Monthly Archives: December 2016

Saving a beached Orca

No resolutions for me…

No Resolutions

Blade Runner 2049 Announcement

Top Gear’s Famous Test Track Is About To Turn Into A Housing Development

In a narrow vote on Wednesday, the BBC reports that a local council in Surrey, England approved plans to redevelop Dunsfold Aerodrome and build 1,800 new homes. That name may sound familiar, because Dunsfold Aerodrome is the site of the test track used by Top Gear.

Guess the BBC doesn’t think much of the new Top Gear either… 🙂

What’s actually supposed to happen when you land on Free Parking

Wrap presents WITHOUT tape…

Calvin Resolutions

Calvin Resolutions

Brace Yourself

brace_yourself

RIP Debbie Reynolds

Debbie Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016)

Mary Frances “Debbie” Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016) was an American actress, singer, entertainer, businesswoman, film historian, humanitarian and a noted former collector of film memorabilia. Her breakout role was the portrayal of Helen Kane in the 1950 film Three Little Words, for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer. However, it was her first leading role in 1952 at age 19, as Kathy Selden in Singin’ in the Rain, that set her on the path to fame.

On December 28, 2016, a day after the death of her daughter Carrie Fisher, Reynolds died after suffering a massive stroke.

Back to normal…

Downloading the Internet

RIP Princess Leia

Carrie Fisher (October 21, 1956 – December 27, 2016)

Carrie Frances Fisher was an American actress, screenwriter, author, producer, and speaker. She was known for playing Princess Leia in the Star Wars films. Fisher was also known for her semi-autobiographical novels, including Postcards from the Edge and the screenplay for the film of the same name, as well as her autobiographical one-woman play and its nonfiction book, Wishful Drinking, based on the show. Her other film roles included Shampoo (1975), The Blues Brothers (1980), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), The ‘Burbs (1989), and When Harry Met Sally… (1989).

Political Correctness

“Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical, liberal minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.”

RIP George Michael

George Michael (June 25, 1963 – December 25, 2016),

Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, known professionally as George Michael, was an English singer, songwriter, and record producer who rose to fame as a member of the music duo Wham! He is best known for his work in the 1980s and 1990s, including hit singles such as “Last Christmas” and “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go“, and albums such as Faith (1987) and Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 (1990).

Michael sold more than 100 million records worldwide. His debut solo album, Faith (1987), sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. Michael garnered seven number one singles in the UK and eight number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, including “Careless Whisper” and “Freedom! ’90“. He ranks among the best-selling British acts of all time, ranked by Billboard magazine as the 40th-most successful artist ever. Michael won various music awards throughout his 30-year career, including three Brit Awards—he won Best British Male twice, four MTV Video Music Awards, four Ivor Novello Awards, three American Music Awards, and two Grammy Awards from eight nominations. Michael, who was gay, was an active LGBT rights campaigner and HIV/AIDS charity fundraiser.

In 2004, the Radio Academy named Michael the most played artist on British radio during the period 1984–2004. The documentary A Different Story (released in 2005) covered his career and personal life. Michael’s first tour in 15 years, the worldwide 25 Live tour, spanned three tours over the course of three years (2006, 2007, and 2008). In the early hours of 25 December 2016, Michael, aged 53, was found dead in bed at his Oxfordshire home.

Kegmas Tree

Kegmas Tree

Merry Christmas

Christmas Tree

For 73 years…

For 73 years — through wars in Europe and Asia and civil rights battles at home, through the assassination of a president and the rise of rock-and-roll — they shared a bed.
 
He’d be gone sometimes, flying missions during World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars, but he always came back to her.
 
So now, as he lies in a hospital bed unable to say or do much, she lies beside him.
 
Like many hospitals, Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, where retired Army Col. George Morris, 94, is receiving end-of-life care, allows family members to sleep in a patient’s room on a foldout couch. But for George’s wife, Eloise, 91, a cancer survivor who has suffered two broken hips and a broken shoulder, that would be hard.
 
So the hospital made a special exception when they admitted him this month: They admitted her as a patient, too — a “compassionate admission,” their doctor calls it. Standard rooms are normally private, but Eloise’s hospital bed was rolled in and pushed up against George’s — a final marriage berth for a husband and wife who met as teenagers in rural Kentucky in the late 1930s.
 
He spotted her first.
 
“I was a sophomore in high school and I’d gone to see a play in a country school,” said Eloise, sitting up in her reclining bed, a birdlike woman in oversize bifocals whose hair is hardly touched by gray. George rested in his bed beside her. “He saw me and went home and told his mother, ‘I just met the girl I’m going to marry.’ He said, ‘I looked her over real well and I couldn’t find anything wrong with her but one crooked tooth.’ ”
 
A movie date and a picnic followed. Eloise can’t recall the movie — she was too distracted by the thrill of holding his hand in the dark.
 
The picnic, however, was unforgettable.
 
“Here comes George and he had something in his hand with a crank on the end and I wondered what this was.” It was something she’d never seen before — a portable phonograph, and when he turned the crank it started playing “Sweet Eloise,” a popular song at the time. He turned that crank all afternoon. “Oh, I thought that was great.”
 
The town of Russell Springs, Ky., where she lived on a farm, was eight miles from Columbia, where he lived. He didn’t have a car, so he’d walk the distance to see her. By 15 she was wearing an engagement ring and had no doubts about what she was doing.
 
“He had thick eyebrows and devilish eyes, and I hadn’t seen any guys my way that good- looking,” she said. “I thought that he was more intelligent than any man I’d ever met.”
 
