Christmas Shopping, Superbowl, and Presidential Elections

What do these things have in common? It is great when the season is over so I don’t have to listen to it anymore. No more Christmas music, no more half-hour news segment on who has shown up for the Superbowl, and no more infantile squabbling between the members of the American nobility running for King.

Last night one the bottles of poison on the table was removed, though not without some buffoonery. As punishment for moving their primary up the Democrats took all Florida's delegates away, so while a Democrat could still vote in Florida, the vote doesn’t carry much clout. It is nice to know that a political party can take your right to vote away if in an offhanded way, along with the closed primaries denying independents any kind of voice.

Considering the outcome of the Democrat non-primary maybe it is a good thing the Democrats did take the delegates away. Don’t get me wrong, I believe a woman president would be just as good, possibly better considering the past bunch of presidents, as a male president. I have no problem with a woman being in charge of anything, just that particular woman. She is right about one thing – it is past time for a big change in our government.

All the candidates have picked up on that and tout change, talking the talk they need to worm their way into the hearts of Americans. Their call for change is good, except there is a bit of a problem, a roadblock to change if you will. When elected he or she will face the same old congress, the same old senate, a rigged supreme court, and the same old special interest groups and lobbyists now waiting for them in Washington. Promising change is pleasing to the ear but a tall order. So this Tuesday pick your poison and be ready to take a big gulp in 08…

Much Ado About Nothing

The rain stopped for now, but the sky is starting to cloud up again. It has been one of those days where nature can't seem to make up its mind what it wants to do. As usual the weather-jackass on TV didn't say anything about more rain tonight, but I have a feeling he will be...

The rain doesn't make everyone happy. There was a scorpion that decided he'd had enough, came on in and made himself at home on our wall. The last thing to go through his mind was the cover page of the magazine I hit him with. This morning the wife called the bug guy who unleashed a chemical jihad on all living things in and around the house. I told her I wanted the back yard to become a wasteland devoid of life as we know it - I know, I know we killed off all the beneficial insects too. My answer to that is fly with crows, get shot.

Dining Baby, Hidden Scavanger

We were lucky enough to have Max visit this weekend, and had a lot of fun watching him in action. In the course of his visit I may have solved the puzzle of how wolves and man first hooked up together to bring us to the day where dogs are house pets. Max drops about a 1/3 of the food you give him thereby attracting the local wolf pack who scavenge the detritus on the floor. The dogs and he were suddenly big pals after feeding time.

The Alpha Scavenger cautiously approaches the FLZ (Food Landing Zone)

The Smaller Scav patiently waits her turn

We had Max and his mom stay with us overnight to avoid the long drive home on a rainy evening and hated to see them go the next morning, but the rain had lifted leaving the skies studded with fleeing clouds...

Casting Call

I took Mrs. Phos back to the Dr and so far so good, however, she still has to be in a cast for another four weeks. She picked a red one this time, very stylish and chic to be sure.




Dogs are off to the pet-lodge for a bath so by 1600Hrs we should have clean, albeit damp huskies. They've needed a bath for some time now and fate finally caught up with them.





The clouds are rolling in and we should have rain by Saturday if the weather jack-ass is correct, though I wouldn't put money on it. We have had a fairly wet winter, for here and the roses love it.





I will be harvesting lemons soon as well; the lemon tree has been busy.

Mute Monday

Mute Monday Sponsored by TheTrollReport

Where’s the “Crockie Guy” When You Need Him?

Once upon a time, while trotting down a road through someone else’s desert, I happened upon the biggest lizard I have ever seen that wasn’t behind glass. I’m talking the size of medium dog. In the briefing I received about the dangers of the desert no one mentioned mini-zilla here, and I couldn’t help but wonder why they’d skip over giant lizards. Maybe they didn’t think anyone would believe them. As I didn’t have my “Nasty Looking Lizards of Kuwait Field Guide”, I began to search through my rather sparse mental collection of lizard lore, still coming up short. It was time to switch into primitive mode, that function of the brain left over from days of yore when being eaten by large creatures was a real possibility. In this mode the brain goes down an ingrained checklist…

- Are there any visible fangs, claws, stingers or other appendages that could do me harm?

- Does it look venomous?

- What does it eat and how did it get so big in an area where there is no obvious food except possibly me?

- What are the chances I could outrun it?

