Friday, December 27, 2013

To Much Talk

I tried to watch the morning national news and couldn't. I tried to read the national and world news on the computer and I couldn't. I am so sick of all the talk, talk, talk and not a fucking thing happens. Politicians run amuck, cities fail, retirement plans disappear, cops hand out beat downs regularly, the government (local and national)steals our money, we are imprisoned for speaking out. We suffer losses of our rights every day. And the talking goes on. No one is willing do make the changes this country needs. No one is willing to be the first to say, That's IT! I've had enough! And take the first action to start the revolution. Everyone, you, me, we are all far to complacent with our recliners and big screen TV's. Far to many are satisfied to accept their monthly check and buy another case of beer or another bag of dope. What you don't thing people receiving a government check don't buy dope with it? Wake up. The time is ripe for a separation in this country. The USA can go on living the way it is and the NEW CSA, The New USA, the Redoubt or The New what ever can return to the original constitution and bill of rights and begin a nation of truly free men and women. But someone has to stick their neck out first, be the trigger, the catalyst, the martyr. You, me, who? I think it will take a major action for anything to happen, Like a third term for this clown in office, martial law, gun confiscation or severe restriction.
I urge everyone to read the book "Unintended Consequences" and the Matt Bracken Trilogy as well as James Wesley Rawles "Patriot" series. Not only do they present triggers that seem true to life they offer many fine suggestions for anyone willing to make a change.
 Until the time comes for trigger pulling, stock your larder, your armory, your tool shed, your medical chest and your knowledge.
And one other thing, if you re not going to be a trigger puller, be ready and prepared to support those in need with sudden, deep and immediate shelter. Be ready with information, funds, transportation or first aid.
Quit listening to the talk, talk, talking and make yourself ready.

Monday, December 23, 2013

WHOOPS!

It seems as though I slipped and fell into the big 50 this morning! Wow! Where did the time go?

Friday, December 20, 2013

Duck Dynesty Links Broken

This morning I was trying to follow the Duck Dynasty mess and amazingly may of the links I attempted(notice I wrote attempted) to open reveal a file 404 error. All other links worked. The links at the Drudge Report works but smaller less known new sites had the links to this story corrupted. Is this the government minion hard at work? Do the large news sits have a security system that is to robust for the hackers to jack with the links or is it innept programming  at the smaller news sites. Hmmm? I have never had issues with link to any story on the smaller sites until now. Thinking about it I could not link to several stories about the this from the media giant Facebook either. Is it merely an overload of the data stream or an active collaboration to block this story? What does this foretell about our various means of connecting in the event of a national emergency? Or even a local emergency.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Missing Generals and Missing Nukes

I'm sure you have heard about a quiet little story going around about some missing nukes and the possibility of one being detonated hundreds of miles offshore of the Unites States eastern coastline. I'm also sure you have heard about all the Generals and Admirals being fired by the Obama administration. Take a read of this story and make up your own mind. I tell ya, war is coming and we better be prepared to take the required action. Both preppers and anti-administration forces need to take immediate action.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Partners?

As most of my readers know I am recently divorced from a 30 year marriage and a 32 year relationship.
  I read a lot of blogs but Survival Blog is how I start my day. That site has posted a couple of letters that got me to thinking.

Here is the most recent post and this is the  one that got my mind engaged.

My thoughts on this subject...

