Arkansas Blog

You kidding? Only a dimwit like myself would be inside on the computer on such a beautiful day. Only 10 more reports tonight (I've limited myself to that), on hail damage claims in DBI-ville.
Then I'm gonna hit the couch for a few hours, get up and start again.
My life sucks.

Sam's Wholesale offered the most beautiful fresh lamb chops I've seen in ages so we indulged in a package yesterday.We skipped the fresh tuna at $24.50 lb. Will be enjoying lamb chops curried with carrots and parsley tonight. Red onion/broccoli salad in yogurt sauce, plus Casillero del Diablo - C. Sauvignon will accompany. That wine by Concha Y Toro, Central Valley of Chile is a well kept secret. If you've been reading the Sunday NYT food section you may have read about it. At 7.50 a bottle it's a real bargain from one of the world's oldest and most famous wine makers who remains unnamed.
Cheers.

Still want to know what's happened to Vegan4Hillary? Miss her saucy posts and retorts.
.

Man, am I jealous. We're having angel hair, jar sauce, and turkey sausages. BUT...I do have my first loaf of challah bread due out of the oven in 4 minutes. We'll see how that turns out.

(Bohemian Highway cabernet: another good cheap-red-wine. I think it's a Beringer cousin.)

I'm having a sandwich and red beer.
I'm a cheap date.

Almond crusted red snapper here, along with twice-baked taters, a spinach salad, and a glass or three of pinot noir. And, hell yeah! .. strawberries of the best kind, growed up air 'round Cabot or summers!

bon apetite' Y'all !

Cheney Continues to Give the U.S.A. the middle finger:

Elana Schor guardian.co.uk,
Tuesday April 29 2008

The lawyer for US vice-president Dick Cheney claimed today that the Congress lacks any authority to examine his behaviour on the job.

The exception claimed by Cheney's counsel came in response to requests from congressional Democrats that David Addington, the vice-president's chief of staff, testify about his involvement in the approval of interrogation tactics used at Guantanamo Bay.

Ruling out voluntary cooperation by Addington, Cheney lawyer Kathryn Wheelbarger said Cheney's conduct is "not within the [congressional] committee's power of inquiry".

story on bluename

Lord, gotta quit reading this. Haven't had red snapper since my La. days. My G'ma made
THE best twice baked taters with lots of fresh butter, salt, pepper, a sliver cheese on top
then fry little breakfast sausages and put on top of the cheese, stick in oven till cheese
melts.............some good yeah!!!!!!!!!!

Come on over, jazzy! The saint says we ain't eatin' 'til nine.

I'm new here, have been reading for a while but just opened an account. Let me introduce myself. I am college-educated, as are all my children. I'm on my third marriage to a great guy. (My first husband died and my second wouldn't.)
I am a businesswoman, currently working for a non-profit agency. I am a Democrat and work hard for Democratic candidates - those who are true Dems - not Pryor or Lincoln.
I have a potty mouth when I get pissed off. Which can happen at any given moment. Like when I think about George F****ing Bush.
I attend the Methodist church but argue with my preacher from time to time.
I am trained as a professional chef, but my mama's training in true southern cooking has served me better.
Your dinner sounds wonderful. Might throw in some bacon grease somewhere and make it even better.

ARK. BLOG: Welcome

Well I will have every ingredient Max mentioned before my day is over, but not in one sitting.. Strawberries were breakfast, and asparagus was consumed at the patch. Looks like the weather wont kill all my Iris's this year.. Anyone need a few hundred bulbs (or whatever Iris roots are called) this fall?

Lwood, that Addington and Cheney sure know how to piss this patriot off.. only thing that concerns me more is Congressional Cheney. I really think the next president should add a couple of seats to the court.

Welcome kizzy

Welcome kizzy, sounds like you will fit right in with this bunch, 'specially the bacon grease
and hubby who wouldn't die bit, heard a good toast today, *Here's to rich husbands with
weak hearts.*
We fuss and fight, moan and whine and, sometimes, have a lot of LOL fun to break the stress.
I found my wonderful 2nd hubby, ummmm years ago, a frenchman from Quebec, so, when I
mention Frenchie you know he is mine. I lived most of my adult life in New Orleans area and
love talking and telling stories about that, and, of course CAJUN food.
We have a few wingnuts on here to stir the pot, you will soon learn who the guilty are!!!

