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~ My Page ~ Number Three ~
~ Friday, December 19, 2008 ~
~ Una Poca Nieve! ~
Well, Wednesday we had a little snow and Antonio, mi amigo from Guatemala showed up for some part time work... Boss Bob hires him from time to time to help out Tom, the maintenance man... And when Tonio is here. I get to practice my feeble Spanish and he gets a kick out of it...
And I thought the snow was kinda pretty so I went out to take a few video minutes of it.. and harass Antonio...
And then Thursday was Dentist Day, been putting that off for six months.. but I chipped a tooth so I thought I better get that fized and get my delayed check-up... Man! That's getting more tedious every year.. But at least I still have all of MY teeth...
So, Friday again and 2 GB of video space on Vimeo opened up and A few more videos get uploaded... So.. Away we go...
~ Anyway, maybe I can try for a better Santa Walk next year.. If there is a next year.. MERRY CHRISTMAS! ~
~ Sunday, November 30, 2008 ~
~ First Snow! ~
Surprise! Looked out there on a cold Sunday Morning to see the first snow of the winter... On the cars and trees and the yuccas but not on the street, ground still too warm I suppose...Anyway It's kinda purty...
Well, a nice T-Day dinner and a kinda boring Friday so I headed over to the Casino with $40 I really couldn't afford to lose... But at my advancing age.. who really cares? So, I got my favorite machine this time and stuck in the two twenties... Except for the cigarette smoke, a bit of fun... So up and down and a couple times way down on credits, would hit a fairly good one now and then to give me a second wind... Once down to less than $5 in credits... But then up again and down again and when I got down to 40 credits ($10.00)... after about two hours of play... ding ding ding ding... AHA! What a beautiful sound! I hit a '5 Times Pay' and two red 7s... That's 5 times 120... or 600 credits... Cashed out for a $120 win and my original $40, Now that's a good time...
So, what on a cold dreary Saturday? somehow got the idea to cook up some pinto beans and smoked ham hocks... And might as well do some greens too... Went up to the Price Chopper for sopme dried beans and fresh Swiss chard... And some smoked ham hocks, enough for the beans and the greens...
I did the fast bean method, ever try that? No need to soak over night... Just put the beans in the pot with water to cover... Then bring to a boil, shut off the heat and let them sit for an hour... Then pour off the water and rinse, then back in the pot with the ham hocks and chicken stock and a large chopped onion... After several hours of a slow simmer, some really good beans!
While that was going on, rinse the greens, chop them up some, then into a big skillet with some olive oil and a large sliced onion, then the ham hocks and then the greens to simmer a good two hours or so... Then later... Some beans and greens, some ham from the hocks and buttered corn bread.. Some real country down home cookin Yeah...
~ And How Sweet that Was! ~
~ Thursday, November 27, 2008 ~
~ Turkey Day! ~
T-Day and I am all ready... almost... I made the cranberry sauce a few days ago... then candied the sweet potatoes... Then brined the turkey overnight and roasted it yesterday... seasoned with rosemary and oregano and garlic salt with parsley... and then painted the whole thing with melted butter... Roasted for 4 hours then let it rest awhile...
Later I sampled a leg.. Really juicy and scrumptious... Then later, carved and stored the wings, thighs and other leg.. into the freezer... Took the breasts off whole... Meanwhile roasting the dressing separately...
So, today... I will slice and store the breast meat (most of it), then make some gravy and simmer the carcass, then make turkey noodles with the odds and ends... Everything organized and under control.. and then the official T-Day dinner with all the extras later today...
~ HAPPY THANKSGIVING! ~
~ Monday, November 10, 2008 ~
~ That Yucca! ~
Or, since the major surgery last spring, maybe I should say ~Them Yuccas!~ Well, they survived the summer and look pretty good... But as some types of yucca cannot survive the cold, their future is uncertain... I just don't have room inside this winter so we shall see what we shall see.. Shall we not?
