Songs and the Sound of Splat!

I spent most of last night working with and learning the eccentricities of the new program. The program is Sound Editor Deluxe version 3.9. After many trial and error (mostly errors) attempts I was able to get 2 mp3's recorded and then uploaded to my phone.

I know that it sounds like that is probably not much to show for the evening, but I was also trying to watch American Idol and then my daughter started playing her Wii on our TV. She likes the big screen for her gaming enjoyment. She is engrossed in the latest Lara Croft-Tomb Raider game. She has the part of falling off the ledges and splatting on the floor down pretty good from what I saw.

Check out my "Easily Amused" link on the bottom of the page. Julie called me at school this afternoon and told me about this web-site. A couple in Cleveland, Ohio put on a display every year at Easter by taking brightly colored egg shells and making a themed display. This year the theme was "Zoo's Who" . However, due to weather conditions the display was scaled back and "Zoo'z Who" has been rescheduled for 2009. They were supposed to use 42,650 egg shells for the original but ended up using 6,223. It is still awesome and they have been doing it for 50 years. Check out CabanOnline.com for a look at Eggshell Land 2007.

Once again, the link is on the bottom of the page in the "Easily Amused" section.

Check it out. I know you will enjoy it!© 2008 Barry T Horst This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Please visit the Giveaway of the Day at the bottom of the page for free software downloads daily.

Meet Some of My Old Friends

I am trying a new image hosting service so this particular blog is intended to test this service. That being said, I was wading through some pictures last night. I came across some old friends that I dearly miss. The pictures were taken in 2003 and 2004. I hope you enjoy them. i know they brought back many pleasant memories for me.

These are the Easter ducks we got in 2003 when we lived in De Leon. We went to the Tractor Supply in Stephenville and picked them out. Then we went to Wal-Mart and bought a pool for them. The yellow duckling was Ferdy, the brown duckling was Ducky. I can't remember the black ducklings name.

This another shot from a low angle that shows the world from their vantage point.

This is Molly, the Black Lab. She loved the water, anywhere and anytime she was in it. As you can see she chased the ducks out so she could be in. That is Ferdy and Ducky in the corner. As Ferdy grew up her yellow down gave way to beautiful white feathers.

Molly and Ferdy came to be great friends. Molly would follow Ferdy around the yard. Ferdy was always vocal whenever Molly got in the way.

In the late winter or early spring of 2004 it snowed. By this time Ferdy was the only duck left. I remember that I had to go out and break the ice in Ferdy's pool so she could get in and sit in the water awhile. She was quite hard to keep up with whenever it snowed. She tended to blend in and hide with ease.

It seemed that creatures from the back pasture dispatched the other ducks. Ferdy was a die hard though, she weathered many scrapes. Unfortunately, Molly was up in years and both passed away within a year and a half of moving back to Waco.

I miss them both and still ponder the possibility of getting a new Black Lab and more ducks in the future. But that will have to wait until we get a fence. After all, we don't want a repeat of what happened to the others.

© 2008 Barry T Horst This work is licensed under a
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Please visit the Giveaway of the Day at the bottom of the page for free software downloads daily.

Picture Monday, April 28, 2008

Searching through the photographs have turned up many photos of pets long gone. Here are a few.

This is a picture of my Dad's dog Maita and her pups. This was taken at his parents house in Robinson sometime in the late 40's or early 50's.

The picture on the left is a picture of our Maita that we got in the 60's. She was a red Dachshund. The picture on the right is of some of the kittens that we had back in the 60's. This may be the group that I named after the Beatles. That's right John, Paul, George, and Ringo.

This is a picture of Chris' dog Katrinka taking a rest from a long day of chasing cats and various other small creatures. Chris had Katrinka when we were married and Katrinka was an old lady by this time.

Not a pet from times past but a good picture. This is our Trinky taking a snooze after a long, tiring day of chasing small creatures. It must run in the family.

© 2008 Barry T Horst

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Send Me a Tree. You Can Grow Another!

In this "New Day & Age" we are all supposed to be more environmentally responsible, stewards of our world and such. It would be so much easier if I didn't get so much junk mail. I go to the mailbox, or more precisely, Chris goes to the mailbox because I'm at work. She leaves it for me on the desk and I get home to go through it.

I get bills. I can do without them but I understand why I get them.

I get ads. Some good, most are a waste of paper. Sometimes I get a circular that has that promising look of "good stuff'. then I open it and what falls out? The ad to order checks, the ad for Senior Citizens to get prescriptions cheap, the ad for the little motorized chairs, the ad to buy a burial plot. Wait a minute. Am I getting that old now?

Please say all you get this stuff too!

