Eat your hearts out Yankees

Here are the little crocuses sprouting their tiny selves out of the front yard. Spring is on the way. Must be that global warming stuff, or I guess it's called "climate change" now. They are calling for cold weather later this coming week though. No snow yet, maybe none at all. Actually, it does snow here sometimes. I like to see it maybe one time each winter, reminds me of the old country.
Well, tomorrow is the Blowout. There is a tire dealer here that had a "blowout" sale a while back. I thought it was a poor choice of words. Our blowout is different, we watch three movies in a series back to back (actually we do stop to make popcorn, eat, get beer, and use the potty). We started this tradition with Star Wars, but we have used others. This year we have chosen...........
You'll just have to guess for now.

Le Morte de Titan

Alass, the road has claimed another. Oh darkest of days, the mighty Titan is no more. Nine lives weren't enough to prevent such tragedy. Still magnificent in death he was, but still quite dead. Cut down in his prime as it were. Never more to stalk the unwary rat or squirrel, never more to bask in the winter sunlight. Now he has returned to the earth, part of this wonderfully complex cycle of life on this planet. We are glad God gave him to us for a time, but now once more, we must move on.

Thrown out like an old moldy tangerine

Yes it is sad, but it was necessary to remove this incinerary device from our house before something bad happened. I watched (on U Tube I believe) one of these things go off. It was pretty impressive. I think it was one of those fearmonger things though. But there is no question it would be a bad idea to keep it forever, and it's time had passed. They say all good things must come to an end. I'm not sure I embrace that philosophy, but in this case, I suppose it applies. It was good while it lasted though. It was right pretty and smelled good too. For some reason the needles didn't really start to fall, but the branches got real brittle, curious. I wonder if it had been exposed to some kind of unnatural something. However, time marches on as they say, and soon it will be time for the blowout.

Keep it Clean

The view from the top, or at least of the top. One of the joys of wood heat is chimney maintenance. I guess that's what you would call it. Here is the "chimney" and the brush. Sorry there is no beautiful fieldstone masonry here, but that's just the way it is. Just a tin smoke pipe. Actually it's a sophisticated, triple walled steel chimney pipe that was donated by a friend many years ago. There should be some sort of cap thingy to keep the rain out, but as long as there is fire below, it would be redundant. In the summer, when no fire needed, an old pot does the trick. Sort of low tech, but, effective. The other object ( other than the roof itself ) is of course, the brush. On occasion, when one opens the door of the heater to tend the fire, or get rid of some trash, ( there can be any number of reasons ) more smoke exits via the door than the smoke pipe. In this situation it is time to become the Chimney Sweep. I'm afraid I don't have one of those cool hats like Mary Poppins friends, but I can get a bit sooty if I try. I don't know if good luck rubs off and all, but so far I haven't fallen off the roof, which must count for something.

Our Tropical Paradise

Welcome to our tropical garden paradise. It may seem a little strange to see these magnificent palm trees here in our own back yard, but here they are. Yes, January in the piedmont. Of course it does seem a little curious that all the other trees look a bit bare out there, almost as if there should be snow or something on the ground. But you'll have to look farther north for the snow, and farther south for the palms. These magnificent trees are in fact, mere kale. A delightful addition to our dinner, contributing to proper nutrition, and a healthful lifestyle. These particular plants are getting a bit old and tough, but there are younger, but less photogenic, ones available for eatin'. So what does all this mean ? Beats me, I just thought they looked cool.
So now with Hanukkah Christmas and New Year behind us, (and some other stuff I think) we can move forward to MLK holiday. Oh, I forgot to mention, today is "Coming of Age Day" although I'm not sure what that is about. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

Dinner Guests

I like to keep some sunflower seeds out for the birdies. They're fun to watch, and it gives the kitties something to do besides eat and sleep. Just this evening as I was replenishing their stash, I noticed the tell tale scarlet feathers there on the ground. I think that's pretty low down, eating our State Bird and all. But cats are indeed, evil. I used to fill up with those "Wild Bird Seed" mixes. But the little creeps would throw most of the stuff out on the ground to get to the sunflower seeds. It kinda pissed me off to be honest about it. True, the doves would eat the seed off the ground, ( a dangerous thing to do ) but I hated watching it happen. Finally I realized I could just use straight sunflower seeds and there would be lots less waste.
You may have noticed that in this recent photo there are no birdies. It would seem one of the other neighbors has crashed the party. I'm not sure I like this. I mean, he (or she) is all furry and cute, but is no birdie. The eats are not in the tree, but actually hanging between tree and domicile. Apparently they are within squirrel jumping range. I thought about shooting this critter. In my youth I would fry them and eat 'em. But my sweetie refuses to get involved in that sort of thing. She says they're just a rat with a furry tail. She may have a point. In some circumstances I might eat a rat, but not today. I reckon if I wait a little bit, he'll either get run over, or ate by a cat.

