Tuesday, June 24, 2008

coop complete!


My marvelous husband and boys finished the chicken coop today! No plans, just a little ingenuity and a lot of 2x4s!
It's got a roosting ledge, a slide down door to keep them in at night, a drop down door so we can get to their eggs, a big door so we can clean it out, a chicken run and a vent in the roof for ventilation! It's pure genius! It even has a window with glass!



Sunday, June 22, 2008

We've Got Those Awkward Teenaged Chicken Blues

Well, we're not really "blue" about it. We don't have chicks anymore, we have teenaged chickens! They're kinda cute in a weird way! Click on any of the pictures you want to see closer .

Saturday, June 21, 2008

We need a decent gun range.



T1's middle name is Remington.
T2's middle name is Colt.







As in, Eliphalet Remington, the designer of the Remington Rifle and Samuel Colt, the man who popularized the revolver.
So yeah.. we like guns.
Since the boys were old enough to understand, Chris has been pounding gun safety into their heads. As a result, our kids are the most safety conscious kids I've ever seen (next to daddy of course).
We believe the key to responsible gun ownership is education and respect, not fear, but I'll step off my soapbox for now.
I say all of this because I needed to preface the next few pictures.



We all decided to go out and fire some rounds a few weeks ago. Chris said he didn't like going to this particular range because "N'ere do wells" and "malefactors" hung out there. But it's our closest range (Which is hardly close at all) and we let our private range membership lapse (like dummies).



He wasn't kiddin. The first thing we came upon before even getting to the range was an older man with a bunch of ammo/guns/junk laid out on the hood of his car and he was obviously showing some woman how to shoot,,,,, into the unprotected hillside. Moron.



You can't just fire a gun into the woods without knowing what's back there!! Heck,, you shouldn't do it even if you KNOW what's back there. But I digress.



So we went out to the range and it did not disappoint. The only other people there were an older man and a younger man who were together. Now,, I'm going to go ahead and stereotype a little here. Dude was sportin' a "wifebeater" and his dad was completely toothless. Do I need to say more? UGH.



They were firing on some empty milk jugs and mountain dew 20 oz bottles.
Classy.
I was watching them and the bottles (at about 25ft) never even quivered. Good shots, these two.
Here Chris is trying to set good examples of range etiquette and these morons acted like they were handling squirt guns! They kept walking out on the range without saying "down range!" or anything. It was making Chris's blood boil, I could tell. He made a few comments but they ignored us completely.
Finally, Chris was hovered over T2, spotting him before he shot the AR15, and I heard him say, "go ahead, you're ready, the safety is off, when ever you're ready, go ahead" and I saw T2 look to his right and say "Dad?"

There were those 2 morons out on the range again.

Chris LOST IT. I mean LOST IT. A longer stream of screaming and cursing I haven't heard in,, well,,, ever. He was screaming stuff like "I'M SURE THAT THERE'S SOMEBODY OUT THERE WHO LOVES YOU!!! WE ALMOST PUT YOU IN THE GROUND YOU #$%^%$ #$%^^ #$%$%" AND "IT'S PEOPLE LIKE YOU WHO ARE GOING TO GET OUR RIGHTS TAKEN AWAY" and lots of other things that are not for polite company. I got a teensy bit of it on video because I was recording it for the boys to watch later. When he started screaming, I instinctively shut it off. I wish I'd recorded the whole thing but Chris is glad I didn't. He's a bit embarrassed to say the least. If you'll recall in this post , he had a very loud conversation with the neighbors and now this. I told him it was getting to be a habit and he was going to have limit his "ripping people a new one" to once a month! LOL It's just not like him!



The reason I decided to write on this is that earlier this week a local pastor was murdered at the same range. It was determined to be a robbery. N'eredowells. Malefactors. Scumbags. How absolutely horrible for this man's family. My heartfelt condolences to them, his loved ones and his parishoners. It's a very remote area of Beech Fork State Park with no security.
Way to go buttfaces... you've probably screwed it up for everyone now. Thanks.



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Thursday, June 19, 2008

Stuff I would never cook in a zillion years.

Ok, while I was waiting for some pictures to upload I decided to check out what was new on Key Ingredient. I've come across some awesome recipes there!

And then... there's this one.

