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This insect is usuallycalled the red velvet ant or cow killer ant. Actually, it is neither one. It is a female wingless wasp. The males have wings. They're  mostly found in the eastern part of the USA. Fairly common in SE Kentucky where I grew up. We called them rubber ants becaause you could stomp one & it would just keep crawling. They could sting you from any position. They had the most painful sting I ever felt. More like being bitten by a copperhead snake. They could do it over & over. Never seemed to run out of venom. ........My guess is the reason they got the moniker m
cow killer ant was because if someone found a dead cow in the field, there was usually several red velvet "ants" feeding on it. Rednecks just assumed ants killed it. .......They're beautiful insects but I suppose  the bright coloring is a warning.  DON'T TOUCH ME & DON'T STEP ON ME BAREFOOT. .......Paul H  ....

This Martini type of Schutzen rifle is pure artwork. .....Paul H ....

Thiss morning around 4 AM I finished my 86th trip around the sun. Headed out for the 87th trip now. It has been an interesting 86 years with all sorts of things happening. I can;t fathom the future of the USA in years to come. I see little hope for younger generations considering the path our politicians are taking. It seems the younger generations are following the road the politicians want them to foollow. They bring it on themselves. ......Paul H .....

This is our year for the 17 year cicada. (locust) Despicable red eyed vermin but fortunately, they're not as bad this year as in past years. Most likely because I cut down the last four remaining large maple trees. I despise maples too. Only good for gun stocks  if the wood is figured. The dead cicadas would pile up around the base of the maples 3 to 5 inches deep & 3 feet out all the way around the trees. I shovelled them up by the wheelbarrow loads & dumped them in the garden. Good fertilizer.  .......All my woodpeckers have stopped eating & feeding suet to their babies & started feeding on cicadas. I use a zero turn lawn mower & for some reason cicadas are attracted to it. The red eyed vermin bite like a pit bull. Feels more like they use a switchblade knife. I have enough trouble seeing what's mowed & not mowed without this distraction. Some of it gets missed but some gets mowed 2 or 3 times, so I guess it all comes out even. ......Paul H ........I can't see to get pictures of them any more but I filched some off the internet. .....PH ...

A few days agi & webt out back to check something in the storage shed. When I walked by the bird feeding station & could see what I thought was a downy woodpecker on the ground under the suet post. They ignore me for the most part & I didn't think much of  it till I came back by & it was still there pecking at the ground. Being blind & curious, I walked over & bent down for a better look. It was an eastern towhee & completely ignored me from a couple feet away & bent over it. Took a couple pictures of it. It keeps coming back every day. I took cornbread out  for it & it loves the stuff but won't eat out of my hand. Apparently it likes the cornbread crumbled into fine crumbs. .......These birds are normally very shy but thiss one  isn't bashful at all. It doesn't seem to like Muffin at all when she  goes out to look at it. The pictures are lousy but best I can see. ..........Paul H

I finally decided to try hearing aids. I don't like them but at least I can hear some better. There's still a lot of adjusting on them to get them 'right.' They may never be 'right' but I'm sure they can remove a lot of the 'static & clicking' noise in a conversation. Among other noises. Crushing a thin plastic water bottle sounds like a string of firecrackers going off. Even the tiniest noise is overly loud. I AM delighted to hear birds again. Muffin's voice sounds like it did 25 years ago too.

I ain't happy with the Beltone lady hearing test & sales lady at all. She is a con & scammer. They had three grades of  behind the ear aids. Grade one is 2 thousand for two Grade 2 is four grand. Grade 3  is 6 grand for two. I decided on grade two because she told me it came with a battery charger. The next day she called me & said she was mistaken because grade two doesn't come with a battery charger. If I wanted the one with a battery charger I had to buy the grade three at six grand. She said she "miss spoke." She;s a liar. Been selling them for over  6 years & didn't know that? Con artist & scammer. No way I'm paying 2 grand for a stinking two dollat battery charger.

