Monkeyfister

Tomato Seeds...

2010-01-02T12:24:00.007-06:00

I noticed a few folks are interested in my tomato seeds. Good! Drop me an email with your snail mail address, and I'll get them out by end of week. I put my email address back at the top of the Sidebar for you. The block of seeds that I tested for viability are all up and growing, so I think that the seeds I send out should do you well. One or two successful seeds should be all you need, if the second generation grows as big and fruitful as the original. Click the pics for HUGE versions.

Huge, sprawling plant! 8'l x 6'w at least! It won't be string trained.

This many tomatoes every three days or so. That's a Half-Peck basket. Big, fat late-season cukes and beans in there for comparison.

Look closely, and you can see just how many tomatoes this plant puts out. TONS!

The yield picture, above shows the harvest of perhaps two or three fruiting stalks. I couldn't keep up with the plant.

To Top Of Main Page

My Seeds Are Here!

2009-12-31T14:53:00.004-06:00

I placed my $50.00 seed order with Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
on Monday, and the seeds arrived today.

I just turned on the soil heating pad, and tomorrow, as the Farmer's Almanac says is a great day, I will get the seeds planted.
Among the the new varieties I am going to try this year:

Purple Vienna Kohlrabi-- purple, same taste.
Feherozon Sweet Bell Pepper-- a thick-walled elongated pepper related to the Hungarian Yellow Wax Hot Pepper.
Fish Peppers-- White variegated leaves, a hot pepper of the Mid-Atlantic states.
Arkansas Little Leaf Cucumbers-- Pickling cukes, long vines, small leaves to better see those sneaky little cukes!

Looking forward to growing heirloom stock of the South. I hope it helps with productivity, and timing with the HEAT of Summer.

I also bought lots of White Icicle Radishes to help fight off the Squash Bugs this year. This past year they were a terror with their sheer numbers. Squash Bugs were very hard to combat this year. I basically harvested everything I could, as fast as I could, and then yanked the plants, and squished as many bugs, and destroyed as many eggs as I could. I ran out of Icicle Radishes when planting the last of my bushing squashes.

To Top Of Main Page

Kung Fu Terrorists On A Muthafuggin' Plane!

2009-12-31T12:12:00.003-06:00

For Chris Matthews...

MATTHEWS: And I think we have got to get serious about catching terrorists, not just catching weapons. I‘m waiting for the terrorist who knows kung fu or something that gets on an airplane without a weapon. God knows what that is going to be like.

Oy.

To Top Of Main Page

Murray Is Home!

2009-12-31T10:38:00.001-06:00

He's got a bladder infection. Not severe. Caught it early. The Doctors and the assistants all said he was a great little patient. I've got some medicine for him, and he seems really happy to be home.

To Top Of Main Page

Rosanne Cash and Bruce Springsteen-- "Sea Of Heartbreak"

2009-12-30T16:39:00.003-06:00

Gosh, this is a pretty cover.

I finally bought Rosanne Cash's album, "The List." It is absolutely wonderful, lots of sweet cameo performances, and super-fine production. I think it will get as much playtime with me as Nanci Griffith's "Other Voices, Other Rooms." Better than Mom's chicken soup.

To Top Of Main Page

Comments...

2009-12-30T16:07:00.002-06:00

Apparently, I am already scheduled for an automatic conversion to Echo for comments, as HaloScan is going to go to a money-scheme. I am told that all the comments should migrate over, and barring a short period of time while the account switches, it should be painless. We'll see. I don't know when it will happen. I suspect I will be as surprised as you when it does.

To Top Of Main Page

Murray Is Doing OK...

2009-12-30T13:31:00.005-06:00

Dr. Reed's office called to say that they are still waiting for the l'il guy to provide them a urine specimen. In the meantime, they took a blood sample, and ruled out the big, terrible ailments such as diabetes, or renal failure. The urine specimen will show if he has crystals in his pee, which will indicate a bladder stone, prompting an x-ray to see the scope and scale of it. Barring that, he'll have a clean bill of health, and show that he is ummmm... pissed at me for some reason. Perhaps my traveling for my job, and long weekends away hunting has him upset. I think I can deal with that.

If he has a bladder stone, I have a set of good, gentle, tinctures on hand to help it dissolve, and clean his system. They worked miracles for Mountain Girl, who had two BB-sized stones in her little bladder. A cat's bladder is the size of the tip of your thumb, knuckle to tip. Even Dr. Reed was impressed at the efficacy of the tinctures. He has emulated them, as the company went under, and prescribes them to willing clients. That was another thing he and I discussed yesterday.

It feels good to have Murray in the hands of caring professionals.

To Top Of Main Page

Thrown Out Of The Verterinarian's Office Today...

