Ahoy, ye scallywags! It be Talk Like a Pirate Day!

 So hoist yer tongues with plenty o’ “ayes” an’ hearty

“arrrrgs” when chattin’ with yer mates an’ shipmates

this day!

Now go make some merry, me hearties!

Much to our dismay here at The Ranch, the lanyard
on our flagpole wore out and broke. As the flagpole
is very high and also very heavy, it will be a while
before arrangements can be made to replace the lanyard.
 But the American flag must always fly here at The Ranch,
 so we have installed a temporary pole.

This is the reason for the new floodlights that we planted in
the ground last Sunday. Now Old Glory flies 24 hours a day.

It's a beautiful thing.

Salute!

I planted some new solar floodlights here at

The Ranch and as soon as the dust settles I will

post a picture that will explain WHY I planted new

solar floodlights (here at The Ranch). As I planted
them during daylight hours, I am not even sure that
they are pointed in the right direction yet.
I will know tonight.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

(That orange paracord wrapped around them
is temporary. It helped them to stand out
as a I was working so that I would not
trip on them. You know how THAT goes.)

~ Random Around the Ranch Photo of the Day ~

~ September 11, 2001 ~

We will never forget.

It is once again John Wick Day here at The Ranch

and we are celebrating with our very own brand

new 4K/Blu-ray copy of BALLERINA.

I was not able to see this movie in the theater and

I have tried to pretty much stay away from any

information about it. I can't wait to see what

I have been missing. I need a Wick Fix!

Seeing Lance Reddick's character Charon
again will be the cherry on top.

TRANSMISSION #93

Here is another picture I took with my Swinger Polaroid

Land Camera in 1968. This is OLD SCHOOL Universal

Studios Hollywood. Displayed is a chariot used in
the movie The Ten Commandments.

You were able to stand in it for
an exciting photo op.

It is Knife Day again at El Rancho De La Tex!

I renewed my National Rifle Association membership
so they sent another knife to me as their way of
saying, "Thanks, Tex!". This here is a
Sandalwood Knife.

I don't know nuttin about this knife other than it is
a lock back with sandalwood (they claim) grip panels.
(The boxes always arrive crushed.)

The blade is 2.75" long and the overall length of the knife
when opened is about 6.75". Those are pretty much the
only specs I (kinda) know about this gas
station quality knife.

This is another Stone River LTD brand knife.



.....and of course.

As with all the other knives the NRA has sent me,
I am glad to have this one. It is just for fun and, well,
just for fun. And as with the others, I will give it a little oil,
a little love and pack it away for my son to have someday...
just for fun.

It is looking like Halloween

over at Walmart!

But the shelves still need
a lot of filling in.

Happy National Knife Day 2025!

To celebrate NKD this year I am posting some (not very good)

pictures of a knife that I bought in February of 2011. This is my

Spyderco Bug. As you can see it is very small and the price was

$8.08 back then. The Bug is a non-locking slip joint folder with a

1.27" blade.

The blade and grip panels are stainless steel. And look at that
teeny little Spydee Hole. This knife is a two-handed opener to
be certain. I failed to capture the Spyderco logo on the grip
panel here, but you can see it in the first picture. This is
just a fun little knife to have on your keychain.

Is this a great National Knife Day or what?!

This is just a picture I took on the way

home from doing my weeklies.

Don't you just love it when

your pals are pals?

A Working Man!

Jason... My MAN!

#1 HUSBAND lost his keychain in the parking lot at

the supermarket. #2 and #3 are probably

razzing him about it.

Leftovers tonight!

YES!

TRANSMISSION #90

Today is kind of a red letter day for me. Money has

been pretty tight for the last five plus years but as of

today I might be turning a bit of a corner for a while.

So today I without (too much) guilt bought a movie

that was on the outskirts of my Movie Wishlist. In the

Lost Lands. I am not a big Dave fan, but I AM a big

Milla fan. She is a badass. This will be onscreen at

Borden Cinema tonight!

I thought I had shown this guy before, but I guess not.

