Howdy Irish,
I hope you and yours have a wonderful 4th
I attached some fireworks photos I took using a method called "focus pulling"
Hope you enjoy them
-CD
~Thanks CD!
How to get these shoots explained HERE<<<
Saturday, July 4, 2026
Friday, July 3, 2026
Thursday, July 2, 2026
The Beaches Are Open... According To The Esteemed Governor Of Assachusetts....
“The beaches are open.” 🏖️💩
— Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance (@MassFiscal) July 1, 2026
That line was absurd in Jaws.
It sounds even worse when millions of gallons of untreated sewage are spilling into the Merrimack River and beaches across the North Shore are closed heading into the Fourth of July. 🤢
At the same time, the… pic.twitter.com/jqQwFce0B5
Wednesday, July 1, 2026
A Local Shit Show.... A Yuge Problem Given The Heat Wave and The Holiday Weekend...
Haverhill sewage leak still pouring into Merrimack River, governor issues ‘whole-of-government response’
Beaches in Ipswich, Newburyport, Essex and Salisbury remain closed to swimming
Massachusetts is coordinating a statewide response as a sewage overflow in Haverhill continues to dump millions of gallons of wastewater into the Merrimack River, aiming to successfully bypass the break by Wednesday.
“I am optimistic that we will have one of the temporary pipes that will take our normal day flow completely and totally to the waste treatment plant sometime in the next 24 hours,” said Haverhill Mayor Melinda Bennett on Tuesday. “I think that will essentially save the Fourth of July from ruin.”
About 8 million gallons of wastewater have been pumped into the Merrimack River each day since the torrential rain Friday night caused two breaks in Haverhill’s 42-inch sewer pipe, local and state officials said.
The breaks occurred at the South Mill Street Pumping Station, letting most of the city’s wastewater overflow directly into the river downstream of downtown Haverhill instead of being taken to the wastewater treatment plant for several days.
Sunday, June 28, 2026
What goes around, comes around
Karma can be a "biatch" as they say and this case, it was. Jessica Falls 47 of Lanett, AL and Daniel Robbins of Macon, GA were found dead, side by side, in rural Chambers County where Robbins was dumping the body of his girlfriend. Autopsies would confirm later that Robbins had died of a heart attack and Falls had been strangled to death. The bodies were discovered after someone called emergency services and reported a truck sitting in the middle of a rural road with the drivers side door open and the engine running. When sheriff's deputies arrived they discovered "drag marks" from the back of the truck leading into the woods where the two bodies were laying.
Saturday, June 27, 2026
From Another World? (UPDATED)
They aren't, but they were growing on a rotten Gum stump beside my stormpit. The tallest might be 3.5".
Not that I'll be experimenting or anything, but I later saw the below Joe Rogan video (article is in the link) about multiple people ingesting a specific species of mushrooms and then seeing similar "little people". Click the link for more. Althouse
Friday, June 26, 2026
Meanwhile , In Belfast Maine.... Good Lord....
Anti-Trump Belfast boomer viciously smacks a Maine Wire reporter with a pride flag, and then has to Google the definition of fascism when asked why she's protesting. pic.twitter.com/HbMdDWhHgV
— The Maine Wire (@TheMaineWire) June 26, 2026
I bet shes fun at parties..... and, I feel bad for all her cats.
The Movie "Citizen Vigilante" Has Been Posted By Elon
A current day "Death Wish" similarity:
Banned in Germany, the home of the director.
The film follows an ordinary man (played by Hammer) who, enraged by the perceived breakdown of law, order, and systemic failure, delivers violent vigilante justice to criminals and corrupt officials
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 25, 2026
Post about the movie here at VOXDAY
H/t to NEMO
Thursday, June 25, 2026
Monday, June 22, 2026
Been There, Done That
"Complete And Utter Disaster": South African Farmer Living In Huntsville, AL About Failed DEI Policies.
