Uh-oh.

Movie haul!

!!! WEDNESDAY BONUS PHOTO !!!

The ghost pepper plant is a haaaiiirr larger and growing another

leaf or two. I am still not sure if it is going to make it. It had an ant

attack. A lot of ants were digging their way around the roots and I had

to very gently SQUISH THEM into OBLIVION one at a time

over a period of several days. I think I got them all.

That little sprout on the right
doesn't seem to be doing too well.
All bets are on the bigger sprout but I ain't
holding my breath.

You have probably seen this sun and moon (jewelry?) box

in the background of some of my pictures. A friend gave it

to me as a gift, probably about 20 years ago. It has been

sitting on my dresser for all of that time.

It has held everything from earrings to bracelets to rubber

bands to aspirin. I have no clue what it is made of. I always

thought it was pewter but I'm thinkin' now that I am wrong.

Anyway, it is another one of my favorite things.

I posted back on Wednesday, June 21 that I had started the

ghost pepper plant that my son surprised me with. And

today the first sprout showed itself. Seeing it was an exciting
moment to be certain. I am hoping there will be a few
more to follow. I also hope this cute little feller grows
up to be WICKED hot (if he grows up at all).

#fingerscrossed

It's a brand new month and once again it is Knife Day

at El Rancho De La Tex! Recently I renewed my
National Rifle Association membership and for my

efforts I received yet another NRA knife.

Will you just look at that BEAUTY!
I kid.

We all KNOW about these NRA knives. They are ZERO

to write home about. A search of "Stone River LTD" knives

will yield a large amount of $9.99 specials. I would never buy

one.... EVER. You cannot count on them to work for you when

you might really need them, and that is a knife no-no. I would

file these NRA blades under "Gas Station Specials".

But they are fun to collect for "free" so I oil them, wrap

them up with the others I have and pack them away in the

ol' knife box. My son will have them someday... for fun.

You know what? I cannot wait for the next Knife Day!

P.S. Some would argue that I DID pay for this knife, dearly.
That's a subject for another day.

~ Happy Birthday America 2023! ~

A cowboy hat Christmas ornament. This makes me

think that everything that can be made... has been made.

~ Random Around the Ranch Photo of the Day ~

Dang gophers and squirrels.

I am not sure what kind of burrs these are, but it seems

that every time we go outdoors to do something, like pick
apples for example, we end up coming back in with a thousand
of these things stuck to our clothes. And there are always one

or two that we don't find that BITE us.

Oh why nature, WHY?

It looks like it is time to pick a few apples.

So we did.

Lately I have been watching some folks on the Internet who love

to eat hot peppers of all kinds. REALLY hot peppers of all kinds.

I love hot peppers (and hot/spicy foods) myself although I have

never had much more than jalapeno peppers. My son and I had a

conversation about this and we talked about acquiring a pepper or

two to eat (or cautiously nibble the corner of one is more like it).

Well, my son surprised me with a kit to grow a Ghost Pepper. You just
peel the lids off of the top and the bottom of the can, water it, and wait
for the magic to happen. He actually bought this for me a few months
ago and I have been anxiously waiting to water it and put it in the
sun. It finally warmed up around here enough to do that.
We will see what happens. It will be a while.

This is the wrapper that was around

the can for the Magic Plant kit.

So many things are better with barbeque sauce.
This aisle always makes my mouth water.

I remember eating racks of ribs at Tony Roma's many
years ago. MANY years ago. They were delicious.
Tony is kind of thin on his restaurant
locations these days.

!! AMAZE AND MYSTIFY YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS !!

When I was about ten years old, my uncle on my mom's side

taught me how to draw this little design. Maybe you know how to

draw it too. If not, it might be a fun thing to learn.
It just takes five simple steps.

Start out by drawing a square.
Easy so far, right?

Add the lines as you see here.

Add these next lines, and just move on without
thinking what you are thinking.

Next up, draw those little half circle type dealies.
Man, this is starting to get real!

And now finish it up with the larger half circle kind

of lines and bam! Thar she is!

I finished this one up by filling in the colors using my

computer. Kinda cool, eh? Thank you to my uncle.

Knowing how to draw this has provided a bit of fun

and entertainment over the years.

P.S. If you have any difficulty on your first attempt or two,
do not be discouraged. Remember, I am pretty much
a professional at this kind of thing.

Don't give up.

Well, I found another good deal today at Walmart. I have had

the DVD movie of "Muppet Treasure Island" since 2007, but

it is a fullscreen edition. I have been looking for YEARS for a

deal on this movie in widescreen. Today, I found it.

The DVD for $5.00. Everybody at The Ranch really enjoys

MTI so they all jumped for joy and hoot and hollered when

I arrived home and pulled it out of the bag.

Yep.

~ National Flag Day, 2023 ~

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America,

and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under

God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Huzzah!