Looking back I can’t help wondering if some of the same questions were flowing through the chickpea sized brain of the creature I had been facing, but I will never know. Evidently the lizard was just curious, and after becoming bored with my lack of activity sauntered back off into the wastes while I jogged off in the opposite direction, remembering the sage advice given me by mom – if you don’t know what it is, leave it alone. Works for me.

The Law of the Pack

I’ve had huskies for many years and have learned the Tao of the pack. Dogs are dogs are dogs, that is true, however huskies haven’t fallen too far from the original tree. I am reminded of that every time our boy Yukon lets loose with a howl, or patiently stalks a fly that has gotten into the house. There is nothing quite as amusing as an 85 pound dog pouncing on a fly.

My wife and I have become part of the pack like it or not. Though we like to believe we are the alphas in this situation there are times our position is in doubt. Yukon lets us know when it is time for dinner, his and ours, and Austrella hops up on the couch without a second thought. My only ace in the hole is I am the food guy, so that gives me a little status in our dysfunctional pack.

There are rules to be observed within the pack. For instance, the pack must sleep together. If I kip out for a Sunday afternoon nap, when I awake there are huskies scattered about the room napping with me. All food is shared with the pack. Well almost all food, huskies aren’t cross-eaters and don’t do vegetables.

It is educational being part of a pack and entertaining to say the least as huskies are the clowns of the dog world. Time to go now, Yukon has just reminded me it is time for the pack to enjoy some jalapeño popcorn…

Free Tans - Lambs Only

LAMBTASTIC TANNING SALON

Phone 1-800 - Med-Rare for your free tanning session, ask for Phos

Passion

People need passion in their lives or they are not really living. We can be passionate about a person, a cause, an avocation, even our job. It is possible to be passionate about several things, and I have even known some who are passionate about life in general – that type of person is to be envied.

This devotion gives us purpose without which we are empty shells, just plodding along until whatever end comes, so it is important to find some higher purpose. The object of this focused energy can change over time as well, even vanish whether because of loss of interest or outside influeneces. There is also a dark side to passion when people become passionate about destructive or harmful things, such as the “one true god syndrome” where anyone believing anything else must be eliminated. That being said the most enjoyable part of this enthusiasm is sharing it with others, trying to ignite their interest, bring them along for the ride so they can feel the same excitement.

I am passionate about several things, my wife, huskies, and food. Lucky for me my other two passions enjoy the spin-off from my fascination with food – they dovetail nicely. I have always been a nuts and bolts kind of guy, I like to see how things work and try to replicate it myself so my actual interest in the techniques, the chemistry, and history behind different foods. What a particular people eat, how they prepare it, how they eat it, and why they eat the food they do can tell you a lot about a particular culture. I have tried to bring the wisdom of those other cultures into my cooking, and am eager to see and try more. This desire to explore further goes a long way in keeping the passion alive as does the favorable reviews from my other two passions.

So what are you passionate about??

Big White Bear's Tag

Tag from Nanuk for everyone...


1950's - Phosnana
1960's - Phos's Fab Five
1970's - Travelling Phosberries
1980's - Milli Phosilli
1990's - Phos's Fab Five Comback Tour
2000's - Fun 4 Phos

40 Days and 40 Nights

Well, not quite that much rain but it has been raining off and on the past several days and looks to continue through Monday. All the horrid storms that hit California are now making their way across Arizona, though they aren't as fierce as they were when they hit Sacramento.

The humming birds have been so cold it is tough for them to fly much. The one in our tree (using the term tree loosely pitched out on the ground when I tried to get his picture and I was afraid he was done, but a second later he was off over the wall to escape the hummingbird paparazzi.



The weekend has been quiet, which is nice. Just hanging about the Tiny House watching the rain come down. Hope you all had a mellow weekend as well...

Mirage City Boy

With apologies to Stock City Girl...




Rise´n Shine 10:30
Breakfast Bottle of Dr. Pepper
To do Lounge around
Exercise yeah, as if...
Tonight lounge around

What was He Thinking?

I really enjoy music from other countries so I was watching "World Music" on Link TV. There is a lot of fusion type music but not all fusion is a good thing. The video that came on that was a mix of hip-hop and Flamenco, for example. There is a good reason no one has thought of combining those two genres - now I have to hope the musician that came up with the fusion realizes that as well...