My anniversary present after 44 years with the same lovely, loving woman. A Glider flight!

Well Sir, t'day, the 18th of December, 2010 is the 44th wedding anniversary of "Mrs Cookie" and myself. God only knows how me beautiful Irish lass of a wife managed to stick it out so long with this cantankerous old Navy "Bubblehead and Seabee, but she did.

























Today she gave me a wonderful anniversary gift and I'd like to share my excitement and elation with Y'all.

As most of y'all who follow my blog with any regularity know, Cookie loves to fly, and although I have had the privilege of flying many various aircraft over the years, there is one type of aircraft Cookie has never had the opportunity to get my hands on the controls of one of these beauties, a Sailplane! That's right, a glider!

Today, my wonderful wife Elaine gave me one of the best anniversary presents she ever could, a lesson and an hour and one half glider flight.

What has always attracted me to flying a glider is the silence of the flight with only the sound of the wind to keep you company (and/or the sound of the instructor screaming in terror in the rear seat).


I imagine I'll set up the appointment for June or July so as to catch the best rising air currents (Thermals).

Other planes I have been fortunate enough to have flown/or flown in.

B-17 "Flying Fortress"



In fact, learned to fly in this vintage J-3 Piper Cub having flown out of the old Cicero Airport in Cicero, NY. I began flying lessons at age 12 and had me first solo at age 16. Would have solo'd much earlier but FAA law said you had to be at least 16 to solo.



The T-6 Texan Fighter/Trainer



B-24 Liberator



A "Texan".



P-40 "Flying Tiger"


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TWO great Christmas gifts fer men!

But first, Whew, I'm bushed! I finally finished get'n the Christmas decorations up on the old hacienda. I'm the house on the right.


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The greatest Christmas gift you can get fer yur bro's!

"The Manslater"! (Gleefully Stolen Frum "Nicki")


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Now Sir, here's a very caring and compassionate young woman who I have had the honor of knowing for the past several years and has done a great deal for our Military Vets, old, young, active military, retired, but especially those who are wounded and hospitalized.

For several years now she has produced and sold a line of quality 1940's Pin-Up style calanders and videos, and everything she makes off the sale of these calanders she donates to various VA Hospitals around our country, Gine Elise. I can't say enough good about Gina, she's a real patriotic and loving person.

Her calanders would also make a great last minute Christmas gift for any man and the money would go to an excellent cause.

Get Motivatored with Gina Elise. from Gregory Atkins on Vimeo.

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Lie Detector fer Politicians, and Blue Christmas.

Sure could use one a these here polygraphs....



and some toons....





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Now here be some really great digital editing/insertion for y'all.

Elvis and Martina McBride....Blue Christmas.



Thanks Susan!
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My great great grandfather watched as his friends died in the Civil War,
my grandfather watched as his friends died in WW II,
and I watched as my friends died in Vietnam .

None of them died for the Mexican Flag.

Everyone died for the U.S. flag.

In Texas , a student raised a Mexican flag on a school flag pole;
another student took it down.

Guess who was expelled...the kid who took it down.

Kids in high school in California were sent home this year on Cinco de Mayo
because they wore T-shirts with the American flag printed on them.

Enough is enough.

The below e-mail message needs to be viewed by every American;
and every American needs to stand up for America .

We've bent over backwards to appease the America-haters long enough.

I'm taking a stand.

I'm standing up because the hundreds of thousands who died fighting in wars
for this country, and for the U.S. flag can't stand up.

And shame on anyone who tries to make this a racist message.

Let me make this perfectly clear!


THIS IS MY COUNTRY!

And, because I make This statement DOES NOT mean I'm against immigration!!!

YOU ARE WELCOME HERE, IN MY COUNTRY!

Welcome! To come through legally:
1. Get a sponsor!
2. Get a place to lay your head!
3. Get a Yob!
4. Live By OUR Rules!
5. Pay YOUR Taxes!

And
6. Learn the LANGUAGE like immigrants have in the past!!!

AND

7. Please don't demand that we hand over our lifetime savings of Social Security Funds to you.

If you don't want to forward this for fear of offending someone,
Then YOU'RE PART OF THE PROBLEM!

When will AMERICANS STOP giving away THEIR RIGHTS???

We've gone so far the other way... bent over backwards not to offend anyone. But it seems no one cares about the AMERICAN CITIZEN that's being offended!
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Friendly Holiday Advice

Please, take care of yourself this Christmas. A recent joint study conducted by the Department of Health and the Department of Motor Vehicles indicates that 23% of traffic accidents are alcohol related. This means that the remaining 77% are caused by assholes who just drink coffee, carbonated drinks, juices, milk, water, and shit like that. Therefore, beware of those who do not drink alcohol. They cause three times as many accidents. This message is sent by someone who cares about your well being.
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How important is sex (or Golf fer that matter)?

Is sex work?

A U.S. Marine Colonel was about to start the morning briefing to his staff.

