lolcat 28

Speak up! No one will do it for you.

Hypgnosys got to me to thinking with his latest post.

I was at the salon getting all the kid's their monthly hair cut and I was chatting with the lady stylist Lisa who we've been going to for years..I don't know how the subject came up but she made a remark about how married couples fight all the time. I told her that my wife and I didn't fight about things...She asked how we could possibly not fight after being married for almost 18 years.

I told her that when I'm upset about something I speak up and clear the air as soon as it happens...the wife does the same. Fights don't develop because we don't sit there for days weeks and months marinating in our own juices letting little shit build up into big ugly problems.

Lisa seemed amazed by this and she said she made a huge laundry list of complaints she had over the years and handed it to her husband and asked for a divorce. Her husband asked why she hadn't brought up any of those issues before..she told him "You should have known"

I told her that men don't know and need to be told no matter how obvious the issue seems to you.

How can someone spend years of their life pissed off and miserable when all they have to do is speak up and say what's on their mind? Maybe you won't always get the reaction you desire but the cards are on the table, the problem is off your chest and the person you are angry with is at least given the opportunity to address the issue and or correct it. If you fear your spouse will become violent if you speak your mind, it's time to get the hell out anyway.

How many relationships have ended up in the shitter because one or both parties didn't talk about their problems and peeves and instead chose to act miserable, upset and passive aggressive toward their partner to punish them?

Maybe it's the way we are brought up..many of us were required or expected to suffer in silence as children. Speaking up or talking about problems just caused a massive negative reaction from the parent..I can see how this could carry over into adulthood.

Something to think about I guess.

Breakfast

This morning I made pancakes and candied bacon.

It's easy.

To start the bacon take 2 cookie sheets of the same type and cover one with aluminum foil. Place as many pieces of bacon as you like on the foil and sprinkle them with brown sugar..a little cinnamon too if you feel adventurous. Some folks add maple syrup as well. Take the other cookie sheet and place it on top of the bacon like you were stacking the cookie sheets together.

Place in a 350 degree oven in the middle rack..for thick bacon 3o minutes should do. For regular thin sliced 15 to 20 minutes. If they need a bit more time you can take off the top pan and broil for a min or so but watch them carefully!

Pancakes:

1 cup flour

1 egg

3 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup milk

1/4 tsp salt

1 Tsb brown sugar

3 tbs vegetable oil

Beat the egg in a large bowl and then mix in the other ingredients until combined..but don't over mix.

At this point you can add chopped bananas, walnuts blueberries, or whatever. If you add something with a lot of moisture add a bit more flour.

In a non stick skillet or (well seasoned cast iron)melt a little butter on medium heat and pour about 1/3 cup batter into the pan for each pancake...they are ready to flip when you see bubbles form on top and the edge gets a little crispy.

Enjoy.

Monday's mutterings

When I was in Missouri I bought my Aunt's massage chair..it was practically new and she wasn't using it, so she let me have it on what was left on the payment plan. Damn that thing gives you a workout. I used to think I was always tired..it was lower back pain making me feel exhausted. It's good to get some relief.

I watched the Matrix with my son last night. I hadn't seen it in 10 years so I didn't remember most of it. We had a good time. It's funny to look back and see where all those slow motion bullet dodging cliches came from. My son liked it so much he asked about the other two Matrix movies... I told him that they sucked the maggots out of a dead donkey's nut sac. I think he threw up in his mouth a little.

People don't believe me when I tell them that I sometimes make square poop...well rectangles actually... You'll have to take my word for it because I'm not taking any pictures. I wonder if that's where the term "shitting bricks" came from.

My garden has pretty much been a disaster this year...a lot of my plants died inexplicably. I only got two cherry tomatoes..no squash or zucchini..and just a handful of peppers. The only things that did well were the rosemary, spinach and basil. Some asshole stomped my potato plant and my watermelon vine got ripped up by the dog...next year I'm going to use bigger pots and build some sort of half shade so they don't get so burnt up in the middle of the day.