I didn't know it but I have been a prepper for a long time. Guns, ammo, tools, first aid equipment. I used to keep myself in really good shape to, just so I could handle anything that came my way.
Then when I saw many articles about a worldwide shortage of rice in 2006 I really spun up the prepper activities. I showed my wife these article and she did a little searching on her own. The next week we went to Sam's Club and bought as much rice as we could. Then we got some food grade buckets form a BBQ joint, we ordered some Mylar bags and located a source for dry ice. When all was assembled we packaged up the rice in Mylar bags and buckets, labeled then and stored them in a cool dry location. After that it was well, if rice can get in short supply so can many other things. That begat the buying frenzy of sugar, flour, beans, spices, vitamins, bullion, peanut butter, olive oil and a myriad other items. Then IT happened. Under the auspices of the Bush II regime the economy flagged. Bush lost the election to a foreign invader and person of questionable birth and the economy tanked. The industry I had worked in all my life was nearly shuttered. Mid level construction management all but disappeared. Openings for a high school educated person with a lot of experience DID disappear. My formerly robust salary went down to unemployment wages. And stayed there for a long time. I did lawn work and finally got a gig running a 4 unit apartment complex in a crappy part of the town we lived in. During all this time and prior to the end of my employment we moved out of the house we had spent 25 years in. I cashed out my dwindling 401K and bought a foreclose house. So while cutting lawns, evicting dead beat tenants and rehabbing an old apartment building, I took on the rehab of the house we had just bought. And I gotta tell ya it needed a lot of work. I literally worked my self to the bone. Good wife was plugging away in the insurance industry and had to make a sudden change in job as her boss lady had to suddenly retire. She took a large income reduction there. Moving on, the apartment owner who lived in Kalifornia did not understand about cold weather or old building or that the salary he was paying me would not allow my to finance his repairs and would not understand so the job came to an end. Now I was rehabbing my house full time. I made very nice changes to the place and my wife and I worked a team designing and implement the changes. We ended up with a nice master bedroom and bath, a cool home office, a tasteful guest bedroom, a killer kitchen and a very cool dining room. Then the 401k money ran out. I got a job at a pawn shop for minimum wage. During all this time and hard work my junk knee got worse and I stared having other muscular/skeletal issues. We had no health coverage, we had little money for more house repairs. Then her mother died. The mother she had not spoken to in 5 or 6 years. When she got cancer, my wife rekindled her relationship with her mom. I didn't. The woman hated me and I hated her. I did attend the funeral as gesture of good will toward  my wife. As we had a limited income the house rehabbing stopped. And Little Miss Gotta Do Something started attendding events with hers sister and  her girlfriends. The next hammer hit us. I lost my job at the pawn shop due to side effect of the many medications I was taking. This was a scheduled event not an out of the blue thing. On my way home my wife called me and said, "Don't be surprised when you get home but I moved out". Now, during my employment at the pawn shop she had left for 3 weeks and could not give a reason for doing so. After a dinner together and discussing her nonsensical claims, she moved back in.
For the last 8 years I had spoiled her. I was doing ALL the cooking, cleaning, lawn work, home repairs and vehicle maintenance as well as shoveling the mountains of snow we were getting at the time.
Every afternoon she called me with her supper order. Or I would surprise her with something. Her friend, co-workers and bosses were all flabbergasted that big ol' biker me was doing all this. In the evenings all she had to do was put on her "comfy clothes" and read, watch TV or  play on her laptop. So I was really rocked when she told me she had "lost herself".
Then the real reason came out, I was turning into my father. This is the man she spent many hours with when I moved to Texas out of High School. He was her buddy. Then his health went to crap. And admittedly he became somewhat of a hypochondriac. My wife said many times that she didn't know if my step mom was a saint or just stupid. Dear wifey forgot that her mother did not leave her step dad when he became ill, her father did not leave his longtime girlfriend when she got cancer, she bad mouthed a woman we knew after she left her husband for having the affront to get cancer. Then the man who was her buddy, the man she bad mouthed for his health issues, died. In the end, she left because I could not get a job making the money I used to make and she ended up being the primary wage earner. There were may thing that went on other than what I have disclosed here but the fact is money or no, she had a good life that may women would love to have.
I had to split my tools with her, she got the house I paid for and labored over, emptied the bank account she was to turn over to me, left me with paying for things I don't have, sold all my stuff that was not out the day of the divorce and moved a man in with her that same week. So, let me say this, you never know who a woman is. Deep in the hearts of many of them lurks a dark evil creature that will break your heart, ruin your life and call it fair. My prepping is on hold until I can improve my income and I have no desire to start a meaningful relationship with a woman. At least I now know who she really is. And I have a better understanding of who I am.


