101 degrees.

Weather.com's national map today had a blurb about "showers and storms throughout the South, except for parts of Texas and Louisiana."

I am looking at dresses. My niece will wed in the spring, and I'd like something new to wear.

It is premature to look now. I don't know what time of day the event will be, or yet the month. Yes, I could ask, but where's the drama in that?

It's remarkable just how conservative my taste is and always has been. Part of that is not having pretty legs. But if I had them now, I'd opt for an elegant linen sheath with pearls.

I think this is a great dress if dull in color. But I wouldn't like to wear heels high enough to really carry it off.

My favorite so far is this one, which I could wear well into my 60's with the addition of a scarf. That silhouette allows more variability in heel height.

Here is a great classic. Ballet length has always been good for me.

I don't think I'll be buying from Neiman's. And for spring, I think I'd like something in a brighter color. Just looking around.

I own a perfectly good black pencil skirt (with a proper kick pleat from haberdas-her, not a slit, from 1984) that will look fine with a shell and a jacket, if I want.

UPDATE: The wedding will be in early March, in the evening. The black dress is looking good. Now, if I can find it or something similar for a third of that price, I'll be in good shape. Suggestions?

UPDATE: Looking at the profiles, Terry is right. With my short hair, as opposed to the longer stuff pulled back in a bow, for architecture I need a slimmer profile, but still one that covers the knees. I'm still looking for the black dress. Not a cheap black dress, and one that will go anywhere. No beads, no bows, no embroidery, no lace and no brocade.

I haven't bought a pretty dress since 1990, before I had my hair cut. I wore an 8, last I checked.

Typical, typical.

We spent $50 on several new toys for the birds -- colorful, chewy toys with bells!

Charlie's gone after the paper tag.

Let's have some fun.

Slow days.

Our thermometer showed 102, 103 and 101 degree days this week. A little cloud blew up last evening and dribbled a few drops. Not enough to wet concrete.

Good news at the local library here.

At home, we are up to our belt loops in "big tigers."

For Diane:

In my teens I sewed a lot. Can't say much for my taste then, anymore. Culottes were big. But I did it.

I am cleaning out a back room, and I turned up with a "Friendship" quilt top. I don't remember whether my mother gave it to me, or I took it when we broke her house down after she died.

Anyway, I came across it and sent it to my quilting sister-in-law. She was thrilled. It has 68 names, I think she told me, including my mother's sisters, sister-in-law, and her mother.

If it was a going-away present (when did you last hear that phrase?), it dates from 1938. It's in excellent shape.

Just to note: Lucy hasn't laid an egg since July 5.

Tonight we had a celebration dinner for a young woman who admits to the ripe age of 32. And we invited my brother, who is highly sociable, and likes lamb.

She had much my dinner at my birthday:

Rack of Lamb with Rosemary and Scallion from Sarah Moulton on the Food Network:

1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
¼ teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
1 garlic clove, minced
3 tablespoons thinly sliced scallion including the green part
1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 (1 1/4 pound) trimmed and frenched single rack of lamb (7 or 8 ribs)
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup mustard

In a small skillet heat the oil over moderate heat until it is hot but not smoking, add the red pepper flakes, and cook them, stirring, for 10 seconds. Add the garlic and cook it, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the scallion and the rosemary and cook the mixture, stirring, for 10 seconds. Stir in the bread crumbs and salt and pepper, to taste, and remove the skillet from the heat. Mix the mayonnaise and mustard in a small bowl, set aside.

Heat an ovenproof skillet over moderately high heat until it is hot and in it brown the lamb, seasoned with salt and pepper, turning it for 5 minutes, or until the sides and the ends are browned evenly. Pour off any fat from the skillet, arrange the lamb, fat and meat side up, and brush with mayonnaise/mustard mixture. Then pat the crumb mixture evenly on the fat and meat side of the lamb.

Bake the lamb in the middle of a preheated 475 degree oven for 15 minutes, or until a meat thermometer registers 130 degrees for medium-rare meat. Transfer the lamb to a platter, let it stand, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

We also ate Mushrooms Mireille from the Plantation Cookbook, a New Orleans Junior League production.

