It’s a lovely day here in West Central Florida — sunny, breezy and 72 degrees. Last week, temps hit the 90s, so I didn’t think we’d see beautiful weather like this again until September. Happy to have been wrong.
I’m a bit cranky because I have to work on such a gorgeous day, but I dragged the old laptop to the tiki bar, so it’s all good. Here’s a photo of my spoonbill friend who resides on a nearby golf course:
Aren’t they just the weirdest looking things? My daughter says I ruined spoonbills for her with my new camera because “they’re so ugly up close.” She’s wrong, IMO; they are magnificent, yes, even their Rubbermaid-looking bills, freaky red eyes and bizarre nostrils and ear-holes.
As I’ve reiterated ad nauseam in this space, nature is my solace in troubled times such as these. Books too. And food. And booze. Care to share your coping mechanisms? Or discuss other things. Open thread!
PaulWartenberg
It’s FREE comic book day!
Diana
coping mechanisms?
Coffee, yoga, sleep, cuddling my cat…..
zhena gogolia
Word games. Love the spoonbill!
Princess Leia
My cats and dog(s). And a good book.
SFAW
Some semi-uplifting news (in a political sense): the SFAW-ette told me that her friend’s brother — who until now has been a major-league asshole re: politics (RWNJ, does his best to embody Cleek’s Law, things like that) — has apparently said that ZEGS needs to go, because of the Republican DeathCare vote. I asked whether he was just pissed that ZEGS was not enough of a RWNJ (as has often been the rap on ZEGS from those evil motherfuckers), she said that was not the case, that the brother was pissed about DeathCare being so Death-Care-y.
He was one of the last people (within two degrees of separation) that I would have expected to be pissed about anything the Party of Traitors did. I told my daughter the brother should be reminded of this (i.e., Republican DeathCare vote — I don’t think he’ll ever believed the Rethugs are traitors [in a non-legal sense]) frequently over the next 18 months.
So this kinda fucks with my curmudgeonliness. (Praise FSM.)
AliceBlue
Music! (And books, dogs and food, in any order).
CaseyL
Coping mechanisms: read a good boo- oh, who am I kidding? My coping mechanism is envisioning elaborate revenge fantasies against Republican politicians and voters. There: I said it.
Good books really do help. With the coping, I mean; not the fantasies.
Also long walks. City walks, where I love looking at houses and gardens. Hiking, because I can lose myself looking at the scenery.
eclare
Going to an ACLU meeting today, helps to be with others who feel the same.
frosty
After we went to the Ding Darling Nature Preserve on our trip in February I kept my eye out for spoonbills, since we’d seen many of the other birds in the preserve. Not a one from Sarasota down to the Keys and back up the Atlantic side. Next year for sure!
SFAW
@CaseyL:
You and 40-or-so million others
OzarkHillbilly
Nice pic Betty.
Coping? Sitting on my porch and listening to the birds (or frogs/katdids if at night). And dodging hummingbirds. We’re at about a dozen now, will peak around 50 or so. The Rose breasted grosbeaks are still here. I love them and their heart filled chests.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
You suck.
(In case it wasn’t obvious, written in the same vein as your frequent “You suck”s when Qunierly was on tour with Poco.)
ETA: We usually get one, maybe two, I think one year we peaked at four. Maybe we’d get more if I didn’t catch them and roast them?
bemused senior
Playing with, cooking for, loving my twin grandchildren, 19 months old. Amazinglytherapeutic.
Baud
I’ve taken up festering.
Big Ole Hound
Scritching my dogs ears while hearing mockingbirds vocalizing and watching the squirrels play in the elm tree. Of course the dog is also primed for the squirrels to wander below a certain level.
Quinerly
Sitting in the sun, drinking beer, listening to Little Feat, Al Kooper, The Traveling Wilburys, Peter Wolf, and Randy Newman. My librarian friend brought me “Killers of the Flower Moon” hot off the presses. It hasn’t even been put in the little Bogue Banks Public Library system. We are just breaking all sorts of rules here today. New stereo might be too loud for the neighbors. Plus, first beer was cracked at 11:15AM. ? ?
