I think this is just a temporary location until our west coast hostess arrives. Please unrecommend last night’s cafe and recommend this one until the doors officially open.
And remember. . .400 px is the max for photos and it’s highly appreciated if you put your photos only in new comments instead of inserting in a thread. Thankee.
So what’s got you in a ribbit this morning? I am FRUSTRATED because I suddenly can’t get the Froggy Bottom Cafe templates to work. Must go practice some more.
Alohahleezy. She asked for this a.m., but I forgot about the time differences and it only occured to me at 9:30 CST that it was only 7:30 her time. So I thought I’d better open up.
Sadly, everyday is a Saturday to me as well. I am a (gag) housewife. Just blogging and eating. Blogging and laundry. Blogging and feeding the critters. Did I mention blogging?
Look at the advantages, though — you don’t have to feel guilty for avoiding work for the pleasures of blogging (I work at home so I figure the few minutes I take here and there are the equivalent of schmooz time at the office).
And you can read books any time you want! (My ultimate job would reading books — just reading them, not reviewing them or analyzing them or editing them.)
Nah, that’s not what I think. What I think is that you guys grab up all the good books and take them home to read them before the lumpenproletariat can get their (literally) grubby mitts on them and that’s why every time I’m desperately waiting for a book it spends forever in cataloging.
I like the picture, shot over someone’s shoulder, but I’m still trying to figure out the delineation of the lump on the left side. Face? Arm? Alien from outer space?
I’ve made the mistake of reading too much news in recent days, and now I’m grumpy and depressed. Time for another cuppa green tea, methinks.
He has an appointment at 3….I’m scared that I’m going to find out something bad about his kitty health — right now he is curled up and sleeping by me … he seems well all the way ’round, ‘cept for the weight loss…
In about an hour, I leave to go to my t’ai chi class and afterwards take a typing test for a job I’ve applied for.
It’s all trivia, my day’s doings, but somehow it feels so scary…
I guess I need to get out more!
I’ll check back in later this afternoon — have a great day everyone!
Your day is enough to make anybody post twice! I’ll keep my fingers crossed for Marley and for your typing test. Maybe the t’ai chi class will ease your mind, or at least your typing fingers, a bit.
Screwed the pooch on the typing test (BooMan is notifying Santorum), but I’ll go take it again tomorrow when I’m not so rollercoaster-y and it’ll be fine.
T’ai Chi si saving my life — I don’t know what more I can say about it…when I go, I can cope, if I miss a week, I have trouble…
OMG — Trouble, that Cat Stevens song — haven’t thought about it in so long…
Thanks, Nag — vet seems to think he is mostly ok…..$250 later. No high glucouse, no feline lukemia, still iffy on the thyroid (but can’t afford that test right now)….mostly, I think he’ll be ok for now, I just wanted to make sure that he wasn’t dying and/or contagious to other kitty….
Vet and a job test… I don’t know about you, but I’d be shitting razor blades.
It helps to share the good, the bad, the ugly (I know I’m stealing from a spaghetti Western..) but it’s also good to share our fears, our thoughts, our laughs and in MY case my stupidity and typos 🙂
I love the name “Marley” for a cat. Dickens? or Bob? 🙂
Take care brinnaine. I like your political posts and it’s wonderful getting to know the person behind them. (psst.. I take Judo and Jujitsu)
I let my animals tell me what their names are, when he was a wee one, I asked him straight out, and he went and curled up on a Bob Marley CD and started purring…
Sometimes my cat – age 14 – loses weight when the first summer heat wave arrives. If Marley is eating and playful it could be just a summer temporary weight shift. Hydration is the only thing I watch very closely.
Positive energy coming your way for the vet and for your typing test!
he’s never had this summer weight loss before, but she said it may be because he’s getting older, and it is DAMN hot (and humid as hell, hmmm, is hell humid?) Anyway, making him some tuna juice ice cubes in the freezer as we speak! 😉
Thanks, MM — I don’t know if you know this but I am aka deepingtheheartoftx — I am glad to see you posting, here and there, you were one of the first people I ever clicked with on dKos….someday, lets meet, climb Mt. Burnell or something (when it cools down in October! *Grin*)
He has an appointment at 3….I’m scared that I’m going to find out something bad about his kitty health — right now he is curled up and sleeping by me … he seems well all the way ’round, ‘cept for the weight loss…
In about an hour, I leave to go to my t’ai chi class and afterwards take a typing test for a job I’ve applied for.
It’s all trivia, my day’s doings, but somehow it feels so scary…
I guess I need to get out more!
I’ll check back in later this afternoon — have a great day everyone!
Today I’m waiting on a baby. My pregnant friend was induced about an hour ago, and now we’re in hurry up and wait mode! Baby boy Logan will enter this world, to the delight of two wonderful, progressive parents, sometime today! Whoo hoo!
Good luck to your friend in the waiting game of childbirth, how exciting to welcome a new human being.
BTW did you realize that Mon is the 4th of July when you said you would host FBC diary that day. Knowing you, you will not want get on your computer at home on a holiday!! Let me know!
A BIG baby, too! My guess on the weight/length was 8 lbs., 6 oz., and 22 inches. Daddy’s 6’5″ and 260 lbs. I’m thinking Logan will take after his father. Oh Lord. LOL! 😉
She’s contracting regularly, but is so far only dilated to 1 cm, I believe. I’m so excited!!!
Thank you for all the good wishes, friends!
PS – Diane, I forgot that Monday was a holiday, and I won’t be home! We’re spending the night with family that night. Dang it! Do we have someone who can fill in that day? (Such a slacker I am. First day on the job, I won’t be around. LOL!)
That’s fine, we can cover it..I will put you down for following MOndays. Ok
I might need some volunteers for Sun, Mon and Tues. or do you want to do Tue. this week MM….let me know…
The dogs got cheated out of their walk this morning because I decided I really needed to work on stacking wood. The old saying about wood heating you twice is really apt when it’s already in the upper 70’s.
I’m having fun doing this and guess I got enough 4’s yesterday to justify doing it some more — or at least till someone takes me aside to gently tell me that 4’s were in sympathy for how boring I am.
In our younger days we got all the wood from our property. Now we get a lot of it from the local logger/sawmill. Less wear-and-tear on both us and the forest.
In on instance this photo calms me down. The blues and the overall … I dunno. I just really like it. Looks so peaceful
The next instance, I’m like totally freaking because we need to get wood hauled over soon as we are staying for yet another winter and we are out of wood. EEK
Yeah, you want to give it at least 3 months to dry and six would be even better. Most of what we’re putting up is for the winter after this one but we heat entirely with wood which is an excellent incentive for planning ahead.
The wood guys up here are EVIL and CROOKED. Gotta be careful when dealing with some … and just not deal with some…
Lately we’ve been getting wood from the Mr’s work property. Fallen trees and such. Wasn’t planning on being here for another winter. Yikes.
