Thursday, December 29, 2005
New Moon
It is new moon time! I mentioned how I found the moon interesting when it was all black in a post twenty eight days ago. I seem to have better feelings during this time of the month (the good side of my cycle I guess). I hope you folks are having a good new moon!
It is a good day to be alive and not make matters worse.
Monday, December 26, 2005
Soldier Age Issue
I heard this on NPR about the age of our fighting forces in Iraq compaired to other wars. Soldiers in other wars were 18 and 19 years of age who did not have spouses and kids. The folks we are losing in Iraq are established in their communities and have many connections that are broken when they meet God. It always stinks to lose anyone to death (young or old), but when a teacher gets a road side bomb all the kids he taught feel the pain. It really hurts my heart to think about this subject being the bastardized family man that I am.
I had a great Christmas here and I hope you all did the same.
I had a great Christmas here and I hope you all did the same.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Christmas Loaf
Tonight I had a good visit with my wife. We were looking to cook something because we were hungry. We had two pounds of ground turkey and about half a pound of Tennessee Pride sausage left over from a breakfast feast. My wife said, "see if you find a recipe for anything using the two meats on the internets". When I entered sausage and turkey I kept getting a million ways to make sausage from turkey but no combined dish. I do not normally try to talk food, I leave that to Red Molly who has some awesome culinary advice over at Blue Page Special as well as some good blue American politics.
Mountain Girl and I started discussing the possibility of making a meat loaf using the meat items we had. I told her a tomato base was out of the question, and I would try to build a white gravy to season and top the meat.
When we assembled in the kitchen, I broke off a chunk of sausage and threw it in a sauce pan and started to fry it for its drippings to create a rue for gravy. I cooked it down and had less than a tablespoon of pig fat so I added a little butter and browned it with the meat still in. Then I added a few dashes of flour and browned it well. I then added about one cup of milk stirring all the time until I had a good salty white gravy. Then we scrounged the cream of mushroom soup from our cabinet. I put half the can in with the gravy and added another cup of milk and salt. It tasted good like it was. With a few more chunks of sausage and more milk we could have stopped there and had soup and crackers. I am glad we pressed toward the goal!
Good wife was working on the meat mix she chopped half an apple (skin on), a couple of sticks of celery, a quarter of an onion, a few crunched pecans and placed them in the ugly transluscent white meat with the rest of the raw sausage. Then we found a quarter of a can of bread crumbs and about twenty cracker squares for the loaf. She added two whole eggs for the binding. We added the other half of our mushroom canned soup and a half a can of water. She mixed it with her hands, shaped it into a loaf shape, and fit it in the loaf pan. We then put about five tablespoons of the mushroom/sausage gravy on top and smoothed it even.
Our oven was a hot 400 degrees and we left it in for about one hour. We whipped up some mashed taters and corn for side dishes. The loaf was perfectly moist but we used the mushroom/sausage gravy sauce on the meat-loaf and some on the taters.
The taste was like Thanksgiving in a loaf. The sage in the Tennessee Pride sausage gave a dressing flavor that one expects at Thanksgiving. The turkey spoke for itself and the gravy had that dry mush-roomy taste of giblets. If we had some dried cranberrys to add to this loaf before cooking it would have been perfection.
It was actually perfect because it was made with love and creativity that our union brings to our lives and it did not make matters worse.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Tacky Tune Tuesday
I used this tune before but that time it was the muppets. This time the joke is on our beloved country.
Monday, December 19, 2005
Genetics of the Obvious
My parents R.I.P.Man do I have too much on my mind! Forgive me, as I post in my haphazard way these thoughts and experiences.
My son and his son birthday zeroI spoke with my twenty one year old son this weekend and found that he is truly my son. I did not get to know he was my son until he was fifteen years old (long story). Genetics have a funny way about them that one can never learn from a book. His observations of his grief are so similar to my own it is a mirror made of flesh and bone. I love his charm…the charm my father had. His mannerisms are like my fathers other sons that I do not share a mother with. I told him that I felt he was lucky to get this dose of eye opening character building grief while he is young enough to benefit from it. Me on the other hand had lived a Donnareedism white boy sort of a life until I reached my mid thirties. It is too late for me to use my character building grief for anything good this late in the game of life. Or maybe not who can say? I chuckled when my son spoke of his allergy to hard liquor and the rash of handcuffs that follow his consumption. His little baby-making wife has let him down and took their boy out of his sight to live with a middle-aged man she is using to finance her procreation agenda. His funny observations of relationships and darkness with a whistle of light-hearted dismay make me proud to know him. His name is Joshua and his sons name is Wesley and I have faith that their genetics will bond them some day too. No matter what goes astray in this world it will settle like water in gravity and God’s time. He relayed to me that his ex-wife still comes around for some of his body while calling him from her sugar daddy’s home phone late at night to talk dirty. He calls this his “walk of shame”. I told him to only have his crotch banged and not his mind if he must play in that game. He says some woman wants to take him to Disneyworld for Christmas to visit her family timeshare condo. He also said a funny thing about that plan that gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. He said, “Dad, you know how you see people on top of the world and they are just coming out of the Super bowl game saying ye haw now we are going to Disneyland? He went on to say, “Well it is kind of like that, my life is all fucked up and I am going to Disneyworld ye haw”. I told him I loved him and I am proud to know him. I begged him to not let the bitterness of relationships snuff his fire for life. We all have our agenda and it is nothing personal when someone kicks you around some emotionally to settle their nest.