I think you got your card punched kizzy. Love that handle.

Wait till you meet chasv and Ark Red. Red can usu be found pissin on the Clinton Center fire hydrants.
I suspect chasv wacks off in church.

Thanks, Eureka, Jazzy, and L.Wood. And I absolutely love DBI and Zelda and a bunch of others on this blog.
This is going to be fun.

Welcome Kizzy - O.K. Jazzy, time to let loose on N'Allins. I just love these stories.

Anyone need a few hundred bulbs (or whatever Iris roots are called) this fall?<<

Take them to a farmers market in a groc sack with free irises on the sack.
Should disappear in less than an hour. Do you have any iris with black-purple flowers?
Would make a trip to your hometown for those.

Thanks to you, too, Max. I've followed you for 30 or more years, even when I lived out of state. No internet then, so I had to spend good hard cash to do it, but I find you a voice of reason in an unreasonable world.
Fight the good fight, continue on. The blog is great!

Sorry my new laptop has a huge mouse and seems to chop out chunks of text with random ease..

..Lwood what concerns me more is congressional silence / complicity and the possibility the Supremes may side with Cheney.

Welcome, Kizzy. Your potty mouth wil fit in well here with.......aw, what the heck. I'm the only saint, I guess. It goes back to my mother getting that bar of soap and sticking it in my mouth when she heard a disagreeable word.

Seems you Methodists found your cojones with the rebuttal of Bush's library at SMU. I'm with you on Pryor and Lincoln. I'm adding my congressman, Mike Ross, to the list.

If you like southern cooking, I will bet you are awaiting your first mess of poke sallet for the spring. My 95 year-old mother has been on my back about "where is my poke sallet?" thing. I love it, and it is finally sicking its head up out of the ground. Makes for a good cleansing agent for some members of this board who are in bad need of it, especially Louie and zelda.

Lwood, I think I do (at least twenty colors throughout various flower beds in my yard).. will take a photo tomorrow and figure out a way to send it to you for color approval.

Anyone on board intersted in history? Click on Cato

Something interesting to ponder about public schools. Hartford is sw of Fort Smith. Things like this don't get much press unless it occurs in central Arkansas. Click on Cato

Hi kizzy....let me extend a hearty welcome to the best damned blog in the state. You'll find that we are a skeptic's friend and a nescient fool's smiter (Lawdy do we love to smite the little shites!) Above all else, I think you'll find that we find great wisdom in Will Rogers' classic statement: "It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble. It's what we know that ain't so."

BTW, click on name for some more boogie!!!

Hey, cato, I'll have you know I bathe inside/out every Saturday night...granny's tonic for the inside, store-bought stuff for the outside. Don't know if I've had polk salad, but I've never met a green I didn't love...especially turnip greens/spinach.

Sure, kizzy, cato's the only saint on board. But he keeps us entertained with cartoons so we overlook his sterlingness. Welcome to the free for all, kizzy.

I've been drinking that concho y toro stuff for some time, Lwood, it's damn good! But I figured my taste buds just like cheap wine. Every time I try the expensive stuff, I hate it...end up tossing it in a pot so soup.

Hey, jazzy, been thinking about ya. Went to BK this weekend to visit aging in-laws. So sad to see people struggling to stay independent as the inevitable creeps up on em. They've scrimped/saved for years so they could stay in their home (and it's the only way they know)...but I guess they're going to wait till they're a hundred before they actually spend any of their money. They literally can save $10,000 out of a $20,000 income...and they're getting more frugal, not less (never owned a credit card and pay cash for everything). The hardest obstacle is getting them to hire stuff done around the house...just about sacrilegious to them. Luckily, they have two good sons, one I married. I've never heard them raise their voices, much less cuss, they live by that church stuff, rather than just preach about it, and they're worried about this war and our country. (But only worried for their children since they have no doubt God has a place waiting for them). They are genuinely good people and it's a generation we are going to miss.

Beautiful day, beautiful weekend...to beautiful to cook, so french dip sandwiches sufficed.

