30 November 2013 Safer in Afghanistan than at Wal-Mart

Cassi Creek: From the safety of our home

http://blackfridaydeathcount.com/

Verify the incidents before passing the numbers on.  One of these is a reprint from a 2008 incident. 

          The insanity driving these and other such incidents escapes me.  No sale item is important enough to justify mob behavior.  No store that excites such behavior deserves to be in business.  If a rock band stirred up that number of injuries, or if its fans popped the doors, the cops would quickly marshal and arrests would follow. 

          However, our national value scheme is somewhat skewed.  It is apparently all right to get drunk and behave badly at franchise sports events.  It is also apparently all right to advertise sale items, knowing that the inventory will fall far short of demand. 

          Is it any wonder that Wal-Mart is so widely hated?

29 November 2013 Didn’t get nothing Had to pick up the garbage in the snow

Cassi Creek:  Yesterday didn’t quite go as planned. 

          After prepping the duck and getting the grill ready, I suddenly realized that my wedding ring was missing from my hand.  Instant anxiety! 

          The charcoal was already burning.  The wood stove had been cleaned, all the ashes removed to a galvanized bucket that lives outdoors.  The trash, including all the dinner prep trash and garbage, had been bagged and dragged out to the trash cart. 

          We spent 30 minutes or so looking at possible locations it might have found after dropping from my finger.  I went through all the gloves I had worn to clean the stove, bring in wood, and take out trash, to no avail. 

          The next step was to go through all the garbage in the trash cart.  We donned latex gloves and pulled every trash bag out for dissection and discovery.  No ring appeared, magically or otherwise.  After picking up the garbage in the snow – yes, we really did do that on Thanksgiving – we were at a loss.  I ran the garbage a 3^rd time, hoping for some sort of magical outcome but knowing one would not appear. 

          Dinner was served, along with a surprise phone call from my older son, Joshua.  Unable to ignore the missing ring, I went out with a flashlight to attempt finding it by reflection.  Again, nothing.  By this time, I’m thinking metal detector and Gloria is pricing new wedding rings. 

          About 2100 I took Loki outside.  I put on a pair of gloves I’d worn and searched several times yesterday.  I decided I would set the alarm for 0 dark thirty this morning and dump all the garbage and trash onto a tarp in a last desperate attempt to find my ring.  On the way, back inside I felt something hard brush a fingertip I held that position until returning inside, let Loki off lead, and started exploring the seams and folds of my fold-back fingerless mittens, in a finger pocket between two seams was my ring. 

          Turned out to be a great end to the day.  I don’t know if the dump was closed or not.

28 November 2013 Throw another log into the stove

Cassi Creek:  Temperature fell to 16°F last night.  There was light snow after dark and the deck and steps became icy again despite a dose of de-icer.  This morning I spread more de-icer on the deck, swept the snow off the grill, and am trying to decide whether to smoke the duck outdoors or roast it inside.  I’m making a cranberry-pistachio chutney to accompany a Chinese flavored duck, and Brussels sprouts with chestnuts.  I made a baked pumpkin custard for Gloria, yesterday, for her dessert.  I have a chocolate fudge pie in the freezer. 

          We’re running through a lot of firewood this month. 

Had a long, enjoyable phone call from my older son this evening.

Happy Thanksgiving to all

Chag Sameach

          

27 November 2013 Turkeys are hitting the ground

Cassi Creek Tradtional thanksgiving entertainment in these environs include the movie Alice’s Restaurant and the WKRP “Turkeys Away” segment. 

          Alices’s Restaurant is somewhat faded now that it is two wars later and lacking a national conscription-fed army.  The WKRP segment is still one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen on television.  The segment is based upon at least one and possibly more actual publicity stunts which involved live turkeys and massive amounts of mainstreet damages. 

          You can find this bit at

 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0742671/

For added cold war humor, see the tornado episode as well

          

26 November 2013 Early carols not so long ago encounter

          The season of Christmas muzak has descended upon us.  Every public or commercial building we enter greets us with treacle-laden renditions of seasonal songs.  The first day or so, it isn’t too hard to dial them out, letting them get lost in the constant buzzing, whining background that is always there. 

