I Got Gas . . .

I know you don't like being preached to and I sure ain't the one to be doing that but I thought I'd let you in on something that I became aware of recently and pass the information on to you. 

We were visiting my father when he told me about his generator leaking gasoline on the carport. When he saw the mess, he took the generator to be fixed and the service man told him that ethanol gasoline causes gaskets to disintegrate and clogs up breathers and ruins a lot of gas engines. He cleaned the filter and told Daddy to use pure gasoline, not ethanol, and it would run fine.

I went online to search for any gas stations that sold pure gasoline in our area. There was one on Carbondale Road and one on Cleveland Road in Dalton Georgia. I went to the Smart Mart and told them I was going to start buying all our gasoline from them because it didn't have any ethanol in it. 

I told the clerk about the gas eating up gaskets and being corrosive. She told me that they had to use a special truck to bring the pure gasoline to the station because the trucks that carry gas with ethanol would cause the gas to leak out. The tanks with ethanol are corrosive! That was an eye-opener.

Our neighbor, Mr. Fowler, borrowed some gas when his riding mower ran out at our driveway. He offered to get me some more gas but I told him I was going to buy pure gasoline, and I told him why. I told him I was anxious to start buying normal gasoline again and see what happened. Our new lawnmower sounds as bad as the old one, sputtering and stalling.

Mr. Fowler said a friend of his told him the same thing about ethanol gasoline. His friend told him he fixed old gas engines. You have to clean out the breathers and run them on pure gasoline and then they will work again. The ethanol gasoline ruins the engines.

If ethanol gas can ruin and clog small gas engines you can only imagine what damage it is doing to other big engines like cars and boats and trucks.

When we first started hearing about ethanol gasoline we were told that it was the wave of the future and it would cause our independence from middle eastern oil. It was touted as an environmentally sound source of fuel. At first, I bought into the idea. But then I started to learn that we were gradually being forced to use ethanol gasoline and, wonder of wonders, it was more expensive. How the heck did we let that law pass? That is not the wave of the future.

When the economy because bloated and burst like a fat tick as prices skyrocketed like bottle rockets on the fourth of July food prices began to climb, too. Grain prices began to rise alarmingly and poor countries that used to buy grain at lower rates were unable to afford the rising prices and people began starving around the world. Storms and droughts caused huge destruction for farmers in the heartland. Prices kept climbing and grain became more valuable as a fuel source than a food source.

I gradually began to see that every time the government passes a new law they don't use their heads to evaluate the entire issues that surround a subject before enacting it as a law. Ethanol gasoline is EVERYWHERE. It is very hard to find a station that sells REAL gasoline. As I began to research this issue I learned that gas with ethanol gets WORSE miles per gallon than pure gasoline. How stupid is that? 


Real gasoline is a little higher but if it gives me better gas mileage I figure I've broken even. If you don't want to waste gasoline and want better mileage why don't you try switching back to real gasoline and sending a message to the gas companies: don't corrupt gasoline and quit wasting corn.

You can go to this link to look for a gas station near you if you are as concerned as I am about using real gasoline.http://pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=GA NO ETHANOL

Can you tell I get passionate sometimes?

I'll get off my soapbox now.
Check out MY MISSION STATEMENT  
As Always

PIO 

Its My Bizniss

Hosta lilies

Lil Jackets Tball

There is nothing like watching a bunch of four year olds learning to play Tball to make your day. The kids swarm over the ball but don't have a clue what to do with it after they fight over it and get the ball. Fortunately, they don't keep score at that playing level so everyone is a WINNER! I hope you enjoy the pictures of one of Calhoun's LIL JACKETS 2011 season games in May. This is probably the only time in sports that boys and girls are treated as equals.

Layla on base

Playing outfield

Outfield

Layla running

Layla resting

End of game

Momma Kim

Layla's grandmother

Layla's grandfather

Family time

As Always
PIO

Random Stuff

Colt finished out the semester and is back home for the summer. He earned 3 A's and a B. I thought that was great. It's good to have him home for the summer. We have plenty of things to do around here and he is a good worker.


Colt and Donny are a double threat in the backyard. Colt is cutting down unwanted bushes on the hill. Donny is using the weedeater to wreak havoc on the yard. They both bare watching. Donny's already decimated some tomato plants and shredded the bushes I've been rooting. I haven't got a clue what Colt it cutting down on the hill. It was so overgrown you couldn't tell the bushes from the weeds.