Here is that recipe:

MUSHROOMS MIREILLE
(Stuffed mushrooms)

40 mushrooms, stems removed
1 stick butter
4 tablespoons finely chopped green onions
1-1/2 cups crabmeat
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons sherry
Paprika

Slightly saute mushroom caps in 3 tablespoons butter. Transfer mushrooms to buttered baking dish. Saute green onions in two tablespoons butter; remove from heat and add crabmeat. In another pan cook and stir flour in 3 tablesppons butter for 5 minutes, but do not brown. Heat milk and stir into cooked flour until smooth. Add salt, pepper and sherry, and cook until sauce thickens. Mix in green onions and crabmeat. Correct seasoning. Stuff mushroom caps, sprinkle lightly with paprika, and bake in 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

For this one, we found some substantial mushrooms. I wound up with 2 cups of crab after picking out shell particles. I upped the other ingredients by a third, and could stuff about 30. We're talking large button mushrooms here, not portabellas.

Crudites, grilled asparagus, and red grapes filled out the menu.

UPDATE: For you parents out there. We were talking about teenagers. Our girl said, "I said about five words to my mother when I was a teenager, and they were all rude."

Umm hmmm.

Chef Mojo has a recipe for Fish Tacos on Bill Quick's cooking thread this week.

We've been looking for one of those for a while. After last week's Chicken Vindaloo, I'll certainly give it a try.

Charlie is a big tiger. He is 18 months old today.

UPDATE: Yes, yes, I know the angle could be better. Perhaps I could use some help.

radar3

Last time we saw an image like this -- Saturday -- 0.12 inch of rain fell.

What disappointments await us today?

UPDATE: O.47 inch, with a good possibility of more behind. And a leak in the bedroom ceiling.

Charlie and I are working on a deep growl to go with his tigers. He likes this exercise.

The Natchez Democrat has a poll question up today that the editors might like to rethink:

Do you think music is too sexually provocative?

Yes
No
No opinion

I have a couple of readers who cook Indian cuisine.

Surfing around the Internet this morning I found a recipe for Chicken Vindaloo in the comments at Bill Quick's Daily Pundit.

Looks good to me, and I can fake my way through most of it. Take a look at the recipe if you will, and offer a substitute for the black mustard seeds. Yellow seeds I can do. They're often used in pickling and preserving around here.

I've e-mailed Chef Mojo, but he doesn't know me and he's a busy man who might take some time getting back to me.

(Of course Jordana and kitchen hand are idle slumps who can and will leap to my every beck and call. Chef Tony?)

UPDATE: Chef Mojo says yellow seeds are fine. And he didn't list an ingredient -- 1 tablespoon of black peppercorns to be ground with the other spices.

If you want to do something organic and scary for Halloween, consider using pistachio shell halves as fingernails on cakes or cookies. I bet they could be dyed to any desired color with food dye. Of course, they're too tough to eat.

I came upon this idea when a slimy one popped out of the garbage disposal. Arghhh!

Lucy likes watermelon

Lucy likes watermelon.

The Marketplace had a good crowd this morning.

We arrived after the contest was over and as the demonstration was beginning. On the way to join the group we met Jane, who offered us a roasted garlic-prosciutto-parmesan biscuit. Not a bad way to start the day, even if she didn't place.

Ms. Charboneau showed us the process for making her butter biscuits.

She was strict about the proportion of butter to margarine in the recipe -- 1 butter to 3 margarine -- the butter for richness and the margarine for flakiness.

She combined all ingredients in a stand mixer and gave it only a few turns, just two or three sprints of a second or so, creating a soft, sticky dough with large lumps of butter and margarine.

She turned that onto a floured board, and rolled, folded, turned and rolled again several times. When she was satisfied, she cut them about 3/4 inch thick.

Her product was flaky and rich, with a somewhat crispy bottom. Glenda and I thought they were just a little sweet to use with gravy, but that they'd be lovely with jams and jellies.

This weekend, eh?

Here's the part that interests me:

Saturday morning activities begin at 8 a.m. at The Main Street Marketplace with the Great River Road Martha White Biscuit Cook-Off.

“I really want to urge people to come on down with a couple of dozens biscuits and enter the contest,” Charboneau said. “It’s fun. And we need lots of participation in this.”

