weekend

Regis and I went to the place for dinner where when you used to go there the bait shop had a better bathroom than the restaurant. Not true anymore. The bathroom is lovely and the beer is cold. Those are not in order of importance.

I went swimming today and the water was a gorgeous temperature. I didn't want to get out but I was alone and it got a tiny bit boring. I tried treading water and watching television through the window but that didn't work so well. There was a monkey and that's all I know.

I can count quickly five people I know well who have lost their jobs or who are fearful of losing their jobs. Scary times. Regis says the atmosphere at his work is awful...people think that on Friday they will come for them.

We're going to see Dean McGraw at the Bothy tomorrow night. This is one of the best shows in town for fifteen bucks. You can have some popcorn, sit in the front row, visit with the Doctor Daniels, and hear some fine music. Sometimes Dean has us sing and wave our arms in the air which honestly makes a guy weep. It's so good for the stress bubbles that accumulate in your chest.

I don't get this. The superbowl is on Sunday and there's stuff on tv tonight? The only thing I care about is the half-time show. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Beyond that they could play that game in Latvia. Really, what is there to talk about? It's a game.

I've been wearing boots the last few months, or shoes that look like something an immigrant would wear trudging behind an ox cart on the way across the continent. I see other women in strappy little heels. In the snow and subzero temperatures. Do they have some alien immunity to frost bite? These are brave souls.

A friend of ours left the other day for Africa to photograph the migration of the wildebeast. He was seen, according to witnesses, at the post office downtown in sandaled bare feet. I wonder if he had plans to go to Africa with no toes.

I've been watching, with some fascination, the story about the 50th anniversary of the day the music died. I wasn't really a fan of any of those people and I don't want to travel to Clear Lake for the event, but it's interesting that there are so many people who are and who will. I am a fan of American Pie mostly because I remember Steve Schipp singing it at Dooner and Marcia's wedding reception at the golf club. Word for word. That's how I remember it anyway.

Funny how memories get mixed up.

friday minus one

ack crap.

It's been a long week but a good one. I'm going swimming again tomorrow and that will be five days this week. That's as close to being competitive as I have ever been. Usually, I don't give a darn about that kind of thing. Betty and I are enjoying our swimming time. It goes fast because we gab, and later in the day, I have to think about whether or not I have exercised.

I've loathed exercise all my life. This is a big change.

We're watching Man on Wire. It's a very cool but weird story about the French guy who walks on wires between tall buildings like the WTC and Notre Dame. I read an essay about him a year ago which didn't make him sound quite as loony as this documentary does. What the hell. What would make a guy do this? You really should check it out in some format if only because it emphasizes in an amazing way the continuum on which humans lie. On one end there are people like Philippe Petit and on the other end there are people like me who get the shakes on a foot stool.

If you haven't contacted your representatives in the democracy about the 18 billion dollars that Wall Street got in bonuses, you should. WTF.

My head my head is going to explode. Karl Rove is on tv again. I don't even care if you are in junior high and want to use this as legitimate information for a research paper. Karl Rove is a bottom-feeding scum sucker. I assert executive privilege.

Oh that's enough about politics.

I was warm today for the first time in two months. I wore leggings under my long skirt which I'm sure looked goofy as hell, but it was 13 degrees with a subzero windchill so who cares. The lame weather folks keep promising temperatures above freezing but I think we're going to make it through January without doing that and many of us are heading south as a result.

Pfffththththth to the weather.

banana bicycle

When the big boys, Bob and Reg, were small, they frequented the 7 Eleven near their home. There was an old hobo guy who also frequented the place on a banana bike that he sort of scooted along on. Regis pointed him out and said to the boys, "There's your real dad. If you don't behave, you'll have to live with him." Oooohhhh. A guy with an evil sense of humor. They laugh about it now.

I've been patting myself on the back today about my swimming, then got an email from a friend of mine who is 80 years old. He walks three miles a day on a treadmill UPHILL and swims a mile in 52 minutes three times a week. What the hell. I feel like a slacker.

I heard another good story today and I remember starting to write a blog post in my head but by the time I got home, it had drifted away. I hate when that happens.

huh

Hey, Annie. The second definition for piddle is to pee. So your family has not been out of the dictionary loop after all. Such cute video of Miles saying peacock and holy cow. Way to go grandma!

