off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island near Martha's Vineyard, just off Cape Cod. The "married" Senator escaped a watery death, but a passenger in his car, twenty-eight-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, did not. The senator did not immediately call rescue services but wandered away from the scene, checked back into his hotel, called the front desk in the middle of the night to complain about a noise problem and then finally reported the accident 10 hours later!

Today, Ms. Kopechne's ghost can finally rest. It took 40 years, but justice has finally been served. Good riddance to Senator Ted Kennedy as well. He was a trainwreck of a man, a drunken, womanizing joke and lived too long of a life on his brothers' coattails.

Equal Time: Bluey's World Detractors

Old Trails Finishes Out Of Top Three

Our softball team finished our weekend tournament with a pair of wins and a pair of losses and missed placing in the top three.

All of the games were decided by one run. Our bats just proved to be too inconsistent to secure a top three finish. (6/12)

Next up, coed softball in a few weeks!

"Last Night On Earth: Billy's Redemption"

Saturday, August 22, 2009

The Cast

The Heroes

Jeffy as Amanda the prom queen, Sheriff Anderson

Tammy as Detective Rachelle Winters

Francois as Billy, the Sheriff's son

Poppinfresh as Father Joseph, Johnny the high school quarterback

Tay as Nurse Becky, Jenny the farmer's daughter

Cupcake as Sally, the high school sweetheart

The Undead

Irish as the green zombie horde

Kimee as the brown zombie horde

Bluey as the red zombie horde

The Scenario

Our six heroes show up outside of town on a pickup truck. They are charged with the task of searching the town for two biocannisters of virus cure and returning them to the truck with at least one hero. They have 17 hours (turns) to complete the mission.

The Game

The game began very ominously in a heavy rain storm (courtesy of the zombies) which initially slowed down the heroes' movements for several turns. All three zombie hordes spawned near the maximum amount of undead (6 red, 5 green, 6 brown), putting 17 undead on the board right from the start. It looked rather grim. As the zombies started their slow convergence on the heroes, Billy, Father Joe and Amanda shot out of the gate quickly and approached the center of town first.

As Father Joe searched for items a few yards away, Billy and Amanda dropped to the soaked muddy thoroughfare and went at it like wild feral cats (courtesy of the zombies playing the infamous "last night on earth card"), and forfeited a turn. With the zombies still not in striking distance, the tryst did not cost the heroes much and apparently inspired the normally weak playing Billy to new heights. Amanda, on the other hand, devastated by sleeping with such a "loser", went on a personal rampage with a hangun to the tune of 7 dead zombies on 9 successive turns. It was as if her personal soundtrack should have been "Every zombie run, the prom queen has got a gun!".

Nurse Becky and Detective Rachelle stayed fairly close to the truck and successfully fought off the first wave of zombies while protecting the escape path. Rachelle, a female minority, however, enhanced stereotypical ideas that quota hiring systems are not a good thing by not being able to hit the broad side of a barn with her service pistol and eventually, it ran out of ammo. However, the pair managed to stay alive fighting in the cornfields, partially hidden from the zombie horde. Nurse Becky was able to locate the first cannister quickly and fought off several wounds to return it to the truck. Thankfully, at this point, the heavy rain ceased.

As Amanda went on her killing spree, Billy was thwarted from searching an area by zombies and realized that he had left something (his condoms, according to Irish's narrative) at the high school, and had to make a mad dash to retrieve them.

Sally, the high school sweetheart decided to proceed deep into the town alone to check out the abandoned airport hanger. Upon entering it, she found an empty cannister and immediately the hanger was taken over by 3 spawning zombies with another blocking the only door.

Upon reaching the high school, Billy found the second cannister right beside his condoms. The trip to the school actually was a stroke of dumb luck. Immediately 4 zombies decended upon Billy inside the school.

Then the tide started turning the zombies' way. Nurse Becky finally succumbed to the brown zombie horde. Father Joe tried to clear a path for Billy outside the high school with a flare gun but took a wound from a red infected zombie. In an effort to cure his own wound, Fr. Joe took another wound which immediately transformed him into a Zombie Hero, controlled by the red zombie hoard. Nurse Becky, then fell to the zombie hoard. Lastly, the gun crazed and possibly pregnant prom queen, Amanda, finally fired an errant shot and was also swallowed in the wave of zombies creating Zombie Heroes, Becky and Amanda, carrying possibly a zombie child.