This is my Freddy Krueger Nightmare on Elm Street

bank. Yep, he is a bank. Made by Monogram. The blades

on his glove are delicate and prone to breakage so he just

sits in my curio cabinet collecting dust... not coins.

I do like him.

MACHETE!

..by NECA.

I bought this Mezco Wolfman figure at Blockbuster Video

back in 2010. It is their Exclusive Chase Bloody Variant

from the movie The Wolfman (2010) with Benicio Del

Toro, Anthony Hopkins and Emily Blunt. I believe the movie

kind of bombed. I thought it was okay. I think this figure might

go for quite a bit of coinage now (at least quite a bit

 compared to whatever the clearance price I paid was).

If I remember right I actually have two of these.

Uh-oh!

Thrift store movie haul!

My mom and I went thrifting and I spotted these

Goodie Girl Birthday Cake Sandwich Cookies. I had
never heard of Goodie Girl before, but I guess
they are a thing.

What a great logo.

A not so great picture of another

of my mom's beautiful roses.

Finally!

Final Destination: Bloodlines!

I have been waiting to see this one for AGES. I wasn't

able to see it in the theater (sad face), but tonight?

Borden Cinema!

Okay, this Hawaiian Punch powder drink mix in Berry

Blue Typhoon is even better than the Wild Purple Smash.

As flavorful as the Purple Smash is, the Berry Blue
beats it. And it is also way more purdy! Dang.

Mmmmmm.... Hawaiian Punch Grape AKA

Wild Purple Smash, from powder. Dee-LISH!

Great for a hot day.

The Japanese Village and Deer Park was a Japanese-inspired

amusement park located in Buena Park, California, that operated
from 1967 to 1974. Modeled after Nara Park in Japan, it featured
 free-roaming deer, authentic Japanese-style buildings, cultural
 demonstrations, and an aquatheater with marine animal shows.

The back of the brochure.
I visited the park just one time.


Here are my tickets. To tell you the truth, I don't
remember one single thing from the deer park.
I don't think I was impressed.

Here is another old picture that I took with my

Swinger Polaroid Land Camera when I was young.

This is in 1969 and is somewhere on Lake Tahoe.

It was a rainy, dreary day.

TRANSMISSION #87

Mmmm... Taco chips. Not the BEST

taco chips, but still... taaaaaaco chips.

Happy Birthday America, 2025!

I was walking across the parking lot on my way

into work the other day and I found that steel

ball bearing. I picked it up, took it home, washed

the parking lot grime off of it and put it into this

little box on my dresser that is full of other pretty
much useless junk.

Hey look!

Oink oinks have been here!

The grapes are coming back in.

Pretty soon, candy on the vine.

These guys never left.

 

Hot Wheels GHOSTBUSTERS!

2010 Ecto - 1.
I bought this a LONG time ago.

While in line at Jack in the Box

for another late night taco run.

This happened sometime during the night.

We cannot figure out how. It is so far a mystery.

We will just replace it and move on.

I haven't bought a movie in six weeks which is not

common for me, but cash has been a little tight.

And DVD and Blu-ray (FORGET 4K!) prices

are not going down.

BUT, I did today find two movies that were on my list that 

finally made their way into the $5.00 bin at Walmart.
Saw X (might be good) and The Exorcist: Believer (I've not
heard good things, but I want it for my Exorcist Collection.
Hey, I have Exorcist II: The Heretic as well and

that movie is abysmal).

At any rate, I am anxious to find out for myself if I will

enjoy these movies and I am happy to finally have picked

up a few new ones. I hope the dry spell
is over for a while.

Last night on my way home from work I stopped for gas. As

I was filling the tank I looked up just in time to see a SpaceX

ship lifting off. It was almost a year to the day (June 18th) that

we saw our first one lifting off and this one was just as beautiful.

I didn't want to miss any of it by jumping into the car and getting

my phone to record it, so... But I took this picture before leaving

the station.

"On Monday, June 16 at 8:36 p.m. PT, Falcon 9 launched 26 Starlink

 satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East

(SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. 

This was the third flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission,

which has now launched three Starlink missions."

 Aaaawwwwwww.
Whats'a matter little buddy?