Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Wednesday


Good morning,



Quote of the day:

I really live in a tough neighborhood. The other day I left a note on the front door saying 'I’m inside'. I came back home and my apartment is ransacked. There was a note inside of the front door saying 'I looked all over for you.'”

                                          Rodney Dangerfield



I am reading a book about the history of the Comanche. This book is courtesy of a good friend that owned a book store in Marble Falls, Texas and the book was used as a text book by Southern Methodist University. I have known the woman for many, many years but we have never met in person...but I still feel a closeness. The Comanche along with all the other Native Americans in North America did not have horses until the invasion of the Spanish conquistadors and that being Cortez in Mexico and Coronado in California. In the middle of the 16th century these guys brought their horses with them across the Atlantic from Spain. Naturally a few horses escaped, formed herds and increased precipitously on the “great plains”. The Comanches were the first to capture and train these wild ponies then they were the most powerful tribe in North America, especially after joining into a coalition with the Utes. Before the discovery and taming of the horses the Comanche were your basic hunter/gatherers but after horses they were almost exclusively followers of the bison herds. They had a running war with the Apache in what is now New Mexico (Taos and Santa Fe area) and northern Mexico over the slave trade. That's right y'all, both tribes used captured human beings in barter and trade, especially women and children. The wars were finally subdued but not totally eliminated when the Apache started trading horses for humans with the Comanche. I was really surprised when I read this it changed my perspective. By the way, as I understand it most of the Spanish ponies were either Pinto or Appaloosa. I don't think the Spanish knew of the Arabians in those days.





I saw a story a couple of days ago about a couple that went through a bitter custody fight during a divorce action. The husband won custody. The wife then sought out the Vagabonds motorcycle club and solicited them to kill her ex-husband. The police sniffed it out and put a stop to it and arrested the wife who confessed. She did several years of hard time before being released. After this she filed a suit claiming half of her ex-husband’s assets and won for crying out loud! This happened in California where there is a “no-fault” divorce law which allowed this woman to seek half of the man’s assets no matter what. There is also a law stating that a criminal cannot profit from their crimes. The judicial system is in quite a quandary in California, but what else can you expect from California.



Y'all know that I am a member of two internet “dating sites” where I go grazing on occasion. I am not really looking for date it is just that I read their profiles in hopes that I will get a glimpse at how the female minds operates. It ain't working. What I did find that under “My favorite things” category about 70% “Want to take a walk on the beach hand in hand at sunset”. Many of them want “flowers for no apparent reason”. They want to “Have coffee or a drink and interesting conversation to see if there is any “chemistry”. I am not sure what that means but I am assuming it means mutual attraction. I can assure you that a men's sense of “chemistry” is a hell of a lot different than a woman's. It is a well known fact that men more readily remember what they see than what they hear. I think it goes back to the Cro-Magnon/Neanderthal days when men were hunter/gatherers and depended heavily on vision to make a kill. The women stayed around the campfire and relied on their hearing to warn them of predators. That is my theory anyway. I still am confused about the pics in the profiles. The lady whose profile I looked at had a nice pic of her and it said ten more pics. Of the remaining 10 pics four were of hers dogs, one of her cat, two of either a sunrise or a sunset somewhere, one of her with two of her daughters and one with her with her graduating high school class of 270 in 1960. After this I sent her a pic of my Nandinas that are in severe need of trimming, a pic of my neighbor's new grill, a pic of my nephew driving my brother's Corvette, a pic of me and my brother fishing in Alaska, a pic of me and my father with a large string of bass caught in Lake Hartwell in April of 1983, and finally a pic of my brother's Yellow lab Kaylee. This should give her a lot of insight into who and what I am as hers did for me.



Not long ago I went to my family doctor for my regular visit which is every four or five months. Since I am a two time cancer survivor he wants to see me on a regular basis. He was very pleased that my blood pressure was well within tolerance and my glucose (blood-sugar) count was almost perfect. Most of all he was pleased that I had lost 32 pounds in the last year and I am pleased also. This happened because I cut waaayyy back on the sauce and changed my diet to avoid red meat and nothing white (rice, bread, grits, etc). This means a hell of a lot of broiled or grilled chicken and/or fish but it is obviously working. I owe thanks to my eldest daughter for really bitching me out about my weight the last time I was in Florida. By the way, my daughters think my doctor is a witch doctor. I don't know about all that but I am in pretty good health for my age considering how badly I have treated myself and having cancer twice...my doctor gave me a black cat bone, eye of newt, a mojo (not you Cath), a doll made to look like my worst enemy that I can stick pins in along with lessons in the ancient art of creating Zombies...but that don't make him a witch doctor...does it?



This Date in History June 17



1775 On this date British General Charles Howe landed at Charles Town, Massachusetts near Boston with an infantry force and headed toward Breeds Hill where a known Patriot armed force waited. Breeds Hill was just south of a larger one named Bunker Hill. Breeds hill was on the property of John and Abigail Adams and they were indeed witnesses to the battle. The Patriots were led by General William Prescott and it was he who supposedly uttered the famous phrase “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.” Sure enough, the Patriots waited until the neatly aligned and arranged British lines were within 40 yards and they opened up with a blistering fusillade which forced the British to retreat and re-aligned their lines and then they tried it again. The Patriots were again ready and waited until the British within 40 yards and opened up again forcing another retreat. The British again retreated out of range and re-grouped. On the third charge the British did not stop and retreat but kept coming and forced the Patriots to retreat. This first organized engagement between the British and the Patriots was a tactical victory for the Patriots because the British lost over 80 men while the Patriots lost less than 20. The down side was this battle proved the resolve of the British Army to achieve their objective. The Patriots knew they were in for a long haul indeed. This was the Battle of Bunker Hill and it was the end of the beginning, we were now committed to our war for Independence and freedom.



Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow














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