Next Spring the Report may be the Demise of the Yuccas ~
~ Saturday, November 8, 2008 ~
~ New Monitor? ~
And... This was a couple weeks ago but I guess I didn't report on it... How could I pass up a chance to say something about a new toy? Anyway I was kinda busy then... I was thinking of a way to show the DVDs of the Sanctuary to the meeting... I did that once taking a tiny 9 inch monitor and sitting it on the meeting table... But this time I wamted to show how sharp the videos were on Blu-ray and my new player...
So, I thought of borrowing back the 32 inch LCD TV I sold to a friend but he already had it hooked up.. And my own 42 inch LCD TV would be a hassle to unhook and haul down there... What to do? I read up on HDMI to DVI connectors like those on LCD computer monitors. would that work? I ordered a DVI to HDMI cable and tried that on my spare 19 inch computer monitor... Nope, didn't work... Read some more on that and found unless the monitor was HDCP capable, it wouldn't work... Then I checked online at HP... They had a nice 20 inch monitor that WAS HDCP capable so I odered that... And it was delivered the day of the meeting and I tried it.. AHA, it works... BUT... It seemed the brightness was too intense and the colors kinda washed out.. and it was only 20 inches after all...
So... I unhooked all those connections on my TV... One HDMI connection from the AT&T receiver, two HDMI from the DVD players, an optical cable from the TV to the surround sound player, A VGA cable from the Computer I hooked to it plus an audio cable from the computor and the power cable to the TV... What a hassle!
And then asked BJ, my neighbor to help me put it in the van... Hah, He picked it up like a baby and set it in there by himself... Then to the meeting where it took two of those old guys to lug it in.. Simple setup there, just the power cord and one HDMI cable from the Blu-ray player... And as soon as the meeting was over. the show went on! I showed 3 HD DVDs to a very appreciative crowd, laughing and applauding at the antics of the volunteer workers in the DVD... Then lugging the TV back to the van... and BJ lugging it back in for me next morning
And what about the new monitor? Well there it is, I moved the latest 19 inch monitor to the Compaq and hooked it up to the Vista... Now I have matching monitors again, except for the one inch difference in size...
~ AND...NOW... With the 2GB of new RAM... THIS IS COOL! ~
~ Friday, November 7, 2008 ~
~ Brain Surgery? ~
Well, the Vista seemed to me to be a bit slow... I already had deleted a few programs and shut off some unneeded start programs.. And that helped a bit.. But why not give it a brain transplant? Looked around on the net.. HP wanted $100 a GB... thought memory was getting cheaper?... So I checked at Kingston, the people that make it.. or some of it anyway... They had three dealers listed and Newegg.com had the best price... $19.95 a GB... So I ordered 2 GB, all that a 32 bit system can use... And that showed up in the mail yesterday, went up to get it this morning.. and then into the Operating Room...
Well, adding RAM is no big deal, usually.. IF you can get to the sockets.. Well this HP had them buried under drives and cables.. and it was kind of a touchy operation then, feeling under there to get the things lined up...
But after much time and frustration they slipped in and clicked shut.. AHA... Now, will it work? plugged that momma in and booted up, everything looks OK... And I hit a couple programs.. WOW this baby moves now!.. Yeah.. you can call that SNAPPY!
~ NOW... THIS IS SWEET! ~
~ Tuesday, November 4, 2008 ~
~ Pico De Gallo! ~
Or salsa fresca, if you prefer.. and if you cook it a little, then it is salsa preparada... Hot sauce by any other name... And no recipe, just what looks good and on hand... In this case a couple chopped ripe Better Boys tomatoes, still have a few left.. and red ripe now... Then some chopped green pepper, some chopped jalapeno chilies... chopped onion, minced garlic... salt, black pepper, little sugar, a little cumin and basil... That and a little of the juice from the jalapeno jar would just about do it... And PICANTE! You betcher bippy!
And it's Election Day, been there and done that, now watching what's happening on Cable news... Apprehensive but hoping for the best... And as ever.. Onward and Upward!
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