hello

You're a young man with many learning experiences ahead. I don't know your age exactly but I do recall you once noting that your grandmother was a go go dancer.

Yeah...well - we have this Queen, you see. We learn to do thing proper-like!

And wot she ever do for you?

Does bugger-all for me. I think we should get rid of her and her dodgy mob.

But, we're stuck with her at present, and likely for a while with this government. If we could think of a use for her, we would!

Think, Gough Whitlam . . . form a Republic now!

Think Rupert Murdoch...shoot him now!

I'm not a supporter of either of those.

Rupert give me the creeps - and he's a US citizen now, and you're welcome to him.

There has to be a middle way. No fawning royalists and no faux comrades.

Nick Davies, the fearless Guardian reporter most responsible for doggedly reporting on Murdoch's criminal enterprise, News of the World, has just written a book on the slimeball http://bit.ly/1pntAcp

Still Murdoch laughs all the way to the bank and still the powerful fawn.

= 8 >- (

Happy Heritage Day to the Canadians!

Unless you are not happy with your heritage, then sorry.

Joe(a holiday every month except June.)Nation

What?

Nevah hoid of such a thing.

We're having a Civic Holiday here in Ontario aka Simcoe Day (specifically in Toronto).

Even Brooks escaped this one. But his power and influence in England is now much diminished. That's something. And he'll be dead soon and that's even better.

Thanks for the hands-across-the-border recognition of the singularly important day of celebration we Canadians, as Canadians, share. I'm close to tears.

When Jane and I moved to Dallas a couple of years ago, she's rented a house that had a few problems. Not least of which were the gutters at the front including the entrance way. They'd been installed with the downpipes uphill and along with that, the added on garage had a lousy foundation so it sank, making the gutter problem worse. And fully one half of the house drained right down over the entry. And the extra weight of the water in the gutters pulled the roof structure above the garage doors down about 8 inches. Every big rain meant a waterfall over the entry and over the garage doors. The prior owner or tenant "solved" the problem by punching a bunch of holes in the bottom of the gutter.

So to fix, I had to jack up the bowing roof structure, put in a support, then tear down and replace all the gutters. But I didn't want ugly downpipes at the entry so this was my solution.
http://bit.ly/1pWy3CZ

Sing, sing, sing, sing.. ping ping ping ping.


don't talk to me re drainage, Albuquerque is the home of non understanding. (Tears hair)

What a wonderful, wonderful place, Bernie...and the "solution" is from the stars.

I love ya, Buddy.

When I visited, all those homes without gutters looked naked. In a non-horny sort of way.

Love ya too, frankie.

The house did not look like that when I arrived, let me tell ya. But I'm a tad OCD on properties where I live or work. I did a ton of remodeling in our New York apartment (I didn't ask for permission), then same with our jewelry store there, then with out store in Portland, then our three homes in Portland, then the Dallas house and now I'm doing it here. One ought to make the place where one is more beautiful.

ps... tip of the hat to Jane for her talented beautification skills as well

Bob and Diane's house had the concrete graded toward the back door. Mine's worse, and of course I saw it when I bought but expected to have the money to just break it out and fix, which was wrong of me; mine goes toward the back door three different ways. The overhead ill supported roofed crap hanging on by a nail or two over the cracked (don't get me going) concrete in the back of the house is the worst I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot, or so I thought. I've designed all that to LA codes for decades, so it's grieving to even look at. Cute little neighborhood, though.

I highly doubt anyone in the area ever took any engineering/land design, construction design courses. Not to mention planning.

On your bell beauties (I do like them), were there perf drain pipes to the outside - I am presuming so.

True, Jane knows styling.