The South Will Rise Again ....

[Eyes High]

I don't like you anymore.

Don't believe him. His bark is worse than his bite. Now let me run and hide....

[smugetsu]

Ole Pah is SO fickle!

Pick red or blue and hope your side wins.

No, kiss your ass good-bye because both sides would lose when the vultures swept in.

I'm convinced that politics will go right out the window when the zombies come.

[Harq al Ada]

KJA + Civil War = Guns of the South, by Harry Turtledove

Please. I read that and I just... wow.

disagree strongly! it was a fun and fast read and yes, maybe a little simple at times but KJA? No friggin' way! that son of a motherless goat, KJA, can't be read without wanting to tear your face off. Turtledove is a historian (Byzantine) and actually has interesting ideas sometimes.

Guns of the South is more SciFi (South African white supremacists time travel back to the US civil war and give the south AK47's) and if you're interested How Few Remain is more of an alternative history/what if series (the South wins a decisive battle and Britain and France force the Union to treat). He also wrote a what if the Nazis won the Great War part 2. I haven't picked that up yet.

[TheDukester]

Sorry, Turtledove pretty much blows oats.

He shares at least one thing in common with TheKJA: five minutes after you finish a Turtledove, you can't remember a single thing about it. Also, like Anderhack, he writes scenes, but isn't so hot with any of the other stuff ... you know, all that pesky characterization, background, plot, etc.

I read five or six Turtledoves before I wised up to the basic truth that I was wasting my money. And I swear, no exaggeration, I can't remember a single thing about any one of them. Not a damn thing. Others I've asked have reported the same phenomenon, although not quite to the degree that I've experienced.

Verdict: he's a C-lister who has been lucky or smart enough to carve out a nice niche for himself. Next case!

[reverendmotherQ.]

Ole Pah is SO fickle!

Pick red or blue and hope your side wins.

No, kiss your ass good-bye because both sides would lose when the vultures swept in.

I'm convinced that politics will go right out the window when the zombies come.

That will be the day when I dance for the deluge.

[reverendmotherQ.]

I don't like you anymore.

Dude, I'm just saying its something taking for granted around here. I don't have anything against reenactments or those who participate/love them.
That would be hypocritical of me since I love renaissance fairs.

[SandChigger]

I love renaissance fairs.

GIANT CHESSBOARDS WITH HUMAN PIECES!!!



I like.

[inhuien]

Did someone say "reenactment"?

[SandChigger]

Misread the ole deutsch bit at the beginning as "Historical European Camp Fun".

Wahll yeah, it looked pretty camp to me, but not so much FUN!

Turns out it was actually Kampfkunste ... art of war?

(Still like my version better! )

[inhuien]

The red tights/pantihose do come across a little camp. The sword play is very impressive, I've dabbled with longsword and am in awe at their antics.

[DuneFishUK]

They have excellent hats too . . .

[SandChigger]

Excellent enough for ... a DUNE MOVIE?!

[SandRider]

awright, chilluns, I've waited long enough;

I'm headin' to the Hill Country, as the Advance Element of the 7th Texas Cavalry Frontier Guard (Dismounted),
to occupy Fort McKavett ahead of the Federals - I may come back Sunday afternoon after the event, may
stay til monday, or until the Park Rangers kick me out ....

may the God(s) of your Choice bless & keep you ...

[TheDukester]

I think the Union might pull the upset this time. Just a hunch. Lots of underdogs are winning in the NCAA Tournament, so why not this game, too?

[inhuien]

or until the Park Rangers kick me out ....

may the God(s) of your Choice bless & keep you ...

So you're home already then, and blessed be yourself.

[SandRider]

I just killed another goddamned big-ass rattlesnake, right up in the compound,
on the caliche road between the stables and one of the barns ... I was running
an old riding lawn mower, just tidying up the bindweed and goathead grass,
and this sumbitch sauntered out into the road - saw the motion of the mower,
curled up and lifted his head a foot off the ground for a taste of the air ....
I raised the mower deck and ran his ass over ... filleted snake ... messed up
the buttons, but I got his tongue, the evil bastard ...

this is the second big one up around the buildings this year, and it ain't even hot & dry yet ...

the boys have killed seven out in the fields already, that's a little more than usual;
really wet winter for around here, and more rain this spring than normal, lots of wildflowers
and ground squirrels, so I'd expect more snakes, but not up on my goddamn lawn ...

the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake is the only one of God's Creatures I'll kill on sight;
and I understand it ain't the snakes' fault, but fuck them ....