Charboneau will conduct a biscuit-making demonstration following the contest.

All the activities at The Main Street Marketplace are free and open to everyone, she said.

I could use some instruction in biscuit-making.

UPDATE: I could make a couple dozen of my best biscuits and take them to the contest. I bet I'd get some learnin' then.

Something I've not thought about until today is that Lucy's colors are those of my alma mater.

She has a near-perfect SMU coed personality. But it's good for Ole Miss coeds, too.

Charlie is a member of an LSU fan family. All his vets are LSU graduates. So here's a clip for them:



He'll be able to shout with the best of them come the season.

You'll note that this tape records one of the rare times that Charlie has spoken for a minute without talking about himself. But not a second longer.

radar2

Wednesday's image showed a band of precipitation moving from west to east.

This shows a band moving from east to west. The arm there to the west of the blue marker reached right around us, then upward.

We are shunned!

Off to Mostly Cajun, for a joke.

So we tried it.

Just okay. The recipe took the edge off my craving, but still didn't quite hit the spot.

And in fairness to the ...let me see... Stevens, we didn't quite follow their recipe.

Lyman wound up buying the meat at Wal-Mart, since he had to go there to find canned enchilada sauce. Wal-Mart packs chuck in pound packs. He came home with two pounds. Rather than freeze 1/2 pound of meat, I went ahead and used it, which threw off the balance between meat and tortillas.

The only enchilada sauce that he found was a Pace product. It was good out of the bottle, good enough for table sauce, but rich for the dish. Were I to do the recipe again, I'd make an ancho chile-based red sauce without tomato. (Mr. Stevens' is here.) And if I'm going to do that, I'd just as soon make enchiladas proper.

Just a note: When we fried the tortillas, I found that the process went faster if I halved the tortillas before frying. More could fit into the skillet.

Will I try it again? Probably not. Lyman is not fond of Tex-Mex food as it is.

But if I had teen-aged boys to feed? Double-yes.

Oh, how I miss good Tex-Mex food!

So I'm trying this recipe today.

I'll let you know.

Today marks four years that I have kept this site.

Thanks.

radar

Even with a radar image like this, I wouldn't bet you a quarter on our chances of getting much rain.

UPDATE: 0.25 inch. Just amazing.

The kitchen smells odd.

Tonight we are making a recipe that we have used before from chef Ming Tsai from the Food Network.

It's a 5-spice beef soup.

Here is the recipe:

Soup with Five Spice Beef Short Ribs and Wonton Noodles

Wonton Noodle Soup

2 quarts chicken stock
2 large slices ginger
4 heads baby bok choy, washed and cut into 1/4 inch slices
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon naturally brewed soy sauce
1 tablespoon salt
1 pound fresh wonton noodles, blanched in salted water right before serving.
1/2 cup sliced scallions
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 teaspoons sesame oil
Five Spice Beef Ribs

Heat the stock in a stock pot with the ginger and reduce by 20 percent. Add the bok choy, white pepper, and soy sauce. Cook 3 minutes until bok choy is soft. Check for seasoning. Place the hot noodles in 4 large bowls and top with stock and bok choy. Place ribs on top. Garnish with scallions, cilantro, and drizzle with sesame oil.

Five Spice Beef Ribs:

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed peppers
8 thin slices fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic
2 pounds beef short ribs
1 cup soy sauce
4 cups red wine
1 tablespoon five spice powder
1 tablespoon salt
3 pieces star anise
Dash cinnamon powder
1 large piece rock candy (1-inch cube)


Prepare a large non-stick stock-pot coated with oil over high heat. Add the crushed pepper, ginger, and garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Place the beef in the stock-pot and cook, covered, about 4 minutes on each side. Add the soy sauce, red wine, five spice powder, salt, star anise, cinnamon, and rock candy and bring the mixture to a boil for about 5 minutes.

Reduce the heat and let simmer for 2-1/2 hours. Remove the ribs from the pot and add to the Wonton Noodle Soup.

We make substitutions. Wonton noodle is not common in the grocery stores here. The chef himself suggested angel hair pasta as a substitute. Baby bok choy ain't likely. Napa cabbage is a substitute, or we use the larger bok choy when we can.