Sunday

Thanks to Easily Lost for the idea!

What's going on

I don't give a fuck about the king of ped. He was a despicable predator with grotesque perversions.

The country has taken the off ramp into hell and no one seems to give a shit. It's like the majority is under mass hypnosis. Fucking scary.

There was a guy selling the local paper this morning.. for two bucks you get something the size of a matchbook..except matchbooks usually conatain something useful.

I've noticed that cops are really hitting the streets hard and emptying their ticket books. On my recent trip there was a car pulled over about every mile and a half between my house and Fort Worth ...about 250 miles. DPS, Sherrifs, County, Local and Ciy cops plus the myriad of sub-organizations are out in force so be careful and keep to the speed limit. It's all about the revenue you know.

My son has hit a developmental threshhold. When he sees something that needs doing he just does it without me asking him. Taking out the trash, sweeping the floor, mowing the lawn etc.. I don't know what happened but I'm not complaining. I figured I was going to have to drag him through his chores until adulthood. I guess if this keeps up I'll have to raise his allowance.

Hiking the appalachian trail..wink wink nudge nudge.

Friday music

Some of my favorites







Check out this singer.....

Girls with guns

This is a feel good video.

Blog/Email issues

I'm no longer getting email notifications of comments. I checked my settings and everything is the same. Is anyone else having this issue?

Also, a good number of blogs I visit are giving me an error:

Internet explorer cannot open the internet site http:///insert blog name here..Operation aborted.

Last time this happened there were scripts running on certain blogs that would not load properly.

If anyone happens to have any information about this, please let me know.

I've used firefox here and there to get around the issue but All 200 blogs I read are accessed under IExploder and I really loathe the thought of moving them all.

Summer

It's been hot as hell here. Me and the kids have been doing inside stuff mostly.

They've got plenty of toys, games and computers to keep them busy.

When I was a kid the heat didn't seem so unbearable and I would run around in that shit all day.

These days I'm soaked as soon as I walk outside. The sun beating down feels like exactly that.

I did take the kids to see the night at the museum. Godamn what a shitty boring pointless movie. To make matters worse, these baby factories let their demon spawn run all over the theater during the movie.

We finally got up and moved to the far side away from that shit... The day wasn't a complete waste because the kids seemed to enjoy the pointless bullshit antics on the screen.

We've got the wife's family reunion coming up next week. We got the seperate house again, even though everyone else keeps trying to steal it. They wouldn't be so eager if they new that shit costs an extra 400 bucks...but well worth it so we can drink, have our own fridge and listen to my John Valby collection on my stereo.

Baked potato soup

6 large baking potatoes
2 cups vegetable stock
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp salt
1 onion
2 stalks celery
2 tsb butter
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup bacon bits
1/2 cup chives
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Bake 2 large russet potatoes either in the oven or microwave till tender.

Take 4 large baking potatoes peel and cube them. Put them in a pot with just enough water with to boil them.

In a saute pan take one minced onion and 2 stalks of minced celery and saute in 2 tsb butter with one Tsp salt on low heat for 20 min

Once the potatoes have boiled for 30 min add the onions and celery and reduce heat to medium.

Add 1 cup of heavy cream and 2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock and continue to simmer.

In separate bowls or ramekins add bacon bits , sour cream, chives and grated cheddar cheese.

In the soup pot you can mash the potatoes with a masher or use a mixing wand to get everything smooth.

Once the contents of the pot are fairly smooth and creamy, cube the baked potatoes and add them to the pot.

When you serve the soup you can add the baked potato ingredients as desired to each serving.

I made this tonight and everyone went nuts over it.

Random thoughts

On the first part of my drive to Missouri I set the cruise control at 60mph and just tried to get the best gas mileage possible. I was getting 26mpg in a Ford Expedition with a V8 and regular 87 octane unleaded.

