Blue Skies Breaking Out II
Froggybottom Cafe
Brunch is over. Is it nap time?
Brunch is over. Is it nap time?
FM is hosting.
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Enjoying your Thursday yet?
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Please recommend (and unrecommend the Cafe/Lounge from earlier)
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May the 4’s be with you
I had a nice leisurely brunch and I’m ready for a nap. Put you pallets on the floor and when you wake up we’ll all go out and play.
Guess I’ll have to sleep on the computer since I’m supposed to be working!
Actually having a productive afternoon…go figure!
That’s about how I feel right now. 🙂 I read in an earlier thread that you’re a Pern fan?
McCaffery is just a really cool writer….
I got hooked on the Pern series years ago. Some of the few books I’ll re-read more than once.
Sunset on Friday, 3 10 2006
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That sunset is unreal. Here I was thinking it was a little bit cold at 52F.
Actually since Thanksgiving we’ve had perpetual “spring” with only a half dozen or so days all winter with lows below the zero F mark. Highly unusual!
Here it has been about the same for shifting back and forth. Earlier this week it was in the low 80’s, now in the low 50’s. I wish it would become just one season and stay there for a while.
Peace
dada you always say so much with a picture. I’m still wondering how pictures of me keep poping up.
Gee I thought that was one of me….my black cat used to sleep about the same place between my ankles…
She’s been gone about 3 years and I still dream about not being able to move my legs because she’s got the blankets pinned!
My black cat does the same. If don’t know why, but she has to be between my ankles.
with 2 male siamese on a king, we’re lucky to be left a thread worth of place.
It got to the point with Cat (you can see I’m good with names), I would put her out of the bedroom. Then she would be by the door meowing as loud as she could. I finally realized this is her house and nobody is putting her out anywhere.
I think I might steal that name from you. My kitty still doesn’t have a name. Usually I just call her “get your fucking claws out of my thigh!!!”
we’ve gotta be on good terms, “pretty please” or face eviction. So we dutifully pay the mortgage, all the house expenses, favorite foods, sardines – intended for human consumption, cheeses, whole milk organic yogurt, home made apple pies and spring water.
Bottom line is we’re grateful they’re disposed to sharing the house with us. Very special little friends, but on occasion we’ve experienced their dog house.
btw, both respond when called…without having to pop the can. Their personalities are that they were a royal something in another lifetime.
FM, I hadn’t realized that you are feline. Do you know Bob Johnson’s dog Rex?
Can’t say I did. 🙂
Thanks FM, I consider that a great compliment.
I’m a firm believer in the old adage: a picture’s worth a thousand words…sometimes more.
They’re not always appreciated…sometimes my black sense of irony doesn’t play well.
Peace
I’ve always appreciated them. It’s like opening a surprise present. I know I’m going to like it, but I don’t know what it is yet.
Your pictures are like that in a way. They’re always good, but I just haven’t seen the next one yet.
If only . . .
You know when I put the cafe up I wasn’t even thinking of that song.
Now I have an earworm and can’t get it out of my head. 🙂
There’s no condition so bad that with a little persistence, it can’t be made worse. 🙂
There, does that help? 🙂
Thanks Omir, it’s worse. 🙂
Yeah, well, no good deed goes unpunished. Now I have ELO rattling around in my brainpan. Which is OK, I guess, because I like ELO, but no matter how hard I try “Can’t Get It Out Of My Head” doesn’t sound nearly as good when one guy’s accompanying himself on the banjo as it does when Jeff Lynne is singing with that lush choral-orchestral-rock band accompaniment.
Hey Slim, when I said “play me a lick on that thar banjo” that ain’t what I had in mind. 🙂
Here’s what mine looks like:
Your basic starter banjo. I bought it with an unemployment check about 2-3 years ago and haven’t been able to justify plunking down the money for anything fancier since.
Omir I was reading the other night where you were talking about the banjo and playing.
I’ve had a banjo for 31 years and can’t play it yet. I fear after 31 years there’s no hope.
