mbcrui

Happy Birthday, Nicola Tesla. Google has a tesla coil in it's logo today.

Made pulled pork for dinner, except I don't know how to make pulled pork.  So I faked it-- did a dry rub with brown sugar, kosher salt, chili powder, cumin, lots of fresh cracked pepper.  Rubbed the pork roast, put it in the oven for 7 hours at 250 degrees.  Then I used the fat separator to degrease the sauce , shredded the pork, then poured the degreased sauce back in.  Served on hamburger buns.  Very yummy. 

It was well over 80 today.  Spent a goodly chunk of the day in the dentist office for the boys.  P had a serious issue and will probably end up with braces in the long run, and possibly a root canal before he's 16. 

It was hot and sticky and yucky, so came home, threw a mexican lasagna* together and wrapped it up and took it to Hancock beach.  Met up with Katie and family and guest and played with Jax while everyone else swam.  Jax does NOT like the big, cold, bathtub, thank you very much.  Got picts, will post at some point.

*Mexican Lasagna
Layer a 9x13 cake pan with tortillas (overlapping and up the sides)
cover with a small can of refried beans
cover that with a layer of shredded cheddar cheese
Brown a pound of hamburger, add taco seasoning and a can of diced tomatoes
layer over cheese
layer about 1/2 to 2/3 bag of frozen corn over that.
another layer of cheese, cover with another layer of tortillas
then cover all with cheese and bake for 25 minutes in 375 degree oven.

Serve with shredded lettuce, sour cream, diced fresh tomatoes, or whatever you like on your tacos

I got the idea for this from the lady at the pharmacy with whom I was discussing the usual Copper Country topics (weather and food, not necessarily in that order :)

Got the verbal results of P's LD testing in Marquette.

( results, recommendations, bitching )

So I was talking to one of the nice old ladies who volunteer at St. Vincent de Paul store.  I mentioned that they have the wrong pope on the wall (they still have John Paul II) and the lady says "Yeah, we don't have a new picture yet.  That's ok, St. John Paul was my favorite.  Oh, wait, he's not officially a saint yet."  I said "I have a friend who lived in the pope's summer palace until a couple of weeks ago."

REALLY?

I was an instant celebrity.  :)  She and all the ladies she called over to meet me were very impressed.  I told them that the only time brotherguy  had actually met the pope, he'd said "Bless you and your meteors."  Holy cow! I knew someone *PERSONALLY* who had actually SPOKEN to the pope.

They almost forgot to charge me :)

This is mostly for Ang, but anyone else who knits might be interested.

Duck Booties.
Other stuff too, but Ducks and Duckon tend to go together.

Didn't get the part time job I interviewed for on Friday.  It wasn't much, but it was something.

So I'm looking for new slipcovers for the sofas (because now they look old and worn next to the nice clean walls).  Is it odd that I'm looking for ones that match the dog?  He's not *supposed* to be on the furniture, but ... well... he's old and arthritic... and I mostly look the other way as long as he's not obvious about it.

They also have to be cheap.  Not cheap looking, but I surely can't afford $120 each again... (Altho these lasted ... humm... must be 10 years or so).

Paint living room-- CHECK! 

Two days to finish painting the living room-- P and I started on Friday morning, pulling pictures down, filling nail holes, sanding rough spots, filling divots and pulling the woodwork away from the wall.  Got out the Wagner Wonder Roller (not it's real name) and the two cans of Manilla paint * I'd picked up earlier in the week and I was off.  M helped me paint a bit of the built in shelves and decided that painting was boring and he was off.  P helped cut in about 3 feet and decided painting was boring and he was off.  Andy came in and said "I think I'll do laundry and mow the lawn" and he escaped.  So I painted a 15 x 22 foot room (with 12 foot ceilings) on my own.  It looks good... (well, except for the corner behind my desk, which is a little sloppy, but it was the last section and I couldn't get the shelf with computers on it out very far from the wall, but really, who's going to notice but me?)