We leave the rock candy out altogether.

We moved from basic cable services to a dish satellite service for TV a couple of weeks ago.

HBO offers a few months' free service as a hook to subscribe.

Lyman has been watching "Deadwood." I haven't watched much of it because I have usually retreated to the bedroom with a book by the time it comes on. It's interesting to look at, and the West sure isn't sugar-coated in the series.

I am not a prude, but it hasn't escaped my attention that every second sentence uses the word "f**king" as a modifier, if not a verb.

Charlie is caged-up and tucked-in by the time the show comes on. I sure 'nuff hope he can't absorb things subliminally. I don't know how many times I want to hear "I a f**king cute, sweetie boy" in a day.

Over the weekend, a huge front came over the south, dropping rain everywhere in its path. It edged its way all around us. We received .32 inch of rain.

Last night, a small front came up from the south, settled just below us, then dispersed as the evening wore on.

Today, a large front is moving northward from the Gulf of Mexico.

I am not carrying an umbrella.

If this front doesn't bring a decent rain, I'll have to wash the car. Maybe both of them. That usually works for me.

UPDATE: Okey dokey. How far do the hoses reach and where is the nearest outlet?

Mac Thomason, in his role as ichthypundit, has a summat disconcerting fish pic.

Ahem.

The thief was described as a white man, about 6 feet tall and 170 pounds. He was wearing a T-shirt, jeans, work gloves and white underwear on his head.

Medpundit is blogging again.

She says her children told her to take her rants away from the dinner table and put them back on her blog.

I packed a few pieces of Lucy's birthday bread for the doctor's macaw and Quaker, and took Charlie back to the vet today.

She removed the scab again, gave Charlie another injection, and told me to continue treating him as we are, and to bring him in again in a week or so.

The sore is getting better, but it's taking time.

The square bit of terrycloth that you use in the bath or shower -- I (Texas) grew up calling it a "wash rag" or "wash cloth," as did Kim (Wisconsin).

Lyman (Louisiana) called it a "bath cloth."

I grew up working class. I don't know about Kim. Lyman grew up business class.

What did you call it? Do you know why?

Here is the recipe for "birdie bread":

Bird Bread For Eclectus

This recipe makes a "heavy" bread, not as light as you would prepare for yourself, but the birds love it! Notice that it contains very little baking powder (some baking powders contain aluminum), no added sugar or other sweeteners, and no added salt.

In a large bowl combine the following ingredients:

2 cups yellow corn meal
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup currants or raisins
1 cup nuts (pine, almond, walnut, pecan)
1 cup shelled sunflower seeds
1 twenty-nine ounce can of solid pack pumpkin
1 thirty-two ounce bottle of papaya nectar
1/2 cup of sunflower or safflower oil
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon baking powder

Add enough water or juice to make a pourable batter. Use two large well-greased baking pans. Bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes or until done. Cool and slice. Can be frozen.

This recipe comes from the kitchen of Carolyn Swicegood.

I substituted cooked sweet potato for the pumpkin and apple juice for the papaya nectar. Since I've never found unsalted shelled sunflower seeds here, I buy a pack of salted and rinse them well in a strainer.

Cheerful crowd

Maybe they'll brighten your day, too.

Here's an interesting post from Damian, Paul Palubicki's blogging partner at digitalwarfighter, pointing to a weather radar recording of mayflies hatching.

Today is Lucy's birthday!

She is five years old.

IMAG0110

Rejected towels.

Understand, the kids didn't and wouldn't take one of these. They took the $25 bath sheet. And bath cloth to match.

Look at that pink towel. It's one that Lyman's mother bought for the coast. It's not big enough to dry a watermelon.

What is it with me and towels?

My mother didn't teach me to hang onto every one until it was frayed in the center. When she had two nickels to rub together she'd buy new ones.

I rolled the collected change a few months ago.

Today I went to K-Mart and bought a half dozen fluffy new white Martha Stewart towels and bath cloths for the guest bathroom. (I used to call them wash rags. Maybe that's the tell.) I like Martha Stewart's towels. They're as good or better than the ones I bought at McCrae's a few years ago.