JMG
The birds are the most beautiful part of Florida by far. Thanks for sharing your photos of them.
Nicole
Karaoke
Felonius Monk
@Baud:
You’re turning yourself into a Political Pustule? Isn’t that a little extreme?
RobertDSC-Mac Mini
I cope by playing video games.
Gator90
Reading Harry Potter books to my kids while I wait for football season. (Ms. Rowling’s prose is not dazzling, but she is an expert storyteller with a vivid imagination. And her heart’s in the right — er, left — place.)
La Caterina (Mrs. Johannes)
How I cope: Johannes’s hilarious impersonations of Melania; spending time outside with feral cats; classical music; Cole’s domestic disaster posts; (occasionally) whooping up on a big bank in court . . .and All You Fabulous Jackals.
Baud
@Felonius Monk: Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.
Crashman06
@RobertDSC-Mac Mini: Whatcha been playing lately? I just picked up an Xbox One lately and I’ve been trying to catch up on all I’ve missed over the last few years. Been playing a lot of The Divison online with some family. It’s a very fun co-op game if you can ignore its pseudo-fascist politics.
hitchhiker
this site often makes me feel less crazy.
turns out it’s hard to watch a political party destroy itself in real time, even when you think the nation might pull through.
f/b popped out one of those “you a year ago!” thingies the other day. it was a post i’d made marking the day the R party failed … the day the last of DT’s opponents dropped out of the primary.
at the time i thought that they would never, ever be able to claim any sort of authority ever again; obviously i underestimated their willingness to ignore certain troubling realities, like the fact that their leader is a vulgar, lazy, know-nothing conman … but my post still stands.
the republican party is over, and the republic might be, as well.
Quinerly
@SFAW:
Poco and I are back on tour…NC this time. I have been waiting breathlessly to be told that I suck. Feeling a bit ignored. What have we done to warrant this treatment?
bemused
I resort to the Hallmark Mystery Channel when my brain hurts. I’ve grown quite fond of Murder She Wrote, Matlock, Father Dowling episodes. I don’t remember ever watching them in 80’s and 90’s. I liked Monk then and it’s still fun to watch.
The gigantic shoulder pads that were popular in the 80’s crack me up. One actress had shoulder pads so big and wide on Murder She Wrote, the look reminded me of Carol Burnett with curtains and rod getup episode.
chris
My counsellors. “Please tell us about the revolution again.”
Pumpkin, Steve and Bert
Baud
@hitchhiker: As long as people have privilege they need defending, the Republican Party will never be over.
Baud
@chris: They look ready to fight!
Felonius Monk
@Baud:
You could also say this as: Festering is not a sore excuse for freedom.
Steeplejack
@chris:
Your counselors: “Please sit down, chris. I’m afraid we have some bad news for you.”
raven
Last week it was so fucking windy it blew me off the beach.
pamelabrown53
@Quinerly: #16.
Hi Quinerly. Just back from our St. Louis/Chicago trip. Just wanted to say it was pure pleasure meeting you at Howard’s in Soulard on March for Science day., Wish I could crack a beer and listen to some tunes with you.
BJers, if you ever have the opportunity to meet Quinerly, grab it. She’s intelligent, interesting and beautiful-inside and out!
Quinerly
@raven:
Incredibly windy here on Bogue Banks NC. Today is a bit better but wow! yesterday. Not sure I ever remember anything like it unless during a hurricane.
LurkerNoLonger
@SFAW: Republicans done fucked up with that vote on Thursday.
raven
@Quinerly: Hold her knute, she’s headed for the pea patch!
Felonius Monk
@chris:
If Pumpkin is the long-hair on the left of that pix, we have her twin sister or doppelganger, as the case may be.
chris
@Baud: Maybe, after breakfast.
