November 5, 2012
Ellen/Reid: Was traipsing past the frozen turkey aisle this weekend and at 99¢/lb., the food additive amped-up frozen birds seemed a pretty good deal. I guess we are coming into that season of gluttony, of which I am only too happy to contribute. Ellen, Reid and I will do as much of the heavy lifting in the kitchen as you will allow us.
Reid can bring it in the kitchen. This is a couple of Thanksgivings ago in Hilton Head. He knows his way around pots and pans.
Our one demand is that Emma toddle around the kitchen and look cute-as-can-be in her little self propelled mobility thingy. The tunes will be cranked up, and the rule is that ‘cooks are allowed to consume wine during the preparation of any and all foods during the duration of such preparation.’ That’s not my rule, but it sounds like a good one.
There is a Carolina blue sky out there this morning but Minnesota-Illinois like temperatures. Unseasonably cold here but most likely mild by your standards. The feeders are now stocked with sunflower seed, and the squirrels have resumed their shameless marauding of the bounty. My pellet gun is at the ready but I seem to have lost a step when it comes to loading/aiming/using the darn thing. All the fricking rodents need is a couple of seconds to take it on the lam and they seem to be laughing all the way to the cover of trees. I hope they choke on a seed hull.
We’ll know the results of the elections well before this arrives. There was a big article in the paper this morning about the tea party. Zealotry knows no ends. On the same page was an equally big article about a major meeting of climate scientists here in Charlotte. They estimated that by 2100, the sea will have risen 39 inches or so, but they caution that they are erring on the low side. The low side. The folks here in North Carolina, particularly a consortium of developers on the coastal side, are still big time climate deniers. I know I rag on that and your dad will never be confused with a rocket scientist, but holy smokes, the nutcases east of here are a testament to poor public education in these parts. The environment is enough to vote ‘Blue.’ In short order, housing foundations will form new underwater reefs, and scuba divers will be able to swim out and around the 10”x10” treated lumber posts that homes once rested upon. Mt. Everest will dip below 29,000 feet in above-sea-level elevation. We didn’t invent idiocy here, but we are damned well perfecting it.
The porch lights were again off for Halloween. I don’t know that there are more than 3-4 candy-eligible kids in our development, so they probably exported their bags to other neighborhoods with higher densities of children. I would have eaten all the candy anyway had any been purchased.
For the first time, I paid property taxes by check rather than have them included in the escrow portion of my mortgage payment. Ouch, ouch, ouch. That is one big &(*$%# check. Gag-ola. But I like this ‘hood and tis’ better than paying interest. Talk about the acid test of my budgeting powers over the next year.
Reid, I am mystified why the tepid little fleece comforter from the National Wildlife Federation has yet to arrive at your office. There’s not much to it, probably enough to possibly keep your tootsies warm on a cold night. But it went for a good cause.
Next Monday is an off day, and a friend at the bank has proposed golf. I am getting to the point where I think ‘anything but golf.’ Still, it is on the calendar. It will be another round of abject humiliation. You should be glad you have other hobbies.