Scout and Kim and little Layla took a trip to Helen Georgia for their 5 year anniversary. They stayed in a supposedly haunted cabin last weekend. I think Kim heard something but Scout and Layla slept right through it.


I've got plenty of hosta lilies for sale I've been potting.


It's like early spring around here again. It's shocking to go from 90 degrees temperature to high's in the 60's. 


Daddy is having trouble with his heart again and is having a dye test. He had a stint put in less than three weeks ago. We hope they can perform the procedure in Dalton and he won't have to go to Chattanooga, again. UPDATE: Daddy had the dye test and the doctors couldn't find any clogs so he should be going home by now. Thanks for caring.


Momma and Daddy took a trip with the old car club last weekend. They went to Riceville Tennessee, I think.


The Battle of Resaca is this coming weekend May 20-22. I think I'll go this year and take some pictures. If you are interested in local history this should be interesting.


Now that the Rose of Sharon bushes and the dogwood trees have leaves on them the front yard looks like a hidden garden again.  


The 90 Mile Yard Sale on Highway 41 is June 3-5 this year. That guarantees gridlock on the highway. I don't even like traveling on the highway that day because cars will bow up in front of you to turn into a yard sale all weekend long. It is slow and dangerous, especially when you're rubbernecking like I tend to do. But I love the idea of revitalizing the highway again. It used to be the main route from Michigan to Florida. Everybody who is older ((cough, cough)) knows about traveling through the south on the way to Florida down Highway 41. 


I think it's neat to live on 41 highway and be in the heart of history. It may become part of the Trail of Tears. Wishful thinking, but I'll let you know if it does. They are expanding the Trail of Tears to include 14 holding camps in Georgia. It was also the route which gave us Sherman's March to the Sea, in which he and thousands more decimated the south and caused the evolution of the new south in which we live today. It is also where the carpet industry began thanks to the chenille industry making and selling Peacock bedspreads and Peacock chenille bath robes along Highway 41 throughout Georgia. The highway is like a river that runs by my house, taking travelers north as far as you like, or south where the  land meets the sea in south Florida. It is a fount of history and an economic boon for America that was the main route south until Interstate 75 was built,thanks to Eisenhower, in the '50's.


Dang! I need a flagpole to put my Confederate flag up this weekend. Now let me see where did I put that flag. Lordy! The weekend will soon be upon us. (Now don't I sound cultured? Eh??)


You have no idea what it is like this time of year. There is constant cat-rape going on at all hours of the day and night. There's not a blame thing we can do about it. I think makers of dog food and cat food should sell a dry food with birth control pills ground into it. I probably have 20 or more cats and most of them are female. During the spring the male cats go around humping the cats every chance they get. Most of the cats are half wild and won't let you touch them or play with them. The only time you can catch them is when it's feeding time and that is also ((DING! ding! ding!)) when the fights begin. Bitchy old pregnant or recent mothers are always trying to whip someone's ass. Have you ever noticed a lot of cats are like a bunch of women. The similarity is hilarious.

PIO

Killing Time

I haven't been feeling well this week and really couldn't think of anything to say except for whining about how I feel. We should be in the middle of our springtime projects by now but I've been procrastinating about that, too. I went to order my new sink at Home Depot last week and was told that I would have to have a credit card to order it. I was standing there with my checkbook in my hand ready to write the check. What is the matter with people now a days that they want to deal with plastic instead of real hard cash or a personal check? I vowed to return (or order it over the internet) and left with the order numbers for the sink I chose. That pretty well sunk that little dream because, if you know anything about me, you know that I will keep putting it off. I hate doing that.

I still haven't finished the painting we started last year and that is staring me in the face and causing me to feel guilty and yet I still procrastinate. I keep waiting on someone to get on a ladder, before me, and caulk all the nail heads and cracks in the fascia boards around the house. It doesn't look like that's going to happen so I'll have to get my fat ass up on a long extension ladder and try to caulk. I'm not too enthusiastic about climbing a tall ladder and doing any of that.

At least we have already got a garden planted this year. Donny and Scout put a garden next to our north fence where they could close it in and keep the animals out. They planted onions, peppers, squash, broccoli, cabbage, and peanuts. We have tomatoes planted in another area outback. It wouldn't be a garden without tomatoes.

