labor of love

    as a less than typical tribute to labor-day celebrations and festivities , let me start this commentary by saying as a forty  five year veteran of labor…. it stinks !

   sure labor creates vast expressways , monumental high rise buildings and massive sports stadiums , but what society does’nt tell you is that it also builds large blisters on the palms and fingers of the laborer  , arthritic conditions in his joints , and deteriation  in spinal disc as a by product of that dedicated relentless labor.

    labor creates power plants and distribution networks that deliver that clean efficient fuel for our homes….. but you won’t be there to enjoy this power except for a few hours on sunday… you’ll be laboring long hours and days to exchange your financial fruits for a minimal share of that power..

   how many guys can you name who were maimed or decapitated while sitting on a plaid divan watching the cowboys play ?   no they meet their fate while performing labor.. skilled labor, common labor , or undocumented labor… it’s all bad for your health..

    seriously…truth is .. millions of laborers will spend labor day laboring… either on the job or at home.. it’s an honorable pass time .. it brings a sense of purpose and belonging to any male or female worth a shaker of salt… it’s a product of good parenting…a testament to priority values… a moral and generously wonderful thing.. an incubator for self-esteem… a source of great pride and satisfaction… a God given talent and provision for survival…

   to labor is an honor.. to sweat is an expression of love for the family…it’s the most noble thing any of us can do.. love is labor… labor is love !… if your ever of the opinion that honest labor is dead , spend a couple of hours carrying water for bill magee… he didn’t invent labor , but he has perfected it !

   actually , i’m totally mesmerized by labor.. i can sit for hours and watch people all around me as they work ….   have a great labor day week-end…love ya all , shortman !

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ray day

  breakfast was short and sweet this morning… three current honda rejects of the booze-fighters club were in attendance… they ate like hogs.. not harley hogs , but durrocks… left the mess for big-O and ed to clenn up…they were pressed for time..had ground to cover before meeting more tri-cycle riders in st. jo.

    in a big rush to ride those three wheeled honda’s to some rally down in cooke county… after eating they spent fifteen minutes, doing mandatory shining of all the chrome and custom paint before heading out in tandem…. what a sight , headed down the county road towards another totally wasted saturday…riding into the sunrise according to their secret pecking order….. ray-ray , donald ray , and steevie ray… named for their second cousins and lifetime mentors  , buddy ray , alvie ray , and denny ray ….

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gardening tips revisited

  due to popular request , and the phenomenal success of a previous gardening tip offered here on shortfellows blog… i’m offering a second in the series of little know facts about gardening in close proximity to the courthouse…

    this tip was handed down to me by fourth generation fenoglio and is sound advise for gardeners throughout the state , but particularly true for those raising vegetables in or around the township of montague…

   uncle ray offered up this tip to his son tom and nephew ed years ago , as he stood surveying the cultivated soil they had prepared for planting… ” keep it flat boy’s”

   the young ambitious share-croppers were puzzled by this advise… their response was.. Huhhh ?   ..ray continued… emphasized for the second time ” keep it flat boy’s .. get rid of those lister ridges ”

    why’s that ?…. then ray dropped the bomb !…. so when the weeds take the place… it’ll be easier to bale ! 

       to this day , a box of tomato plants is refered to as a flat… that’s to remind these young dago farmers about the weeds and the well seasoned advise of uncle ray….go to any nursery anywhere and ask what they call a box of tomato plants… they’ll tell ya, it’s a flat !

      it was monumentally sound advise and has paid off numerous times… did you ever see that ” garden ” they had up behind margret longs place… had to shoot off road flares to find your way out of the johnson grass with an arm load of tomatoes….. they DID end up hitting the place with a baler ..

    tom does most of his hoeing , even now , with a brush-hog and a farmall super c ….

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smooth sailin with sarah palin

     i’m going way out on end of a possibly hollow limb , with a chainsaw in hand  , but i can’t remember when i was as excited about a political candidate as i am about palin… mc cain’s a genius… i never heard of this lady , but i’m deep seated on her band wagon at this point..

    she’s pro-life… opposes same sex marriage…. anti government corruption… gun owner… fishing enthusiast.. soccer mom….from a small town…. family values…no obligations to d.c. lobbyists…. supports drilling for oil on american soil… conservative republican female with almost no ties to washington d.c…. i’m thinking almost too good to be true… let’s get her elected before her political peers corrupt her fresh agenda…

    she’ll drag most of hillary’s undecided women voters and a lot of men as well… i had some concerns about mc cains age and health issues… this appointment has erased most of those… she , as a secondary candidate , has five more years of experience as an elected official than the primary democratic candidate  obama  has …and has the right answers to all the right questions……. all i can say is …. sick’em sarah !

   at this point … i’m jazzed about this refreshing new face… just hope my bubble don’t burst as we all become more familiar with her and her platform…. right now , i’m loving it !…….  she’s great !