If you noticed the eco-safe logo to the right, it's only there because I wanted to find a way to print my whole blog (700+) posts. I've searched and searched and can't find a way to do it. There are places that will print it in a book form but you have to do the formatting which is the hardest part. I don't have any delusions about book publishing but I am egocentric enough to want to keep what I've written here for the last few years. Ec0-safe will let me print one month at a time, in pretty much the same format you see on the website. Not much help frankly.

I was driving home and noticed the thermometer in the car said it was 14 degrees. Not exactly a heat wave but better than sub-zero. We're watching a program about the migration of the monarch butterflies. It's amazing those fragile things travel 2000 miles. It makes one hopeful for spring and for life. I'd like to see the butterfly migration and the balloon races at Indianola. That's my list. Right there.

I really need about five more hours in a day.

words

I notice that I used the verb piddle twice in the last blog posts and I know I used it in several emails over the last few days. What the hell. That's not a word I've ever read in a book and I don't remember using it in the past. Where did that word come from? My theory is that words lie dormant in your brain, waiting around among the sloughing cells, for the moment when they get to pop to the fore and make you sound silly.

Regis pointed out tonight that at 5:40, it was still light outside. Now, we haven't seen the sun more than two days a week for the last three months so light is a relative term. What he meant to say is that it was not dark. Yet. It's not dark yet. I think those words are in one of Dylan's songs. In the movie Wonder Boys. Man, google is great. Here's the link to the lyrics. I put "it's not dark yet" in the search bar and there it is.

I've written about the blog Sweet Juniper before and it's still worth checking out. (I can't seem to stop ending my sentences with prepositions tonight. Maybe I have a grammar hiccup.) Especially read the post titled someday the world outside the Rust Belt is going to blow this kid's mind. It's about parenting on the theory of lowered expectations and taking your kids to motels with pools on vacations instead of to Disney World. If you haven't taken your off-spring to DW, you'll think it's hilarious. I'd copy it here but that's probably a violation of copyright law and it would certainly be theft of this author's intellectual property. So use the dang link and check it out.

Oh my head my head is going to explode. Karl Rove is on television. The current Rolling Stone has an article about the former L of the FW (leader of the free world...is that what they call him?) that is so funny I snorted three times. I realize I made a ragged segue there...are you with me? Also a very funny illustration of the dude with the big hair from Chicago (RB) with his bare hinder hanging over the edge of punch bowl. If you're a regular reader here, you know I like to be surreptitious (not the right word) so that junior high kids don't use my blog as real information for a research paper.

I have winter brain. I'm not sharp enough to find the right word, but I know the wrong word when I use it.

Since we got our cable television back, we've been watching too much reality. I don't mean those reality shows like Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire? but the kind of reality like they have on the 6 o'clock news. That is nasty stuff and it colors the way you view the world. There's some strident guy hollering about the economic stimulus package and it's giving me a tired ass. Banks and credit card companies are getting bailed out? Bailed out OF WHAT???? Extreme wealth? What the hell. I'm going back to watching old re-runs of Seinfeld and Fawlty Towers.

I just checked the definition of piddle on Merriam-Webster's online dictionary. It means to dawdle or putter. Hmmmm. I didn't make it up after all.

sunday in pictures

Regis bottling his Mr. Beer project. Pay no attention to the messy desk behind him.

A few more weeks before the tasting.

My current favorite wine and the aerator that Tom gave me. It wakes the flavors up!

It was a lazy weekend of movies, peanuts, wine, and piddling around.

piddling away a day

Tom recommended the tangelos at the food coop so I asked Regis to pick them up on his way back from Bob's. They're wonderful. So juicy you have to eat them over the sink.

I have a pot of soup on the stove and I think we'll spend the rest of the day watching movies. I don't want to be too productive.

my absence here only means i'm nuts: surviving winter

Winter is oppressive this year. Even people who normally like it, are weary of the never-ending snow and bitter cold. We had a few almost spring like days this week, then woke to subzero temperatures with a biting wind again yesterday.

Here's the forecast, Miles:

Winds: W at 4 MPHBarometric pressure: 30.63 in. (Hg)

Sunrise: 7:42 amSunset: 5:11 pm (That's about 9.5 hours of sunlight...if the sun isn't obscured by clouds.)