2007 Commences

Here is a happy little dogie. This is the same one that had a brush with death Christmas Eve. But now she is doing OK. She still has a slight limp, might have it for a long time for that matter, but she deserves it for being a stupid, disobedient dog. Here she is trying to look cute, but don't be fooled by her fuzzy little face. She was pretty miserable there for a while, when she couldn't run in circles till you would get dizzy just watching her. But now her little nub of a tail is working again, and she is her old pesky self.
Now it has some how become 2007 AD ( or CE, or whatever ). Today doesn't seem much different than yesterday though. We just hung around the house last night and watched DVDs, Kung Fu Hustle, and Cirque du Soleil. Crashed around 11:30, ( didn't even stay up for the big event ). On the plus side, woke with no hangover and in our own bed instead of the jailhouse. Made a pot of coffee and cooked up a fine breakfast of eggs, grits, and country ham. Life can be good.
Well it's back to the old grind tomorrow.

Lost and Found

Well we ate the pineapple but not the picture. So here it is. Of course this isn't the pineapple post, is it. But this was such a fine pineapple I didn't want to lose the opportunity to show it off. Many thanks to the one who brought it to the Homely Holiday.
As to why I couldn't find this pineapple picture the other day.... I guess I'm just kinda dumb like that. But it is a truly impressive fruit.
Now the new year is hard upon us, Saddam is hung, and who knows what is next. I guess we'll start with a long weekend. That's a good start.

Aftermath & Pineapple

Now comes the payback. This is it. For those of us in the garbage business, lots of job security, at least for a couple of weeks. I used to think about it all Christmas, what it would be like when we went back to work. But then I realized all this did was take a lot of the fun out of the holidays. So, now I just forget about it all till it's time has come. It's more fun this way. I can even convince myself that it's someone else's problem. Well, one more day and it's the end of the first round.
I wanted to talk about pineapples. I even had a picture of one we had. But I seem to have deleted the picture some how, and we ate the model. It was tasty though. We have a recording of the Beach Boys singing "Christmas in Hawaii". That was supposed to be part of it all, the Christmas connection. But there is no picture now, and no pineapple. I don't think a can of crushed pineapple would be the same. If you want to call some kind of food "Hawaiian", you just add pineapple. Sometimes we eat "Hawaiian Hotdogs". They are made with wieners, peanut butter and, of course, pineapple. I'm not sure how the peanut butter works in, but they're not bad, really.
Sorry about the picture though.

Boxing Day

Today is Boxing Day. When I was a kid I used to wonder what this was about. It didn't make a lot of sense. All I could think of was people putting on the old gloves and having at it. But it seemed to have something to do with Christmas. According to the calendar, if I had been a Canadian, this wouldn't be a big mystery. But I'm not and it was. I guess I'm just one of those people that can go on in ignorance, figuring that if it's important enough, I'll find out sooner or latter. Many years later the mystery was revealed to me. It has nothing to do with a fight ! Back in those days when folks celebrated a Christmas season rather than a prechristmas frenzy, this second day was for giving a small gift to the people who served you. This was sometimes referred to as a "box" weather it was an actual container or not. Anyhow, it seemed cool to me.
So what does this have to do with a dog ? Nothing. But about the dog, This is a half Chihuahua dog, (not a boxer) and would not normally be laying still unless she had exhausted herself running in circles. But this time she is lucky to be still living. Christmas Eve, we were waiting into the night for our last bits of family to arrive. Sitting out there on the porch under a blanket in our car seat it was getting cold. My sweetie had hot tea, my daughter and I were working on a bottle of Southern Comfort. The doggie was on a chain (a small one). She wanted to get over on the porch with the cats and the rest of us. This is when being soft hearted doesn't pay off. This pooch is not what one would call well-behaved. After a brief pause on the porch with us, she decided to explore the night. The one place she had no business to go was the road. Of course that is the one place she went. There is not a lot of traffic out here that time of night, but what there is is deadly. The youngest heard the thump and the yelp from inside the house and started to scream. The dog took off running and hid in the dark. We figured she was a goner, but when we found her hiding in the neighbor's yard, she was still living. It appears that she is very sore but with no permanent damage, and very subdued. Well as of today she is limping around a bit and it appears she'll be around to annoy us a while longer.
Well, it's back to work in the morning. Happy Boxing Day. Maybe you got a nice box, maybe not. Maybe you gave one, maybe not. Soon we'll be putting a wrap on this year and getting a shot at a new on. I still say, Merry Christmas.

