09:12 – Barbara is off to finish cleaning out her mom’s apartment. We hope she’ll be able to finish today and have done with it. She and Frances have already given away their mom’s clothes and most of the furniture, so what remains is mostly small items.
We’re now in good shape on bottles and caps, but I just realized that I somehow got out of sync on the two. Our vendor sells bottles by the case, but the number of bottles per case varies from 160 to 1,500, depending on the size and type of bottle. The caps, on the other hand, are always sold ten gross per case. As it turns out, I now have many more 15 mL plastic bottles than I have caps for them, so I need to place another order for a case of those bottles and two cases of caps. That’ll bring our total inventory of those bottles and their caps into close agreement.
Strange. I wonder if there’s a good reason for the bottle/cap mismatch, or it’s just the way it’s always been done. And after you figure that out, you can get to work on the long-running and contentious hot dog/hot dog bun conundrum.*
* Not that it’s an issue for me. I don’t like hot dogs, seldom eat wheat products, and never eat typical store-bought American rolls or bread on account of it’s horrid.
The traditional explanation for the hot dogs/buns issue is that bakers don’t like doing things in tens. Another, related issue, for us New Englanders, is being able to find the top-loading buns, which are a tradition themselves here, not only for hot dogs but also lobsta rolls and clam strips. Real big in the summuh at the coastal joints.
Haven’t had a hot dog myself in years and agree on the regular crappy Murkan store-bought bread; we get local bakery stuff or bake it ourselves. We don’t have any particular dietary rules here; we eat what we like and don’t eat other stuff; Mrs. OFD doesn’t much care for the various ‘wurst foods, doesn’t like salmon, turns up her nose at stuff that’s been in the fridge for more than a day, and eats more veggies and pasta than me. I won’t eat the weird seafoods like squid and octopus, or frogs and snails.
Overcast today here on the bay; fifties and sixties all weekend with showers. Road just north of us about 200 yahds still has wottuh across it and signs advising caution. It’s a state highway that goes north to Swanton and the border, too. And the nouveau riche bastids who own actual wottuh-front places up and down the lake near here are getting wottuh in their yahds and basements or ground floors now.
Oh man! Life isn’t worth living without squid and octopus!
The reason buns come in multiples of 4 is apparent if you look at them. Hot dog buns are made in pairs for easier handling and are attached to each other. So if you have pairs of buns, you can stack 4 or 8 easily in packages that are not taller than loaves of bread, but not 6 or 10. That way they fit in the plastic carriers the bakers use for transport.
And except for some “gourmet” hot dogs and sausages, they all come in packs of 8 here in Texas.
Well now, Mr. ech has definitively illustrated the situation here for us; outstanding. That’s what I meant to convey, the multiples of four, but made a hash of it. And forgot about those carriers.
I notice a couple of the local “upscale” supermarkets here now carry sausage casings and the makings so you can do them up yerself; also a pretty good selection already of the “gourmet” hot dogs and sausages. I like ’em maybe once a month or so; our meat consumption here has gone down even from its previous levels, where we weren’t heavy meat eaters anyway. I probably have a red meat, like bacon or ham or ground beef maybe once or twice a week, and poultry and fish the rest of the time. Some days none at all, like yesterday.
Tonight, however, I am having a homemade steak-and-cheese sammich with smoked provolone and onions and spicy brown mustard, with the garlic pickles that Claussen has apparently just started distributing (check the fridge case).
And tomorrow I’ll be doing up a nice grilled tuna salad mix. Mrs. OFD likes that with a baked spud on the side. But she won’t be in until late, so I’ll pick her up Monday AM and we have an interview at the local paper for the mental health first aid to vets program. Then she leaves again Tuesday with her mom for a gig in New Mexico.
Something OFD might find interesting: mewling babies are delicate little flowers, and also Akatsukami’s comment here. (I’d provide a link to the comment, or at least a timestamp, but neither option seems to be available.)
Earlier today I had a non-homemade steak and cheese sandwich with provolone and sauteed onions and mushrooms.
Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ, etc.
I was thinking of adding sauteed shrooms but next time. And now that I’m also thinking of it, may change the mustard out for steak sauce instead.
Already saw that story about the audience at the grotesquely kicked-up version of an already grotesque grand guignol piece of shit that was probably ripped from whatever grand guignol piece Marlowe wrote, after his various espionage activities and tortured soul-searching over Catholicism, witchcraft, booze and dope. And being bisexual.
