Wondering about wild grapes

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Most Dangerous?

If someone asks, "what is the most dangerous thing", there could be a multitude of answers.  First, there should be some limits stated in this question.  Do they mean, the most dangerous thing in the universe, or our solar system, or our Earth, or our neighbor hood, or where?  Each of these places could have their own separate answers.

OK, I will rephrase my question.  What is most dangerous on Earth?  Now, that too is way too broad of a question.  The answer to this second question could be war, radiation dangers, the freeways, the jungles, the deserts, nuclear war, etc., or this:

Well, let's try again.  What is the most dangerous creature on Earth?  Well, that narrows it down some, but not quite enough.  An answer to that question, and the one at the top of the list, would be mankind.  Other answers could range from the small (bacteria, microbes, etc.)  to the medium sized (snakes, bees, scorpions, rabid animals, etc.) to large sized (rhinos, elephants, tigers, lions, mean bulls, a sumo wrestler, etc.).

Well, I don't think any of the above is the answer.  There are a lot of things that are venomous and/or poisonous.  Most all venomous things are living creatures that inject their venom into their victims.  Poisonous things can transfer their poison by touch or if you eat them.  My choice of most dangerous fits the last kind.

Yep, it is a pretty little frog that comes in a lot of different colors, a Poison Dart Frog that lives in Central and South America.  Isn't it cute?  Just don't ever pick it up with your bare hands.  It is not venomous, but it is very, very poisonous.  Its skin is covered by a very deadly poison, an alkaloid toxin. that prevents the nerves of what ever it bites from transmitting signals to its muscles.  That leaves the muscles in an inactive state of contraction, thus stopping the heart from beating.  Some native people in areas where this frog is found, use its poison on darts and/or arrows.  I guess that would keep a wounded animal from escaping.   This cute frog has enough venom to kill about 10,000 mice and from 10 to 20 humans.  This puts a different meaning to the phrase (you can look, but don't touch).  Now, be careful what you pick up and have a great day, you hear?

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

R.R. Tracks Next to My House?

I got rudely awakened from a deep sleep by a fast train going past my bedroom window!!  Then, as I shook the sleep from my brain, I realized that there were no railroad tracks anywhere near my property.

Yep, you guessed it, it was very high winds.   We have had small tornadoes wander across our property before, so I know what they sound like and it sounded just like that.  According to the news weatherman on TV this morning, we had 60 mph guests of wind as the storm front passed over us and also quite a few small tornadoes.  Since the front line stretched at an angle with the north end a lot further east than the south end, Houston didn't get it for another couple of hours (about 07:00).

I did take a short nap on the couch, and tried to comfort my oldest pup who is deathly afraid of anything that goes boom or bang and with all the lightning in the area, there was a lot of thunder.  But, today dawned bright and sunny, we survived the storm, and it is going to be a great day and I hope your day will be great, too, you hear?

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Not So Perfect Vision.

I have worn glasses for almost as long as I can remember.  I believe I got my first pair of glasses early in grade school.  I can't remember if it was first grade or later.  No, I wasn't this young:

I don't know if my astigmatism was from birth or from a burning marshmallow that got stuck in my eye and melted all over it.  Yep, we were all roasting them on a campfire and the one in front of me had hers catch fire.  She jerked it back off the fire and it flew over her shoulder into my eye.  What a hot, burning mess.

A few years later, I was laying on my back loving the warm summer sun.  For some reason, I pulled my T-shirt up over my heard and what a surprise.  Looking through the tiny holes that the weaving of the shirt created, I could see things perfectly.  Yes, if you punch a tiny pin hole through a piece of heavy paper, you can see small things more clearly.  Don't believe me?  Try it.  While looking through that pin hole, move the thing you are looking at closer or further away to find the correct focal length.  Yep, it works.