[Hunchback Jack]

the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake is the only one of God's Creatures I'll kill on sight;
and I understand it ain't the snakes' fault, but fuck them ....

You said it, SR. I'm all for leaving animals alone, but if something's threatening harm to you and yours, killing them isn't cruel or malicious, it's survival. Darwin still applies.

My uncle used to live just outside Brisbane in Australia, and he would get Australian brown snakes occasionally sunning themselves on his porch. They're deadly venomous, and aggressive as hell. He had a, er, zero tolerance policy about those guys.

HBJ

[SandRider]

they're killin' machines, but they ain't that smart ... they're deaf and the "taste-the-air" pits aren't
as fine-tuned as some snakes (not sure, but maybe all pit vipers are like that) ... but they see damn
well, and in infra-red ... they track and strike at motion and are a good judge of what they can strike
and kill and what they can't ... the only way a man is going to get struck is if he steps on or around
the snake in tall grass or something, surprising the snake to strike in defense (or, if he's a shitheel, and
fucking around, playing with the snake) .... the rattles are a good defense for scaring away potential
enemies, but a dead giveaway to a man ... cf the other night when I heard the bastard rattling on the
front lawn before I ever opened the door .... if he sees you before you see him, out on open ground or
in the rocks, he'll start rattling, which allows you ample time to stop and get still and spot him ... standing
still is the key ... he'll start to lose you in his regular vision, only seeing a big infrared heat register he
knows he can't kill ... so if you just stood still long enough, the snake will finally stop rattling, and move
off ... which would be fine, if I was only concerned for my own safety, but I got cattle and goats and
horses, and a pack of dogs and barn cats ... and the dogs and cats aren't smart enough to stand still ...
they jump around and swoop in and out around the snake, causing it to really get freaked out and finally
start striking ...

the snake this morning curled up and stayed still and watched me bear down him with a lawn tractor because
he was tracking on the movement toward him, and the heat of this big object ... running wasn't an
instinctual option ... the downside to snake-hunting with a mower is loss of usable skin, meat, and the
buttons get tossed away and busted up ...

short of a shotgun, which is the most effective and safest way to kill a rattler, my most common method
is to use whatever long handle tool I've got around; I usually carry a big eye-hoe when walking in the
mesquite, get some trail-work done and have it in case of snake ... you stand still for a while, get a
good look at the thing, let him calm down a minute and realize you're a big sumbitch and he can't kill
you .... I'll hold the hoe in front of me and slowly walk towards him ... you want him to strike at the
hoe blade, so you have to move it around, low to the ground, off to one side of your body, in case he
strikes long and misses the blade and comes close to your legs ...

you have to dance around a little when the fight starts, and be real quick ... the idea to get him to
strike the blade a few times and break his fangs, also a lot of venom will be released even if he can't
sink the fangs into something, so the more he strikes, the better off you'll be if he does end up getting
you ...

if I can, I try to hook him with the hoe and flip him up in the air; this tends to quicken the final stage
of the fight I'm aiming for, mainly the snake realizing he can't get away or kill me and going into his
total-protection mode: curling up tight and sticking his head down in the center of the coils .... when
he does this, he's not moving for awhile, and I can move it and give him a few good chops with the
sharp blade, hopefully enough to cut him in two ... this head-down, coiling-up response has been the
end of more snakes than I can remember, but I'm sure glad they do that .... if he stayed stretched out
watching and striking, it'd be a bigger gamble to wade in and try to chop him ...

I've discovered most dangerous shit in life is like that; yeah, it can kill you pretty easy, but if you
know how to deal with it, it can be handled ... rattlesnakes, high-voltage electricity, homemade
black powder canister shot, that crazy broad at the end of the bar, bindweed, it's all about the same ...