Thursday, December 5, 2013

Thanks

I want to extend a thank you to Kerodin over at III Percent patriots for adding my blog to his blog roll. Sometimes he has to put up with some rancorous discussion between me and some of his other commenter's. Please visit his site and support his efforts and training of Patriots around this nation and for his insight in forming the III Percent city state called the Citadel in Idaho. His call has resulted in a gun manufacturer setting up shop under the title of III Arms. Hopefully this will be the springboard that creates more industry to build the patriot city Kerodin and so many others dream of.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Good Ol' Abe

Who said this? Do you know?

"I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white and black races . . . . I, as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor of the race to which I belong, having the superior position. I have never said anything to the contrary." (CW, Vol. III, p. 16).

If you guessed Abraham Lincoln you would be right. He was not the antislavery good guy history credits him as being. And the Democrats and Liberals want to hold him on a pedestal. Click here to read more of his political commentary from his days in the public service.
  The Liberal ride the coattails of this man? And today's Tea Partiers, home schoolers, NRA members and gun owners are called racist?

This once again proves that the Civil War was not about slavery but about states rights as defined by the Constitution. The Federal Government was sticking it's nose into a place it didn't belong. Slavery was dying out, the shipping lines had already stopped importing slaves, the rouge captains that continued the practice were hunted down, slavery was an unsound economic practice and would not continue to stand on it's own. The emancipation proclamation only freed slaves south of the Mason Dixon line. Slaves North of that line were not truly freed until well after the War was over. This horrendous War marks the true beginning of the over powerful ruling of the United States Government and continues today. There is not one aspect of our lives that is not controlled, regulated or taxed by the Feds. How long will we, as a people , put up with this usurpation of the law of the land, The Constitution for These United States?

Monday, December 2, 2013

My Diamond

I had a great time when my grand daughter and her mom came to visit. This little girl is my energizer battery of a kid. She went non stop the entire time she was here. I don't get to see her very often but I sure enjoy it when I can. She's my little Diamond.




Wednesday, November 27, 2013

It's Coming

With the runway debt of this nation, the illegal alien in the White House, the massive purging of the leadership in the military and the looming collapse of the economy how can this country not break out in a civil war?  As the linked article says the sides are forming up.

"What is going on today in America is all about choosing sides. There are clear lines being formed in the United States. The recruiting pool consists of the Department of Homeland Security, the American military, local law enforcement, the Russian troops pouring into the United States, the trickle of Chinese troops coming into the country through Hawaii and, of course, the poor, the middle class and elite. This is the recruiting pool which will form the chess pieces of the coming American Civil War." Read more here.

Me? At this point I'm on my own side and that of similar minded folks. I have no crew and most folks I know, like me are bearing health issue that will cost many thousands of dollars to repair. I still have some basic preps in place but still need to beef up on many other items to survive in the event of a collapse. I have a solid little house, with a vacant lot attached that will support a very large garden if needed. I will begin amending the sandy soil for that purpose. Unfortunately I am in Kansas City proper. In the East bottoms exactly, located in a heavy commercial area, surrounded by rail roads and neighbors who are mostly low income with no idea of prepping or survival. I do have a back door neighbor that I am cultivating. An ex-marine that is very handy, is familiar with the neighbor hood, and has his compound wired for video via 10 cameras. He too has a large collection of bangsticks. But he has some children in their teens who seem to have no purpose other than fighting with each other. We'll see how this relationship develops. Eventually I will have my property surrounded with a tall chain link fence. The body shop down the street does have a Ferret though. Hmm. Maybe I need to speak with him.
Any way, the point is this, we are heading into strange waters. Water that will carry us over a precipitous fall that end in a pool of guerilla warfare, class warfare, anarchy, and governmental abuses of the common man.
 Brace for it, be ready for it and prepare yourself to do things your never dreamed of doing. Just to survive.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Someone Is Coming To See Me

Here's my granddaughter, my little Diamond. I am anxiously awaiting her arrival this coming week. I've gotta make some changes to my life so I can move to her locale. As a bonus I would also get to do things with my son and his wonderful wife. Man, I miss this little girl!

