This is a sad day, my friends. My Ghost Pepper plant

has given up... the ghost. I have been raising him for

just two months short of two years. But I suppose the

last pruning was just too much for him. He never gave

me a pepper, but I salute him.

His survival efforts under my amateur growing skills

were valiant. He has been buried in a place of honor

and will not soon be forgotten.

It is in his honor that I will attempt to grow a Ghost

Pepper plant with the last batch of seeds from the

Ghost Pepper kit that my son gave to me two years ago.

In this pot there are five seeds. Perhaps one will lead

us to glory.

But there will be a difference between this effort and the

last one. I will not be documenting this unless something

exciting (like maybe a pepper actually growing) happens.

I can't say "stay tuned" this time around.

Today we had another little rattlesnake visitor by
the front door and bigger one in the shed.

They are becoming active.

The crazy things you see while in the
waiting room at the doctor's office.

Wait a second... um...

This could come in handy.

When one chapter ends...

...another begins.

I will put this cactus in a bigger
pot when I get one.

TRANSMISSION #72

DOH!

Road closed.

HOLLA!
Anime in the wild.

When I was 16 I took a picture of a couple'a cactus

I had on our back balcony. Pretty bleak looking.

I've always had cactus.

All those open parking spaces and I watched the white

car park right next to the blue one. Then the
driver had to squeeze out of his door.

I don't get it.

Here is another photo I took at summer ranch camp
when I was 9 or 10 years old. It is a.... a.... it's a...
Well, I don't remember WHAT it is but we
caught it and I took its picture.

When I was 9 or 10 years old I went to summer ranch
camp. This was the dining hall (if you can call it that). 
All I remember about the dining hall (if you can call
it that) is that there was ALWAYS somebody in there
holding a bag of ice to a wasp sting.

Today's takeaway? Even back
then, my photographs were stunning.

I love Velcro. I use it for all kinds of things. In this instance

I use it to hold a pen in a very convenient place. This pen

is next to my Blu-ray player. Before I watch a movie I take an

envelope that is in the movie case and write the current date

on it. That's how I remember the date of my last viewing.

Weird, but true.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, 2025!!

TRANSMISSION #70

~ Wienerschnitzel in Diamond Bar, California ~
A short short video.

That's the longest long bus I have ever seen.

We had another little visitor outside the house today.

When I moved this rattlesnake, he was pretty calm.

I had to add this one. On this blustery but beautiful 

day, the American flag looks magnificent!

~ Happy National Pig Day, 2025! ~

And look what we have here. Happy Momma Pig

is feeding her hungry babies. Just perfect for Pig Day!

Oink oink!

For about two years, every place I have gone, I have

kept my eye out for 8 inch aluminum pizza pans.

I just want them for general stuff around the cooking

area. I never found any... anywhere.

I finally wangled free shipping from Amazon and

got both of these for a total of  $5.80.

And that's the name a'
THAT tune. Huzzah!

Whatever.

I found what I think is a pretty good deal. The clearance section
 at Walmart had two DVD copies of "The First Omen" on sale for
$5.00. I have heard that this movie is FANTASTIC. I was really
looking forward to watching it, but when I got home I checked my
receipt and discovered that they had charged me
the full price of $17.96.

Now I can't open and watch it until I go back next week to

have the price adjusted. I should have checked the receipt

before I left the store. Silly rabbit.

Oh well. I have something to look forward to.

TRANSMISSION #64

I saw this truck parked today. This one has a pool table
and a bar back there. There is no way that it doesn't.
And there is also probably a smallish dance floor
with a mirrored disco ball.

I pruned the jalapenos that I have growing in the garage.

This is the first time I have done that with these.
We'll see how it goes.

Happy Valentine's Day, 2025
from
El Rancho De La Tex

A cannister I bought at the thrift store.
I believe that it had been filled with tea.

And as promised, here are all my pals together. The name of the

guy on the left is Twenty-Four, because I bought him in 2024.