Barbecued Baby Octopus With Giant Lima Beans In Vinaigrette

Let's go over what is totally fail about this:

  • Octopus. Need I say more? Ok,, I'll say more. BABY octopus. Now, I've eaten baby octopus before and it IS everything you think it is. Chewy, flavorless, and the head part has cartiledge in it that is WAY gross.
  • Lima Beans. I'm a fan of most foods (obviously,, just look at me) but lima beans are gross. Two wrongs STILL don't make a right. If you combine two gross foods it does not make them tastey.
  • Do you see all the ingredients? Wow... too many.
  • Do you even know what "boiled with a cork" means? I've never heard of that.
  • 3/4 of an hour? Who says that? 45 minutes perhaps?
  • Ok, not only does it take almost an hour to boil the suckers (ha ha ,, I kill me) then you have to grill them until their crispy? Isn't this a lot of work for flavorless octopi?
  • It says to pile the limas in the middle of the plate and arrange the octopi around the edges. Do they think they're going to fool us into thinking this is a lovely dish? FAIL.
  • Oh, and GIANT lima beans? Can it get any worse?

    Barbecued Baby Octopus With Giant Lima Beans In Vinaigrette

    See Barbecued Baby Octopus With Giant Lima Beans In Vinaigrette on Key Ingredient.




Now,, I'll try anything once. Like I said earlier, I've eaten baby octopus, ON PURPOSE. But I'm not trying this dish.

Gross.

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I love funny t shirts don't you? Octopi and Lima Beans on a t shrit would be funny!

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Glenn Beck 08 Unelectable.

The weekend went wonderfully! My friend Sandi's house was easy to find and it was a very easy drive. Canton, OH is literally just get on I-64 and drive north! 64 turns into 77 and 77 practically turns into Sandi's driveway!

I went up on Friday morning and was one of the last to arrive. Everyone was even more anxious than I was to get this weekend long party rollin'! We went to a place called Papa Bears for Dinner and it was wonderful. Real Italian food. Yummy. Initially we had planned to go back to the hotel where everyone was staying to hang out with them but a huge storm had knocked out the power to half of Canton. So Sandi, Carol, John and I went back to Sandi's to rest up for our big day on Saturday.

We went to the convention center in Akron and had a light breakfast with Glenn and his crew. It was very nice. I'm always amazed at how nice he is in real life. He really took a lot of personal time with us and it was really cool. Our gang had this big idea that we would wear Russian hats to the convention. If you've listened to the show at all, Glenn has this "Comrade" schpeal going on that is hilarious. He got a big kick out of it!
Can I brag a minute? I got a hug and a kiss from Glenn Beck. Oh yeah,, oh yes I did! LOL
After that we went to another local restaurant called The Waterloo. Now THAT was good! I thought it was funny tho that they called their place "the Loo". Isn't that what the British call their toilets?

After a late lunch / early dinner we went directly to the show. Best. Show. Ever. Seriously! This one was really good. He's going to broadcast his Dallas show on July 17th to 300 theaters. The closest one to us is in Ashland KY.
I just bought 5 tickets. It's that good!
The theme of the show is "Beck08 Unelectable" and it is all political humor.
This time we all wore silly red white and blue stuff. The girls wore blinking tiaras and the guys wore campaign stumper hats. When John Bobby came out to introduce Glenn, he pointed to us and said "I see some of the insiders have taken out a little "fun" insurance,,,, not a bad idea" "their making their own entertainment"!
We were in the front row, Golden Circle tickets. I call it the "spit row" as Glenn tends to get a little "excited"! Wear a raincoat! No really, an umbrella isn't a bad idea!
There were 3 girls sitting a few rows behind us that had B E C K on their tshirts. The "person" wearing "K" was a blow up doll. Apparently their fourth "Beck Babe" skipped out on them. Funnier yet?,,, they were from Huntington WV!
They got on Youtube



















I have tons of pictures but Photobucket has been giving me fits and they're not on my new LAPTOP! Oh yeah,, that's right,, I'm using my new laptop! whoo hoo! So for now, I'll just swipe a few pictures from friends.


I'll have to tell you someday about the evils of Verizon and HP tech support but it's working right now and life is GOOD!




So Sunday we were all exhausted. We got up and went to Cracker Barrel to say our goodbyes until the fall. We had an awesome time. I can't wait until we get together again!






Those are my newest friends Ally and Ruth. They're from Salt Lake City and Ally is a professional flautist! Both she and Ruth are fabulous musicians.


Anywhoo..... I'll post more on this later. I can't wait until I find out who has the picture of me with Glenn! I know it'll be awful but I want it anyway!


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Friday, June 13, 2008

Off to Ohio.

I'm off to Akron Ohio for the weekend. Yes, Akron! I'm going to visit some friends and have lunch with Glenn Beck.