It's Sunday

It IS Sunday after all.






Saturday, November 23, 2013

Uncle John

I found another picture of my great, great, great uncle John McCorkle, the scout and sniper that rode with William Quantrill and the Missouri Partisan Rangers. The picture is copyrighted so the site will not let me copy the image. Here is a link to a picture of good 'ol Uncle John. My family hero, that rode under a black flag of no quarter. He and his companions adopted the black flag after Johns sister, my great, great, great aunt was killed in the infamous Kansas City Jail Collapse in which Charity McCorkle was killed. This was also the impetus for the Lawrence Kansas raid. The man body of the preceding link is from my uncle's book "Three Years With Quantrill".

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

A Dream

Early this morning I awoke from a dream. I was dreaming about pain. And I was talking about it with my dead father. I said, Pop, I don't know if I can take this any more. As he passed through a door he said, sure ya can boy. I'm sure I can.

Friday, November 15, 2013

A Camillus USMC Knife

Take a gander at this knife. It's a modern day interpretation of the WWII KaBar. This one is done in stainless steel  but still utilizes the traditional stacked leather grip. It also has a stainless pommel and guard. This is a big knife, running to an overall length of 12 inches with a 7 inch blade. I have put a matte finish on the blade and sharpened the clip. I got this gem at a small town gun show, new, for 40 bucks. It has a heavy black leather sheath to which I have added black nylon 3/16" leg ties.


Thursday, November 14, 2013

Another Crosscut Blade

Here is another knife I made from that crosscut saw blade. This section was so pitted I had it bead blasted which left a frosty looking finish. After 12-15 years it is just now starting to get some dark places on the blade. The scales are made from a wood called purpleheart. It is a very nice looking dense variety of wood. Again, the pins are nickel silver. The sheath is made from a piece of heavy leather I found somewhere and is not my best effort.



Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Marauders

I was flipping through the channels tonight and saw that NatGeo's show Doomsday Preppers was on. I went ahead and clicked the remote and got a revelation and a  surprise. Tonight's Prepper Idiot was a man and his friends who are not really preppers but call themselves marauders. Tyler and his friends stated that in the event of a calamity they intend to raid actual preppers. This guy is a total asshat. He carries about 150 extra pounds of blubber and about 25 pounds of shit in head. Here's an idea, since he announced his intention to raid preppers in his area, why don't the preppers in his AO make a punitive strike and punish those that have every intention of stealing from them and committing violence upon them. I have said it before, you have to be a little off to put your preps and plans on TV. This just proves my point. This guy fabbed up some home made body armor out of bath tile, fiberglass matte, duct tape, roofing tar and some scrap metal. Claiming it would protect him from rifle fire. He then proceeded to test it by being shot with a 12 gauge that was obviously firing a light load of something as there was very little impact to him after being shot from a distance of about 3 feet. At that range the shot would still be in the cup and he would have been struck with, oh say, an ounce and a quarter of lead traveling at a decent velocity. Let's see him try that test with a .308 at 50 yards or even a hundred. Hmm, how about it tough guy?

Friday, November 8, 2013

A Little Cutter

A several years ago I made this little knife. Some would call it a patch knife, others a caping knife. I just call it my little knife.
   It's made out of a small piece of a crosscut saw blade, am antler tine from a deer I shot and some nickel silver pins. That steel is quite hard, I spent many hours sanding and polishing that diminutive blade and it still has pits in it. To pin the handle on it I annealed the tang in two spots, drilled the antler, squirted in a little of epoxy and inserted the tang. After the epoxy hardened and locked the tang in position, I drilled the tang and tine as a unit. Then inserted the pins and hammered them to a tight fit. I think it came out looking quite nice. I made the sheath out of an old leather purse my ex was going to through away. I stitched it with some artificial sinew.
Here's the little knife now...


