Ice and Thunder

I know that the weather is crazy everywhere these past couple of days, but just yesterday it was 70 degrees and I was wearing shorts while riding my bike. This is what it looks like today:



Time to tuck in tonight and have a fire!

Dog walk

On Saturday, I saw two lynx crossing the path and heading into the woods, I thought at first they were wild coyotes, but I was close enough to see them and noted their bobbed tail and that they looked cat-like, but bigger. It was pretty awesome because I had never seen them before around here. And then when I drove home and turned into the driveway at dusk, there were two deer and a fawn in our front yard just staring at me. I swear, I've noticed more wildlife since we've moved here than in the three years combined in the old place. I like it.

I took the dogs on another walk the other day when it was warm and sunny. Or I should say, they took me. We went out on the other side of the lake, near the river, not very far from the bike trail I ride all the time. Naturally I took some pix and video to share. The camera work is choppy b/c I'm being pulled along -- I may have to delay this submission for oscar consideration until next year. Enjoy!





Prairie

Surveying her domain

Cold drink/long walk

Or so you wrote

In my head for days:


The Painted Desert can wait till summer.
We've played this game of just imagine long enough.
Wait till summer?
When I'm sure the rains have ended, the blooms have gone,
every one killed by the morning frost.

Is a cactus blooming there in every roadside stand
where the big deal is cowboy gear won in Japan?

The Painted Desert can wait till summer.
We've played this game of just imagine long enough.
Wait till summer?
When I'm sure the rains have ended and the blooms have gone,
everyone killed by the morning frost.

Is a cactus blooming there upon the Northern rim
or in the ruins of the Hopi mesa dens?

You met a new friend in the Canyon, or so you wrote.
On a blanket in the cooling sand, you and your friend agreed that,
the stars were so many there they seemed to overlap.

The Painted Desert can wait till summer.
We've played this game of just imagine long enough.
Wait till summer?
When I am sure the rain has ended, the blooms have gone,
everyone killed by the morning frost.

Was a cactus blooming there as you watched the Native boy?
In Flagstaff trailer court, you wrote the line:
"He kicked a tumbleweed and his mother called him home where the Arizona moon met the Arizona sun."

I wanted to be there by May at the latest time.
Isn't that the plan we had or have you changed your mind?
I haven't read a word from you since Phoenix or Tucson.
April is over will you tell me how long before I can be there?

- The Painted Desert 10,000 Maniacs

Is that alright?

Speaking of music, I've been listening to Damien Rice's new song, 9 Crimes, kinda obsessively.

I'm off to hang with A today and play about town. She took the day off and our gay boyfriend, M, is coming to town as well. We love him. I suspect lots of coffee will be consumed and the following topics will be discussed: sex, possibly fashion, sex. Between the straight girl, the lesbian, and the gay boy, we'll have plenty of material to cover!

I didn't really mean to get into all that, all I wanted to post was a fun little 'I'm listening to this song and we're going to talk about sex all day today, weee!' Oh well...

ps. I should also like to note that as of today, I have not consumed any alcoholic beverages for exactly 2 months! Strange, but true. Those shock therapy sessions at Betty Ford must have really worked. I'm feeling better and healthier than I have in a long time. Diet/exercise/no booze. And this is exactly why not having a single vice left makes me feel way too old and gives me a little bit of an itchy trigger finger. I know myself well enough to know that I tend to look for trouble when I don't have adequate vices to balance out good living. Yeah, you know me...

Music for Riding: Fall 2006

Here are my two playlists for bike riding now that the weather has turned cold. File this under the new label: No one cares what's on your iPod. And look! I figured out how to publish it on iTunes. Consider it my mixed tape to you!

Fast Fall Mix 2006

Slow Fall Mix 2006

Hey, can someone let me know whether you can actually access these iMixes or whether they only show up on my iTunes? Thanks.

And that's how I roll in the Big K to the S, suckas!

Let the train whistle blow

And now for something not-so-completely different.

