Live music alert!

Robin and Linda Williams, of Prairie Home Companion fame, are playing at the Bothy this week. It's on Wednesday night but it starts at 7:30 with no front set so all us old folks can get home early. Tickets are only 20 bucks and you can't see music like this for less anywhere else around here. Come early and have a burger in the Eagle's Club. Now there's some atmosphere for you.

Tornado

We had a barbecue at Tom and Betty's tonight to commemorate the tornado. Mostly Tom had a barbecue because the rest of us stayed inside by the fire where it was warm. After dinner we went down to the bar, lit a candle for Dustin, and toasted the tornado. We told some stories, then watched Twister which is a totally unrealistic tornado movie. Don't ever think you can get that close to an F-5 tornado and not get torn apart by the debris, much less out-run one on foot or in a truck. Those people would have been dead ten times by the end of that movie but that's Hollywood.

We had a good time. Betty had some new song books from the 70s so we belted out a few songs by the Beatles one of which was Eleanor Rigby which they had someone sing at their wedding. It never really struck me as a wedding song being kind of a moody and dark song like Miss Havisham from Great Expectations. But what the hell. We laughed and then sang some Rod Stewart. Neither of us will be giving up our day jobs to pursue a musical career anytime soon. At least not me.

Tom bought Regis a cool felt cowboy hat at the guitar auction last weekend and he wore it home which made him stay in this Tennessee southern persona where he talked slow and said y'all and mentioned about Moon Pies a lot. It might have been some of last night's concert hanging over, too. Anyway, it was funny.

Saturday and good news: my head didn't explode

I made it through the interview without embarrassing myself. I'm glad it's over. I brought home fifty pounds of stuff to read and learn before the next round but I'm not going to look at this weekend.

Today is the 10th anniversary of the tornado. There's a good photo spread here, if you're interested. I've looked at so many pictures over the years, I'm sort of weary of them. And they bring back unpleasant memories. We're going to commemorate the occasion by opening Tom's bar. I'm bring a blue tarp, the movie Twister, and walnut bread with feta cheese spread. I was making walnut bread the day of the storm and Bert tried to get in the refrigerator every time I opened it.

We went to hear a good bluegrass band last night: Carrie Hassler and Hard Rain. I remember noting some interesting things to write about while I sat there but today they don't seem very interesting after all. As we walked up the door, a smiley with red hair was eating a Moon Pie by the band's big white van and trailer. I asked where they were from and you can't even begin to write this accent: Tennessee. It was a grand evening and they gave us each a handful of Moon Pies to take home.

Look out my head might explode

My interview is today. This is the last job I will apply for until I am retired and decide a job at McDonald's will get me out of the house.

In the last two months, I've read a bazillion pages of stuff on IEP, LRE, AYP, ER, ATSR, IQ, and DVD. Of course, not much of it has stuck enough so that I could speak articulately about it if I had to. I wrote questions and answers and ended up with ten pages that I knew I would never be able to decipher in time to look like I knew what I was talking about.

So now I'm down to three, highly distilled pages of talking points. No matter what they ask, those are my answers. We'll see how that goes. I'm of the opinion today, that if they don't like what I say, or if they ask obscure questions about statute numbers in federal law that I can't answer, it probably isn't the job for me.

Why do I put myself through this?

Reasons why things are looking up

1. I got my hair snipped a little bit. Patrick is always fun and appreciates that I call him an artiste.

2. I got a new Roy Blount, Jr. book at the library after I unloaded that other ponderous tome. It's called Long Time Leaving: Dispatches from Up South. The review says he tackles a lot of topics including Emmanuel Kant, the mind-boggling "Bushy Juggernaut" and the correct grammatical usage of y'all. Yes.

3. The cheeseburger was good at Grizzlies tonight. So was the pinot grigio even though it was $5.60 a glass. I'm not complaining.

4. I looked for a scarf to wear with my black suit at Penney's. I couldn't find any and asked the sales person if they had scarves. She said, "Do you mean fashion scarves?" I was afraid they had gone out of style five years ago and I didn't know. I found them by the prom dresses. Does that mean they're not scarves but stoles?

