Weekend Open Thread: Birthday Hangover Edition

H. Clay Aalders
Weekend Open Thread
·8 Comments··53 views

Happy Friday Everyone, and Happy Belated Birthday to a country, which warts and all, remains the greatest on Earth. While the New York Times might opine that America didn’t deserve a birthday party this year, I have this to say to them as well…

I hope everyone had a great Independence Day, and you are entering the weekend with the same number of fingers with which you started the week.

I hope that your merriment was enthusiastic and concluded safely. With no ER visits or “Imperial Entanglements”

Tyranny I say!

I agree, not all of us have a crazy uncle to buy them for us…

Don’t let him get into the Jamesons…

Napalm is fun. I once set my driveway on fire as a high schooler.

Let us not forget what we are celebrating…

And this…

Be ungovernable.

Your 4th of July party was not this epic though…

 

 

Of course not…

Actual shot of me yesterday…

Actually, we went to the Museum of Appalachia for their annual Anvil Shoot.

 

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It is a yearly tradition, with live music, demonstrations, and lots of folks out to celebrate America.

 

Metric sucks.

They don’t have any knife shows until next weekend

Village of Knives Knife Show

Then they pick back up.

AIK’s Knife Show

Great Lakes Rendezvous

 

Keep your eyes on the KNIFE Magazine Events Calendar for the latest shows near you.

 

You might not find many patriotic songs among the hippie crowd anymore, but the Dead put out one of the best.

Truth…

I have been sick of the election for a year or more, and there are still 4 more months.

I think we could all agree that it might be better.

Voting is important.

The campaign is a gold mine for memes, even if I can’t share most of them here.

Quicksand and Existential Dread have both played a part in my adulthood.

You’re Grounded.

Definitely won’t enter her to win any knives, like the CRKT SPIT, designed by Alan Folts. Stuart B. is this week’s winner.

Next week, we will give away a CRKT Pry Bar Pocket Tool. Nothing too fancy, but I imagine that the caged blade would probably make it through TSA. As always, up to 5 comments or replies are your entries for next week’s drawing.  If you are a first time commenter, your comments count double but will be held in moderation until I can approve the first batch. After that you will be good to go.

My DNA test came back…

I wonder who will win…

He sang both the David Bowie and Freddie Mercury parts…

Checkmate…

For Joe Flowers…

related…

I honestly cannot say I am an aficionado.

I want one. I’d never leave the house.

The Champion.

Hard to find good help nowadays…

He doesn’t even know this answer…

Don’t worry…

They left out Vodka though.

Give them skates and sticks.

No, he was just playing DnD

WhoosaGoodBoy?

Much cuter than the plastic Roomba.

Not a good boy…

Better than Pet Semetary.

Related…

 

Hate when that happens.

 

The “anti-Israel” protests continue, with multiple American flags burned at Washington Square Park in New York.


The war could stop tomorrow, if Hamas released the Hostages and step down

I look forward to retiring this section of the WOT, but I will not do so until the IDF has declared victory in Gaza. My platform might be small, but its reach is greater than me shouting into the wind, so it is worth it.

Another of the more patriotic Dead tunes. IMHO, the Grateful Dead eclipse The Beatles, the Stones, Zepplin, and pretty much everyone else. I am grateful for having the chance to see them 4 times.

It is like its own language.

You’d miss them if they were gone.

 

And bonus videos…

 

He isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I am a huge Robert Altman fan. He called “Nashville” his birthday present to America, following on the tumult of the 60’s and early 70’s. It is a phenomenal movie, which I watch about twice a year. This is the final scene, following an assassination of a country singer at a July 4th political rally. It is a good reminder that we as a country have always managed to muddle through.

Have a great weekend everybody.  Happy Birthday America.

