Yes the Rains in Spain are definitely raining on our plain! Days of the blanket has lent a decidedly wet aspect to our rather dry rainy season. Not a warm rain like many that come up from the tropics are (Pineapple Storms I call them). This one seems to extend way out into the Pacific and is a slow mover so it lasts and lasts though not in large amounts. It has managed to screw up my porch painting at the little house and wash my truck of the bird shit from the fine Red Tailed Hawk that has taken to nightly roosting in our Weeping Eucalyptus growing over the driveway.
He had done his/her own "painting" of my Ford pickup in the last two weeks. I can't wait for him/her to move on outa here so I can wash it off and it'll stay off.
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New Tax, I was just laying here thinking of the stupid government giving away all those TRILLIONS of dollars to the Wall Street minions and the banking ripoff industry here in these United States and thought...we need it to be personal, so you and I can get a few bucks to buy stuff and get this damned economy running again like it should, after all this is/was a CAPITALIST system and we simply must participate to make it work. We just need money, that's all...like the trillions of the publics money that the government is giving away to those worthless bastards.
So...no tax CUT will do what we want, never big enough, no rebate either...a thousand bucks is a drop in our need bucket...we need a constant source for all the little necessities of life, like gas, food, electricity, scotch, beer...those things that bring us old farts pleasure. So we don't get it from the government as they're too busy giving it away to CORPORATIONS (Worthless congress and that bastard 0ush started the flow), who is going to supply us then? Our KIDS!!! What a great way to pay us back for every breath they take...afterall...we BORE them or at least the female mother types did...we males were the sperm donors. I think there's a viable basis for a Kid Tax. Yes, they make it to 21 or some other age and from that month on for the rest of OUR lives they pay us some decent percentage of their net income which because it is after taxes (theirs) it will be tax free to us most deserving adult persons that bore them. Comments please...
Showing posts with label Weather. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weather. Show all posts
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Pea Soup! And Cinnamon Buns!
It's Baaaaack! The Fog. Thick, swirling viscous fog of the marsh and California Valley. The fog that kills. Boats collide, cars and trucks mix up metals and paint.
Terrible stuff this because here...life goes on with or without it. One must drive in California, it's a rule. Everything you want, job, careers, training, food, fast food (not real FOOD but simulated...quite popular) and that commodity that makes it all run...gasoline! Yes We Drive For Gas! So in fog as thick as this the traffic barely slows down except to glare at some other poor soul who has given up and is parked in the high speed lane eyes wide open (or shut!) in fear for his/her life! Then they get hit! So went the commute to wherever. Fog so bad that hundreds of cars enter the fray when some woe-be-gone changes lanes into the side of a passing big rig. Others, the other way is to take only 2 lane roads and avoid the high speed travails of the Interstate grid lock death race. That's even more hazardous!
Uncontrolled entrances from side streets, mom and pop stores, mini-malls, strip malls, malls! Deadly game this Fog Driving business. Avoid the driving and you sit home watching reruns of "Dr. Phil's House" where couples take IT out on their spouses and Others trapped by the good Doctor in this HOUSE somewhere in Hollywood (I expect). Or watch your cats sleep. Life is OVER in California without your ever so reliable car. It's the way-it-is.
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Then there's Cinnamon Buns To Die For:
These are for breakfast in Heaven...
Now...think of that regular ol' Lute whole Wheat Nut Loaf from a few blogs back...make it but w/o the oats in the beginning and hold the nuts for after the 1st rise. Use dough cycle of your machine, or do it by hand, I don't care.
Same recipe except:
ADD 1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon to the dough right in the beginning.
Now:
Mix thoroughly
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon Cloves
2 TBSP (the big one) Butter or Margarine
1/2 cup chopped Pecans, chopped Walnuts (expensive these days), Pine Nuts,
Spanish Peanuts.
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The Glaze:
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
1/2 cup Whole Milk
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 Tablespoon Shortening or Margarine.
Heat this slowly in a small skillet til it just begins to boil, turn off.
At the end of the 1st full rise while the bread is still in the risen state,
poke a finger in it and knock it down...this is normally done by one of the
baker-helper angels but here on earth it's up to you. Don't punch it!
Never. never, never! Others are watching!
Now...after that rant...
Take your dough and place on a well floured surface. If God wanders by at
this moment because of the luscious smells...tell him it'll be a while,
he'll understand...maybe.
Roll and shape with a rolling pin to a large rectangle.
Sprinle the brown sugar mix over the entire surface.
Roll tightly into a long round loaf.
Cut 1" slices across the beauty and place in a well greased pan, skillet or
baking sheet.
