Veggies & Sore Nipples

This past Sunday we spent mostly outside.

Hotness did a lot of mowing while I was busy repotting plants into larger containers, refilling bird feeders, and stuff like that.

I'm happy to report that things are growing and seem to be doing well so far.

One of my tomatoes has "thumb-sized" fruits on it.

Now I'm just waiting for them to get larger and ripen up so's I can eat 'em!

I also put bright orange construction tape on my cherry trees.

When the wind blows, the ribbons wave around and are supposed to scare the birds.

Like so....

The last couple of years, I haven't been able to get the cherries off the tree before the birds eat them all.

This year, I'm hoping to get at least a couple of nice pies from cherries that I grew in my yard.

Other than that, things are going well.

The weather has been nice and my garden is coming along nicely.

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Yesterday, when I was getting ready for work, I picked out a shirt I haven't worn often.

It was going to be a bit warm that day, so I opted to just wear the shirt and not a T-shirt underneath.

BAD IDEA!!!

This particular shirt has a nice embroidered pattern running from top to bottom on both side of it.

Unfortunately, this pattern runs right down over my hairy man-nipples and the thread they use is some sort of nylon.

So as I'm wearing the shirt, it's like having sandpaper rubbed over my nips every time I move.

I discovered my mistake about an hour after wearing it, so I tried to minimize my movements until I could break away at lunch.

As soon as it was noon, I darted out the door and over to Target to pick up some T-shirts.

Ahhhhh..... I was doing much better after there was a thin cotton barrier between me and the torture shirt.

Today I wore a much more sensible (and less pain-inducing) shirt for work.

My sore nipples are thanking me.

Going REAL Old Skool

Heh!

Here's a game I bet NOBODY expected:

(found via Super Punch)

You can find a whole bunch of other "classic" video games here.

A couple of other good ones:

Greatest Rock Song Ever?

Probably not, but a classic nonetheless.

I mean what other song includes the following?:
grinding guitars, a funky bass line, pounding drums, flutes, a Hammond organ, an accordian, whistling, gibberish lyrics, and... yodeling.
Yes, yodeling.

None other than the epic "Hocus Pocus" by the band Focus.
Oh sure, Jethro Tull might've used flutes but did they yodel? No, they didn't. So there.

The song is pretty crazy as it is, but they played it even faster when they performed it live.

Waste. Of. Space.

Howdy!

How was your Father's Day? (if you celebrated, that is)

Mine was spent practically all day on the couch doing nothin'. For reals.

I got up and fed the cat, then went outside to fill up the birdfeeders and parked my butt on the couch after that.

I watched "The Man Who Laughs", a couple of cartoons, and then spent the remainder of the day playing video games. Or rather, one video game called "Legend of Legaia".

It's an old PS1 game, so it's been around for a while now. I started it about 3 years ago and play for a few hours, then put it away and don't touch it for months. (The last time I played it was over a year ago).

I've gotten most of the way throught it and thought I should finally finish it so I could get it done.

I spent most of the day on the couch in my PJ's playing it.

I got stuck in one level and was constantly retracing my steps getting nowhere for about 3-4 hours. I finally gave up and looked online for a "walkthrough" to help me get out of that level.

It worked, and I thought I was done (or as close to it as possible) when it said I still had a bajillion more 'quests' to complete. Oh great.

I found a 'save spot' and turned it off for the day. My brain had turned to pudding by that point.

I think tonight I'll skip the gaming (or at least that one) and try to be more productive at the house when I get home.

It's not like there isn't laundry and dishes to clean and they ain't gonna wash themselves.

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The day before, I got up early to to see Hotness out the door.

She was heading back to Montana to take care of her mom's business now that she passed away.

I shuffleded around for a bit before going out to run an errand, and then I spent the early part of the afternoon with my good friend Imperfect and his kids.

We went to the hardware store, grabbed some Mexican food for lunch, and played with the kids for a while.