Now I get to spend the next 3 days cleaning up the mess left from painting-- hanging pictures, cleaning up the paint splatters, washing windows (because now they look dirty) and staining and polying the window trim, which is what started this whole "paint the living room" odessy.  (The new woodwork made the old walls look bad.)  And, well, now the floors look kind of crappy.  I'm going to get the buffer from my mother's house and polish them (no, I am NOT refinishing the floors.  Once in a lifetime is enough).  Shovelling out the mess from moving all the furniture out... maybe it'll be 4 or 5 days...

Two more rooms to paint this summer-- both boys bedrooms.  Our's needs to be painted, too, but ours is more of a pain than it's worth at this point.  To paint our room, we need to drain a king-sized waterbed, and pull out the old, dirty, stained carpet and see what condition the hardwood is in. and strip the woodwork, rehang a door, and take a door out. 

We pulled the carpet out of the boys rooms last summer.  All we have to do in there is pull the furniture out and take their pictures down... well, and clean, but that's going to be done anyway.

But today is the fishing derby-- sort of a start-of-summer-town-picnic with fishing poles, 10 cent raffles, and brats.  It's a fundraiser for the Sportsmen's club, and funds the deer feeding all winter.

*Beige with a red  undertone.  Looks like a 1 shot latte in a big glass.

This is very cool  I'm glad AE didn't see it before her wedding.  I suspect if she had, she'd know how to knit, however :)

Monday P and I went to Marquette, Tuesday he was tested for what specific learning disability he has.  We also went to see UP, which is excellent.  And to Menards, where we got odd, misc. things like 2x4's and lettuce seed tape.


Very odd little trickles of money flowing in... which is good.  I got a check for attending a class that I would have paid to attend... and went to fix a retired physics professor's computer which was being held hostage by SpyWareBlaster.  Have to run and get Jax this afternoon... I also have an interview for a part time job on Friday.  It pays about the same as I was making on unemployment, so nothing spectacular, but better than nothing.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatia... 

The boys and I were crabby on Saturday, so we drove down to our farm and hiked up to the Douglas Houghton falls (which are no longer open to the public, but our property borders them). It put all of us in a better mood. We didn't run into any little bears (a worry since the mama bear took up residence around the farm) or even any little squirrels, just some birds. Of course we were making quite a bit of noise. The falls are running good.




drsulak came over for dinner and for a break from wiring TOCH.

We had to bring all the plants in for a freeze warning on Saturday, so my living room (which did hold all the plants on a plant rack which is now on the porch) looks like a warehouse. Plants on the tables, plants on the bookshelves, plants on the floor. And we have freeze warnings for the next 2 days. Then it's supposed to be in the 70's on Wednesday. Garden is supposed to go in this weekend (along with amillion other things) but if it doesn't stay above 45 at night, I think I'm going to plant the tomatoes in pots so I can bring them in and out. I have enough, maybe I'll do both.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about a letter of recommendation for my sister and how I had to get over being angry. It's taken me a couple of weeks.

( Here it is )

Please let me know about any spelling, or grammar errors.

Got a reply from Congressman Stupak about the email I sent him on the hearing aid tax credit.


( Congressman Stupaks reply )

( My reply )

Believe it or not, I don't know Bart Stupak personally. I'm sure I could remedy that situation, the area being what it is, but I've just never taken the time :)

He didn't ask, he didn't tell, he was outed.  And now he's on his way out.

Come on, Obama, FIX this.  


Where is Harry Truman when you need him?

http://securityandclimate.cna.org/report/  I've started reading it, but had to deal with a 4yo who needs some action, so instead of reading about climate change, I'm going outside to plant onions and carrots.  I'll finish it later.

SCOTUS Blog is reporting a filing in federal court asking that the right to gay marriages be recognized under the federal constitution.  Morality aside, it's an interesting move to have Prop 8 in California overturned.  The argument is that gay couples are being denied due process and to legal equity.  While that's true, it doesn't mean it's legal.  The privacy rights for gay people, as far as I can tell, are being based on Lawrence v. Texas and that specifically doesn't "allow" gay marriage.  It'll be interesting to watch.  It's going to happen eventually... the question is how.

Happy birthday, Sam, many more!  In honor of your bday, no nag this week :)