I can't believe that there was only seven votes between Obama and Hillary in Guam...damn.

Ok, Goof, 'cause you asked for it. So many stories and memories hard to know where to
start. Only way we had to cross the Miss. river, back then, was by ferry boat, think the
bridge was completed 1984, year after we left. River is very wide 15 miles upstream and we
must have crossed hundreds if not thousands of times on the Luling to Destrehan run. What a
sinking heart to drive up to the landing to see the ferry just pulling away, long wait for it to go
across, unload, reload, come back to other side, unload again before we could finally drive on,
many times coming from a long trip to Arkansas with tired, sleepy kids. Morning of Oct. 20,1976
we awoke to news that our ferry, George Prince, fully loaded with mostly men going to work,
had been hit and sunk by Norwegian tanker the SS Frosta, 78 died that morning. We had
copters flying in from Moisant, Algiers Naval Station, people rushing on the River Road to get
to the ferry landing,,,just tragic.
This is not a happy memory but part of my history, had it on my mind lately for some reason.
Next weekend, meeting the shrimp boats on Bayou Gauche and not all catholic priest love
little boys.

click

Well...there were only seven votes...I was stupefied.

kizzy welcome. we really need somebody to help get good and pissed at old george shit for brains as zelda refers to him. i just love that term. it sounds like you will be a lot of fun to have around. the topics are going to get better when the dems quit squabbling among themselves and start working on mccain. i really think it will be a fun summer. be seeing you around, this is a very fun group and as i have found when i get into an argument that my inept writing skills can't get me out of, they will jump in for your defense and let them have it.

Plus, previewing my post is always better than not....more coherent that way. Good thing these posts are given grades ha.

Well, aren't given grades.

My you're up late, zonker. I slept in today so that's why I'm up so late...tend to go to bed and rise with the chickens. All that's important is that we understand each other...isn't that what grammar/spelling are all about at their core? Besides, only assholes nitpick about grammar/spelling on the blogs...and usually it's assholes who don't have anything substantive or entertaining to say so they resort to...being assholes. I just get aggravated at myself for being sloppy. Your writing is beautiful, zonker.

Zelda.....don't know how to take that,,,,,been thinking about me then launched right in
about the OLD folks in BK..........wash your keyboard girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Missed you but had an idea you must be in BK.
Cato, our saint, LOL.....Our church says sinnin goes on at those race tracks!!!!!

FOR ALL YOU MOTHERS OUT THERE!

This is for the mothers who have sat up
all night with sick toddlers in their arms,
wiping up barf laced with Oscar Mayer
wieners and cherry Kool-Aid saying,
'It's okay honey, Mommy's here.'

Who have sat in rocking chairs for hours on end
soothing crying babies who can't be comforted.

This is for all the mothers who show up at
work with spit-up in their hair and milk stains
on their blouses and diapers in their purses.

For all the mothers who run carpools and
make cookies and sew Halloween costumes.
And all the mothers who DON'T.

This is for the mothers who gave birth to
babies they'll never see. And the mothers
who took those babies and gave them homes.

This is for the mothers whose priceless art
collections are hanging on their refrigerator doors.

And for all the mothers who froze their buns
on metal bleachers at football or soccer games
instead of watching from the warmth of their cars.

And that when their kids asked, 'Did you see me, Mom?'
they could say, 'Of course, I wouldn't
have missed it for the world,' and mean it.

This is for all the mothers who yell at their kids
in the grocery store and swat them in despair
when they stomp their feet and scream for ice cream before dinner.
And for all the mothers who count to ten instead,
but realize how child abuse happens.

This is for all the mothers who sat down with
their children and explained all about making
babies. And for all the (grand)mothers who
wanted to, but just couldn't find the words.

This is for all the mothers who go
hungry, so their children can eat.

This is for all the mothers who taught
their children to tie their shoelaces before
they started school. And for all the mothers
who opted for Velcro instead.

This is for all the mothers who teach their sons
to cook and their daughters to sink a jump shot.

This is for every mother whose head turns
automatically when a little voice calls 'Mom?'
in a crowd, even though they know their
own offspring are at home-or even away
at college-or have their own families.