It is John Wick Day at El Rancho De La Tex. I bought my

very own copy of "John Wick: Chapter 4" and I will be

watching this again (we saw it at the theater on April 19th)

tonight! Here at The Ranch we love Mr. Wick.

I also got a great deal on a movie I have been looking for since

April of last year. I had gotten "Bohemian Rhapsody" on DVD,

watched it, loved it and needed the upgrade... SOON. Well, it

took over a year but I finally found a 4k copy at a price I could

afford. I will be watching this one again REALLY soon.

Oh, I used a five dollar coupon I had earned. Life, right?

We are supposed to be planting, but it is still just so

dang cold. I have a ghost chili and some jalapenos that

I am really anxious to get started.

How about a Mickey Mouse backscratcher

from Disneyland from I don't know when!

The guys on my computer desk are

getting along famously.

 ...in other news.

It has been 5 months and I have not killed my
 birthday cactus yet. When I was younger I used to have
somewhat of a green thumb for growing cactus in pots. But
the older I have become, the less green my thumb is. So
this is kind of a big deal for me because you KNOW
I love my cactus, especially this one, the one I

bought for my last birthday.

I think everything is going to be a-okay.

This is something that I thought I had lost a while back.

I just ran across it the other day. Annette Funicello sings

Pineapple Princess and Luau Cha Cha Cha! I have had

this 45 RPM record since was I was too young to

remember. I have no way to play this record but the
songs can be heard via a search of the Internet.

Back in the day I never thought that I would
have no way to play a record.

Here is the back of the sleeve. Wow! A personal note

from Annette and everything! Dang it! Life IS good.

And just look at those prices for additional offers.

Thanks Annette!

~ Memorial Day 2023 ~

The More You Know.

I came across what appears to be an ancient fountain
of some kind while out and about on El Rancho.

Three generations have lived on this land. How
could this have gone undiscovered for so long?

A not really huge waterfall at a
campground round these parts.

The Scourge of the Sea

over at Boomers miniature golf.

The assignment was to take a picture of something that

you have had since you were very young. I chose this

little (what I have always thought of) as a monkey. When

I was about ten years old my mom and I were staying at

my aunt's house in New Jersey. They had gone out for the

day leaving me at home to watch old "Bowery Boys"
movies on TV all afternoon (still love those guys).

They had gone thrifting, flea marketing, garage sale-ing, etc.

My mom bought this little figure for me that day and I have
had it ever since. I'm not sure what it is made of. I always
thought it was soapstone, but it actually seems more
durable than that.

Anyway, that's what I chose for the assignment.



And just to balance things out, here is
a hamburger and fries from Tommy's.

It's another Lethal Weapon House Sighting!

That's the home of Roger Murtaugh and his family from the Lethal Weapon

movie series. Today's sighting comes to us courtesy of a movie called

"Village of the Giants". It's a ridiculously fun movie about delinquent

teenagers who ingest a secret formula turning them into THIRTY FOOT

TALL delinquent teenagers. They take ever a town filled

with grown-ups and all hell breaks loose.

That's the actor Tommy Kirk driving his Mustang past Roger's

home, although the year is 1963 and the home is more likely

that of the Baxter family from the television series "Hazel"

(1961-1966). Boo. That's okay. When the Baxter's move out,

Russell and Gidget Lawrence will move in. When they

move out the Murtaughs will move in and we will meet them

and Martin Riggs and Leo Getz and the whole gang!

Huzzah!

Stay tuned for more sightings!

(P.S. In sad news, word has come down that the home/facade has
now been demolished as have all the facades around it. They
apparently will be replaced with new sound stages.
So much history is now... gone.)

Star Tours, Disneyland, California, U.S.A.

~ Circa 2003 ~

My son took this picture.

Back on June 1st of 2019 I had made an entry about a recording

that I made using one of those "cheap little key-chain recorders, the

kind that you might use to remember where you parked, etc....

Ancient tech." Well I just ran across that little recorder while cleaning

out my closet. It is made by Direct To Retail. It is called Memo Mate

and get this: the device can record up to TWENTY SECONDS.

Holy cow!

It runs on 4 L1154 batteries. It ain't running now though. The batteries

are dead. This recorder is at least 30 years old and I am betting that my last

recording is still on it. That being the audio of shooting my .45 Long Colt

Ruger Vaquero in a canyon on El Rancho De La Tex, in 1993, the
audio that can be heard on my entry of June 1st, 2019. I might get
some batteries for it to see if I am right. Anyway....

Click here to read about and hear the "Shooting my Vaquero
in the Canyon" post of June 1st, 2019 if you are interested.

How'd you get out here?!

I've been looking all OVER for you!

A little diorama at one of our favorite
places to visit: The Indian Store.

I bought the "A Goofy Movie" DVD over at Walmart. I think

this is going to be a fun movie. I love the way Goofy screams

when he is in trouble, like when he is flying off the end
of a looong and high ski jump or something.

Sorry Goofy, but it's funny.

~ Star Wars Day 2023 ~

 May The 4th Be With You!