We wish everyone a safe and enjoyable 4th of July. We will be barbecuing, watching fireworks and we’ll put on a DVD after that. Click on the eagle to see a larger view.

Despite having a mild stroke, Charlie Daniels can still play his guitar and fiddle.

“I can still play my fiddle. I can play my guitar. One of the first things I did when I came home from the hospital in Denver was to pick up my guitar and make sure my fingers still worked on it.”

Daniels, 73, suffered the stroke Friday just outside Durango, about 230 miles southwest of Denver. He was treated at a local hospital then airlifted to a Denver hospital, where he was released on Sunday. Daniels has returned to his Durango home, where he goes in the winter to enjoy snowmobiling and winter sports.

Damsel and I are big fans and we wish Charlie all the best for a quick and complete recovery.

This week, I received an email advising me that the DirecTV rates were going to increase next month. I guess that times being what they are, that I’m OK with the new rate. However, when I clicked on the link to see the new rates, they sent me to this helpful and informative document (tongue-in-cheek, of course):

C’mon, DirecTV . . . how about posting a readable rate chart showing old vs. new rates and something to indicate which package applies to me?

I wonder if Dish® Network does the same crap.

Click image to enlarge.

For the last few days, we have been watching a bunch of rarely-watched channels on the tube. One of those is “TruTV - not reality, actuality.” We found the “World’s Dumbest” feature to be quite entertaining. Consider the following not-so-bright people smashing bottles on their heads. Yes - alcohol was involved.

This is the second year we took in the model train show at our local Botanic Garden. I love all trains - full size and models. Had we known about this annual show earlier, we would have started coming to them a long time ago.

We saw live steamers, electric trains and streetcars, realistic models and a lot of toys and whimsy. The layouts were intricate and nostalgic since most were set in the great train eras up to and including WWII.

The video starts with some stills of the indoor exhibits and then some video of the outdoor train sets. This was a family event and the kids loved watching the trains as much as us old guys.

The outdoor exhibits were set up near the cactus garden. I ran into a former colleague of mine, also retired, who was an exhibitor in the outside displays. We talked about how good it was that everyday was Saturday except for Sunday these days.

I would love to take up model railroading as a hobby, but I seem to have enough expensive pastimes as it is. You know, the cost of ammo and vacationing take their toll. We’ll just have to vicariously enjoy the train hobby at these shows.

Damsel and I enjoy pro football - especially since we acquired our big screen HDTV. Tonight we’re watching the Hall of Fame Game with Tennessee and Buffalo.

Screenshot - click to enlarge:

After watching an all-day “Mail Call” marathon, tonight we’re watching R. Lee Ermey’s Lock ‘N’ Load on the History Channel. This is the premier of Ermey’s new show and the first episode is all about MACHINE GUNS! The second is all about Artillery . . .

First Episode: Gunny checks out the rapid fire, lead spitting destruction of the machine gun. From an authentic hand cranking 1890’s Gatling Gun to one of the fastest machine guns on the planet today–the Mini Gun–Gunny rat a tat tats his way through machine gun history while high-speed photography captures the exploding targets in incredible slow motion.

Second Episode: Gunny takes a journey through the history of cannons and field artillery and shoots off everything from Revolutionary War-era cannonballs to the futuristic shells of NLOS-C — a fully automated piece of artillery that’s so new the Army’s still testing it. Other featured artillery includes Civil War cannons and the Pack 75 Howitzer, a World War II cannon used in the Battle of the Bulge.

We saw Gunny at the NRA in April but didn’t get to speak with him. Next time, we will.

We’re both happy that the Gunny has a new show. So far (at 50 minutes into the second hour) we’ve been highly entertained by Lock ‘N’ Load.

Michael Jackson’s memorial to be opening act for Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus - literally! Plus, there will be a $25 cover charge to sit in the stands at Staples Center for the Whacko-Jacko memorial!

Fans who wish to attend Michael Jackson’s star-studded memorial service at Staples Center will have to shell out $25 to sit in the stands, RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively.

[snip]

The service will be held between 10am PST and Noon PST… with the scheduled Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus on standby, literally.

The parade of elephants, held as circus performers arrive in town is scheduled to take place immediately following the service.

I tried to refrain from commenting on the untimely death of the famous entertainer, but the sheer irony of this made me do it.

I didn’t stay up late enough to hear the monologue, but thanks to the Patriot Post, we are able to enjoy Jay Leno’s takes on the changing of the guard:

You know a lot of celebrities in Washington for the inauguration. Isn’t that unbelievable? So many celebrities are out of town, over in Malibu, they had to close the Promises Rehab Center for a week.

Good luck trying to find a place to stay. Given how hard it is to get a room in Washington, even Bill and Hillary had to double up.

Barack Obama plans to issue an executive order on his first full day in office, directing the closing of Guantanamo Bay. He said he needs the money for new prisons to hold Democratic mayors and governors.

Incoming press secretary Robert Gibbs said President-elect Barack Obama will allow gays to serve openly in the military. So the days of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” are over. Actually, that’s not quite true. Congress will continue to use the phrase when referring to the bailout money. “Don’t Ask Us What We Did With It, We’re Not Going To Tell You Where It Went.”

At his confirmation hearing, Attorney General Nominee Eric Holder said as far as he is concerned, waterboarding is torture. And Treasury secretary nominee Tim Geithner said, “So is paying taxes.”

President Bush said he is leaving Washington with his head held high, because it is the best way to spot shoes that are coming at you.

As always, we had fun at the target range today. Among other things, we took our shotguns and took turns trying to shoot the targets in two. In this video, Damsel almost gets the job done with her 20 gauge Remington 870, leaving the bottom of the target hanging by three narrow threads of paper.

I don’t have it on video, but after she left the target setup for the coup de grâce, I stepped into the booth with my 12 gauge Remington 870 and took out the three remaining thin threads with the first three shells. Not to worry though, Damsel has taken out plenty of setups that I left. We don’t keep score, since both of us do about the same.

In the last frame of the video, notice the ejected 20 gauge shell just about to hit the right booth wall.

Nothing to report about the shooting today other than everything seemed to be 100% functional and we had a lot of fun.

I was just messing around with some of Damsel’s photographs she took last Saturday at the Botanical Garden. One sequence of images seemed to me to look like frames from a movie, so I arranged them and made this Flash&trade: pseudo-movie.

We looked forward all week to go to the South Coast Botanic Garden where they were hosting a Model Railroad Show. The model railroaders set up a miniature railroad throughout one of our favorite areas in the cactus garden. This one shot of a little model doesn’t do the scene justice, since there were little trains all over the place.

Click image for larger view.

UPDATE: Cactus Rail Video