It's All in the Eye of the Beholder

I learned (again) that I would rather look at a sunset than an egg.

I made a new kinda egg dish

+





I dont have a camera so I cant take a picture..but I took an egg and was frying it...like a regular fried egg.....about half way through cooking it I scrambled it..just stired it around a bit....so you get the best of both worlds...scrambled fried egg!
put it on a plate of grits and bacon with toast and coffee.....umm umm good

Enjoy!!!

www.dictionary.com

look up: hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophoba

Amy Girl: Famous Like Her Dad

Today, while perusing the weekly Best Buy ad, I learned that our own Amy GIrl is apparently posing with a man of Asian descent to sell Dell laptop computers. I do not know who this man is (the song "Secret Asian Man" comes to mind) - nor do I know why the family was not told about Amy Girl's new modeling career.

December Cousin Coundown on Blog Food!

What goes up...

Today Ribhard learned that, while the famous maxim "What goes up must come down" is often true, the converse is not necessarily so. Ribhard backed the car out of the garage and DOWN the driveway and drove out in the snowstorm to get logs for the fireplace. He had more trouble getting back UP the driveway so left the car parked in the culdesac. You'll notice in this picture that a couple of our fellow neighbors were those overacheiver-types who actually shoveled instead of waiting for some sun and a little melting - ok, we need a lot of melting this time.

boiled peanuts

boiled peanuts

first you nee to buy some "Raw" peanuts still in the shell......these are sometimes sold or called raw or green peanuts at Wal-Mart, Kroger's, Sams, Publix, Safeway, Albertsons, or etc.....most people that work in grocery stores outside of the south don't have a clue what raw or green peanuts are..much less boiled peanuts.........so just make sure they ain't roasted or salted or cooked peanuts when you buy them to boil. (I mean don't buy any like you get at baseball, football, or basketball games already salted and roasted....understand?)

put two pounds of raw peanuts still in the shell in a 3 quart pot and let them soak over night....(or what ever amount of peanuts will fit in whatever size your cooking pot is..it ain't that important..just make sure the peanuts are covered with water .)

after soaking all night...........cook on low heat.......kinda like a simmer for about maybe 3 - 4 hours...start off with the peanuts just covered with water (they may still be floating even after soaking all night but will cook down in the water in a little while) ..sprinkle half cup of salt over the peanuts and stir them occasionally......peanuts will absorb water so you need to keep adding water from time to time and also keep adding salt as you cook too.....after about 2 - 3 hours taste a peanut....when it is done it will be firm but not MUSHY...do not over cook.....when they get just right you can take them out of the water and eat them hot. You can also save the juice and keep some peanuts in that for later. if you let them sit in the juice they will absorb more liquid and be saltier..which could even make them better...........depends on your tastes........Boiled peanuts can be kept in the ice box for several days in an airtight tupper ware type container....or plastic zip lock bag........you can also drain them and freeze them if absolutely necessary..like if you were going on a car trip (or flying ) to parts of the country (North of Georgia and.or west of Mississippi) unfamiliar with boiled peanuts.

You can make them Cajun style too...just add jalapeño peppers and/or some Frank's Red Hot and/or Tabasco the last 1/2 or 45 mins of cooking...the peanuts will soak up the flavor.

Yard Sale Must Go On!

Today I learned that nothing - not even murder - can stop a good yard sale in Gylfport. I offer excerpts from today's Gabber front page story:
Murder, Sling Blade-Style
Confession, and a Yard Sale
Donald Price, 52 was Murdered on Saturday
In a phone call reminiscent of Karl Childers confession at the end of Sling Blade, Gulfport resident Riley Bryan, 67, called 911 just before 9 o’clock Saturday night and told operators he had shot his roommate, Donald Price, 52.
Bryan fatally shot Price in the head in the presence of Susan Vinson, who identified herself as Price’s wife, and Bryan’s brother, Carter Bryan. Witnesses say that the two disagreed and Bryan got a gun and started shooting.
Neither the witnesses nor Bryan will tell police the subject of the roommates’ disagreement.
“We’re getting different stories. The only person who knows for sure what the argument about would be Riley and he’s not talking,” Interim Chief of Police Howard Coombs told The Gabber.
This murder breaks Gulfport’s six-year run without any murders. The last murder, in 2003, resulted from two men arguing over a pocketknife in the Arts District. One man shot and killed the other as a result of this spirited disagreement.
Following Saturday night’s shooting the Bryan residence participated in the citywide yard sale Sunday morning, police say.•••
Aug reports that neighbor Randy checked out the yard sale. The widow explained she had to get rid of her husband's items (sad memories). Word is there were some killer deals.

