USMB Coffee Shop IV

[saveliberty]

Southerners usualy say melk or mee-ulk when the southern or Texas dialect is so strong that there is no such thing as a one-syllable word.

O-h, that is hep full.

 

[ChrisL]

Neighbor has personalized car plates: Ma Cah

Transplant

I say my. My kha. My khakis.

 

[Nosmo King]

After a week of heavy snow and cripplingly cold temperatures, we finally made it to the park for a walk yesterday. Daisy the Mutt took full advantage, running headlong into the plowed snow at the edge of the roads only to emerge caked in snow. Walking a miniature poodle in the snow is like dragging a Q-Tip through the snow. Gobs of the stuff the size of golf balls clung to her curly fur. Snow packed its way across every crevasse on her thirteen pound frame. And she enjoyed it thoroughly. All I could see was two dark eyes, a black tip of her nose and a pink tongue hanging from her smiling mouth.

When we got back in the car, she began chewing the snow off of herself the way a four year old eats an ice cream cone, with intensity and no regard for drips.

So, I consider her cleaned by frolic and frozen water. Tonight is dinner at Mom's. The whole family will be there. She is serving roast beef. Mom does not like meat. Not that she's a vegetarian, but the taste of beef or pork or mutton just turns her off. Consequently, she over cooks every cut of meat that comes across her threshold. All flavor, all juices and any semblance to tenderness must be eradicated by force of heat. I was in college when I discovered that roast beef actually has a flavor. I always used a vat of Worchestershire sauce to impart some taste to Mom's roast beef.

And so, the tradition continues tonight.

Tonight I am the mom everyone will be joining for dinner

My sons birthday today and a standing rib roast is on the menu. I love a house full of everyone, makes me miss the old days when I was needed on a daily basis. Now I just show off I still cook the best and can afford the most. An abundance food is the way to celebrate in my world

Today is my birthday too. That's why Mom is cooking dinner. I asked for coffee and cake, but my sins will be punished on the dinner plate

Happy Birthday, Nosmo

Aw! Thanks so much, Sherry.

Maybe I ought to earn that mug and spin another yarn.

When I was on my Italian adventure there were quite a few things I had to accept quickly just to get along. The one aspect of life in Napoli I had a hard time adjusting to was the intermittent electrical service. In the summer the strain on the electrical grid was huge. Many Neopolitans had window air conditioner units. Of course, they sought the cool air, but I often thought the AC units were to filter out some of the pollution.

Mount Vesuvius is just south of town and a prominent part of the skyline of Naples. As we learned in geology 101, volcanoes are not solitary features. The whole of the Bay of Naples is surroundedby volcanoes. Andthatmeans lots of volcanic vents. These are huge ditches that emit a sulfurous gas all the time. So, one of the nasal treats is a constant rotten egg smell.

The vehicles there can seemingly burn any liquid you might want to fill the tank with. Diesel, leaded gasoline, he'll, maybe even olive oil can power a car or small van. So, exhaust fumes add that pungent quality to the sulfur gas.

The Navy base I was at straddled the Naples/Puzzoli city lines. The city father of both communities were not in agreement about who should collect the garbage that was heaped up on the curbs. So, every so often, when the trash got too deep, ortoo smelly, or attracted too many rats, the solution was to toss a railroad flare on the garbage heap and let fire purge the mess down to a stack of ashes.

Then there were the Neapolitans themselves. Not really concerned about personal hygiene, just walking behind a group of the local denizens added yet another layer of olfactory delightsto the already stagnant air.

The air conditioners hummed non-stop. That really made the electrical system overload. Every day in August, there would be an announcement telling us when and for how long we should expect a brown out. Asbestos abatement relies on a constant stream of power in order to keep the HEPA machines working. During a brown out, we had to take special precautions so our abatement efforts did not add to the air pollution.

One Saturday when the project was winding down, I decided to take a drive down the fabled Amalfi Drive. This road clings to the rocky Mediterranian shoreline. It is spectacular, challenging and just dangerous enough to keep you attention. The sea was shimmering in the late evening gloaming. I turned around and headed north, back to Naples.

