"Get up in the morning', I believe I'll dust my broom..."  h/t, Englishman.

A few more below -

That's King Buck on the 1959 Federal Duck Stamp. A great champion, and the prize of avid sportsman John Olin's Nilo Kennels.

In 1931 the Olin chemical and ammo company bought the bankrupt Winchester Repeating Arms company, and still owns the trademark for the firearms and makes the ammo.

The story of Winchester is the sad story of manufacturing and unions in the Northeast. From the Wiki:

By the 60's the cost of skilled labor was making it increasingly difficult profitably to produce Winchester's classic designs, incorporating as they did considerable hand-work. In particular, Winchester's flagship Model 12 pump shotgun and Model 70 bolt-action rifle with their machined forgings could no longer compete in price with Remington's cast-and-stamped 870 and 721. Accordingly S. K. Janson formed a new Winchester design group to advance the use of "modern" engineering design methods and manufacturing principles in gun design. The result was a new line of guns which replaced most of the older products in 1963-64. Unfortunately the reaction of the shooting press and public was overwhelmingly negative: the popular verdict was that Winchester had sacrificed quality to the "cheapness experts,"^[1] and market share continued to decline as Winchester was no longer considered to be a prestige brand. Gun collectors consider "post-64" Winchesters to be both less desirable and less valuable than their predecessors.

Labor costs continued to rise, and a prolonged and bitter strike in 1979-80 convinced Olin that firearms could no longer be produced profitably in New Haven. Therefore in December 1980 the plant was sold to its employees, incorporated as the U.S. Repeating Arms Company, together with a licence to make Winchester arms. Olin retained the Winchester ammunition business.

From 1981 until 2006, Winchester guns were made by the U.S. Repeating Arms Company. When U.S. Repeating Arms went bankrupt in 1989 it was acquired by a French holding company, then sold to an arms making cartel sponsored by the Belgian Herstal Group, which also owns gun makers Fabrique National (FN) and Browning.

On January 16, 2006 U.S. Repeating Arms announced it was closing the New Haven, Connecticut, plant where Winchester rifles and shotguns were produced for 140 years.^[1] Along with the closing of the plant, the Model 94 rifle (the descendant of the original Winchester rifle), Model 70 rifle and Model 1300 shotgun would be discontinued.

On August 15, 2006, Olin Corporation, owner of the Winchester trademarks, announced that it had entered into a new license agreement with Browning to make Winchester brand rifles and shotguns, though not at the closed Winchester plant in New Haven. Browning, based in Morgan, Utah, and the former licensee, U.S. Repeating Arms Company, are both subsidiaries of FN Herstal. In 2008 FN Herstal announced that it would produce Model 70 rifles at its plant in Columbia, SC.

It's interesting to read the histories of companies. Here's the history of the Olin Corp, which still makes Winchester ammo. I had the pleasure of meeting some good folks from the company recently.

Our pal and occasional contributor (Aliyah, Indian Health Service, etc) emails me this iPhone photo from Big Sur today on his way to lunch and a shrink conference:

At Am Thinker, The Perils of a 'Policy' President.

In my view, the real problem isn't the politics - it's the hubris. Few people who enjoy creating big plans and schemes for other peoples' lives have ever even tried to run a candy shop. That's the problem.

Now is the time to buy your place in Spain. Or anywhere in the Balearic Islands. The Socialists have made a mess of their economy, so prices are reasonable. A pal recently bought a villa on the north coast of Majorca.

We loved this restaurant and tapas bistro (Las Olas) in Palma, Majorca. I ordered the gazpacho. It was beet - the gazpacho del dia. Remolacha. Wonderful, refreshing stuff for a hot day. I also tasted all of Mrs. BD's assortment of tapas, and we easily persuaded some wandering Brits to come into the place after I tasted the gazpacho and uttered an audible Wow.

I loved Palma. Lotsa photos below -

A day of repentenance and atonement, much like Lent for Christians like me. All are serious times, in which to take life very seriously - dead seriously - as this precious and brief gift of life deserves to be taken for at least some days of the year before we revert to our normal ways and habits.