          However, each trip outdoors, be it for groceries or gasoline adds to the cumulative overburden of unwanted sound.  By the 1^st of January, It has become sufficiently annoying that I’m looking for speakers to rep from th overhead.  So far, I’ve avoided such action.  That may, however, be due to my short stature than to my observance of any social contract. 

Sometimes, a decent parody will arise and alleviate a bit of the annoyance.  Those of us old enough to recall anything about the Kennedy administration not reserved for the annual November festival of what if and othe mourning, may recall this little gem.  It works best acappella.

12 Days with Khrushchev

On the first day we met, Premier Khrushchev said to me,

"Your wife's looking mighty pretty."

On the second day we met, Premier Khrushchev said to me,

"You must leave Berlin,

and your wife's looking mighty pretty."

On the third day we met, Premier Khrushchev said to me,

"Don't bother Castro,

etc

On the fourth day we met, Premier Khrushchev said to me,

"Our power's growing fast,

etc

On the fifth day we met, Premier Khrushchev said to me,

"We'll bury you,

etc

On the sixth day we met, Premier Khrushchev said to me,

"Stop the U2,

etc

On the seventh day we met, Premier Khrushchev said to me,

"We'll beat you to the moon,

etc

On the eighth day we met, Premier Khrushchev said to me,

"We'll have Vietnam soon,

etc

On the ninth day we met, Premier Khrushchev said to me,

"Isn't Congress sticky,

etc

On the tenth day we met, Premier Khrushchev said to me,

"Please call me Nicky,

etc

On the eleventh day we met, Premier Khrushchev said to me,

"How's Mississippi,

etc

On the last day we met, Premier Khrushchev heard from me,

"Listen Mr. Red, we're still ahead,

Stop all your feigning, your power's waning, common Market's

     gaining,

You're losing Nasser, faster and faster, isn't that a gasser,

Don't feed me a con,

Put your shoe back on,

We won't leave Berlin, how's China, meeting will adjourn

Get your hand off Jackie's knee."

25 November 2013 visited by beasts

Cassi Creek  preparing for bad weather. 

          Today’s creature count includes one chipmunk, six squirrels, nine turkeys and one raccoon.  In addition, the monthly bug extermination took place today. 

          I’va a clear shot at the raccoon with either rifle or shotgun.  But there will be no trash pickup until Saturday.  That’s a bit too long to let something ripen in the trash can.  So It requires patience and planning to remove the creature.

24 November 2013 Take off your old coat

Cassi Creek:  Shortly after we moved to TN, it became apparent that I needed to replace my Gore-Tex shell parka.  I had donated my 16 year old Marmot shell, a first generation product that had begun to leak badly, to one of the charity organizations. 

I found a great shell in the LLBean catalog, I bought the down vest insert for it the first winter we lived here.  I decided to hold on the shell.  By the next winter, I realized I needed the shell as well.  To my surprise, it was no longer listed in the catalog.  I called the company and they found one in the returns warehouse in the guide gold color I wanted.  I paid, it arrived here, and I have worn it through rain, snow, wind, and other foul weather ever since.

          Last Wednesday I noticed that the Gore-tex tapes around the water resistant zippers had begun to delaminate.  Every time I put the shell on, the damage became more apparent. 

          What to do?  I called LLBean and told them my favorite shell was failing in function.  They did what most companies don’t, offered a replacement  They are sending me the current analog to my Mountain Guide Jacket.  The color won’t stand out like the school bus effect Gloria laughs about when I wear my current shell. But the cayenne color should provide a moderate degree of visibility that may make it safer to walk around these roads in rainy, misty, or cold days. 

          The new one has shipped.  When it arrives, I’ll pack up the old one and send it back to LLBean.  They never questioned me about use or misuse, took my work for what I recalled paying for it, and demonstrated why I spend most of my clothing money with them. 

Gore-Tex – laminate (film)  at 6 years.