"Uncle Ferretnick" was pretty tired and started to fall asleep on their couch, so I took off for home where I had a nap with the cat.

I got up around 5:00 p.m. and called my neighbor to see if he wanted to get together and watch a movie.

I went over to his place and we watched "Gran Torino".

That was pretty much all I did this weekend. Nothing productive.

Totally a waste of space on the couch.

Rawr, Baby!

Today is Hotness's 40th birthday today!

I don't have anything embarrassing to post about her, so instead I'll just put up some pictures of her and say...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my little sugar pickle!!!

You're my favorite cougar! Rawr!

Slow-cooked Pulled Pork

Got another recipe for you all... if you're interested.

I'm not big on measuring things. I just kind of "wing it" as I go along but I'll try to give you some measurements to use for this.

I made some BBQ pulled pork the other night and posted about it on my Facebook page.
Not everybody reads that, so I'm putting the recipe on here for you in case you want to try it out.

You'll need:
Pork Shoulder (you can use bone-in, but boneless makes it easier to "pull" after it's cooked)
How much to use? Well, for this recipe... make a fist with your hand. Now get about 2 - 3 times that size in pork shoulder meat.
Barbecue Sauce
You can use what ever kind you like. Or make your own sauce... it's pretty easy.
For this recipe I used the cheapest kind I could find. (It was on sale at Fred Meyer for under $1 a bottle)
Onion (I used a regular yellow onion)
Spicy Brown Mustard (or you could use stone-ground mustard)
Red Pepper Flakes (the kind you shake onto pizza)
Buns or Rolls (your choice as to what kind to use. They're just for putting the pork on to make a sandwich with)

1. In a crockpot, pour a little bit of the sauce (enough to cover the bottom but not more than 1/4 inch deep) and then place your pork inside the pot.
2. Thinly slice your onion and put it on the pork. (You can use as much or as little onion as you please. I maybe used about 3 Tbsp. Just be sure to make it really thin when you cut it.)
3. Then pour some BBQ sauce on top of the pork, just enough to cover it and toss in some red pepper flakes (again... as much or as little as you'd like. More to make it hotter, less to just give it a little heat).
4. Squirt some mustard on top (about 2 Tbsp) and stir everything with a big wooden spoon just to get it all mixed up good.
5. Turn the crockpot to "low" and let it cook all day (at least 7-8 hours)

The meat should fall apart by that point and any fat from the meat will have cooked out leaving you nothing but BBQ marinated pork meat..
Take out the larger chunks of meat and shred (a.k.a. "pull") them with a couple of forks until you have it all nicely shredded.
Serve it on your choice of rolls or buns with some extra BBQ sauce, mustard, or whatever condiments you prefer. You can even put a slice of cheese on it if you want.

I'm sure those of you who like beer can find something worthy to accompany this.
I, myself, prefer an ice-cold Mike's Hard Lemonade.

This recipe will fill a 3-4 quart crockpot about 1/3 of the way and you'll get about 10 - 12 "hamburger bun"-sized sandwiches with this amount.
You can always increase the amounts if you want to make more.

After A Long Wait, It's Finally Over

On Sunday morning (shortly after midnight) Hotness's mom passed away.

She'd gotten a call on Friday afternoon from a family friend saying that her mom might not make it through the next few days, so we'd been waiting for this call to happen.

It's kind of surreal at the moment. She's gone and will no longer be a part of either of our lives, but in a sense she had left a while ago when the cancer started taking over so it really isn't a shock.

On the other hand, she lived a lot longer than anyone expected so for her to finally be gone is a relief (that she's no longer suffering) and very sad (that she is actually gone).

I joked about her on here, but it was because I cared about her.

I'd call her occasionally to check in on her and make her laugh. When she got too sick to answer the phone, I really didn't get to talk to her much any more.

The cards I sent her (on Hotness's last visit) helped brighten her day and she kept them next to her in the nursing home so she could read them over and over again.

I didn't get to tell her "goodbye", but I'll never forget the first time we'd said "Hello" to each other.