Right now it’s about $190 for a cord of PINE!!! (eek pine sucks) (one year hard was over $230) and it was WET and that’s unstacked. Wood and oil… getting to be too much.
but yep… that’s me in the morning getting a fire restarted while I’m shivering LOL
Nobody uses pine around here — there isn’t that much of it because the forest are probably 99% hardwoods. I don’t want to make you too jealous but we pay $200 for a dumptruck’s worth (about 2 cords) of hardwood (mostly oak, beech, and hickory).
And — more jealousy-inducement? — we rarely have the cold stove* problem in the morning because our Vermont Casting stove holds a fire forever.
*the main reason this ever happens is that I sometimes go to bed before my husband and he forgets to put wood in the stove.
The winter I lived in Strawberry (Up near Echo Summit in CA), I remember being flabergasted at the thought that anyone would even waste their time burning PINE! I was such an ignorant little East Coaster, used to hardwood and nothing but hardwood.
Ok, I finally decided to get a PhotoBucket account because there’s a picture I want to show you all. I went to the site, filled in the info and am now waiting for an email from them so I can activate it. It’s been about 10 minutes. Is that normal? Does this take time or is there something wrong? Rrrrrrg.
My girlfriend (‘curly’ on this site) opened an account on Imageshack last night (in preparation for hosting coming Saturday’s garden blog). E-mail came back in a matter of seconds.
Hope you got your reply by now – if not, try Imageshack.
Ok, I got tired of waiting and used ImageShack. It may have been the fault of my ghetto email host (I use an old one for things that might get me spammed), rather than PhotoBucket, but at least now I have two options.
Nah. My lo-tech old email server isn’t nearly that sophisticated. More likely it fell thru the cracks when the gerbil that powers the whole thing got tired and took a break.
Kansas…so sorry that you did not get word. I emailed Diane a few days ago to tell her I am just swamped right now and would pass up my hostess duties for now. I probably should have emailed you directly. I apologise to all the Froggies. So run with this for today if you don’t mind. I really must get back to work. Happy Birthday to all that are celebrating a June birthday! Sorry again, miscommunication on my part.
Not to worry! The word probably got out and I just missed it. I had a feeling there was some confusion over Thursdays, and that the confusion was probably MINE, not yours! And anyway, this is painless and fun. I was gonna be doing it anyway, so everything’s great. I hope you get some relief from the “swamp” soon! Thanks for checking in when you saw my note above.
WEll I guess it may be my fault, about the diary today, I did not post on yahoo site aloha’s email.
I guess it’s all straightened out now so no worries…
I am in extreme back pain today and can barely walk, so I am spending a lot of time in bed laying on icepacks. Good thing I didn’t have duties today!
Eventually we’ll get this thing mastered. No wonder your back went out, after taking cafe duties two days in a row! All that floor sweeping and table moving and dish washing. . .ouch. I hope you can take it easy today. All’s relaxed and well here–except for awaiting the birth of a baby!–so take a load off and have a cuppa your favorite brew.
No blame here now guys….it was a simple miscommunication and everything has worked out just fine…right kansas? Diane, for jeebeezer’s sake take care of yourself. get on a nice heating pad and take care of yourself. The Cafe will always run on automatic. There are plenty of folks that seem to be willing to pitch in at any given moment. That’s what friends are for. Take care of yourself now my friend.
and I am so addicted to you all. I REALLY need to be working but have to keep checking in to see what’s going on. So glad the comment/reply thingy was fixes. I always feel I should reply to something saomeone replied to me about. I will check in around Happy Hour. Sure could use some soothing, cool jazz tonight.
This is Spot. Spot came into this world when a wild cat crawled onto my dad’s back porch to have her kittens. For the first month, dad fed the whole bunch, played with the kittens, bought them accessories and got his ankles scratched a lot. He found people to adopt the rest of the kittens and took the mom out to a farm that neighbors my grandparents’. She started her new life as a farm cat and Spot stayed on with dad. She’s still half-wild and he’s figuring out the best way to take care of her while still enjoying his carefree bachelorhood and intact furniture. Yesterday she made her first visit to the vet’s office to get de-wormed. When I get back to Indiana, we will take her to get spayed (is that what you call it with cats?).
I’ve never had a cat, and my dad hasn’t had one since before my older brother was born, so it’s a learning process, but I’m looking forward to getting to know her.
Spot looks like a little speck 🙂 (I’m assuming her tail is black and not a manx right??)
The line “and got his ankles scratched alot” tugged at my heart. Your dad must be one hell of a guy 🙂
I’d have several pix of “Kitty” a rescue cat we got when she was 9 mos .. but as “Thestral” from Dkos states so purrrfectly… “taking pictures of black kitties is hurrrrrrrrd wurrrrrrrrrrrk” 🙂
Yes, her tail is black, and yes my dad is a heck of a guy. 🙂 At first he liked the idea of having a semi-feral cat as a pet, but he’s realized that she will have a better life (and be better company) if she’s protected and socialized, so she’s morphing into a more indoor cat.
Big Congratulations to you all. I read BooMan’s comment the other day about the contribution the Welcome Wagon/Cafe has made to the site. You really do make this site more attractive. We can get up-to-date news, investigative diaries, thoughtful commentary, and posts that help us feel better. We learn a little about each other, and it makes the interaction more meaningful. Very appreciated.
Mnemosyne above wrote about too much depressing news this week, and I feel this way too – a little overwhelmed by the amount and never changing-ness of it, I suppose. I’m longing for that light at the end of the tunnel. I’m rambling here, but I wanted to thank you for having the Cafe – a great place to come and recharge, and get to hear how others are doing, view some great pics (love AndiF’s woodpile!), read some funny stories or jokes.
I’d like to post one of my favourite poems by Emily Dickinson, that captures my current state:
I felt a cleaving in mind
As if my brain had split
I tried to match it – seam by seam
But could not make them fit.
The thought behind, I strove to join
Unto the thought before
But sequence ravelled out of reach
Like balls upon a floor.
Here’s hoping a nice Canada Day long w/e will restore my marbles!
We have frogs, foamy lattes and Emily all in one place 🙂
Marbles… how perfect. When I read that line (how many years ago?) my brain conjured up the image of all the little b b balls coming out of my brothers “plinko” game. What a racket and a mess.
But you and Emily summed it up so well what I’ve been feeling more so since Conyers got locked out… (I went from Giddy to Shitty in a week) This place rejunenates me so I can continue … to continue.
Otherwise, I’d be one angry, pissed off hagula. Gotta stay “sane” for the kids here.
(((Olivia)))) thank you so much for sharing this. It was a much needed shot of understanding 🙂
– the software migration from hell is done testing…Tuesday we’ll see if the accounting software works in the real life…
– Quaint custom…Fiscal New Year’s Eve party! Today is the last day of YE 06/05 and we are having a party!
. Beer and BBQ courtesy of the Accounting Department
– 4 1/2 day holiday weekend with grandkids and the cat that likes to travel…sunny, mountains and trees, kids and a creek…
I’ll be dropping 4’s today…and dropping out for a few days with no computer!
