Random Drunken Thoughts Thread

[mac_1103]

A Yosemite park ranger was asked why it was so hard to make a bear proof trash can. They replied, "because there is considerable overlap between the smartest bears and the dumbest people".

I think you meant Jellystone Park.

 

[GrogNerd]

my annual PSA about the dangers of using real candles in your jack-o-lanterns
this was right across from my sister's condo in East Hanover, NJ
4 families lost their homes due to stupidity

 

[Elk479]

my annual PSA about the dangers of using real candles in your jack-o-lanterns
this was right across from my sister's condo in East Hanover, NJ
4 families lost their homes due to stupidity

Besides them, who even does that anymore? Fake candles are wayy cheaper and more safe.

The things people do that are not fire safe. SMH This is a good picture for a fire prevention week presentation.

 

[GrogNerd]

individually addressable LED neopixels.

 

[Bramling Cross]

I'm of the age where physical fitness isn't something you do for fun, to get laid, or signal your affluence to your peer group. Rather, I engage in physical fitness to stave off death.

Which brings us to why I was trudging as fast as my middle aged carcass will allow along the river bluffs of Ft. Washington this morning and, also, how I was nearly hit in the head by a half-eaten baby racoon that fell out of the trees a mere ten feet in front of me.

When a very dead, half-eaten baby raccoon falls *THUD!* out of the trees ten feet in front of you on the trail you're huffing through in the woods, it really makes you think.

Now, a younger man might contemplate the cruelty of nature and rebel against the unfairness that resulted in the adorable, young life (the front half of it was still adorable, the aft end was a gory *&*%$& mess) having been balefully extinguished. I, however--firmly in middle age--found it amazing and wondrous that I should live long enough to be bombarded by dead, half-eaten baby raccoons falling out of trees.

What are the odds?

 

[Skeeter686]

I, however--firmly in middle age--found it amazing and wondrous that I should live long enough to be bombarded by dead, half-eaten baby raccoons falling out of trees.

What are the odds?

I would be wondering what had been eating it, and if it was something that I'd need to be able to outrun. But your thought is certainly more inspirational!

 

[day_trippr]

While I was puking my guts out I'd be wishing I had brought a towel as advised

 

[Bramling Cross]

I would be wondering what had been eating it, and if it was something that I'd need to be able to outrun. But your thought is certainly more inspirational!

Had I been home in Oregon, I would've been on full brown alert. Just outside the DC line, there's not much of anything to worry about. Well, aside from animals that have learned to drive cars. Those are scary but infrequently found in trees.

It must've been an owl, anything else would've made noise or given me a good talking to.

 

[GrogNerd]

an animal behind the wheel of a vehicle is frightening enough, little comfort knowing you rarely have to check the trees for them.

 

[GrogNerd]

customer, who can't access our program due to not taking Grog's advice & firing their IT people: I hate our IT people.

 

[balrog]

I'm of the age where physical fitness isn't something you do for fun, to get laid, or signal your affluence to your peer group. Rather, I engage in physical fitness to stave off death.

Which brings us to why I was trudging as fast as my middle aged carcass will allow along the river bluffs of Ft. Washington this morning and, also, how I was nearly hit in the head by a half-eaten baby racoon that fell out of the trees a mere ten feet in front of me.

When a very dead, half-eaten baby raccoon falls *THUD!* out of the trees ten feet in front of you on the trail you're huffing through in the woods, it really makes you think.

Now, a younger man might contemplate the cruelty of nature and rebel against the unfairness that resulted in the adorable, young life (the front half of it was still adorable, the aft end was a gory *&*%$& mess) having been balefully extinguished. I, however--firmly in middle age--found it amazing and wondrous that I should live long enough to be bombarded by dead, half-eaten baby raccoons falling out of trees.

What are the odds?

 

[GrogNerd]

lady in our neighborhood (Loudoun Co, VA/ DC area) says she saw one.

we kid her about her spotting a "cougar"

but I don't doubt her at all

 

[BongoYodeler]

Unless threatened or rabid I doubt a bobcat would attack a human. We have them around here, and every bobcat-human interaction I've ever heard about has the bobcat running away as fast as it can. But I suppose there could be an exception to that, and I sure as hell wouldn't want it to be me.