Me and my grandson eight months laterThere is so much spirit in my heart about family and what it means to me I want to explode today. I have become a crass and common man in my cold heart about many things the past few years, but I think I am on the thaw.
I see an emotional void closing with my daughters. The possibilities with this blending family and the impossibilities are daunting. I am learning and building character that I may never get to use before I die, but at least I am enjoying the ride. I do hope that time will cure a family cursed by multiple divorces and selfish survival methods while I try to not make matters worse.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Purple Dick
(That will get me some porn traffic)
I really get down in the winter.
The sun seems so far away this close to the solstice.
I miss the sun in my marrow.
The sun will come back.
Success will come back.
“I am as mean as ever”, I tell my kids. They say, “You are not mean dad”. They don’t know that I am referring to the median or average. I miss my children. I feel as if I failed them.
Justice has a price tag, you get as much as you can pay for in family court, just like all the other courts of my day.
I know, I know just shut up and send your money you self-pitying deadbeat dad.
“It don’t leave me enough to survive”, I say.
“Be a man and live up to your commitments”, they say.
“Manipulate and condescend me more”, I retort.
In the nativity set my eye always finds Joseph who don’t have a statue in the churchyard crying blood. He must have had the faith of ten thousand Pat Robertson types. Mary never sued for child support or manipulated God for 32% of his gross pre-tax income equating to 50% of his take home.
I know I know I am a privileged white man. I have oppressed women, kept slaves and killed natives for land. I don’t remember it, but I did, just ask everyone they would set you straight. I must have spent the bounty in my sleep last night.
I am the same color as Dick Cheney…dag-nabb-it!
So now I am a dick colored, self-pitying, deadbeat dad…mean as ever.
Did I mention winter gets me down?
I really get down in the winter.
The sun seems so far away this close to the solstice.
I miss the sun in my marrow.
The sun will come back.
Success will come back.
“I am as mean as ever”, I tell my kids. They say, “You are not mean dad”. They don’t know that I am referring to the median or average. I miss my children. I feel as if I failed them.
Justice has a price tag, you get as much as you can pay for in family court, just like all the other courts of my day.
I know, I know just shut up and send your money you self-pitying deadbeat dad.
“It don’t leave me enough to survive”, I say.
“Be a man and live up to your commitments”, they say.
“Manipulate and condescend me more”, I retort.
In the nativity set my eye always finds Joseph who don’t have a statue in the churchyard crying blood. He must have had the faith of ten thousand Pat Robertson types. Mary never sued for child support or manipulated God for 32% of his gross pre-tax income equating to 50% of his take home.
I know I know I am a privileged white man. I have oppressed women, kept slaves and killed natives for land. I don’t remember it, but I did, just ask everyone they would set you straight. I must have spent the bounty in my sleep last night.
I am the same color as Dick Cheney…dag-nabb-it!
So now I am a dick colored, self-pitying, deadbeat dad…mean as ever.
Did I mention winter gets me down?
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Tacky Tune Tuesday Today
I can't provide you an embeded video player on this one today, but I promise it is worth a click or two. You may have to click on the video if it will not autoplay once you are on the following page link.
Sarah Silverman has made a video asking Santa to "Bring the Jew Girl toys" since he has nothing to do with Christ anyway. She says what would Jesus do? He would give the Jew girl toys!
You must like this chick as she makes her case for what matters to her in her funny way!
Monday, December 12, 2005
Whacky News
I was shocked to read someone has slandered my good blogger name! The article states I am a closet Republican. I wish now I could get one of thoes Cheney contracts where I did not have to do any work except cash the checks and hire high end lawyers to thwart the indictments.
Being rich the wrong way is a matter for the worst.
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Careful with your words Mr. President
If this story is true our President is treading on the dangerous ground of treason.
GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the (Patriot) act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.
“I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”
“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”
“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!"
I hope he and his remember that money is just paper too. Ignoring what it means is what makes matters worse.
Special thanks to: Not in My Bible for the link and Juliepatchouli for the image.
Friday, December 09, 2005
Blog of Doom
The news is getting better each day. I am not going to go into how our government is selling us out and stealing today. I don't need to, there are enough weird signs everywhere.
Chicken little said the sky is falling! The new film from Disney seems paradoxical with other news to me.