Scanning over my usual "haunts" this morning I came across this story out of Huntsville, AL about the above pictured farmer and his family living in and dealing with the racial horrors of targeted black on white violent crime in South Africa and his plight to escape to America, along with why DEI policies are failing. Story
Friday, June 19, 2026
Thursday, June 18, 2026
New England.. If You Don't Like The Weather, Wait An Hour Or So...
This was the weather around 4pm....
About an an hour and a half later.....
Yes, I'm enjoying a long weekend.
Sláinte
Irish
Wednesday, June 17, 2026
The Greatest Unfinished Song Of All Time ?
This is a short video explaining how the Wichita Lineman song came to be….
The Tartan Army.. Came, Saw, and Conquered....
via WCVB
Thousands of Scottish soccer fans visiting Boston this week for FIFA World Cup 2026 made an unexpected impact: They drank the Samuel Adams Downtown Boston Taproom out of Boston Lager.
The influx of supporters, known as the Tartan Army, arrived in the city for the series of soccer matches and quickly adopted the taproom as a gathering spot.
From Thursday through Sunday, fans "drank us dry" in consuming four times as much Samuel Adams Boston Lager as the taproom typically sells during a four-day holiday weekend, such as the Fourth of July, Boston Beer Co. said.
The demand was so high that the taproom ran out of Boston Lager over the weekend and required an emergency delivery on Saturday morning.
craig fergusonScottish superfan walking across country to Boston in kilt to raise money for men's mental health
In total, the taproom sold more than 3,000 pints of Boston Lager during the four-day stretch. Staff collected 70 empty kegs on Monday, Boston Beer Co. said.
The downtown location offers 20 beers on tap, including several varieties available only at the taproom. However, Boston Beer Co. said most of the Scottish fans chose Sam Adams's flagship brew.
Additional deliveries have been scheduled this week to keep up with demand, Boston Beer Co. said.
Saturday, June 13, 2026
A Few People Have Asked About The Disappearance of "The Village Hemorrhoid" UPDATED with comment from Karl
The wayback machine show crawling back in January, February and April
The was the last post that was archived on April 2.
Karl, if you stop by please leave a comment OR if anyone knows what happened, please leave
a comment.
Thanks.
Updated comment received
Thanks for all the concern, folks.
Blogger just yanked the blog out from under me. Deleted it. I can't even get the name back.
Kinda pissed me off and depressed me.
My
health issues don't make life great in the first place and then I've
got to deal with bastards who jut screw you for using free speech.
I'm
seriously considering firing it back up again even though my health has
gotten progressively worse ... I miss the blog and the people who came
there ... most of them anyway.
Maybe I will check out Divemedic.
I'll try to get my shit together here this week.
Thanks to all of you. I seriously mean it.
Karl - The Village Hemorrhoid
and for Bear Claw, Karl said you can stop by the office:
Friday, June 12, 2026
Another Busy Week and Early Escape To The White Mountains... Since I was feeling a bit guilty...
I bought a laptop, can't used the company one, and will be working on a FFFF for later.
Bear with me, I am trying to reconfigure this new one to make life easy for me.
You're lucky I like you guys and gals.
Thanks for being fans....
Oh, by the way, Johnnie Walker is here to help!
Slainte!
Irish
Tuesday, June 9, 2026
Put This On In the Background And Let It Play....
Phil sent me an AI cover of "THE RED by Chevelle" Dark Country version
( at the bottom of this post).
For what ever reason these AI covers are damn good, IMHO.
After I listened to that song this one 'IRON DUST' was next on the Youtube playlist rotation.
Since my first listen, I have cycled this one at work and in the car. Multiple times in
the past few days. For me, this is really good. YMMV, that's okay too.
Push play... Enjoy....
Irish Adjusts His 'Boomer Hat' and Asks... "What Could Possibly Go Wrong?"
Restaurant and bar owners react to the Governor officially extending last call through the World Cup.
The Haven in Jamaica Plain is known for bringing a traditional taste of Scotland and with the World Cup just days away, the owner says the Haven will serve as home ground for fans.
“We’re going to be inundated with a lot of Scottish fans here,” Owner of The Haven, Jason Waddleton, said.