 

[Broken Crow]

 

[day_trippr]

Bobcat sightings in my town have become rather common compared to when we bought our first house here in 1977. Set up a trailcam in the back yard and along with deer and coyotes and foxes and fishers there's bound to be a bobcat shot...

Cheers!

 

[Bramling Cross]

Judging by the prevalence of scat and having seen quite a few, foxes seem to be the most prevalent toothy critters. As such, rabies is the primary concern. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there are bobcats, but I haven't seen any scat.

Actually, I guess it's ticks, then rabies.

On second thought, pawpaws are the most dangerous thing in those woods. I slipped on one in August and had to take a week off because I jacked up my knee pretty good.

Now that I think about, my damned fool self tearing around in the woods like I'm in my twenties is likely the single biggest danger to me.

 

[Bramling Cross]

On the off chance that you guys might enjoy this, I thought I'd share a few pictures of Ft. Washington with you. It's a beautiful place with with an interesting, but thankfully not very exciting history. It was built on the Potomac River, downstream from DC and the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers. It didn't stop the Canadians from burning down the White House.

The fort was built about 3/4 of the way to Mt. Vernon, but on the Maryland bank of the Potomac. This is a photo of the fort from the Virginia side of the river. It's an imposing structure.

Here is a picture of the fort’s main gate, looking out across the river toward Mt. Vernon. Yes, it has a draw bridge.

Pictures looking up the bluff, with the river to my back.

The place is honeycombed with various mortar and long tube batteries. These much later installations were built in reinforced concrete at a time when muzzle loading pieces were still the norm, a very short-lived period of time.

This is a map of the installation, to give you a sense of the scale of this series of fortifications.

Some pictures from the ramparts, first looking across the river toward Mt. Vernon to the southeast, then directly below the fort showing some of the batteries below the ramparts. Yup, that’s a lighthouse out on the point.

Part of the fort's defenses included torpedo batteries. These weren't the motorized torpedoes that we're familiar with. Rather, you can think of them as explosive bouys that were moored beneath the surface and detonated from the shore when a ship full of pyromaniac Canadians were judged to be near the torpedo.

There are painted box turtles galore, some more serious turtles, deer all over the place, snakes, groundhogs and countless birds.

Here's a picture of a deer taking a dump that I'm very proud of.

And, like most of the Capitol region, there are cherry trees.

I won't bore you with pictures of the trail that I slog through. It's just a deer trail through the woods. Not much to see, really.

I hope you found this interesting. It blows me away that this exists a mere 10 miles south of the District line. It played a big role in the project that I undertook last year and it's quite important to me, which is why I took the time to post this great big mess for you. It's an amazing place.

 

[GrogNerd]

other side of the Potowmack from there is Ft Hunt.

Mt Vernon is around the bend, downriver

 

[GrogNerd]

being anal retentive is insisting the term has a hyphen

 

[Agent]

Just a quick shout-out to the lovely people who keep a full snack bowl in the bathroom.

But I usually feel like a bad guest when I only pick out the good pieces.

 

[GrogNerd]

yep

 

[balrog]

yep

View attachment 860681

Some folks are genetically predisposed to think those cilantro bites taste like soap.

 

[GrogNerd]

Some folks are genetically predisposed to think those cilantro bites taste like soap.

i get a little of that.

enchiladas tonight, I will test it.

also: same with simcoe & cat pee

 

[balrog]

 

[balrog]

Watching tv is not worth it sometimes.


I just endured an ad using a remake of Jefferson Starship We Built This City.

A quilted Northern toilet paper, “we quilt this city”

“With a comfy roll”

Jeepers.

 

[day_trippr]

 

[pvtpublic]

Just a quick shout-out to the lovely people who keep a full snack bowl in the bathroom.

View attachment 860676

But I usually feel like a bad guest when I only pick out the good pieces.

I still don't understand why some places keep large breathe mints in the urinals...

 

[BongoYodeler]

I still don't understand why some places keep large breathe mints in the urinals...

Silly, that's not a breath mint, that's actually hand soap. You gotta fish them out to wash up. And if you work in a kitchen that serves the public you have to, it's required by law.