The Heroes were one lost hero away from losing. Billy was surrounded in the school by four zombies, Sally was surrounded in the hangar by her own four zombies and new heros Jenny, Johnny and Sheriff Anderson were just spawning and were no where near to help. Johnny had a 5 in 6 chance to kill Zombie Hero Father Joe with a flare gun and it clicked empty in his hand (with a roll of a 1).

Sally and Billy miraculously fought their zombies off and started their mad dash through town back to the truck. Billy met up with Johnny in the bank and formulated a plan to run an end around past the zombies. Jenny joined Detective Rachelle in her home turf, the cornfield, and helped clear a path for Johnny and Billy. Sally got stuck fighting Zombie Hero Becky.

As Billy tried to dash out the front door of the bank, the zombies locked the door, but Johnny pulled found keys out of his ass which allowed the pair to escape the building. The heroes were running for the truck as the zombie horde chased them through town. But, a bottleneck at the junkyard entrance finally deterred the heroes from making a clean escape. Billy took multiple wounds that he was able to heal twice before dying. Sally was able to continue to fight off Zombie Becky. Jenny was an absolute force in the cornfield fighting alongside Rachelle and was able to heal Billy a moment before he was about to take a deadly wound. Zombie Amanda had an impossible time finding them in the cornfields.

With 5 hours left in the game and many of the heroes one wound away from death, Billy made a very courageous decision. Sensing an imminent hero death, he raced into the cornfield into the zombies and Hero Zombie Amanda and handed off the cannister to Rachelle. Rachelle, then, made a mad dash to the truck and left with the two cannisters, leaving the surviving heroes, to die in the town of Woodinvale...

No zombies were harmed in the making of this film.

All in all, a very enjoyable night! The game took four hours to play with 9 people and was absolutely riveting. This game did not disappoint. The game momentum kept going back and forth all game and a handful of individual decisions absolutely made the difference in the outcome of this game. Thank you to all that attended and made the evening an absolute blast!

Please feel free to add your comments, memories and favorite moments from the game.

Thank Jesus! ObamaCare Seems Dead!

Anybody who believes a public government run healthcare option is a win for all Americans is either horribly misinformed, retarded, too busy gulping the Obama kool-aid or some combination of the three.

The government public option would eventually become THE only option once the government used it's massive power to achieve price control. Once that happened, the private option would become relegated to a pay for service, black market healthcare, where only the very rich would get the best doctors and procedures. This doesn't take a genius to figure out.

This government healthcare scare has already chased some doctors into offering separate fee for service plans and out of mainstream healthcare for good.

The government run option didn't even cover tort reform. If you are wondering why this is, it's because you can continue to sue private healthcare while you can't sue the government. This becomes even more of an arm twist to get everyone in the public fold.

All I have to say is thank God that enough Americans woke up to realize that we were on the precipice of throwing away the BEST healthcare system in the world. We work our whole lives to make sure of our financial security (where paying into government social security is about to yield us nothing as it fails), why would we also place our health security in that same basket? Haven't we watched government run every social and public program into the ground or into bankruptcy? Our public healthcare would have become the VA.

Isn't it much better to be a customer with choices of healthcare options with insurance companies vying hard for your business? Competition breeds performance. The government would have turned healthcare into every other institution it runs. A huge bureaucracy with out of control costs, where one has limited choices and no recourse in navigating through the system. I would offer that the uninsured get better treatment now, showing up at an ER than they would with the government run public system.

Do we work our whole lives to be lumped in with folks unwilling to provide for themselves?

Maybe it's time to take the "Death Panel" and turn it into a "Welfare Panel". Once you are collecting government welfare for 10 years (the time period is negotiable), then "end of life" discussions can begin. It's about time we "culled" the deadbeats in our society who are costing us a fortune.

Socialized healthcare is one of the greatest trades of liberty for security that I can imagine. Very, very short-sighted and very, very stupid indeed.

But, be careful. In this era of government takeover of banks, auto and insurance companies, who's to say that they won't takeover the first failing health insurer and then convert it into the public sector healthcare option. This government is smart, crafty and has patent disregard for what the majority wants in this country. In other words, keep very careful watch over what they do, and ignore what they say!

Bluey-Tay 1st Anniversary

I've officially added the first link on the "ball and chain"!

Tay and I are away this weekend at Cheat Lake in West Virginia at the Lakeview Golf and Spa resort. We've had a day sitting poolside, getting pedicures and finished up with Tay caddying for me during 10 holes of golf!

She is the best!

The Giles Open at Penn National

Beukey and I at the Giles Open this past weekend!