Christmas Eve

Twas the night before Christmas. They are calling for cold and wet, but we are warm and snug inside. Some family here, some still on the way. Planning on Christmas Eve burritos, and our traditional candle light eggnog blow out later tonight. I suppose this could lead to another sort of blowout later, but it's all good, as they say. The best thing is being together by God's grace and remembering those who can't make it this time.
For those who believe, a chance to remember and wonder at what He has done. How He chooses the little ones, the ones that count for little in the eyes of the world, and not only uses them, but joins Himself to them. And becomes one of us. I think this is what is so hard for so many to grasp, a real mystery.
But regardless of who you are, or what you believe, I wish you a Merry Christmas.

Co-op Day

Here you can see part of the 1800+lbs of co-op occupying our home. This was another complication of the holiday season. We were lucky to get it into the truck (referred to as the "tow vehicle" in past episodes). Some years ago, the motivating force behind this informal operation left the area. My Sweetie, (bless her heart) took it on. This is strictly a no profit, much work deal. Sometimes I get to help out with the muscle. If I try to help out with the bookkeeping.... let's just say it's best for me to stay out of the way. It's not that I'm real dumb, but that is not my thing. My Sweetie gave strict orders that this stuff would have to be gone the next day since we need our house for family festivities rather than warehousing. What's in all the bags and boxes ? Healthy stuff ! It's good for you, and tastes good too ! (mostly).
Is last night of Hanukkah. Birthday, anniversary, and co-op have passed. Now is Christmas.

34 Years

34 years ago on this date in history our lives were forever changed. You see this young, innocent, (well maybe not all that innocent) couple looking to the future with smiling faces. Of course, they didn't know what they were getting into at the time, but looking back it was well worth it. Does anyone really know what they are getting into at a time like this ? You may think you do, but you just can't know. Lots of stuff is going to happen, and you won't be ready for it. Bad stuff, but good stuff too. But when you are together, by the grace of God, it gets better and better. I love her more than ever. Back then I thought I loved her, and I did, as much as I understood. But now, what can I say ? I don't think I could live without her. Maybe this is that codependent stuff, but I think I'm just in love, more than ever.

More Holiday Prep.

I was driving past Walgreens on the way to the dump, (I drive to the dump a lot) and couldn't help noticing on their flashing sign something about cheap Christmas Lights. We use a lot of these things this time of year in our house. We are into tacky. At least when it comes to lights. Of course we wind several strands around our Christmas tree, but we also hang them all over the rooms, even the kitchen. We don't even need the "real" lights unless we need them for these old eyes to read or something. Some we leave up all year and refer to as "Party Lights". We use them all year for our porch lights. This makes it easy to tell people where our house is, although some folks do think we are a bit weird. So I stopped by and did buy.
But why are all the Christmas Lights made in China ? Do they even celebrate Christmas there ? Are there any Christmas Lights that are made in America for rich folks to buy ? We saw a documentary at the local film festival about making mardi gras beads in China. It was interesting. The workers there couldn't understand why women in New Orleans would take off their clothing for this junk. I'm not sure I understand. But I digress.
We did Put up our Christmas Lights all over the house. Now the younguns insist on lighting them first thing on these cold dark December mornings. They're lit 'till bedtime too. But that's OK, it's fun. I like it.

More Holiday Preparations

Christmas Cards. Lots of them. This year my Sweetie made a bunch of original ones. It was a big project. She went to visit our daughter in the big city and was joined by a few more. There they had what I suppose one could call a "card party". Me, I stayed home with the younguns and ate unhealthy food. Of course these cards still needed to be readied for that postal thing. This is what was going on here. Lest you accuse me of deserting my sweetie in her labors, know that the empty chair had recently held my own butt. I had been forced to leave momentarily to record this event for posterity. I had expected to wear my poor tongue out licking all those envelopes shut, but it seems that in this age of wonders, one can obtain envelopes with self sticky stuff. All you have to do is peal off this little strip, and close it. I wonder if you can still steam them open. I suppose the FBI has their ways, though I can't see why they would bother. The leftover strips look like those things that come off of pantyliners.
I must confess that some years we don't even send out any Christmas Cards. But this year we did. But if you don't get one, Merry Christmas !

