- My coffee maker started leaking all over the counter this morning, so no coffee. I’m also out of soda and caffeinated tea, so no other source of caffeine for me. Yeah, the kids are safe, thanks for asking.
- For dinner tonight, I made homemade vegetable beef soup in the crock pot, fresh bread in the bread maker, and strawberry rhubarb cobbler. Just about everything but the meat in the soup came from the garden, as did the fruit in the cobbler. All of it was delicious.
- The look on the neighbor’s face when I went out to the landscaping and started cutting out pieces of what he thought was an ornamental so that I could make dessert with it was priceless. I had to explain rhubarb to him.
- Yes, we landscape with food. Strawberries and pumpkins make better ground cover than petunias, and rhubarb grows big and bushy here. All of our fruit trees are dwarfs that blend in with the flowers quite well, and our garden beds double as retaining walls.
- Warm cobbler with vanilla ice cream may very well be the food of the gods.
- Girlie Bear made an outstanding open field tackle this evening when Bluegrass slipped her leash and made a run for the border. I may have to sign her up for powder puff football this fall.
- It is sometimes difficult to explain the concept of fast drying plaster of Paris to a four-year old, especially when you’re trying to get him to press his hands into it before it gets rock hard.
All posts by daddybear71
Thoughts on the Day
Posted by daddybear71 on August 6, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/06/thoughts-on-the-day-42/
News Roundup
- From the “Thuggery” Department – The Justice Department announced today that Gibson Guitars would be allowed to pay a $300,000 bribe, I mean, fine, plus a $50,000 kicker to a conservation fund, to make the investigation into whether or not it preferred to have American workers finish the wood in some of its guitar pieces disappear. Justice Department spokesman Carmine “Knuckles” Maldorone is reported to have said about the deal “We told Gibson they had a nice place, and that we would hate for someone to shut them down. Eventually we were able to come to a mutually beneficial agreement. They give us the money and admit that they could have done more to make sure that American craftsmen didn’t get the jobs, and we agree to stop leaning on them so hard.” No word yet on the location of the youngest daughter of the head of Gibson Guitars, who is making wonderful progress in rehab after suffering two broken kneecaps in a lawn gnome accident.
- From the “Burn in Hell” Department – The print and broadcast media is positively frothing at the wonderful (to them) news that the alleged gunman who murdered six people at a Sikh temple in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was formerly a member of the United States Army and a skinhead. Of course, they aren’t talking much about how the moron was a piece of crap who got booted after being busted from Sergeant to Specialist for being drunk on duty, and that he’s gone from one dead-end to another for the past 14 years, and that skinhead pieces of crap aren’t welcome in the Army, but that’s to be expected. I’m sure that the next two weeks will be filled with all of the breathless reporting that they can take about this domestic terrorist who learned to kill on the taxpayer’s dime and whose head was filled with all that hate by the evil military machine. Of course, at the same time, Nidal Hasan will be sitting in a jail cell awaiting trial for an act of workplace violence and reporting about how political correctness kept him in the Army and in contact with his victims for several years will be thin on the ground.
- From the “You First” Department – Secretary of State Clinton is telling Kenya that their next election needs to be clean and fair. I’m pretty sure Mrs. Clinton knows clean and fair elections the same way the Supreme Court knows pornography: She can’t define it, but she’ll know it when she sees it. You ever notice you never hear about a Libertarian or even a Republican machine? Why is it that when you say “Boston” or “Chicago” politics, it always means dirty politics from a Democratic machine? Anyway, I hope that the Kenyans look beyond the track record of Mrs. Clinton and half-Kenyan Barack Obama and do have good elections. Someone in this world ought to.
- From the “Bad Idea” Department – Ladies, if you have overcome bulimia, it is not a good idea to shove a butter knife into your gullet to prove you don’t have a gag reflex. Hopefully, this is the lesson learned from the experience of a woman in Atlanta, who did just that and required surgery to remove the flatware. I looked at this as a case of bad luck when I first read the article, but when her husband admitted that this isn’t her first time down this particular road, I just have to assume that she’s not very bright and move on.