As soon as I got into Kansas I was forced to buy fuel that was 10 to 20% ethanol. My fuel economy dropped to 19mpg. How in the fuck is this good for the environment? They use 1 gallon of fossil fuel to grow, and process 3/4 gallon of ethanol which gives me 25% less fuel economy.

I think we are getting screwed.

I made roasted corn on the cob for the father's day barbecue. Today it feels like I'm shitting broken glass. Maybe I need to chew better.

When I was in Missouri we weathered a couple of tornadoes. They do indeed sound like a freight train. Imagine constant rolling thunder and lightning for 3 hours straight. I couldn't tell one thunderclap from the next. It sounded like one constant roar. The kids were scared shitless so I took them down to the basement and let them sleep on the couch.

My uncle is in charge of maintenance of a large private country club and golf course. He broke his hand just before I got there so we didn't get to play. The good thing was his best friend at the club is also the master chef, so he came over to the house and he showed us how to make gourmet baked potato soup. While soup simmered, we played golf on the Wii and drank beer. The soup kicked ass. I'll post the recipe later this week.

The Trip

As I mentioned earlier, I drove up to see the family last week. I got a late start on the way there so I stopped in Ardmore OK as the halfway point. I'm glad I did because as soon as I checked into the motel a massive storm blew in. We got up at 3:30am and arrived at Grandma's house around noon.

For those of you who don't know, driving through Kansas is boring and shitty.

Grandma looked like hell, She told me she just got out of the hospital where they put a stint in an artery and the plug where they went in came loose and she almost bled to death. "Didn't anyone tell you? " Nobody ever tells me shit.

We visited for a while but now that my aunt and her 24 year old son live there we have to go stay at my Uncle's new house that's about 20 miles away.

It was a nice place but I wish I could have been closer to Grandma's since she wasn't feeling well.

My Uncle is only about 10 years older than myself so we have a lot in common. He's a pretty cool guy and always took me horseback riding, fishing and camping when I was a kid.

His computer was all fucked up so I decided to fix it for him while he was at work. When I was cleaning up shit I found my 24 year old cousin's myspace page. There were dudes on it with hearts and tears (missing you!) I was like ..oh shit.

Later that evening my Uncle was bitching about his nephew living with Grandma, not pulling his weight and inviting all kinds of homeless people over to sleep in the basement family room with him and sometimes they make their way upstairs to steal Grandma's shit.

That's when Uncle verified that my cousin was indeed a homo. Always before he was a pain in the ass spoiled sociopath now he smokes pole in Grandma's basement. Lovely.

So I wasn't supposed to say anything but the situation is causing a family rift. Not because of the gayness but for the mooching, stealing and lack of respect.

They've always spoiled the kid and given him everything he's ever wanted and never once asked him to lift a finger and probably never will so it's no surprise he's doing what he's doing.

They are total enablers. Nice people but there was never a male figure around to put a stop to bullshit.

So I kept my opinions to myself and tried to enjoy my visit as much as I could while trying to get the ugly thoughts out of my head.

Uncle and I ended up staying up drinking, joking and watching movies. The kids rode bikes and played with the toys left there by his step grand kids.

Overall everything went smooth but a week was enough and I missed home. So I got up at 3:00am and hauled ass back to Texas. Goddamn that is an awful fucking drive and the older I get the worse it gets.

Just got back

Just drove back 13 hours straight through. I am tired as hell. The visit went well but I'll have to catch up with everyone after I get some rest.

Here's a funny

Busy weekend... here are some funnies.

New Magazine

Observations

When I'm waiting to pick my children up from school I see other kids with massive out of control acne, greenish yellow teeth and hair that hasn't been washed in weeks or months. But they have ipods, cell phones and their parents drive expensive cars. How in the hell can they let that shit go on? It fucking blows my mind.