Actually the banjo is relatively easy to play if your expectations are modest (which mine are). My fingers aren’t fast enough to handle bluegrass, at least not yet, but I can do a bum-diddy-bum strum to accompany the kinds of music I like, and I’m working on clawhammer banjo — the kind that produces the old-timey sound you heard in O Brother, Where Art Thou?
A good starting place is Pete Seeger’s “How To Play The 5-String Banjo” which is available from Overstock for less than $10. I think I got a copy from Barnes & Noble for about $10 also.
And remember . . .
if you can get it to make a noise, you’re a musician.
If you can get it to make a noise you like, you’re a good musician.
If you can get it to make a noise that other people like, you’re a great musician.
I’ve never heard that saying about musicians, but I like it. All of a sudden I feel good.
Good. Glad to hear it. 🙂
Oh, and one other thing: I bought my first banjo back in about 1979 or so. Steve Martin was big back then, and he played some banjo on one of his “Wild and Crazy Guy” albums. I had that banjo, poked around with it for a while, put it in storage when I got married, and didn’t do anything with it for almost 25 years. (It was a very cheap banjo and eventually fell apart, which is why I bought the one you see above.) So don’t lose heart.
The funny thing is I’ve taken that banjo all over the U.S. and Europe whenever I’ve moved and never thought about it. I keep threatening my family here that I’m going to get it and start practicing again.
Taking a nap sounds awfully tempting. But we’ve got to venture out into rush hour traffic to the office supply store. My son’s TI-83 calculator got stolen from his backpack so I get to plunk down another $100 for a new one.
That really sucks. Whatever happened to taking pencils?
High school has gotten expensive since you were there in the 30’s, Family Man.
TI-83s are REQUIRED equipment for algebra and beyond. They are not cheap. If you can’t afford one, you simply fail algebra and can’t get into college.
I didn’t realize they are REQUIRED. That really sucks. And when I was in high school, we did very well scratching our lessons on the side of the cave. 🙂
First year at NDSU I “graduated” to a slide rule for the PTV problems in chemistry. Then within a year or two we all got the TI 80, I think it was. I’ve tutored SOs on algebra and had to learn the TI 83. ‘Twas a tough learning curve when one’s tendency is to avoid reading the direcitions.
I’ve still got the slide rule and the leather case. I’m just missing the glass case for the home museum.
Right there with you NDD…still have a slide rule…haven’t a clue how to use it anymore…
Texas Instruments saved my ass!
PS: haven’t forgotten your Diary…RL’s been in the way
Peace
Mr. Nature still has his slide rule circa 1968 AND still knows how to use it. Did I mention he’s a math geek?
Ya’ll get the new calculator?
yes we did. I was wrong, it wasn’t $100, it was $99.99…of course with tax it came to like $106.00.
You know how when you go into a store or office and they have the pins attached by a little chain to the counter. I think I would figure out someway to do that with the calculator.
I’ve been trying, Family Man. The kid has ADD, not ADHD, just the quiet, forgetful kind. He’d forget his own head if it wasn’t on a chain around his neck.
He left his backpack under his seat in the auditorium during an assembly, and when he picked it up it was unzipped and his stuff was spilling out.
He sounds an awful lot like me. Just a good thing he’s got a Mom like you.
Aww, aren’t you sweet? 🙂
Fingers are finally thawing after the refrigerator/freezer cleaning, and spouse is home so I need to pull on some clothes and head out for erranding…
if you need to pull on clothes before going out!
;^D
A nap? At 5:00? After watching Marquette lose? (Not that I cared). I’ll be back later for happy hour.
I thought this was happy hour:)
Nooooo it’s not happy hour. At least I don’t think so.
Want a drink?
Well, I’m happy — Friday’s afternoon is getting close.
Hi Andi. I’ve missed you today.
Hi FM. I’ve been being a very good worker bee. It’s a good thing vacations are fine things to do because the amount of crap you have to deal with leading up to them and coming after them are the pits.
Just keep thinking vacation. It will make all the rest insignificant.
…but we’re going to miss you!!!
Have you, SN, and maryb been taking ‘guilt-trip andi’ lessons from my mom?
… and we all like having you around! It’s a good thing!