Anyway, I have to stuff my trashcan with it. Then I open the other mail. there's ads in there too. I throw 75% of the contents away before I find the bill. Then the magazines stick all the little cards and inserts in the magazines. I spend another 5 minutes having to rip this stuff out. And let me tell, it seems that Reader's Digest is the worst one. I hate to pick up a magazine and try to look at it with all that inside.

Here is where I give a marriage hint. If you can't live with all the inserts and cards in a magazine make sure you tear all of it out BEFORE bedtime. I cannot tell the number of times I have been "stared at" for tending to this little job of mine prior to laying down while Chris is trying to sleep. Not good!All of this waste doesn't include all the store circulars and other stuff that I get and wonder,"Why did I get this??? I don't $5000 for a mattress!" or "Why did I get a catalog for industrial tools" I don't even use the Craftsmen hand tools I have."

Then there are credit card offers. I must get 10 of them each week, not to mention the ones for my wife and daughter, and offers for business credit cards. If I took advantage of every offer I would only get more paper in the mail to throw away.

And that is the point of all of this verbiage. I have to throw away too much paper. I must have a good size tree flow through the house here every week. This is crazy. Not because someone killed a tree. We can grow more trees. It all the extra work that I have to do, sorting, opening, looking, tearing, shredding, throwing, dumping, carrying. You get the idea. But if the quit this I suppose that this would put many people out of a job; ad people, designers, delivery people, mail delivery, drivers, etc.

You know, I would hate to be the cause of this country going into a recession and possibly millions losing their livelihoods, homes, nice cars, and whatever else is important to them. Go ahead, bring that mail on and I'll by golly keep the trash man busy.

© 2008 Barry T Horst This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Please visit the Giveaway of the Day at the bottom of the page for free software downloads daily.

Yearning For Some Retro Prices

I got up early this morning because I needed to go grocery shopping at HEB. I left the house around 6:30 AM and spent about 2 hours in the store. When I left I had about $280 less than when I went in and HEB had it. In all fairness I spent about $80 on something totally unrelated to groceries. That was a pair of wireless headphones for the TV.

I have noticed that grocery prices have been following the gasoline prices into the stratosphere lately. There are some shoestring potatoes that Chris likes. They have jumped from $1.59 a few weeks ago to $1.79 this morning. A pound of store brand butter has gone from $1.59 to $2.09. I could go on and on but I am sure you are intimately acquainted with this same experience. So I decide to hunt through the archives. (Really several boxes of junk, errrrrr, important family heirlooms.) I found just what I was looking for, a few old ads and some old menus.

I have scanned one of the ads and placed the scans below. I had to make 2 passes to get the ad since it was on the large side. It is from Dominick's Finer Foods in Chicago. The date is January 6, 1972.

I apologize for the funky way the ad looks. I was unable to get them stitched together. And on some computers the results may get really strange. After all, this was not supposed to be an exercise in computer skills or expertise with Photoshop. The purpose was to reminisce.

But now back to the prices, that was the whole reason for this anyway. Look at those prices. It's interesting how some prices are nearly 10x as high now and other things are only 2x or 3x higher. Don't you wish you could still get bread and eggs for this price? How about those Banquet TV dinners? It's in small print above the coupons but a 25 lb. bag of Dog Chow is $3.04. I'm embarrassed to say how much I have to pay for the same amount of Iam's Dog Food.While looking for the old ads I found a couple of menu's for places here in town. A churches fried Chicken and Schmaltz's Sandwich Shop, a local eatery similar to Schlotzsky's. I'm not sure of the year but both are probably early to mid 1970's. I remember when this particular Church's opened on 17th & Waco Drive in the late 60's and they had big signs up around the building advertising the 1 piece chicken and a roll for 49 cents. Looks like the restaurants today make a killing on their soft drinks compared to the days when these menus were printed. Wouldn't it be nice get things for this price again?

© 2008 Barry T Horst
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Please visit the Giveaway of the Day at the bottom of the page for free software downloads daily.

Does My GPS Work Now? (It's not really about GPS, that's just a little joke of mine.)

Help me out here. I know I wrote a few days ago about how the recent emphasis on bio-fuels had pushed the commodity prices of corn, wheat, and rice to skyrocket. At least that is what I intended to write about on April 15. It seems that I quickly digressed and wrote about everything but that it seems. I quipped in the post that I didn't have GPS to give me direction. Well, now I'm trying to see if I have found that direction yet.

Now I see in the headlines that there is a shortage of rice, yes I said shortage of rice. Sam's Club and Costco are going to ration rice. Sam's Club will limit sales of imported jasmine, basmati and long grain white rices in the 20 lb. bag size.

Now rice is a staple in many countries. Rice is also the food that you always seemed to get a lot of at Mexican and Oriental food restaurants. It was always the item that filled up the plate so that it looked like you were getting your "money's worth".

