Gown and Out

For as long as I can remember the women in my life have worn what they have called nightgowns. In the evening, after the days activities are done and after they bathe, they put on their nightgowns and relax before going to bed. Sounds pretty normal, right? At least for women. (Yes. I realize that men and boys have been known to wear nightgowns.) There are a few things that I have never been able to figure out about nightgowns.

Why a long, loose fitting "dress"? What is it that makes a gown the preferred type of clothing for relaxing and preparing for bed? I understand that a hundred years ago, or longer, left over or scrap material could be fashioned into a gown, thus saving money. People just didn't pop into their local super mega store and pick up lounge wear. They had to make it out of whatever they had. We have all heard the flour sack stories. But today we can have just about anything, for pennies. What about some soft comfy shorts and a t-shirt? Winter? Sweats and a sweat shirt.

Another thing I don't really understand is why women in these gowns can't be photographed. I can't tell you how many times I have been about to take a picture and the woman in the room says to not include her because she is "in her gown". Just the other night my daughter was doing something cute with my wife and I wanted to capture it for posterity's sake, so I could print it and put it in a scrapbook with some of those stickers that I love, but I had to be extra careful not to include my wife because she "was in here gown." Like people a hundred years from now won't know that women wore gowns because there are no photos of women in them. It reminds me of those peoples that thought their souls would be sucked out if their pictures were taken. Why when you wear a gown does it keep you from being in a picture?

Is it because of a sense fashion? Do these gowns not meet the level of fashion required to be photographed in? If so, why not make gowns out of an eye pleasing, fashionable material that people would not be embarrassed to be photographed in? We can put a man on the moon. We can send images through the air, thousands of miles, to be received and viewed by others. Surely the clothing industry can make a cloth that is of a current color and pattern that can be made comfortable and worthy of being in a picture. I am sure that a nip here and a tuck there could be done, at little expense, to aid in the look of the gown, without sacrificing comfort. Women have no problem being photographed in a t-shirt. So the t-shirt is floor length. Put a flower design or some of those blingy shinny bead looking things on it and, lo and behold, you can now have your picture taken in it.

Coon Eyes

As a kid I read the book "Where the Red Fern Grows" about a thousand times. It was because of that book that I wanted to coon hunt. I did a bit as a kid. I went a few times with friends, but mostly I just dreamed about coon hunting.

It wasn't until I was grown and married that I started to coon hunt with a passion. We had bought some land in the country. One day a dog showed up that was covered with so much mud it was hard to tell what breed he was. He was also badly cut up, bleeding and almost dead. I felt sorry for the animal and did something that I have rarely done in my life. I took him to a vet to be patched up.

I don't recall how long we was at the vet, and it was touch and go for a while. Once better, I called the number that was on the collar. The owner was nice. He lived a few miles from me through the woods. It was decided that this dog had gotten loose and got into a pack of hogs or maybe coyotes. The owner asked me if I would like to have the dog, and at first I was a bit leery of a give away dog, but he said he had the papers on the dog and would send them to me. And thus "Mighty Miracle Max" entered our lives.

I was fortunate to have a very good friend in the same town that coon hunted a lot. I started going with him, and to my surprise, Max showed promise. I went hunting quite often. Several times a week. Max just got better and better. Sure, we had to break him off hogs and deer, but that is to be expected.

I started hunting him in competitions, and he won. I took him all over the state. I took him all the way to night champion. Max lived to hunt coons. He loved it more than I did, I think.

The objective of a coon hunt is to tree a coon. The dogs cause him to climb a tree as they get closer and closer. When you arrive at the tree you try to locate the coon, and must do so in order to score points in a competition. This is sometimes very difficult, but is made easier by shinning a light into the tree as you make noises. The coon will often look at you and the light will reflect, letting you know you have found the coon. Just think about the last time you saw a coon on the side of the road. If he looks at you in the light his eyes will shine.

I say all that because something happened this weekend that reminded me of those times. I went to a wedding. As you know, an inordinate amount of pictures are taken at weddings. The one below has to have something to do with Max. Perhaps this is his way of saying hello. You see, he died several years back. He was on a hunt and got hit by a car on a remote road in the middle of no where.

But that is another story.

El Toro Negro

Low Flow?

So we live in a world that almost requires up to participate in whackie environmentalism. Just stock up on your light bulbs over the next year or so.

I was in a surgical center today. I had thought that most hospitals were fully indoctrinated in the fake leftist science of man made global warming. But not this one. I couldn't believe what I saw when I went to the bathroom.

This particular surgical center is using more than its fair share of toilet flushing water. Hey, I don't blame them. I want the job done right the first time too. But dang, I bet the obama siren it working overtime due to toilet flushing at this place.

El Toro Negro

Just Another Wondering (and a Problem Solved)

I wanted to title this one "If it Tastes Good Spit it Out", but I realized that I already have a post with that title. In a way this one goes along with the previous one. It has to do with food and eating.

The new year has just begun and I have witnessed various people in my life attempting to be more healthy. A very worthy goal indeed. I applaud them and wish to do the same myself. Eat right, exercise, and live well. My problem, not that I am very over weight, lies in the eat right area.