They replace the motley array of crap that dated from as far back as when Michael was a teenager.

They can be bleached and they can be easily replaced. Young mothers do not know that even good kids will be taking your dinner glasses, your towels, perhaps your cooking equipment as they leave home.

Some years ago I talked to another father who described helping a child pack for college. He noticed that the kid had packed his favorite cast-iron skillet.

"Wait a damn minute. Who said you could take that?"

"You said you'd give me everything I need."

A new challenge!

Charlie has had a little sore on his breast, likely a nip from Lucy in one of her fits of meanness, that hasn't healed.

The vet yesterday removed the scab, swabbed it with like-Betadine, applied a salve, and injected an antibiotic.

She sent me home with a bottle of like-Betadine, a tube of salve, and two weeks' worth of oral antibiotic.

Charlie is a willful and strong little critter with a formidable beak. How will we get this all done?

Being a "sweet birdie boy" doesn't necessarily extend to cooperation in this scenario.

Staying mainly at home these days, I do less to keep my appearance up than I did when I worked in public.

I had been looking askance at my creeping cuticles until two things happened:

1) I followed the link at this post at Peg Britton's.

2) I had lunch with my brother. He was scheduled for a manicure afterward. The man's nails looked handsome and healthy. Mine looked ragged.

So I found a Sally Hansen kit for pushing back cuticles, and used it.

It had been so long, my cuticles were rough and hurt after that maneuver.

After doing a little research on the Internet, I found a reasonably-priced, highly-recommended product in Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream.

I have been applying it twice a day to both my finger- and toenails. It's really too early to say, but they look and feel better already. Is it the reflexology?

My toenails have been particularly dry and brittle. It would be a boon if the stuff will help them.

Lucy's claws were gripping too far around, and her flight feathers had nearly grown in, so I took her to Dr. Debbie for a trim.

We waited.

I had a spirited conversation with an older woman from Wisner (married 44 years). She was in with a standard female cocker spaniel with what might be "tick fever."

We were talking about our pets and she said "what I know about birds could be put on the head of a pin with the angels singing the Lord's Prayer beside."

What a fun woman. A good day.

Lucy was as top-notch as a girl can be when she is assaulted by Dremels.

Lucy and squash

Our friend Glenda has been harvesting fat little squash with lots of seeds for the birds to enjoy.

This one was shaped almost exactly like Lucy. You can see that she is appalled by the comparison.

What Kind of Princess are You? - Beautiful Artwork

The Traditional Princess
You are generous, graceful, and practical with both feet planted firmly on the ground. You tend to be a little on the old-fashioned side. You value home, hearth, and family life and love to be of service to others.
Role Models: Snow White, Maid Marian
You are most likely to: Discover a hidden talent for spinning straw into gold.
Take this quiz!








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| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

This is a crummy result. I've been working my way up from Cinderella since I was nine years old. Am I a romantic princess? A fairy princess? A noble princess?

Nah. Just Cinderella in a bigger house. Bah!

(From Sarah G.)

The quiet hum emanating from this blog is the sound of procrastination.

Charlie has whistled the notes of the LSU Tiger fight song for months.

We're teaching him "Go Tigers!" to follow it up.

He has it down pretty pat. Now to stop following that with a smacking "sweet kiss."

And Lucy laid another egg on July 5 sometime between 9 and 10 p.m.

She somehow broke the one she laid earlier and ate it.

Lucy will be five years old on July 17.

To keep this up to date as a diary, let me record that Lucy laid an egg at approx. 9:10 p.m. on July 1.

Bee bar

The "Bee Bar" has become a popular drinking spot in Vidalia, Louisiana.

Now that they're coming, I've watered down the liquor.

Watering bees

It is so dry here, I've put out a dish for the bees to keep them off the faucet, so I can water plants.

When I put the dish of water down yesterday, they didn't approach it. I added a teaspoon of nectar mix for hummingbirds. They seem to like that better.

Add "watering bees" to "composing ditties for birds" on my list of unexpected adult tasks.

There's a thread at firedoglake, a progressive-liberal site, concerning a speech by Barack Obama.

The comments turn into a pretty good, civilized discussion of the issues raised by the post.