While waiting for the coffee machine to finish brewing, the colonel decided to pose a question to all assembled.

He explained that his wife had been a bit frisky the night before and he failed to get his usual amount of sound sleep, so he was a little tired.

He next posed the question of just how much of sex was "work" and how much of it was "pleasure?"

A Major chimed in with 75%-25% in favor of work.

A Captain said it was 50%-50%.

A Lieutenant responded with 25%-75% in favor of pleasure, depending upon his state of inebriation at the time.

There being no consensus, the colonel turned to the PFC who was in charge of making the coffee and asked for his opinion.

Without any hesitation, the young PFC responded, "Sir, it has to be 100% pleasure."

The colonel was surprised and as you might guess, asked, "how so"?

"Well, sir, It should go without saying, if there was any work involved, the officers would have me doing it for them."

The room fell silent.

God Bless the enlisted man
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The hottest new toy in the Muslim community, a Talking Doll. Nobody knows fer sure what it says cause nobody's got the balls to pull the string!


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My buddy Patrick frum over at PRH sent me this one.

A young man named Dave received a parrot
as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an
even worse vocabulary.

Every word out of the bird's' mouth was rude,
obnoxious and laced with profanity. Dave
tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by
consistently saying only polite words, playing
soft music and anything else he could think of
to 'clean up' the bird's vocabulary.

Finally, Dave was fed up and he yelled at the
parrot. The parrot yelled back.Dave shook
the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even
more rude. Dave in desperation, threw up his
hand, grabbed the bird and put him in the
freezer. For a few minutes the parrot
squawked and kicked and screamed. Then
suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep
was heard for over a minute.

Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, Dave quickly
opened the door to the freezer. The parrot
calmly stepped out onto Dave's outstretched
arms and said "I believe I may have offended
you with my rude language and actions. I'm
sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate
transgressions and I fully intend to do
everything I can to correct my rude and
unforgivable behavior."

Dave was stunned at the change in the bird's
attitude.

As he was about to ask the parrot what had
made such a dramatic change in his behavior,
the bird spoke-up, very softly, "May I
inquire as to what the turkey did?"
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How t'make yur marriage wurk!

"If we had an Italian President"

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HOW TO STOP THE CHURCH GOSSIP



Dorothy, the church gossip,
and self-appointed monitor of the church's morals, kept sticking her nose into other people's business..
Several members did not approve of her
extracurricular activities, but feared her enough to maintain their silence.

She made a mistake, however, when she accused Harold, a new member, of being an alcoholic after she saw his old pickup parked in front of the town's only bar one after noon.



She emphatically told Harold (and several others) that
every one seeing it there
WOULD KNOW WHAT HE WAS DOING !

Harold, a man of few words,
stared at her for a moment. He just turned
and walked away.
He didn't explain, defend or deny.
He said nothing.



Later that evening, Harold quietly parked his pickup
in front of Dorothy's house .... walked home . . .
and left it there all night.
(You gotta love Harold!)
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"Nobody can make this stuff up!"

"We can't have Nativity Scenes", and Crab Cakes recipe.

My very good friends John and "Buster" from out Kansas way sent this sadly and true video regarding Christmas.


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My other very good friend, Susan Gertson from down Texas way sent us her speacial recipe for Crab Cakes. I gotta try this one in that I love Crab Cakes.



Crab Cakes With Avocado Cream-Susan Gertson

2 limes
¼ c low fat Mayonnaise
¼ tsp pepper
1 lb crabmeat
1 tbs cooking oil
1/3 c plain breadcrumbs
1 avocado
1 jalapeno seeded
½ c low fat milk
¼ tsp salt

Grate tsp lime peel and squeeze 2 tbs juice
Mix I tbs lime juice with mayo, pepper, lime peel and stir with crab meat

In non-stick skillet, heat oil over medium heat.

Shape crab mixture into four 3 in, round patties, coat with crumbs. Add crab cakes to skillet: cook 6 min, or until golden brown on both sides.
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HOW TO SAVE THE AIRLINES:

Dump the male flight attendants,
No one wanted them in the first place.

Replace all the female flight attendants
with good-looking strippers!

What the hell!! They don't even serve
food anymore, so what's the loss?

The strippers would at least triple
the alcohol sales and get a "party
atmosphere" going in the cabin.

And, of course, every businessman
in this country would start flying
again, hoping to see naked women.
Because of the tips, female flight attendants wouldn't

need a salary, thus saving even more money.

Muslims would be afraid to get on the planes

for fear of seeing naked women. Hijackings

would come to a screeching halt, and the airline
industry would see record revenues.

This is definitely a win-win situation if we handle it right --
a golden opportunity to turn a liability into an asset.

Why didn't Bush or Obama think of this?

Why do I still have to do everything myself?

Sincerely,

Bill Clinton

Sunday.

Got alot of things to do t'day so its a very short blog-post. One of the things I did this morning was to finally hang the outdoor Christmas lights.



















Gotta thank "Fish" from Kentucky fer the photygraff.