I love to eat. I do it all the time. You might say that I am addicted to it. I can't go more than a few hours, maybe a day, without succumbing to the pangs of the addiction that inflicts my life with the never ending desire and need to eat. They need a twelve step for me. I am an addict of food.

I sit around and wonder. Everyone does it. This time I wonder about food and hunger. I realize that our bodies need a certain amount of fuel to carry on the tasks that keep us alive and healthy. But what is it that causes us to eat more than we should? Why over do it? Once we get the needed amount why do we ingest more? Is it solely for the taste? Is it a subconscious need? Maybe it is because we dislike ourselves and it is a way of self-punishment. Some would probably throw us in the same boat with all those who suffer from other addictions and say we had a bad relationship with our mothers, whatever the heck that means. It could be peer pressure. I remember as a kid that it was cool to be able to eat more than your buddy. I have heard that people do it because they are bored, but of that I am not convinced. Whatever it is, I don't know. But what I do know is that there are great masses of people that do it.

My wondering leads me to think that there may be a solution. Why no just spit it out? Get your favorite food and enjoy. When you get the urge to swallow, when that point arrives, just spit it out. You get all the taste and I suppose a few calories, but I would suppose that the vast amount of what causes us to get fat would never make it to the stomach. Hurrah and whoop. Problem solved.

I mean, what is it that makes us want to swallow anyway? Why go through with the ingestion part if you have already satisfied the nutritional requirements for your body for the day? It may be that there is a biological demand that forces us to eat, and eat. We would get the taste. We would scratch the itch of occupying our mouths. It would even have other benefits as well.

You may be thinking, ooh, how gross. The constant spitting and the necessary receptacle for the masticated munchies might keep some on the overweight train, but we tolerate other bad habits, right? There are plenty of tobacco users out there who spit all the time. They might be the first to benefit since they are used to spitting into a cup. We could even re-coop some of the expense by recycling. That's the in thing right now, isn't it? We could sell the slop to pig farms or other types of feed lots. We could compost it and use the methane to fire boilers for the generation of power. The sky's the limit.

How many lives would be saved by avoiding the sure to come heart attacks? How many fewer people would not have diabetes? How many people would be able to fly again without purchasing two seats? How much would we save in medical expenses? The good that could come from this is immeasurable.

I see it as a wining situation for everyone. Just spit it out when the urge to swallow comes. It may take a bit of retraining but we can do it. Lets change the world, one wad at a time. Or are we just too lazy to do it?

El Toro Negro

The World revolves around me.

We are all aware that so many of this nations population is disabled. Heck, it is easier and easier to qualify for SSI or other type of assistance. As I walk into so many stores (past the 843 handicapped parking spaces) I see so many people park in the "less fortunate" parking spaces, jump out of there cars, and hop, skip and jump into the store. We now classify people that over eat or over smoke or make other crappy choices as having some sort of unavoidable malady. Not that they are completely whole, but that they are certainly more able than they will ever admit. I was in Mexico for several weeks over the last few years and never once saw a store scooter in the WalMart or other big chain stores. Guess its just an epidemic here.

Now the purpose of this post is not to go on and on about how many people don't need the assistance they are getting and are fully able to work and function without these "aids". The purpose of this post is to plead for a bit more consideration by some of these folks.

I was in the store today and a woman, on a scooter, came whizzing around the corner and almost ran me down, while on her cell phone. As if this wasn't bad enough, she didn't even have an excuse me, a sorry, or a my bad to give me. I did, however, get a get the hell out of my way look. I was speechless, and that is rare. I just shook my head and went on my way. As one of my friends always says, "You can't fix stupid."

El Toro Negro

Wonders of a Normal World

This happens to me a lot as I am sure it happens to everyone. You're just sitting around thinking and certain things just pop into your head. I'm not talking about the something that needs to be added to the grocery list or a chore that needs to be added to the to do list. I'm taking about something that hits you so hard you have to stop whatever you're doing and ponder the light and knowledge that has just entered your mind, sometimes consuming the next few hours or days of your life. I have jotted down a few that have hit me in the last little bit of my life.

The first is a combination of the recent obsession with candles and the fact that the new year has just rolled around. Many of you know of the tradition of eating cabbage and black-eyed peas for new years day. It goes back the the Civil War era. And mary of you have realized that you can't be an upstanding member of society without having at least 13 scented candles in your home. I have to admit that some of them do smell good.

Well I had the thought, or rather wondered, why they don't make candles scented with foods other than fruits or cinnamon buns. Why haven't we ever seen a cabbage scented candle. We could burn it at certain times of the year to remind us of the new year. It might even help all those that made resolutions keep their goal.

I have never worn contacts, but my third son does. He got them a few years back. He likes them a lot better than the glasses he used to wear. I have a car. In order to help keep the windshield clear during a rain I use the product Rain-X. Works great for helping your vision in the rain. I got to thinking that contacts help your vision, and that contacts have to work in a wet environment, like rain. So why not have a Rain-X type product to put on contacts? Could improve everyones vision that wears contacts.

The last one doesn't really need a great deal of explanation. I want to know why steak knives aren't sharp and serrated on both sides. Wouldn't that make them more useful. Maybe I'm just asking for too much.

El Toro Negro