Older Son, Girlfriend, Ladybug and King the wonder puppy all come for a visit!

Older son and his girlfriend and his new puppy all journeyed west to visit us here at Grouch estates for Christmas.  It just so happened that Ladybug was also in town for Christmas with her father so she got to visit with us for a day or two.

The weather was nice and the puppy was bored so we traveled to the local dog park to let King the wonder puppy run free.  Even though he is only about 4 months old he held his own with the other dogs in the park. He is a husky/German shepherd mix and is very smart and learning fast. Plus he seems to like me so he gets plus 10 points in his favor. 

Ladybug learned that eating a bagel at the dog park might not have been the best decision.  King was polite but an adult Husky was determined that it would get some of Ladybug's bagel.  The owner of the husky was completely and totally oblivious to the ongoing bagel drama. 

Older Son and King with a friend.  Older Son doesn't want his picture on the internet so he can only be seen from the back.

Ladybug still working on the bagel.  She looks so much like her mother!

King on guard and ready to rumble

King and Ladybug 

A pit bull mix that let King beat him up endlessly

A bulldog wanted to get in on the fun but was breathing so heavily that he just couldn't keep up with the action!

Wild Kingdom

So, I have about 6 blog posts that I need to do so I will start out of order with the most recent one.  This past Monday I was on standby to take Older Son, Girlfriend, and new puppy to LAX - more about all of that later - so I decided to take an early morning walk through the neighborhood while waiting for them to get organized for the trip.  It was about 0630 and just transitioning from night to first light.  As I walked down the street near Grouch Estates I spied an animal the size of a large dog crossing in front of me.  However it wasn't a large dog but a large bobcat!  It didn't even glance at me but crossed the street and disappeared between two houses and was gone just like that.

No, I didn't have a chance to take a picture so the Missus says it didn't happen.  I'll add the bobcat to the mountain lion and bears that I've seen since moving to California.  I won't even mention the raccoons that peer at us from the storm sewers, the coyotes that stalk us on our walk, the hawks that circle overhead sometimes as though to swoop down and carry one of us off!

Who knew so much of the wild kingdom lives amongst us!

Hey Grouch fans!

Never fear, Citizen Grouch is still here!  I have many updates to share and I will do so in the next couple of days.  It's been a busy month for me and I'm just beginning to slow down.

Check back  soon for updates!

Christmas Truce 1914

A TV commercial that captures the essence of the Christmas Truce 1914

Merry Christmas

A Day of Infamy - Pearl Harbor 1941

A moment of silence and the flag at half staff at Grouch estates for the memory of the day of infamy, December 7th, 1941.

I worked with a Pearl Harbor survivor some years ago.  Art was a young Marine and a bugler aboard a ship on that day.  The memory of the day was vivid for him and he shared those memories with me several times.

A salute to all of those who gave their lives that day.

A six minute film worth a watch.  I saw the Japanese two man sub captured at Pearl Harbor when it was on display at the Naval station in Key West sometime in the late 60s when I visited as a kid.

A rare product endorsement - Skp DR for DVD and CD

So the Missus and I were at Best Buy last night buying some Christmas CDs for her.  I went over to look at stereo amps as mine is apparently just about kaput.  They only had two models for sale (both base models) and only the high end amps have input for turntables which is what isn't working very well on my stone age amp. They didn't have any of those since no one listens to stereos any more anyway.   Looks like it is a high end amp for me!

While there I spied a gizmo for sale that claimed to buff off scratches on DVDs and CDs so that they will play properly.  I was skeptical but for $30 I figured why not and I hadn't bought anything that day so I took the plunge.

The device is a battery operated polishing wheel that takes off the top layer of a disk that contains the nicks and scratches that interfere with reading the data and subsequently playing properly.  As the instructions say, if the scratch is so deep that it compromises the data then nothing can help.

The Missus provided a Neil Diamond CD that refused to play a couple of tracks.  The surface was covered with tiny scratches and nicks. Perfect candidate!  Into the machine it went and out it came with a swirl pattern on its face and no scratches.  I then used the special polishing cloth on it, popped it in the CD player.  Presto!  it played perfectly.  Young Son retrieved his much loved and played Lord of the Rings DVD that refused to play a crucial scene of the movie due to some scratches.  Presto!  it was fixed and playing.

So far it has a 100% success rate.  The polishing wheel is good for 25 cleanings and then must be replaced.  Be sparing with the polishing fluid that is sprayed on the disk before it is polished.  I used too much and the disk came out of the machine sopping.

Who new this thing would actually work!

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/digital-innovations-dvddr-dvd-cd-repair-and-cleaning-system/2796958.p?id=1218351648444&skuId=2796958

Movie review "Hercules" with Dwayne Johnson

We rented "Hercules" with Dwayne Johnson last night.  Dwayne seems to be a nice guy version of Arnold, someone that you'd want as a friend and not just because he can always open those really tight lids on the spaghetti sauce jars.  He's appealing in every movie that I've seen with him in it.

This movie show cases him as Hercules of legend but with more back story and with not everything being what it seems.  It was a lot of fun with Dwayne's muscles on display, a beautiful woman and her son in peril, yet another bow wielding beauty by his side (what is it with girls and bows in movies over the last decade?), and slaughter by the score.  While watching the scene of a massed army on the move I couldn't help but wonder where the logistics 'tail' was for all those guys but then it was only a movie.

John Hurt chewed the scenery as he always does and turned in yet another good performance.  It was an unexpectedly fun movie, right up there with "John Carter of Mars" for movies with a high fun quotient that exceeded expectations.

Three stars out of four.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1267297/