2009-12-29T17:47:00.003-06:00

Murray is showing symptoms of a urinary tract problem. I called Monday morning to the new Vet's place to get an appointment, and they got me in this afternoon. Great! After moving 30 miles north of my old apartment, the cats weren't handling the trip to good Dr. Reed's office very well, so I decided to try the BIGVet clinic near home. Big mistake. With volume comes lack of care.

I had had face time with this particular Vet Assistant in the Spring, when I took the kidz in for their annual shots. She put me off-center then, asking a question, and then talking over me when I tried to answer-- just not listening. I was additionally put-off by the way she handled my cats then-- I've seen TSA agents handle luggage with more care. At the time, I wrote it off as perhaps she was having a bad day, somehow distracted by other things.

There she was again today, and if anything, she was worse. She had someone with her, apparently in training. There came a point in the initial exam where I had to stop her, and tell her directly that she wasn't listening, and I felt she was handling Murray too roughly. I asked for someone else to handle this part, as already, she was mishandling Murray in ways that were straight out not right. Right off the bat, she dragged him out of the carrier by his front leg. He screamed. He has never screamed like that, but it got worse. After the initial exam, she said she was going to try to get a urine sample from Murray, and all in one swoop, grabbed Murray by the scruff of his neck, and walked out the door with him-- like luggage. Five minutes later, I could hear him screaming again from the lab room-- 75 feet away, through walls and doors. I poked my head in, and saw four assistants holding him down, while a fifth was pressing hard on his abdomen-- like someone doing CPR-- they were trying to squeeze the piss out of him.

I went out to the front desk to complain about the treatment, and to let them know that I didn't want that Vet assistant handling my cats ever again.

You'd have thought I came in brandishing a firearm. I was actually pretty calm, but my voice is very deep, and powerful. The next thing I know, I have three vets SCREAMING at me about how I hurt their Ass's feelings, and how dare I! Apparently, they managed to torture a sample out of Murray, but the Vet threw it away because I had the audacity to complain about their treatment of him.

The Head Vet/Owner sided with his staff, telling me that there are other animal owners, and he didn't need my business. Then the little badger of an associate Vet literally threw Murray, in his carrier two feet to me, "Take your cat, take your book (threw that at me too), and get out of here!" This was right in front of the Owner. I looked at him and said, "She just threw my cat at me-- that mistreatment is exactly why I complained. You mistreated my cat, you don't care about customer service, I guess it's just the money that motivates you. You need to take the caduceus down from your door, because you're causing more harm than good here, and CARE is not a factor with you. You must be a Republican. I don't need to give you my money, or my referrals."

"Just get out." I think I was right about the Republican thing.

The ladies at the front desk, with whom I do business often, were rather shocked by the whole affair, and very apologetic. I asked them to print out the kids' records, and to please call Dr. Reed's office and tell them that I'll be there directly. They were great.

Back to the good, ol' Vet. Like night and day.

Dr. Reed's entire staff was happy to see the two of us. Very welcoming. Dr. Reed took me into the back, and asked me what happened, and I explained the whole deal. When I got to the point where they were force-pressing a urine sample out of Murray, he was visibly upset. His office kept Mountain Girl for two days, patiently waiting for her to pee for them. He said that he deplored the forced sample method because the trauma helps nothing, and destroys the animal's trust in the Vet, making visits more difficult later.

While waiting for the new paperwork to be drawn up, several of Dr. Reed's customers who overheard some of my situation told me their own horror stories about Munford Animal Clinic. They all said they live pretty far away, but bring their critters to Dr. Reed for his, and his staff's loving care. I felt better immediately.

Dr. Reed's office just called to report that Murray is doing fine. They gave him water and food, and he gave up a sample just fine for them (in the natural way). They took a blood sample from him, as he has been drinking enormous quantities of water. They said he was being a great patient, and everything has gone well.

Munford Animal Clinic is for those people who buy a dog just to be in the yard and bark. Those people who don't even see a reason to name their pets. "Dog" and "Cat" are just fine to the people that would use a place like that. My local campaign against them is just beginning.

Mostly, I just want my little fella on the road to Wellsville without unnecessary trauma from those I entrust to CARE for him.

Too many Vets go into practice for the money alone. They are just like Dentists in that greed-motivated pursuit. Finding a GOOD, CARING practitioner of either field is like finding a needle in a haystack.

To Top Of Main Page

Questions About Bonnie Garden Starters And Some Other Stuff...

2009-12-28T18:36:00.005-06:00

Some folks have been asking about my warning about Bonnie Plants inre: Late Blight.