Not everything the guy known as Shakspear was bona-fide genius level. I’m guessing even he didn’t wanna remember doing it, except for whatever pounds sterling it brought in originally. Whichever dude wrote it, wrote it for the time and place of its audience then. And now we have producers and directors trying to spin it up even worse than it was; check out the version done by Sir Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange a few years back; see if you can sit through the whole thing; I couldn’t.
Needed to by a new vehicle because of the accident. Tough deciding how to proceed.
One option was to keep driving my ’99 F-150. Another was to buy a used car but did not want to inherit problems from an unknown pedigree. Buy a new car and drive it for 5 years or more then trade that vehicle and F-150 in for a new truck. Those ideas got rejected for one reason or another.
Looked at a 2014 Tundra and the Ford F-150. Drove the F-150 Platinum and liked it. Drove the Tundra 1794 edition and liked it. Then went back and drove the F-150. Went home to discuss the decision. A lot of pluses for the Tundra, a lot of pluses for the F-150.
What put us over the edge was we both felt the F-150 rode better than the Tundra, the seats were more comfortable and was significantly quieter inside. Additionally the gas mileage on the F-150 is better partly because the Tundra is V-8 and the F-150 is a V-6. The F-150 with the turbo has almost as much torque as the V-8. The floor pedals on the F-150 are adjustable and are not on the Tundra. I also like the Ford Sync system and the voice command system. So we pulled the trigger on a new F-150 Platinum.
Needed to get red as all other colors have black interior. The red has brown leather seats, heated and cooled with cool air from the A/C, not just ventilated. Heated rear seats. Retractable running boards (Tundra did not have those), HID lights on high and low, heated and self dimming mirrors, temperature controlled climate control, navigation, iPod (and Droid) integration, USB source inputs, folding rear seats with folding head rests, auto up and down power windows on all doors, step tailgate, and a whole lot of money.
Picture at http://www.raymondthompsonphotography.com/F-150.jpg
Nice truck! My wife would definitely approve of the bright red.
Good luck on the gas mileage. My brother had the V6 biturbo also and was driving it like a race car since it had so much power. Consequently, his mileage was just like the V8. He just traded his for a F250 3/4 ton diesel 4×4 crew cab (he puts 40K miles a year on his).
Good luck on the gas mileage.
I don’t drive like a race driver, the power is reserved for pulling the boat. After a week of driving to work I am averaging 20 mpg.
Yep, nice truck, and damn, but you take good pictures, son! Sharp as all git-out and I dig the angle!
I’m continuing to throw money by dribs and drabs into my ’96 Dodge Ram 2500 V8 4x, since I got it for nothing from one of my brothers a couple of years ago. I’m in it now for about $3k and now need a couple new tires, wheel bearings repacked on the front right, the horn replaced, and a new driver’s side door latch, preparatory to probably getting new doors and rocker panels and a complete new paint job. Nothing really major, not after the brakes, ball joint, struts, shocks, etc.
But at some point we’re looking at another truck, probably used again, but newer; and probably another Dodge, only this time a 1500 crew cab. Maybe later this year, if I get working again somewhere at something and being paid.
Fairly nice day here today, mostly sunny, but it clouded up several hours ago and we’ve got our usual drizzle and showers.
Last month was the wimmenz birthdays, Mrs. OFD, MIL, granddaughter,etc., etc. This month is two of my brothers, plus we got the Hallmark Holiday of Mother’s Day and that other one at the end of the month where Murka breaks out the BBQ stuff and starts the wonderful summuh season and a handful of pesky and annoying old fart veterans place wreaths at war memorials and suchlike, but at least have the decency to do it in the early AM and not snarl up shopping traffic and bum people out.
Probably driving down to Boston in a couple of weeks for a little visit to the VA offices there, and also stop by to see mom at her new digs, assuming she knows who I am, plus visit two brothers and son/DIL with grandkids. Might stay down there a coupla days, I guess, since Mrs. OFD will be holding the fort here. It’s kinda weird going down there nowadays; I left permanently in ’98 and it just seems wicked crowded and noisy and full of Massholes. Traffic sucks worse than ever; son informs us that his commute each day from Jefferson (paht of Holden, just north of Woostuh) to Needham (adjacent to America’s Technology Highway, 128) just to the west of Boston can take anywhere from an hour to three hours. An accident anywhere locks it all up; plus imbeciles rubbernecking at the sight of a backhoe in the distance or similar, and a fatal accident anywhere in the Greater Boston area will shut it all down for many hours.