Allow to rise til it doubles...45 min to an hour.
Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Remove and brush on the glaze as you like it,
thick or thin.
Allow to cool...HA!
Tell the angels to "beat it"! This disaster is yours and you'll make more
for them later...share one with God. Or two if you're friendly.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Brrrrr still...
Blog Entry 04-15-08 A Tuesday without what you suspect...
Today was soooo cold, a high of 10 here...50 degrees and the promise tomorrow of more of the same, only colder, down to ZERO! That's 32 for all you Californians and this is APRIL! At least there isn't snow! Shit! The house project was put on hold as we sought refuge in the Toyota to keep us warm for the day, yes diesel is expensive but comfort is comfort and we needed a dose of it to keep our spirits up. So off we went to Leroy Merlin in Chateauroux to get wood for the wall clothing project and new aluminum tubes for the curtains in the dining room, they needed to be stiffer and in one piece. Leroy has LOTS of Quincallerie (hardware) and I found the bits (good English term) I need to repair and create the new rods. Off then to other stores to fulfill our needs for the rest of the afternoon, at least we were warm.
Back to Rue Ruin Americaine I undertook the job of replacing the existing computer with the one I brought from the US. Far more modern and capable of video it will do us for the next year or so. I am a computer conservative...I'm at least one generation behind the current and sometimes more...I am holding on the Windows XP as well in deference to Windows Vista until I hear something good about it and it's been almost 2 years since it was released. Where's Google when you need them?
Tomorrow the curtains will be made and installed in the Parlor with any luck at all. I bought the material needed to hang the curtain rod holders so all I need to do is fabricate the holders. A simple job, surely!
Today was soooo cold, a high of 10 here...50 degrees and the promise tomorrow of more of the same, only colder, down to ZERO! That's 32 for all you Californians and this is APRIL! At least there isn't snow! Shit! The house project was put on hold as we sought refuge in the Toyota to keep us warm for the day, yes diesel is expensive but comfort is comfort and we needed a dose of it to keep our spirits up. So off we went to Leroy Merlin in Chateauroux to get wood for the wall clothing project and new aluminum tubes for the curtains in the dining room, they needed to be stiffer and in one piece. Leroy has LOTS of Quincallerie (hardware) and I found the bits (good English term) I need to repair and create the new rods. Off then to other stores to fulfill our needs for the rest of the afternoon, at least we were warm.
Back to Rue Ruin Americaine I undertook the job of replacing the existing computer with the one I brought from the US. Far more modern and capable of video it will do us for the next year or so. I am a computer conservative...I'm at least one generation behind the current and sometimes more...I am holding on the Windows XP as well in deference to Windows Vista until I hear something good about it and it's been almost 2 years since it was released. Where's Google when you need them?
Tomorrow the curtains will be made and installed in the Parlor with any luck at all. I bought the material needed to hang the curtain rod holders so all I need to do is fabricate the holders. A simple job, surely!
The French Cold
Blog Entry 03-26-08
It is now Wednesday, we have been “in country” since Friday evening, we are adjusting to The Cold day by day, hour by hour. The largess of the mansion stays at 43.5 degrees with a little rise during the day and a little drop at night, less than 2 degrees either way. The Office is our place of daytime residence, we have an oil-filled standing heater with 2 heater gizmos that keep the room at or near 60 degrees, not the warmest I've ever been but livable. The Dining Room is similarly equipped and has a similar temperature gradient. So much for the heating, the weather is cloudy, very cool and has occasional rain, sleet and hail along with snow. Nice. The trees look dead, no flowers like in California, Spring is somewhat a while off here. We ran around yesterday doing banking, telephone and power company chores along with a visit to the wonderful folks at the Tourist Board for which we would likely have packed it in and moved elsewhere if it weren't for them. We owe them, big time!
We prevailed upon Mary (of Tourist Board Fame) to help us reestablish our telephone/DSL connection with good ol' France Telecom AFTER we drove, billing papers in hand to St. Amand to get them to accept our apologies and payment to date and turn our precious communications with the world back on. Alas after several minutes of utter language confusion it was discovered that the only way we could restart the service was to send payment to the France Telecom office in Orleans. Damn. So we wandered off, back to the car and drove back home. On the way I was struck by a flash of genius! Let's get Mary to come over for lunch and she can do the calling to FT for us and all will heal itself right away. So we stopped at the Tourist Board and spoke with Mary, she agreed but only to do it after work, fine with us and away we went. Home, we puttered about, napped as is our habit and awaited the arrival of Mary. She came, she went, she came again and went again...and was successful at making the payment and reestablishing our service ON-LINE as it turns out. If we had only known we could have avoided all of this that first evening. Oh well...