The Giles Open began when I was a freshman at Saint Francis University in 1985. After all these years, I was contacted and told that this tournament had continued for the past 24 years! Of course, when we heard that, Beukey and I said "road trip"! The weekend did not disappoint as it was great to reconnect with old friends.

I shot a practice round 98 on the Founders course at Penn National on Friday, and a 94 on the Iron Forge course for the Giles Open for a middle of the pack finish on Saturday.

Our team tied for Saturday's scramble championship with a -5.

Finished Sunday with a 95 Stableford scramble for another middle of the pack finish.

Landscaping 2009: Day 2

Day 2 of clearing brought more excitement over the possibilities of our new "found" space! The clearing is just about done and now comes the hard part. Clearing the roots, debris, trunks and all of the wood cutting. After most of the debris is gone, Tay's Dad will till the soil and then we will stake out a plot for our future garden and seed the rest with grass. I'll update again when significant changes are made.

Landscaping 2009

Here are several Day 1 pictures of our recent landscaping project. Tay's uncle provided the bulldozer and his personal services to help open up about half an acre or so of underbrush and sickly trees. Tay and I want to create a garden, a small fruit orchard and a patio area that now faces a new western facing open area that will allow for some stunning sunsets.

Old Trails Drops A Heartbreaker

After opening with a 10-run first frame, the Old Trails bats went cold in a nine inning doubleheader against first place Bellefiore. Bellefiore answered with their own 10-run seventh inning and went on to win 18-12. (2/4)

A few weeks shy of the playoffs, we'll probably see them again real soon.

Calling Countrywide!

Too bad Countrywide doesn't offer "sweetheart prostate surgeries".

Who am I kidding? ...This crooked idiot will probably outlive all of us.

Two Stooges Fighting Revolt In Their Own Party!

Waxman and Pelosi...

Possibly the biggest retards in the US government. Both from the economic wasteland that is California and responsible for writing and arm twisting a far left economic agenda, no matter what the costs.

Healthcare, cap and trade...and a variety of other bills designed to rob America blind with no guarantees that their bills will benefit a soul.

The WSJ wrote a scathing opinion piece that pretty much sums up the abuse that they are wreaking on their own party. They barred Republicans from helping to write these bills months and months ago. Now they have closed the doors to moderate Democrats as well.

Neither gives a shit about anything but doing whatever they have to, to pass this costly debt exploding shit sandwich legislation of the far left. Both are insufferable assholes. They will probably sink Obama's policies all on their own. Which is great.

But who else would push such nonsense except these two clowns? Obama reached to the lunatic fringe of his party, hoping that his super majority was enough to push through any bill he wished to pass. He dismissed the best minds in the party for the most fervent, mindless fools. What Obama is finding out now, as people get wise is that you reap what you sow.

Let me give you the 411 on Americans. They may be gullible enough to hope for change but I don't believe they are stupid enough to follow these retards into another Great Depression.

California is the shining example they wish to set for the US. Uh... no thanks!

Churkey's July 2009 Hatch

Churkey hatched 3 out of 4 EE eggs this week after sitting on them back on July 6th.

They are all Slagathor x Perry eggs (green). The 1st chick (yellow) hatched on 7/25, 2nd (grey/brown) on 7/26 and the 3rd (brown/dark brown) on 7/28. The pictures are in birth order:

Hot Dog! Another Sweep!

Old Trails swept another doubleheader besting CPB 12-5 and 11-6. We're finally making a push three weeks from the playoff season. (2/7)

No weiner dogs were hurt in the making of this blog...

Last Night On Earth

Played an awesome zombie boardgame a few times over the past few weeks. The game pits 4 survivors against a zombie hoard. In the simple scenario, 2 players play 2 heros each and 1 player plays the zombie hoard and the heros must kill 15 zombies before sun up. Sun up occurs after each side gets 15 turns, so each game only lasts about an hour or so. The standard game can be played by up to 6 players with multiple players playing heros and multiple players controlling different colors of zombies (green, brown and red).

The basic gist of the game is as follows:

When night begins to fall on the sleepy town of Woodinvale, the shadows and fog rolling in bring with them more than just a chill shiver. A living nightmare erupts as the once peaceful community is overrun with the restless dead…scratching and clawing their way to the surface with an insatiable hunger for human flesh. Now only a handful of unlikely Heroes are left, banding together to fight for their very lives. On a night that never ends, the only thing worse than death… is becoming infected.