Now why is this happening? I don't know, I'm not an economist. I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. I'm sure that part of the reason is the burgeoning population in countries like India and China. But, don't you think that one of the biggest reasons is the recent emphasis on bio-fuels? I sure do. Think about it. Governments are now trying to push the development of bio-fuels. In order to make many bio-fuels the various grains that were destined to the various levels of the food chain are now being diverted to bio-fuel processors. This doesn't leave enough for livestock and poultry so producers pay more. This cost is passed along to you and I at the store and restaurants. There is not enough grain for the food processors to make the various food products. Producers then pay more for the grain. And yes, this cost is passed on along too. All because the government thinks the answer to more fuel is in the bio-fuel area. The answer is in more drilling and more refining capacity, not suddenly diverting our precious food resources from the food chain into fuel tanks.

Another mistaken answer is the government sticking it's finger into the auto industry by setting mileage per gallon quotas hoping to conserve gasoline. This is a topic for another blog on another day. But briefly, studies have shown that when the mileage per gallon goes up the nation ends up using about the same amount of gasoline because people decide they can now drive more. Also, auto crash death rates go up because auto makers make the cars smaller to meet the guidelines. But as I said, his is a topic for another blog on another day.© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Call Me When You Try This One

I read my brother's latest blog entry last night. He shared a recipe that he found in an old cookbook around his house. I started thinking, "Hey I could do that."

So, I did that!

I looked for just the right cookbook and I found a yummy recipe for your enjoyment. I found it in an old Calumet Baking Powder book that was from the early to mid 1920's.

Eggs in TomatoesSelect tomatoes that are ripe but firm. Plunge them in boiling water for a moment and remove skins. Cut out hard stem ends making in each a hollow large enough to hold a broken egg. Into each of the hollows drop a fresh egg without breaking the yolk, season with butter, pepper, and salt, and bake in a moderate oven until tomatoes are tender and eggs are set. Serve on rounds of buttered toast with a cream sauce.

I also found these helpful tips in the book:To get rid of ants-Place lumps of gum camphor in their runways and near sweets infested by them.Or scrub shelves and drawers with strong carbolic soap.Or inject gasoline. (Yes that is actually in the book. I am sure your local fire department and insurance company would be pleased with that particular hint.)And my personal favorite: To avoid Stomach Disorders, never use a Cream of Tartar baking powder, for it leaves Rochelle Salts in the food, and a constant repetition of this drug will produce dyspepsia.© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Garden Update

Took a few shots of the flowers in my garden yesterday. The Gazania and Scabiosa (Butterfly Blue) are really beginning to look good. We have had an Iris bloom for the first time since I transplanted them. I do not have a picture yet but I checked the Hollyhocks and the are getting ready to bloom. I planted them last year and they take 2 years to bloom. The Snapdragons from last year have about run their course. Fortunately I have planted new ones this spring. The Echinacea is getting a good start and the Carnations are beginning to bloom for the spring. I also have some Chrysanthemums beginning to bloom for the spring also.

Below are a few selected pictures for your enjoyment.

PS--The corn is starting to grow. Yippee!

© 2008 Barry T Horst This work is licensed under a
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Please visit the Giveaway of the Day at the bottom of the page for free software downloads daily.

Earth Day 2008

So as not to waste the precious few resources that this earth has left and in honor of Earth Day 2008 I am recycling one of my earlier posts.

Here it is:

GOING GREEN

Did I miss something?

Apparently the color of choice has changed. I have always liked the color blue. The new color of choice is GREEN.

We got the April 2008 Country Living magazine in the mail recently. Green; REUSE; RECYCLE; REFRESH; The whole thing. On the inside it had The Country Living Green Guide; 50+ Ways To Make A Difference. I like #17 - Bulb Basics. It suggests that you drop the incandescent and go with the Compact Fluorescent. I've done that in part of the house. I don't like it. I turn 'em on and what do you think they do? They splutter and flicker and start out dim and have to warm up to get brighter. For an old man that makes it hard to see right away. They cost so much I feel like I need to use them instead of chucking 'em and starting all over again with the good old fashioned, heat throwing incandescents.

Same thing with the April 2008 issue of Metropolitan Home. This time Renovation Goes Green. They purport to have advice from top eco-experts. I don't know. I didn't read it. It wasn't my cup of Green Tea.

And now to top it all off I saw an ad from Wal-Mart touting Campbell's Tomato and Chicken Noodle Soup for Earth Day as being green and good for the environment. The label is green and the ad informs us that the can is recyclable; like it wasn't before? The ad also tells us that it costs less in packaging and to ship it because it is condensed. ????

It's always been condensed. So isn't it really the same as before?

I suppose that green is the new gold and if you advertise that your product is green then everyone will flock to it.