5. When we got to the cash register to pay, another sales person asked, "Did you find all this stuff ok?" I wasn't sure how to answer that. What does it mean?

6. I've sworn completely off the news. For a long time I haven't watched the tv news and only read the online newspapers. But they're getting more and more like the National Enquirer every day. I'm usually able to avoid the really evil news but in the last few days some ugly story got in my head and is boring around like a worm. I'm done. It's all bad.

7. I had a wonderful night's sleep last night. I'm a little worried about what happens when the Nappien goes away but I'll worry about that when it happens.

I'm going to bed to read.

Reasons why things suck sometimes...in no particular order

1. I read on my favorite goat blog, that one of Brandy's twins died during the night of his birth. Today I read that his twin sister, Earlene, died. I could never be a farmer as I'd be crying all the time.

2. Regis has to go to the Mayo Clinic the end of April. I hate that he has to wait so long and I hate that they say it will be 3-5 days.

3. Peter got a speeding ticket on his way back to Canby yesterday. He's beside himself with worry that his insurance will go up and he won't be able to afford to drive. He's mad at himself and disappointed.

4. I made scalloped potatoes tonight and burned them all over the floor of the oven. It stunk up the house and made a gray haze in the living room.

5. I spent three nights reading a book that I finally abandoned: Love in a Time of Cholera. It was getting a little tedious although I liked the detailed descriptions. Last night I read some reviews online and decided it was time to pull the plug.

6. It's cold and windy today and feels like winter so I put on my sandals and went to the liquor store to buy a bottle of pinot grigio, a summer wine. That part didn't suck.

7. I made a nice blueberry cobbler the other night and bought some vanilla ice cream for the top. Regis just made himself a bowl and carried it into the living room. I looked, and in shock and amazement, realized he had sprinkled red M&Ms on top. That's just not right.

8. I have clothes piled all over the bedroom. Huge piles on top of dressers that almost go to the ceiling. Some are clothes that I only wear in the dead of winter, some are things I don't like anymore but don't hate enough to get rid of, some are things I just forgot about and can't find because they're in a pile. I have no plans to do anything about this soon.

9. I spent a couple hours at a meeting today for which I am sure one of the great forests of the Eastern seaboard had to perish. Enormous quantities of paper were doled out. I don't know about the other people there, but I'm not looking at most of that stuff again. That's more jargon than is healthy to have in your presence. It could spontaneously combust right in your face.

10. There is a forecast for significant snow on Thursday...then again on Sunday...then again on Tuesday. I like snow but not in April. What kind of curse is this?

11. I thought 10 was enough but fate dropped another one in my lap. We got a call about teaching a safe driving for the elderly class in May. The person who was supposed to do it died. Uff da.

Let's hope I don't have to add anything else.

New fashion in pants

Here you go, folks. This is a new old fashion, resurrected from back in the day, and invented right here in Minnesota. I'm not even going to name the pants (email me if you want to know how to get yourself a pair), but you can see from the photos below that it's easy to dress these up or down. How versatile. And I see the dude in the mullet is drinking a Milwaukee's Best beer. How many examples of bad taste can you find in one picture?

Observations on the weekend

Holiday weekends can be stressful. At least I got most of my work done in the first day so I could be incredibly lazy ever since.

We had the little dinner party Friday night. That makes it sound like we sat around the dining table in frocks drinking high balls and eating leg of lamb but we didn't. We had hot beef sandwiches and cowboy beans and Tom's cheese potatoes with your choice of beer or wine. Not too fancy but it did involve some cleaning and some time in the kitchen. I would love to cook even more if someone else would clean my house.

Yesterday I made a pork loin, intending to make Greek sandwiches with flat bread but I decided at some point in the afternoon, probably after a nap, that I had enough cooking so talked Regis and Peter into going to Mazatlan for dinner after a trip to TJ Maxx. I poked through the kitchen section looking for a big platter but only bought some stemless wine glasses that I don't like. Dinner was very good and it looked like a mariachi band was going to play later. I surmised this because there was a table of dudes in suits with guitar cases.

We watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind which we rated 3 stars. If I hadn't read a detailed review that gave away the plot, I would have been lost. I don't get movies that go back and forth in time and prefer a more chronological plot. I hated Groundhog Day but liked Memento so I guess I'm not a complete loser when it comes to that as a plot device. I just don't like it.

I went to bed at 10 last night and slept until 9:30 and was only awake for one hour. That Ambien is amazing. I guess there's a Simpson episode where Homer can't sleep and takes something called Napien and turns into a zombie-like character but so far that hasn't happened to me. I have about two weeks worth of pills left. I don't know what Dr. Ruth will do then because they say this can be habit forming. Yeah, a good night's sleep is habit forming. The information on Ambien says your body should go back to normal sleeping patterns but mine hasn't. At least not yet.

We went to Bob and Emily's for dinner tonight so I escaped cooking again. We had a good dinner and Ella kept us entertained. For Easter we got her a little purple backpack with Tinkerbelle on it and put the blue egg and a dollar's worth of change inside. She loved it...oh, to be two and so easily tickled.

I haven't done a darn thing since I got home except shop the internet for a platter. I'm looking at an eBay store called Lakeside Ron's in Mexico. The guy sells a ton of pottery and women's underwear. Seems like a strange combination, I know. We've been eating ham sandwiches, Easter eggs, and lefse since we got home. The kitchen is a real mess but I'll deal with that tomorrow.

I did manage to make something called Easy Baklava today. It involves the same ingredients but you make little sachets out of the dough and put the filling inside like a purse. They were a hit but I don't know if they were that much easier than the real thing.

That's it for most of the weekend. Peter decided to stay one more night and leave in the morning. It's been nice to have him here.

Saturday in March

We had a little party last night to celebrate spring, Easter, and Peter being home. Bob and Ella...what a sweet picture.
















Ella watches Scooby Doo on the computer. She doesn't understand why her Nana and Popop don't have a television.













Ella loved this blue Easter egg that was in Peter's basket from his baby days.

















Peter and his mama.













Ella and her mama.
















I'll write more tomorrow when I have some gumption.

Snow is over

We must have been right on the edge of the snow. Peter went out to shovel and he said it looked like about four inches. The plow went by so now the roads are wet, very wet, but clear. Kind of a typical late March snow.

I'm doing some cooking today but not much cleaning. I really hate cleaning and have quite low standards for it, to be honest. I don't see dirt very well and I don't much care if I do. This is not a big surprise to anybody who knows me. I like spiders and their webs and even ants aren't a big cause for concern. I don't like flies. There's my true confessions. Some people live in houses with dirt floors, you know.

Mom came through her surgery just fine. I talked to her this morning and she said it was very nice to walk without pain. They gave her meds for pain and she took one last night but didn't think she would need one today. It's like a miracle. She said the incision didn't even hurt. Must have been like Star Trek surgery.

Regis found a Cheerio this morning that looks like the rings of Saturn. I think we'll put it on eBay.

First Day of Spring

It's the first full day of spring here in Minnesota. Here's what it looks like.

The Easter bunny in the garden has a face full of snow.












Across the street. You can see the ground is warm and the snow is melting fast from underneath but it's still messy.












The branches of this little redbud tree will be covered in pink blossoms before too long.












I saw my first robin today. This is just a prototype...the one I saw wouldn't hold still long enough for his picture to be taken.

Cover Your Noodle Day

The place where Regis works had a morale-booster called Cover Your Noodle Day today. It's a mystery, I know, but it means to wear a funny hat. I guess the mystery is how this could possibly raise morale. Since Regis works at home, he emailed this picture of himself in to the office where they got a huge charge out of it and printed it out and hung it up all over. He looks like a madman who came out of the woods, doesn't he? I said at least he could have shut the closet door behind him but men don't think of that kind of thing.