Bonnie is the company that sells garden starters through nearly all of the BIG BOX retailers, such as WalMart, Lowe's and Home Depot. Early this year, after shipping out all of their plants for the gardening season, they announced that their soils were contaminated by Late Blight, a terribly destructive fungus:

Late blight is a plant disease that mainly attacks potatoes and tomatoes, although it can sometimes be found on other crops, weeds and ornamentals in the same botanical family (Solanaceae). Other plants that late blight may infect include petunia, nightshades, and tomatillos. Late blight was a factor in the Irish potato famine in the 1850’s, during which millions of people in Ireland starved or were forced to emigrate. Entire potato crops rotted in the field or in storage because of late blight infection. Late blight is caused by an oomycete pathogen that survives from one season to the next in infected potato tubers.

Many, many people-- particularly in the Northeast this past year-- purchased tomato plants from the BIG BOX stores and put them in their gardens.

After the torrential spring rains finally let up in the Northeast, reports started coming in that tomatoes in particular were very sickly, unproductive, and clearly diseased. Bonnie's admitted that their soils were to blame, much to their credit. But, the problem is that Late Blight Fungus, once in the soil, is a BITCH to get rid of. If you planted Bonnie's tomatoes or other plants in your garden in the past two years, you are going to have to remove and replace a lot of soil where they were growing, and, if you plant tomatoes or potatoes this Spring, you'll need to plant them in a very different location, as far away from last year's planting as possible, or risk further infection. This is a VERY, VERY serious Blight.

Because Bonnie has absolutely nothing on their front page discussing how they combated the fungus, it can't be ruled out that it will still be a problem this year for them. But those BIG BOX stores are still going to demand their plants, and they will contractually have to provide them. Avoid them.

I need to stress that in my last post I referred to them as "tried and true," and I really have faith in, and a LOT of respect for Bonnie's-- I have used their starters plenty, and, in fact, my prized Rosemary plant and my very vigorous Sage plant-- transplanted each four times in as many moves, are strong, vigorous, and doing great. It is a true shame that they were hit with this fungus, and I wish them well. I am in no way trying to disparage this fine company.

However, at this point in America's history, in a time of extreme financial and environmental crises, it cannot be stressed enough that we simply CANNOT afford a wide-spread infection of Late Blight from coast to coast. It will devastate the entire country's food supply in the longer run if garden soils nationwide continue to be annually re-inoculated with Late Blight from a known vector. Think about everything that involves tomatoes and potatoes. It pains me to say it, because I really like this company, but this year I MUST advise you all to avoid their products, and go with a different company, or best yet-- start your own plants from heirloom seeds nowhere near the Deep South.

OK. so that is the basic skinny on Bonnie's and Late Blight. It's a fungus that has the potential to bring America's food supply to it's knees, and Bonnie's should be considered a vector a year out from first bloom. I would hope that our good friend Demeur would be able to shine some more light on this topic. A fungus like this running through America's food production soils right now is not something we need.

This year, I am breaking a 10-year tradition. I have consistently purchased my seeds from the Ark Institute (link in the sidebar), and have often recommended them, here, but after two years of getting mislabeled seeds-- planting a 4' x 4' square of garden space with 132 POLE bean plants instead of 132 BUSH bean plants, as the packet was labeled, is NOT a cool thing to realize 35 days into what should have been a 65-day cycle. Especially when they are backstopped by cucumbers. Or getting vining Butternut squash instead of bushing zucchini gets to be a problem when using the Square Foot Gardening Method. There is, sadly, no room for labeling errors by a company. So, this year, I am going with Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, a worker-owned cooperative in Virginia. Their specialty seems to be heirloom seed stocks of the Mid-Atlantic states, they also cover the Deep South, and my Mid-South 7b climate zone.

One of my biggest problems with learning to garden in zone 7b, as opposed to my Michigan-ingrained zone 5b-- I've been pleasantly surprised by what is now possible to grow, but it has taken me a lot of time, money and heartache discovering what I can no longer grown because of the heat,yellow bell peppers, for instance. I can grow them, but they require a lot of extra care to keep the direct sun off the ripening fruits, as fungus grows inside the pepper, and rots it from the inside out with too much direst sun and heat. I get a lovely, small early harvest in mid-Spring, and then watch everything rot before ripening during the Summer, and then a nice Fall harvest. Long-bodied peppers don't have that problem down here. It took me three years, and hundreds of dollars worth of soil amendments and analysis gear to learn that the peppers just need a little shade while ripening. BUT, my dirt is super kick-ass, now.

Last year, because of disease, erratic and extreme weather, drought in Australia, Africa, California, China and India, and Monsanto's spectacular seed stock fail-o-rama (which they've managed to repeat in larger scale this year), we saw an impressive jump in food prices this year-- particularly grain staples. The situation seems to be shaping up to be even worse this year. California's drought issues alone are going to show us an enormous set of price hikes across the entire scope of AgriBusiness.

On top of the food issue, Arrow Trucking has totally imploded, and ceases to exist as a trucking company, and Yellow-Roadway (YRC) is close to bankruptcy bankruptcy protection. Two major trucking lines going down will mean diminished competition, and higher prices. Looks like a larger recipe for a serious food price crunch is in the mix.