I have heard that back in antiquity, that glasses with a single pinhole were used to see small things clearly.  Today's modern pinhole glasses are quite different; they have many, many holes.  Here is a picture of modern ones:

I had cataract operations, where they implanted new lenses.  I chose to have long distance vision, so still have to wear reading glasses to read, blog on my computer, or see anything clearly at close range.  My glasses work better than a hole in some paper, but the hole has come in handy at times when I forgot my reading glasses.  Now, keep looking around and take in all that beauty that this world and this universe has given to us and have a great day, you hear?

Monday, April 25, 2016

Completed Puzzles.

We like jigsaw puzzles and every now and then we buy some and put them together.  Well, my wife does most of the puzzles and I only help out every now and then.  Well, she finished a couple up and I took some pictures of them before they get taken apart, put back in their boxes, and maybe worked again or passed on to someone else.  These two puzzles fit nicely on our card table.

And look, they both came in the same box.  Yes, the pieces to both puzzles were mixed up together in that one box.  So, it wasn't like doing two puzzles, but one big one. . . . OK, it was like doing two different puzzles, we just had to figure out which pieces went to which puzzle.

I took a closer picture of the bottle caps puzzle.  Sorry, the light blurred part of it:

This second picture is of the other puzzle and it has quite a scene.  There were a lot of everything in that picture puzzle;  a train, tunnel, woods, lake, sky, flowers, and balloons. 

Well, that is the way we have been spending our time, my wife, more than me.  Now I hope today doesn't bring you any unsolved puzzles that you can't solve, just have a great day, you hear?

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Happy Birthday to a Telescope.

Happy Birthday, Hubble.  No, I don't mean the man named Edwin Hubble, I mean the space telescope that was named after him.  Yes, it is 26 years old today, as of 09:25 this morning; the time of lift-off of the STS-31 launch vehicle (the space shuttle's 31st launch) that carried the satellite into orbit.  Do you know, since then, there have been five missions to correct problems and to service it?

When first launched, the pictures it took and sent back to Mission Control were distorted, so four more missions were launched to correct and service the telescope.  The fifth mission to the Hubble was cancelled for safety reasons after the Columbia broke apart and scattered pieces across several states.  Oh yes, above, I did say that there were five missions.  Yes, there was another one, the last.  It was 41 months later that STS-114 serviced the Hubble Space Telescope. 

Hubble orbits the Earth every 97 minutes (actually every 96.5 minutes) at a height of 347 miles and speeding along at 4.66 miles per second.  Oh dang, why don't I just copy and past some of Hubble's info:

  • Launched: Apr 24, 1990
  • Orbital height: 347 miles (559 km)
  • Orbital speed: 4.66 miles/s (7.50 km/s)
  • Weight: 24,493 pound (11,110 kg)
  • Orbital period: 96.50 minutes
  • Launch vehicle: STS-31

  • Here is picture of a shuttle being launched:

    And here it is, doing its job out in a high orbit around Earth:

    Now, how about a few of the pictures that the Hubble Space Telescope sent back to us on Earth:

    The Hubble Space Telescope could last for years, sending us back wondrous pictures until  2030 or 2040 and maybe beyond.  I don't know about you, but on this day, Hubble's Birthday, I would like to wish it a happy birthday and many, many more.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

    Friday, April 22, 2016

    A Bloom and Working Together

    One of my wife's plants are blooming again.  She has taken cuttings of the original and started more of these and I believe this is one from a cutting.  These blooms always please my eyes:

    Nothing is impossible if everyone works together as a team.  Don't believe me?  Just watch ants.

    I was walking out my driveway this morning and noticed a line across it.  Now my driveway is made of crushed cement and after driving on it for years, it has become very hard packed.  Well something made that line and, yep you guessed it, it was ants.  I suspect that they traveled back and forth quite often and probably got tired of being run over by vehicles, so they dug a trench.  Yep, now a heavy laden tire can roll over it with no effect or a foot can press down on it and not interrupt their travels.

    This just goes to show us what all can be done when every member of the society or group or family cooperates.  We all could move mountains or make trenches.  Here is a closer look at the ants thoroughfare:

    Now, you all cooperate with each other to make sure you all have a great day, you hear?