Last Night on Earth, The Zombie Game is a fast-paced game of brain-eating Zombies, small town Heroes, and horror movie action. Players take on the role of either the Heroes, working together to make it through the night; or the Zombies, unending waves of undead spreading over the town like a plague. Featuring a modular board, eight Heroes to choose from, and several different Scenarios to play that drastically change the game, Last Night on Earth is designed to create a cinematic feel as the story and game unfolds.

So put down that popcorn, grab your shotgun, and hide your brain; the Zombies are coming and this could be your Last Night on Earth!

This past weekend, Poppinfresh, Irish and me played some of the more advanced scenarios of the game including "Save the Townsfolk" and "Get Out Of Dodge". There are several different scenarios included in the game and the expansion pack and an unlimited number of additional scenarios created by gamers and available of the game's fan site in the Variants section.

Now, I'm a zombie nut, so I am very biased, but I think that this is the best boardgame that I've ever played. It just has unlimited ways to enjoy the game. I just ordered a copy for myself with the expansion pack. When the game comes in, I would love to host a LNOE party and let those interested form their own opinion. Hell, I'd love to get a huge game going using most of the heros and 6 zombie players (2 for each color -I ordered extra zombie pieces!).

Let me know if you are interested by email and we'll try to get a day scheduled to play!

Here is the game makers official website: Flying Frog

Brains!!!!

Finally...a Sweep!

Old Trails swept Roland's Trucking on Sunday afternoon, eeking out a 7-6 win in the opener and taking the nightcap 15-5 in five innings.

I managed my second triple in two weeks and the offense finally came on with a 10 run inning in the third. After advancing to third on a sac fly in the fifth inning, I scored the winning run on a single. (5/6)

Softball/BBQ/Bonfire: July 18, 2009

We got a nice turnout of 15 players for softball and played a 7 on 7 doubleheader (six innings each), while I pitched for both squads.

The two teams:

A: Saraloni, Bebis, Meersky, Shep Jr., Papa Shep, Tay, Hamdog.

B: Nate, Rhino, Mama Shep, The Don, Francois, Kimber, Jackson.

The weather held out and we only had to suffer through some rain in the first inning of Game 2 until it cleared again.

Team B managed to squeak out a 10-9 victory in the opener after taking a big 9-1 lead after three innings and also won the nightcap 14-12 in an offensive explosion for both teams in a back and forth contest. The Don used his family jewels to knock down a game ending groundout to seal the game 2 victory. There were lots of longballs in game 2 as a fatigued Bluey got a sore neck watching the balls fly overhead.

And speaking about flying overhead...It is rumored that ESPN "The Ocho" sent a DirecTV blimp over the field to capture the aerial footage. The blimp soared right over the field.

More pictures of the game can be found on my Facebook page.

After the games, we retired back to our home for a BBQ and bonfire.

Everyone got to ride the Honda Big Red and were given tours of our and Tay's Dad's property.

Bluey and Tay made BBQ chicken, burgers, dogs, brauts, baked ziti, baked beans and pasta salad. Our guests also brought some nice tasty sides and desserts. Thank you for that! Mama Shep's homemade cookies were unbelievable!

Choder and AmE came for the BBQ later on and brought their kids, who got a real kick out of our kittens, feeding the chickens grapes and riding in Big Red. Choder's young son somehow always seemed to gravitate to the cooler for a beer, Odd, almost like he was trained to do so.

Our teens disappeared for about an hour to jump on large round hay bales at the top of the property, while the rest of us chilled, told stories and enjoyed the bottled brews (Newcastle, Yuengling and Sam Adams) around the fire.

All in all, one heck of a nice day with great friends, food and wandering fowl.

Thanks to all for making the day an absolute success and so much fun!

This was our first opportunity to have friends at our place and Tay, I and my girls had such a good time.

We'll try to schedule one more softball/BBQ/bonfire event in late August.

Check your email for details in a week or two.

Ally's Funny Commercials

These commercials are golden. What does it say about me that I enjoy them so much? Well, it turns out, not very surprisingly, that these spots were unscripted in order to get the desired reactions from the kids. Awesome!

Little Boy With Truck


Little Girl With Pony

Introducing The Montecristo Lewinsky Especiale Cigar

" A damn tasty cigar when your wife is globe trotting around the world!", says an ecstatic former US president.

Aged under 18 years, this tightly would leaf cigar is the product of a patented dipping process. The formula remains closely guarded.

Honestly,...if I was Bill Clinton, I would never smoke a cigar in public again.