God forbid anyone should be able to work from home most days of a month; PHB manglers just will not fucking do it, when it’s patently obvious that most of office and tech work can be done very easily that way now. So many reasons for doing it and making it readily and widely available, and hardly any against it.
you take good pictures, son!
Yes, he does. And, I am lusting on that wide driveway.
Back when I was looking at a turbo many moons ago I heard that there’s a disconcerting lag between hitting the accelerator and getting the torque. Is that still the case.
Nice wheels BTW.
Back when I was looking at a turbo many moons ago I heard that there’s a disconcerting lag between hitting the accelerator and getting the torque.
Not much anymore. Technology allows the turbine to spin up rather quickly. The systems have had a lot of time to mature and fuel injection controlled by a computer is also a factor. But I have yet to really put my foot down. I know that passing, as in get’r done quickly has not been a problem.
I have an inter cooler, oil cooler, transmission cooler, A/C condenser and a radiator all stacked in the grill.
I am lusting on that wide driveway.
We can park 3 across and four deep if needed, all concrete. Replaced the original asphalt many years ago, then widened another 10 feet to accommodate the boat.
Our driveway here is unpaved gravel, half of which we did away with in favor of raised beds. But we could park four or five vehicles on what’s left in a pinch.
For boats we have two canoes and two kayaks.
Looking at maybe one more truck and then flight lessons; there’s a flight school on one of the islands and they also do seaplanes; plus we have the Franklin County Airport ten miles north of here:
https://www.airnav.com/airport/KFSO
Just 23 miles northeast of Plattsburgh International Airport, LOL; which used to be a Strategic Air Command base out of which flew B52s. Mrs. OFD remembers seeing those monsters at treetop level. I remember them quite differently.
And about 30 miles north of Burlington International Airport, where we’re dumping the F16s and getting F35s, over the vociferous opposition of local commie bastids for the past several years; but what can they say when their Dem Party heroes like Leahy go for it? Used to bump into the latter once in a while at the local Shaw’s where we lived before; he’s a tall cuss, well over six feet.
I remember reading that Plattsburgh AFB had nuclear armed bombers, I thought they were FB-111s, not B-52s. I’m sure a B-52 going overhead at tree-top level would be *interesting*, but even more interesting would have been living near the “Plattsburgh Risk Area” if the Cold War had turned hot.
The F-111’s, if armed with nukes while at Plattsburgh, had a strike radius of only 800 square miles. Near as I can tell, the main nuke mission out of there was accomplished with the B-52s. And I’d assume that the base was one of the Soviet targets, of course, and is probably still listed as such with them, just as we probably still have our targets over there all lined up. Gee, if only our neocon ass-hats can get us into a hot war with Russia….we’ve had so many successes…Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and our Arab Spring capers in Libya, Egypt and Syria….
Yeah, one wonders what planet the great military leaders live on. It’s no different wherever you go. The last few years in Switzerland, the military leadership is pushing to buy some snazzy new figher jets. You know the kind: They can overfly our whole flyspeck of a country in about 30 nanoseconds.
But look at the kinds of missions the Air Force here is called out for. It’s things like protecting the WEF. Imagine the kind of threats they have to counter, and the location in the mountains, and tell me what good fighters are. They’d be a lot better off with a slew of helicopters. But that’s just not as sexy.
OFD wrote
“…a strike radius of only 800 square miles.”
Can I have some time to think about that… 🙂
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_F-111C
Combat radius: 1,330 mi (1,160 nmi, 2,140 km)
Presumably they could be refueled in the air. I was always skeptical about the idea of the B-52 getting through to its targets in the USSR. Their air-defence would have had a field day with that lumbering old plane , surely.
Yes, they had KC-135 tankers outta Plattsburgh, too. And given the real status of Soviet anti-aircraft and other military infrastructure during the so-called Cold War, and the B-52s flying in at very high altitudes, I suspect we would have hit most of the targets while they wouldn’t have gotten very many of ours.
It still woulda sucked, though.