    I just went back out and checked on the ants.  I had a hard time finding them again and when I did I discovered that they were putting a roof on top of their road.  In other words, they were turning it into a tunnel.

    Thursday, April 21, 2016

    My Dad and the Colonel

    My Dad was in the Army during WW2.  Just before his platoon got shipped out, my Dad came down with an intravenous block.  The veins on his stomach stuck out so far they were about the size of his fingers.  It was serious but it could have saved his life.  His platoon was shipped out and deployed in Bataan and many did not return.

    After he got released from the hospital, they made him an MP (Military Police).  Doing his duties as such, he pulled up on his military motorcycle and stopped it in front of the base hospital.  The Colonel came by in a mean mood and yelled at my Dad for parking it there.  He said to move it immediately and take the shortest route possible to the other end of the hospital.  The hospital was a long, narrow building with an aisle down the center with beds on both sides.  So, my Dad fired up the bike and followed orders to the letter and took the shortest route right down the aisle of that hospital with the guys in the beds cheering him on.  The Colonel just walked away because he knew that my Dad did exactly as ordered.

    That act did not go over very well with the Colonel and he was closely watching my Dad, just waiting for him to make a mistake.  One day my Dad was on duty guarding the gate which was in view of the Colonels office.  A couple of soldiers came to the gate to get signed out.  My Dad checked them over and their attire agreed with the uniform of the day, so he let them go.  His phone rang and it was the Colonel who told my Dad to stop those men that they were not in proper uniform.  My Dad called them back, looked over the sheet that listed the uniform of the day, and told them to go on and enjoy themselves.

    This made the Colonel so mad that he dropped everything and stormed out of the office, tromped over to the gate, and started yelling and threatening my Dad.  My dad then proceeded to arrest the Colonel because in his haste to bawl out my Dad, he forgot to put his cap on and thus was out of uniform.  From that day on, that Colonel never bothered my Dad again.  Now, I hope everyone is in proper uniform and make sure you all have a great day, you hear?

    Wednesday, April 20, 2016

    Wondering Why.

    Sometimes I just wonder about why things are the way they are or why people do the things that they do.  For instance, when the radar in a police car clocks the first car in a long line of oncoming vehicles at the speed limit, why doesn't he arrest all the ones following close behind that car?  He had to know that they had to be going over the speed limit to catch up to the lead car.

    OK, here is a short list of some of the things that make me say "why":

    1.   Why did Satan give up the glorious life as an angel to become evil?
    2.   Why do they keep score if winning isn't everything?
    3.   Why do some give up when they fail.  If a baby did that, he or she would never learn to walk or talk or do anything.
    4.   Why do people say "Nice to meet you"?  Here is Jack Nicholson take on that: 

    5.   Why do people say "you hurt my feelings" when only you can hurt your own feelings.  That is a one sided emotion and all one sided emotions are a waste of time.

    6.   Why let someone waste your time when time is so precious?

    7.   Why do some people try to explain things to you that they don't fully understand?

    8.   Why am I even writing these things in my blog posting?

    Now, for the last "why".  Why don't you all have a great day, you hear?

    Tuesday, April 19, 2016

    A Good Story.

    I found a good story on the internet that made me laugh.  Therefore, I am going to write it here on my blog posting so all of you can hopefully get a chuckle out of it, too.  So, here it is:

    Good Luck Mr. Dorsky

    In 1938, when he was a kid in a small mid-west town, he was playing baseball with a friend in the backyard.  His friend hit a fly ball, which landed in his neighbor's yard by the bedroom windows.  His neighbors were Mr. and Mrs. Gorsky.  As he leaned down to pick up the ball, young Armstrong heard Mrs. Gorsky shouting at Mr. Gorsky.  "Sex!  You want sex?!  You'll get sex when the kid next door walks on the moon".

    Now that is a true story.  Most of the time truth is stranger and funnier than fiction.  If any one would like to look this up on the internet, here is a link to it:


    Now, I hope this put a grin on our face to start out a new day.
    But just make sure that you have a great day, you hear?

