Arkansas Blog

Max....I'm running like a scalded rabbit this morning, but one quick tip that will make 2009 much better for you. Forget the toilet parts, go buy a new tank for the toilet you have. The last one I bought was 29 bucks. Most will fit any toilet and with brand new parts inside, your running toilet will be just a memory for many years. I have replaced the guts in the tank of a toilet a dozen times and I don't think I had 100% success with any of them. Buy a new tank and the toilet gods will be good to you. You might have to go to a hardware store that's not a chain to be able to buy just the tank. I'm getting another new tank for Christmas!

Now....on to chocolate pie filling made from scratch!

A NEW FERTILIZER SPREADER?! Jeepers, she's been a good girl this year!

Speaking of toilets...a couple months ago on a Friday one of ours was stopped up. I went to Kraftco twice and Lowe's once. I ended up getting a new *dee-lux* plunger and a water closet snake. I worked and worked, determined not to call the drain guy, especially on the weekend. I worked on it...my wife worked on it, but alas it would not be free.

The drain guy came on that Monday morning. I showed him the toilet. He flushed it.

It flushed.

I would have been happier to flush the money I gave him down the same toilet.

Here's a little Christmas fun...Throw the shoe at Monkey Boy.

on blue name

The girl and I made it out for the first time together, just me and her, this morning. The hubster ended up working the AM shift, so it was up to me to get Hunter out for her weigh-in. She's gained nearly a whole pound since last week. Hah. So it isn't just me being in poor shape that's causing my back to ache!

Noticed on the way out that Chip's was its usual full pre-Christmas self. Wondering if there will still be a cheesecake half by the time I get over there. Sometimes I just get whatever pie is left after the rush -- never had a bad slice there yet.

Then again, my brother just told me he's making peanut butter pie... I'm thinking I might try and talk him into an exchange, a pie for me to take home in exchange for a loaf of brown sugar-encrusted banana nut bread. Mmmm.

To the soon to be squashed pedestrians in Heights and Hillcrest:

The little yellow signs are reminders that pedestrians in crosswalks are protected. They are not crosswalks unless they have white stripes on the pavements. Sometimes you have to walk a block down the street to get to a crosswalk.

Complete your last will and testament if you plan to keep jumping out into the street at midblock and expect all traffic to stop.

Musings on Christmas Eve as inspired by Max:

---our local WM has been busier than the dickens these past few days. Their huge parking lot full of autos and pedestrians.

---will have a full house. # three child is presently on his way from the UT campus in Austin. About an 8 hour drive unless traffic makes it 9-10 drive. His mother nervous. He's bringing a fellow Oxford grad with him. She's afraid the young lady will spot a speck of dirt on the floor. She got this strange look when I asked her what bedding arrangements had she made. It was like hitting her between the eyes with a baseball bat. Mothers are funny creatures at time. Right zelda?

---The last time my commode stopped up I had to eventually take it out side to unclog it. Full of tiny toys. Since we don't lock our doors, I deduced the little 5 year old lad living next door was coming in while we were away and seeing the commode flush his toys away. I informed his parents and haven't ha a plugged commode since. (Yes, NB, I buy the lad a gift every Christmas)

Merry Christmas all.

Max- I'm sure you know how commercial foie gras is produced. It's animal torture and folks that eat that stuff cannot do so with a clear conscience.

If you are going to keep harping on Arkansas passing a law to make animal torture a felony first offense, at least quit writing about and eating foie gras. Or, in the alternative, join the Farm Bureau forces and torture for fun and pleasure.

Like waterboarding, where others have suggested that folks like W, Cheney and Rumsfeld who think it is okay should try being waterboarded first, I suggest the same for folks who want to eat foie gras. Let someone strap you down, stick a funnel down your throat (hoping not to damage your esophagus in the process) and pour into your stomach more food than you could naturally eat. If you can say that was a fun experience, then go ahead and enjoy your foie gras. You've earned it!

Incidentally, I'm in favor of a felony first offense Arkansas animal cruelty law, but I wouldn't think of eating foie gras. That's just plain gross!

And I hope your son makes it home safely so your family can celebrate the holidays together! But lay off the foie gras.

But, Mud, that's called "thinning the herd."

I actually have more problems with the drivers up there. They don't yield the right of way, crosswalk or not, and are usually to intent on their phone conversations anyway. Most people also seem to have parking "issues." They can't parallel park, but make numerous attempts while holding up traffic for minutes. They are too lazy to walk more than a few feet to a store, so they park where it says "No parking here to corner", because the rules don't apply to them, don't cha know. I particularly loved the person who made the right turn off of Kavanaugh onto Pierce (right at the Heights Gallery) and just parked and left their car in the crosswalk. Not sure if they were needing art or a caffeine fix at Starbucks, but the car was still there about 30 minutes later when the dogs and I strolled back by.

Oh, and be careful for the ones who do manage to parallel park. They will wait until your car is almost even with them as you drive by, and they will suddenly fling their car door open right into your path.