We are all just animated dust, with God's spark. It's easy for me to forget that during daily life, when everything seems so important.

It's been interesting to me to see how many searches land on our post from last year: The mice, rats, voles, shrews and lemmings of New England.

It's gratifying to be useful to curious people.

Photo: The good old Meadow Mouse, properly named the Meadow Vole, common across the nothern part of North America, and good wholesome food for numerous predators. A lil' critter to be welcomed, because his presence means you have healthy lands.

The Dunkin' I found in a square in the medieval sector of Palma, Majorca. More Majorca photos tomorrow -

An evening departure from Monte Carlo harbor, headed to Barcelona:

h/t Reader and Theo:

Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert. Congress said, "someone may steal from it at night.." So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job at $18,000 per year..

Then Congress said, "How does the watchman do his job without instruction?" So they created a planning department and hired two people: one person to write the instructions, and one person to do time studies.

Then Congress said, "How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?" So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people: one to do the studies and one to write the reports.

Then Congress said, "How are these people going to get paid?" So they created the following positions: a time keeper, and a payroll officer, then hired two people.

Then Congress said, "Who will be accountable for all of these people?" So they created an administrative section and hired three people: an Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary.

Then Congress said, "We have had this command in operation for a year and we are $18,000 over budget, we must cutback overall cost."

So they laid off the night watchman.

James 5:13-20

5:13 Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.

5:14 Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.

5:15 The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.

5:16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.

5:17 Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.

5:18 Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest.

5:19 My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another,

5:20 you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner's soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Candied mint leaves. I made a bunch of these old-fashioned treats last weekend.

Since my mint patch (Kentucky Mint, of course) has grown like crazy, it's fun to thin it out while making a fine treat. If you like mint flavor, these are great to decorate ice cream, fruit cup, a bowl of berries, melon, or whatever. In the old days, they were passed around as an after-dinner mint: the original "mint".

All you do is cut off some mint leaves (or tips of stems -even better), brush them with well-beaten egg white, press them into granulated sugar, and let them dry for 6-24 hours on wax or parchment paper. They will last a couple of days. When they dry enough, they are a bit crunchy.

Delicious. You can do the same thing with violet flowers in the springtime.

Some Enchanted Place, by Sippican. He is up to his third installment, and we hope he continues.

Makes good furniture, too. As good as his writings.

A Drink With Something In it

There is something about a Martini,
A tingle remarkably pleasant;
A yellow, a mellow Martini;
I wish I had one at present.
There is something about a Martini,
Ere the dining and dancing begin,
And to tell you the truth,
It is not the vermouth--
I think that perhaps it's the gin.

Harvard drop-out Nash was a master of the fine art of doggerel, aka light verse. It is a much-underappreciated art form. Thanks, reader MM. Always enjoyed him.

As a guy who loves history, I always thought of Spain as a backwater and it was never on top of my list. Darn nice country to visit, though.

Got some tapas when we got lost, before we figured out where the heck we were in the old medieval part of town. We ordered mostly seafood tapas - all sorts, including Cuttlefish of course. The Spanish love their seafood. A nice Spanish rosso, too.

Yes, you can smoke in the restaurants:

A few more photos below -

All profits from this record will go to charity. While I understand Dylan's respect for Christmas - and for the Great American Songbook in general, I'm not sure about this (h/t, Right Wing Bob, who has posted a bit about this record):

"The problem with having the Americans as your allies is that you never know when they'll turn around and stab themselves in the back."

Bernard Lewis, as quoted in a David Warren piece on Honduras

From Iowahawk's Earn Big $$$ The NEA Way!

Herman's Hermits made a big hit out of this song, but here's the original excellent version by Frankie Ford:

and here's John Fogerty:

I will post some more on board ship pictures in a few days. I am always up for taking somebody on a sea cruise.

Huge treasure trove of 1400 year-old Anglo-Saxon gold found in Staffordshire. Looks like things a king would have owned.

h/t, Synthstuff

Obama's Speeches-- Obama Mentions Self Nearly 1,200 Times!

I do not care for ad hominens, but often with the O you do get the feeling that he manages to make himself the main topic when he talks.