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montague minor league

  taylor caught the big bird yesterday , somewhere near winterhaven fla. , flew to cleveland then motored to niles ohio…. home of the mahoning valley scrappers…( not to be confused with jones’ es league winning team , the bowie scrappers )… where he’ll do some game pitching for the next ten days… their season is a little longer than the rookie league or high A ..

    after ten days he’ll fly back to florida , get his car , and drive to bowie for a couple of weeks before reporting to phoenix ariz. for another month of pitching rehab in the instructional league…

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residential rhetoric

  there’s a big brew-ha stirring concerning the quantity of mc cain’s houses and the price tag and financial provider for obama’s million dollar home.. frankly , i don’t get it !… all presidential candidate requirement rules of both political parties assure that nothing but the obscenely rich could ever seek the office to start with…. then they act like it’s some sort of disqualification to live in anything other than a double-wide…

   double-standard candidates attempt to project that they can relate to the common tax-payer , the burnt valve in his ninety two dodge dually , and the leaky commode in a pink tile bathroom .. neither one has a clue what it’s like to be on a budget…to struggle from one pay day to the next… but they’re the working man’s friend , have nothing but his best interest at heart… that’s why there’s fifty cents state and federal taxes on each gallon of gas the working stiff buys…

    so what if they’re rich… we would’nt elect a candidate living on food stamps…if they can’t manage minimum wage , how would they manage the federal treasury ?… if being broke and hungry qualified you as presidential material , we’d have at least two bingham boys in the race…

    tommy o’neal is only a past democratic county chairman and he lives in a million dollar house. it’s a prerequisite for political aspirations…. so quit making an issue of candidates varying degrees of richness.    mose davis knew how to manage money , but i never saw his name on the ballot…

   chipper’s got the cash and a decorated war veteran , but i’d vote for nancy pelosi fore i would him…. it’s not about the money or ……. is it ?

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trivia answer sheet

  1…….B

   2……D

    3……B

    4……B

     5…..C

     6…..C

      7…..D

       8…..B

       9…..D

      10…..D

      11…..A,B, and C

      eleven correct answers entitle the winner to one free cup of coffee at the legend bank , during normal business hours……  ask for hoot !

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non-sence nancy

   according to sean hannity ,  nancy pelosi says.. “obama is a gift from god”….really , that’s what she said…. but due to the oral statement it’s impossible to determine if she was refering to the capital “G ” God , or a lower case god… it surely must have been the later…

   i’m confident the capital “G” God didn’t send us a gay rights advocate or an abortion supporter… unless He has given us over to the desires of the flesh… heaven forbid !

   either she honestly believes that God has no preference on the issue , or she is talking about some little “g” god other than the God of abraham… some politically correct god , the liberal god… the god of tolerance… the ever changing god.

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trivia test

  the following is a trivia test to determine blog-readers loyalty…  no cheating please !

     #1  the term shortfellow refers to :

                        A.  poetic similarities to longfellow.

                        B.  height and shoe size .

                        C.  life expectancy of a chain-smoker.

                        D.  last year’s w-2 form.

    #2   chipper’s imaginary hand-shake took place at the basket ball goal belonging to :

                        A.  dump romine

                        B.   nelly london

                        C.   roy dunbar

                        D.   c.a. kilcrease

     #3     methodists henley is currently constructing a :

                       A.    a baptist book-store

                       B.    a baptist liquor store

                       C.    a baptist casino

       #4    ed’s happy-hour begins at :

                      A.    sunrise

                      B.   5 p.m.

                      C.    early spring

        #5      tommy o’neal has an undisclosed bank note for what amount ?

                      A.   two hundred dollars

                      B.   twelve hundred dollars

                      C.    twelve million dollars

        #6      what does the stamp-licker do with all his received e-mails

                      A.    read then press delete

                      B.     mark as spam

                      C.   click on forward , hit address book , then send

           #7      chipper’s computer skills include

                     A.    making rambling comments to shortfellow’s blog

                     B.     sending rambling  lengthy e-mails

                     C.    forwarding internet porn

                     D.    all the above

      #8    two shirts marital status is :

                     A.     happily married

                     B.      long term common-law union

                     C.      co-habitation

          #9       hermanator  is :

                      A.    professional  hollywood actor

                      B.    fictional character from best selling novel

                      C.    fastest gun in the west

                      D.    bus driving constable from forestburg

        # 10   the judges daughter refers to :

                     A.     addiction councilor for the county

                     B.     sunday school teacher at the methodist church

                     C.    volunteer yoga instructor

                     D.    drunk widow woman

       #11  bonus question….. storm is :

                     A.   unlicensed back-seat cessna pilot

                     B.    grumpy’s security administrator

                     C.     ill-tempered mutt with perfectly groomed hair

 

      *   correct answers will be posted later for grading…

                two to five correct answers…… novice reader

                six to seven correct answers……unemployed or retired reader

                eight or nine correct answers…… government employee reader

                ten correct answers………  honorary fenoglio

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restaurant re-run

   i made a return trip to nocona this past saturday night , just on the outside possibility that the previous favorable visit to ( time’s forgotten )  had been a fluke… but once again everything was great…i took my san antonio brother along… the south texas food critic of bul verde.. he had nothing but praise for nocona’s restaurant discovery…holding it to high texas standards..

    i’m starting to see a pattern here… quality food… fast friendly service…customer appreciation… reasonable prices…multiple choice menu …adult beverages…. family atmosphere…pleasant dining experience…  however , all that being said , i think the time is soon coming when you’ll need a reservation just to get in the door… as word spreads , customers will be coming from further distances… parking will become a problem.. availability of tables will diminish..

    if you’ve not yet experienced big city dinning at home town prices , it’s in your best interest to patronize this new eatery and bar before denton and tarrant county gets the news…

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