The Old Folks Home

[The Yakima Kid]

Maybe you should have one!

Just teasing, vehve; I've never been one to meddle in others' affairs.

Seriously, sounds and looks like the wedding truly was a joyous occasion. The bride looks radiant (and pregnant; looks like the cat would have been out of the bag whether she wanted it to be or not), hey, even the horse looks happy, even if it did take some persuasion to get it there.

The big bouquet trick worked in the front on photos, though. I knew someone who married when his new wife was about 20' from the delivery room - she had a bouquet that looked like the wreath they put on the Kentucky Derby winner.

Up until WWII there was a branch of the Dutch Reformed Church that required brides to be pregnant to marry; if the baby came before the ceremony, it was just carried in the hood of Mommy's wedding cloak. Apparently the Germans exterminated them during the war.

In some rural parts of Scandinavia, even in the 19th Century many brides were often pregnant or already had given birth. Farmers have to make sure the heifer is fertile.

Apologies if I've offended anyone - but some traditional rural European cultures felt proving the bride fertile was far more significant than virginity. So the modern horror over the pregnant bride would have seemed strange to them. In most of Europe the closest thing to a "marriage" among most of the peasantry consisted of a blessing by the priest. More formal arrangements were restricted to those who had enough property to be concerned about inheritance.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Ford and GM are coming out with hybrids. GM has a plug in hybrid:

http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2013/10/full-size-plug-in-hybrid-pickups-to-hit-the-road-next-year.html

Sadly, nearly all hybrids and electrics are sold in California so the rest of the Country is missing out some how.

Many companies are turning to Diesel hybrids for Semi trucks too.

I would really like to have a flash boiler powered vehicle that could burn waste paper, wood chips, pellets, dried grass clippings, etc. If done correctly a steamer goes as fast in reverse as forward.

Back in the 1970s there was an old bus that had been converted to run on wood by a hippie commune. They used the wood to generate carbon monoxide, which apparently was fed to the engine as fuel.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

I also want to try my hand messing with a hit and miss engine too.

deb

You mean a "make or break" - like the old naptha boat and farm utility engines?
Or do you mean the sort that shut down some of the cylinders?
Or????????

I still want an external combustion engine that can burn garbage.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Weird stuff.

The US is moving away from coal. Coal plants have been and are being decommissioned at a high rate now because of the lower cost of natural gas.

The biggest thing that makes hybrids bad for the environment is the making and recycling of the battery.

The other reason is the Chinese pay a snork load more for coal than the power companies or the steel mills.

There has even been discussion around reopening the long abandoned "bunk coal" mines in the Pacific Northwest, the ones that used to be used to bunker ships in the dog hole ports and in the Puget Sound and peninsula ports.

Those were apparently super high in sulphur; not an issue to the Chinese.

 

[chickadoodles]

Quote: It's 3.39 here and 30 miles down the road it's 3.19.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Meanwhile, after putting in the desert solar utility plants, "environmentalists" have suddenly discovered that they create a heat hazard that literally kills birds flying over them.

Of course, this didn't stop Harry Reid from recently removing an area his son and the Chinese are trying to turn into a solar field from the list of habitats for the endangered desert tortoise. A small tortoise refuge has been established, and others from the area are being euthanized.

My take on it as that given the actual expansion of the polar ice caps, and the solar cycles, the whole Co2 issue might just be a scam to extort taxes from the public to subsidize crony capitalists. The climate hasn't become any warmer in 20 years, and we're long overdue for a major climatic disruption, if we can believe the fossil record.

I mean, if human caused global warming were a real issue, wouldn't our government be undertaking measures to discourage population growth, rather than encouraging and subsidizing it?

 

[Cynthia12]

DiDi, everything looks great..love the beautiful bride's dress.and she is beautiful. And, you, in a dress..first time I've seen that. You look good. What a beautiful setting..Have I said beautiful enough yet?

 

[Alaskan]

My paternal grandfather, whose ancestors were Bessarabian Germans, used to warn me against a wealthy hop rancher whose family was of French ancestry. "Those Frenchies eat horsemeat." One of the family was a rather good local veterinarian - and he was *never* called.

What kind is that? I thought I was familiar with all varieties of Germans.

DiDi, everything looks great..love the beautiful bride's dress.and she is beautiful.  And, you, in a dress..first time I've seen that.     You look good.  What a beautiful setting..Have I said beautiful enough yet?         

X30000000000

 

[ronott1]

What kind is that? I thought I was familiar with all varieties of Germans.

X30000000000

My German ancestors came from the Palatines part of Germany.

It does not really count though since they hit upper NY in the early 1700s.

I do love potatoes though!

 

[hennible]

Meanwhile, after putting in the desert solar utility plants,  "environmentalists" have suddenly discovered that they create a heat hazard that literally kills birds flying over them.

Of course, this didn't stop Harry Reid from recently removing an area his son and the Chinese are trying to turn into a solar field from the list of habitats for the endangered desert tortoise. A small tortoise refuge has been established, and others from the area are being euthanized.

My take on it as that given the actual expansion of the polar ice caps, and the solar cycles, the whole Co2 issue might just be a scam to extort taxes from the public to subsidize crony capitalists. The climate hasn't become any warmer in 20 years, and we're long overdue for a major climatic disruption, if we can believe the fossil record.

I mean, if human caused global warming were a real issue, wouldn't our government be undertaking measures to discourage population growth, rather than encouraging and subsidizing it?

All true but what a can of worms to open....
And you could argue that in the same hand the government is creating some forms of population control....idk like I said can of worms.
I think there are some nasty consequences to bird and insects caused by wind farms too.