Thursday, November 7, 2013

It's Done

The body shop called last night and my truck is done. I will pick it up this afternoon on the way to an evening of very little work.
This weekend I will begin working on a house my mother owns. It is the house I grew up in and my sister and her family now live there. They had a small fire a couple of weeks ago. Between the fire, the smoke and the water damage there was a lot of work to do. Then the contractor that the insurance agency recommended did a lot of shoddy, substandard work. I will try to make things right and get a bunch of stuff the insurance company requires to be done before the claim is settled.
How does this sound for a contractor? When the dumpster was filled up he did not contact the insurance company and request a second one so the debris just accumulated. The painter was drinking on the job, the "plumber told us that he just went to class the night before and learned how to move a water line and someone else took the test for him. The GC convinced my mother to use OSB to save some money and now it is costing her hundreds of dollars more. And he cannot explain why. He cannot explain why it costs over five hundred dollars to cut a water heater loose and take it out side. He thinks a hole in the wall that shows daylight and flows air and is next to some waterlines is just fine. If you live in a cold zone you know this is a recipe for frozen, burst water lines. Oh and here is one of the best, the gas line to the new water heater is surface mounted and crosses the wall at a diagonal. And he thinks that's fine. Mom paid for a bunch of plywood and there were several sheets left over. Those have disappeared and a bunch of remnants showed up. Mom has fired him obviously but I sure hope he shows up while I'm there. I cannot stand folks that call themselves contractors, remodelers or home improvement companies when in fact all they are is scam artists that haven't the slightest clue about what it takes to be a craftsman.
On another note, I sure hate to turn in the Volkswagen Passat I've been driving. I give it high marks for comfort, gas mileage, braking and performance. It looks pretty good to.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

The Next Whammy

So the love of my life walked out on me, my Father died, the ex got my house, I'm paying for things that she has and I don't, a tree banged up my truck, now the bastion if home improvement, my employer is cutting my hours. What a year this has been. I work part time for Home Depot. I have been getting 24-27 hours a week which lets me pay my bills. I printed off my schedule last night and this coming week I am scheduled for 20 hours and the next week I'm scheduled for 15 freaking hours of work. What is their saying? More savings, more doing, that's the power of home depot. Well if you work for them there isn't any saving. In addition to short hours, the hours you do get jump around all over the place, mornings, mid-day, closing. That in itself makes it very hard to get another part time job. And I don't care what BHO says, jobs in this area are very hard to find and get. Especially if you are graying and limping.
   The situation at work is very irritating, I have more accumulated knowledge than 99 percent of the folks at this store. You pull me out of my department and plunk me into any other except for paint(color blindness) and appliances and I can do the job. Co-workers and customers are amazed at the depth of my knowledge. HD keeps teasing me with lines like, "if full time was offered to you would you take it?" Yet the actual offer has never been made. I have outstanding customer service and will do what ever is asked of me and then some. I am usually a see it do it kind of guy but at this place that will get you in trouble. We are left with a weekly work list and will get in a crack if it is not done, yet we are only allowed to do any of the work list or shelf maintenance the first and last two hours of the day. Needless to say, I stayed up late last night scouring the job boards for gainful employment. I am racking my brain for a home based business I can do to earn some cash. I do have a few ideas but they all require a varying amounts of start up funds. And there are no start up funds in my budget. This is getting very wearisome.

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Wham! Boom, Crash!