The Heights is not for the faint of heart.

My Goddaughter made the trip from Columbia, Mo to Chicago in 15 hours. It usually takes 7. She slid into a police car en route. They didn't give her a ticket.

Went to Communion at PHUMC at noon where the organist got a surprise. The wildly fluctuating temperatures have caused the reeds to go out of tune on the pipe organ. At least that's my guess. Merry Christmas!

Will go to Mass with my Catholic friends tonight. I figure I got the bases covered if I take Communion with the Methodists and get blessed by the Catholics. You can never be too careful about these matters. Tonight I will drink martinis, bake pies and hopefully watch Notre Dame lose.

Tomorrow will go see Mother in the nursing home and will go to my brother's that night for dinner, whiskey and cigars, the latter of which I really shouldn't do seeing as how I have asthma but I figure what the hell. It's Christmas.

I hope that loved ones get to their destinations and that Max gets his toilet fixed. He has a better shot of that then PHUMC does of getting those pipes tuned by tonight!

Thanks for the heads up Sound Policy

on my blue name is one of a few groups
who sound off against foie gras.

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To Max and all of you that frequent, type and provide all that you do;

MERRY CHRISTMAS...and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

and for the rest of us..see you at Fantastic China tommorow for din-din!

Can't wait to read what Cammacklife has seen or heard today...........

clicky

Jazzy:

That was pretty funny!! Thanks and Merry Christmas to you and all on the blog!

Now, if a camel had just strolled through while the bagpipe was playing, it would have been perfect!

To the best bloggers in the world: May the best of this season be yours! Atheist, Agnostic, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, gay, straight, whatever label you would choose or not choose - may the joy of community fill your life.

Jazzy:

I think you may appreciate what I am about to report now, especially since it is at my expense.

I was preparing to make something to take to a gathering tonight, and one of the ingredients called for several packages of cream cheese that were to be mixed well. I get out my very old, but previously reliable, electric hand mixer and turn it on. Unfortunately, my mixer appears to have only one speed now, and that speed is the highest setting possible, and the "off" portion of the speed setting wheel is also no longer working. I now have cream cheese all over the kitchen, myself, and the floor where the mixer managed to fling the giant plastic mixing bowl. My dogs and cat are having an early Christmas and I am off to find something else to bring tonight.

Merry Christmas to all.

Cammack, I can relate! Here's my holiday baking disaster: I was making my grandmother's foolproof, delicious and expensive oatmeal cookies. This recipe is famous in the family - it's the one we frame because of little asides such as "put in all the pecans you can afford."

The only hard part of the recipe is "stir like fury," which refers to creaming the shortening, sugar and eggs.

Our daughter has become fancy baker supreme of our household. She even makes fondant-covered cakes, fancy cupcakes, candies, etc. She's making us fat! So in many ways, we are cooking in "her" kitchen now. I put in the flour, oatmeal, more pecans than I could afford and the rest of the ingredients. I spooned out the lumpy, delicious, raisin-and nut-studded globs onto the baking sheet and popped them in. Instead of waiting five minutes for the delicious aroma of rising cookies, I smelled the sugar and spices immediately and then I smelled it all burning! I opened the oven and 18 cookies had turned to goo a quarter-inch high in the cookie sheet, punctuated by said expensive pecans and raisins!

What the hell? Upon investigation, it turned out that the canister of flour from which I had scooped my measure was instead a canister of powdered sugar! I had made a sweet sheet of goo.

The rest of the batch was hastily rescued by adding the 2 cups of flour. The cookies did not come out EXACTLY the same as my grandmothers - they're sweeter and crunchy instead of soft and oat-mealy. But who can waste pecans? I know she wouldn't have.

I too, have done your stunt but not through faulty equipment. It's pilot error when you don't put the top on the blender!

Deep six that mixer and buy a new one for under $20..........

I have to watch Frenchie when he wants to whip potatoes....he would have taters all over

kitchen too and I don't think Cat would be thrilled with that.

Happy Christmas to all my blog family, and to Max who makes it all possible.

You guys n gals have given me a new fresh page to enjoy life every day.............

..........and I'm thankful for having electric and heat allllllllllllll day.

AMEN

Where is Zonker??????????? hope you are well friend.......we love you

It's taco salad here tonite, while partner cooks for tomorrow's company.
Nothing to shout about tommorrow.

Turkey breast,
gingered sweet potatoes
brocolli with sauce
Green beans with a touch of bacon
Crescent rolls
pecan pie,
chocolate pie
pumpkin pie

Second try.

Echo the Race Parrot wishes you all a holiday that you do not deserve. So far as he knows, and he checks the net often, Echo is the only state Supreme Court Justice ever to win a national motorcycle road race competition.

Your results may vary, but Echo reserves the right not to be impressed.

As a kid, the best fried okra I ever had was when GM mistook the sugar for the cornmeal.

Since the adults wouldn't touch it, all of us kids had all we could eat.