Quinerly
@pamelabrown53:
So great hearing from you! Such a joy meeting you in Soulard. I guess you scooted on to Chicago for a few days. You’ve got my email (and I think phone #). Let me know when you are back in St. Louis. Great time. Poco says, “Woof, woof.” Thanks for all the sweet words. Let’s keep the connection!
chris
@Felonius Monk: With 24 toes too? Cool!
pamelabrown53
@bemused: #27.
I probably shouldn’t admit this but years ago I watched reruns of “Murder, She Wrote” to see how “Jessica Fletcher” handled herself in uncomfortable or confrontative situations. She always seemed so graceful and dignified, yet didn’t allow herself to be bullied.Hope this doesn’t make me sound too weird. .
Uncle Cosmo
@Baud: Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. ::rises to feet with Scotch & water in hand:: I give you immoderation!
Baud
@chris: Of course. You can’t foment revolution on an empty stomach.
chris
@Steeplejack: The Intervention: where is breakfast?
MomSense
I cope with lots of hikes, knitting furiously, emphasis on furious, and laughter.
Florida Frog
Playing the harp. I learned some Sephardic pieces to play for a wonderful Seder a couple of weeks ago. The harmonies are gorgeous. Where has this music been all my life?
SFAW
@Quinerly:
I see a few possible explanations:
1) Ozark is being a self-absorbed dork
2) He was trying to make you beg for it, it’s a power thing
3) He was hurt (or needed the fainting couch) because I told him he sucked
4) He’s watching hummingbirds, which is an addictive thing
Normally, I would offer to take up the slack for him, but he might get jealous or something.
Did a quick lookup for Bogue Banks (because I had never heard of it): good thing your getting there this year, looks like it’ll be underwater in a few years.
ETA: I was also considering including (5) He has a life outside of this place, but then remembered we’re talking about Ozark.
A Ghost to Most
Coping with BJuice, good weed, and nasty dirt roads that go up.
Omnes Omnibus
@Uncle Cosmo: Scotch and water? You are already moderating things, you neo-liberal sell-out.
pamelabrown53
@Quinerly: #40.
Just checked my e-mail: no phone number but would love to have it. Thanx. ~p~
Steeplejack (phone)
@pamelabrown53:
Heh, I did the same thing with the old Perry Mason series. Perry was always so unflappable and never let anybody get to him. Of course it helps when you’re always the smartest person in the room. That’s the part I had trouble with.
ArchTeryx
I’m also in West Central Florida, at Portofino Bay, about to go with my fiancee to the aquarium before her award dinner tonight. Beautiful day to be out and about. A few hours out of politics will do me a world of good.
eclare
@ArchTeryx: Sounds like a lovely day!
Colleeniem
Delurking to share my recent discovery of a comedic musical treasure who has helped me cope very much during this crappy week.
Bruce K
Occasionally when I’ve got a bad situation I need to cope with, I’ll picture in my mind how bizarre and awesome it might have been to see Kermit the Frog as the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car on Top Gear. But then, I trend to the weird.
Quinerly
@SFAW:
I’m hoping Bogue Banks will be around for awhile. Grew up here. A lot of changes, a lot of erosion but the little east running west island seems to survive. Part of the Southern Outer Banks of NC. Poco loves chasing crabs on the beach at night. As for Ozark, don’t tell him that I’m telling our friend Red on him. Let’s let that be our little secret. She’ll straighten him out.?
Betty Cracker
@ArchTeryx: Do you mean the resort in Orlando? I’ve been there — fancy place! But that’s plain old Central FL, not West Central. :) Hope the weather’s as good there!
SiubhanDuinne
@Quinerly:
Aw, Quinerly. I think you suck.
HeidiMom
@Gator90: During the campaign, I’d come home from phone banking and reread the Harry Potter novels. I was feeling positive, wasn’t having any premonitions of disaster (that I was aware of, anyway), but still, in the face of all the craziness breaking loose on the other side, I wanted to reconnect with the thinking of a very wise woman — to be reminded, for example, that you should try to save everyone you can even if it means breaking the rules and (as seemed likely) losing the competition.