On a rock promontory above the Mediterranian I saw a lovely classically designed building. It was a restaurant! "Great! That place is fantastic and I am hungry!" So I stopped for dinner.

Stately white columns, black and white mosaic tile floors, a gracious dining room with three sides open for glorious seaside view. This is the place.

The maitre 'd seated me, a waiter brought a carafe of red wine and a plate of fresh baked bread garnished with extra virgin olive oil, herbs and spices. The next waiter brought me a menu and waited while I desiphered the Italian.

Sensing my difficulty, the waiter asked if I was a foreigner.

"Si! Americano!"I answered. His face lit up with a broad smile.

"What'd ya wanna eat?" he asked.

Before I could answer, he grinned and said "Speciali?" and then he went to the kitchen.

"Okay" I thought "Speciali."

I poured myself some wine, schemered some of the olive oil/spice combo on the crusty bread and sat back to drink in the view.

Then the power went out. The whole dining room was bathed in candle light and the twilight's last gleaming.

A few minutes later, my waiter returned and place a plate of 'Speciali' on the table. I dug in to the pasta.

"Yum!" I thought as I savored each bite. "That tastes like shrimp, and this tastes like crab and this is good but the texture is strange" I thought as I enjoyedthe meal just before I finished the plate, the lights came back on

Inthe plate I saw some octopus or maybe squid tentacles and a dark inky sauce.

That's the best way to try food foreign to your palette. In the dark.

 

[ChrisL]

Neighbor has personalized car plates: Ma Cah

Transplant

I say my. My kha. My khakis.

Actually, that is not very accurate. A lot of people pronounce khakis with the short A sound. So, car keys really sounds more "cockeys."

 

[saveliberty]

That why Maryland has a Cockeysville?

 

[ChrisL]

Pretties used to do that. I finally got her to get the drift she can sleep in my lap..not my chest. Miss her.

I can't sleep with an animal on me. I have to have my space bubble, especially when I'm sleeping. I move around way too much. I've sent my share of cats flying across the room with my feet in the middle of night when I've been half asleep. Lol. Must be quite the rude awakening for them.

I must be an anomaly. I have one cat that likes to sleep on my head, and the mini-dog sleeps at my feet. I'm still waiting for my "teddy cat" to come forward, the one who sleeps in my arms like a teddy bear. There's something soporific about a purring pussy cat...

Our cat likes to sleep between my legs. That can be very annoying when I try to turn.

Well, I don't mean to kick them to be mean. I just move around to find the cold spots in the bed and it just so happens that my foot would sometimes come into contact with a cat.

Anyway, my cats would learn quickly not to try to sleep in my bed with me at nighttime. I literally end up kicking them out.

 

[Big Black Dog]

Have any of you folks ever used Acorn 4 photo editing software? If so, what's your opinion of it? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[Gracie]

Sorry, BBD. I sure Paint Shop Pro. Love it.

 

[Montrovant]

You have to carefully pull one leg up to your chest and then turn and slowly return the leg to its new position.

It might not be so bad if I weren't under the covers with the cat on top of the covers.

 

[Gracie]

The cat must be moved very carefully so as not to awaken it. You, the bed for the cat, do not count.

If I tried to move Pretties, she would hiss and then bite me. Hard. I got to where I would just say MOVE and she would wake up, stretch, glare at me but still move. However, if I did it without saying it...HISSS BITE.

I still miss her sassy ass.

 

[007]

I like just plain tea normally. I also really LOVE Chinese tea though. I put TONS of sugar in it. I've tried putting honey in as a substitute for sugar, but it's just not sugary enough for me. Tea with peanut butter toast. I like that for comfort food when I don't feel well.

Mrs. Liberty had tea and peanut butter toast for breakfast for years. Until she linked very dry itchy cracked bleeding hands in the winter to a peanut allergy.

Thankfully, I have no allergies that I'm aware of. If I was allergic to peanuts, I would be so bummed out!