Busy times the next couple of days; going to try to find someplace air conditioned to escape the heat today. I was up with the spouse at 4am, when I had the brainstorm to do one of my mom’s tricks; she would open all the doors and windows to let in the early morning cool air, then close up at sunrise. So, that’s what I did. I know the cool air will get stale eventually though, hence my planned escape.
Weekend plans: nothing definite, other than spending one day finishing up the cleaning, then it’ll just be mostly daily maintenance (pick up clutter) with the occasional big job (vacuuming, dusting, mopping, etc.). Will make the stress level decrease. Oh, and continue planning August vacation; we’re one step closer to having the money from my mom’s house sale, as soon as the lawyer gives the heads up to my sister. We need a real vacation — my mom was a major traveler, so I know she won’t mind…
to diary whore in the cafe? I know this is a place to unwind, and the diary in question is long and serious, but there hasn’t been an open thread in a while and with the replies to comments being out (temporarily I hope!) I can’t use comments to let some folks I’d like to see it (like leftvet) know it’s there. Anti-war veterans are a subject dear to my heart.
If I’m out of line, I’ll try to make it up to y’all with a pic of my dog Bo in some rare Austin snow.
For all of us down south who are bracing ourselves for several more months of really-damn-hot weather . . .
Yes and I am hoping others will use this diary to point to other diaries as well as post news items or action items or links.
Do anything here that you would in a real world cafe. Laugh, talk, cry, rant, moan, grown,brag, shout and yes, resolve conflicts here if need be and if conflicts arise.
The only request I have is no pics over 400 pixels, and please post pics as comments rather than replies whenever possible…Hint about pixels, right click on pic,, select properties and it will give you the pixels..If too big resize before posting or if you can’t Susanhu has said to send to her for resizing…
as he looks. My daughter rescued him and his sister when he was a few months old from some neighbors of hers who were abusing him. Seems like a lot of animals that had a hard life at first turn out to be the sweetest pets. You can see that the cats at my house are terrified of him.
AWwww looking at that photo for too long will give a person a cavity! 🙂
I call mine Mojo Kitty or Grateful Kitty. Rescue/Adopted animals seem to always be more loving.
My labrador however didn’t get enough oxygen to the brain (born blue and I revived her) and she’s terribly frightened of anyone else in the house besides us. We have to kennel her up at night so she won’t squat on the floor.. but otherwise she is my shadow and a big baby.
My sisters are repeat customers of the Siamese Rescue League — we’re all Siamese fans, having grown up with them. (I, alas, don’t have cats of my own.) One sister is currently in the process of adopting another:
but she’ll have to change his name first-thing: “Landon”?! What kind of name for a cat is that??
From my (or, well, their) experience, rescue pets have a tough adjustment time, particularly if they’ve been in a few foster homes & rescue centers, but can become very loving pets.
We were worried about Kitty and my big mossepuppy black lab getting along. Even though the fost home had a dog. She came in and she looked at the dog and said, “this’ll do”. Her name is Kitty because she had so many damn names… came with a belled collar with “”kate” – her other name was Cocoa and… one other.. We all said fuggedaboodit and Kitty loves her name.
The kicker was when she jumped in my husbands lap IMMEIDIATELY when he tapped his leg to call her and my son went screaming (with joy) to her and she didnt’ flinch or nothing.
I love those blue eyes on Landon. Kitty has margarita green eyes.
Even though my mother in law is a breeder and trainer of labs… I stand firm that no animal should be “paid” for untill there aren’t any in the shelters.
I don’t have the gene that allows me to skip rocks over the water… trip trip trip. My husband and my daughter are elegant, graceful and athletic. Wesley and I.. do we get all butt hurt and upset that we don’t share the same DNA?? Naw. We go and find the biggest bad assed rocks and PLUNK those in the the water. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH. Yeah baby… make do with the talents you’ve got… (or fake it) 🙂
Here’s our Mojo Kitty. No she isn’t stoned (although I wouldn’t put it past her). She’s just flaking out.
As for plans… I just can’t seem to get excited about July 4th. SusanHu had a diary about the Iraqi guy wrote to remind us that 200 years ago WE were raising arms against our occupiers. We didn’t “win” that war. We wore them out with our… “insurgency”.
Plus… we live up in an area where this weekend our population will triple and yet the IQ rate will decrease. Fires are a HUGE concern and some asshat always has to shoot off a rifle or something. Not to mention the crappy fireworks for 10 minutes in town followed by an hour of parking lot type traffic which is infested with drunk drivers.
We might just pig out on homemade eggrolls (Lumpia actually but I couldn’t find the right wraps so used eggrolls and they are fantastic, stuffed jalapeno peppers that several have requested me to make – will do those tomorrow) and just play board games with the kids and fart around on the XBox together while drinking some mango passion daiquiries.
I have a black cat, too. He and his sister survived a virus that killed their mom, all the other kittens, and left my black cat with only one eye. But the emergency seems to have left them both with supercat immune systems, because it’s now seven years later and neither one of them has ever been sick, not once, not even so much as a sniffle. They’ve never had an injury, either, in spite of being outdoor/indoor cats. I am soooo knocking on wood as I type this!
are always super cats 🙂 Well, that’s the consensus here at this house.
Kitty was rescued by one of several small orgs (We don’t have a SPCA here) when the cops came across two single wide trailers that were filled with cats in all stages of injury, death and birthing.
It appears the cats were being bred to be used for training attack dogs.
Kitty was shuffled around from house to house untill she ended up in a “foster home” and we then got her on a dark and stormy January night.
My husband says it’s the best damn cat he’s ever had. 🙂 She’s a cat that HAS to be around people all the time. She’s very social and very loving and she spreads her loving to all in the family. She doesn’t sleep on just one person’s bed… she splits her time up on all the beds.
Only thing is – she’s a cupnapper. She sticks her head in everyone’s glasses.
That’s both a hideous and wonderful story. I had never before heard of breeding cats to train guard dogs. My god.
My pooties were animal shelter cats, and I laugh every time I remember how I ended up with them. I was at my son’s bball game one day when a woman I know who was pres. of the local shelter sat down beside me and said, with a determined grin, “You look like you need a cat.” I looked at her in surprise and said, “You know what? I do. My beloved cat died a couple of years ago and I really miss having a cat around the house.”
She smiled triumphantly and said, “How about two?”
I had no idea either. It gives me the shivers to think about it too much. No one was ever caught or brought to trial…
Great rescue story, Kansas! I, too, laugh when I think back on the first night Kitty came home.
That night I called my friend “momagainstthedraft” the night we were offered Kitty. I told her I wasn’t going to get another animal. No way. No how. I needed another responsibility like I needed another hole in the head.