What I am, and always have been, getting at is that you really need to start gardening now; planting as many of the vegetables that you like to eat, in the biggest way that you can, whether an window boxes, your backyard, or a community garden/allotment/neighbor barter agreement. Barring that, you really need to seek out, and support your local farming coops and CSAs, and get down to supporting Local growers. BigAgra is failing us, and it is time to localize intensely in order to brace against their immense failure. I've been saying the same thing for years now, but THIS is the moment I've been warning against. I know your grocery bills have been surprisingly higher to you. I rarely need to go to the grocery store anymore, but when I do, I am regularly surprised by the jump in prices. A dollar for a cucumber???

It's all piling up, and all I can say is grow your own... and as good, and convenient, as they are-- stay away from Bonnie's this year.

My seeds are on their way, I have the seedling closet all ready for them, with sterilized growth medium ready to be inoculated with beneficial mushroom fungus for them. My growing season starts in just eight weeks. Seed stocks are low, and prices are much higher than last year, so plan ahead!

Inre: Discussion about Burpee's Seed Catalogue. They are now owned by Monsanto. I wouldn't buy their seeds if there was a cocked and loaded gun to my head, now. Go as regional/local as you can get. I'll post some sites later this week. My sidebar has some good seed suppliers. I am working on updating the sidebar.

SEED SHARING: I have a very limited amount of my little, but productive "Monkeyfister's Marvels" tomato seeds available for free to those who might want them. The plant will sprawl over an 8' x 8' area, and produce a never-ending supply of 2" salad-sized tomatoes (until first major frost), about ten to a fruiting stalk, that are EXCELLENT for salads, or drying and preserving in olive oil. Done that way, I use them instead of a sauce when I make pizza, I just mush them up, and spread them on the dough. I couldn't keep up with my one, single plant's productivity this year. Let me know if you are interested. I'll repost my email address for those interested, and get as many as I can off to you (about ten seeds). You MUST have room for them. It will not grow up a string or frame... it's a brand new stock... It will sprawl. I have enough for MAYBE 10 seeds for the first 10 people who express interest. I have tried a random sampling of the seeds for viability, and I have six plants (out of nine) sprouting. Not bad for F1 generation. Seriously, you'll only want one or two in your garden to accent your usual tomato varieties, and this plant takes a LOT of space.

I whacked down the dead asparagus ferns today. My gods, I am going to have an enormous harvest of asparagus this coming Spring. Last year, I noted that each crown ended up with about 12-15 stalks, this year, that number is more than doubled. I salivate thinking about opening a vacupac of bright green, tender Jersey Giant asparagus this time next year. This year will mark the first "official and proper" harvest year for these asparagi. They were two years old when I bought and buried them. Last year, I snipped a few for a treat at dinner time. This coming Spring my pee is going to smell funny for months. I love asparagus, and starting that bed was the best thing I've done out back to date.

Endnote: Monsanto's hybrid control problem stems from the very basic problem that their controlled, and heavily trademarked and enforced plant and seed stock require too much water in the fields of Reality. Wells and aquifers are being drawn down to extinction as a result of this very basic flaw. The crop failures around the globe are destroying hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of lives as a result. But, Monsanto is not stopping, and not relenting in their persecution of those they feel are in their way with organic, heirloom crops. IMHO, Monsanto needs to be destroyed by whatever means possible, but they seem to be destroying themselves just fine. I just want Monsanto's extinction to come before Humanity's extinction... by a factor of a few million years...

"*" -- Norwegian Bachelor Farmer. See Garrison Keillor's, "A Prairie Home Companion."

To Top Of Main Page

Out Of Christmas Cheer And Energy...

2009-12-24T14:23:00.005-06:00

I'm feeling kinda Scrooge-like this year. I have some sort of stomach bug and fever, it hurts to read. It is dead, brown and grey outside, with a nasty, sideways, bitter cold rain. Bah humbug, and a half-hearted MEH!

I'm spending a lot of time working at the Food Bank. Money trickles in, and we get more done on the meat processing side. Our visibility campaign is doing well, and sadly, demand is rising.

Pierogi making went really well last weekend. My Southern friends had a good time making them, and really liked eating them. As unofficial Ambassador for Foreign Foods to my part of Tennessee, I couldn't really get upset when Randy reached for the hot sauce for his pierogis. We ended up freezing 12 dozen-- 50/50 potato/cheese and kraut/mushroom-- between six of us. The guy who talked me into doing the work and planning the day of assembly (Candy's dad) canceled when we called him (he was already two-hours late)... I had made enough of everything to make sure he and his girlfriend had three or four dozen when done, plus some strawberry dessert pierogies, and his whole portion got thrown away due to starting late, and we didn't have the energy to do any dessert 'rogies. Blew hunting that night, too. I was pretty pissed. Christmas Eve dinner is at his house this year, so I am sorta glad that I am flu-ish today. I am about to cook a goose, flu be damned, and plan on siding with some of these tasty gems, some green beans from the Summer garden, and a mixed greens salad with carrots and leeks from the Winter garden. I'll either eat it today, or through the weekend.