Happy Hanukkah

Holiday Preparations

Today is visit the Christmas Treelot day. We gotta have a real Christmas Tree, even if it is a pitiful thing. But this is not a pitiful thing, it is a very nice little Christmas Tree. Maybe it's not a Christmas Tree yet. Does it have to be decorated to be a bona-fide Christmas Tree ? Well, that will come later.
We used to put up our Christmas Tree much closer to Christmas. But it got real hard to find one then. I guess so many folks put them up on Thanksgiving now that the Christmas Tree Seller People get tired of it all and close up the Christmas Tree Lot a week before Christmas. Some years ago on a dark and stormy night, several days before Christmas, we went to get one. When we got there, all the lights were out and the people were gone. But a lot of trees were still there, piled up and ready to take that last ride. I must confess, we took one, but we did leave the money in their truck. But that broke us from waiting 'till the last day.
In recent years, they've got me broken down. Now we put the thing up a week early. I guess it's OK. We do still keep it up into January. What gets to me though, is the day after Christmas when I see them taken down and thrown on the curb for the trash. (Being in the trash business I notice these things.) I think people start so soon that by the time Christmas finally gets here, they are already tired of it. Seems like a shame to me.

Holidays

We went to see it. I liked it, but I think a lot would depend on where you're at. It was accused of being a Christmas card, and I can see why someone might say that. As you can see, this picture looks exactly like a Christmas card. I think it would make a good one. People who think the story nonsense, probably won't see it anyway, I suppose. But if a person does believe, I think they might enjoy this retelling of it all. Just like today, most people didn't believe Mary's story then. That's understandable.
I'm aware that the "Christmas Season" is prechristian, and the Bible doesn't even say for sure when all this happened. But that's not the point. This is a good time to celebrate, so party hearty. We've got birthdays, Hanukah, anniversaries, Christmas, New Year's, and our family gathering ahead of us. So let's party.

Going.... Going.... Gone

The sun that is.
I was just tripping on how the light gets caught in the treetops as the sun slips below the horizon. Sometimes I don't think much about the sun moving, it's just day, or night. Maybe this is the little kid in me. Time works different when you're a kid. Lots of things work different when you're a kid. Now time (and the sun) moves plenty fast. Then, maybe it has something to do with this time of year, when the days get short.
We have a sundial out by the garden. It was pretty cool till I cut down a tree and broke off the little pointer thing. I think there's a name for that little pointer thing, but I'm too lazy to look it up right now. I also have a neat little sundial compass that you can fold up and carry in your pocket. It's cordless and you don't even have to wind it up. Unfortunately it doesn't do well with time zones or daylight savings time. I still can't figure out how that saves time. You have to waste time changing all the clocks twice a year. But, I digress. If you pay attention, you can even watch the sun move.
That's what's so cool about sunrise and sunset. I think it may be best over the ocean. We don't have an ocean here, just trees, and hills, and stuff. We went to the beach last summer. My Sweetie is from the west coast. I had go to a lot of trouble to get her, but it was worth it of course. But she was really disoriented to see the sun set over the land, and vis versa. But I think the best place I ever watched the sun set was up on a mountain on the west coast. There I could see the curve of the horizon, and over the sea, the round sun ball. The kicker was the young moon putting in an appearance as well. Watching it all moving, I swear I could hear the music of the spheres.

The Wild One

This one, named Angora, is a wild one. You don't touch this one. You don't get near this one. Maybe you can sneak up on her, almost. I've been told she is very soft, hence the name. But I wouldn't know, I can't get near her. As soon as she realized I was making her picture, she was gone. A close-up would be out of the question.
We didn't need an other cat. We had just gotten three kittens. It's good to have a few around to keep down the rodents. They also keep the birds from getting too uppity. You can't trust birds you know. I like to feed them sunflower seeds, but they're still birds, you know. But then just when the new kittens were getting settled in, her brother showed up. Just came up out of nowhere one day. I think they like the food. Eventually he got tamed down more or less. But then she showed up. The wild one. I doubt she'll ever get tame enough to pet on. But she is pretty, yes ?