We're waiting for a spring snow storm that might drop as much as 8 inches of snow on us. Regis and I watched the 1950 movie Harvey tonight (you know...rabbit...Easter) but Peter decided to brave the elements and head to Mankato. I was giving him the usual don't drive on bad roads and stay over night and park your car in a safe place words of wisdom when Regis reminded me that he is almost 21. Alright, alright, alright.

After my very restless full-moon bad night of sleeping last night, I'm ready for bed tonight. I went to work at 6:30 this morning, piled all the stray paper into a pile on my desk (it was about 18 inches high) and started sorting and filing and making notes. I finished about 10 to 3 but I did do a few other things along the way.

We had our 2008 maiden voyage of the grill tonight. Peter was hungry for steak so we cooked a couple rib eyes and a New York strip, some twice-baked potatoes, and had big salads. We had the grill sitting close to the garage and one of the neighbors thought our car was on fire. We could only wish for that. The tornado took down every garage in our neighborhood but ours and we're sure the holes in the roof equalized the pressure. Or something like that. We should have just pushed it over.

On to the weekend.

Black cloud

The black cloud has dissipated a little, if clouds can do that. Mom was cleared for surgery, and as she says, they wouldn't let her have surgery if they thought she was going to croak. My mom has a great sense of humor. The job application process seems less daunting today than it did yesterday. Tiffany got a job. And there is 6 inches of snow forecast for tomorrow. I love spring snow storms!

Yesterday there were three deer outside my office window eating oranges that I tossed out there for them. They were beautiful against the snow.

It was my turn to pick a movie tonight. Even with Netflix, I get overwhelmed. I must have the world's worst taste in movies because I can't find anything that looks good. There are a lot of movies I'd like to see again for the first time, like Waking Ned Devine... and a lot of movies I wish I had never seen, like American Beauty. I'm not in the mood for anything violent or tragic or anything starring Lindsey Lohan or Ben Affleck. The new releases are hideous. I like those quirky British comedies about transvestites with bad teeth who drive old buses across the desert.

I just read in the Trib that some women in Virginia are selling a cornflake shaped like the state of Illinois on eBay. The bidding is up to 250 dollars. Now there are copycat sales: a potato chip shaped like Illinois and a couple other flakes shaped like Hawaii and Florida. What the hell. No question mark. Just what the hell. If you google this, you can get an image of the woman with her Illinois-shaped cornflake. What the hell.

Black cloud of emotion

I was a train wreck of emotion yesterday. I'm going rapidly up and down about the job I applied for and have come close to withdrawing my application. I think it's called emotional lability and you can check it out here on Wikipedia. I like the term emotional incontinence better. I think I can be ok until the interview process and I will be ok after because I like the job I have, but the moment someone comes to kindly tell me that I have not made the second round of interviews, that will be a bad one. Joanne thinks I should have a plan for dealing with it, like maybe I should just get the word by email, or a white flag hung on the door of the district office.

Mom called to tell me she spent the day in the hospital having tests on her heart before she can have her knee fixed on Thursday and that unnerved me. She should get the report from the doctor today.

Tiffany got a job, which should be good news and is good news. It was her 23rd birthday yesterday and we took her out to eat on Sunday night. Peter is here for the week and we made a great looking deep dish pizza for dinner last night. Nice to have kids around.

We finished watching Knocked Up which is a comedy but I cried for the last fifteen minutes. Not just tears running kind of crying but loud and weepy crying, almost sending Regis and Peter over the edge. I wouldn't recommend this movie if you are sensitive to the F word. It's prevalent, but over-all it's a very sweet movie.

Well, here I go out into the world.

Virus and soda bread

This is a costume that was sent from Ireland to Michigan where it was stolen. Be on the lookout if you attend St. Patrick's Day events. It's worth $3,000.

We didn't even go the parade today. I came down with some kind of virus yesterday of which the main symptom seems to be feeling like you have spent too much time on the Tilt-A-Whirl. I stayed home from work today and about every two hours, I gravitated to the bedroom and slept for an hour. I see I mentioned this disease in yesterday's post. Apparently the virus affects your memory, too.