The guy in the middle, his name is BC because he was my first

Birthday Cactus (2023). And finally, on the right is Twenty-Five
because I bought him for my birthday this year. Makes sense, eh?

When you give a cactus a name, great responsibility is yours.

A brand new American flag is flying over The Ranch.

~ Happy National Pizza Day, 2025! ~

TRANSMISSION #60

!!! Ghost Pepper Update !!!

I planted my Ghost Pepper Plant from seed on

Wednesday, June 21, 2023. I pruned it the first

time on Friday, February 2, 2024. Now that
most of the leaves have again fallen off...

...I pruned it for the second time.

No peppers so far. All we are

asking for is one little measly pepper.

We're dying to try one.

We have yet to give up on this little guy.

Stay tuned (again)!

We had to get new tires for the car.
I love the smell of these places, garages
and such. But the loud noises
I can do without.

TRANSMISSION #58

I recently noticed that at night, when certain lights

are on in the house, a shadow that looks (to me)

like a dog, appears on the floor.

I picked up this full sized "spur" home decor
at Hobby Lobby when I was there a week or so ago.
With the sale they had going on it was like $1.25.

TRANSMISSION #57

I was finally able to get Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

for a halfway decent price. That rounds out my Indiana Jones

collection on DVD. If I can ever find a Blu-ray set that is

affordable, I would like to upgrade.

I also picked up The Substance. Lotsa buzz on this one.

It is supposed to be pretty... pretty... well, I guess

the word would be insane. Pretty insane.

Watching this one SOON.

TRANSMISSION #55

 

I came into some money.

Great for a late night snack.

47

Happy National
Popcorn Day 2025!

On the last day of going out for my 2025 Birthday
Extravaganza I had a chocolate shake. It was on my

list of things to do and it was worth waiting a year for

I will tell you what. SO good. So SO good.

I also bought "MAXXXINE" on Blu-ray. This movie
was on my want list. I have "X" and "Pearl", the first two
movies in this what will most likely end up being a trilogy.
I have heard mixed reviews. People who loved the

first two were not thrilled by MAXXXINE.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...later that night.

I really enjoyed MAXXXINE. Parts reminded me of
Brian De Palma's movies (Body Double) and I love
Brian De Palma. As in the first two movies, Mia Goth

was excellent. So was Kevin Bacon.

I mean c'mon, Kevin Bacon.

I rate MAXXXINE 7 out of 10
380SL Convertibles.

I hung up the pistol that I bought at Hobby Lobby the other
day. I like it. There WAS a butcher knife hanging over that
Gilley's license plate, but I never really liked it
there, so this was a good excuse...

...to move it over to a much more appropriate wall,

next to Friday the 13th and Halloween.

I like it better in that spot.

I spent a Birthday Extravaganza day going out to my favorite
(and just about ONLY) surplus store around here. But when
I got to their door I was met with a... going out of business sign.

Dang (to put it mildly).

I have been going to this place for many many many many
many many MANY many years. I will REALLY miss this
store. I have many memories here and I could actually
put my hands on things I want/need before
buying there or ordering online.

I was at least able to talk to the guy for one last time
as he came outside while I was taking pictures,
so that was good.

They have taken down their flag,
and that is all she wrote.

I stopped by Hobby Lobby...

...just to take a look around and found this fun wall
hanger pistol for sale half price. I paid about
$8.00 for it. I'm going to hang it up in the

next day or two.

My 2025 Birthday Extravaganza
is winding down.

My mom and I went out and about for the day during

my 2025 Birthday Extravaganza (yes, it is still going

on) and we stopped at Denny's for lunch/dinner.

We love Denny's.

I am slightly embarrassed to write that I had the

LUMBERJACK SLAM. Wo. It was fantastic

and took me a long time to eat.

We also stopped at the thrift store and I picked up
sixteen(!) movies on DVD and Blu-ray. I got some
great deals. We had a really nice day.