I called her back later on – while she laughed – telling her what she already figured I’d do anyways 🙂
The weather here is threatening to kick up a ferocious storm. So if the barmaid suddenly vanishes, don’t worry about me, just know my power has probably gone out. It may not. . .but I thought I ought to warn somebody, just in case.
Well I’m back from my big “power lunch” downtown with my eldest sister & 2 young nieces (7 & 5). No VIP convoys went roaring up Conn Ave or across on L Street while I was hanging around, which seemed unusual.
An iced coffee drink of some sort, maybe a mocha, would hit the spot right about now. I’d like to give a languid shout-out to my neighbors in PA and elsewhere in the Northeast sweatin’ it out with me. But hey, it’s supposed to cool into the mid-80s over the weekend — won’t that feel heavenly. I’ll be on the Mall on Sunday, visiting the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, and am hoping (with crossed-fingers & the whole bit) that it won’t be too bad in that open space under the broiling sun. Frankly the festival doesn’t seem all that exciting this year, but I’ve been going every year since before I can remember, so there’s no point in skipping this one.
Aww, yeah. Thanks, KS! My weather widget tells me not to expect cool rainy weather anytime soon, however. This may finally be the summer that drives me North. Labrador sounds nice & cool….
as some have seen my recipes are never really written down.. it’s a splash here, a dash here, if you have any of t(fill in the blank) toss em in too.
But here goes
I take a 16 oz cup and fill it with ice
then I add day old coffee to about 3/4 the way
then I top it off with a dash of 1/2 1/2 (soy milk VANILLA or CHOC.)
pour that into the blender and then add:
I add a tbsp of Folgers Cappuccino Sweet, Creamy and Smooth mocha chocolate mix (in the coffee/ovaltine aisle – it makes the big frappe difference)
I’m a sicko so I also add in a tbsp or two of instant espresso powder
I put in about a shot of Torani syrup – Amaretto or Chocolate, Almond Roca, Hazlenut
I blend the you know what out of it.
and if I’m all bloated and frumpy I take hershey’s syrup and I drizzle it down the inne sides of the cup for a shishipoopoo display 🙂
Hot damn – I put it to the test and it came out 🙂 (Normally I make a pitcher at a time so the recipe in my “head” is different.
The kicker is the Folgers stuff and the Torani syrup. Took me years to get it right – the fluffy, frozen frappe sensation. If you are a frappe addict, it pays off to get those two items. Both of which are the cost of ONE Starshucks frappe – Venti. Mine are FAR FAR less and don’t suck down to just ice in one or two sips.
Summer is here. I just went out for lunch and had to initiate the Arizona Four-Finger Driving Technique.
For those of you who have never been here during the summer, we crazies have to maneuver our vehicles with the tips of our thumbs and pointer fingers to avoid third-degree burns from the steering wheel.
Remember the TV show CHEERS? When Norm would come into the place? Well, I’m sort of beginning to feel like the Froggy equivalent of Norm. . .so everybody, all together now:
S H I I I I I I R L!
Now that feels better, and Mocha Frappacino, Yuuuuuum!
I have enjoyed all the comments, and Big hugs to those feeling down, out of sorts, overly busy, or in physical pain or discomfort:
I had no idea so many of us still heat with wood. I’ve been doing it for 24 years now and I love wood heat so much more than the more modern forms. I still have trees than come down on their own on my property (cottonwoods) and get out the chain saw and cut them up. Stack the wood, then split it as it becomes cured. I don’t split huge piles of it any more, Just split 2 or 3 days worth at a time as I use it. And when I can get free pine or aspen, I use that too. So those of you with native hardwoods, enjoy. But I can burn a great, long lasting fire out of any of them (brag, brag). If I had my druthers I would burn cedar all of the time, the aroma is the best there is. Maybe because I burned a lot of cedar when I lived in the mountains in the tent (36 years ago now)and the smell of the cedar on the open camp fire was just heavenly. Takes me back there every time I smell it.
So thanks you all for giving me a great mood altering memory and warm smiles all around.
Aw, shucks! I one hundred percent agree with you about this place, Shirl.
And since no one will manage to top that heartwarming comment, I think it may be about time for a fresh Cafe. Especially since we’re pretty solidly out of Early Bird territory.
Hi, Guys!
I think this is just a temporary location until our west coast hostess arrives. Please unrecommend last night’s cafe and recommend this one until the doors officially open.
Newcomers sooooo welcome! Please introduce yourselves.
And remember. . .400 px is the max for photos and it’s highly appreciated if you put your photos only in new comments instead of inserting in a thread. Thankee.
So what’s got you in a ribbit this morning? I am FRUSTRATED because I suddenly can’t get the Froggy Bottom Cafe templates to work. Must go practice some more.
Who(m) is the west coaster hostess you are waiting for?
Alohahleezy. She asked for this a.m., but I forgot about the time differences and it only occured to me at 9:30 CST that it was only 7:30 her time. So I thought I’d better open up.
Can I help with the templates? Can you describe what you want to do?
Thanks, Katieb! I think I’m okay with it now, as you’ll (maybe) see when I switch to the next cafe. I’ll e you later and tell you what I was getting.
No cappucino for me, thank you. I’ve already consumed my alloted 2 cups for the day.
Glad to see the Cafe open this morning; I was feeling a little lonely without it.
Have a good day everyone, and remember, it’s a 3 day weekend coming up!
Funny – I didn’t even realize it’s a holiday weekend for most people. You see, for me, it’s a 2-month weekend! 🙂
Then you should really appreciate this Baxter Black line:
Of course, since you are about to be a beleaguered, starving grad student, the quote probably has a time-limited applicability.
Sadly, everyday is a Saturday to me as well. I am a (gag) housewife. Just blogging and eating. Blogging and laundry. Blogging and feeding the critters. Did I mention blogging?
lol. If you were AndiF (see below) you could also do blogging and logging.
Look at the advantages, though — you don’t have to feel guilty for avoiding work for the pleasures of blogging (I work at home so I figure the few minutes I take here and there are the equivalent of schmooz time at the office).
And you can read books any time you want! (My ultimate job would reading books — just reading them, not reviewing them or analyzing them or editing them.)
That reminds me of what people always (OK, Often) say when I tell them I work in a library: “Oh, how nice! You can sit around and read all day long…”
Wow – that’s even better than the line I get when I tell people I’m getting a master’s in library science. “You mean you need a degree for that?”
Nah, that’s not what I think. What I think is that you guys grab up all the good books and take them home to read them before the lumpenproletariat can get their (literally) grubby mitts on them and that’s why every time I’m desperately waiting for a book it spends forever in cataloging.
And all those late fees? They go to support our cushy lifestyles. 🙂
I like the picture, shot over someone’s shoulder, but I’m still trying to figure out the delineation of the lump on the left side. Face? Arm? Alien from outer space?
I’ve made the mistake of reading too much news in recent days, and now I’m grumpy and depressed. Time for another cuppa green tea, methinks.
And perhaps a bit of honey, said Pooh.
