Ron G.

Jimmy Driftwood was my neighbor in Timbo, Arkansas until his passing in 1998 at age 91. I ran into him frequently buying gas at the Timbo Grocery or at cattle auctions or at music festivals in Mountain View, Arkansas...he always wore a red shirt...kind of a signature thing. He was always good for a smile or a laugh. Ozark Folk Center, which is now a state park. Just for the record, that one lyric should NOT be Jean Lafayette, but rather Jean Lafitte.

Thanks for the heads up. I've been wondering why I haven't been feeling so good lately.

Maybe I'll go reregister as ArkieDove. But then again, maybe I won't.

DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, splattering it against that freshly-stained heirloom piece you were drying. WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned guitar calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, "Ouch...." ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning pop rivets in their holes until you die of old age. PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters. HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes. VISE-GRIPS: Generally used after pliers to further round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand. OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub you want the bearing race out of. WHITWORTH SOCKETS: Once used for working on older British cars and motorcycles, they are now used mainly for impersonating that 9/16 or 1/2 socket you've been searching for the last 15 minutes. HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after you have installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack handle firmly under the bumper. EIGHT-FOOT LONG DOUGLAS FIR 2X4: Used for levering an automobile upward off of a trapped hydraulic jack handle. TWEEZERS: A tool for removing wood splinters and wire wheel wires. E-Z OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR: A tool ten times harder than any known drill bit that snaps off in bolt holes you couldn't use anyway. TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST: A tool for testing the tensile strength on everything you forgot to disconnect. CRAFTSMAN 1/2 x 16-INCH SCREWDRIVER: A large prybar that inexplicably has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the end opposite the handle. AVIATION METAL SNIPS: See hacksaw. TROUBLE LIGHT: The home mechanic's own tanning booth. Sometimes called a drop light, it is a good source of vitamin D, "the sunshine vitamin," which is not otherwise found under cars at night. Health benefits aside, it's main purpose is to consume 40-watt light bulbs at about the same rate that 105-mm howitzer shells might be used during, say, the first few hours of the Battle of the Bulge. More often dark than light, its name is somewhat misleading. PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids and for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads. AIR COMPRESSOR: A machine that takes energy produced in a coal-burning power plant 200 miles away and transforms it into compressed air that travels by hose to a Chicago Pneumatic impact wrench that grips rusty bolts which were last over tightened 50 years ago by someone at Ford, and neatly rounds off their heads. PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part. HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to cut hoses too short. HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts not far from the object we are trying to hit. MECHANIC'S KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use. DAMMIT TOOL: Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while yelling "DAMMIT" at the top of your lungs. It is also the next tool that you will need. EXPLETIVE: A balm, also referred to as mechanic's lube, usually applied verbally in hindsight, which somehow eases those pains and indignities following our every deficiency in foresight.

My real, authentic name is Ron G. I was named for a popular actor of the time named Ronald Colman. I used to go by ArkieRon, but later decided that was too "Hollywood" sounding. The avatar is supposedly a picture of Hugh Glass. Hugh Glass was a mountain man explorer in the early 1800's...a contemporary of Jim Bridger. I sometimes wish I'd been born in that era since I enjoy spending time in the woods, exploring new places, prowling around in the woods, hunting, fishing etc. I also enjoy going to mountain man and buckskinner rendesvous. Glass was a survivor in that after being mauled by a grizzly bear and left for dead, he crawled through the wilderness over 200 miles and recovered from his wounds. Lucky me...I was born when I was and have had the benefits of flush toilets, color teevee, involvement in TWI and computers...none of which were available in Hugh Glass' day.

I heard ginger helps with flatulence. Is that true? Does it lessen the amount or just make it smell better?

I agree Zshot...any used against us is too much. My point was that 10 tons didn't seem all that significant in the grand scheme of things. I felt as if the author of that article was trying to make some sort of point where there was no point....or something, I dunno. It just seemed like someone was pulling someones chain...particularly when it really didn't go into much detail about what kind of munitions. That's 40 500 lb bombs. How many 500 pounders did a squadron of B-52's drop in an average days work in Viet Nam? I read somewhere that in WWll, over 500 rounds of ammuntion (25 lbs. 45ACP, more for 30.06) were expended for every hit. I don't know if that's accurate or how anyone came to that conclusion, but warfare changed quite a bit in the 20th century as full auto weapons have become more commonplace. More and more rounds hit the dirt or whatever in the form of "cover" or "suppression" fire. I just have a real difficult time being impressed with that number "10 tons". How long would it take a battalion deployed in daily combat to use up that amount?

You ATE the pecan pie? HARRUMPH Glad you're doing better, anyway.

Cowgirl... If you'll turn the earth around a bit until Arkansas is up, I'll run outside and wave!