They married and had two sons and a German shepherd who played outfield in family softball games. After stints in Tokyo and Alaska, they eventually settled in Annandale, Va.
 
Those legendary eyebrows are wispy now, the devilish eyes half-closed as he lies beside a tray of juice and apple sauce. But every now and then as she spoke he chimed in, his voice rising alongside hers like an echo.
 
“We had some lean times but some great times,” she said. “We didn’t have a lot of material things, but we could sure have a sweet time. There was lots of love around. George could always make me feel so protected.”
 
It was a stark contrast from her youth — her father left her mother before she was born, and she grew up an only child, helping her mother and grandparents tend to the sheep and cows and chickens.
As partners, the two complemented each other. “He was strong-willed. I don’t mean bossy-bossy. But his father would say, ‘Eloise knows how to make George think he’s boss.’ Some people might call that tricky, but I know how to keep people happy. I know how to keep George thinking that he’s making the decisions.”
 
Being married to an airman had its challenges. He took her up once in a P-51 Mustang fighter plane and it nearly killed her. “I couldn’t hear and I was very sick to my stomach. When he did the roll, that was fine, but when he did the loop, well, I kind of blacked out and my mouth opened and I just couldn’t stand it.”
 
George had a lot of friends who didn’t come back from the wars. During Vietnam, “he said one of the saddest things was when he brought the dead soldiers home — he said that was heartbreaking because they were so young.” He retired in the 1970s.
 
The secret to seven decades of love? “Be happy, whether you’re happy or not. Laugh.” Like they did the time they were posted somewhere new and they arrived before their belongings — including their sheets and pillows.
 
“We cut up the newspaper and put our heads on one duffle bag, and every time we moved, the paper in it would rattle and we laughed all night,” she said, grinning. “We really, really loved each other. We were lonely, lonely when we were apart, and when he’d come home, it was just heaven.”
 
Their sons have since died — the older one three or four years ago, the younger one several months ago — and most of their grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and a great-great-grandson live in other towns. Although they visit sometimes, it is mostly just the two of them.
 
Admitting Eloise so she could be with George was not a hard decision, said the couple’s doctor, U.S. Army Maj. Seth Dukes. “We take care of the people who’ve taken care of our country,” he said. “And we extend that to their loved ones.”
 
At this point, Dukes said, George is dealing with a combination of medical issues, and the goal is to keep him comfortable.
For Eloise, it’s hard to see him unable to talk or eat much. “The expression on his face has changed; his eyes just look fixed,” she said. “It’s heartbreaking to see somebody lose everything, especially the days that he doesn’t know me.”
 
But her presence seems to comfort him. “He talks in his sleep, and when he starts I just put my hand on his and he stops.” And during the day, she talks to him. “Even though I don’t know if he can hear me, I always thank him for looking after me so well.”
 
An aide peeked in. Eloise seemed tired. So she did what comes most naturally: She lay down beside her husband and reached for him, their hands now mottled and roped with veins, but their fingers still knowing how to intertwine.

Read more »

Reindeer Brakes

Reindeer Brakes

Sometimes…

GREELEY, Colo. – They don’t have much to remember their dad by, except photographs and memories.

Tanner was just 15, when his dad, Weld County Deputy Sam Brownlee, was killed in the line of duty after a police chase in 2010.

 

Nearly five years later, Tanner and his brother, Chase, were hoping to get one of their dad’s prized possessions from the Weld County Sheriff’s Office.

“It’d mean a lot to me and my brother. We’ve been through a lot,” said Tanner.

The Weld County Sheriff’s Office auctioned off their dad’s Dodge Charger on Wednesday night. The vehicle, with 147,000 miles, was being sold to raise money for C.O.P.S. — Concerns of Police Survivors, an organization that provides services for survivors of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.

“If we do get it tonight, I kind of hope my mom will let me drive it around tonight,” Tanner said before the auction.

“This is kind of the end of Sam’s legacy here. It’s the last tangible thing we have that he was connected to,” said Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams.

Tanner started a GoFundMe page to raise money to bid on the squad car. It was just more than $3,000 when the auction started. He didn’t reveal how much he had to spend, but he had a plan.

“I think I’m just going to look around, see what everyone else is doing and try to copy them,” said Tanner. “Just up them by one.”

When the auction started, Tanner bid first at $2,500. Within minutes, the bids were beyond the Kelly Blue Book value of $12,500.

“I think if it goes past the limit we have, I just have to hope that someone has it in their heart to win the car and give it to me and my brother. We don’t really have a backup plan,” said Tanner.

As the bids reached $50,000, Tanner’s limit had clearly come and gone, just like his dad’s car.

“60! Sold it your way, Mr. Steve Wells. Thank you very much,” said the auctioneer.

The car sold for $60,000 to a local rancher. Tanner didn’t know Wells before Wednesday, but won’t be able to forget him now.

As soon as the auctioneer handed Wells the keys, he turned to Tanner.

“Tanner, here’s your car,” said Wells.

“You had no idea that that guy in the back was bidding and was going to hand you the keys?” asked 7NEWS reporter Marshall Zelinger.

“Nope. I shook his hand and I didn’t know,” said Tanner. “It means so much to me.”

Tanner told the Sheriff he was going to donate the money from his GoFundMe account to C.O.P.S.

7NEWS spoke with Wells after the auction. He considered an interview for a moment, but then saw Tanner get behind the wheel of his new car and said he didn’t want to take away from that moment.

EDIT: Added video

Christmas Kitties

Christmas Kitties

Grassfiti