I’m thinking the lump must be tobacco. Which I’m thinking of taking up again if this @*!#% morning doesn’t get any easier.
On the other hand, our heat wave broke and it’s a lovely cool rainy morning in Kansas.
MMMMMMMMmmmmmmm… I think I see the meaning of life in that swirl of creammmmmm.
Oh, I want one of these! It looks soooo good!
What about an IRC channel or something. I guess this doesn’t “record” talks but might be a nice way of chatting.
Oh, and good morning.
He has an appointment at 3….I’m scared that I’m going to find out something bad about his kitty health — right now he is curled up and sleeping by me … he seems well all the way ’round, ‘cept for the weight loss…
In about an hour, I leave to go to my t’ai chi class and afterwards take a typing test for a job I’ve applied for.
It’s all trivia, my day’s doings, but somehow it feels so scary…
I guess I need to get out more!
I’ll check back in later this afternoon — have a great day everyone!
Your day is enough to make anybody post twice! I’ll keep my fingers crossed for Marley and for your typing test. Maybe the t’ai chi class will ease your mind, or at least your typing fingers, a bit.
Screwed the pooch on the typing test (BooMan is notifying Santorum), but I’ll go take it again tomorrow when I’m not so rollercoaster-y and it’ll be fine.
T’ai Chi si saving my life — I don’t know what more I can say about it…when I go, I can cope, if I miss a week, I have trouble…
OMG — Trouble, that Cat Stevens song — haven’t thought about it in so long…
Sending good thoughts to both you and Marley.
Thanks, Nag — vet seems to think he is mostly ok…..$250 later. No high glucouse, no feline lukemia, still iffy on the thyroid (but can’t afford that test right now)….mostly, I think he’ll be ok for now, I just wanted to make sure that he wasn’t dying and/or contagious to other kitty….
that Marley is OK. And glad you posted this for those of us who have been worrying about him (and you) all day. Bummer about the vet bill. Ouch!
Knock ’em dead on the typing test re-take.
Not Trivial at all, darling.
Vet and a job test… I don’t know about you, but I’d be shitting razor blades.
It helps to share the good, the bad, the ugly (I know I’m stealing from a spaghetti Western..) but it’s also good to share our fears, our thoughts, our laughs and in MY case my stupidity and typos 🙂
I love the name “Marley” for a cat. Dickens? or Bob? 🙂
Take care brinnaine. I like your political posts and it’s wonderful getting to know the person behind them. (psst.. I take Judo and Jujitsu)
I let my animals tell me what their names are, when he was a wee one, I asked him straight out, and he went and curled up on a Bob Marley CD and started purring…
Sometimes my cat – age 14 – loses weight when the first summer heat wave arrives. If Marley is eating and playful it could be just a summer temporary weight shift. Hydration is the only thing I watch very closely.
Positive energy coming your way for the vet and for your typing test!
he’s never had this summer weight loss before, but she said it may be because he’s getting older, and it is DAMN hot (and humid as hell, hmmm, is hell humid?) Anyway, making him some tuna juice ice cubes in the freezer as we speak! 😉
What a day you’re having!
I hope everything is just fine with Marley, and you’ll ace that test – no worries! I’ll be thinking of you today!
Thanks, MM — I don’t know if you know this but I am aka deepingtheheartoftx — I am glad to see you posting, here and there, you were one of the first people I ever clicked with on dKos….someday, lets meet, climb Mt. Burnell or something (when it cools down in October! *Grin*)
He has an appointment at 3….I’m scared that I’m going to find out something bad about his kitty health — right now he is curled up and sleeping by me … he seems well all the way ’round, ‘cept for the weight loss…
In about an hour, I leave to go to my t’ai chi class and afterwards take a typing test for a job I’ve applied for.
It’s all trivia, my day’s doings, but somehow it feels so scary…
I guess I need to get out more!
I’ll check back in later this afternoon — have a great day everyone!
Don’t know how that happened! Sorry ’bout that — feel free to troll rate the second away!
Good morning!
Today I’m waiting on a baby. My pregnant friend was induced about an hour ago, and now we’re in hurry up and wait mode! Baby boy Logan will enter this world, to the delight of two wonderful, progressive parents, sometime today! Whoo hoo!
Good luck to your friend in the waiting game of childbirth, how exciting to welcome a new human being.
BTW did you realize that Mon is the 4th of July when you said you would host FBC diary that day. Knowing you, you will not want get on your computer at home on a holiday!! Let me know!
Woo hoo is right!!
We’ll be counting the minutes/hours with you!
(Damn, it’s hard not to break that rule about posting photos only as new comments! lol!)
A baby! Wow 🙂
“hurry up and wait” a phrase oft used while growing up in the military. LOL
A BIG baby, too! My guess on the weight/length was 8 lbs., 6 oz., and 22 inches. Daddy’s 6’5″ and 260 lbs. I’m thinking Logan will take after his father. Oh Lord. LOL! 😉
She’s contracting regularly, but is so far only dilated to 1 cm, I believe. I’m so excited!!!
Thank you for all the good wishes, friends!
PS – Diane, I forgot that Monday was a holiday, and I won’t be home! We’re spending the night with family that night. Dang it! Do we have someone who can fill in that day? (Such a slacker I am. First day on the job, I won’t be around. LOL!)
That’s fine, we can cover it..I will put you down for following MOndays. Ok
I might need some volunteers for Sun, Mon and Tues. or do you want to do Tue. this week MM….let me know…
Sounds good, and yes, I can do Tuesday! You’re a peach, Diane. {smooch}
Now THAT’S funny.
I looked like that about 3 hours ago. LOL!!
June 29 at 6:40 a.m. Brown County, Indiana
The dogs got cheated out of their walk this morning because I decided I really needed to work on stacking wood. The old saying about wood heating you twice is really apt when it’s already in the upper 70’s.
I’m having fun doing this and guess I got enough 4’s yesterday to justify doing it some more — or at least till someone takes me aside to gently tell me that 4’s were in sympathy for how boring I am.
Too bad I don’t know what day it is. The timestamp should read:
June 30 at 6:40 a.m. Brown County, Indiana
so keep ’em coming!
Jeez, when you chop wood, you chop wood! You get 4’s for all that effort.
What a perfect setting for your house.
In our younger days we got all the wood from our property. Now we get a lot of it from the local logger/sawmill. Less wear-and-tear on both us and the forest.
In on instance this photo calms me down. The blues and the overall … I dunno. I just really like it. Looks so peaceful
The next instance, I’m like totally freaking because we need to get wood hauled over soon as we are staying for yet another winter and we are out of wood. EEK
Beautiful beautiful beautiful place Andi!
Yeah, you want to give it at least 3 months to dry and six would be even better. Most of what we’re putting up is for the winter after this one but we heat entirely with wood which is an excellent incentive for planning ahead.
We heat with wood also.
The wood guys up here are EVIL and CROOKED. Gotta be careful when dealing with some … and just not deal with some…
Lately we’ve been getting wood from the Mr’s work property. Fallen trees and such. Wasn’t planning on being here for another winter. Yikes.