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H. Clay Aalders

H. Clay Aalders is a lifelong edged tool user. He spent the past 20 years as a woodworker and fishing guide in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Idaho, and Tennessee. While guiding in Idaho, Clay worked part-time writing for a local newspaper, and upon moving to Tennessee began writing for the blog The Truth About Knives - spending his last 5 years there as Managing Editor. His background is in fixed-blade hunting and bushcraft knives, but has jumped into the world of vintage slipjoint collecting with both feet since coming to work at Knife Magazine. Clay’s primary role is as Digital Editor, curating and creating new content for our website and blog, as well as maintaining the Knife Magazine social media accounts (FB/IG: @theknifemag, Twitter: @knifemagazine). He is also a contributor and Associate Editor of the print magazine.

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8 Responses

  1. Clay: I have an assortment of “Jerry Garcia” neckties. I have not worn a necktie since my retirement from my “State of Maryland” job on May 1, 2015.(Bill Moran’s birthday!). I will take a look at them (Got to find where I put them nine years ago!).

    That bathtub needs a submarine!

    Reply

  3. Stuart-Congrats on the new knife. Hope you’re on the mend. I thought of you when I saw a kid wearing a tee shirt that read “The British blew a 13-0 colony lead”.
    I was wondering if/how an American by choice/Englishman by birth celebrates the Fourth?

    Reply

    1. Mark, I think ‘Ironically’ is a good answer to your question. the 13,0 lead is hilarious, and I would have said mean, given our recent soccer form, but we beat out Switzerland (Europe’s strongest team – also irony) tonight in penalties, so bah!

      Most years we go see the local 4th July parade, after which the day falls into a slur of bbq and beer. Just enough to feel too full not to fight back. This week, at home, covid just left me at home, nursing a bad headache and sore throat.
      For most Brits, we eally don’t spend much thought on losing the America’s, neither country would be the same if our shared history went a different way. We gained and lost half the world, so it all blurs out to a point.

      Reply

      1. “too full not to fight back” is hilarious!
        England made it to the knockout round. Our pitiful group couldn’t manage that. Ay their good fortune continue!

        Reply

  4. Aw, Spit! …. or was it Spew. I think I’m close to running a close second to Hocky on the random draw thingy.
    Nice end to a sh#tty week as I got my first dose of Covid, and it wasn’t pretty. Uuugh

    Reply

    1. Yo’ Stu-B, kudos on the “RNG” draw. I anticipated being selected because I commented on the “WOT” with essays of nearly 1,000 words. But, size did not matter. Enjoy your “S.P.E.W.”

      In March of this year, the custom knife world said good-bye to “Hanford Miller, MS/ABS”. The recent passing of Steve Dunn brought this moment to my mind. “Hanford” was a long time friend of Bill Moran. He lived in Randallstown, Maryland; and, around 1976 he moved to Colorado. He was a long-serving Treasurer for the “ABS”(American Bladesmith Society). Bill and he were of the same mindset on a number of topics. “Hanford” forged his knives, usually BIG knives like bowies and camp knives, in the style of Bill Moran. My good friend and bladesmith, Aubrey G. Barnes MS/ABS, had the privilege of knowing “Hanford” who crafted his first knife circa 1968. “Barney” told me stories about the tight bond of friendship between the two men which endured until Bill’s death in February 2006. Bill Moran’s “100th” birthday occurs on May 1, 2025. “Hanford Miller” was 86 years of age at his passing. I did some calculations on “How old were these celebrated knifemakers when I first met Bill Moran in 1968 . . .?” Bill was “43”; and, Hanford was “30”; and, I was “15.5”, or thereabouts. I wish I had a time machine.

      Reply

  5. Congrats on being drawn Stuart!

    Nobody does fireworks like the USA, we flew into Kona one New Year’s Eve, spectacular. The parade the next was so cool too, when it is time to celebrate there is no halfway.

    Hope you all had fun, I know you did Clay!

    That dog meme is so true, and no doubt the Mememaster had to hold back on the political ones.

    Have a great weekend everyone, I’m going salmon fishing Northwestern coast of B.C., heat wave hitting us so the fish might not be on the bite as much. Going drift fishing on the river one day, never tried it so this should be fun.

    Reply

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