Waddleton heard the official news Monday that Governor Maura Healey signed the act that would allow for later last call times, extended hours of operation and public consumption into law through the end of July.
The new law, a welcome addition to his World Cup plan.
“It’s pretty exciting I’m pretty pleased that Boston is adapting,” he said.
As Waddleton prepares his staff for the potential of later hours, fans from Scotland are starting to fly in.
Many of them, seeing on social media that The Haven was the place to be.
“it’s been good! We only got here today!,” one of them said.
The group told Boston 25 News, they weren’t missing Scotland’s return to the World Cup, especially since it’s been 28 years in the making.
“We were not missing the opportunity to come, we have to!” another fan said.
Soccer fans rooting for other countries were also spotted at The Haven, wearing their jerseys already.
“I think we should be inviting of all this, like we are hosting this! I think bars close too early in the first place but especially when there’s a game or some event going on like, I don’t want to be kicked out in the middle of a game,” Tony Infantino explained.
Under this law, some bars and restaurants will be able to be open until 3 a.m.
Kali Bryan thinks the decision makes sense because she knows some matches don’t start until after 9 o’clock at night.
“I think this will be an amazing opportunity for businesses and for people to enjoy. I think people coming to Boston, we want people to shine and i think this is a step in the right direction in that regard,” she said.
Both the tourists and locals will enjoy the atmosphere of this global event as long as ppl are mindful of their neighbors when they leave," Mark Swadling, another patron, said.
For those behind the bar, they know responsibility comes with the territory but still hope this pilot proves to be so safe and successful that it leads to permanent change.
“That is the primary responsibly of a bartender, keeping an eye on those folks and say maybe you’ve had too much. I don’t think staying open later will necessarily mean people will drink more though,” Bailey Olmstead, a bartender, said.
“I would like the pilot be so successful where we might genuinely reassess whether or not we will have happy hour again, stay open later, maybe 3 a.m. will become a fixture,” he added.
Ishi: The Last Track In The Pines
Below was sent to me by a friend who is a fellow bow hunter/archery enthusiast. We read the same sort of stuff and have similar interest. My friend found this on a FB archery site. I did a similar posting about Ishi back in 2018. This story was written by Vic Stickel and is a very well written synopsis of Ishi, the "last wild Indian". The story of Ishi's ranks high as one of the most fascinating stories of humankind IMHO. I had never heard Ishi's story until I saw the 1992 film starring John Voight and Graham Greene titled The Last Of His Tribe (a very good movie I recommend if interested). There are also several books pertaining to this amazing tale of a man who was the last surviving member of his people that walked out of the stone age and into the modern world of his time. The piece below is titled The Last Track In The Pines. Enjoy.
The smell of mountain pines in Tehama County used to hang so thick a man could taste it, that clean resin weight drifting through the early years of the twentieth century like a promise of rain. But even that sharp scent could not hide the unease that crept over the ranchers working those lonely ridges. Something moved in the high country, something quiet as moonlight, slipping into wilderness line cabins without breaking a latch or lifting a tool. The intruder never touched the blankets or the gear; he only tore the place apart in a frantic scatter and carried off one thing alone, the rolled barley meant for the pack stock. It left the cattlemen standing in their own doorways, scratching their heads, wondering what kind of thief ignored everything of value and made off with feed.
Then the sheep men started finding dead animals on the high pastures. A postmortem on one of the carcasses brought the truth out like a cold hand on the shoulder. Buried deep in the flesh were obsidian broadheads, knapped clean and sharp as the day they were made. The white settlers had long believed every Native soul in that country had been wiped out decades before, but the stone points said otherwise. Someone still lived in those gorges along Deer Creek, someone who knew how to move without leaving a whisper behind.
Years passed under that quiet tension until an irrigation crew rode into the country to run surveys. They were following a bend in Deer Creek when they saw him, a naked Indian standing on the rocks, spear raised, watching the water for salmon. For a heartbeat the world held still, then panic broke loose. The man charged, spear lifted high, and the surveyors scattered like quail flushed from cover, riding hell for leather back to camp with wild stories no one believed.