Right now it’s about $190 for a cord of PINE!!! (eek pine sucks) (one year hard was over $230) and it was WET and that’s unstacked. Wood and oil… getting to be too much.
but yep… that’s me in the morning getting a fire restarted while I’m shivering LOL
Nobody uses pine around here — there isn’t that much of it because the forest are probably 99% hardwoods. I don’t want to make you too jealous but we pay $200 for a dumptruck’s worth (about 2 cords) of hardwood (mostly oak, beech, and hickory).
And — more jealousy-inducement? — we rarely have the cold stove* problem in the morning because our Vermont Casting stove holds a fire forever.
*the main reason this ever happens is that I sometimes go to bed before my husband and he forgets to put wood in the stove.
The winter I lived in Strawberry (Up near Echo Summit in CA), I remember being flabergasted at the thought that anyone would even waste their time burning PINE! I was such an ignorant little East Coaster, used to hardwood and nothing but hardwood.
Boy, was that a long cold winter!
Great picture, Andi! I love the way the early morning sun is filtering through the trees.
Ok, I finally decided to get a PhotoBucket account because there’s a picture I want to show you all. I went to the site, filled in the info and am now waiting for an email from them so I can activate it. It’s been about 10 minutes. Is that normal? Does this take time or is there something wrong? Rrrrrrg.
My girlfriend (‘curly’ on this site) opened an account on Imageshack last night (in preparation for hosting coming Saturday’s garden blog). E-mail came back in a matter of seconds.
Hope you got your reply by now – if not, try Imageshack.
Ok, I got tired of waiting and used ImageShack. It may have been the fault of my ghetto email host (I use an old one for things that might get me spammed), rather than PhotoBucket, but at least now I have two options.
First picture posted below – Spot!
I tried ImageShack and ended up back at Photobucket. I find it much easier to use.
Thanks for the great story + pic of spot.
Re. missing e-mail from Photobucket; maybe you have a filter that thought it was spam?
Nah. My lo-tech old email server isn’t nearly that sophisticated. More likely it fell thru the cracks when the gerbil that powers the whole thing got tired and took a break.
I got photobucket a few days ago and the email came immediately. Hmm.
Kansas…so sorry that you did not get word. I emailed Diane a few days ago to tell her I am just swamped right now and would pass up my hostess duties for now. I probably should have emailed you directly. I apologise to all the Froggies. So run with this for today if you don’t mind. I really must get back to work. Happy Birthday to all that are celebrating a June birthday! Sorry again, miscommunication on my part.
Not to worry! The word probably got out and I just missed it. I had a feeling there was some confusion over Thursdays, and that the confusion was probably MINE, not yours! And anyway, this is painless and fun. I was gonna be doing it anyway, so everything’s great. I hope you get some relief from the “swamp” soon! Thanks for checking in when you saw my note above.
WEll I guess it may be my fault, about the diary today, I did not post on yahoo site aloha’s email.
I guess it’s all straightened out now so no worries…
I am in extreme back pain today and can barely walk, so I am spending a lot of time in bed laying on icepacks. Good thing I didn’t have duties today!
Eventually we’ll get this thing mastered. No wonder your back went out, after taking cafe duties two days in a row! All that floor sweeping and table moving and dish washing. . .ouch. I hope you can take it easy today. All’s relaxed and well here–except for awaiting the birth of a baby!–so take a load off and have a cuppa your favorite brew.
No blame here now guys….it was a simple miscommunication and everything has worked out just fine…right kansas? Diane, for jeebeezer’s sake take care of yourself. get on a nice heating pad and take care of yourself. The Cafe will always run on automatic. There are plenty of folks that seem to be willing to pitch in at any given moment. That’s what friends are for. Take care of yourself now my friend.
everything has worked out just fine…right kansas?
Totally! And it’s true, these things hardly need us to “run” them. I just stick around because the company is so good.
and I am so addicted to you all. I REALLY need to be working but have to keep checking in to see what’s going on. So glad the comment/reply thingy was fixes. I always feel I should reply to something saomeone replied to me about. I will check in around Happy Hour. Sure could use some soothing, cool jazz tonight.
This is Spot. Spot came into this world when a wild cat crawled onto my dad’s back porch to have her kittens. For the first month, dad fed the whole bunch, played with the kittens, bought them accessories and got his ankles scratched a lot. He found people to adopt the rest of the kittens and took the mom out to a farm that neighbors my grandparents’. She started her new life as a farm cat and Spot stayed on with dad. She’s still half-wild and he’s figuring out the best way to take care of her while still enjoying his carefree bachelorhood and intact furniture. Yesterday she made her first visit to the vet’s office to get de-wormed. When I get back to Indiana, we will take her to get spayed (is that what you call it with cats?).
I’ve never had a cat, and my dad hasn’t had one since before my older brother was born, so it’s a learning process, but I’m looking forward to getting to know her.
Spot looks like a little speck 🙂 (I’m assuming her tail is black and not a manx right??)
The line “and got his ankles scratched alot” tugged at my heart. Your dad must be one hell of a guy 🙂
I’d have several pix of “Kitty” a rescue cat we got when she was 9 mos .. but as “Thestral” from Dkos states so purrrfectly… “taking pictures of black kitties is hurrrrrrrrd wurrrrrrrrrrrk” 🙂
Yes, her tail is black, and yes my dad is a heck of a guy. 🙂 At first he liked the idea of having a semi-feral cat as a pet, but he’s realized that she will have a better life (and be better company) if she’s protected and socialized, so she’s morphing into a more indoor cat.
Big Congratulations to you all. I read BooMan’s comment the other day about the contribution the Welcome Wagon/Cafe has made to the site. You really do make this site more attractive. We can get up-to-date news, investigative diaries, thoughtful commentary, and posts that help us feel better. We learn a little about each other, and it makes the interaction more meaningful. Very appreciated.
Mnemosyne above wrote about too much depressing news this week, and I feel this way too – a little overwhelmed by the amount and never changing-ness of it, I suppose. I’m longing for that light at the end of the tunnel. I’m rambling here, but I wanted to thank you for having the Cafe – a great place to come and recharge, and get to hear how others are doing, view some great pics (love AndiF’s woodpile!), read some funny stories or jokes.
I’d like to post one of my favourite poems by Emily Dickinson, that captures my current state:
Here’s hoping a nice Canada Day long w/e will restore my marbles!
Beyond lovely.
We have frogs, foamy lattes and Emily all in one place 🙂
Marbles… how perfect. When I read that line (how many years ago?) my brain conjured up the image of all the little b b balls coming out of my brothers “plinko” game. What a racket and a mess.
But you and Emily summed it up so well what I’ve been feeling more so since Conyers got locked out… (I went from Giddy to Shitty in a week) This place rejunenates me so I can continue … to continue.