I talked to my Dad yesterday and found out that he had been robbed. Someone actually broke into their house in the middle of the day and took a bunch of old money he had been collecting. He's still trying to figure out what all is missing, but mostly silver certificate dollars and old silver coins etc. Even though it sucked, he didn't seem to be too upset about it. I know I would have been on an ass-kicking mission to find the punks. I had The Agent call him and chat, not that she can do anything other than he likes her and they tease each other. She offered to interrogate any persons of interest for him. He once called and told her he had found an old bone on his lake property and wondered whether she'd want to come investigate it and see if it was Jimmy Hoffa. My dad looks a lot like Johnny Cash, even more so as he's gotten older but also when he was younger. He's a retired railroad man and right now, a pretty damn good Texas Hold 'em player. He taught me how to fish, how to golf, how to drive. He indulged my tomboy ways when I was a kid and coached my softball team, bought me a bb gun, and took me to Dairy Queen for lunch. When my parents got divorced when I was 10, he stayed close and eventually, remarried. I got a boatload of new step-brothers and sisters. My first car was one of his, a 76 Buick Regal that I still miss. He came to football games when I was in college and he has helped me move more times than I care to count. He was the first person I called the night my mom died. I knew I would need his help figuring out what to do next. Our conversations now consist of the following things: the weather, sports, how my car is running, birds, what's happening at the Navy Club, what project am I working on in the shop, and what The Agent is up to these days. You know, surface stuff. Since my mom died, we have had a couple of very personal, intense conversations -- which are often a curse and a blessing. I have found that as I get older, the truth doesn't necessarily get any easier to hear and it's impossible to resist. I'm one of those people who would rather know than not, even if knowing is the more painful choice. So my dad and I now walk that line between doing the Midwestern thing of talking about everything but what really needs to be said and truth-telling. I'm more like him than I realize at times and I'm perfectly content to talk about Bobby Knight and the cold front that's coming through today, better get the car in to be winterized and what time is it now in Indiana - an hour ahead or an hour behind?

So say we all

Ok, so The Agent and I finally got through the first season of Battlestar Galactica this past weekend. We ended up renting it and then doing some marathon sessions. We're hooked for sure. I'm still pissed that we only discovered it this season. I don't watch too many shows with any regularity any more so right now it's just this and South of Nowhere which is handy since they're both on Fri night. I'm not always home, but I try. Anyway, whatever, just babbling.

Minor point: We both can't stand Baltar and his constant ego-driven dick. We also don't care much for the blond chick in any of her incarnations. We are tired of watching them have sex and wish for it to stop.

Mid-major point: Finally Lucy is doing quality TV and not stupid vampire bats or whateverthefuck movie of the week shit she was doing. How about scoring ROC for some guest episodes? Ohh..they could totally tie in an Uber situation with Evil Cylon Xena and Undercover Human Spy Gabrielle who totally infiltrates to the inner Cylon circle and redeems 3. Subplot of Gabrielle having to sex her way through every D'anna model until she found the primary Xena model. I'd even be satisfied with someone fanfic-ing that. It'd be a perfect cross-over.

Main point: The Agent is in love with Roslin and I'm in lust with Starbuck. I'm sure this says something about our relationship.

ps. I switched over to the new betablogger and now am obsessed over post tags. I'm a little scared to see how many posts over the past years will be tagged with stuff like "strippers/cocaine" or "boring posts about what I had for dinner". I figure I'll tire of tagging before I actually get through them all anyway. Great, now I'm going to have to re-tag this as "dumb shit no one cares about".

ETA: Yeah, I only made it through 50 before I got bored for the night.

He stopped loving her today

Randomly found out on the Internets

Like grass growing

Am I the only dork watching the returns tonight?

I am cautiously optimistic, but then again, I was the same way in 1994. And 1996. And 2000. We shall see, I hate to get all upbeat and then be beaten down by the public's tolerance for bullshit and hypocrisy.

So I voted in our new place today since we moved recently and are now out in what they call a township and that means we voted in the break room of a volunteer fire department located on N 1100 Rd. And by break room, I am being generous. It was..quaint. And the 3 little old ladies were right in the middle of lunch and were happy to have company. I was the 278th person to vote and they said they were doing brisk business.

Prior to voting, however, I was being given a tour of my friend's family goat farm. Yes, civic duty and goat shit go well together. My friend J and I went camping on her family's property last night (it was an awesome night to go, warmish temps and fullish moon and then fog rolling in) and on the way home, we stopped at the barn to admire her dad's new money making crop. I found out that a Wither goat is a little male goat who has had his set of "hanging chads" banded and that said chads eventually "wither" away and fall off. I didn't ask there were any withered bits amid the goat shit, I didn't want to know. Did you know that the way to tell which goats have been impregnated by the Billy is by having the Billy wear a harness on his chest that contains colored powder? Then all you need to do is look at the Nannies and see which ones got lucky by whether they're marked on their back end. It's like a Rural Rainbow Party! Good times, good times...

That's all I got except they just predicted the Dems to win the House. Maybe all those damn Withers in Congress will grow a set back and do some actual checking and balancing. Too bad it's too little too late.

Plaza Days and Nascar Nights

So it's been a good weekend so far. I helped some friends move yesterday morning and then The Agent and I went into The City on a little date, went to a museum (btw Mrs V - Master of Arts, I saw some of those old tymey Greek vases about which you wax so eloquently - complete with Dionysus and Ariadne and a bunch of drunken satyrs. Of course, given that this is the Midwest, the vase was made out of corn and soybean dye. You would have loved it, my dear. Perhaps for your dissertation?)

After a few hours of wandering around, we went and had coffee (during which we had a quasi-near purse snatching -- which I thwarted. So much for my little law enforcement cheetah and her reflexes!). Then we went to one of our favorite places for beef and had a very lovely dinner. We were home early enough to have some QT. Yay for Saturday night dates!