I don't know what I've done to piss of the guy upstairs but I'm really getting tired of the hits to my life, soul, spirit and wallet. Yesterday I walked down the street to my mother and step fathers house. I had not been there 5 minutes when one of my neighbors came down and told me a tree had fallen on my truck. Well, thankfully it wasn't a tree just a 20 foot limb. It was over 8 inches in diameter and fell from a height of 30 feet. If I had parked a little more squarely in the lot It would have landed on the cab. Here is the bitch, I was trying to be nice to my electrical contractor and let him park in my paved covered driveway so he would be close to the work and have his tools covered. So much for being a nice guy.





The truck is at the body shop, I'm in a rental and we'll see how this latest scenario shakes out. I must say though, the Volkswagen Passat I'm driving is very nice. It has crazy good brakes and this car really moves out. It makes me realize how tired my truck is.

Friday, October 25, 2013

WTF?

My shift a work this evening started with my boss telling that the HR lady had to speak with me yesterday about WORKING during the all day sales event. What all day sales event, I've never even heard that phrase, I said and then told him that story was very interesting as I did not work yesterday! He stammered and said well it might have been another day. In my days of management you had to have you ducks in a row when you counseled someone and that included having the date correct for the supposed infraction. Huh, the infraction of working! Needless to say, My pressure vent was close to popping and he knew it. He suggested I take few minutes in the break room. So believe it or not I got in trouble for doing what I was supposed to be doing. That's two times in one week. In the other instance I had to catch up on a shit load of online training. Bossman ordered me to have it done by a certain day. So I bust my hump and get it done, then he tells me another manager complained that I was disappearing from my department! This is what life is like at Home Depot. Thankfully, I had two customers that made my a day quite a bit better and one outstanding coworker that really brightened my evening, Thanks Fabi! The job search is going into high gear.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

I Like Knives

I like knives. I really do. It's possible I might have every knife I ever bought, traded for, was given or found. That being said, in this recent move there are a couple that I have yet to find. But I will find them rest assured. I do want to modify my opening statement. My house was broken into once long ago and a significant number of automatic knives were removed from my possession. I replaced them with a lesser amount of better blades.

Take a look for your self.
This is the gang...



The roll of folders and a few others...
 
 
 Some fixed blades and folders. the large double edged knife in the center is one I made when I was 14 or 15.Made of unknown quality of stainless with walnut from a civil war plantation house. Next to it is a large one I made from a cross cut saw blade, with purpleheart wood and silver pins. Above them is a green river knife that I put water buffalo horn scales on. Miscellaneous others too.
 
Here are some Harley Davidson knives by United, these have cryogenically treated blades and are SHARP. Some SOG knives and Cold Steel offerings too. Gerber knives and mulitools too. Top left is a Mel Pardue auto and a couple of Rob Dalton autos as well



Here are the Italians. Direct from the old country. What a shock I had when I had to replace the Italians that were stolen. I bought the originals from the A B Coltiere factory for six to 13 dollars each. Shipped in a tidy bundle labeled as BOOKS. Fast forward to the infamous day and the new ones direct from Italy were twenty-five to seventy dollars each. OUCH!

 
 
Here are the autos. Five Italians, One MicroTech, the Benchmade Mel Pardue, A ProTech Godfather and two Daltons.




Here are the ones I have made. From the top, the stainless double edge I made as a teenager, then a camp knife made from the steel from a cross cut saw blade and finally a patch knife made from cross cut steel and white tail antler tine with gimping and silver pins.

In my hunting fanny pack there is a Cold Steel Master hunter and a Gerber folding saw. MIA from the move is a Buck 120. I think that's it. I think.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Images From The Past

I did a little digging around and found a couple of pictures of my great, great, great Uncle John McCorkle. He, his brother Jebez and his brother in law T.B. Harris all rode with Captain William Quantrill and the Missouri Partisan Rangers during the War of Northern Aggression. Supposedly Uncle John would not cut his hair or beard until the war was over but I have not found a picture like that. Imagine this, a long haired, long bearded man dressed filthy filthy clothes, wearing a slouch hat with 2-6 pistols stuck in his belt and pockets and a steel eyed countenance knocking on your door in the dark of the night asking for dinner or food for his horse. That's how the Rangers got by, well that and some "foraging".  Any thing to get by. And mostly the good folks in Missouri supported them. Supported them with food, shelter, information and moral support.