This is for all the mothers who sent their kids
to school with stomach aches, assuring them
they'd be just FINE once they got there, only
to get calls from the school nurse an hour later
asking them to please pick them up. 'Right away!'

This is for mothers whose children have gone
astray, who can't find the words to reach them.
For all the mothers who bite their lips until they
bleed when their 14 year olds dye their hair green.

For all the mothers of the victims of
recent school shootings, and the mothers
of those who did the shooting.

For the mothers of the survivors,
and the mothers who sat in front of their TVs in horror,
hugging their child who just came home from school, safely.

This is for all the mothers who taught their
children to be peaceful, and now pray
they come home safely from a war.

What makes a good mother anyway?
Is it patience? Compassion? Broad hips?
The ability to nurse a baby, cook dinner, and
sew a button on a shirt, all at the same time?

Or is it in her heart?
Is it the ache she feels when she
watches her son or daughter disappear
down the street, walking to school alone
for the very first time?

The jolt that takes her from sleep to
dread, from bed to crib, at 2 A.M. to put
her hand on the back of a sleeping baby?

The panic, years later, that comes again
at 2 A.M. when she just wants to hear
their key in the door and know they
are safe again in her home?

Or the need to flee from wherever she is
and hug her child when she hears news
of a fire, a car accident, a child dying?

The emotions of motherhood are
universal and so our thoughts are for
young mothers stumbling through diaper
changes and sleep deprivation...
And for mature mothers learning to let go.

For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers;
single mothers and married mothers;
mothers with money, mothers without.

This is for you all.

Hang in there. In the end you can
only do the best you can. Tell your children
every day that you love them. And pray
and never stop being a mother!

Jazzy - Grandad was a Norwegian sailor. Sailed out of the St. Louisa St Wharf. For the life of me I can't figure out where the propellor yard was, Dad used to talk about it. Must be up near the Industrial Canal.

Now, jazzy, the only thing old about you is the number of years the earth has been blessed with your presence...and even that is relative!

Yup...Saint Cato!

Whew....I got confused and thought Cato was saying the last plotter against Hitler was caught hiding in Hartford! Now I'm straightened out. I've met kids from Hartford, they oughta be made to go to school 6 days a week, not 5 and surely not 4. What's wrong that we can't educate our kids today? I talk to old men who walked thru the woods 3 miles barefooted to go to school in a one room school house during the Depression. If Hartford could afford a 5 day school then....why in this time of milk and money would they think about cutting back to a 4 day school week.....something as un-American as I've ever heard. If the State and Feds can't help em out, maybe they can start heating their schools with all that left over coal down there and paying the teachers in chickens?

Now.....welcome kizzy, you sound like my kind of people. Most of us just want good government and we want to see that every human gets equal rights under the law, no matter what their skin color is, what their religion or lack of it is, nor even if it's a man in a dress wearing a Carmen Miranda hat. You don't have to like him, you don't have to kiss him, you don't have to live with him, but you do have to respect his rights and if you're a good person, hope he's having a nice life living as he pleases.

We just finished having the finest McDonald's had to offer, at 10:15 pm because I can't read a recipe. We worked in the yard a little today (god I hate it) and then because my wife was looking so glum and we've been fighting out of boredom, we watched a DVD one of the kids plopped on my desk, Lars and the Real Girl. I never heard of it and boy, it started out unbelievable, but by golly...it's quite a movie! Made me cry.....and if you watch it...you know how silly it was for me to cry over this movie.

Oh....dinner. Well....after I dried my tears I went in and started fixing round steak and potato casserole, this must have been almost 8 pm. I got ready to throw it in the oven and saw that instead of cooking for 1/2 an hour, it's supposed to cook for 1 and 1/2 hours. That would mean it would come out at 20 till 11!

So....I got tomorrow in the bad since tomorrow's dinner is 30 minutes away from being all ready. Of course cooked a day ahead, it will be twice as yummy tomorrow night.

