A Birthday Party Mystery

Went to our Little Saigon district to buy a roasted duck for a celebration - Mrs. Skeeter's Happy Birthday. I shot this shaky stealth image in line.

The food at this place is really good. It might be uncomfortable for some, you know, being able to recognize what you're going to eat, but it is sooooo tasty!

So tasty in fact, that they were fresh out of ducks. All they had left were a quartet of roasted chickens, a sheath of "crispy pork", two very heavy whole roasted pigs (sans apple in mouth, avec curly tail), and a small roasted bird thing (dove or pigeon) I couldn't recognize.


So I got two pounds of the "crispy pork" and one of the jiggly fat roasted chickens. It all looked so good. They took down the meats and chopped, sliced and packaged. Just as they finished loading the Styrofoam containers for me to take all that stuff home, Mrs. Skeeter called to remind me that I shouldn't eat it on the way home ... seems she's had some experience with the take out packages being a little ... light ... when they get home, and short of napkins too. Why, oh why, could that be? Exactly what was missing from those happy little packages? A cozy little mystery ...

The party went off without a hitch. The house was packed with people. A good time was had by all. They ate me out of house and home. After the Irish Drought (the liquor was gone), the guests all were safely driven home by well intentioned, responsible, designated drivers (ahem, it's true).
This, and three slices of bread, was all that was left from the party. Gee, I wonder why?

Sort of resolves the "what" and "why" part of the mystery of the "missing pieces" and "disappearing napkins", eh?

Things overheard in the Pub

Have you ever been relaxing, enjoying a pint, and heard someone a few seats away deliver the STUPIDEST pickup line of all time? It goes something like this, "Are those space pants? Cuz your ass is out of this world!"

What is the stupidest pick up line you've ever heard?

The Bumble Bee Approach

Are there days when your approach isn't as much "linear" as it is a kind of wandering search that a bumblebee does? That was me today ... passing up the wild daisies of the parking lot ...


And the thickets of office ivy ...


And the tempting hot-house orchids that bloom so bright ...


To something pretty and pink and true ...

I am NOT a Girl ...

You know those times when you read the replies to your blog posts and the strangest things just seem to be there? This is one of those times.

I am not a girl.

Just to be sure, I got a second opinion ... over and over again. Thank you, Dr. Sunshine. You're the greatest!

On the Bulletin Board

All kinds of things make it to The Bulletin Board at the Evil Corporation. Among the offerings of houses, motorcycles, carpool arrangements, retirement announcements, singles ads, and funeral notices, I found something interesting.

It reminded me of a reference I saw footnoted in something entirely different. For your consumption, here is that very reference ... .

Williams, Brett. 1984. Why Migrant Women Feed Their Husbands Tamales: Foodways as a Basis for a Revisionist View of Tejano Family Life. In Ethnic and Regional Foodways in the United States. Linda Keller Brown and Kay Mussell., eds. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.113-126.

Ordinarily I don't get too excited either way about articles that appear in "scientific" journals, but there are times when something that gets published just grabs my ever-loving goat. This reference really gets me going. I mean really! Why do migrant women feed their husbands tamales? What kind of a question is that anyway? Why does anyone eat a tamale? Ever seen a Taco Bell commercial? Was this research funded with "Bridge to Nowhere" money? For Christ sakes, I can formulate a complete study of this question for ten bucks and have the answer back to you tomorrow afternoon ... if I phone in the order by 7 p.m. tonight! The whole study would look like this:

Thesis question: Why do migrant women feed their husbands tamales?

Breakthrough discovery: Because tamales taste good!

A very special Someone asked me last week why we should bother writing a scientific paper for publication in a technical journal. We should publish in the journals ... because it is just this easy.

Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm making mountains out of tamales, but if this is the standard ... how hard can be to get published anyway?

A Spirit-filled Lunch

Lunch with Sunshine is always an interesting experience. This time we had take out from Her Church.

Her Church was hosting a regional conference meeting, and Her Mom and several other ladies prepared a nice lunch for the attendees ... and a little for us too. When we arrived they were still preparing the food.


After a little conversation and a bunch of getting to know everyone, we got our lunches and headed back to work at the Evil Corporation. We had our "Little Buddy" with us. You might remember my blog post about Him from July. He had an important meeting he had to rush back to attend.

Turkey and Stuffing always makes for a good day. With black eyed peas, cabbage, sweet potatoes and a roll on the side, you just can't go wrong ... especially in portions as generous as these!


For dessert, try some of this Banana Split Cake. It's everything you'd expect from a banana split PLUS cake which EQUALS lots of yum, yum yum!

It was great. No, Sunshine and I don't attend the same Church, but I think I should visit more often in the future. Maybe I can talk Her into visiting Mass again one of these days. Maybe we could stop by the ice cream shop or something on the way home.

Yes, I love you baby.

Looking around the backyard

Welcome to the backyard. Following the honeybee tour guide ...



to the bushy hedge roses ...



to the garden ...







Come back again soon. See ya later!

Looking through the window

Cielo is hosting an enchanted window party. It's great if you have the chance to visit, stop by and say "Hi!". You'll be happy you did.

Taking a look through a favorite window, I thought I'd show you what that looks like at my house. Here's the crepe myrtle through my west facing picture window.

The view through this window is great for a lot of reasons, and one of those fun is seeing the nest the birds built in the trellis among the climbing roses. Another generation of youngsters have fledged and the neighborhood is full of birdsong and promise.

Beside the crepe myrtle and the climbing roses are the tea roses ...

... skirted by marigolds.

Here are some colorful companions the butterflies just love.

That's looking through the window. Come with me around back tomorrow. It will be great.

See ya then!

Z is for Zip, Zero, Nada

... that is what I have without you.




You will always be first with me.




more animals

Y is for Yummy

Today the most wonderful person in my world brought me some food while I was at the office working late. Y is definitely for Yummy! Here is her cajun beans and rice with a wedge of homemade cornbread:

And a little fried chicken too ...

I'd share ... if only I hadn't eaten it all up! It was soooooo GOOD!

She is a GREAT "make it from scratch" cook. She is an angel and I love her very much.

X is for X Marks The Scot

While searching for something clever to write this "X", I managed to hit a few wrong keys with the tip of my cast. Google decided I was going to get lucky and BAM! I found X Marks the Scot.


An interesting version of the Scottish national flag, don't ya think? at any rate, they say that ...

XMarkstheScot.com is an international community of kilt wearers and those who encourage the wearing of kilts. We are the largest and most active kilt community on the Internet. Kilts are a man's garment and it is our goal to promote the wearing of the kilt in more than just the "Highland Games" situation. It is not a forum for men looking to wear womens clothing nor is it a forum for other types of men's un-bifurbricated garments. If you want to know more about kilts then come check it out!

So, I borrowed my buddy Walt's biggest kilt. Yes, he's thin as a rail, and I have a taco stand on speed dial. Get over it! No, I don't know about this kilt thing anymore, Terri. I thought it would be kinda like wearing gym shorts with a bloody big hole over the wigglies. I was wrong. It was worse. It was damned disturbing. There's parts feeling breeze that weren't meant for it. Sorry, pictures will NEVER be available.