Demeur-- the fresh mushrooms, and reconstituted dried mushrooms really had all the liquid needed. I rinsed and squeezed the hell out of the kraut, too. No need for extra chicken stock, just a LOT of butter to keep everything firm and held together once chilled. Cooking everything on LOW and COVERED was the key.

Hunting has been a total drag this year. The hunters around us are total assholes. I probably won't bother going out again this year because of them. That same hunter from opening day, who field-dressed his deer in our hunting lane? He did it AGAIN last weekend. We shouted at him to take his deer and get the hell out, but he persisted, AND left the guts-- AGAIN. He waved at us! I was tempted very, very seriously to give him a warning shot. That's not good hunting mentality on my part. It's so frustrating. Best to just call it a season, and enjoy this year's memories of sunrises and sunsets, and watching the deer, turkey, geese, foxes and bobcats all doing their thing.

I won't be posting much of anything for a while. Time to clean my messy house, brew a lot of beer, hunker down, and plan this year's garden.

Oh! On the garden planning subject: Keep in mind that Bonnie's should still be considered infected with late blight-- it is a fungus, and quite likely to still be present on their Deep South lands. It was quite wet here this year, and that particular fungus is difficult to eliminate. As a basic rule, because of the extremes in weather across the country, drought in the West, and rain and disease in the South and Northeast, along with higher demand, seed stock is is going to be in even shorter supply, and more expensive this year. The few catalogs I am looking at show 25-75 cents more per pack of seeds this year over last.

If you plan on gardening, buy your seeds NOW, and get seedlings going early. With ol' tried and true Bonnie's on the suspect list, and the bad news coming out of Monsantoland, it's best to plan ahead. YOU DO NOT WANT LATE BLIGHT FUNGUS IN YOUR SOIL. I have links to good seed suppliers in my sidebar. One of my spider-hole projects is to clean the sidebar up, and bring links up to date, add more, and clean-up and add more categories. Seriously-- buy your seeds right now.

Christmas meh this year for me. But, I wish you and yours a wonderful, safe and happy Christmas.

U2 covering Greg Lake's "I Believe In Father Christmas":

To Top Of Main Page

Should Be A Fun Weekend...

2009-12-19T10:30:00.003-06:00

I'm going to my friends' house to teach them how to make pierogies. I brought back some incredible kielbasa and fresh Polish sausage from Philly to round out what should be a fine dinner of potato and artisan Amish extra-sharp cheddar perogies, and kraut and fresh mushrooms pierogies, including shiitake and oyster mushrooms I harvested yesterday. We're also making some strawberry and creme cheese pierogies for dessert.

YUM!

After that, it's hunting, and then some more hunting.

I am on vacation for the rest of the year, and happy, happy, happy.

To Top Of Main Page

Overheard At The Airport...

2009-12-14T17:55:00.002-06:00

What's the difference between Santa Claus and Tiger Woods?

Santa stops after three ho's.

ba-dum-bump... tisssh.

I'll be here all week... yada yada...

To Top Of Main Page

Job Security...

2009-12-14T17:34:00.003-06:00

Everyone who needed to be impressed by our efforts in organizing Navy's presence at THE BIG GAME were, indeed, impressed.

Next up-- X-Games. wheeee!

For those who didn't watch it, Navy won, 17-3 in a very impressive second half. I s'pose that that helped with the good reviews, somehow.

It's great to be back in the saddle again.

To Top Of Main Page

Incredible Town...

2009-12-11T09:33:00.002-06:00

So, I'm staying at the Windsor Suites. Best value in all of Center City. Balcony and a full kitchen with stove, oven and full-size fridge. AWESOME!

I just dodged the bullets to get to Reading Terminal Market, which is a complete feast for the senses. I bought a LOT of good foods-- mainly Pennsylvania Dutch foods, and a pile of Italian baked goods. I may need to buy a new bag to get it all home.

Time to get busy doing the work, now.

It's great to see all the ads I designed all over the city, and Philly itself is promoting the BIG GAME, as well.

If only Memphis would allow some culture to seep in. I'm enjoying everything right now.

To Top Of Main Page

Philly Bound...

2009-12-09T19:39:00.003-06:00

Wow!

Busy work week. The Army-Navy game is assured to be a game to watch this weekend. It's been exhausting, but a lot of fun.

It's been an excellent experience planning an event at this level. Refreshing!

The President is going to be there, so that is what added the extra frenzy this week.

That's a lot of extra planning and Secret Service, but everything is done.