I dunno what to think about that. I looked around a bit and couldn't come up with a shipping weight for 1000 rounds of 7.62x.39 ammunition. I did, however, find .45ACP and it was 49 lbs for 1000 rds. That would be a little over 400 lots of .45ACP or just over 400,000 rounds. That's NOT a lot of ammunition when you consider that Kalashnikov weapons (7.62x.39), at full cyclic rate, can fire about 600 rounds per minute (upto 640 rounds per minute for the AKM), with a practical rate of about 100 rounds per minute fully automatic or 40 rounds per minute semiautomatic. You can buy Wolf, which is a Russian brand of ammunition, in 7.62x.39 for about $140 for 1000 rounds. It's steel cased and probably weighs a little more than brass cased. I bought 2000 rds last year on sale and don't remember the shipping weight or how much I paid for shipping. Most everyone I know buys it in the 1000 round tins since they're well packed and won't deteriorate. At any rate, I don't really think that when it says "10 tons", that's necessarily an accurate representation of useful amounts.

To my fellow GSC bretheren and bretherenettes, As another year is drawing to an end, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you ~ALL~ a very Happy, Safe, and Prosperous New Year...may this coming year be kind to us all. My apologies to those I may have offended [nah, get a backbone will ya] at some point, and to the mods, for their continued patience in dealing with my sorry foot. To ol' Pawtucketer, many thanks as always for your continued offering of this site, where in this past year alone I have formed many new friendships, and where I still consider this place to be my home away from home, my extended family, and my source for information and humor. My hat's off to you ....Happy New Year man!! May you all have a safe evening of celebration with family and friends. Oh, and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't drink and drive! Ron G.

Number 10 - Life is sexually transmitted. Number 9 - Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die. Number 8 - Men have two emotions: Hungry and Horny. If you see him without an erection, make him a sandwich. Number 7 - Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks. Number 6 - Some people are like a Slinky.....not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs. Number 5 - Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing. Number 4 - All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism Number 3 - Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut saves you thirty cents? Number 2 - In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal. AND THE NUMBER 1 THOUGHT FOR 2005: We know exactly where one cow with mad-cow-disease is located among the millions and millions of cows in America, but we haven't got a clue as to where thousands of illegal immigrants and terrorists are located.

This is Saturday night and in Arkinsaw, Saturday night is BATH night, new years or not. But being it's a new year starting, we'uns should change the water. Ya reckon?

Rush makes a big deal of "never cutting anyone off'...what he DOES is carefully allow their statement, then cut their mike, say his rejoiner, and NOT let them back on. And occasionally he cuts them off in mid sentence. Earlier after his standard diatribe, he accepted a call from Houston Arkansas. He had not heard of the Arkie Houston, and aske if caller was sure he was in ARKANSAS, not Texas..Upon being assured the caller was in Arkansas, Rush asked "Where IS Houston Arkansas?" Bit of a pause and the caller said,"You know where Toad Suck is?" Whereupon Rush cut him off and in his most ponderous, pontificating voice said,"We will NOT have THAT sort of thing allowed on THIS show!" For outlanders and our brit visitors: Toad Suck Days is a BIG local celebration near the hamlet of Houston population about 50..The Toad Suck Ferry supposedly was named regarding locals who swilled enough whiskey and "shine" till they swelled up like toads.

I have to admit I still enjoy and get a lot of good out of some old teachings from V*nce F*nn*g*n, Ralph D and a few others. That's just me and, of course, your mileage may vary.

Read this before viewing the movie. The gun was basically a "show and tell" custom built on a Thompson Encore frame (fancy version of the Thompson Contender). The caliber was .600 Nitro Express. That's right...an elephant gun round in a handgun. The story goes that the guy that built it is some kind of custom gun maker, and built this as an exhibition piece. He takes it to the range to show it off, and the big guy that shot it (in the video) had been bugging the builder to let him shoot it. Now think about this... Only until fairly recently (early-mid '80's) the .600 Nitro Express was hands down the biggest, nastiest, hardest hitting, and heaviest recoiling weapon you could buy. It was designed for one simple purpose...to knock an elephant flat on his a$$. This cartridge is known for breaking collarbones, arms, shoulders...of the shoote when fired from a rifle! Think about this...in the gun world they use what is termed as a "recoil index" to give prospective buyers an idea of what a gun kicks like. A .30-06 gets a rating of a 1.0, which for many people is about the limit of what they can shoot multiple rounds comfortably. A .243 is rated at like a .4, a 270 was like a .8, etc. The .600 Nitro Express is rated at a 9.4...9.4 times more punishing than a 30-06. http://besmiley.com/Video/recoil.wmv No Garth, this isn't me.