 

[GrogNerd]

This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say, "To-morrow is Saint Crispian."
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say, "These wounds I had on Crispin's day."
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words,
Harry the King, Bedford, and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day


hilarity then ensued

& by "hilarity" I mean a bunch of French nobles get turned into muddy pincushions.

 

[day_trippr]

I got nothing
Other than humans were never meant to "finish" Tetris...

 

[GrogNerd]

customer freaking out because the file she needs to transmit to her new bank has her old bank's name

have to consider myself lucky; if it weren't for stupid people working on computers, I wouldn't have a job

 

[balrog]

if it weren't for stupid people working on with computers

FTFY

 

[day_trippr]

Any Stone Brewing fans out there?

Lately, I've been spending a lot of time 150 miles north of my humble brew space working on our NH house. To fuel the efforts I've been buying beer up there, typically 12 packs of Fiddlehead IPA, a righteous brew. For some reason this last weekend I opted to change things up and bought a mixed 12 pack of Stone Brewing, with their Hazy IPA, Tangerine Express Hazy IPA, and Fear.Movie.Lions Hazy Double IPA. I had never had any of those before, but I have had a few Stone IPAs over the decades and they were generally "ok" brews, certainly nothing to write about but always inoffensive, so I figured these were reasonably "safe".

But these three brews...were all AWFUL! Literally the worst tasting commercial beers I've ever bought - and I'm effin' old!
After a testing sip of each of the three brews I ended up dumping the entire 12 pack. No way was I going to torture myself with that crap in a can!

I checked the date codes and there was a week of "Best Enjoyed By" time left. From what I've read since, that implies they were brewed a week short of three months prior. I occasionally have hazies on tap at least that long if not a couple of months longer that are still delicious, so I suspect there's more at play than age.

One of the beers had a hop I've been scrupulously avoiding in my own brewing even while I had never had the "pleasure" of actually tasting. Stone's "Hazy IPA" has it: Sabro. When Sabro first came out and I read the list of commonly used descriptors about it, I immediately decided I wanted nothing to do with a hop that expresses citrus, tangerine, coconut, tropical fruit, stone fruit, CEDAR, MINT, CREAM and HERBAL. And fair or not, Hazy IPA confirmed my expectations that it's a horror show strain. Yuckers!

But the other two brews, I don't know if I was tasting abused beers, beers that simply aged way out in three months, or just bad brews. Or a combination. In any case the experience will not be forgotten. It's not like I look for Stone when I'm on the road, but I definitely won't now...

 

[balrog]

Always a sad story when trying something new, but also, thanks for the hop warning.

 

[Broken Crow]

"Beer Culture' is Culture!

 

[seatazzz]

Not drunk or rambling, but big shout out to 59% of 33,000 men/women who finally woke up and realized if they didn't vote 'yes' we would all be scrwed for the holidays, and the next offer would be sh*t. I can now breathe a bit easier (and maybe fill the grain bins). Gonna brew a nice brown this weekend, because I can, and the wonderful husband likes it. Yay!!!!

 

[Brew_Dude41]

Not drunk or rambling, but big shout out to 59% of 33,000 men/women who finally woke up and realized if they didn't vote 'yes' we would all be scrwed for the holidays, and the next offer would be sh*t. I can now breathe a bit easier (and maybe fill the grain bins). Gonna brew a nice brown this weekend, because I can, and the wonderful husband likes it. Yay!!!!

Are we referring to Boeing?

 

[seatazzz]

Yep. Won't say much because I don't want this post deleted, but husband was NOT one of the ones digging his heels in about the (word that rhymes with dension). We all knew it wasn't going to fly.

 

[Brew_Dude41]

Well glad it is getting worked out. Leaving it at that as well...

My father worked for Boeing for what had to be close to 30 years and another 1/2 doz as a consultant after he retired. He was an instructor and certified to teach just about everything by the time he retired - hence the need to pull him back as a consultant.

He loved to get out and go to all the sites and teach across the country and work first hand with just about everyone that he met from the floors.

Best of luck and hang in there.

 

[GrogNerd]

the wife: you're not putting things away, you're hiding them

me: unless the definitions have changed...