Philly is going to be a lot of fun this weekend. I hope that Philadelphia area readers will drop by the Stadium Complex and review some of the toys I have to play with.

I am trying to pack light in order to bring back lots of good foods from Reading Terminal Market.

It is always best to bust ass and get the work done early on. It makes all that last-minute bullshit a breeze. My job is basically done, and double-checked. Friday, I'll call and triple-check all the arrangements. Inspect the toys, and hope the Big Boys don't need attending. Everything is set. Day of Event, my job is going to be to have have fun in the Nation's First Capitol, during the BIG GAME.

Smart money is on tradition, and the Bookies will tell you Go Navy by a long spread. The big side bet is whether Navy will be merciful this year. I'm sure there is some potentially good contrarian book in there, somewhere.

To Top Of Main Page

Dragon Age: Origins...

2009-12-06T18:40:00.004-06:00

Damn you, John Cole-- you've up and got me addicted to the new Bioware video game. Dragon Age: Orgins. I thank you more than I damn you, of course, my friend.

It is not up to the scale of Baldur's Gate, or Shadow of Awmn, but for story line, plot, and character development, it is a fantastic Fantasy game that has already paid for itself in entertainment dollars per hour.

I also downloaded all of the new Downloadable Content for Fallout 3, and am replaying the entire game with the new stuff. Dollar for dollar, I'd go with Fallout 3, for gameplay value, as with Fallout 3, it really IS a new gaming experience with every play. The new DLC changes EVERYTHING! With Dragon Age, you're just stuck playing through the same scripts with a new character, with nothing really "new" to confront.

Both games, however, are exceptional entertainment values, and I highly recco both for the dollar, with bias toward Fallout 3.

To Top Of Main Page

The Bloody Monkey...

2009-12-06T16:12:00.004-06:00

In between chores, I am enjoying my favorite Bloody Mary recipe. It's my own concoction, arrived at after years of experimentation.

While Active Duty Navy, I was stationed at Ft. Belvoir at Mt. Vernon, VA. Across from the Main Gate was a joint called the Polo Grill, it was sorta upscale without being snooty about it. On Sundays, they had this marvelous Bloody Mary and breakfast buffet. You'd buy the vodka of your choice by the shot, and then they had EVERYTHING you'd every imagine putting into a Bloody Mary. There was always much spirited discussion and recipe swapping at that looooong table.

Here's my ultimate favorite final, personal recipe.

In a 16 ounce glass, combine:

-- 4 shots vodka ( I use Sobieski vodka. New on the market, it is very good, priced at a surprisingly cheap $20.00 per half gallon. I remember when Ketel One was new, too.)
-- Juice of 1/4 lemon
-- A hearty dash of Worcestershire Sauce
-- Two not-so-vigorous dashes of the Tabasco-style Hot Sauce of your choice. Might want to add to taste at the last before garnish.
-- 4 solid shakes of ground celery seed
-- 6 rotations on your fresh Black Pepper grinder

Leaving room for ice, fill remainder of glass 2/3 with Clamato juice, and 1/3 (~ a little can's worth) with V8 Spicy.

Stir.

Top with ice.

Garnish with Kosher dill pickle spear, or celery heart stalk... I do both, and also alternate, and keep them with every refill, and munch them all in the end. I prefer the dill pickle, though. The two here in my glass right now, with the celery, I grew and pickled myself-- makes it all the better! The Clamato only adds a bit of sensuality to ther flavor-- this drink doesn't taste of clams first... You don't even really note the Clam flavour.

YUM!

I hope you also find this recipe as good as I do.

Now, I know there are those who insist that if a Bloody Mary uses Clam juice, it is a "Bloody Caesar," but phhhhhht to all that. This here is a Bloody Monkey... It could have been called The Bloody Fister, or The Bloody Fister Augustus, so, perhaps Bloody Monkey is the best choice for polite company.

Tonight's dinner:

-- Garden-harvested Rosemary Roasted Cornish Game Hen with Basmati Rice, Herbs, Giblets, and Homegrown Oyster Mushrooms Dressing.
-- Fresh-Harvested Roasted Potatoes, Turnips, Onions and Carrots.
-- Garden-Harvested Endive salad, rescue-ripened "Monkeyfister's Marvel" Tomatoes, Garden Onions, Carrots and Herbs.
-- Spiced Apples and Pears with Pomegranate over Vanilla Ice Cream.

This time of year, my garden set-up fucking ROCKS! Everything is thriving under the hooped "mini-greenhouses" of my Wintergarden beds. It makes the cooking of serious comfort food a really easy deal. Just go out and pull up and snip what is needed.

Next year is going to suck more than this year has... I STRONGLY recommend that you book in your community garden space, negotiate some garden space and crop-sharing deals with your neighbors, or start planning your backyard or container gardens NOW.