So the diet is down the tubes for the weekend. I'm not going to worry about it. I'll get back on the wagon on Monday.

Next weekend we're heading out to the West Virginia Republican Convention since I'm a delegate. I'm not sure I want to go but I have to go now! I'm not sure what will happen, how it works, what I need to do, NOTHING! I'll just show up I guess!

That brings me to another random thought. The 21st of June: WV's birthday, the first day of summer, the day before my husband's birthday (who is a Golden Horseshoe recipiant, just throwin' that out there!), and it's the WV Rep. Convention. For some sick reason, since I was about 10 years old, I've been keeping track of wether it rains on that day or not. I've only known ONE June 21st where it didn't rain at least part of the day.

Did I mention the convention was going to be outside?


It's at the Mountain Lakes Ampitheater in Flatwoods, WV. Looks like a beautiful place. There's supposed to be music and fun and frivolity and interesting guest speakers....

and probably wet seats.

But they don't know that.

Well,, I'm wasting time, I need to get on the road!

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I wish I had my new laptop! By this time next week, I will!

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Saturday, June 7, 2008

A Milestone.

T2 passed a major milestone this evening. He refused the kids menu at Bob Evans.

"I want an adult menu!"

Ok, fine.

"I want RIBS!"

Alrightythen!

After years and years of him ordering the exact same thing every single time we go to Bob's, this came out of the blue. He'd been on the couch most of the day sleeping because he didn't feel well. I woke him up and asked him if he was hungry and he said voraciously "YES! I'm STARVING!"

So we went to our usual dinner hangout.

When he announced that he wanted BBQ ribs for dinner, I was skeptical to say the least. His usual fare is the Little Farmer's Breakfast with no eggs and extra homefries. Sometimes he doesn't even finish that! But whatever, let him give it a go. He not only finished it but he practically sucked the bones dry!

It seems the era of the Kids Menu is over for us. It's akin to when the baby bed mattress went in the yardsale and when the last set of training wheels came off.

My little carnivore!

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Oh, and did you know that the Bob Evans Slow Roasted Chicken Noodles is only 7.5 Weight Watcher's Points? It's delish! Now, I can't determine if that includes the mound of mashed potatoes that they pour them over or not but even if it doesn't include them, it would only make it 12 points. Not too shabby for dinner! I got my info from Dottie's Weight Loss Zone . Who needs diet pill reviews?

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T2's New Hobby

It may not be a "hobby" so much as an obsession. T2 loves Star Wars and Legos. When his friend introduced him to minifig videos on Youtube he had to know how to make his own. We searched for a few tutorials online and after an afternoon of playing around he came up with this



He did it all by himself! I knew that a monster had been created. I let him use my camera and we've been through 4 sets of batteries. Thank goodness for rechargables! The above was only about 50 frames. He tried again and put this one up without any hints from me at all!




That one was about 80 frames. I like the "The End" at the end, don't you? Nice touch. I think I'll show him how to do it with clay today! Stay tuned for that show stopper! LOL Watch out Spielberg and Lucas, you have a 9 year old hot on your trail!
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Have you seen this commercial?

Funny. Very appropriate because I'm supposed to tell you that you can find the best buy at buy.com today!
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Wednesday, June 4, 2008

I've Been Awarded!!

Jennifer gave me an award! Isn't it pretty?! Thank you Jennifer!!
Here are the "rules" of passing it along: "SHARE THE LOVE!!! Share this award with all those blogs out there that you love. All the people who make you smile. All those that make you laugh. All those that make your day. All those that leave uplifting comments on your blog. **All I ask, is that you include a link to this post with the award and ask your recipient to do the same**"
So here are the blogs that keep me comin' back for more! No obligation to post it on your blog at all, just an acknowledgement!
and here are a few that I want you to know that I read every day but they're so huge, that they'd never notice that I've acknowledged them;
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Computer running slow? Need new RAM?
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Wordless Wednesday


Monday, June 2, 2008

Chickies!

My mom brought us three chicks to brood. They are SO CUTE! Two are Golden Comets and one is "some cute brown unknown chicken".
The smallish yellow one is "Prissy" named after the hen in the old Foghorn Leghorn cartoons.
The brown one is named Co-co (my niece named it), and the larger yellow one is Princess Lay-a (a Star Wars nod!)
View the slideshow here. I couldn't get it to work right posting it directly. Here's a few pictures if you don't have time to look at the slideshow.
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Chris is going to build us a coop this weekend!