Doing my part for mother nature!

 I WAS going to put this on DA TUBE as a video BUT I REALLY don't need the grief that would come my way..... So I am just going to write this down... 

 We, I MEAN my neighbors and I, have been inundated with 'forest rats' AKA squirrels! They are everywhere! When the d@mn things AREN'T eating all of my elderly neighbor's bird food, they are TEARING up my yard by burying the nuts they find. 

 So I sit by the window facing my backyard, usually with a cup of coffee, and patiently wait to see a forest rat, and with Grandpa McBride's .22, I send them to the big tree in the sky. I will do this EACH day until they are all gone. 

 

Being I have NOT used this in years, my aim is NOT up to speed. So I did a little research on 'DA NET' and got the average height and length of the American 'FOREST RAT' and made a little target to practice on...

10in x 2in= your average size of a forest rat.

                                                         https://youtu.be/4AxYhTs-6jg

 Oh and by the way, When I do hit one I throw the carcass in the woods for other animals to munch on. In a way, you can say I am recycling and helping Mother Nature out! 

If you are keeping count at home, this is the FOREST RAT' KILL total: 

 

Efilgnikcufecin

 HA!!! Look it up to see what it means!!!! I kinda forgot about this until today when I gave Doris (Who I work with) A.K.A MS. LOWES 2022 this shirt. 

Doris, and I 6/2024

Let's start from the beginning, shall we!??!?!?!?!

 It was 1988 and the McBride clan, Mom, Dad, and I just moved down to Charlotte. At the time, I was NOT a huge fan of it, I lived up in Allegany and Olean, NY my whole life and had a GREAT network of friends! I had to start all over again, and for a 15-year-old, that SUUUUUUUUUCKED! 

 I went to CCHS, Charlotte Catholic High School, SIDE NOTE, THANK GAWD for Jerry Healey! Not sure what he did because I was NOT a great athlete or a Rhode Scholar, BUT I got in! ANYWAYS, I was ALWAYS nice to pretty much EVERYONE and Jenny Tucker was in my religion class. She just won a radio contest on 99.7 THE FOX to go to the Ozzy Osbourne concert, go backstage, and meet Ozzy AND she won a signed guitar from Ozzy! Not sure if she just felt sorry for me OR if she appreciated me ALWAYS being nice to her, but she asked me to go with her. AND one of my favorite bands was opening for OZZY, ANTHRAX! THANKS JEN!!!!! Sure meeting and shaking hands with Ozzy was 'KOOL AND THE GANG' BUT seeing ANTHRAX again in a 6 month span was TOTALLY RAD! 1

 Back to the shirt, I got it that night and I MAYBE wore it 3 times from 1988 to 2024. One day Doris saw me wearing a Motley Crue 'Dr Feelgood' concert shirt and she told me to go online to a website and sell it for BIG MONEY! I guess old concert shirts fetch A LOT of $$$$$. I told her I have quite a few and Anthrax was one of the bands. She informed me that she LOOOOOOOOVES them. This got the wheels in the old noggin' of mine thinking. Sure making money RUUUUUULES but making someone's day is even better. So without hesitation, I got the shirt and put it in my car to give to her the next time I saw her. Well today was the day! I saw her and immediately went to my car got it for her!! HA!!! The OZZY/ANTHRAX concert is complete now! It ONLY took almost 36 years! HA!!!!

FYI- Ozzy and Sharon were SUPER nice people to me and Jen!

1. I saw them open for Kiss in LAS VEGAS!!! PRETTY COOL FIRST CONCERT HUH!?!?!?!??!?

The RR signal that we 'borrowed'!

 For 2+ years, we were on a 'road sign' kick. We 'borrowed' a bunch of them including 'bridge closed ahead', 'low flying planes', stop signs, and ones with street names on them, IT DID NOT MATTER! EVERYTHING was FAIR GAME!!!!! BUT this was our crowning moment. It was our senior year (1992) and like what most teenagers think, WE WERE INVINCIBLE! 