(Thanks, Mr. Reynolds.)

Now that's rich.

Possum

Honey, you're not a squirrel.

Frothing at the Mouse has taken up new, elegant digs at WordPress.

Here's the gist:

We read and pay attention. Kos has built up a ocean of trust that you can only envy.

But that's the whole point of this, isn't it? You and your ilk are envious, bitter and desperate.

Well, I've got some advice for you: go back to whatever cave you crawled out of and teach yourself something about honesty. Because that's where trust begins.

This might be the first time I've gone to Kos' site.

But I was alive and watching during dot.coms. I watched Ameritrade companies go up and down and could watch people take money. Being a "poor 30-some-odd year old graduate student" is no excuse for bilking people of their money. Even if Kos had a sleazy partner for a while doesn't make him sleazy, too, mind. But that's not substantiated because apparently Jerome Armstrong is still negotiating with the SEC or some such. Never mind.

But I do hate those little sissy fists of fury raised while telling people:

If you still hold a subscription to that magazine, it really is time to call it quits. If you see it in a magazine rack, you might as well move it behind the National Review or even NewsMax, since that's who they want to be associated with these days.

Or:

Sad, perhaps. But this is apparently the price one pays for crashing the gate. (Plug for book there.)

In honor of Father's Day, here is a picture of my father. He was a Democrat until the day he died at 78, 1990, July 5.

UPDATE: Here is a clear description of the whole kerfuffle, with some thoughts to the future of blogs.

UPDATE II: Capitalist running dog right-wing neo-con conspiring owner of The New Republic weighs in. (Thank you, Dr. Reynolds.)

James Joyner is following the Kos-New Republic controversy. It is escalating.

I've said before that I love a good blog brawl, especially when I have no dog in the fight.

Tonight I might pop the top of a Milwaukee's Best, spread some Braunschweiger on rye toast, and settle in to read the 300+ comments at Kos' post.

Or I might go see some hogs instead. ("Thousands" is something of an overstatement. Still plenty to see.)

UPDATE: 400+

UPDATE: 500 at 6:27 p.m.

We have a little vocabulary problem.

Since Charlie calls himself "Sweet Birdie Boy," I thought it would be nice to have a comparable name for Lucy. I came up with "Girly-Bird."

Try that. Isn't it fun to say?

Now Charlie wants to call himself "Girly-Bird."

Sweet kisses for you.

Oh. You mean me?

We had a charming young woman from Baton Rouge come to stay this weekend for fun and relaxation.

Saturday night we had my brother, Lyman's son and the young lady to a dinner of boiled shrimp, baked onions, blanched Italian flat beans, stewed potatoes with garlic chives, mushrooms in Madeira sauce, and grilled T-bone steaks. (T-bones on sale this week for $4.99 a pound).

Sunday was quiet.

Yesterday we cooked fried fish, fried okra, fried potatoes, and fresh cucumbers in vinegar for Lyman's father and mother. He was out of pocket on Sunday, at a bank affair in Jena.

Fried catfish is a favorite meal for both Lyman's parents.

For dessert, I baked a huge deep-dish blackberry pie using a recipe from The Evolution of Cajun & Creole Cuisine. There was a problem, possibly using frozen berries, so the thing turned out runny but delicious. It should still keep them happy for a few days.

Big Daddy doesn't care for cake. It was his birthday pie. He turned 87 on May 30.

Next month those two will celebrate their 65th anniversary.

Happy day, you dads out there!

We have a dense cloud cover with moisture moving north from the Gulf.

We've received a cool .06 inch of rain so far.

Charlie now talks about and gives "sweet kisses."

For readers following Chris at the Big Yellow House, it's time to update your bookmarks. She is now blogging at notes from the trenches.

The world can be a sweet place.

I have a mental block this morning.

I received news this week that my nephew and his wife in Washington state have added a brand-new strapping (8 lb. 13 oz.) girl to the family. A first grandchild to that brother.

So I've been tallying up the great-nieces and -nephews, finding that the ratio of girls to boys is being corrected in that generation. Girls 4, boys 3.

But I can't think of one nephew's name for the life of me.

More coffee.