Wind chill advisory posted from 9 pm tonight through noon Saturday - wind will make it feel like -20 to -40 F

Temperatures tumble today - and struggle just to reach 0 Saturday....expect 4 more nights below zero.

First time since 1994? Possibility of no January thaw for the Twin Cities (defined as two days > 32 F.)

Friday night: WINDCHILL ADVISORY. Mostly clear - bitter. Low: -12 Windchills from -20 to -30. Saturday: Numbing sunlight. Winds: W 10-15 High: 2 Saturday night: Clear, frigid. Low: -14 Sunday: Bright sun, still very cold. High: 5

I've had a tough week with my insurance company and health care providers. I always assume people who are paid to care for my health have my interests at heart. Oh hello, cruel world. Not so. The insurance company doesn't give a flying fig as their big interest is preventing me from using the money I've paid them in premiums for the 30 years I've had a policy. Even the clinic has pissed me off. I've been a patient there for 5 and a half months and they've sort of washed their hands of me until the insurance company comes through with the $$$. It's all big business and it tends to make one cynical and cranky.

Speaking of being cynical and cranky, I have an appointment with my head doctor on Tuesday. Generally appointments are about an hour but I have a list of 14 things to talk about with her. I will say it's a step in the right direction to identify those things and have them written down in logical order. I'm not headed for the ward yet.

I had a nice talk with my mom last night. She's a hoot...Regis says an older version of me. Maybe I'm a hoot, too. Mom claims to have gotten her coping mechanism, "It could be worse" from her mom and now I believe it, too. I'm sure it pisses people off sometimes. Anyway, it made me feel better to talk and laugh with her. She said she felt like going to the Legion Club and getting drunk at the bar the other night when it started snowing again. This would be REALLY OUT OF CHARACTER for my mom. You can see how tired we are of winter.

Tiffany and Emily have about a month to go with the baby gestation. They're into the can't sleep more than four hours at a time, can't tie your own shoes, can't bend over stage. Uff da. This is why young women have babies. Aside from those effects for Tiffany and Emily, the baby arrivals will be wondrous events for us. Little miracles.

I'm going to make mushroom barley soup today and maybe a loaf of bread. I refused to leave the house this morning to buy groceries so that means we make do with what we have today.

Lily Tomlin: Reality is the leading cause of stress among those in touch with it.

inauguration menu

I saw the menu for the inauguration lunch and wish I could have been there. They served seafood stew in puff pastry, duck breast with cherry chutney, herb roasted pheasant with wild rice stuffing, molasses whipped sweet potatoes, winter vegetables, and a dessert they are calling “Cinnamon Apple Sponge Cake,” which is more like an apple charlotte made with brioche.

What??? Roasted winter vegetables? I think I myself moi' served that for a holiday dinner a while back and was severely ridiculed by my peasant family who asked where the mashed potatoes were. We didn't realize roasted winter vegetables would appear on the White House menu. I have no idea what an apple charlotte is but I copied it from an online article so that item came along.

I have to finish up here. I hauled my laptop back and forth to work for the last two days to do menu charts but never had time to open it up. So I haul it home today and forget the blasted cord. The battery on this clunker lasts about an hour.

Miles, the weather has been great here...a heat wave. Think about it. The temperature is almost fifty degrees warmer than it was last week. Almost time to put the snorkel parkas and mukluks away.

rough driving day

This is evidence that I am a poor photographer. I but off Nancy's head and got Tiff and Evie making funny faces.

Tiffany looking over a little outfit for Elliot.

Brenda, Ruth, Teresa, Tiffany and Evelyn.

The name tag on Tiffany's tummy says, "Tiffany and Elliot". Brenda and I drove to Pine Island for a baby shower for Tiffany. We met the nicest people and had a lovely time. Tiffany looks happy and healthy and she's waiting anxiously for Elliot's arrival.