This morning we got up and around and went for a 10 mile bike ride. The weather is warm and sunny so it was great to get out. And my Chiefs are kicking ass as we speak so all it well. My Boyfriend Tony Gonzales is The Man.

After the game, I'm headed back out to my shop and work on my newest project, which is a shop stool I designed. It has wheels and a lawn mower seat and, if I can fabricate it, a 2-stroke motor and a mini frig. A girl can dream. Don't think I won't have a YouTube video up of me racing it down the driveway whe I finish it. And that is how we roll out here, aight?

Peace out!

The Ice Queen Goeth

I am sorry, but this sneak peek of South of Nowhere's next episode is, I think, the proverbial straw that has finally melted my cold, cold heart.



Or you can watch the original Sneak Peek (of Come Out Come Out Wherever You Are) on The N here and catch the rest of the episodes. Be warned my cynical and jaded friends, if that amount of sugar wrapped up in pretty packages does not crack your hard-shell coating, I can only venture to guess you are of reptilian blood.

This Ice Queen admits defeat at the hands of Teen Lesbian Angst and Cuteness.

Mom's Beef and Noodle

In which I discuss cooking and go on and on and on...

So I made a big batch of beef and noodles tonight because it's that time of year - chilly and dark early. It turned out exceptionally well due in part, I think, to using a cast iron skillet. Have I rhapsodized about cast iron skillets? Now, growing up, my mom never had cast iron, but my dad and stepmom did. And as any child of divorce will tell you, each parent had their own way of cooking and if you're lucky, you pick up a thing or two. I only recently purchased a cast iron skillet and I have no idea why it took me so long. They aren't great for cooking everything, but let me tell you, it is worth the investment for the things that are made better by cooking in cast iron. And the beef and noodle recipe I used tonight is a very good example.

My mom was from Louisiana and you don't cook anything down there without a decent roux. Whether it's gumbo or crawfish etouffee, it all starts off with a roux. The cajuns have their holy trinity (bell pepper, onion, and celery), but this particular recipe uses a more French style roux with onion, celery, and carrots. And it uses Crisco instead of butter as the fat in which you brown the flour. It is completely worth it take your time and expect to spend a good 30-40 minutes just stirring and cooking the roux to a nice dark brown. Otherwise, I can't guarantee the results. And by stirring, I mean constantly hovering over the skillet for that whole time, only letting it sit maybe 20-30 seconds at the most. The flour will burn otherwise. You should also prep your veggies ahead of time by mincing them and have your meat cut up because you can't take time away from your precious roux to deal with that kind of shit. This is a labor of love, very hands on, and will take a while to make, but it's perfect for nights like this and a beverage of your choice while cooking (aside: It has now been 6 whole weeks since I last had a drop of alcohol - thank you Betty Ford ;)

So here are the ingrediants and then I'll give the steps:

Mom's Beef and Noodles

Roux

4Tbs Crisco
6Tbs flour
1 medium onion (minced)
2 stalks celery (minced)
1-2 carrots (minced)

Beef:

1-1.5lb or so of chuck roast, arm roast (cubed in bite size pieces)

Broth:

1 can beef broth
1 can water
salt
pepper
dab or two of worchestershire sauce

Method:

1. Prepare roux by putting Crisco in cast iron skillet on med-low heat and let melt fully. When melted, add the flour and start stirring. Keep an eye on the heat, turn it down low once the skillet and roux get warm enough. You'll know by whether the flour starts sticking to the bottom of the pan. It will do this as you cook it so just keep stirring and mixing that up. The cast iron will keep the heat very well which will help brown and cook the roux to a nice dark brown color. As I mentioned, expect to spend at least 30-40 minutes on this.

2. After that time, put in the minced veggies and mix. It will become a gloppy roux mixture, all of it sticking together with very little liquid. This is ok. Just keep stirring it and turning it over for about 10 minutes to get the veggies cooked and tender.

3. Next add the beef and mix that whole glob togther. If you make this, you'll know what I mean when I say glob :) You can turn up the heat a bit to medium so you can brown the meat faster. Don't turn it up too high. You'll again be constantly stirring, but not as much on this step b/c the meat will release juices and keep everything lubricated. This step will last about 10-15 minutes or so.

4. When the beef loses its red color, you will then add the beef broth, the water, the seasonings and cover the skillet and turn down low. Ideally, you'll want to let this mixture simmer for as long as you can to break down the beef and blend all the tasty goodness together. If you can, an hour would be great, occasionally stirring. Just test the beef and see how tender it is and let that be your guide.

5. Serve over cooked egg noodles (or The Agent likes it over rice). Either way, it's hearty, good Midwestern stick to your ribs stuff and it's my Mom's recipe and I only share her stuff with people I like.