- From the “Pissing Contest” Department – Apple Computers is reported to be pulling the built-in YouTube app that has been on its iPhone line since the first model several years ago. Apple and Google have been sniping at each other since Google came out with a competing operating system for tablets and smart phones. Now that the YouTube app is being taken off of the default build for iOS systems, one wonders what will happen to the lucrative baby animal, drunken teenager, and moron on a skateboard video markets.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 6, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/06/news-roundup-145/
Vegetable Garden Salsa Recipe
Ingredients from the garden:
6 to 10 jalapeno chilis
3 to 5 sarano chilis
3 small green bell peppers
2 large red bell peppers
30 to 40 roma tomatoes
5 to 10 canning tomatoes (We used better boys from the garden)
1 or 2 cups of grape tomatoes
Ingredients from the store:
1 bunch celantro (about 2 loose cups)
5 cloves of garlic
2 large red onions
4 tablespoons salt
Lime juice from 4 limes
Assembly:
Wash all of the ingredients thoroughly. Remove stems and butts from the tomatoes. Remove the stems from all of the chilis and remove seeds and veins to your liking. The more seed and vein you leave in, the more heat your salsa will have. In batches, move all of the ingredients through a food processor. Use the processor to chop them to your desired chunkiness. Mix thoroughly in a LARGE container.
Makes about 15 pints of salsa. When sampled immediately after mixing, it had a nice fresh flavor with a good bit of heat. If canning, put in prepared hot canning jars and then give a water bath for 15 minutes. Will lose some of its deep red color during canning.
It’s not mild enough for Boo, but it’s not so hot that the flavors of the tomatoes and onions are overpowered. This is going to taste great when it’s cold and snowy outside and I need to taste sunshine.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 6, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/06/vegetable-garden-salsa-recipe/
30 Days of Abraham Lincoln – Day 3
Well, I wish some of you would tell me the brand of whiskey that Grant drinks. I would like to send a barrel of it to my other generals. — 1864
My Take – It’s amazing what will be overlooked and even encouraged if it’s associated with success. For me, as long as you get the job done with the time and resources you are given, I don’t care what else you do. Of course, that assumes a level of personal responsibility and trust that isn’t automatic.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 6, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/06/30-days-of-abraham-lincoln-day-3/
Penalized Pastor
A man in Arizona, who is an ordained minister in the Church of God in Christ, is in jail after authorities claim he violated probation conditions set when he was arrested for holding worship and bible study meetings at his home. Authorities claim that the issue is not that he was holding services, but that the building he was doing it in was not up to code. He continues his ministry in jail, and is giving no indication that he plans to stop when he is released.
Here’s my opinion on this:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The good pastor might be using questionable judgement about the size of the groups he worships with and the facility he is using, but to be honest, the city and state are out of line on this one. This is one of those things which they ought to stay the heck out of until someone gets hurt. Preemptively trying to shut him down, even if their intentions are purely safety oriented, is colored by a perception that they are shutting down the peaceful gathering of citizens to worship because they don’t agree with it.
Phoenix, you can’t win this one. You all ought to drop it.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 6, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/06/penalized-pastor/
In Memoriam
In memory of the six people who died while trying to worship today
Posted by daddybear71 on August 5, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/05/in-memorium-3/
Thoughts on the Weekend
- I have officially dubbed the water playground at the YMCA the “Cement Pond”.
- We need to teach Boo to swim. He’s getting very brave in the pool.
- Canning victories – bread and butter pickles and Thai chili dill pickles.
- Canning failure – chunky salsa. It turned out to be more of a mildly spicy relish. That will be for Boo or to mix into dishes that need peppers and onions.
- Next batch of salsa used a different recipe and isn’t as chunky. Initial testing indicates that it has a significantly spicier taste. It’s definitely going to be good for drinking beer and eating chips during football.
- Canning endeavors still waiting on results – Regular dill pickles, jalapeno dill pickles, and dill pickle relish. Also peach preserves, margarita strawberry jam, and blueberry jam.