We have the ulgiest of March weather again. A wintery mix, as Paul Douglas would say. We woke up to about an inch of snow, it dribbled snow and rain all day and now has all melted. We're due for 2-4 inches of snow tonight so babies should not put away their Patagonias yet, Miles.

I managed to get off the couch long enough to make another loaf of Irish soda bread today so Regis could have it with the left-over corned beef and cabbage. Here's the recipe:

Real Irish Soda Bread Recipe

1¼ hours | 5 min prep | SERVES 16 , 1 tasty loaf

3	cups flour 1/2 cup oatmeal
2	teaspoons baking soda
1	teaspoon baking powder
3	tablespoons sugar
1	pinch cream of tartar
2	tablespoons butter, melted
2	eggs
1	cup sour cream
1/2	cup buttermilk
1	tablespoon caraway seeds (I don't use these)
1/2-3/4	cup currants or raisins (These either...yuck in this recipe)
1	tablespoon uncooked oatmeal for the pan

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Butter a pie plate or round cake pan.
3. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon uncooked oats on the bottom of the pan.
4. Combine dry ingredients and currants.
5. Mix melted butter, eggs and then buttermilk and sour cream.
6. Stir in dry ingredients only until incorporated.
7. Put dough into a prepared pie pan. The dough is very wet...don't worry about that. Use wet hands to pat into a round once you plop it in the pan.
8. Cut an X in the top of the loaf. (Not easy with dough this wet.)
9. Bake for 50 minutes.

This is delicious and so easy to make. It's good with a little butter and jam and a cup of tea...or with corned beef and a dark beer. Depends on the time of day, I guess. It's really good enough to have for a sweet coffee bread when you have company. Or with soup when you have company. Kind of an all-purpose bread.

Sunday night

After spending most of the day in lethargy, I'm completely out of gumption. Tiffany and Eric came down a couple hours ago and we've spent some time visiting, they did some laundry, and we're going out to eat to celebrate Tiff's 23rd birthday. I feel a little bit like I spent too much time on the Tilt-A-Whirl this afternoon and I know it isn't Irish-related because I felt fine until about 3 o'clock. It's gloomy, damp, and cold outside. Perfect March weather and perfect for sleeping or reading on the couch with a blanket.

Peter's coming home tomorrow for a few days. He just wants to eat and sleep, I think. Funny how kids plan their homecomings around food. I offered to take him out to lunch tomorrow but he said he's going to Massad's in Mankato. He likes the chicken shwarma sandwich. I've looked up the recipe but there's about 45 ingredients so I think I'll let the restaurant make it.

I started thinking about my garden this afternoon, after watching Paul trudge back and forth to the garden house with bags of something that look like dirt. His little structure looks precarious so I hope we don't get a big wind this month. (The 29th is the 10th anniversary of our tornado.) I pulled up a lot of bad plants last fall...English daisies that had taken over, false sunflowers, coneflowers that were leggy and ugly. So I have bare spots to fill in. Our yard is getting so shady I think I'll have to move hosta to the front garden. I don't like to grow vegetables, only herbs. Lots of basil and parsley.

Sunday nights. Ugh.

St. Pat's Dinner 2008

We had a dinner for Betty and Tom and Kathy tonight. Harvey was home with an illness that will remain nameless. We had the usual: corned beef and cabbage cooked in Guinness, Irish soda bread, Guinness chocolate cake, and Irish coffee. A good time was had by all. After we stretched out in the living room to let the dinner settle, we watch The Quiet Man. Good movie for a St. Patty's celebration.

Note those green pants that Regis has on. These are the ones that are green like the crayon. He and Betty look cool in their hats.

Here's the recipe for Irish coffee. Note that Bill says absolutely no aerosol whipped cream. It's a mortal sin.

