BLOGGER AWOL!

Sometimes life gets busy and you forget all about your real obligations until someone sends you an email asking about your health and welfare.  Such a thing has just happened to me.  I ran out of politically astute or witty things to write about on my blog and so I've been absent for a few days.  But fortunately for me I have some friends out there in Blogdom who care enough to write and inquire.

Such a person is my friend Scott, a.k.a. Lowandslow, from the blog Flight Plan, which you can link to along the right side of my pages.  I got "the email" from Scott last night.  I wish to assure him and any others of you that I am fine, just a little frazzled with decisions about buying a new car, moving to Phoenix and all the "stuff" that comes along with those decisions.  But my health and attitude is A-OK and I'll try to do better on inhabiting this blog.

In the meantime, I'll share with you an image the BRD sent to me this morning.  It's titled "Waiting For the New Dog" and it shall be today's Gratuitous Critter photo.  Enjoy!

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Just when I thought I'd given up the Thanksgiving tradition of long hours in a kitchen to make a 20-minute-meal, along came one of those pictures from the bacon-goes-good-with-anything people.

Now that's an idea.  Probably not a very good one for someone who already has a Pacemaker, though.

By the way, I guess you've all probably heard by now that Larry Hagman has died at the age of 81.  Hagman was working on the latest iteration of "Dallas", playing his iconic J.R. Ewing once again.

So long, Larry, it was good to know you.

I saw something interesting in my little town the other day.  Workmen were putting up one of those big fancy new signs at Tim's Toyota Center.

But what struck me as odd was what was going to top off the sign.

Bucky's Casino and the Yavapai Casino are nowhere near the Prescott Valley Town Center.  They're a half dozen or so miles down the road on the Yavapai Apache reservation near Prescott.  So why are we advertising them?  It's a mystery, though I'm thinking maybe they paid for the whole sign.

The stars of today's Gratuitous Critters photo certainly are confused.

THE DAY AFTER

I think Thanksgiving turkey feasts like we had yesterday are a thing of the past for us.  I still feel stuffed this morning and I had a miserable night.  Couldn't get to sleep for the longest time, rolled and tossed, then had a dream in which President Obama was defeated for renomination for a second term at the Democratic convention by the current President of France, Francoise Hollande.  I can't figure out where the hell that came from but I remember Obama was mad about it.

But back to the feast.  In spite of people who say "Oh, turkey.  There's nothing to it."  But you have to start several days ahead and the day of the feast is a minefield of timing all the various dishes.  Our turkey breast was done way ahead of time as was the dressing which left a short period of heightened activity to get the sweet potatoes and the Brussel sprouts ready before the other stuff got cold.

And then comes the ultimate insult.  After hours, or days, of preparation, it's all over in about 20 minutes!  You wait and wait, nearly dying from the wonderful aromas coming from the kitchen, then you sit down and shovel the food into your mouth and almost instantly it's all over!

Next year, I think we'll either ignore the day all together or go to a restaurant for a lesser celebration.

As for all the artificial bonhomie . . .

And then there is the day after shopping, which actually began on Thanksgiving itself this year.  I am not a shopper so I avoided the mass hysteria and downright nasty behavior by the crowds going for those one in a million sale items.  But it certainly can leave a bad taste in one's mouth to observe the unruly crowds on television.

Bah! Humbug!  Now we've got Christmas to get through.

THE FEAST

The turkey.

The dressing.

The gravy.

The plate.

The salads.

And the pie.

It's extravagant.  It's too much.  But it's delicious.  And it's only once a year.

THANKSGIVING 2012

I am thankful today for many things.  But most of all I am thankful that I can  . . .  once again  . . .  listen to and share with you this great story from our old pal, Arlo Guthrie.  Happy thanksgiving and enjoy.

T-DAY IS COMING!

In case you didn't know, Thursday is Thanksgiving Day.  It's the annual day of feasting, overeating and napping between football games.  This year I volunteered to do the turkey (breast), the dressing, the sweet potatoes and the gravy.  The real cook in the family will do the rest.

So today I began the early prep work on the dressing, which involved tearing up two loaves of bread.

Does that look like a lot of bread to you?  It sure does to me.  It's going into the turned-off-but-with-the-light-on oven for 24 hours now to dry.

SWMBO assured me that the bread will shrink once the wet ingredients are added and she reminded me that I love dressing.  I can eat it hot or cold.  I can eat it in a sandwich.  I can eat it with a spoon standing in front of the refrigerator.  So lots of dressing will be okay with me.  

Tomorrow the bread will be combined with two pounds of breakfast sausage, celery, onion, eggs and a bunch of spices.  Then it will be refrigerated until being baked Thursday.  

I don't know about you but I'm getting hungry.

As for today's Gratuitous Critter picture, I think this guy is just looking for a snack.

"I'm lookin' for food in all the wrong places."

A SLIGHT CORRECTION

Last month I posted about a sculpture created at Bronzesmith in Prescott Valley.  Here is that post.  While the clay sculpture, hopefully to be finished in bronze and stationed in front of the Town Hall, was based on a painting by Western artist, writer and publisher Bob Boze Bell, I failed to name the sculptor.  She is one Deb Gessner and you can read more about her and see her picture at Boze's own web site, here.

My apologies go to Deb for not identifying her in my earlier post.  She is, quite obviously, a very talented sculptor in her own right.