The weather, on a more dismal note, was horrific today. We left about 8 o'clockthis morning and it wasn't too bad although I saw one car in the ditch between St. Peter and Mankato, and we saw several big SUVs in the ditch on 52 north of Rochester. We headed for home about 1 o'clock and it was awful. Many cars in the ditch, horrible visibility, and icy roads. Just east of Waseca, we were behind a pick-up truck. It looked like it took a deliberate right turn and all of sudden it was in the ditch and it flipped over twice and landed on it's wheels. Both people were upright and in their seatbealts as we went past. We didn't have enough room to stop but the car behind us did. I was terrified and let loose with a string of cuss words. Just out of nervousness, of course. Regis said if I had stopped to help, I would have been floundering around in the snowy ditch and there would have been three people to rescue instead of two. I was so glad to be home.

Happy birthday to Young Regis. He's 31 years old today. We took him to Patty's for a patty melt and a Schell's original to celebrate. The place was packed with people who had been at a women's hockey game. What the? I'm all for equality, but seriously? I wouldn't watch heads of state play hockey.

Speaking of heads of state playing hockey, we can say good-bye today to GW and Dick Cheney. You know I'm usually cautious about naming names in my blog but I figure the CIA is so busy as of late that they won't be doing google searches for Dick Cheney on buns of stone. George has been making the talk show circuit the past week which is more than we heard from him in the last 8 years. That's good or bad, depending on how you feel about the English language, himself being one of the major abusers.

The service tonight was awful since the place was full. I fetched beers when people wanted them and I ordered our food at the bar. I know how to do that and it was less aggravating than getting a wait person to pay attention to us. I just made sure Timmy got the tip.

We watched The Wrestler last night. Interesting movie. I liked Micky Rourke's acting but the plot was sad and there was no redemption. You know how I feel about that. Life's too short to watch stuff that's this sad and dark.

Off to bed. I'm reading another book about Henry VIII. One step up from a romance novel.

we have a solution huzzah

Technical problems have been repaired. I didn't check "for public viewing" when I uploaded the video because it sounded like something sort of lewd. Oh blast, some of you people don't even know how to upload so don't give me any crap. Now it's public and there you go.

Joanne wrote such a funny comment in the video post (she could see it) that I have to republish it here:
Oh Regis- Ye of little faith! Everyone knows that this works. I watched 2 different meteorologists do it on different news channels while I was exercising this morning. It was even on CNN news. They also had a guy in Minnesota pound a nail into a board with a banana that had sat out overnight. Now that I hadn't seen before.

A banana? I might have to try that.

Scrubs is a hoot tonight. It's the musical one. Who writes this stuff? Genius!

It's a good thing that I have many outlets for my verbiage. I had a frustrating incident today and I wrote about in another venue. The air was blue. If I had to write about it here, I would have posted a cuss warning. I know some of my friends and family don't appreciate cussing, but personally, it fills a place in my vocabulary where ordinary adjectives just don't work.

Here's the deal. The clinic called today and said my insurance carrier wants evidence from my doctor (my primary doctor) of a six month supervised diet. They have five months since I started seeing the nutrition doctor and the dietitian in August. They just need one more month and apparently the 40 previous years won't do it. Then they want documentation that that my BMI (look it up) has been over a certain number for 18 months. The snippy nurse said, "Well, that will be hard since you never let us weigh you." New paragraph.

Anybody who has ever had a weight problem gets this. You go in the doctor's office and they have a monster scale in the hall with big ass weights that they move over with a loud ka-chunk the fatter you get. Lovely. Usually the hall is full of people, patient privacy be damned. So, I finally got sick of it and made a few sarcastic remarks and refused thereafter to participate. The sadistic nurse got an attitude and almost cut my arm off with the BP cuff just to punish me so you can see she enjoyed this recent turn of events. I just asked calmly if she would talk to my doctor and ask her to review my records and fax the information they need.

Because it they don't do this before next Thursday, the insurance company will close my file. WTF. Close my file? I've paid huge premiums for years. How can they CLOSE MY FILE?

I've more than surpassed my cuss quota for the year.

Some random photos. I inherited the old camera and I like having one of my own.

Great coffee from that weird place where we saw the guy with the raw wiener in his mouth. Regis says it's as good as Dunkin' Donuts coffee. I say better.

A close-up of the dog who hates the cold weather but loves the heated mattress pad.

Evidence of my obsessive behavior. I'm worried about dry skin. No comments, please.

technical problems

We're having technical problems, Houston. Stand by. The technician has been called and is enroute.

vaporizing water