I am so Stoked

I AM SO STOKED .....    and the reason is contained in this video.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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     Now since the time I was able to sneak my older brother's comic book stash and learning to read, I've dreamed that the future for the human race pointed toward other worlds.  In the sixties I thought we were going there, but except for the Apollo program and the Space Shuttle we seemed almost manically set on invading other countries and killing everyone who disagreed with us.  This insanity has depleted our treasury and deadened our collective souls.  But out of the blue of the western sky comes a group of technology billionaires with ample funds with the vision for a better tomorrow, teamed with a group of engineers and former astronauts with the expertise. experience and drive to make my dreams come to fruition within my lifetime.  

Camp Massawomee on a Tuesday

     It's a lazy Tuesday, the tomato plant hanging upside down in it's Topsy Turvy basket and the horseraddish, chives, onions, lemon balm, spearmint and parsley are thriving.  As is the algae in the pond. Sunday Steve and Tracy were here and we smoked some chicken on the grill.  I'm still coughing, and my butt is covered in greasy charcoal.  We won't be doing that again any time soon.  

     

     I should thank my friends Chris and Tim for supplying the apple wood for the grill.   It imparts an interesting tang to the meat or veggies done on the grill and I implore you all to experiment with fruit woods in your grilling.  The French use the grape vine cuttings that accumulate when they prune and train their vines, to roast chickens on the spit.  I've tried it and the taste is superb.  

     It's wonderful how you can stumble onto such marvelous things by following random links while surfing the internet.  I subscribe to Phil Plait's "Bad Astronomy" Blog, and today he had this link to "Tree Lobsters" .    Now at the very bottom of the Tree Lobsters page is a set of icons belonging to "Friends of Tree Lobsters".   Selecting the "Atlanta Skeptics" link and scrolling down a bit you find this gem:     

     Enjoy my friends.

False Spring

It's false Spring but it doesn't matter, warmth is warmth even if it comes with an occasional chill.  There's a tomato plant growing on the porch engendering a fresh thoughtst in our mind and a primal rhythm in our breast and that's all that really counts. It's the beginning of the Pirates season, after the end of the Madness of March.  The over hyped NBA afterseason has begun....ho,hum...NHL drive to the Stanley Cup has once again crept onto our horizon.  Tennessee has voted to teach "Bible" in the place of reason.  Will West Virginia be next to succumb to cultism?   Matters not, Global warming has given us "false" Spring and my mantra is " Don't look a gift horse in the mouth?....Accept and rejoice at the boon.

If anyone would comment on this blog
It would be greatly appreciate

I really prefer to communicate with others and not the void.


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03-11-2012,, pretty good day.

We're easing up on St. Patrick's Day, so I'll have to lay in a stock of Guinness Stout, or Murphy's.   Corned Beef and Cabbage soured with Emmenthal on Homemade Rye Bread.  I don't really feel particularly Irish, though I like to tipple the pint or two.  Green is far from my favorite color, though I live in a green house.  And while I do like to tell a good story or two I refrain from winking at the end.  But celebrate I will, for my forebears were Irish, and Scots fore that.  So maybe I'll have a side of Haggis with that Reuben if you please.

I love the robocalls that state "Don't hang up"......'cause that's exactly what I do.
Sorta funny, but perversely I would listen if the robo-voice said "hang up now"...

I added Burning Man to my bucket list.  Thought maybe to have a Burning Couch festival at Camp Massawomee.  Have a "Compassion Play in the front yard centered around a couch that goes up flames at the end.      Well just a thought...Art is where you find it.


In celebration of such a fine day, The First Cookout of the Year 2012.
Bar-B-Que Chicken Drumsticks with a Honey Whiskey  Habanero Sauce.  Baked, Butter soaked potato  and reheated left over steamed mixed veggies.  The occasional wiff of Grill smoke teasing, while solving a crossword , listening to the myriad of motorcycles exercising on this glorious pre-spring day.
We first eat with anticipation, then sight, then smell, then feel/taste.   Yum or Yuck,,,,we all gotta eat.  And on such a fine day as this,,,,well gruel would have been tasty

Fisher's Tower, Moab, Utah

King of the mountain from No Fly Zone on Vimeo.



This is a really neat video....The song is great and please notice the two people walking the rope between two spires just at the end.  There are so many people on those crags....Wish I had the lung power...

A good meal spoiled

Okay..here's how it all went down.

I was hungry

Had been hungry for a couple of days.

Jonesin for chicken, and rooted around in the freezer and came up with some legs that had a relatively recent purchase date and placing them in the reefer to thaw, began to plan the meal.  But the plans went amiss when my lungs began to act up, I think it's the dry winter air,  and I decided that frying was out of the question,,too much grease in the air.*   I thought of Cacciatore, but I had made Hunter's Chicken about three weeks ago. I had buttermilk, so when the legs thawed I marinated them in some of the buttermilk and liberal dose of Sirrachi Hot Sauce,,,mmmm garlic hot good.   I had a box of seasoned flour for chicken I had found marked down to 50 Cents at the local market which I doctored up with poultry seasoning, powdered cayenne chile, summer savory, and some sugar...I was gonna bake at 375 degrees and I knew the sugar would caramelize and mix with the meat juices and make magic happen.  Pasta shells and Velveeta for the starch, and as the vegetable I decided on heating up a can of Spinach which I liberally dosed with bacon grease that had a large amount of brown goodness embedded.  As the Chicken baked and browned and I made the Mac and cheese, warmed the spinach and grease in the microwave I was taping the Mountaineer girls play DePaul at the Colosseum in Motown.  As things came together on the plate I added the final touch and dosed the Spinach with some reduced Balsamic vinegar which is pure heaven in a bottle.  Chicken was hot and  savory and luscious, the pasta was bland but filling and the spinach....the spinach was sublime.  Three legs worth and almost a whole can of Popeye Power I vegged on the couch and watch the Mountaineer's blow a 14 point half-time lead and lose in almost a rout to a team that had brought only seven players and had four starters with two fouls each and their best player with three fouls at the end of the first half.   What the fuck?   Sad day for the eer's but a great meal.  The meal was so good it made the ice water I had taste specially good.

* note to self...go to Walmart or Lowes and get a turkey fryer so you can deep fry your chicken KFC style knucklehead.

Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda

I am not a scientist..That's to say I don't have initials after my name, work in a laboratory, nor have I authored a journal article, Yet I believe in science, in the concept of science, in the belief that the universe and everything in it or about it is subject to study and scrutiny to discern any patterns that it might exhibit. There are things about the universe that are perhaps unknowable, so be it. But you work the problem with what you got. And I'm all for finding out everything we are capable of discovering. I'm kinda fuzzy about what we should do with the knowledge of the patterns that we discover, but I absolutely believe it's everyone's duty to search for them. I'm not a scientist..... I shoulda been a scientist, I woulda been a scientist, I coulda been a scientist.....But I'm not a scientist. And in that vein I give you Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda.
I Am Science from Mindy Weisberger on Vimeo.

But here are some real scientissts
I am a scientist