Weeks went by without a track. Then, a year later, the same crew returned to the same bend. One of the newcomers laughed and asked where their Indian was now, just as a flint-tipped arrow hissed through the air and punched a neat hole through the crown of his hat. That was enough to send them thundering back to camp again, but this time their fear turned to fury. The whole construction outfit armed themselves and pushed into the brush to hunt the hidden archer.
What they found was no war party. Deep in the undergrowth lay a single wickiup made of bark and branches, camouflaged so well it seemed grown from the earth itself. Inside was only a frail, dying Native woman. The men, half afraid and half cruel, ransacked the place and fled. Later, they returned with a larger posse, but the woman was gone. Whether she had crawled away or been carried off, no one knew. The men destroyed the wickiup and took every last scrap of the family’s belongings, leaving whoever remained to face the wilderness with nothing.
Months of silence followed. Then, on August 29th, 1911, the butchers at a slaughterhouse near Oroville heard their watchdog erupt in frantic barking. When they stepped outside, they found a starving, terrified Indian pressed against the fence, naked and shaking from years of hunger and grief. Unable to speak with him, the authorities locked him in the Butte County jail for his own safety and brought in a local Native translator, but the languages did not match. The man trembled; certain he was about to die.
Someone finally sent word to the University of California. Professor Thomas Waterman arrived and tried every dialect he knew until he spoke the old Yana tongue. Recognition lit the stranger’s eyes. . Within three weeks the two men could speak freely. Arrangements were made to bring him to San Francisco, where he met Dr. Saxton Pope, bowyer Will Compton, and the woodsman Art Young. The man accepted the name Ishi, because his people forbade him from speaking his true name aloud.
Over the next five years those four men became brothers. They hunted together, traded knowledge, and walked the hills as if they had always belonged to one another. Compton later wrote that Ishi was the gentlest, most honorable man he had ever known. When calling predators like bobcats or lynx, Ishi would hold a leaf to his lips and make the thin, heartbreaking cry of a dying rabbit, drawing the animals close enough for a clean shot. His bow of choice was a short, powerful fifty-five-pound juniper stave, though he would work yew if he had to. His people believed yew belonged to women, just as no woman was ever to touch a hunter’s bow.
He shot targets poorly, because the idea of competition meant nothing to a man who had lived by the bow. But in the field he was flawless. He loved the modern world in small, tender ways, especially photography. Seeing his own reflection in a picture brought him joy. When he had first been found at the slaughterhouse, he had burned his hair down to the scalp in mourning for his mother, sister, and uncle who had died after their camp was destroyed. Clean haircuts and photographs soothed something deep in him.
For a time, he lived in good health. Then in 1915 tuberculosis found him, a sickness his isolated blood had no defense against. Dr. Pope gave him the best care the era could offer, but the disease moved fast. In June of 1916, with his three friends weeping beside him, Ishi looked at them with calm eyes and spoke his final words, “I go, you stay”.
They honored him as he wished. They saw to it that his body was treated according to the faith of his people, and they laid him to rest in an Italian cemetery in San Francisco. The last of the Yahi, carried into history by the men who loved him, and forever woven into the long story of the bow.
And so his name settled into archery like an old truth carried on the wind, meaning far more than the man himself. It stands for the last wild archer who lived exactly as his ancestors had since the beginning, a reminder that the bow was once a lifeline rather than a pastime. . The name, Ishi has become a measure of character, a quiet standard of humility, patience, and honor, because every account of him speaks of a gentle man who hunted cleanly and lived without bitterness despite everything he endured. Among traditional archers up to this day he is remembered, the teacher of Pope, Compton, and Young. . His name carries the weight of survival, the endurance of a man born around eighteen sixty who outlived the destruction of his people and walked alone for years before stepping into the modern world on that late August day. To speak his name now is to remember that a bow is wood and string, an arrow is a promise, and the hunt is a sacred act. His name is not spoken loudly, but with the quiet respect reserved for the last keeper of the old ways, the final ember of a world that will never return.
In 2007 Ishi was inducted into the Archery Hall Of Fame, for the legend he was, and who left the last track in the pines.