I'd gone back with Hotness for her 10-year High School reunion, and stopped by her mom's to let he know we arrived.

The first thing she said to me was, "Oh! You'll like my friend Don. He's chubby too."

I just smiled as Hotness freaked out that her mom said that to me.

I said later that "if that's the worst I have to deal with from her, I think things will be okay".

And they were.

In the years after that, I looked forward to seeing her and joking around with her. We'd exchange email. And I'd make her laugh until she turned red and tears rolled out of her eyes.

I'll miss her.

Not as much as Hotness, obviously. But we were close. So close that she was referring to me as her son-in-law BEFORE Hotness and I were ever engaged.

Rest in peace Jankamur.

Feeling A Bit Artsy

Nothing new to report.
I had some pictures on my camera and wanted to share them was all.


First up... some sidewalk art from downtown last week:





And this:

I just thought these dew drops looked really cool the way they formed on the blade off grass like that.





Bonus!
Here is a picture I took this morning of the strawberries growing on my deck.


They're almost ripe. I can't wait!
I'm going to celebrate by either having them on a bowl of cereal of making a daiquiri. (I guess it depends on how many ripe ones I have at the time)



By the way, all these pictures were taken with my phone.

Drink Up!

You've maybe heard about it, but somebody is actually marketing the stuff now.

Bacon Vodka

I'm really not sure if I should be intrigued or repulsed by this.

On the one hand, their recipe for a "Bacon Mary" sounds pretty good.

But I'm not totally sold on bacon-flavored alcohol.

Sure it's the world's most perfect food.

But when other foods are 'flavored' to taste like bacon... it doesn't always turn out so well.

The good news (if you want to call it "good"), is that you can find it locally here in Washington.

So if you're the adventurous type, go get some and tell me what you think.

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In other news:

Haven't had a whole lot to talk about.

Our internet connection at home is still on the fritz, so Hotness is working on getting that fixed.

We had dinner with Elwood and his wife a few days back.

BBQ burgers an bratwurst followed by "Redneck Life" and "Zombies!!!: Jailbreak"

It was a fun evening and we're looking forward to getting together with them again soon.

That's all for now.

Be good to each other in the meantime.

Life In The Future

Marvel at the astounding inventions that people will have in the world of tomorrow!

A funny video about life in the year 2000 as if it were filmed back in the 50's.


(via the Presurfer)

The Weekend In Review

I have temporarily lost access to the interwebs from my house. Otherwise I'd have posted about what went on this weekend, you know.... while it was STILL the weekend.

Oh well. Whatever.
Hotness will be coming back home tomorrow and she has all the info to call the people who can fix our connection. I'll just use my connection at work for now.

So anywhoooo.......
Hotness took off to see her mom on Friday.
I came home that evening after work and picked up the mail. In the mailbox were my copies of Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus and Fanboys.
I fed the cat. Got dinner for myself (some tacos! Yum!) and sat down to watch MSvsGO.

Alright before I go into details, we ALL know that this movie isn't going to be the summer blockbuster to beat all blockbusters. It was a 'direct-to-video' release, fer cryin' out loud!
So my expectations were set low to begin with.

The acting is cheesy, but Debbie Gibson (or, Deborah as she's calling herself now) does a fairly decent job. She's no great actress, but she actually does okay in this film.
Lorenzo Lamas plays a government jerk, so not much of an acting stretch for him.

The story starts out kind of quick and takes off without a lot of explaining and quickly jumps from one scene to the next.
For example: Debbie Gibson is a marine biologist studying whales off the Alaska Coast. (And by the way... apparently Hammerhead sharks, moray eels and hard corals also can be found off the coast w-a-y up north there).
There's an accident... caused by the military, go figure... that releases the creatures.
After that we're suddenly in California looking at a dead, beached whale while an oil drilling platform is attacked off the Japanese coast. All of this takes place in about 24 hours.