[Eyes High]

hvn't run into any diamond backs myself, it's them thar copperheads that gets my full respect. Most snakes around here if you give them leave they will take it, but not that ol' copperhead, he'll stand his ground and dare you to approach.

Just glad you are okay and keep your eyes peeled and watch were you tread Papa Bear.

[Omphalos]

We've got tons of rattlers around here, but I grew up back east and saw someone get hit by a copperhead once. She did not enjoy the rest of her day. I remember seeing her afterward. All of the veins in her arm had turned black and you could see them through the skin, like a road map.

[Serkanner]

The most dangerous snake-like animal around here is the Earthwurm ... I do treat them with respect whenever I encounter one of them in the open.

[Freakzilla]

I found a kitten under my back porch.

[SandRider]

copperheads were the nightmares of my youth in Arkansas ... them fuckers hide under rotted logs
and get up in barns under stuff and you don't see them til you move something ... no rattles to
warn you, neither ... I learned at an early age to flip them old boards in the tall grass behind the
barn with a cotton hoe, and never just bend over and pick something up .... water moccasins are
some evil things, too, and while they don't have the buttons to alert you of their presence, they
stink to high heaven, and you learn to recognize that smell along a creek bank ... nothing's ever
scared me more than being about 12 year old, swimming buck-ass nekkid in a bend of the Saline River,
and seeing one of them fuckers swimming on the surface right at me ... passed down river between
me and the gravel bank, with the unclimbable cutout bank behind me ...

I gotta story about a Primitive Baptist tent revival and snakes, too, but I'll save that for another day ...


BTW, General Westbrook got hisself one of them fancy telephones with the camera in it,
and took a bunch of pictures this spring during our "Campaign" ... he just sent me some,
but they're huge .. so I gotta resize and get them in the Photobucket and then post here,
and I ain't got time today to fuck with that .....

and I ain't seen that little digital camera the Company gave me to take pictures of cable-splices
since before Christmas, I think ... may have to buy one myself one of these days ... I don't mind
the new technology at all, I just don't seek it out ... like this computer setup here, with the two
huge monitors and the trackball and the hand-controller thing with the little joystick ... I really
dig it, and use it alot, but if my boy hadn't've set it up, I never would have ... after that laptop
got fried by a lightning strike year ago last spring, I'da probably just now be thinking about fixin'
to think about getting a new one ...so y'all can thank my boy for all this ...

and BTW, too, since I'm rambling on, I don't know if this was a Win7 thing or not, but I found out
I can use the track-ball and a mouse, too ... you need the track ball to go navigate around these
big-ass monitors, from one to the other, but I found it was too sensitive for some of the CAD programs
I still have to use now and then ... I've got another little mouse that sits up under one of the monitors
and can grab it when needed ... now if I just had two active pointers, that'd be the shit ...

oh shit, and Freak, I got a story to tell you about the Marine trim on that officer's jacket above ...
but I gotta get outside afore noon ...

and I think, this time, I'm really retired ... I highly recommend it ...

>> edit
didn't see the above posts -
found cats are the best ... if they've been scared and hungry for awhile and you take them in,
it leaves a life-long impression on them ... I don't think they have the kind of memory to actually
remember you saving them, but it gets imprinted and they become loving and well-tempered cats ...
the pretty girl here in the house was a rescue from the shelter, but she had been treated well and
fawned over at the shelter (cause she's pretty, go figure) and is now more a piece of moving art
than a loving pet ...

[Eyes High]

.... water moccasins are some evil things, too, ...

I never feared the Cotton Mouths like I do the Copperheads. I forgot about the smell to them though. Thanks for mentioning that.

There was on old irrigation hole near the Pack-house on my Granddaddy's farm that held of few cotten mouths. I always wondered why they were there and not out back in the creek. Didn't seem to be enough room in that hole for snakes to find any prey.

[chanilover]

I just Googled copperhead snakes - those are some serious snakes you guys have got out there! I found a snake in the garden once when I was a kid, it was some green thing, not very big. It didn't do much, just looked at me and slithered off.