I Love Chris!

I love Chris! Chris is sort of like me. She has her opinions and it's often hard to change them. We went out to eat some time back at George's. Chris ordered Chicken Fried Steak. Shortly after we got our meal she said there was a problem. She said, "It taste's like meat." I told her it was supposed to; it's Chicken Fried Steak.

Yesterday we went to HEB to get some groceries. She asked me if she could get some more syrup. "Sure!" Chris said the syrup I bought last time was too sweet. I told her, "It's syrup. It's supposed to be sweet."

She also said she didn't like Pork Rinds when they taste like, well, pork rinds. She likes it when they have flavor. We bought a bag of rice cakes that were Cheddar Cheese flavor. She thought they were good. THEN, she saw that sour cream was an ingredient. She doesn't like them now. She does like Beef Stroganoff. Sour cream is an ingredient in it. Go figure!

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

B-Day, Here We Come

Chris and I went shopping last night for Jace's birthday. The big day is Thursday, February 7. He will be 6.

We were at Wal-Mart. My goodness what toys they have. Jace likes cars and dinosaurs and dragons and most anything else. He doesn't like dolls though. But he does like GI Joe. GI Joe is not a doll; it is an action figure.

We looked at dragons and decided on one from Fisher-Price. It was an Imaginext Adventures Dragon. Then we saw a different toy in the Imaginext Dinosaur line called Mega T-Rex. The moment I saw I thought, "Cool!" This thing is really neat. There is a button on the tail that makes the dinosaur move and roar. It reminds me of a small animatronic figure from a tiny Disney World. Had to get it. Got it. Put the dragon back. It wasn't as cool as the dinosaur. Now the dinosaur resides in our closet until the big day. There are a few other things in the closet for him too. Those are surprises. His Mom has told him that he's going to just get clothes for his B-Day since he got so many toys at Christmas. I thought about getting him some underwear and telling him they were character building. I wimped out and went with the dinosaur. Chris was glad. Jace will be more ecstatic.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Where The Rubber Meets the Road

I normally don't get into this whole "save the planet" thing, but there's something that's been bothering me for quite a while now. If I throw trash out of my truck window, I can see it fly away in the rear view mirror. When I drive into a parking spot, I can tell when a previous occupant cleaned out their ash tray. Their butts are all over the place. I can even tell when the folks that live around our back field have cleaned out their house or their yard. They seem to delight in throwing their trash over the fence and into our field. That's OK. I periodically drive the truck back there and throw it back. SURPRISE!!!

NO, that last one is not the thing that bothers me. What's been bothering me is wondering where in the world all the rubber from tires goes to. I mean think about it. As you drive along the road those tires on your car or truck wear down. That rubber has got to go somewhere. Think of the hundreds of thousands of vehicles on the road. Think of all the tires on those vehicles. And think of how long those rubber tires have been rolling on the roads. Now here it is. Where is all that rubber that has worn off the tires? I mean, shouldn't there be mountains of the stuff along the roads and highways? I throw paper out. I see it. I wear through nearly an inch of four truck tires and I don't see a thing.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Sugar-Free Post, Not A Low Calorie Post

Now I don't know how many of you like sugar-free candy; but I'm diabetic so I go sugar-free. Some of the sugar-free candy is, well, forgettable. It either has a nasty after taste. YEECH!! Or, it has absolutely no flavor. Being a Texas boy I was raised on such things as Atkinson's Peanut Butter Bars and Chick-O-Stick. Imagine my excitement when I found that they now make both in sugar-free versions. The best part is their taste and texture seem to be the same as the regular sugar versions.

I've often heard the health benefits of dark chocolate. I've found that Russell Stover makes a sugar-free dark chocolate. It is their Private Reserve line; 60% Dark Chocolate candy. Good stuff!

© 2008 Barry T Horst


This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

How Much Is That Worth?

Chris and I were watching Antiques Roadshow on KNCT last night. There's one thing that really bugs me about the show. The appraiser will discuss the item and its history with the owner. Then the appraiser will ask, "Do you have any idea how much it is worth?"

Well, Hello!!! Of course they don't know. Do they really think these people dragged all this stuff in just for their health. I'm still waiting for someone to say, ""Sure I do! I just want to see if you do."


I'd like to know where these people are finding all this stuff. I go out in the garage and all I see is junk. I haven't found that one item bought at the garage sale for $3.00 and is really worth $2,500. Last night there was a woman that brought in at least 5 Whistler prints (Yeah, that Whistler.) that her dad bought in the 60's and 70's for a couple of hundred dollars a piece. He passed away and she inherited them. Now they're worth nearly $200,000. A couple of people brought in Tiffany lamps. Yeah! They're worth a lot too.


In 1976 my father took some $2 bills and some checks and had then stamped and postmarked July 4, 1976 for the American Bicentennial. This was a big deal since July 4, 1976 was on a Sunday and the post offices were closed. They stayed open just to do this. My father said they would be a collectible since this only happens once. I inherited these items from my father.


I checked the other day. The $2 bills are now worth.......











Yeah! $2. I can't even cash the checks. the accounts are closed now. Oh well. I don't need any of that any way. I have a five gallon container of gas. I know it will go up in value. Maybe even next week.


© 2008 Barry T Horst


This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

I've Got It Cornered, Now I Need A Market

What is it with dust? It is everywhere. Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining about the house being messy. Chris does an excellent job with the house.

What I'm talking about are the out of the way places that you normally don't think about. Like my desk. Like behind all the computer stuff on my desk. I was cleaning off my desk the other day and I can tell you that if there was a global market for dust, I would have surely cornered it. There was dust covering the cables, the external hard drives, the USB ports, mouse docks, cable modem, back of the monitor, and so on. Admittedly, this was not 100% Texas dust. Some of it was probably blown in from the western US, or even Mexico. There was also a good amount of hair from the cats. It seems that they have found a way to take their excess hair and place it in just such a way that it forms a nice even layer over all of my electronics.

Further inspection found the same layer covering my cpu and ups. Cleaning those kicked up a minor dust storm. The National Weather Service later issued a Dense Fog Advisory for the area. I am convinced it was from me kicking up all that dust. The printer wasn't much better.

After thorough cleaning a liberal application of Old English Lemon Oil was applied to the desk. I was certain that I heard a barely audible, "Thank you!" I'm not sure if it was Chris or the desk.

Say! If any of you need any dust mixed with a liberal dose of cat fur, let me know. As of today I am starting a new batch and expect it to be ready in a month or two. Let me know soon. I am certain that there is going to be a limited supply available which makes it very valuable. I am thinking of seeing if I can get it listed on the Futures Market. I believe that this would be considered dust for March 28 delivery. I am even thinking of joining OCD, (Organization of Computer dust Distributors).

That's strange. OCD makes me think of something else. I'm not sure what. I'm sure it doesn't apply to me though.

It seems I was in my classroom at the beginning of school. I had to change classes and I was getting it ready. I looked on top of the projector screen and saw dust. That had to go. I cleaned it. The more I looked in the room I found dust, dust, and more dust. There were also old staples in the walls and cork tack strips. I had to take them all out. I don't like staples in the cork tack strips. If I have spare time I will go in the hall and take staples out that some teachers leave behind. AAARGH!! Maybe there is an opening for me at OCD. You know what that is I'm sure; The Organization of Cork-strip De-staplers.

Bye. I see more dust and staples to take care of.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.