An asteroid called Apophis could hit Earth in 31 years time. We have volcanos spewing ash in Mexico and Vanuatu (never even heard of this place) at the present day. Ice is melting in Greenland. After all this good stuff, I hear the north magnetic pole is shifting quickly.
Oh well...I have a dear friend in who says there is a beer with my name on it (at his cost) and that can't worsen a thing that matters to me.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Lazy Blogger
I have been working on my template the past day or so. Working a few moments at a time as I get time.
I wanted a unique little icon for the address bar and I have been viewing source codes of other sites and reading tips from websites about code. So my time to just express myself has been pushed to the wayside. I have designed many icons for my own use over the years and I have been noticing how the address bar for many sites have the little icon starters in the address bar. I just had to do it...loving the pixel as I do. You should see in the address bar a little red, white and blue lighting bolt like below except much smaller, let me know if you don't
I am taking the upgrade test on the 20th for my job with the city and it also has me reading more than writing. It will place me in the running for future advancement to go ahead and take the test. It is much like a general contractors test with areas covering construction, plumbing, HVAC and electrical. So I have been trying to brush up on my terms of communication for the trades. Expansion valves, expansion joints, balloon framing, GFI breakers, sole plates, cripple headers, footers, platform framing, back flow preventer, sill plates, MC cable, street elbows, king studs, regulators, contactors, run capacitors, ballast, start capacitors, 480 three phase, perlins, rafters, beams, hips, birdmouths and about a thousand more words are streaming through my brain so forgive me for my weirdness.
As always working to not make matters worse.
I wanted a unique little icon for the address bar and I have been viewing source codes of other sites and reading tips from websites about code. So my time to just express myself has been pushed to the wayside. I have designed many icons for my own use over the years and I have been noticing how the address bar for many sites have the little icon starters in the address bar. I just had to do it...loving the pixel as I do. You should see in the address bar a little red, white and blue lighting bolt like below except much smaller, let me know if you don't
I am taking the upgrade test on the 20th for my job with the city and it also has me reading more than writing. It will place me in the running for future advancement to go ahead and take the test. It is much like a general contractors test with areas covering construction, plumbing, HVAC and electrical. So I have been trying to brush up on my terms of communication for the trades. Expansion valves, expansion joints, balloon framing, GFI breakers, sole plates, cripple headers, footers, platform framing, back flow preventer, sill plates, MC cable, street elbows, king studs, regulators, contactors, run capacitors, ballast, start capacitors, 480 three phase, perlins, rafters, beams, hips, birdmouths and about a thousand more words are streaming through my brain so forgive me for my weirdness.
As always working to not make matters worse.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Twisted Tune Tuesday
This is a twisted love song with a bright darkness that makes matters none the worse.
Monday, December 05, 2005
Everything is Fine
Hey Now! I feel much better after our President said that things were strong in the economy today in a visit to North Carolina.
"This economy is strong and the best days are yet to come for the American economy," Bush said.
Lets all go to the Wal-Mart and charge up the credit cards! I wish I lived in the same country he does.
Now in the mean time if I could afford my health insurance, utilities, food, children and rent all at the same time. I hope the best is yet to come! That would not make matters worse.
"This economy is strong and the best days are yet to come for the American economy," Bush said.
Lets all go to the Wal-Mart and charge up the credit cards! I wish I lived in the same country he does.
Now in the mean time if I could afford my health insurance, utilities, food, children and rent all at the same time. I hope the best is yet to come! That would not make matters worse.
Sunday, December 04, 2005
You Better Dodge
This is my new $500.00 truck. I unwrinkled the front end and removed the stock bumper because I could do nothing with the way it was twisted. I glued the plastic parts and installed new headlamps, repaired their mounting brackets and painted the plastic with some stove paint. I procured a piece of ¼ inch thick by 5 inch steel angle stock and placed it as a bump bar. The steel is so solid if you see me skidding up behind you in this truck the best thing to do is dodge. This would open a car up like a can of tuna. I think the name plate has a double meaning as a noun and a verb.
I am trying to do the best thing I can with what I have to work with; not trying to make matters worse.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Crazy World
The other side of the moon...since the moon rotates one timefor every orbit around the earth we always see the same side
from here. This is what the moon looks like on the other side
while a new moon is seen from here. This ain't a single photo,
it is a collection of orbit photos pasted together...pretty cool!
We are living in some crazy times! I noticed the news is weird on this new moon.
The Pope has been asked to revise limbo.
The President is called to jury duty (heck I thought he was judging the whole world without having to consult eleven other peers). He even almost admits making a bad call.
The White House is concerned about fabricating news to Iraq's people.
All the American car makers are belly up and even more job cuts are possible.
Katrina survivors have to pay rent for homes they can't live in.
Our Allies in the War want to go home.
Doctor does a face transplant.
I guess repeating the news can't make matters...you know, worse.