Sounds good to me. I think I'll try it!

For the rest of this week this blog is going GREEN in an effort to REUSE, RECYCLE, and REFRESH. By doing this Horst Household Happenings will now be eco-friendly, it will cost less to package and ship, and best of all save all coastlines of the world by keeping the polar ice caps frozen. Somehow the color green does this. I think it has to do with the way the heat energy from the sun is absorbed or something by the green instead of focusing it's deadly powers on the polar ice caps.

PS: Let me know by Saturday if you think I should keep the blog green or revert back to my tacky energy wasting ways on Sunday.

© 2008 Barry T Horst This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Please visit the Giveaway of the Day at the bottom of the page for free software downloads daily.

I told you I was recycling today. I picked up the whole thing and dropped it right in here, credits and all. Cool huh?

© 2008 Barry T Horst This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Please visit the Giveaway of the Day at the bottom of the page for free software downloads daily.

Picture Monday, April 21, 2008

I have come across a lot of pictures of my parents. I thought I would post a few this week. I don't know exactly when some of these pictures were taken but I will do my best.

The above pictures are of my Mother, Bobbie. She was in the band at Waco High School. The picture on the right shows her in her graduation gown.

This is another picture of my Mother. I am not certain when it was taken. Probably in the late 40's after she married my Dad.

This is a picture I found that shows my Father's Dad on the left. That is my Dad, Teddy, on the right. I am not certain who that is in the middle. I don't think it is my Grandmother, but I could be wrong.

These are later pictures of my Dad. This is how I really remember him at work at Central Freight Lines on the left. Boy he knew those freight tables and tariff rates forwards and backwards. I used to visit him sometimes and play on the adding machine. Thinking back it was amazing to listen to him when he was on a call about rates. The picture on the right is probably from the 70's. He passed away in 1978 and I still miss him greatly. It is nice to know that he is with the Lord though. © 2008 Barry T Horst This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Please visit the Giveaway of the Day at the bottom of the page for free software downloads daily.

It Really Was FREE

We had our HVAC duct work checked and sealed yesterday. I could say we had it done in honor of Earth Day on Tuesday, April 22. But we didn't. It just worked out that way.

Let's go back about a month. We got a letter/solicitation in the mail from TU Electric. They were saying that we could have a company come out and test and seal the duct work in the house. All for FREE! Well this sounded too good to be true but my father-in-law insisted that I send it in. After all it was FREE! So I filled it out and sent it in and waited.

Then someone called and set up an appointment to come out on a Saturday. Crud! There goes a perfectly good Saturday. Saturday arrived and so did the technician around 10:00 AM. He introduced himself. Dan Coker is his name. he came in a explained the process. I showed him around the house and where the two HVAC units were inside and outside the house. Dan then proceeded to bring in his equipment and get right to work.

First he hooked up his "blower door" on the front door and turned it on and began checking for air loss. He took his measurements and did all of his technical stuff and then got done to the "dirty work". He took off each duct grate in the house and used sealer to seal up all the areas where the ducts had worked loose. he even showed me a duct in an add-on room that was very loose and losing a lot of air. Maybe that explains why the room was always hot in the summer and cold in the winter. He sealed it up and continued. After the ceiling ducts he moved to the inside units themselves. He sealed up duct work on and near the unit. When he was finished he did another test on air loss. This time i was in the den and I could actually feel the air coming out of the duct. The air flow felt much better.

Dan cleaned up his mess and put his stuff away. We filled out paperwork. There is always paperwork. Once filled out he went on his way. We had a cooler house and were none worse for the wear. Later in the day I was actually getting cold in the house. Our extra room felt much cooler too. This is the room that had the leaky duct. And last night I could actually feel the AC blowing on me. WOW!

And all was FREE! Plus, he didn't leave a mess.

I looked up the company, Two Rivers Energy Services. They are out of Wasilla, Alaska. There website gave a lot of interesting information and explained why the service is FREE! Without going into great detail I will say the utility companies get credits from the government in order to pay this company, Two Rivers Energy Services, for their work. Therefore, it is FREE! That is if you don't consider that the money to cover the credits paid by the government to the utilities has probably already come from you and I.

Bottom line, I was pleasantly surprised and very pleased with the service. If you are interested I would heartily encourage you to check with your utility provider and see if they do this also. Or check out the Two Rivers website or give them a call at 972-358-0465. The only proviso that Dan mentioned to me was that customers on Co-op lines were not eligible. Also customers with window units were not eligible; after all they have no ducts for AC and the window units cause a lot of air loss for the heat during winter.

Tell 'em you want Dan Coker to do the work if he is in your area (Central Texas). © 2008 Barry T Horst This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Please visit the Giveaway of the Day at the bottom of the page for free software downloads daily.