Here's John McCorkle

 
 
 
 
 John McCorkle ( L) and B-I-L T.B. Harris (R)

 
 
Note those knee high cavalry boots and looking closely you can see pistol butts too.
I get a kick out of looking at pictures from my past, imagining what those folks had to live through, what they had to do to live. I find it fascinating stuff.

My Flags

In light of current politics, Liberal quotes and general asshattery, various blogger and news reports of the government shut down being the result of Tea Bag politician, Republicans and Conservatives in general I am posting some of my flags. I do this in case readers haven't figured out what side of the line my politics fall on. So, here are some of my flags....

The Tea Bag



The Confederate Battle Flag or the Southern Cross
 
 
 The Missouri Battle Flag (Civil War era)
 
 
 The Missouri State Guard Flag (circa 1861)
 

The Missouri State Flag (current)
 
 
These above all others.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Cover Thine Head

On my to supper today I spotted a young woman of color walking along the road. Wearing a very form fitting red top with long sleeves and a pair of white skin tight pants. Now these clothes accentuated the remarkable tits and fine ass she possessed. It's a good thing she had that white scarf wrapped around her head so I wouldn't get aroused at her appearance and have unclean thoughts. WTF? Seriously do those rag wearing folks of the desert tribes really think covering the head of a woman is going to stop impure thoughts by men?

Monday, September 30, 2013

There IS a Difference

Coming from a construction background, there is one thing that really aggravates me. That is the way folks use the terms track hoe and back hoe interchangeably.
Trackhoes have, well they have tracks and the hoe is in front. Backhoes have tires and the hoe is in back, hence BACK hoe. They usually have a bucket in the front.

 This is a track hoe...note the tracks. And the big freakin' bucket and arm or dipper in front. On a trackhoe the house rotates or spins to place the bucket where it is needed or to move the load where it is needed.





This is a backhoe... note the tires and the hoe in BACK. Notice the difference? On a backhoe the arm pivots from side to side to move the load or get the bucket where it is needed. Call me picky but...

Sunday, September 29, 2013

A Walk In the Past

Today my step-father took me on a short driving tour of a Civil War battle field/site here in Kansas City called the Battle of Westport. We looked at several monuments and bronze placards that told the story of this fight. It is a really interesting site but needs to be developed a little further. For instance on of the markers, complete with a period correct Napolean cannon is on the grounds of the Kansas City Water Department. We walked on the grounds wear my state bretheren, on both sides shed their blood. It was a very thought provoking trip. After the battlefield we went to a nearby cemetery that has a section dedicated to the Confederate soldiers of many states that gave their lives in this battle. Here are some of the very interesting head stones I looked at today.



 The three pictures above are the Confederate memorial to all the soldiers that died at the Battle of Westport. It is topped by the stone rebel. The whole thing is over 20 feet tall.

 Yes, General Joe Shelby is buried here too. With his family around him.

 Somebody has a long memory. And a little bit of a grudge too.

 One of our honorable state leaders.

 This is the back side of Waldo Johnsons monument. It's a massive piece.


 These flags adorn the markers of all the soldiers graves. We found a few tombstones the someone had tried to chip away the Confederate flag. Truly sad.

These gents rode with my, lets see, my great, great possibly three times great uncle. The design at top center of the stones is also found on the top center of Quantrills tombstone in Higginsville. I'm going to try and find out what it means.

All in all it was a very moving day for me. Walking the grounds where people of my ilk fought and died and then looking at the graves of many of them brought many thoughts to my mind.

More info here and here. This a very good site with a ton of pictures.