The one lone survivor from the Japanese attack is jailed in a FEDERAL prison, for reasons that never get explained, but yet he gets to talk to a civilian scientist about "what happened out there".
The prisoner draws a very detailed picture of the creature, despite it being night time when the attack happened and the entire oil platform crumbling and falling into the sea... with him on it.

The military (ours, of course) is already out hunting down this rougue monster (even though they don't know what it is) and after just one attempt to kill it, decide that this is way beyond their field of expertise. (The U.S. Military backs down after trying... and failing.. to blow up a big shark in the middle of International waters?) now it's time to call in the "experts". Those of course being Ms. Gibson, her renegade biology professor and the Japanese scientist who got detailed descriptions of a creature he couldn't identify from a survivor that was being held in a FEDERAL prison and yet was able to fly to the United States to share the "classified" information.

They discover something that "just might work" to capture the beasties and then they are off into the big wide Pacific Ocean to capture a shark that is big enough to take a bite out of the Golden Gate Bridge and can leap into the air to catch a jumbo jet.

Anyway, you can see how this is going so I'll stop there.
It's dorky and hokey and everything you'd expect from something of this (low) caliber a film.

One thing that really did bother me about the film, was the computer animation sequences were constantly recycled.
The used the same scenes every time they showed the shark. The octopus didn't have much of an appearance, but the few it had were also the same repeated scenes.
The submersible craft that they used in the beginning of the film to study whales looks exactly like the submersible craft that the military employs to hunt down the animals.
So that got old really quick.

The movie is only 90 minutes long, so it only seems like you've lost years of your life watching it.

After that movie was done, I popped in Fanboys.
This movie was laugh-out-loud funny. There are a metric ton of Star Wars references as well as other pop culture topics. There are also quite a few cameo appearances in it. For instance: William Shatner, Carrie Fisher, Ray Park, Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes, and a few others.
Also Seth Rogan plays two roles in the film. One is a nerdy Star Trek "trekker" (NOT "trekkie!) and the other is a redneckish, Star Wars-loving pimp.

It didn't get a lot of good reviews when it came out, so it didn't last long in the theaters. But it was definitely worth watching and a good way to make up for having seen the earlier DVD.

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On Saturday, I had a double-dose of the ballet. My niece (4 yrs. old, by the way) had her very first ballet recital early in the day. I went and watched her dance (or rather, she didn't after she got on stage and became too shy in front of everyone).
Then I hustled home to shower, shave, and get ready for the ballet in Seattle that evening.

With Hotness being out of town I was left with an extra ticket. I had already purchased one extra because we we're bringing a friend with us, but now I had two.

I talked her boyfriend into joining us for the evening. She really wanted him to go, but he was trying to avoid it if he could. He & I texted back-and-forth and I talked him into going, after I told him the two of them could have my season ticket seats... for FREE.

He kept it a secret from her about him going, and she didn't know about it until he got dressed and told her he was coming along. Needless to say she was happy.

The ballet itself was a mixed bag of pieces.

There was a contemporary dance. A more modern dance. And a classical dance. So really we got to see a little of everything. I won't bore you the details about the individual pieces and sum it up like this: The first one was contemporary and in my opinion, way too long. It was accompanied by a piano. At first it was nice but after a while the "plinky plinky" of the piano get to be irritating and the dances all seemed alike. This one just didn't interest me.

The second one was very short and very modern. It involved only two dancers and was quite interesting to see them both interact.

The last piece was more of a classical piece and ended with about 50 ballerinas on the stage at one time. Quite a spectacle to see!

So the last two pieces more than made up for the hum-drum (in my opinion) of the first one.

Afterwards the three of us walked to Dick's for a burger and to wait for traffic to clear out before we went to Pomodoro for appetizers and flaming desserts.
We ate and had a wonderful time.
When the evening finally ended, I think I got home shortly before 2 a.m.

I slept in until the cat woke me up and then stumbled around the house for the better part of Sunday. I didn't really get anything accomplished, but it was nice to not have to be anywhere and just relax.

That was pretty much my weekend.
How was yours?