    Sunday, April 17, 2016

    The Funny Side of Texas.

    Hey!! I live in Texas, so I can make fun of it, but if you don't live in Texas. . . Get the picture?  OK, here are some cartoons about Texas and I hope, whether you live in Texas or not, that you get a chuckle out of them.

    Yep, oil may not be God in Texas but oil is king.  That used to be the case and still does to some extent but other things have cut into the oil supremacy.

    Now I wonder what breed of a horse that is in the above picture.  Oh yes, it must be a limo horse. . .

    When I lived up north of Fort Worth, tumbleweeds were a common sight, even had some growing in my backyard.  But this next picture is of tumbleweed men (like snowmen up north).
     The saying around here is if you don't like the weather, wait a couple of hours, it will change.  So, that is why I posted this next one:

    This sign makes sense to me.  If you have ever been attacked by fire ants, you will never want to even see another one in your life:

    This last picture shows how this pooch copes with the Texas summer heat:

    I thought that you all would enjoy these, Texan or not.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

    Friday, April 15, 2016

    Jigsaw Puzzles

    My wife loves to do jigsaw puzzles.  Here is one that she just completed last night.  You would think that it would be easy, but it wasn't.  I helped a wee bit.  Yes, I found two pieces that fit and my wife did all the rest.  Of course my two pieces were very, very important. . . yeah, sure (grin).

    She has about a dozen of them, so it is one down and eleven to go.  There sure is a sense of accomplishment when a person completes putting a puzzle together.  Some people may think that it is a waste of time, but those same people sit for hours on end watching TV.  Hey, if you have free time, you should be able to spend it any legal or moral way that you want to.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear? 

    Wednesday, April 13, 2016

    Have You Ever Seen an UFO?

    Have you ever seen an UFO?  I bet you have. Yes, I have.  In fact just yesterday I saw bird I couldn't identify and it flew away, so if UFO stands for Unidentified Flying Object, then that bird fits the description, right.  So, anything you spot in the air that you don't know what it is, will fall into that classification.  So, I would say that 99 percent of all sightings could have a rational, down to earth explanation but that one percent could really be an Unidentified Flying Object.  And that one percent could also be something from earth.  Below, is a chart of all the different types of UFOs that have been reported at one time or another:
    Don't forget, you can click on pictures to enlarge them.
    I had an uncle who lived next to the Allegheny River across and down river a bit from the little town of Foxburg, PA.  He had a deck that over looked the river which he sat on a lot at night.  He claims that he saw an UFO flying down the river, not more than a hundred feet above the river.  And yes, he was a sane, logical, normal person.

    I also found a lot more information on this internet site:

    I found, on that site, where the origin of the title "flying saucers" came from:
    "The modern UFO era began in 1947 when pilot Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine disc-shaped objects flying over Mt. Rainer, Washington. A reporter labeled them “flying saucers,” and the term entered mainstream consciousness."

    Now keep watching the sky, you never know what you may see, you hear?

    Tuesday, April 12, 2016

    The Blue Season.

    OK, in the past I have posted a few blogs about the yellow season that we have here in East Texas.  In case you forgot, here are the links to a couple of them:

    Yep, every March we get that yellow season, but today we are into the blue season.  Yep, the Texas bluebonnets are in full bloom along with the Indian paintbrush.  The bluebonnets seem to be everywhere.  Thanks to Ladybird Johnson and the highway department, our highways and byways are lined with blue.  Oh so lovely this time of year.

    I was going to stop yesterday and take some pictures of a field that looked like these, but then I remembered that I didn't have my camera with me.  So, I got the above pictures off the interenet.  Now, you all have a great day and if you live in Texas, get out, take a road trip, and see the Spring beauty, you hear?

    Saturday, April 9, 2016

    Getting Old.