Penguins Unite!

Today, I learned there was a place for me on Polvo'd's bus - well, maybe at the back of the bus. Check out this description of the slow-running movement that John Bingham, head penguin, is credited with starting.
In the running lexicon, the word "Penguin" has come to mean a person who runs more for the joy of running than for recognition and public rewards. Some of us are perpetual Penguins. We are consumed by the pleasure of movement.
Other Penguins find their joy in the challenge of reaching their own potential, whatever that is. For some it has meant running the Boston Marathon, the only U.S. marathon that has qualifying standards. For others, it has meant finding an independence and freedom in their daily runs that expands their limits.
Can there be such a thing, then, as a Penguin athlete? Or an athletic Penguin? Can people who are fighting to lose thirty or forty pounds be athletes? Of course they can! Can people who have waited until their forties to become physically active be athletes? You bet. Can people who finish last in a race be athletes? Yes, they can. And yes, they are.

Editor's Note

Reminder: This Blog is entitled "Stuff We Learnt Today" - this blog is NOT "Stuff We Learnt Last Week", that is another blog.

I learnt last week............

there is a reason the dollar store sells oven cleaner for a dollar a can and King Sooper sells it for $6 a can...I messed around trying to clean an oven for 5 hours with the dollar stuff...and ended up getting the real Easy Off and doing the job in about 1/2 hour. This is one of several thing I have found is not a good deal at the dollar store...however the good out weighs the bad down there...and it is next to the ARC..so I will continue to shop the dollar store...selectively.

It's strange-basketball-player-story-Friday!

On Horseback with Nash:

On horseback a young Dirk Nowitzki races teammate Steve Nash down a thin strip of floury sand along the lapping shallows of some sub-tropical sea, the duo’s long hair flapping like matched manes in the wind.

Dirk is clumsy on horseback, Nash skillful. Waiting at the finish line, Nash joshes his friend:

“Howdy,” he says, doffing an invisible Stetson as Dirk’s steed lumbers over the snapped tape.

Dirk chuckles, executes an ungainly dismount. A breeze flutters their similar white riding shirts.

“Steve,” Dirk says later, the two of them sipping electric-blue drinks through complexly-looped pink straws, their horses happily gamboling a little ways down the beach. “What could be better than this, Steve? We’ve got the whole world, don’t we?”

Nash stares out at the giant red sun, dipping into the Pacific.

“Steve?”

Quick Hits ....

www.e-mancipate.net -- yes? no?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/24/swedish_shortage/ - Come again?

Recipe for a Great Birthday...

...a little quikrete, a dash of prestone, some red wine (of course), AND a little HUMPTY (feltch, that is)! Happy Birthday, Ribhard!

Birthday Toast to Abbzug

Happy Birthday, Abbzug!
(one day late, but that's how I roll)
Hope it was great!
Everyone, let's just continue to join Abbzug in a week-long birthday glass of wine...

is america great or what?

September 27, 2009
The Net Gun

The Net-2000 Shooting Net Rod uses compressed air to launch a 52 square foot net at criminals, friends, or animals. The net can travels approximately 50 feet, so you can be a safe distance away out of stabbing range anyway and still use the device. They sell for $419, but the net can be reinserted into the device and fired repeatedly, so it's got lots of replay value.
This is probably safer than a Taser Device, but more bulky to carry.
See the You-Tube Video below.....



YouTube Video: Non Lethal Weapon :net gun, CatchingNet, security net launcher (the net gun)

How many red flags can you count in this story?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33000786

Monkey Face Spider revisited

Last weekend, we had the pleasure of visiting Abbzug and Leopold in their natural habitat. While we proclaimed our interest in visiting them and their newly remodeled home "on our way to a conference" the next day, our hosts were suspicious. Within the first half hour, our astute hosts accused us of having an ulterior motive: a glimpse of the famous, rare "monkey faced spider" (See WTF blog entry, Aug 22). Apparently, the Professor and Ginger are even smarter than they might first appear. In any event, after touring the house (excellent craftsmanship and even more beautiful than pictured in the Woodford Project blog), we proceeded to a tour of the grounds where we managed to snap a picture of the afore-mentioned spider with a telephoto lens. This high tech equipment revealed the reason for the nickname. Double click the photo, and you will understand why this phenomenon was truly worth the 2 hour (or in our case 4 hour) trip.