Otherwise, I’d be one angry, pissed off hagula. Gotta stay “sane” for the kids here.
(((Olivia)))) thank you so much for sharing this. It was a much needed shot of understanding 🙂
There’s that restorative nature of the Cafe I was after. Thank you Janet for the ((()))s and back at ya!
Today is a super day for me…
– the software migration from hell is done testing…Tuesday we’ll see if the accounting software works in the real life…
– Quaint custom…Fiscal New Year’s Eve party! Today is the last day of YE 06/05 and we are having a party!
. Beer and BBQ courtesy of the Accounting Department
– 4 1/2 day holiday weekend with grandkids and the cat that likes to travel…sunny, mountains and trees, kids and a creek…
I’ll be dropping 4’s today…and dropping out for a few days with no computer!
Grand Kidlet following in Grandma’s Path
She looks like she’d get along “swimmingly” with Danni.
She looks like she is truly “at one with nature”
peace, tranquilty… I LOVE IT!!!! 🙂
I think it would be a great idea…maybe we can work it out offline!
This grandkidlet is 8 1/2 with ancient wisdom sometimes. Her little brother is 6 in July…quiet and mischievious.
Have a great weekend Janet…!
Hopefully I’ll be seeing you soon. Check yer email – let’s work something out 🙂 Danni is 10 and she, too, is an old soul.
I had email FROM you, too 🙂
Wonderful picture!
I think there is nothing more soothing than falling asleep to the sound of rushing water.
Sitting on a log in rushing water… sigh
Busy times the next couple of days; going to try to find someplace air conditioned to escape the heat today. I was up with the spouse at 4am, when I had the brainstorm to do one of my mom’s tricks; she would open all the doors and windows to let in the early morning cool air, then close up at sunrise. So, that’s what I did. I know the cool air will get stale eventually though, hence my planned escape.
Weekend plans: nothing definite, other than spending one day finishing up the cleaning, then it’ll just be mostly daily maintenance (pick up clutter) with the occasional big job (vacuuming, dusting, mopping, etc.). Will make the stress level decrease. Oh, and continue planning August vacation; we’re one step closer to having the money from my mom’s house sale, as soon as the lawyer gives the heads up to my sister. We need a real vacation — my mom was a major traveler, so I know she won’t mind…
What a beautiful child. It looks as if she’s an adventurous one, too.
to diary whore in the cafe? I know this is a place to unwind, and the diary in question is long and serious, but there hasn’t been an open thread in a while and with the replies to comments being out (temporarily I hope!) I can’t use comments to let some folks I’d like to see it (like leftvet) know it’s there. Anti-war veterans are a subject dear to my heart.
If I’m out of line, I’ll try to make it up to y’all with a pic of my dog Bo in some rare Austin snow.
For all of us down south who are bracing ourselves for several more months of really-damn-hot weather . . .
Bo is a chameleon 🙂 He’s meshing in with the fence 🙂
I’ll go look at the diary now. Thanks for the heads up.
IMHO, this is a really good place to mention diaries. I’m glad you did and I’ll now follow (the other) Janet over there.
Beautiful doggie. Sweet, sweet face.
Yes and I am hoping others will use this diary to point to other diaries as well as post news items or action items or links.
Do anything here that you would in a real world cafe. Laugh, talk, cry, rant, moan, grown,brag, shout and yes, resolve conflicts here if need be and if conflicts arise.
The only request I have is no pics over 400 pixels, and please post pics as comments rather than replies whenever possible…Hint about pixels, right click on pic,, select properties and it will give you the pixels..If too big resize before posting or if you can’t Susanhu has said to send to her for resizing…
as he looks. My daughter rescued him and his sister when he was a few months old from some neighbors of hers who were abusing him. Seems like a lot of animals that had a hard life at first turn out to be the sweetest pets. You can see that the cats at my house are terrified of him.
AWwww looking at that photo for too long will give a person a cavity! 🙂
I call mine Mojo Kitty or Grateful Kitty. Rescue/Adopted animals seem to always be more loving.
My labrador however didn’t get enough oxygen to the brain (born blue and I revived her) and she’s terribly frightened of anyone else in the house besides us. We have to kennel her up at night so she won’t squat on the floor.. but otherwise she is my shadow and a big baby.
My sisters are repeat customers of the Siamese Rescue League — we’re all Siamese fans, having grown up with them. (I, alas, don’t have cats of my own.) One sister is currently in the process of adopting another:
but she’ll have to change his name first-thing: “Landon”?! What kind of name for a cat is that??
From my (or, well, their) experience, rescue pets have a tough adjustment time, particularly if they’ve been in a few foster homes & rescue centers, but can become very loving pets.
We were worried about Kitty and my big mossepuppy black lab getting along. Even though the fost home had a dog. She came in and she looked at the dog and said, “this’ll do”. Her name is Kitty because she had so many damn names… came with a belled collar with “”kate” – her other name was Cocoa and… one other.. We all said fuggedaboodit and Kitty loves her name.
The kicker was when she jumped in my husbands lap IMMEIDIATELY when he tapped his leg to call her and my son went screaming (with joy) to her and she didnt’ flinch or nothing.
I love those blue eyes on Landon. Kitty has margarita green eyes.
Even though my mother in law is a breeder and trainer of labs… I stand firm that no animal should be “paid” for untill there aren’t any in the shelters.
I don’t have the gene that allows me to skip rocks over the water… trip trip trip. My husband and my daughter are elegant, graceful and athletic. Wesley and I.. do we get all butt hurt and upset that we don’t share the same DNA?? Naw. We go and find the biggest bad assed rocks and PLUNK those in the the water. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH. Yeah baby… make do with the talents you’ve got… (or fake it) 🙂
Here’s our Mojo Kitty. No she isn’t stoned (although I wouldn’t put it past her). She’s just flaking out.
As for plans… I just can’t seem to get excited about July 4th. SusanHu had a diary about the Iraqi guy wrote to remind us that 200 years ago WE were raising arms against our occupiers. We didn’t “win” that war. We wore them out with our… “insurgency”.
Plus… we live up in an area where this weekend our population will triple and yet the IQ rate will decrease. Fires are a HUGE concern and some asshat always has to shoot off a rifle or something. Not to mention the crappy fireworks for 10 minutes in town followed by an hour of parking lot type traffic which is infested with drunk drivers.
We might just pig out on homemade eggrolls (Lumpia actually but I couldn’t find the right wraps so used eggrolls and they are fantastic, stuffed jalapeno peppers that several have requested me to make – will do those tomorrow) and just play board games with the kids and fart around on the XBox together while drinking some mango passion daiquiries.
I have a black cat, too. He and his sister survived a virus that killed their mom, all the other kittens, and left my black cat with only one eye. But the emergency seems to have left them both with supercat immune systems, because it’s now seven years later and neither one of them has ever been sick, not once, not even so much as a sniffle. They’ve never had an injury, either, in spite of being outdoor/indoor cats. I am soooo knocking on wood as I type this!
are always super cats 🙂 Well, that’s the consensus here at this house.