The Kats: They stay near us, or on us, for the most part. Because we are warm or hang around where it is warm or like, in the case of the bed, have Ted's electric blanket ON. Else they crawl into folds of blankets or clothing and sleep their furry lives away dreaming of the California sunshine no doubt, just like us. Furry spent much of yesterday while we were out in the courtyard sniffing at dead flowers and grasses, cautiously looking around every bush and corner to see if any other denizen of the area has invaded her territory, if so she will run! No Lean has no such interest right now, heat is numero Uno for her and she stays where there is some parity towards warmth. She is smart that way.
We are sitting right now in the Office awaiting the warming of the hot water for showers, se stink I'm sure as it has been days! We brought the little hot air blower over from #10 yesterday for just this purpose. The oil-filled heater downstairs has been turned off and all other appliances of an electrical nature likewise are inert. We must turn off everything else as various combinations which we do not know WILL cause a power outage if they are on. Why? Because we are limited to some kind of power conservation scheme of EDF (our Power company) which will not allow more than some small amount of amperage to be consumed at any one time, thus the outage if we overuse...forced conservation. It will take a while for the water to heat, an hour should do fine to heat the 100 liter tank to 145 degrees F. and get the room to something warmer than it was with the little blower. Then shower, dress and turn off the hot water again and reestablish the heaters in each room for the rest of the day. Whoopee!
It is now Wednesday, we have been “in country” since Friday evening, we are adjusting to The Cold day by day, hour by hour. The largess of the mansion stays at 43.5 degrees with a little rise during the day and a little drop at night, less than 2 degrees either way. The Office is our place of daytime residence, we have an oil-filled standing heater with 2 heater gizmos that keep the room at or near 60 degrees, not the warmest I've ever been but livable. The Dining Room is similarly equipped and has a similar temperature gradient. So much for the heating, the weather is cloudy, very cool and has occasional rain, sleet and hail along with snow. Nice. The trees look dead, no flowers like in California, Spring is somewhat a while off here. We ran around yesterday doing banking, telephone and power company chores along with a visit to the wonderful folks at the Tourist Board for which we would likely have packed it in and moved elsewhere if it weren't for them. We owe them, big time!
We prevailed upon Mary (of Tourist Board Fame) to help us reestablish our telephone/DSL connection with good ol' France Telecom AFTER we drove, billing papers in hand to St. Amand to get them to accept our apologies and payment to date and turn our precious communications with the world back on. Alas after several minutes of utter language confusion it was discovered that the only way we could restart the service was to send payment to the France Telecom office in Orleans. Damn. So we wandered off, back to the car and drove back home. On the way I was struck by a flash of genius! Let's get Mary to come over for lunch and she can do the calling to FT for us and all will heal itself right away. So we stopped at the Tourist Board and spoke with Mary, she agreed but only to do it after work, fine with us and away we went. Home, we puttered about, napped as is our habit and awaited the arrival of Mary. She came, she went, she came again and went again...and was successful at making the payment and reestablishing our service ON-LINE as it turns out. If we had only known we could have avoided all of this that first evening. Oh well...
The Kats: They stay near us, or on us, for the most part. Because we are warm or hang around where it is warm or like, in the case of the bed, have Ted's electric blanket ON. Else they crawl into folds of blankets or clothing and sleep their furry lives away dreaming of the California sunshine no doubt, just like us. Furry spent much of yesterday while we were out in the courtyard sniffing at dead flowers and grasses, cautiously looking around every bush and corner to see if any other denizen of the area has invaded her territory, if so she will run! No Lean has no such interest right now, heat is numero Uno for her and she stays where there is some parity towards warmth. She is smart that way.
We are sitting right now in the Office awaiting the warming of the hot water for showers, se stink I'm sure as it has been days! We brought the little hot air blower over from #10 yesterday for just this purpose. The oil-filled heater downstairs has been turned off and all other appliances of an electrical nature likewise are inert. We must turn off everything else as various combinations which we do not know WILL cause a power outage if they are on. Why? Because we are limited to some kind of power conservation scheme of EDF (our Power company) which will not allow more than some small amount of amperage to be consumed at any one time, thus the outage if we overuse...forced conservation. It will take a while for the water to heat, an hour should do fine to heat the 100 liter tank to 145 degrees F. and get the room to something warmer than it was with the little blower. Then shower, dress and turn off the hot water again and reestablish the heaters in each room for the rest of the day. Whoopee!
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