Friday at last

I spent the day in St. Paul in the company of a band of bureaucrats at the department of education. I don't want them to google themselves and blackball me from any future jobs or my well-earned retirement earnings so I'm being careful not to name them or their true place of employment. Oh my god. Those people, for the most part, are the most boring pompous-assed stiffs I have ever spent time with. One man was very interesting and somehow managed to make fiscal news almost, well barely, palatable. But the rest of them...one woman said it was the obligation of their organization to promulgate rules. Well, I guess.

Regis and I went to do some errands when I got home and realized that in a half-mile radius from our house, we can go to the bank, the drug store, the bar, the food coop, and the liquor store. Not bad. We didn't go to the bar since we had a beef roast in the crock pot at home, but it's nice to know a guy could if he wanted to.

Last night we went to Irish Stews and Stouts, a real community education class. It was very interesting and educational. For food we had Irish stew with veal (no lamb), Irish soda bread, a cabbage dish with bacon, and Guinness chocolate cake. The beers were many and varied; some we liked and some we didn't. The one in the picture is called Unibroue Ephemere Raspberry beer. It's almost like a liqueur and you can see by the label, it's brewed by angels. Or maybe fairies. Many of the beers came from brew houses, like the Town Hall Brewery in Minneapolis. It was interesting to hear about the beers and then try them in little tiny plastic glasses.

Here's one we weren't so fond of: King Boreas Imperial Wit which the guy said is a strong wit ale. Lots of Curacao bitter orange peel, coriander, and a hint of star anise. Brewed with German pale wheat malt and Golden Promise barley. This is our Winter version of a Belgian white beer. Medium bodied, amber colored, and unfiltered. We also weren't so fond of the Brau Brother's Cream Stout. Some of their beers are good, but not this one. Too bitter.

There you go, all the news that's fit to print on beer. Well, off to the weekend. Leaving the bureaucrats behind...

Almost the end of the week and time for an Irish stout

It's been a hell of a week and Regis and I are headed down to Patrick's, not for drinking beer as you cynics probably think, but for a Community Education class called Irish Stews and Stouts. So there. I'm sure it will be very educational. Oh shit, I just realized that's a lamb in the pot. That can't be right.
I've been sleeping great with the aid of Ambien. I go to sleep at 10 and don't wake up for anything all night. The woman in the beauty shop last night told me about a friend of hers who awakened in the kitchen of a neighbor, sans clothing. That would not be good.

The last few days have been very spring-like. Today was 54 degrees when I came home from school. Most of the snow is gone and the flowers are poking up through the dirt. I recited this poem to Regis last night:
Spring has sprung
The grass is riz
I wonder where
The flowers is

He asked if I wrote it and I admitted that I had not. Nothing worse than plagiarism.

Ella: The Daily Cute

Ella spent the day caring for her Nana and Popop Saturday while her Daddy helped her Uncle move to a new apartment. She was quite entertaining:
I showed her a picture from Thanksgiving, everybody in a bunch with big smiles. She said, "Oh look! Everybody's cheesin'!"
Regis made bacon for breakfast and brought it out to us in the living room. She took one bite, looked at me seriously and said, "We need more bacon!" and turned to trot back to the kitchen.
She was good as gold but she wears us out; even a good two-year-old is busy and curious and looking at everything. We had a fun day, though, and both of us got naps. Ahhhhh.

The weekend went too fast. We spent the day Sunday doing things we haven't done in a while and that were overdue: I washed the kitchen floor, Regis gathered and organized all our CDs, I vacuumed and dusted. Not my favorite chores.

We watched On the Beach last night. It's an old sci-fi movie with Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner. Regis remembers seeing it when he was young and being fascinated by it. Since it's about nuclear bombs, it's a good thing I never saw it. I had nightmares about bombs when I was a kid and imagined that innocuous things my parents did, like carrying a box of canned vegetables to the basement or covering the windows with plastic were in preparation for the bomb. At this point in my life it wasn't that frightening but it was too sad and there was no redemption in the end. I need a little sign of life at the end of a movie like that.

On to the week, folks. It will be milder, babies, so maybe you can get out and stick your faces up to the sun one of the nicer days. Spring is coming! Believe it!