Fun story on NPR today!!!

http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=113055346&m=113062224


September 22, 2009 - TERRY GROSS, host:

This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross.

When the economy was on the verge of collapse in 2008, my guest, Matt Latimer, was one of the president's speechwriters, assigned to write a speech for Bush announcing his plan to deal with the crisis. It was, as you can imagine, one of Latimer's toughest assignments.

Matt Latimer dreamed of writing speeches for an American president, but when he got that chance with President Bush, it left him cynical and disillusioned. Latimer has written a memoir called "Speech-less: Tales of a White House Survivor."

It tells a story of how the son of two liberal schoolteachers became a conservative, worked on Capitol Hill, served three years as the chief speechwriter for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and went on to become the deputy director of speechwriting for President Bush. Several quotes from the book have already made news.

chicharrones de harina

Chicharrones de Harina

We picked up Chicharrones de Harina at the latin grocery store the other day on the way to Ft. Collins. We called team Ft. Collins to find out exactly what we were buying while at the store (no one spoke English at the grocery store) but the combination of my mobile virgin constant phone static and my inability to read spanish words proved to be a barrier. I have googled them now and find they are made with rendered pork fat and flour apparently. Plou and I have both enjoyed them.....I with Valentina Salsa Picannte Mexican hot sauce extra hot (have you tried the sauce? very good!) and she plain. Have any of yall tried this food ? Just wondering.

The people of walmart

click here daily for a good laugh....

http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/

fun tee shirts

learned what it looks like .........

to see a very tall man sleeping on a sorry ass blow up bed that deflates halfway down and he puts pillows under the sorry ass blow up bed to try and sleep............and would probably be better off sleeping on the floor.

Ready to Ride

Stephany and Zoolander ready to leave from Colorado Springs to Reno!

How Bizarre, how bizarre...

Yea, so Ribhard actually awoke from a nap the other day singing in key while still half asleep, "Every time I look around, every time I look around..."

How Bizarre How Bizarre

Once you get a funky song stuck in your head..you cannot get it out..you start humming it...singing it...thinking about it...looking up Indonesian Youtube versions..lyrics.......till it runs it's course and weeks later slowly fades....

WTF

Part of me wants to kill it and the other part kind of wants to name it. It is fucking huge, and it is eating stray cats and taking hostages in the corner of our patio. Can you see its fangs? (it's upside down)

Alarming News!!!

As you know, the mighty WindStar van died a few months ago....so we bought this old 98 Subaru Outback a few weeks back. We now have matching old blue subbys. The car came with a keyless entry alarm system. This was all well and good until the alarm began to go off at odd hours....like 2 AM in the morning outside my bedroom window...at the Lowe's parking lot...and sitting in the parking lot at school. I called the local Subaru dealer to see how much it would cost to kill it. They said maybe free and maybe $100....they would need to examine the situation. So I hopped my fat ass down there and slid into the service lane. The service writer...who honest to god looked like Alfred E. {what me worry?) Neuman listens to my tale of woe, calls the service department and Jimmy says it will be a few hours and maybe $210. I did opine that was a bullshit price and burned rubber leaving the service bay. Drove over to the Sound Advice place at Uintah and Circle....Johnny said $50 and will take about an hour. I shook on the deal...walked across the road and strolled up and down the aisles of Cheers Liquor Store....a delightful store with many many types of alcohol. Thought about Valencia and her no pocketbook story....which incidentally made the Gazette the other day.............a tale that needs to be discussed on the blog....anyway..I now have Merlot (5 ltr $12.00 box) and no alarm going off. Life if good.

no mo sticky mess

Dear Heloise
The cup that comes with the liquid laundry detergent was always a complete sticky mess. I found that if I throw it in with my load of laundry, it gets cleaned with the load. I just need to be sure not to throw it in the dryer. Now my loads are fresh and my cup is free of the sticky mess.
John J. Garland, Flowermound, TX

Stool Transplant

Was reading the Wall Street Journal about a medical condition called - Clostridium Defficile or “C.Diff” - it occurs when you've been exposed to "Broad spectrum" antibiotics during a surgery, or to fight off an extreme infection. Essentially, the antibiotics do an excellent job killing the bacteria - but they also end up killing the "good" bacteria in your stomach - which leads to the aforementioned condition.