2009 was a bad year for food crop seed producers, and stocks are, again, limited.

This weekend, I got my seed-starting closet all cleaned out, and ready to roll. Lights are ready, Flats are full of soil, ready for seeds and water come New Year.

Cut back the Asparagus, which has finally relented to the deep frosts. Just counting the dozens of new stalks produced this year, those beautiful Asparagi are going to force me to freeze dozens and dozens of young spears next Spring. I am SO DAMNED EXCITED! I mean that of the 30 crowns that I have planted, every crown produced on average 34 stalks, once I left off Spring harvest. The fall after planting, there were ~12 stalks per crown. I am going to drown in Asparagus come the Spring, and I cannot WAIT!

I ripped up this weekend, and need to replant the Strawberries this Spring... Three years on, and it is time to start over. Good thing that I am re-doing, and doubling the depth of the Strawberry/Asparagus bed this Winter! Perfect timing-- and it is all in the timing.

Back on the Bloody Mary track-- My jag has ultimately encouraged me to eat an entire stalk of celery between drinks, snacks and meals, today.

OK. Laundry and more cooking is calling.

To Top Of Main Page

I'll Be In Philly This Coming Weekend...

2009-12-06T10:09:00.004-06:00

Work-related activities, namely the Army-Navy Game, are taking me to Philadelphia this weekend. I get in Thursday afternoon, leave Sunday morning, and would love to meet-up with any Philly folks/bloggers for after work fun. I'll be staying at the Windsor Suites, and really want to find some good, locally-owned restaurants in the area-- particularly Polish, Italian and Vietnamese-- as well as a good place to get a proper Philly Cheesesteak. Seven years surrounded by nothing but barbecue and fried catfish has me hungry for REAL food. Is there a proper pub in the City Center area?

Lemme know in comments!

To Top Of Main Page

By Golly, There Is A Pony InThere Somwhere..

2009-12-05T12:59:00.005-06:00

It must be hiding in Ben Bernanke's pants, because its not in the charts.

via The Big Picture

More at the link.

And we are now entering the peak of the Option ARM recasts, and the collapse of Commercial Real Estate values, with no help from Obama's economic henchmen, or his Congress in sight.

Green shoots? Where?

To Top Of Main Page

Unscrupulous Hunters...

2009-12-05T11:44:00.003-06:00

Weekend after weekend of either not seeing deer, or not having the opportunity for a safe shot, or having deer driven off by farming activities, I finally had a perfect shot on a nice doe this morning. She came out of the woods at 200 yards, walking slowly, not aware of us in the least. I was calm, took my time, lined up the shot, and squeezed the trigger. She went down quickly, but then got back up, and slowly, limping, went back toward the woods. I took another shot, but because she was moving, I missed. However, I know my first shot was a solid hit. Once into the tree line, she could have gone in any direction, but she went toward the neighboring field-- owned by notoriously prickish people.

The way she went down, and the way she was moving indicated that she would not go too far. I put on my hunter orange, and made to follow her.

And that is when two shots rang out from the neighboring field. By the time I got through the woods, and over by the field, all I saw was the neighbor guy dragging my doe away across the field. He heard me crunching through the frosted leaves, looked back once, but never stopped. My thought is that he didn't even need to shoot the deer, she probably just dropped dead at the edge. The drag trail from the tree line supports my hypothesis, but who knows? I am pretty disgusted this morning, though.

Considering how, on opening day, we allowed the other neighbors to come claim their deer, even letting one field dress a deer while we waited for him to leave, it seemed just wrong, somehow, for this hunter to take my doe... but there was nothing to be done about it. In the weeks to come, that dude is going to realize that turnaround is fair play.

To Top Of Main Page

Surrounded By Stoopid...

2009-12-04T15:01:00.003-06:00

Life here in the Armpit of America.

via The Tennesean

According to The Commercial Appeal, Arlington Mayor Russell Wiseman posted the statements on his Facebook page and said the president is Muslim. Obama is Christian.

“We sit the kids down to watch ‘The Charlie Brown Christmas Special’ and our muslim president is there, what a load…..try to convince me that wasn’t done on purpose,” he wrote, according to the paper.

His Facebook page can only be accessed by people he has approved as friends. Arlington is a city of about 7,600 residents about 25 miles northeast of Memphis.

In the extensive posting, he also attacked the president’s supporters, saying “...you obama people need to move to a muslim country…oh wait, that’s America….pitiful.”
At another point, he wrote, "you know, our forefathers had it written in the original Constitution that ONLY property owners could vote, if that has stayed in there, things would be different........"

That last bit is ever so reminiscent of Trent Lott. Charming.