I know "Pig Ankle Rag"...and "Dill Pickle Rag", but my favorite is "Cotton Patch Rag". As soon as I can find a dancin' partner, you can then play "Westphalia Waltz", then "Ookpik Waltz". Westphalia is my very, very, very favorite, though. Get well, Psalmie and save the pecan pie for me.

retry

Belle asks... The methods have pretty much remained the same over the years. Some things can't be improved upon. When I do a hide, I prefer the brain tanning method. It's one of the oldest and gives the best results. Andrew and I have done a few rabbit furs and I've done some buckskins. Our Scout troop is going to do a buckskin and mount it on a wood frame to sew award patches on for display. Our troop will also start making all our own rope and other needs.

I use a lot of masonite scraps and other materials I get at the local lumber store. I trim them with my tablesaw and gesso (brush, not spray) them and sand them lightly leaving as much tooth as possible. Mostly. I use 11x14 or 16x20 or so. I also like Fredrix stretched canvas, but they're expensive and delicate. I use a lot of masonite scraps and other materials I get at the local lumber store. I trim them with my tablesaw and gesso (brush, not spray) them and sand them lightly leaving as much tooth as possible. Mostly. I use 11x14 or 16x20 or so. I also like Fredrix stretched canvas, but they're expensive and delicate.

Krys. It all started with me trying to produce the ultimate home grown tomatoes. I love vegetable gardening and read all I can on the subject of making healthier plants.

Actually, global warming, if it were indeed true, wouldn't be a bad thing. CO2 released from fossil fuel burning is wonderful for ecosystems. During the last Ice Age, CO2 levels fell to less than half of the modern level. They had recovered to .028% by the late 1800s. All our fossil fuel burning has raised the CO2 to a whopping… .038%. But we still have a long way to go to get back to Jurassic levels. Back in the good ol’ days, when the ecosystem was really seething with life, the atmosphere was .3% CO2, about eight times greater than today. These high CO2 levels made life very easy for plants with the original "C3" photosynthetic system. In addition to their direct CO2 fertilization effect, higher CO2 levels also help in droughts. With enough CO2, C3 plants can close their "stomata" (pores) more, and lose less water. As CO2 levels fell during the Age of Mammals (and Ice Ages), "C4" plants (e.g., grasses) have tended to gain on older C3 species. Today, it is estimated that the optimum CO2 levels for agricultural productivity in C3 plants (which include wheat and other important crops) would be at least .070%. So we have to at least double the amount of fossil fuel that we have already burned… or more, if we increase the area of Earth that is hospitable to plant life. Much of the world is desert even today. In fact, there is less total life in the sea than on the much smaller land area of our planet. Most of the ocean is "desert," in the sense of having very low densities of life. This is because most of the ocean suffers from a severe mineral deficiency. Iron is the limiting factor on ocean life over most of the world ocean. A tiny amount of iron will cause a huge increase in plankton growth. If the oceans were privatized, sea farmers would fertilize with iron…. And then we would really need to burn more fossil fuel to supply enough CO2. Fortunately, there's plenty left/

A man decided to write a book about famous churches around the world. So he bought a plane ticket and took a trip to Orlando, thinking that he would start by working his way across the USA from South to North. On his first day he was inside a church taking photographs when he noticed a golden telephone mounted on the wall with a sign that read "$10,000 per call". The man, being intrigued, asked a priest who was strolling by what the telephone was used for. The priest replied that it was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 you could talk to God. The man thanked the priest and went along his way. Next stop was in Atlanta. There, at a very large cathedral, he saw the same golden telephone with the same sign under it. He wondered if this was the same kind of telephone he saw in Orlando and he asked a nearby nun what its purpose was. She told him that it was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 he could talk to God. "O.K., thank you," said the man. He then traveled to Indianapolis, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Boston, and New York. In every church he saw the same golden telephone with the same "$10,000 per call" sign under it. The man, upon leaving New York decided to travel out near the mason dixon line to see if middle southern states had the same phone. He arrived in Arkansas, and again, in the first church he entered, there was the same golden telephone, but this time the sign under it read "40 cents per call." The man was surprised so he asked the priest about the sign. "Father, I've traveled all over America and I've seen this same golden telephone in many churches. I'm told that it is a direct line to Heaven, but in the east and south the price was $10,000 per call. Why is it so cheap here? The priest smiled and answered, "You're in Arkansas now, son it's a local call".

Garth, If you don't approve of Scouts, then don't join them. They have long held the requirement that in order to be one, one must believe in a supreme being. Why should they be denied that right? Where's your tolerance?

I just saw that movie on HBO where the erudite scientist warns the world that if they don't immediately sign onto the Kyoto treaty, then we're all in for dire consequences. The vice president of the US snarls his disapproval of the treaty in defense of the rich, greedy capitalists, and suddenly, as a result, the world is quickly plummeted into an ice age caused by global warming. No political message there folks. Nope. Not at all.