 Like a 'HIGHLY CLASSIFIED' document that is now DEclassified by the CIA, all the names will be blacked out. XXXXX's dad just got a new job in FL. and his mom went to go see him one weekend, so you know what that meant!!!! PARTY at casa de XXXXXX! If I recall, it was a typical teenage party, A LOT of beer was involved... It was LATE in the night and XXXXX, XXX X, XXXXX X., XXXXX X., XXXXX, and I decided to take his big @$$ Suburban and 'borrow' our crown jewel! It was a freakin' RR crossing sign! OKIE DOKIE! Let me explain a couple of things"

• It was NOT an active crossing! Matter of fact, It was not used for years, WARNING! I am going to get 'GEEKY' on ya! It was used to haul the 'spent' rods, A.K.A nuclear waste from the NUCLEAR POWER PLANT on Lake Wylie many moons ago and the tracks were NOT used for AT LEAST 10 years prior to 1992 when it was 'borrowed'.
• The RR company just left the signs up for years and I guess, forgot about them...

 OKIE DOKIE!!! Back to our shinanagines! It was like a 1/2 hour drive away but we did NOT care, all of us loaded up in the 'BURBAN' and being 'preparers' we were, XXXXX and I had the tools we needed to get the job done. When we got there, we all underestimated the SIZE of it! IT WAS HUGE! We analyzed it and came up with a game plan. XXXXX and I would loosen the bolts and the others would hold it to GENTLY let it fall to the ground! FORESHADOWING! It did NOT go to plan!! When we racheted the bolts loose, we yelled at everyone to let it fall to the ground because it was so heavy and we did NOT want any of our friends to get crushed!!!!! It came CRASHING down!! Luckily, there were NOT TOO many houses out there to hear the huge BOOM when it fell..... We quickly took it apart so we could put it in the 'BUBAN'. AND just like that, we had the crown jewel! One of the things I VIVIDLY remember is that we took the bell and that thing was LOUD! XXXXX  ran around the house ALL night ringing that thing! Trust me, It was GREAT (Add sarcasm here) to hear in the morning! 

 It was stored in two locations, In my garage for a year, I tried to clean it up, and in the crawl space at casa de XXXXX for over 30 years. XXXXX recently texted me that his mom was moving and if I wanted to come over and get the RR sign that was in the crawl space for 30+ years. About a year ago, XXXX called me and asked if I knew if there were any signs left because his son wanted one to hang in his room. At the time, there were none BUT now I have the crown jewel and the video I posted on DA TUBE will document me cleaning up one of the lights and giving it to him. 

Me breaking down the lights..

The RR lights broke down...

 

So I don't forget!!!!!!

  My EDDIE Van Halen/ General Lee theory is kinda stupid BUT it kinda resonates with A LOT of stuff in life!

  OKIE DOKIE!!!!! Let's delve into it. First, you have Eddie Van Halen

Next you have BO and LUKE of the Dukes of Hazzard

  In the 5th season of this ENORMOUSLY successful series. The actors that played BO and LUKE were up for new contracts. They saw the HUGE success of the merchandise it was producing and wanted a piece of it in their new contracts. The producers balked at this and they kept telling themselves, "The show is VERY popular because people turn in for the car NOT Bo and Luke. HECK! We can replace them and we will not skip a beat." So they replaced them with Coy and Vance.... Let's just say that it DID NOT work so well. Ratings DROPPED and within year and a few months, The producers of the show 'SAW THE LIGHT' and brought back Bo and Luke..

 Fast forward to 1997. Van Halen was in need of another lead singer. Eddie thought "KRIPES! No BIGGIE!! People love Van Halen because of my guitar! I can put anyone out there and it will work like it ALWAYS has." Sorry BUDDY!!! It doesn't work that way! He was VERY WRONG and poor Gary Chereon lasted ONE album! 

 Sure EVERYONE is replacable BUT there are a very few exceptions to the rule! And these two examples demostrate that....