2607 Days since retiring July 1, 2005!

A pirate, history relates
Was scuffling with some of his mates
When he slipped on a cutlass
Which rendered him nutless
And practically useless on dates

Read on and fall sound asleep

I accomplished nothing today. Except for being the passenger and scooter retrieval boy for my wife prior to and after her ultrasound examination. She is now fretful because the technician spent so much time looking at the upper area of her abdomen. Best not fret, easy to say, until an expert views the images and tells us what they mean. Sometimes the people in the know do things that mystify us and don’t or cannot explain what or why they follow certain steps. I did walk around shattered manor and discovered (reminded myself) that the cable leg to the bat cave is a single stretch of coax cable. So now I plan to take the shelf hardware down from the east reach of the cave and reinstall it in the records and photo archive vault area. I cannot move any of the file cabinets in that area because they are cryptolocked to a specific GPS coordinate. Meaning I am going to have to be careful locating the shelves. I don’t want the TV so high that I have to tilt my head more that 11.85 degrees from horizontal. Of course the cable box will have to be above the TV. I will pull the existing cable back through the north face, once I fight through to the surface. Encrustations, through the years, have grown quite tightly to the north face of the cavern. All in all that should not require more than a fortnight of effort. My TV went out of service just a PBS started it’s now bimonthly begging campaign. The campaign should be finished by the time I turn to TV on again.

I think I made a stupid mistake with Rascal. The other night while playing “confuse a cat” I stuck my bottle of frozen water in his water bowl and forgot it for a while. Sometime later I remembered and removed it. Rascal moseyed over to check it out and took a lap of the water. Then he almost literally started to guzzle. I have never seen him drink so much water. Now when he starts to lap he will turn an look at me an bitch if the water is not cold. Consequently I am having to share my ice water with a cat. Have I no shame? Whatza matter mit me?.

Wednesday I ride the dog to Kerrville to visit my mother in law. Don’t anybody tell her I am coming. I think I will freak out with 5 hours of peace and quit on the bus. This time 3 months ago I had planned on being in or near Yellowstone National Park. Best be flexible. I guess that is why God gave us a curved spine instead of a bone shaft.

Do you know how the current Capitol Building in Austin Texas was financed! “Wait, wait I see a hand up in the back of the class.” “Stand up” shouts the moderator. “Oh crap! It is that loud mouth blowhard from Markham again” mod thinks. “I know how to stifle that”. “Yes vearlan” the moderator encourages. Downcast, Vearlan mumbles “The legislature sold 3 million acres of shitty land in west Texas for about a dollar an acre and used the money to pay for the red granite to build the building. The land became the XIT ranch and was eventually all sold to farmers and developers and such.”
For more info and further reading see: websites

xit museum
This Day in History
chronicle of the old west
books
The XIT Ranch of Texas and the Early Days of the Llano Estacado
6000 Miles of Fence

TASKS LIST

Chop down dead vine on front sidewalk fence.
Instruct grandsons to start moving rainsoaked debris to proper pile for heavy trash pickup on Sep 20.
Use Sawsall to cut down fallen Oak limb from neighbors tree and cut into sizes to make 4 inch bowls.
Use roofing tar and aluminum flashing to cover several small holes in roof of “rubber shed”.
Haul big dead flatscreen tv to recycle center at north end of Wirt.
clean KOI pond filter.
Clear weeds from around lily pond.

8/20: Dear Father, thank you for the promise of a home in heaven at the end of our journey. And thank you for your constant presence with us through your Holy Spirit. Amen. The prayers are from the Upper Room. For your own free E-Mail Devotional visit : http://upperroom.org/devotional/email/ and click on the link “Other Ways to Receive the Daily Devotional”

Roast Suckling Pig

Ingredients
1 (12 pound) dressed suckling pig
1/2 cup butter, sliced
8 ounces sliced bacon
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon blackened seasoning
2 cups apple cider
12 cloves garlic, peeled
1 red apple, for garnish

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Rinse the pig, and tie the front legs together with heavy string. Tie the back legs together also. Make numerous slits in the skin, and insert slices of butter, followed by cloves of garlic. Generously rub the entire pig with salt first, then the Cajun seasoning, including inside the cavity. Lay strips of bacon across the back and secure to the sides with toothpicks.

Place the pig in a large roasting pan and pour in the apple cider. Cover the ears and snout of the pig with aluminum foil to prevent scorching.

Roast for 7 hours in the preheated oven, basting every hour or so with the drippings. If the pan begins to dry out, add more cider or water. To serve, remove to a platter, and place the apple in the pig's mouth. Discard the aluminum foil from ears and snout.

I have always wanted to roast a whole hog but never found a time or place or willing cook. Perhaps roast hog is served in the Christian Heaven.

”The general tendency of things throughout the world is to render mediocrity the ascendant power among mankind.”
John Stuart Mill

SGGP