Anyway in the article it said that lab-mice had "Coprophagia" or "coprophagous"  tendencies which is defined as the act of, or desire to, "eat dung" and they found that in mice that had C.Diff - if they ate "dung" - it in turn replenished their stomachs with the "good bacteria" - thus eliminating C. Diff.

The article continued in 2003 "...18 patients over a nine-year period who had recurrent C.diff and had "stool transplants" performed -- i.e. where doctors took "stool" from a person close to the patient, such as a spouse, and inserted it through a tube into the patient’s nose and from there to the stomach. The study found 15 patients had no more recurrences, Two patients died of unrelated illnesses and one patient had a single recurrence of C.diff after the "stool transplant"

I'll open this one up for comments...

An Afternoon in Flowermound

An Afternoon of Teabagging
The Flower Mound Library will host a class from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, September 19that will teach participants about the art of teabagging. Dan the Man Fuller, author of Teabagging Time Entertaining, will discuss his/her book about the history of afternoon teabagging, teabagging etiquette, teabagging types, traditional teabagging menus, new ways with teabagging, and holiday and special occasion theme teabagging. Dan has written many articles for newspapers and magazines including Victoria Magazine, Texas Runners and The Saturday Evening Post.

Christmas In July...

Announcement: Baybo gets Boan a new puppy!!!!

Heard that Baybo tripped over it recently -- Hope your ankle heals soon! Anyway - I couldn't figure out how to embed the movie they sent but here's the link...

http://www.warmandfuzzyfeeling.com/

News From the Villiage ....

Yet "Another" reason not to move to Florida ...



http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20090809/NEWS01/908090319/-1/SEVENDAYS

Brief thoughts from a public bathroom

So I am standing at a urinal in KC yesterday. I look down and see the brand name of the automatic flusher: "Toto". And I am thinking to myself is this ironic or what...my first thought was "Toto we are not in Kansas anymore"..followed quickly by "Toto we are in Kansas".

I wonder if the people that spec'd,bought, and installed the flushers were slightly influenced by the brand name Toto? I am thinking that in Kansas, brands like Kohler, Sloan, Moen, or American Standard didn't have a chance.

These are thoughts that flush through ones mind as one stands at a urinal with time on ones hands.

The old fashion ways........

I was talking to my youngest daughter the other day....I asked her if they use a Garmin or Tom Tom...she said no "We do it the old fashion way......we GOOGLE"

I am thinking time sure flies by when you get older.

pork rinds vs msg

I was talking to boan about MSG...and so I am looking at stuff in my food...and as I was eating pork rinds out in front of Publix tonight...I checked the list..." pork rinds and salt" were then only ingredients in the bag............I feel better already.

Pop Quiz

Please use a #2 pencil, and no cheating.

1. Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?

2. How important does a person have to be before they are considered "assassinated" instead of just "murdered"?

3. If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about him?

4. If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why can't he fix a hole in a boat?

5. What color does a smurf turn if you choke him??

Stuck with the Evidence

...yea, so we've been cleaning out the house this summer - motivated by some rat-capades and the growing realization that we now have too much crap in two houses. Anyway, Ribhard has beseeched me not to buy any more bottled glue, glue sticks, or tape products. I do have a tendancy to stock up on some things (see hairclips, writing pens), often underestimating the stock I have at home when distractd by the glitz of a new item on the store shelf. We all know Ribhard to be a patient and mild-mannered soul ("the zen master", as Valencia calls him), so, whenever he beseeches me, I have to figure it's pretty serious. This morning he offered this evidence after cleaning out the laundry room drawers and pantry.

you can spend a thousand dollars, have 7 people out to see where a rat is getting in your house...and still be no better off than the day the rats arrived. We have, however, cleaned up about 20 boxes of attic stuff we didn't need and have gotten rid of now...so I guess we are making progress....wish barry was here to help me with home depot runs.....speaking of which...I now am the proud owner of a fine set of knee pads!