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Our plants have been growing so well this year that I separated the hosta lilies and a few more lily plants. We have day lilies and canna lilies, too. We planted several hosta plants in gallon buckets. I have about 40 plants to sale during the weekend of the Battle of Resaca. A lot of people go by the house during that weekend every year. What I don't sale during the BOR I will try to get rid of the weekend of the Hwy 41 annual yard sale. I could dig up tons of stuff to sale but I have run out of flowerpots. What to do? What to do? Let me think. I know! I can plant some stuff in milk jugs. Now I'll just have to drink lots of milk between now and then. O Crap. I forgot. I'm lactose intolerant. Bummer.

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Am I the only one in America who is addicted to British comedy on PBS on Saturday nights? I love watching 'Keeping Up Appearances', 'Are You Being Served' and 'Doc Martin'. I admit it; I have a little crush on the crusty anti-social doctor. I enjoy English humor. I love watching all the shows and getting a glimpse of what it's like on the other side of the world. 


Television can teach us about other people around the world and help us understand that we are all basically alike.

PIO
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One of our old gardens when we kept bees.

Our tomato garden this year.

Both gardens.

Broccoli and cabbage, etc.

Squash and peanuts, etc.

Colt cutting bushes on the hill.

Fenced in garden.

Tomato garden w/fenced garden beyond.

Tomato garden.

Mr. Destructo weedeating.

Note the concentration.

Keep on moving. Got a hundred things to do today.

Hard at work and deadly.

PIO

Battle of Resaca

The BATTLE OF RESACA is May 20-22, 2011. If you would like any information you can go to http://www.georgiadivision.org/bor_reenactment.html for information about the festivities for the weekend. There will be a ladies tea and a prayer service in memory of the soldiers who died here. Reenactors do a lot more than whup it up and celebrate our southern roots, as so many people believe they do. They have reverence for the people who fought a bloody and vicious war and want to honor their memories. People who may object to people getting together and creating reenactments don't realize the depth of history that these people are trying to preserve. Civil War memorabilia is swapped and sold and eagerly sought by history enthusiasts all over the country. Everyone whose family lived in the south was affected by the war. Every family was touched in some way by the brutal war that ravaged the south. Thousands and thousands of soldiers from the north and the south fought in this bloody American war that pitted relatives and friends and loved ones against one another. This war divided communities and pitted neighbor against neighbor until they were all in the way as the northern army marched across the south burning and killing along the way. Reenactments would be incomplete and totally inaccurate unless there were soldiers from both sides of the conflict. The blue of the northern troops is proudly displayed by many men who represent their ancestors who fought in the Civil War. Reenactors travel from all over the country. The south has many local participants who proudly represent their ancestors who fought nearly 150 years ago in the Battle of Resaca. 
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Be sure to check out the pictures of the previous reenactments on the above website.
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I thought it would be nice to put something out to sale during that weekend. I have plenty of hosta lilies, if anyone is interested. I'll try to get back some of them Yankee dollars, if I can. Yall come!

AS ALWAYS

PIO

MAY

I've been working on a baby gift for my friend's daughter who is having her first baby. I was interested in making nursing pads and ended up making burp pads and a no-sew baby blanket, too. I've had a lot of fun, thanks to Momma lending me her serging machine.* 

Not bad for my first time, right? The internet is a great place to find information on anything you can think of.

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Daddy went into the hospital to have dye inserted to look for blockage and the doctors sent him to Chattanooga to have a stint inserted. He was able to come home again the next day.

Thank goodness they were able to replace the old stint and put in a new one. He had three stints inserted ten years ago. Hopefully, this new stint will last a lot longer.

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We saw the storm damage as we drove up Interstate 75 to Chattanooga.

This was up around the Ringgold exit. Traffic was backed up for 8 miles in both directions as we came upon the work site.
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Scout took off a load of metal to the scrapyard. Look at that load on the trailer.

We've been pretty busy around here. Scout loaded all this by himself. He said it was over 7000 pounds. Can you imagine?

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Scout and Donny have started a garden. We have squash and onions and peanuts and banana peppers in the area Scout is fencing in. In the other part of the garden we have three rows of Rutger, Lemon Boy and Mountain Fresh tomatoes. We widen the garden as we go. I'm hoping to keep the cats and the dogs out of the garden this year

Scout put a fence around the garden and put down papers and straw. Once everything starts growing I'll show you the garden after it is fenced in.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Rachel, Steve, Edwadene, Maranda, Vivian, Junior, Madison

and everybody else who is celebrating a birthday this month.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

To everyone who is celebrating an anniversary this month.

RIP

Billy Lumpkin, John Carter, Evelyn Chastain

PIO

* I never did receive a thank you for that. No more homemade gifts.
5/5/11 12:01 am EDT