Thank you. So now since you know we all love you (and will send our cats and dogs to rescue you), I hope you’ll keep that in mind in case you ever think about disappearing again like you did for what — 2 or 3 weeks?
Yeesh.
:*
Well, it’s after 5PM here, yooost ven do y’all down there start the official happy hour anyway?
Hell down here every hour is happy hour. We don’t need no excuse to start drinkin.
See ya.
3-4 eggs scrambled with a couple of fried onions and one small potato. One of my great culinary specialties! Ha!
I usually cook hash brown with onions as a part of breakfast. I hadn’t realized how long I had been gone from here when one morning I cooked it for the family and they wouldn’t eat it. Wanted grits.
I thought they were hash brown-like? 🙂
Girts are ground corn. Wait a minute and I’ll be right back with a little more.
Grits explained here.
Probably more than you want to know…:{)
Peace
Thanks for the link, although I have to say that they don’t make it sound too appetizing…
There is no wrong way to fix grits. It’s just
a filler to go along with your bacon and eggs.
It’s an acquired taste. Most people not from the south can’t stand them.
OK I’m back. They’re ground corn boiled in water. You usually add butter to them. There’s also cheese grits and so on. Here’s a picture, but they look a little lumpy to me. 🙂
I though cornmeal was yellow. That looks like porridge. Is it tasty?
I think so, but then again, I grew up with it. Like I said I think it’s an acquired taste.
It tastes a lot like Cream of Wheat.
Go eat your hashbrowns. 🙂
I just had a reuben sandwich; you know, one of those YANKEE things. Ick, corned beef and JEWISH RYE BREAD!? Why, we’re all southern baptists here, we don’t want your heathen yankee food!
Here’s a hybrid for you. Get Jewish Rye bread, put tomatoes and pickels on it. Along with this you put Miracle Whip on it. That’s it. ummmmmm good.
That is disgustingly southern. You and Mr. Nature should write a cookbook of the most gag-inducing sandwiches imaginable.
I didn’t know until I moved down here that Miracle Whip was considered a side dish.
Who can live without Miracle Whip?
and he’s even alert if you want to ask your question.
I have a question for Jim…….how has he been able to stand you for, what, like a half a centure now?
feel free to supply your own “y”….just so you didn’t think I meant half a centaur. That would be gross.
You want me to supply my own letters to complete your insult? You are one nervy shy bitch goddess.
The answer to your question might be that Jim’s mom once told me that if he and I ever split up, she’d let me move in with her but not him.
As a son, that’s a bad sign. My MIL has said the same thing to me. She is one stubborn old southern biotch…I guess that’s why we get along so well.
My mil is a sweetheart. If I had been designing the perfect mom-in-law, I still wouldn’t have matched what I got.
I’ve often wondered how porcupines mate.
It’s only been 7/10 of half a century.
My head hurts. THat sounds an awful lot like math.
I had to go collect my questions from my email (I sent them home from my work email today…)
Okay, questions. (I hope I haven’t asked you these questions before, if so I apologize!)
First, why nikon (ie. past experience etc.).
Do you feel limited at all by the 6.1 mp (vs others that provide 8, like Canon for instance).
What kind of software comes w/ the nikon — I’ve heard that the free software is not good and will crash computer.
Do you use photoshop?
When you travel do you carry multiple lenses…
Also, what do you think of the lens that comes w/ the pkg. Would it be worthwhile for me to purchase that lens or just get the body and buy a macro lens…
Okay, thats a start… 🙂
Q: First, why nikon (ie. past experience etc.).
A: I decided on the D70 instead of the Canon Digital Rebel largely because of glass. All of my old Nikon lenses work on the D70. The only lens I’ve added since buying the D70 is the 18-70mm kit lens.
Q: Do you feel limited at all by the 6.1 mp (vs others that provide 8, like Canon for instance).
A: I haven’t felt limited at all by 6.1 mp. I am sure that if I took a shot off a tripod at ISO 200 I could have it blown up to 14″X20″ easily and not be able to tell whether it was film or digital. The thing to remember about the 8 and 10 mp cameras right now is that they are still using the same size CCD as the 6.1 mp. It is not as big a deal as the marketing materials would have you believe.