I'll prolly have to make several trips up there to get them adjusted and get the crinkling sound out of them but so far so good. .......Paul H

The demise of ancient Rome was because they had a Senate. We have a Senate & a Congress.


                                                   -Will Rogers -


A house divided against itself cannot stand.


                                                   - Abraham Lincoln -   (1858)


I don't make political jokes. I just watch Congress and report the facts.


                                                             - Will Rogers -


I belong to no political party. I'm a Democrat.


                                                           - Will Rogers -



                                                  .......     Paul H   .....

This young lady bagged a monster for being an eight pointer on Saturday. She is a shirt tail relative but I don't know any details of the hunt. I suspect the deer was killed in Lincoln, Casey or Pulaski county, Kentucky. Most hunters in that area hunt for the meat. Not many bucks    in that area survive long. It appears this buck only has 8 points but the rack has mass. Unusual for a buck down there. ......Paul H

Hunter safety class instructor with a room full of  kids asked the class: " What's the first thing  you do after shooting a deer?"  A nine year old in the back of the room yells : "TURN THE SPOTLIGHT OFF."  ......Paul H  ...

Been trying to find a way to kill unwanted trees, roots & all. I cut them  down but trees like black locust send up sprouts from the roots and keep spreading. I found the best solution is drilling a hole in the body of the offending tree at around  a 45 degree angle downward around 4 or 5 inches deep & big enough to insert a short section of an old  garden hose. This piece of hose only needs to be 3 or 4 inches long with one end cut at roughly 45 degrees. I force the square end into the hole & turn it with the 45 degree open end up so it's fairly level. The only reason for this is to make it easy to pour the  hole full of Amine 2-4-D brush killer. This time of year the sap is going down & it sucks the brush killer to the roots. Kills everything including sprouts & roots. You may have to fill the tube & hole again later to  be more effective. Especially on larger trees. I did this to a peach tree about 6 or 7 inches in diameter. Three days later the leaves were drooping & turning red. .......I used the battery powered drill & a 7/8 inch spade drill, inserted the piece of garden hose & filled with brush killer. Only took minutes. Trying it on mulberry, elm & redbud now. ......One could probably use  diesel fuel, rock salt or a number of things to kill them but not like brush  killer. ........Paul H

These two older beauties are my Scottish cousins. The pictures were made when they were both in their 80's. Pansy died recently. She was about two years older  than I am. Lela is still living and is about my age. We all have snow white hair. Pansy was my buddy, friend & close confidant. A real sweetheart of a lady. The grandfathes of both were brothers. Both girls kept their beauty all their lives. Simple mountain women beauty.  .......Paul H

Been seeing young red foxes around the back yard for a couple months. Suspected they were denning nearby & set up a cheap trail camera. The pictures reveal what;s out in the back yard at night. Lousy pictures but they reveal what's out there. Appears to be two mature red fox & at least one kit but possibly two of them. .......Other varmints visited too. ........Paul H

I've always wanted to try rattlesnake meat but when I was a kid in the SE part of Ky. that was taboo. Mountain culture I suppose. Lots of rattlesnakes around in summer & fall months of various sizes from 2 to 6 feet long or larger. Most people considered them "works of the Devil." I have never found rattlesnake meat in butcher shops, meat markets or grocery stores. My youngest brother lives in Ohio near a Jungle Jim's international food market. I asked him to check with them for rattlesnake meat or any other snake meat. No rattler but they didd have one pack of python filet's left & got that for me. He was told rattlesnake meat was difficult to get & when available, it was 100 dollars a pound...... :cens:....The one pound pack of python was $32.99. There was one fairly large slab of meat & a small piecee just to make it a pound. After thawing it, I cut the large piece into two pieces. The piece was 3 to 4 tnth inch thick & 3 inches wide. I thought it would be like cutting fish. WRONG !!!.....It was more like cutting an old tire off the space shuttle. Finally got it cut. I fried it using lard. I didn't want anything  changing the flavor of the meat. Nothing to fret over there. When I tried a bite, the only flavor was lard. I managed to chew a few bites to the point I could swallow it.