PS Eureka......I dated a girl with a large mouse one time back in the 80s....woo woo

Goof, the SS Frosta set sail from a port in Norway, empty, going to a refinery at Norco, La.
to fill up. You got me on *the propellor yard,* never heard of that one. Avondale is a big
ship building co., near Huey Long bridge.....I think Industrial Canal is in Jefferson Parish on
west bank.
Why don't you google all these names??? and, honey, its not St. Louisa,,,just Louisa st.
google....wharfs of new orleans........or louisa st. wharf/new orleans, la.
Friends tell me a monument is going up for those lost on the ferry, very sad.
Thanks Durango for that post, very nice, very true, Motherhood is a haaaaard job but, when
it turns out well, worth all the bumps, bruises, tears, lost sleep, etc.

Welcom Kizzy

What other good Democrats do we have besides Vic Synder? I guess some on the local/state level...

talk to old men who walked thru the woods 3 miles barefooted to go to school in a one room school house during the Depression. DBI
Gawd, DBI, you almost made me swoon, thot you were going to say you were raised in a one
room house with a DIRT FLOOR.

For several years, a man was having an affair with an Italian woman.

One night, she confided in him that she was pregnant.

Not wanting to ruin his reputation or his marriage, he paid her a large sum of money if she would go to Italy to secretly have the

child. If she stayed in Italy to raise the child, he would also provide child support until the child turned 18.

She agreed, but asked how he would know when the baby was born. To keep it discrete, he told her to simply mail him a post card, and write "Spaghetti" on the back. He would then arrange for the child support payments to begin.

One day, about 9 months later, he came home to his confused wife. "Honey,"she said, "you received a very strange post card today."

"Oh, just give it to me and I'll explain it later," he said.

The wife obeyed and watched as her husband read the card, turned white, and fainted.

On the card was written: "Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti. Three with meatballs, two without. Send extra sauce."

re: the comment "I am a Democrat and work hard for Democratic candidates - those who are true Dems - not Pryor or Lincoln."

Do all of you contributors to this blog consider Mike Beebe to be a "true Dem" as mentioned in the above statement.

This is a man who has:

1. Come out publicly against same sex couples adopting (in a state where children need a lot of help)
2. Given the green light to begin executions in Arkansas again.
3. Given an enormous gift to gas companies taking money out of Arkansas (while cutting the budget to Medicaid)
4. Allows a coal-burning plant to open in SW Arkansas.
5. Has done absolutely nothing to encourage sustainable growth in Arkansas.

Also, has anyone noticed the increased flooding and Tornadoes. You don't fix that by giving 95% of the too-low severance tax to the highway department. You do that by subsidizing things like:

1. Building a passenger rail
2. Building closer together
3.Localizing food economies
4. Preserving (and fairly taxing) natural resources
5. Increasing Civic Participation (not cutting back-door deals with utility companies)
6. Demanding accountability from elected officials (which we would hope would happen in the media)

Beebe spent 11 million dollars to merely hang his name on the door and people come on this blog and bitch about the federal government. You live in the most resource rich state in this country yet you fail to see that you are lead by the Arkansas version of George W. Bush.

Sorry to dampen all the talk of lamb chops and wine but I have children who will inherit this God awful mess.

Good night.

Well, guess we got told!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No more fun on weekends, boys 'n girls, keep that stress level up till your brain explodes.
Now, since Zelda told me I'm older than dirt guess I'll slink off to my electric hospital bed,
after I manage to get my Depends on my ass, turn on my electric blanket to highest setting
so I don't freeze during the night, wake Frenchie to put heavy athletic socks on my feet,
put on a hoodie, top of head gets cold ya' know, Vicks in nose, what else??????
Bon Nuit Kids

Don't blame me, I voted for the smart nurse with wild hair.

Me, too.

Yum lambs chops and asparagus.
I made fish and chips tonight.....
and had the pleasure of taking my 16 year old to his first day at his first job.
They grow up too damn fast.
Welcome Kizzy

Why didn't you speak up earlier Rod. We know what shit heads mainstream corporate boz like Beebe can be, out in front and behind closed doors. But, hey don't envy our remaining natural pleasure of good food and drink, speak up, one of us will have you to the table.
See ya tomorrow jazzy. G'nite.

