Yes, it is true that I love cactus.
But was I tempted?

Uh... no.

National Rifle Association 2023 Tag Poll.
Done and done. 

This little coyote seems to love our land.

He is around almost every night.

He is not shy about daylight either.

I'm bettin'  he hears the rooster up the road and is on
his way home to get some paper plates and napkins.

Another steer skull at one of our favorite

places to visit, the Indian Store.

This was during our Annual Halloween

 Crawl in October of 2022.

I bought these Crescent Mini Pliers at the Home Depot for

my birthday this year. They are only 4.5 inches and drop

right to the bottom of my purse. I don't even know

they are there. They have already come in handy 2 or 3

times and have worked out great.

The reviews that I have read for them are mostly good

and any criticisms I have read haven't shown up for the

pair that I purchased. This will replace the Wenger Swiss

Army Knife that have carried for years. I carried that mostly

for the pliers they had. I always have the Victorinox Fieldmaster
SAK in my pocket or purse, so carrying just the one

SAK = lightening my load a bit.

My back thanks me.

I had posted on  Friday, January 13th that I purchased two

new patches during my Birthday Extravaganza. This is both of

them. Weyland Yutani Corporation is of course from the "Alien"

movie universe.

I had also written on Friday the 13th that when
these patches end up on my bedroom door, and
they will, I would post a picture of them.

And here they are.

My ever growing collection.

Happy National Popcorn Day!

This year I am featuring my hot air popcorn popper.

Yeah, they do not make the greatest popcorn in the

world to be certain. Hot air popcorn does not have
salt and it does not have oil or butter, but it does have.....

POPCORN!

I am able to enjoy my favorite snack with a smaller amount
of calories, and that is what I have been going for lately.

Today would be a good day to make a big bowl of

whatever kind of popcorn YOU like, put on a good

movie and BAM! ENJOY!

Tonight with my popcorn I will be watching "Felony"

(1994) starring Lance Henriksen and Leo Rossi along with

the legendary Jeffrey Combs and Joe Don Baker. I know

nothing about this movie other than I bought it used and

I hope it will be entertaining. Anyway..... POPCORN!

Last January I found WALL-E at the Dollar Tree

(for $1.25).

THIS January I found EVE at the Dollar Tree

(for $1.25).

Reunited, and it feels so good.*

*Dino Fekaris / Frederick J. Perren

One of my favorite things that I bought for my birthday

this year is this cactus. I brought him home and transplanted

him into this little pot.

I wanted him for my bathroom window and that is where
he lives now. I will do my very best to keep him happy
for years to come.

I bought this mask at the Dollar Tree (for $1.25)

during my 2023 Birthday Extravaganza.

I hung him up in the garage. I am

just waiting for somebody to say something.

Uh oh. I feel a yearly Birthday Extravaganza tradition

coming on. Yep, for the last more than a year or two it

has been my tradition to buy some sort of Star Wars character

(historically from Comics-N-Stuff) that I am not opposed to

opening and putting on display behind my television monitor.

"So, what's in the bag, Goose?"

Last year my choice was between Grand Moff Tarkin and this

guy, FOR-ELLOEM. I went with Mr. Tarkin. THIS year, 4-LOM

was still there. THIS year, 4-LOM came home with me. Must have

been a lonely year for ol' 4-LOM. Well, he has a home now.

Who is 4-LOM? In a nutshell, 4-LOM is a "protocol droid who overrode
his programming and became a galactic thief and later a bounty hunter."

He is wielding his weapon of choice, a Blastech W-90 concussion rifle.

The original 4-LOM was manufactured by Industrial Automaton.
This 12 inch tall 4-LOM was manufactured by Hasbro.

And here he is in all of his glory...

...and with all of his "pals".

On Monday, January 2nd, my computer ceased limping along
and went all in on the dirt nap. I was without a computer until
January 10th. This happened during my Annual 2023 Birthday
Extravaganza/vacation (which turned out to be less than stellar).
But I am back up and running and I will be trying to play
a little catch up for the next week.

So for now, enjoy a photo of what I saw every time
I left The Ranch during my 2023 Extravaganza.

Happy Friday the 13th!
And in honor of the day, I am posting a picture of a recent
acquisition from the Army Navy store. This patch will
surely end up on my bedroom door as all the others have
and when it does, I will also surely post a photo of it here.

Now go out and walk under a ladder!

We had a visitor at 1:43 A.M...... a bobcat.

~ !! Happy New Year 2023 !! ~

Last December 30th I had written that I bought a new Zippo

Armor® Brushed Chrome Windproof Lighter as a practice run

for my 2022 Birthday Extravaganza (which again starts next

week). Well, I have been carrying this lighter now every day for

one year and I still REALLY like it. It is almost my favorite (my fav

being my Zippo Horseshoe Embossed lighter that I have semi-retired).

And this lighter has indeed turned out to be easier to grip and hold onto than
my last Zippo which was brushed chrome front, back, top and both sides.

Some folks have an issue with the need to refill a Zippo to keep it

operational. For more than a few years now it has not been a problem

for me. Once a week, on Wednesdays, after work, I refill my Zippo, my

lotion and my sanitizer. It just takes a few minutes and I am good to go.

With this schedule I have never run out of lotion or
sanitizer and my lighter has never gone dry.

And a zippo makes a good fidget item as well, if you
are into that sort of thing, which I sometimes am.

 Happy Anniversary ZIPPO!

"Halloween Ends" was released to 4K/Blu-ray/DVD today. I quite

naturally had to make sure to pick up my very own copy. Truth be

told, I am not in love with Halloween Ends. The whole Corey

Cunningham storyline did not excite me. I am not a Corey fan.

But I have not seen the movie since it was released to Peacock on

Friday October 14, so who knows, I  might change my mind.

Doubtful, but.... At any rate, I am pretty much a Halloween

completest so I had to have the movie in my collection no

matter how I feel about it.

Merry Christmas 2022 From Your Friends at
El Rancho De La Tex.

"Little Guys with BIG GUNS!"
We sure hope you all had a great Christmas. We did
over here at The Ranch to be certain. After a fantastic
home cooked meal with ham, baked potatoes, corn, peas,
carrots and dinner rolls, we settled in to watch "The
Terror of Tiny Town" on the 10 foot screen. Tiny Town is a
western starring all little folks.
Great fun.

I've never really mentioned this before, but here at The Ranch
we do observe Christmas with all of the decorations and the
fixins, but we rarely, if ever exchange gifts. It is just something
that we have not done for years and years. It is a long story.

But tonight my mom and my son surprised me with a gift.
I opened it up and it was "Renegade: The Complete Collection"
on DVD. Something that I had been wanting for a LONG time.
To their surprise and mine as well I became quite emotional.

Actually very emotional. You see, I love Lorenzo Lamas, Reno
Raines and Vince Black and he means a lot to me. I know, weird.
But that's just the way it is,

Thank you mom. Thank you my son.
I will cherish this gift for more than one reason.

What a great Christmas.

The beautiful Christmas tree at my beloved dentist's office.

Where yes I indeed did just have two days of kind of

emergency work done. To not have had the work done

would have left me in considerable pain throughout the

holidays and during my upcoming Birthday Extravaganza.

NO BUENO.

So I elected to go in and have it taken care of over the last

two days. Instant relief both physically and emotionally.

My dentist and his staff ROCK. My bill does not.

But hey, no more pain! HOO-RAH and HUZZAH!

R2-N2

(Robotic Droid - 2nd Generation Series Napkin)

Manufactured by Subway Automaton.

Hey, don't worry about it.

Merry Christmas!