The next piece I covered with Cajun seasoning so thick you couldn't see any meat. Fried it in lard & tried a bite. The Cajun seasoning was delicious. I don't know what the meat tasted like. There was simply no taste. Tougher than the first piece too. Chewing it is about like chewing pork skin after it's been half fried. .......I put all of it in a bowl & poured enough hi quality meat tenderizer on it to tenderize three medium size elephants & a mature Cape buffalo. Covered it with water & put it in the fridge. I suspect it'll be even tougher if that's possible. A can of caustic soda and a pint of battery acid might tenderize it too. ......Results later. .......Paul H

This "grey" squirrel has been loitering around the premises for several days. Obviously it's of dubious ancestry. "Experts" claim different breeds of squirrels don't mix when it comes to the mating game. I have seen it happen. This squirrel has a dark belly instead of the  typical white belly. It  has excessive red in it's coloration & travels in the river otter lope like fox squirels do instead of hopping like grey squirrels do. This squirrel is considerably bigger than most any typical grey. It also stands upright more than grey's do. More like the fox squirrels.  .......Paul H

My youngest sister lives   on a small farm in Lincoln County, Ky. She loves sky pictures & takes a lot from her porches. She is also a geode addict & has lots  of them on her little farm. These pictures were made in different years and different times of year. ......Enjoy.  ......Paul H

This may sound funny to some of you. Go ahead & laugh. Some of it was funny to me too. .....About a month ago  I noticed soreness & a bit of swelling in my left nipple. When I felt it there was a small, sore lump under it. Thinking I might have bumped against something to cause it, I waited a week or so to see if it went away. That didn't happen. Lots of times I hurt myself & just mumble a couple bad words & forget how, where or when it happened. i have a very high tolerance for pain anyway. Besides that, it always feels better when it quits hurting. Pain that would put most men on their knees does irritate me. ......I made an appointment with my primary care provider to get checked out. Naturally, he doesn't have a clue & has me go to the hospital for a sonogram. They can't accommodate me for two weeks because they're "behind" due to the virus pandemic.  

When I called to make the appointment, some ugly  lady answered that sounded like her previous job was prison warden. She started interrogating me. Can you stand alone? Yes. Have you been in any foreign countries in the past  three month? Walmart is all. .....Smart alec, that's not a country. After a few more questions I had heard enough & turned the investigation over to Muffin. She can hear better than I can anyway. Anyway, I got an appointment for two weeks later.

When we arrived for the appointment & signed in, I met the lady that interrogated me. Just as I suspected, warthog in disguise. Already I was thinking. this ain't  goona be good. After sitting in the lobby 15 or 20 minutes a pretty little blond, pixie around 25 years old came out & called my name. Muffin went with me because I can't see or hear very well. The littlem lady informed me I had to get a MAMMOGRAM  first. Now that might be a problem. I don't have mammary glands & I find feeling my nipples somewhat irritating. Fortunately, she knew about such things &n had a good sense of humor & wit. We got along just fine. There was nothing erotic about it but I didn't  mind a pretty young thing handling me like that till she put  my  nipple in the arbor press. Now this contraption has a table about 12 inches square much like a drill press & an upper "jaw" that comes down when she presses a button. Apparentlyn it has a pressure switch that turns it off at a certain pressure. Sweetie watched my face for signs of distress or pain I suppose. Seeing none, she tightened the knob on top of  the upper jaw till my eyeballs were about ready to pop out. At this point she triggered a switch to take a picture I suppose &b released the pressure much to my relief.