Also how can a parent allow their 9 year old child to get to be over 200Lbs? I can't even tell if it's male or female except maybe if I look at the backpack. I want grab the parent by the collar and yell "Stop buying twinkies and chips you stupid fuck!" I swear it's goddamn child abuse.

I've learned a new trick for when sales people come to the door. whatever they are selling I say "I already have one". I know they want to argue with me but they can't without calling me a liar. Last night it was a Kirby Vaccum salesman. Yep I've got three! Slicker than goose shit! See ya! Slam! Church of our lady of massive tithing..yep I'm a member... Slam!

There is some new scam going on where some magazine distributor sends out a phoney dun letter for a subscription that was never ordered. They make it look official...Past due! 4th notification! We will be forced to turn this over to a collection agency! Of course there is no phone number. I found the Email address of the company and told them to suck it! I was't falling for their bullshit scam and I was contacting the post master and reporting them for mail fraud.

They responded with "sorry for the mixup, we've canceled the account and you don't owe anything. Please disregard all further notices" ...That's what I thought, you lying bitches.

Government totally sucks

NSFW

Weekday shit.

........................................................................I'm thinking of switching carry guns to my Taurus Judge. If anyone can recommend a good holster for IWB I'm all ears. I bought some .41 cal rifled slugs and some 000 buck for it. I just inherited my grandmother's 1950's Smith and Wesson terrier .32 revolver so I might carry that as a backup.

I was checking my son's grades online and there was a note in the margin next to his grades:

(Told another student to go lick his mother) Part of me wanted to laugh and part wanted to go on the warpath. My son swore that the teacher is hard of hearing and totally misunderstood what was said...I told my kid to keep his trap shut in that class from now on.

Went to my inlaws 50th anniversary party this evening..it was at a pizza place where their son works. It was ok. All they wanted was everyone to pitch in for a new dishwasher. I offered to fix their old one but once my mother in law gets a notion there is no arguing.

Like usual they ran our waitress ragged and didn't tip her so I slipped her a 20 because I know what it's like to be dicked over when a table of 20 people all pay on separate checks. I swear these people are the worst tippers on the planet. Ignorant fucks...

My neice swears she has the swine flu. Considering her girth and personal habits I am inclined to agree.

I took Jeannie's advice and bought an economy size metamucil to help with my cholesterol. I wonder if it mixes well with vodka....

Gun show

Sunday morning I decided to take my son to the gun show. I hadn't been to one since they moved it to the coliseum. I guess it must be a couple of years at least. As we were getting ready my oldest daughter decided she would rather go with me to the gun show instead of to church with her sister...that's my girl!

We got out there and the first thing was they charged 3 bucks to park. that was annoying but whatever. The guy at the door only charged me for admission and let the kids in free which I appreciated.

Once inside, I was disappointed to see most of the tables still covered in blankets..and the vendors nowhere to be found. It was almost an hour into the show when they finally decided to mosey in and start setting up.

I was rather disappointed in this show many of the vendors I used to frequent were nowhere to be found and ammo prices are triple what they were last year. Gun prices are at least double...I ended up buying only emergency supplies of cartridges that I was nearly out of.

Thanks King Barry...

I ended up buying a bag of jerky, a stuffed animal for the daughter, an airsoft Uzi for my son and a pair of gold and garnet earrings for the wife.

I guess I'm going to dust off my reloading supplies now that most ammo is a buck a round. I can't see how anyone can afford to go shooting these days.

Here are some of the prices:
Blazer .380 auto $35 for 50
Winchester .44mag $45 for 50
Remington 9mm $27 for 50
Federal .45acp $47 for 50
Wolf 7.62x39 $10 for 20
500 round brick .22 long rifle was $37

I guess the only thing that brightened my day is that pretty much everything in my gun collection has gone up in value tremendously. I'm glad I invested when I did.

The kids had a good time and the wife got some rest so it turned out to be a pretty good day after all.