Q: What kind of software comes w/ the nikon — I’ve heard that the free software is not good and will crash computer.
Nikon has some very basic software that comes with the computer. It is not worth loading in my opinion. The software that you can purchase that allows you to customize the camera’s color space (This is a black art. Do not delve into this unless you are willing to loose your soul and many hours.)
Q: Do you use photoshop?
A: Yes, but I try to use it sparingly. It is an awesome program worth every penny.
Q: When you travel do you carry multiple lenses…
A: Yes.
18-70mm kit lens is a very nice lightweight zoom lens. It is sharp and fast. I think it has more barrel distortion at the 18mm end than I’d like, but overall it is good.
105mm macro lens. fast glass for flowers and little critters under difficult light.
28-200mm lens. If I am only going to carry one lens it will either be this one because of its wide focal range (but don’t tell Andi, I am thinking about trading this one in on an 18-200mm lens that is designed for digital cameras) or the next one.
35-70mm lens. Although the focal length is limited, it is fast glass. f2.8.
Remember some of these lenses are nearly 20 years old.
Q: Also, what do you think of the lens that comes w/ the pkg. Would it be worthwhile for me to purchase that lens or just get the body and buy a macro lens…
A: This is a tough one. From the pictures I’ve seen of yours, I think you will really enjoy a macro lens. But with the kit lens and Photoshop (Mac or Win) or PaintShop Pro (Win) I think you would be well served.
I am happy to answer any other questions you have. If you want to go where I go when I have questions, here are a couple of very reliable websites:
Nikonians
dpreview
Just one more quick question — I’m wavering here between the d70 and the canon dig rebel. Would you have gone w/ it if you were starting from scratch ie., you didn’t have the lenses? I’ve heard from many that the Nikon lenses are better quality… Thanks again for all you help!
I am really not familiar enough with the Digital Rebel to say. If you are starting from scratch in SLR cameras, go to a couple of reputable local camera shops and ask them to give you the low down on the lenses. The lenses should be able to move up to different bodies as you desire more advanced features. Both Canon and Nikon are the leading companies in cameras and lenses. I don’t think you’ll go wrong with either one.
That’s one of those things that immediately blows your cover as a Yankee….ordering hash browns instead of grits. And no one knows how to make hash browns in the south, too mushy. I like a nice brown crust on mine.
Well that’s why you should order grits when in the south. Unfortunately for you, you’re in the South for a long time. 🙂
I really don’t mind grits if they’re smothered in butter and salt, but I just don’t get them being a breakfast food. How do they possibly go with eggs?
There’s two trains of thought of this most weighty of matters.
1.) With eggs over easy, you burst the yoke and cut the eggs and mix it all together with the grits until you have the right consistency of yellow mushy goodness.
2. ) You are a purist and will only eat grits with butter, salt and pepper.
I myself prefer hashbrowns.
Ew, that’s disgusting. I only do the yolk-bursting trick with corned beef hash.
I’m just waking up…. what is it with you guys? Am I the only Continental here?
I’d like a strong dark Italian coffee, please. And a glance at du Monde, and the International Herald Tribune, if you’ve got it.
I’d like a strong dark Italian, please.
Ah, Gina! She’s thirty years younger than my usual date, Louise, but hard times call for strong women.
Hello suskind.
Just waking up. We’ve got any coffee you want(virtual of course) and the paper is where it usually is.
Glad you could join us.
My Dad had the hots for her! Now I see the two main reasons why.
Yeah, I suppose so. She and Eva Gardner were the queens…. but believe me…. it was their very strong characters….. there’s no silicone bimbettes that can stand up to these women. They were real, and yes earthy.
I’ll try to repost so you can see what I mean.
Sophia Loren had very strong character, too…. but it never came through for me like these two.
My number one favorite, however is ANNA MAGNANI. Wow. All aspects of womanhood…. wow.
ANNA MAGNANI
1908-1973
CIAO BELLA
NEW CAFE OPEN. HAPPY HOUR.