    Since I qualify as being old (73 is old, right?), I can talk about it.  I found these on the internet at Here.  Yes, they are funny but they are also so true:
    - Everything hurts and what doesn't hurt, doesn't work.
    - Happy hour is a nap.
    - You don't remember being absent minded.
    - Funny, I don't remember being absent minded.

    There are a lot more, but those above will give you an idea of getting old.

    OK, how about a list games that us old folks can play?  Here is a list:
    -Tag, You're it.
    -Pin the toupee on the bald guy.
    -Kick the bucket
    -Rover, Red Rover, the Nurse says "Bend Over".
    -Simon says something incoherent.
    -Hide and go pee
    -Musical recliners

    My mother, toward the end of her life, always said that "getting old ain't for sissies".

    That is a partial list and I am sure you can add to both of the above lists.  You have your choice, you can grow old peacefully or kicking and screaming.  Since I am already sitting in my rocker/recliner, I guess I am going peacefully.  Let's hope all of us have a long and prosperous life filled with love and joy, you hear?

    Wednesday, April 6, 2016

    Gone but not Forgotten.

    My favorite male County Music singer passed away today.  Here is a link to a complete story:
    Click HERE.

    He made it to 79, and I sure hope he went out singing.  The "here after" just got a new member of their choir.

    Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

    Tuesday, April 5, 2016

    Just Some Silly Questions.

    I got a few questions that may seem silly to some.  I am wondering about light.  They say that the speed of light is constant at 299,792,458 meters per second or 670,616,629 miles per hour.  But then they say that it only travels that fast in a vacuum and it slows down and/or bends when it travels through other things.  So, therefore, it ain't a constant, is it?

    This brings to mind another question.  What if we could travel at the speed of light, what would we see out the windshield?  Well, I would say if we are traveling faster than light, I guess we would be seeing the absence of light, dark.  This is what you would see when looking out that spaceship's windshield:

    (There is not supposed to be any white lines)

    I have heard fighter pilots say how quiet it gets after they break the sound barrier (761.2 mph), so doesn't it figure that if you broke the light speed barrier, you wouldn't see light?

    If we want to visit other solar systems that may contain habitable planets, we would have to travel a lot faster than the speed of light because of their enormous distances, or have a large enough space craft to house families so that their great great grandchildren would get to visit those places.  I am afraid that it may be a one way trip for any who are brave enough to go.

    And, to change the subject, I have a few more questions:
    -How do I get off a nonstop flight?
    -How do I throw away my garbage can?
    -I talked about the speed of light, so what is the speed of dark?
    -When day breaks, who fixes it?
    -Where is Old Zealand?
    -Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?
    -Why do fat chance and slim chance mean the same thing?

    I could go on and on, but will stop here.  If you want to read anymore of them, just go to the web site where I found them:
    Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

    Monday, April 4, 2016

    Are You a Has Been Star?

    Have any of you ever thought that they would like to be a star?

    Or that some where in you past one or more of your relatives may have been movie or music stars?  Even if there were no stars in your past, you are made of star stuff, each and every one of you.

    In fact the Earth and everything was once part of a star. . . no, not the movie kind, the kind that are twinkling overhead on a clear night.  The universe is full of huge inter-stellar dust clouds left over from the "Big Bang" and over time, some parts of these dust clouds collapsed in on themselves and created stars.  Some of these stars exploded (a super nova) to help seed the universe.  Here are some super nova pictures:
    A big blue space eye watching you.....That bright spot in the center is the glowing cinder left after the star blew off its outer layers.

    Now we can't be prejudiced just because I have blue eyes, so here is a brown eye looking at you from space:

    And this every color one which is Nova-1987A:

    For more pictures, see my older posting a few days ago.  Go to this site: OLD POST

    Not only were stars formed, but our solar system and everything else that is flying around out there.  The dating of the oldest meteorites shows that they were formed 4568 million years ago.

    So, as you see, we are all made of star stuff and our lineage goes back a long, long way.  All things came together to give the third planet from our sun everything it needed to support life of all kinds.  How did this life get started?  That is a topic for another blog sometime in the future.