The Beautiful Artistic Daughter sent a picture this morning and explained that she had splurged on a new cat tree.
Her (huge) black cat, Opal, loved it immediately, the BAD wrote, but is nearly too big to fit into the "caves".
The Beautiful Artistic Daughter sent a picture this morning and explained that she had splurged on a new cat tree.
Her (huge) black cat, Opal, loved it immediately, the BAD wrote, but is nearly too big to fit into the "caves".
Paying heed to the comments on an earlier post, Judy appreciates all the kind thoughts about her knee replacement and thanks you all.
Second, a bit of education about "hot and spicy" foods and our dinner the other evening.
Quoting Wikipedia, "Curry is a dish with a sauce seasoned with spices, mainly associated with South Asian cuisine."
Curry apparently originated in India but is now eaten all over the world and, quoting Urban Farmie, "...there are a thousand variations depending on the ingredients."
So not all curries are hot.
Fear not and read the ingredients to see what you're getting.
Okay, class is dismissed for today.
But WAIT!
I almost forgot.
It's Friday and time for some laughs!
Mundane, ordinary life can offer up some nice images when one is retired.
I was giving SWMBO a break from struggling with her jigsaw puzzle to read her a blog post a little while ago.
She had turned and was looking past me and when I was done she said "I've got a picture for you."
She said, "Take a look out the front door and see the shadow on the wall cast by our wind chime."
So I did and I took a picture and here it is.
Curiously the wind chime is in the form of a sun face so the shadow is caused by the sun shining through the sun face.
Sun squared.
Or something.
Oh, forget it, just enjoy the picture.
Look for the shadows in *your* surroundings.
And don't take THIS advice, sent to me this morning by the BAD (Beautiful Artistic Daughter).
Some light clouds in the sky gave a painter's palette to the sky as the sun rose this morning.
It seems to give hope for a pleasant day.
Yesterday was pleasant for my wife as she continues to make progress from her knee replacement surgery a little more than two months ago.
Most people who have had the same operation say it takes about six months to fully recover from the trauma imposed on the patient.
Her visit to her surgeon was a bit of a surprise.
He said he was pleased with her progress and that she can bend her leg more than he had expected.
As for the straightening of the leg that one of his nurses had been warning Judy about, he said she needed to work on that but she was only about 2 degrees off.
I know Judy was also pleased to go to her appointment using only a cane for the first time!
When we went to lunch with relatives on Saturday was the first time she had tried that outside the house.
So, we're happy and perhaps more confident as the sun painted a congratulatory sky for us this morning.
Now about that meal yesterday, using a dried Thai chili.
I heated a frozen meal of Coconut Chicken Curry with Mango from Costco and sprinkled over it the chili which I had chopped up.
Montana Mike had suggested that and so did David (Laughing Horse Blogger of the Year for 2023) in the comments yesterday.
I am happy to report that it added a touch of spice to the meal and SWMBO and I scarfed it down with no problems.
Maybe all these years of eating Mexican food have made us immune.
Oh and we accompanied it with Seeds of Change (a brown rice and quinoa mix).
Seems to me like the variety and flavors of "instant" foods available these days is getting better.
So my Great Dried Thai Chili experiment turned out well.
At least I didn't make *this* mistake.
Okay, here's the thing.
The other day I saw a post from my friend who I call Montana Mike.
You know him on this blog as Mike from Should Fish More.
He was celebrating his 78th birthday with a homemade chicken soup to which he added a portion of a Thai Pepper that he had thawed out from his freezer.
He said it was good and cleared his sinuses for a few hours.
But he was a little early because today is, wait for it . . .
International Hot and Spicy Food Day.
Now I don't know who decides these things but I don't care either because it gives me something to blog about.
Anyway, getting back to Mike, I told SWMBO about his birthday dinner and she said "I have a jar of dried Thai chilis!"
And, in fact, she did and produced it from the pantry.
We had a great visit today with a nephew, his daughter and her husband.
I'm ashamed to say that I had never met Misha, our Great Grand Niece.
We had a nice lunch (thanks, Larry) and caught up on some family history.
I had meant to take pictures but, typical of this senile Senior Citizen, I forgot.
When I remembered we had parted company and were back home.
So I sent a message to Misha asking for a photo of the three of them.
Amazingly fast, I got this back.
Last night, as we were going to bed, my wife said to me "I thought it was Friday all day. Now I'm going to have to gear up for another Friday!"
WHAT?
Gear up for another Friday?
What could be better?
It's the day I bring you joy and laughter and inane cheerfulness!
It's the day for The Friday Funnies!
So before I begin, let me introduce you to a new contributor, a new Elf, someone who was led to me as someone who is a big fan of The Friday Funnies.
Her name is Carla and she will henceforth be known here as Carla the Cut-Up.
And she has provided (almost) all of the humor for this week.
So let's welcome her with a big round of applause and let her show you "her stuff".
The reason for that, you might ask?
Because yesterday I watched SWMBO, aka The Master Cook, make a big pan of Scalloped Potatoes with four cheeses and chunks of ham.
We ate half of it for dinner and we'll have the other half today.
So no cooking duties . . just reheating and re-eating.
BUT, she just told me she was digging around in the refrigerator and pulled out a foil-wrapped chunk of left-over pork roast.
That, she said, will be shredded and barbecue sauce added to make barbecued pulled pork!
For another day!
So the dining is good at the International Headquarters of Oddball Observations.
Another reason to take it easy today is what I discovered when I first looked out the window this morning.
From time to time, I have taken the time to look back at a time in my past.
That has passed.
And I am often aghast.
Okay, I'll stop with the word games.
But anyway, I decided today was a good day to see where I was and what I was doing a few years ago.
LETTER FROM A FARM KID
(NOW AT Camp Lejeune NC . MARINE CORPS RECRUIT TRAINING.)
Dear Ma and Pa,
I am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before all of the places are filled.
I was restless at first because you got to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m. but I am getting so I like to sleep late.
Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot, and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically nothing.
Men got to shave but it is not so bad, there's warm water.
Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and other regular food, but tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by the two city boys that live on coffee. Their food plus yours holds you til noon when you get fed again. It's no wonder these city boys can't walk much.
We go on 'route marches,' which the platoon sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it's not my place to tell him different. A 'route march' is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks. The country is nice but awful flat.
The sergeant is like a school teacher. He nags a lot. The Captain is like the school board. Majors and colonels just ride around and frown. They don't bother you none.
This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I keep getting medals for shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk head and don't move, and it ain't shooting at you like the Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don't even load your own cartridges. They come in boxes.
Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real careful though, they break real easy. It ain't like fighting with that ole bull at home. I'm about the best they got in this except for that Tug Jordan from over in Silver Lake I only beat him once. He joined up the same time as me, but I'm only 5'6' and 130 pounds and he's 6'8' and near 300 pounds dry.
Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join before other fellers get onto this setup and come stampeding in.
Your loving daughter,
Carol
Mid-day Tuesday.
Prescott Valley, Arizona.
Temperature: 41° Fahrenheit, 5° Celsius.
WHAT???
I said to my eye doctor the other day when the wind was howling and the temperature was about like this or colder "I did not move to Arizona for this!"
(He was born in Montreal and went to school in Toronto before moving to the U.S. of A.)
He said, "I forget, where did you move from?"
I said, "North Dakota. About 50 miles south of your country. Saskatchewan."
He chuckled and said "Now that's REAL Canada!"
Remember our snowfall yesterday?
Almost all gone today as the storm moved east.
This time the Weather Gods got it right.
Our first snowfall of this winter arrived early this morning.