Email Fodder

posted an email I received in the comments section because it was too long... some good ones though...

The Sausage Kingdom - really?

"When searching for something to do other than what needs to be done" (c) I stumbled upon www.vicmiller.com and found it "oddly" fitting for a man I know with a "similar" name ... especially after I noticed I could move the mouse around the room and click on the microwave (try it with sound) ... now I'm just not sure what to make of this find.

I guess sometimes it's better to do what needs to be done rather than searching for anything butt?

the woodford project

in times when you are searching for something to do other than what needs to be done, leopold and i bought ourselves a green fixer upper in old town fort collins, whose listing read "could benefit nicely from complete renovation", and so i decided today, while searching for something to do other than what needs to be done, that i should most definitely blog about our forthcoming trials and tribulations with said shelter, so check it out (if you find yourself in the aforementioned position, with nothing to do but avoid doing what you should be doing), and of course feel free to comment, lend advice, borrow witty quotes, or leave something of value.

www.thewoodfordproject.blogspot.com

happy four oh!

Uh oh Abbzug, watch your back

Although, me thinks you wrote the first review.

http://ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=1212247

Go green: go crotchless!

No need to throw away those old undies. Tough economic times + a national obsession with going green = new wardrobe essential! I snuck this picture of Baybo on the street in Gulfport. (yea, that's me behind him.) Retirement means being on a "fuxed income", and you know how Baybo likes his tank tops! Looks like the biceps could use a workout.

So much stuff to buy...so little time

Inflatable Limbo Kit

You know, for those times when you really want to limbo at the beach but don't have time to put the stands and the bamboo pole in the car..............

Is America Great or What?

Nifty Lifty™ Benefits...

Sanitary.

Easy to grip.

Easier to lift & lower the toilet seat.

Easy to use at any age.

Encourages lifting & lowering.

Specially contoured.

http://www.niftylifty.com/product.html

Easy like sunday morning

Can't beat a nice morning breakfast outside on the little terrace, gentle breeze, big paper, eggs, grits, toast, bacon, coffee, and milk

when there is no underbrush; the tree looks taller?

Guys...tell me this is a joke: I mean can this actually be for real? I was Googling for an academic site and found this: Gillette wants men to shave their balls?
I immediatley thought WTF? Apparently their rationale is: "When there is no underbrush... the tree looks taller?!" Tell me this is not for real:

Would make sense ...

I think the worst time to have a heart attack is during a game of charades...

Happy Birthday, Boan!: One Cool Cat

According to the May issue of Oprah, Boan is "one cool cat". (See headlines on left.)
Happy Birthday to Boan, one cool cat!

Ode to Patty Lou

"I Never Thought I'd See The Day" sung in the tune of Sade

You (Patty) shed a shaddow on my(me-Stephany) life
Shed a shaddow on a love
Took the shelter out of my life
Took the shelter of a lie
I couldn't see it in your restless eyes
The truth I was hiding
The truth you could not disguise
But I never thought I'd see the day
I knew I'd need a miracle to make you say..... :

Told ya you would love having a pedicure done! (these words coming from P-Lou)

Had my first pedi & mani done this past weekend and really enjoyed it...a little tickle here and there...but I had to let Patty know she was right, they are fun!

One smooth ride....

The "Valencia"
MSRP $749.99 *

Description: Whether your course includes the quad or Broadway, The Valencia can take it on. You mix puncture deflecting Bontrager Hardcase tires, disc brakes, and curb-proof double wall rims and you’ve got one functional two wheeled there-and-back machine. Trek designed The Valencia to adapt to how and where you want to ride.

http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/urban/valencia/valencia/

take time to smell the roses.........

I walked to Albertsons today...past a Karate school....which offered "Submissive Grappling" classes...and past a Physical Therapy place that gives "folk style" wrestling classes..I have never heard of either of these classes...but I am guessing they will use a lot of calories.......like swimming and whiffle ball.......so it pays to walk places and see what is out there sometimes.

Happy Birthday, Beanie!

Twitter?

ok so how many of you are doing twitter, face place, and my space...or whatever that is.........