- Dessert for tomorrow night might possibly be rhubarb cobbler. Our rhubarb plant is very plentiful and could use a bit of trimming.
- Why is it that I was the designated driver on Saturday night, and only drank ginger ale and ice water, and I still woke up with a hangover?
- “Honey, the car is groaning when I turn the corner” is never a good thing.
- It must have been Methamphetamine Appreciation Day at Kroger today. I’ve never seen so many people twitching, sweating, and mumbling to themselves in my life.
- Being two days into a four day weekend is kind of nice.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 5, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/05/thoughts-on-the-weekend-16/
Today’s Earworm
This is from the excellent soundtrack to Brave. Enjoy.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 5, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/05/todays-earworm-200/
Movie Review – Brave
Yesterday afternoon was hot and muggy, which to me says “Let’s stay inside.” Rather than stay home and watch human one trick ponies run around in a circle, we decided to go to a movie. After much debate and horse trading, we settled on going to see the new Pixar movie, Brave.
Brave tells the story of Merida, a medieval Scottish princess who has a hard time dropping her tomboy habits and growing up to be the future lady her mother wants her to be. When pushed to marry, she creates havoc that threatens to tear apart her father’s kingdom. In typical Disney manner, her pluck, intelligence, love, and all that come together to help her make it all right in the nick of time.
If you’ve seen The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Mulan, or any of the other Disney movies where a young girl is resisting fitting into her socially accepted role, this should all feel very familiar. That being said, the movie grabbed Girlie Bear in the first five minutes and didn’t let go until the credits were rolling, so if the target audience was girls and young woman, Pixar seems to have hit the mark.
Boo, on the other hand, lost interest about halfway through the movie. There just isn’t that much for little kids, especially young boys, in the movie that you would normally find in a Disney production. There are three young boys in the movie, but they have non-speaking roles and only serve as comic relief a few times in the movie. The movie has many funny moments, but it is the kind of humor that appealed to Irish Woman and myself, not our four year old boy. An older boy might have gotten more of the jokes and enjoyed some of the action scenes, but that’s going to be a judgement call on the part of the parents. I honestly don’t know if a girl under the age of six or so would have enjoyed it more.
But don’t get me wrong, this is a very good movie. It clocks in at 100 minutes, but doesn’t feel like it due to excellent story and pacing. The voice acting is also excellent, and the characters mesh together to tell a fairy tale about family and duty. Like I said, there is a lot of comedy in the movie, and the father character, voiced by Billy Connelly, was my favorite. That’s probably because I could identify with him, being a semi-barbarian myself.
Like all Pixar movies, this film is beautiful. The background scenery and the non-human characters were as close to photorealistic as I have ever seen, especially the bears that play a major role in the plot. In fact, they were so realistic that the slightly cartoonish human characters stuck out a bit. I think Pixar has done an excellent job in not making their characters look weird by trying to make them appear real, but the difference between the human characters and the world in which Pixar places them is becoming more and more apparent. Pretty soon, if Pixar wants to tell a story in a realistic world, they’re going to have to find a path through the Uncanny Valley.
Overall, I’d give this movie a 3 or 4 stars out of 5, and would recommend it to families with girls and possibly older boys. The characters and story are engaging enough for adults too, and the beauty of the movie is enough for me to recommend seeing it on the big screen.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 5, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/05/movie-review-brave/
30 Days of Abraham Lincoln – Day 2
Let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man, this race and that race and the other race being inferior and therefore they must be placed in an inferior position. Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people throughout this land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal. — 1858
My Take – Generalizing about a group and how they should fit in some arbitrary social order forgets that human beings are individuals, capable of a myriad of talents and accomplishments. We are not equal in outcomes, but we are all equal in our rights. Saying that a group of people are inferior just because of their skin, religion, or whatever dehumanizes the bigot more than it does the maligned group.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 5, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/05/30-days-of-abraham-lincoln-day-2/
DaddyBear
DaddyBear’s Den 