I thought it was over with but she wanted to do it two more times at different angles. I was beginning to suspect she enjoyed pain but only if she was administering it. I suffered thru it but she wasn't thru yet. She said she needed two on the right nipple for "comparison." At least that nipple wasn't sore till she got done abusing it. After all that was done, she took me to another room & turned me over to another little blond pixie for the sonogram. There was nothing to that procedure. Muffin sat there another 10 minuts till she came back with a doctor. He explained things after looking at then mammograms & sonogram & said there was a"lump" under my nipple but definitely no cancer. That's good news but there's still the sore "lump" .....Paul H

Been a miserable year for gardening in my area this year. Cold, wet & just plain miserable weather till the middle of May. Around Mothers Day things improved a bit. Wired the new Cherokee tiller to the Kubota & tilled the garden. Waited a week or so & tilled it again. The older fellow we usually buy garden plants from had stroke back in December & his son  took over the green houses. He obviously didn't do te job his dad did but we bought plants anyway. Bought 6 jalapino pepper plants. All he had left. Half of them have died. Bought 4 dozen tomato plants. Four or five of them have died. A dozen cabbage plants. Three or four of them have died/ We have 4 hills of zuchinni. Two 25 yard long rows of corn, Ditto for beans. Put electric wires around the beans to keep infernal rabbits out. They jump the electric wires anyway.

Everything came up good but the weather turned hot & dry with  temp's in the 90's. Growth stalled but we finally got a good rain & things took off. Now it has turned hot & dry again. We've picked a few ripe tomatoes & zuchinni, The turnips are big enough now to pick & can greens. There;s small beans coming on 7 the corn is tasseling out & silks coming on. They're doing their botanical **** thing as Gitano calls it. The corn is only about head high. Pitiful looking stuff in spite of fertilizer & tender loving care. I suspect coons will be checking it out soon. Killed two recently. Tried shooting rabbits with rifle & shotgun but without results. Can no longer see to shoot either effectively. Can't even see to take very good pictures either. Finall sorted out my problem loading pictures into the computer. Just can't see to adjust them very well either. Microsoft & windows 10 made changes to the way pictures are loaded into the puter but it sucks. Microsoft, Google & windows 10 are the pits. No consideration or respect for the elderly or handicapped whatsoever.

I'll try to attach pictures of the garden taken in late June and a couple days ago after I got my picture problem solved. I HOPE. Sorry about the quality but it's about the best I can see to do. The first 5 pictures were made in late June. The rest a couple days ago. .......Paul H .....ps......The 6th picture is the lower side of the garden taken yesterday. Those tomatom plants were set out by my little neighbor lady. She's a tiny  sweetheart. I still have a strip 25 yards long & 13 feet wide for turnips next month below her tomatoes. .....PH....

From what I've observed around here this is the pecking order of local woodpeckers. The little downy's are at the bottom of the totem  pole. Hairy woodpeckers dominate them when feeding. The yellow shafted woodpeckers chase both off the suet. Yellow shafted woodpeckers are the largest of local local woodpeckers other than pileated woodpeckers. The redbelly woodpeckers dominate  the flickers even tho slightly smaller in size. The red headed woodpeckrs rule the redbelly as well as all the rest of the smaller woodpeckers. Red headed woodpeckers aren't mean. They simply don't take any foolishness from any woodpeckers or any other birds except the pileated & for good reason. Pileated woodpeckers are about the size of a crow or Banty chicken. ALL birds clear  out & make room for pileated's. ........Paul H .....

Seems to be the liberal's remedy for everything. .......Paul H

[The last time I ever saw Granny was around the middle of April last spring. She would have been eight years old if she lived till June of that year. This morning just as it was getting a bit light outside, Muffin saw a deer out by the corner of the garden & thought it was Granny. I could only see it by using the binoculars since they gather light pretty good. It did look like Granny but looked younger. I picked up the camera & looked at  her & took a picture. This doe is almost identical to Granny. Same white circles around her eyes, lots of white  on the legs, belly & chest. Pretty sure  it is one of Granny's offspring. Even has Granny's demeanor. Pretty much ignores us but stares at  the new neighbor's house like Granny always did. Both know there's dogs there. ......Granny always came to the house in early morning & snacked on her corn while Muffin & I sat on the back porch & had coffee and chatted.  She was only 30 feet away & had no fear of us. Granny  is the first picture. Sorry about the quality of the pictures but I can't see very good any more. .....;Paul H