Kitty was rescued by one of several small orgs (We don’t have a SPCA here) when the cops came across two single wide trailers that were filled with cats in all stages of injury, death and birthing.
It appears the cats were being bred to be used for training attack dogs.
Kitty was shuffled around from house to house untill she ended up in a “foster home” and we then got her on a dark and stormy January night.
My husband says it’s the best damn cat he’s ever had. 🙂 She’s a cat that HAS to be around people all the time. She’s very social and very loving and she spreads her loving to all in the family. She doesn’t sleep on just one person’s bed… she splits her time up on all the beds.
Only thing is – she’s a cupnapper. She sticks her head in everyone’s glasses.
That’s both a hideous and wonderful story. I had never before heard of breeding cats to train guard dogs. My god.
My pooties were animal shelter cats, and I laugh every time I remember how I ended up with them. I was at my son’s bball game one day when a woman I know who was pres. of the local shelter sat down beside me and said, with a determined grin, “You look like you need a cat.” I looked at her in surprise and said, “You know what? I do. My beloved cat died a couple of years ago and I really miss having a cat around the house.”
She smiled triumphantly and said, “How about two?”
I had no idea either. It gives me the shivers to think about it too much. No one was ever caught or brought to trial…
Great rescue story, Kansas! I, too, laugh when I think back on the first night Kitty came home.
That night I called my friend “momagainstthedraft” the night we were offered Kitty. I told her I wasn’t going to get another animal. No way. No how. I needed another responsibility like I needed another hole in the head.
I called her back later on – while she laughed – telling her what she already figured I’d do anyways 🙂
Hey, DJ,
The weather here is threatening to kick up a ferocious storm. So if the barmaid suddenly vanishes, don’t worry about me, just know my power has probably gone out. It may not. . .but I thought I ought to warn somebody, just in case.
ooo, it’s dark out there. . .
Too funny! I’ve said that same thing about men. “No way. Absolutely no way, never again, huh uh.” Yeah, right.
Well I’m back from my big “power lunch” downtown with my eldest sister & 2 young nieces (7 & 5). No VIP convoys went roaring up Conn Ave or across on L Street while I was hanging around, which seemed unusual.
An iced coffee drink of some sort, maybe a mocha, would hit the spot right about now. I’d like to give a languid shout-out to my neighbors in PA and elsewhere in the Northeast sweatin’ it out with me. But hey, it’s supposed to cool into the mid-80s over the weekend — won’t that feel heavenly. I’ll be on the Mall on Sunday, visiting the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, and am hoping (with crossed-fingers & the whole bit) that it won’t be too bad in that open space under the broiling sun. Frankly the festival doesn’t seem all that exciting this year, but I’ve been going every year since before I can remember, so there’s no point in skipping this one.
Keep cool, y’all!
We’re having delightfully cool, rainy weather right now, so maybe it will get to you in a few days.
Aww, yeah. Thanks, KS! My weather widget tells me not to expect cool rainy weather anytime soon, however. This may finally be the summer that drives me North. Labrador sounds nice & cool….
did you know that some of us are highly addicted (sometimes violently so) to Frozen Frappes?? 🙂
Those damn things are like heroin for me. Oh hurt so good.
Reason this week I gave up my coffee so that I could work in some frozen frappes and not feel wicked guilty about it.
I’m trying to formulate a recipes using soy milk instead of 1/2 & 1/2.
I do make the best Frozen Amaretto Mocha Frappes anywhere. (how I killed my black and decker problend ealrier this year)
😀
a recipe for frozen frappe with coffee as it’s base…I will be using soy milk, but I don’t think that will make any difference.
as some have seen my recipes are never really written down.. it’s a splash here, a dash here, if you have any of t(fill in the blank) toss em in too.
But here goes
I take a 16 oz cup and fill it with ice
then I add day old coffee to about 3/4 the way
then I top it off with a dash of 1/2 1/2 (soy milk VANILLA or CHOC.)
pour that into the blender and then add:
I add a tbsp of Folgers Cappuccino Sweet, Creamy and Smooth mocha chocolate mix (in the coffee/ovaltine aisle – it makes the big frappe difference)
I’m a sicko so I also add in a tbsp or two of instant espresso powder
I put in about a shot of Torani syrup – Amaretto or Chocolate, Almond Roca, Hazlenut
I blend the you know what out of it.
and if I’m all bloated and frumpy I take hershey’s syrup and I drizzle it down the inne sides of the cup for a shishipoopoo display 🙂
Hot damn – I put it to the test and it came out 🙂 (Normally I make a pitcher at a time so the recipe in my “head” is different.
The kicker is the Folgers stuff and the Torani syrup. Took me years to get it right – the fluffy, frozen frappe sensation. If you are a frappe addict, it pays off to get those two items. Both of which are the cost of ONE Starshucks frappe – Venti. Mine are FAR FAR less and don’t suck down to just ice in one or two sips.
Bon!
Summer is here. I just went out for lunch and had to initiate the Arizona Four-Finger Driving Technique.
For those of you who have never been here during the summer, we crazies have to maneuver our vehicles with the tips of our thumbs and pointer fingers to avoid third-degree burns from the steering wheel.
Why do I live here? (not because it’s a dry heat)
I thought you might use the glove. . .
Remember the TV show CHEERS? When Norm would come into the place? Well, I’m sort of beginning to feel like the Froggy equivalent of Norm. . .so everybody, all together now:
S H I I I I I I R L!
Now that feels better, and Mocha Frappacino, Yuuuuuum!
I have enjoyed all the comments, and Big hugs to those feeling down, out of sorts, overly busy, or in physical pain or discomfort:
I had no idea so many of us still heat with wood. I’ve been doing it for 24 years now and I love wood heat so much more than the more modern forms. I still have trees than come down on their own on my property (cottonwoods) and get out the chain saw and cut them up. Stack the wood, then split it as it becomes cured. I don’t split huge piles of it any more, Just split 2 or 3 days worth at a time as I use it. And when I can get free pine or aspen, I use that too. So those of you with native hardwoods, enjoy. But I can burn a great, long lasting fire out of any of them (brag, brag). If I had my druthers I would burn cedar all of the time, the aroma is the best there is. Maybe because I burned a lot of cedar when I lived in the mountains in the tent (36 years ago now)and the smell of the cedar on the open camp fire was just heavenly. Takes me back there every time I smell it.
So thanks you all for giving me a great mood altering memory and warm smiles all around.
My math stinks. . .29 years ago in the Mountains, in the tent.
Aw, shucks! I one hundred percent agree with you about this place, Shirl.
And since no one will manage to top that heartwarming comment, I think it may be about time for a fresh Cafe. Especially since we’re pretty solidly out of Early Bird territory.
Who’s driving this thing?
My ass on this barstool. Now get me a beer Wood!
Cheers kicks ass.
And the New Cafe Is Open!