UPDATE: This is pitiful. Looking at the alphabet doesn't even help. And I like the man.
All right. I found it on a list of baby names -- Chad.

Poor kid. I wonder how many others have blocked his name since 2000.

Lucy has completed her second 28-day cycle of sitting eggs.

On the 28th day, June 12, Charlie broke the natural egg after leaving it alone for nearly a month. Perhaps he can count, too.

So we've taken out the dummy, and Lucy is back to some semblance of normalcy.

Now what?

Wretched, beastly, no-count fire ants!

They weren't there yesterday.

Can anyone, anywhere, name one good biological consequence of their existence?

Well, rats.

It is dry, dry here. Enough to hurt the crops, and to bring honeybees lingering around our water sources outdoors. These bees seem congenial enough. I walked through them to turn on a faucet just yesterday.

Today they're buzzing around a shallow puddle on the patio.

I was stung the other day working around one of the raised beds. I happened to put my hand atop one that had settled on the wall. It stung right at the base of my pinkie. I am not allergic to bee venom, so have suffered just a little discomfort.

But they do die after stinging, and that leaves us one less bee.

Here is a fun little video of Willow, an Amazon, I think, doing her tricks. Watch your volume on this one. It's loud.

Ooh-la-la.

OK, Francesca, here you are. Nearly two minutes of Charlie fawning over himself.



And yes, I need to do some housekeeping.

Don't you like that one little reference to Lucy? That's her voice in the background.

UPDATE: Two minutes (or 1:51) is too long. I'd prefer to keep these things to a minute or less. Even I lose interest. But I had what I had.

Charlie went on in a similar vein from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. yesterday. He's quiet today. I'm surprised he isn't hoarse.

By the good graces of Dr. James Joyner and Brett Marston, I verified that this site might be a decent source for a brief history of Abu Musab al-Zarkawi.

I haven't read a coherent one before.

Gulf crab

This Gulf crab is worth wrestling for the meat.

I like to keep the drama down. I grew up in a tempestuous time, and I've had more in the past five years, and I'd just as soon everyone take a deep breath and settle down.

But I do like a little.

Lyman planted asparagus roots in the central raised bed. The sprouts are stocky when they just come up, then turn into slender ferny plants.

When they begin to break ground, they raise a hump. I'm now counting humps.

I am outdoors today battling chamberbitter.

I think I'll call it the alternative, "gripeweed."

It's pleasant in the shade this afternoon, not too hot, with a soft breeze.

Good grief. Don't you, too, need one of these in your kitchen?

Check that price.

Lyman and tomatoes

This is Lyman Gore, possibly the only person you'll ever see who can replace a swimming pool with something even more expensive and troublesome to run.

Hey there, Sugar!

parade2

Marchers crossing the bridge on their way to Natchez National Cemetery on Memorial Day, 2006.

This parade has a long tradition here.

IMAG0118

Stayin' aliiiive!

Not likely, little mudbug.

But you are a valiant critter.

Charlie now styles himself "Sweet Birdie Boy."

Lucy is sitting eggs again, one of hers and a dummy.

Dear In the Swim,

Will you PLEASE stop sending your catalogs to this address?

It is a waste of your resources and the Earth's.

I enclose this photo to convince you that I am not interested in purchasing your products.

Thank you,

Janis Gore

UPDATE: Like, well, yeah. It's not like a $100 bucket of chlorine tablets will be an impulse purchase.

UPDATE II: This time I sent an e-mail to customer relations rather than calling the desk. A nice gentleman wrote back to tell us that he had removed us from the database.

summer popsicle lantana

Being a thorough neurotic, nay, a mutant, I can't gather my design appeals into one scheme.

I would be happy in a formal Georgian landscape, an Italian one, a tropical one, or a country one.

This is "Summer Popsicle" lantana, planted in the low bed right in front of the greenhouse.

Isn't it cheerful?

Part of good citizenship is giving thanks and praise where it is due.

Today, I'll send both to two companies who have lived up to their guarantees.

We use this Bunn coffeemaker. It does not make gourmet coffee, but it serves fine in this household.