Arlington is about ten miles to the east of me. When I moved down here, almost seven years ago, Arlington was just a sleepy rural town. When Memphis began annexing its neighboring communities, Arlington seized on the opportunity to lure conservative Republican "White Flighters" by developing tracts of McMansions as an escape haven for them. Now, it's just another crowded stupid strip development town chock full of mooks like Mayor Moron, here.

I am thankful that my little town is still quiet, and a wonderfully friendly mixed community.

And WTF? It's not like "The Charlie Brown Christmas Special" is only aired once anywhere in a year. The DVD is available for chump change in every store everywhere right now. Ol' boy could buy it, and watch it 24/7 until the disk melts for fuck's sake.

Thirteen years, and I can retire, and get the fuck out of this shithole excuse of a state.

To Top Of Main Page

Have A Wonderful Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T15:51:00.002-06:00

I am out the door to my friends' house for the weekend. Some hunting tonight and in the morning, a big feast, and then more hunting, and leftovers!

Cheers everyone, enjoy yourselves, eat too much, relax as much as possible, have a good time with your friends and family. AVOID POLITICS!

Be safe!

To Top Of Main Page

The World According To Americans...

2009-11-23T18:06:00.005-06:00

There have been others. There will be more. This one was pretty good.

I liked the FReeper-style "!!!!1."

I saw it at Barry Ritholz's The Big Picture.

To Top Of Main Page

The Search For The Agarikon Fungus...

2009-11-23T17:45:00.005-06:00

One more reason to salute Paul Stamets. The old-growth forest where he found the Agarikon fungus is scheduled to be clear cut in the near future. Stamets has managed to save, preserve, and grow a very, very important medicinal fungus strain. Rock on!

To Top Of Main Page

2009 Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau...

2009-11-23T17:23:00.005-06:00

I almost forgot to post about this year's Beaujolais Nouveau. I have a glass here, right in front of me, and I have to say that it is the very best Beaujolais Nouveau since probably some time in the early 1990s.

Incredibly well-balanced between dry and fruity, it has a buttery finish, and a bouquet reminiscent of a basket of the finest, freshly-picked berries. This is the most palatable nouveau I have had in a long, long time. I thought last year's was good, but, it had a tartness that effected the finish. I'd serve this with anything one might otherwise pair with a Merlot or Pinot Noir. No "wine face" with this year's Beaujolais Nouveau, for sure. It is almost too drinkable!

via Georges Duboeuf

New York, October 1 - Beaujolais wine producer Georges Duboeuf
is ecstatic about this year’s Beaujolais harvest, predicting it one of the
best Beaujolais vintages in the last 50 years.

“We have had perfect weather with 50,000 grape pickers hard at work across the 3,000 vineyards of Beaujolais since September 4th,” proclaimed Georges Duboeuf in his most recent harvest report, dated September 18th. “The grape bunches are small with a fine purplish black color, and are exceptionally rich in sugar. The berries are thick, and the seeds are a gorgeous amber color, a sign of perfect phenolic maturity. Their brightness, intensity, and above all, their perfect health
are something to behold. We have not seen anything like this for a long time.”
Following the longtime French tradition of releasing Beaujolais Nouveau at one minute past midnight on the third Thursday of November, the 2009 vintage will be released November 19 with celebratory “Le Beaujolais Nouveau Est Arrivé!” events taking place in New York, Miami, Las Vegas and several other locations across the country.

Restaurants will be offering everything from midnight pajama parties to special Beaujolais Nouveau dinner menus. A new website, www.duboeufnouveau.com, with information on Beaujolais Nouveau and events surrounding its arrival in the U.S. will debut in October. “Following last year’s unprecedented, and successful, break from tradition, the 2009 Beaujolais will once again be shipped by boat, not by air, to reduce the carbon footprint of shipping the wine and to onserve fuel costs, ensuring that retail prices are kept affordable for U.S. consumers”, said Bill Deutsch, Chairman of Georges Duboeuf’s exclusive U.S. importer, W.J. Deutsch & Sons Ltd. “We anticipate retail prices to be lower than last year, averaging $9 to $11 per bottle.”

This young fruity wine is made from the region’s Gamay grape. By law, the grapes must be harvested by hand, not machine. August 2009 offered some of the best hot and sunny weather in the last 60 years. The favorable weather has helped the grapes mature nicely. In fact, many winegrowers in the early-maturing area requested a dispensation in order to start their harvest earlier. “To obtain optimum aromas and fruit for our primeurs, and to avoid over maturation, we opened our vinification site August 25th for those parcels with an alcoholic content already over 12°,”
said Duboeuf.

Indeed-- this particular wine is traditionally viewed as the sneak peek into the quality of the European grape harvest at large. If the Nouveau is good, the better wines will be great. Starting out with an OUTSTANDING primeur wine means the broader menu of 2009 wines will be exquisite.

Do NOT miss this one-- it really is worth the few bucks. A real bargain this year, that will garner many compliments.

To Top Of Main Page