I will agree that there is lots to be done and that Beebe walked a little too far over to the right in order to get elected. I wish Dale Bumpers would write another book and tell the truth about what kind of pressure any Governor of Arkansas has put on him and by who after they take office. I still maintain that Arkansas is controlled by some kind of Tri-lateral commission born of the old Conway family dynasty and continuing on up to today. Big lumber, big farming, Wal-Mart, Stephens, big utilities......they're all in the mix.

We might think being governor is a lot of fun, but I bet the owners of the Arkansas Plantation pin Beebe's ears back more than he does any pinning. And ya know.....so far Beebe hasn't been Huckabee. So it feels like having a giant splinter pulled out of my paw and I've been so happy about that I haven't been in a mood to bitch about Beebe. If you look at all things...there is no reason Arkansas should stay mired in 48th spot. I think we stay in 48th because somehow it makes the Plantation owners a lot more money than if we were all progressive and educated and on the cutting edge.

Often times slums are a better return on the owner's investment than decent housing. So I think there is more to being governor than meet our beady eyes, though don't let me stand in your way of raising a ruckus, it's a fair thing to do under the circumstances.

Beebe's much better than Huckabee....enough said.

Oh lordy, jazzy, guess I'll leave you out of any old in-law stories ha!

Damn, DBI, jazzy's right..my in-laws only ate meat on Sunday, lost their teeth at a young age 'cause they didn't have the money to fix gum disease/dentures were cheap and walked to that one-room school. Now they say the docs treat em like they're old/don't count and they're only getting $300 of our government's bribe money 'cause their years of hard work evidently doesn't count. But I'm really sorry y'all had to eat from McDonalds. I'm really, really happy, though, that the Methodists kicked President Shit for Brains to the curb! Finally, a church gang I can respect. Perhaps Falwell's nut school, Liberty something or other, will take him and his lies...since so many were hired by his administration. It's a perfect match.

re: "Beebe's much better than Huckabee"

Mike Huckabee's entire stint as Governor was a joke. Especially the way he walked in backwards via a special election that arose because of federal abuses and the way he abused the separation of church and state. But Mike Beebe's entire career is a joke. He reminds me of Penny Hardaway. Came out of college then immediately went on the disabled list for his entire career- yet they still named a shoe line after him and even a doll. I've never seen such country club back slapping over doing nothing but special favors for the very people he should be regulating. Please write me a list of the ways he is better than Huckabee so I can get in line to pat him on the back.

I want all you God Fearing People to realize there is more praying going on at the race tracks than at any synagogue, church, mosque or temple! I confess to often praying for Divine Providence to enter the mix more often than not.

Saint Cato

Good Mornin, Zelda, Saint, L.Wood, DBI, Eureka, Durango, Goof, et al.............
Well, I made it thru another night. No funeral today.................:-)

rod to me the main difference so far between the 2 is that there is not a constant arguing between the governor and the ethics commission. there is not the problem of having to see janet's horrible smile or whatever it was in the paper and tv all time. the bebee family is not the white trash the huckabee's are and are not constantly screaming look at em and how great i am and name the state after me. they are not the embarassment that jethro and his wife always were to the state. you never worry about whether janet would show up at the rasslin match and try to pin the hulk or something else idiotic. aside from the politics which only time will show the differences ,a little class difference is reason enough to hope the huck and his clan never darken the capitol steps again. i also hope something can be done about these names of janet on everything in the mansion. it belongs to the people not her although she tried to steal enough of it when she left.

Zonker,

I think you and I have quite different expectations for the role of Governor and first lady. I was embarassed by Huckabee but am equally embarrassed by Beebe. At least Huckabee will have a conversation which allows his ignorance to be exploited. Beebe doesn't want to be exposed as the shitkicker that he is.

WAY TO GO ZONK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!no one could have said it better!!!!!
Class does count, just compare JFK/Jackie with what we have in WH now,,,,YUK
I hope Huckabuck does land a job in Hollywood and they all move out there, lock,stock
and stolen loot.

Well, top of the hat to you too jazzy. I awoke breathing today, without the tubes attached. Now I must take my heavily perfumed niece to the orthodontist and Pippin the queen dog is whining for a walk. Think I will pull the dog behind the car. Two birds with one stone.

What prayers does Saint Cato prefer? C'MON YOU M_Fer RUN!