When the maker began to dribble, Lyman tried cleaning it. He couldn't even get a little stem used for cleaning into the workings. He called the company, and the woman at the desk told him something was wrong. She said she'd send a new pot in the box, and we could pack up the defective one and send it back, with a prepaid return label.

They were efficient and friendly. And we had a new pot in good time, considering it had to be rafted down the Mississippi. (Turnaround was four days.)

We also have some Calphalon cookware.

We bought a Commercial Nonstick set several years ago -- just after we finished remodeling the kitchen. The lining of a 2-1/2 quart saucepan bubbled from the bottom from the very first use. We continued to use it until the lining started coming off in strips a few months ago. They have a lifetime guarantee.

The woman at the desk told us to pack off the pot to them and send a note explaining the problem.

When we came home from the coast a spanking new Calphalon One pot was waiting for us.

It did cost the shipping out, but they didn't ask for proof of purchase, or otherwise hassle us.

So thanks, y'all.

Midnight Louise found a funny video of brothers posted for Mother's Day.

Medpundit is giving up her blog.

Thank you, ma'am, for the insights into the practice, the lovely Christmas cards, and all the interesting pointers.

I'll miss you.

I'll leave the blog in the index (if she leaves it up) as a gateway to other medical bloggers.

Now, I know I'm out of the market, but this pick-up line works for me:

"What you doing, cutie birdie?"

Wouldn't some sunflowers, 5 or 6 feet tall, look cheerful against the greenhouse?

There is a narrow bed in front of it.

Raised beds

The raised beds are larger and better-looking than I had hoped.

I foresee lots of lettuces, mesclun, herbs and flowers. And whatever else I might like.

They are close to the house and supplied with water. Convenient for an old and lazy girl like me.

Hey.

Our candidates won. But what? The damage is done.

They can try to change the culture.

Happy day, you moms out there!

It's been a while.

Which means there are things to fix and replace here, which always puts me in an unpleasant temper.

How did you knick the finish on the stove again?

Was that blind in the bedroom such a trouble that you had to pull the whole cord out?

Who knocked over the heron sculpture and broke its beak?

And why did you drape Mardi Gras beads around its base?

Couldn't you have told us about the broken handle on the sliding door?

om mani padme hum

UPDATE: Oh, Janis, quit being such a ole biddy. Nothing's major, and the weather is fine.

Rats and 14X rats.

Though not unexpected, Lucy laid another egg last night. Remember, Eclectus lay in clutches of two.

We are preparing for the trip to the owners' meeting at the coast this weekend.

I can't say that I'm looking forward to it, but it will be good to get it behind us.

I'd like to take Lucy with us, but it isn't a good time for that. We'll be busy and away from the condo most of our time there.

Lyman's son will take care of Lucy and Charlie while we're away.

My BIG brother posited in an e-mail that we should hold a family get-together in our towns in the near future.

I have spoken to the lovely Patricia, and the urbane Charles, and we are thinking of the spring.

And there it is, pretty as a picture. Another egg. 21 grams.

Lucy seems fine.

Now what?

Now here's something interesting.

Charlie will imitate himself when listening to the tape below.

I've read that Dr. Irene Pepperberg uses birds to teach other birds.

Anyone who thinks that a paralyzing array of choices is a new cultural problem hasn't spent much time looking at gardening catalogs.

Try The Cook's Garden, for instance. It's just a small, specialized catalog.

Hmmm.

We have a nice stand of garlic chives in a patio pot. A chopped handful in a pot of stewed potatoes makes a favorite side dish here.

UPDATE: Flat leaf parsley is a go. We find only curly leaf in the stores here, and half of what we buys wastes in the refrigerator.

Coriander is a go. Again, half of what we buy wastes.

Heat-tolerant cut-and-come-again lettuces and mesclun mix are a yes.

A corn salat looks good. Spinach always looks good to me, though we've never grown a decent patch.

Hmmm.

Much better, but isn't the garbage can in the background attractive?

At the top of our shopping list is a tripod for the little camera. That will help filming immensely.

But I did manage to get pictures into the camera, out of the camera, into an editing program, edited from 5 minutes to 26 seconds, into a documents file, onto the Internet, and into this blog in one evening.

There's plenty more to learn.

And today is the 46th day that has passed without Lucy laying an egg.