Happy Thanksgiving!

Gosh, can you BELIEVE it's already Thanksgiving again? As I get older it seems that time has picked up it's pace. I'm only SIX short years away from retiring! (I hope!!) As long as the world doesn't collapse into Zombie-Apocalypse we will be fine (in great part due to Jeannie's frugal ways and her passing that on to me). Well...that's IF the zombie's don't get us due to California's draconian laws concerning self-defense (they JUST passed ANOTHER gun-control-law...this one concerns buying ammo. NOW we need to buy a license to buy ammo, but first you need to pay for ANOTHER background check to get said license...you know, the SAME EXACT CHECK we pay for when BUYING and registering any gun (in CA anyway).

Cuz you know, all the bad guys (who OBVIOUSLY buy all their guns down at Big 5 Sports) will OBVIOUSLY also be buying all their ammo there using their brand-spanking-new license. Yep...no bad guys will be able to get around THIS new law...I feel so much safer already! They will be totally foiled by the ammo license law! Their little arsenal of AK-47's and other associated fully automatic assault rifles (all illegal, along with all their illegal high-capacity magazines) will be without ammo from here on out. Way to go CALIFORNIA! You finally found a way to stop gun violence! (or just MAYBE, it's just ANOTHER law that ONLY affects honest people). Sorry to get political in my Thanksgiving post...this one just cracks me up tho. Even more so than the usual stupid laws we pass. But hey...it doesn't affect re-loaders (such as myself)....but the bad guys certainly won't be able to figure out this little loophole...and besides, even if they knew about it (cuz it's a big secret)....to actually MAKE ammo...well, that would just be too much of an effort, AND  besides, they just don't have that kind of time. Simply being a bad-guy is pretty much a full-time-job.

Now don't get the impression I'm one of those people who arbitrarily oppose any gun laws. I'm all for security measures that actually DO SOMETHING POSITIVE. I believe there SHOULD be federally mandated background checks (not state by state laws). I also think the gun-show loopholes (where you can buy a gun and take it home bypassing background checks and the waiting period) should also be eliminated. Anybody who NEEDS their new gun RIGHT NOW is likely somebody you don't want to have a gun RIGHT NOW. Honest people can wait a few days to pick it up. I even believe that there should be some sort of license to own a gun (much like a vehicle drivers license). THAT would be where they do the FEDERAL background check, eliminating the checks when you buy a gun OR ammo cuz that would be redundant. Part of that license would be testing...including a written test and a proficiency test (much like the actual driving portion of a drivers license). Typically this part would be done for younger or 1st time license applications, OR if you've had your license rescinded for any reason. And like a drivers license, your firearms license could be taken away if you show cause.

OK...enough on that rant. I feel a teensy bit better now. ON with my Thanksgiving post!

We're back at my Bro-in-law's farm in RURAL Virginia again. Last year we didn't come out as we did Oktoberfest in Munich Germany in early October...so it's suddenly been TWO years since I was here. That seems hard to believe...feels like I was here just months ago (always feels like home). The weather is pretty great for this time of year...not only is there NO snow, but it's sunny and almost warm (long sleeves are good but don't need much more than that). The trees still have lots of brown and gold leaves on them, and also there's a nice coating of said leaves on the ground. It's also deer-season, and sitting outside for any length of time you hear the baying of the packs of deer-dogs, chasing the poor deer to their doom (the hunters sit in their trucks on the road waiting for their dogs to flush the deer into the open). It's also Amish country here...if you sit outside early in the morning you will hear the clip-clop of the wagons coming down the road, soon enough they will be in sight...and if you give a cheery good-morning wave, they always wave back. Nice people those Amish...I hear they have a pretty good work-ethic too.

Here's a pic I just took this morning while sipping my coffee (Wednesday, Thanksgiving Eve-day). It's the lone survivor of the Guinea-fowl flock. This one is apparently has the best survival skills cuz the rest have been picked off by whatever it is around here that picks off things like that (coyotes, dogs, foxes, bobcats, and Peggy even SAW a mt lion a few months back, which was just 100 feet away from the front door...and which supposedly don't exist here). He or she (the Guinea Fowl) as I never got an answer when I asked), apparently comes up to the front porch every morning and scratches on the front door....accompanied by his/her best friend 'white kitty' (one of the barn-cats). I've always liked Guinea Fowls...they are pretty cool looking. And even tho I've never seen them fly, John says they do roost up high somewhere every night, thus greatly improving their survival chances.

AND, being my annual T-day farm-post, here are a bunch MORE farm pics 

(cuz you can never get enough farm pics).

The view from the porch looking across the tiny street. Always beautiful..should be a painting!

From the front porch to the MAIN ROAD and looking left (it's a VERY narrow road).

 Looking back at the front of the house. The little black blob in the yard below the front steps is Bosley (a mini poodle). We were playing 'chase the ball' and then I started walking around taking pics. Jeannie is actually sitting on the porch to the left of the flag.

On the road and looking right.

Bosley with leaves stuck in his face (poodles fur is kind'a like velcro) waiting for me to throw the ball...again...and again...and again...you get the picture. He doesn't get tired playing ball. EVER.

Domini (another mini poodle) waiting to go in. She has zero interest in the ball.

The back yard looking downhill into the fields. The building is the OLD tobacco barn and on the left of that is an addition of a barn-type-add-on area (the cows like it). The tobacco barn has the boards running horizontal, and the addition has them running vertical.

John's 1970 GTO ground-up restoration project (3.5 years and going strong). The rolling frame and engine is about 90% complete (totally rebuilt engine and tranny, almost ready to run, just needs wiring). 

 The body to the GTO is the current project. A LOT of rust to cut out and replace. The new entire floor pan is on the right just out of the picture ready to go in. The trunk pan has some bad spots, he's just trying to decide whether to cut out the entire pan or just the areas that need replacing. I vote to go with the entire new pan (he already has it)...but that's a lot more work apparently (easy to vote that when I'm NOT doing the work).

Looking at the barn (where the GTO body is being worked on). Behind the barn you can see the wind generator sticking up. I climbed that a few years back to re-adjust the tilt on the generator/propeller unit (so that it would swing easily in the wind to the correct direction). It was TERRIFYING!

 A closeup view of the tobacco barn (on the left) and the animal-side from down the hill. The cows heard me walking and all stood up...I guess they don't trust strangers (there's only 3 of them).

 Same view, just backed out the zoom. Looking up the hill towards the house and all the buildings. On the right (below the giant oak tree) you can see the tobacco barn and cows.

And here we have the Guinea Fowl (again) and his OTHER friend Yellow-Cat. After I took the shot I took a few steps forward and saw White Cat just behind Yellow Cat, hidden by the tractor in this shot. I guess ol' GF is pretty smart...2 cats as BFF's can't be a bad thing. Wild cats are likely pretty tough hombres. Maybe THAT'S how he's still alive. He must watch Survivor....it's all about alliances.

Here's Peggy Sue, Bosley and Domini watching what's going on in the next pic. 

 And finally, here's Jeannie and John making smores in the wood-stove. Maybe this will become a new Thanksgiving Eve tradition! Smores are always good!

 And my parting shot, an Amish wagon clip-clopping down the road. We followed one the other day for a bit waiting for a chance to safely pass...they have TURN SIGNALS on their wagons! (I assume they have installed a 12v battery to power them). I thought it was awesome! 

 And so...that's it for now from THE FARM! Hope you all have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!

Be safe out there!

Cheers!