My aunt is allergic to eggs. That tends to be a huge problem because so many things have eggs as an ingredient.

I made a pizza last night and added mushrooms, black olives, swiss cheese, salsa and then extra mozzarella, cooked on the Pizzazz. It was delicious.

I have no food allergies either. I'll eat just about anything but grits and rutabaga.

Y'all better stay away from Alabama if you don't like grits. You can walk into a coffee shop and order a piece of pie and the waitress will ask you if you want cheese on your grits.

This scene was in Wazoo, Beechum County, Alabama

One of my favorite movies. I have that on DVD.

 

[007]

Woman cave. Ours are cleaner and smell better than yours. No boys ALLOWED!

But there's nothing to DO there! Well, I suppose you could use it like monkey bars.....

Sure there is. Lie down and read a book. Monkey bars could be fun too though. Lol.

Bah, you can lie down and read in a normal room! The cave is supposed to be where you put things to do.

My "man cave" is a place where I can set up my table saw, radial arm saw, and other relevant equipment needed to complete various projects. Most people call said cave "garage". It works for me, though.

My man cave is in my garage/shop. Best place for it, because it's near all my tools.

 

[007]

Have any of you folks ever used Acorn 4 photo editing software? If so, what's your opinion of it? Inquiring minds want to know.

I've always used Adobe Photoshop since I could get it for free from my son. I think Adobe is the Rolls Royce of photo editing and illustrating. When I messed my laptop up and had to reinstall W7, I lost the Adobe Photoshop I had installed on it, but I found this online and it's basically the same thing, free too...

Photoshop Online Free

Never heard of that Acorn program.

 

[saveliberty]

You have to carefully pull one leg up to your chest and then turn and slowly return the leg to its new position.

It might not be so bad if I weren't under the covers with the cat on top of the covers.

Depending on the season, my cats would do one or the other.

 

[Montrovant]

The cat must be moved very carefully so as not to awaken it. You, the bed for the cat, do not count.

If I tried to move Pretties, she would hiss and then bite me. Hard. I got to where I would just say MOVE and she would wake up, stretch, glare at me but still move. However, if I did it without saying it...HISSS BITE.

I still miss her sassy ass.

If the cat really bites me.....she'll be lucky if I just push her off of the bed. I can deal with playful biting during the day, but if I'm woken up by a bite, I'm probably going to kick her right off the bed.

 

[Ernie S.]

You have to carefully pull one leg up to your chest and then turn and slowly return the leg to its new position.

Depends on the size of the dogs. Our 3 are 12 to 17 pounds. They all get out of the way pretty quick when one of us roll over.

 

[Ernie S.]

I think this grill should be installed outside those man caves ya'll were posting while ago:

Needs a bigger table, but that would do

 

[ChrisL]

The cat must be moved very carefully so as not to awaken it. You, the bed for the cat, do not count.

If I tried to move Pretties, she would hiss and then bite me. Hard. I got to where I would just say MOVE and she would wake up, stretch, glare at me but still move. However, if I did it without saying it...HISSS BITE.

I still miss her sassy ass.

If the cat really bites me.....she'll be lucky if I just push her off of the bed. I can deal with playful biting during the day, but if I'm woken up by a bite, I'm probably going to kick her right off the bed.

I love animals, but if they want to live in my home with me, I am the boss.

 

[Ernie S.]

Sorry, BBD. I sure Paint Shop Pro. Love it.

And I use GIMP.

 

[Ernie S.]

The cat must be moved very carefully so as not to awaken it. You, the bed for the cat, do not count.

If I tried to move Pretties, she would hiss and then bite me. Hard. I got to where I would just say MOVE and she would wake up, stretch, glare at me but still move. However, if I did it without saying it...HISSS BITE.

I still miss her sassy ass.

If the cat really bites me.....she'll be lucky if I just push her off of the bed. I can deal with playful biting during the day, but if I'm woken up by a bite, I'm probably going to kick her right off the bed.

Cats only bite me once.