After the campaign, I was too depressed to read anything challenging, so I reread John Sandford’s Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers novels. By “not challenging” I don’t mean that they’re pablum, far from it, but they were familiar — I’d already read and loved them — and I’d forgotten enough of the details that most of them were almost new again. I’ve also rewatched the Inspector Lewis mysteries and have just started the Doctor Blake mysteries. I had thought that Lewis was the most decent man ever portrayed on TV, but Blake is giving him a run for his money in the decency department, and that’s what I need right now.
Spanky
@Quinerly:
Been there. Done that. My dad & stepmother retired to Morehead City, until the incompetents at Carteret Memorial killed him. Though that was 17 years ago I still have no urge to go back. The Cedar Island – Ocracoke ferry was nice, though.
But that’s just me. Enjoy your visit!
jacy
It is not raining! Also, I think I found all my notes on the book I’m working on — I have to stop making notes on matchbook covers and scraps of envelopes.
MomSense
@Steeplejack (phone):
I go for Foyle’s War. He is always calm and unflappable while quietly gathering all his evidence.
Spanky
@chris: Tortie Maine Coon! Awesome.
Quinerly
@SiubhanDuinne:
Awwwww, that’s nice. Somehow it’s just different with Ozark, though.
ArchTeryx
@eclare: Not every day a poor guy like me can stay at a $400/night resort hotel, getting a pedicure and a massage then going out to a great aquarium.
I learned my (African-American) pedicurist’s name and made a point of complimenting her to the hills. Almost brought her to happy tears; she’s totally unused to being treated like an actual human being. I left her additional cash tip, too, on top of the built-in spa gratuity.
I like being kind a lot more then I like being a snarling asshole. I brightened a fellow commission worker’s day, and that’s what I most enjoy doing. Better to leave kindness behind then darkness.
Something the wretched assholes of our current ruling party could learn from.
SiubhanDuinne
Speaking of suck, I just got a robo-call from Karen Handel. They are obviously using uncurated lists, as (a) there is no way I would ever appear on an even-slightly-leans-Republican roster, and (b) I don’t even live in the 6th District.
But keep on squandering your resources, Karen.
Spanky
@MomSense: Balloon Juice’s Madame Defarge. Or one of many, possibly.
HinTN
@OzarkHillbilly: RE: Rose Breasted Grosbeaks – They have bypassed us these last two years. We Used to get six or seven pairs, plus kids. Glad to know you have them west of us.
Ohio Mom
Small home improvement projects. At least my surroundings are on an upward swing.
And I’ve taking to declaring, in front of people I know almost always vote Republican, that I am at peace, knowing that I did not contribute to this disaster — the last time I voted for someone who wasn’t a Democrat was in the 1980s, for Cincinnati City Council: one very old-fashioned Republican and a couple of Charterites (Cincinnati’s third party quirky throw-back to the Progressive Era).
Occasionally, one of these Republicans is self-aware enough to squirm at my declaration. That is satisfying.
eclare
@ArchTeryx: That is wonderful to hear after this wretched week. We all need a mental break.
SiubhanDuinne
@Quinerly:
Inorite? Ozark sucks so hard he can’t even be arsed to tell you you suck when you most need to hear it.
Ozark Suckitude.
pamelabrown53
@ArchTeryx: #53.
Your whole day sounds delightful. Congrats to your fiancee on her award, If you can find a way to extend those few hours-sans politics- to a week, I’d highly recommend it.Otherwise, you run the risk of being sucked into a bottomless black hole. While engagement and action are imperative, so is finding a way to maintain some inner sense of peace and balance. For me, it enhances my effectiveness…in all areas of life.
Shell
Cooking, my dog, old movies, Simpsons reruns.
HinTN
@Quinerly: It’s not just for breakfast anymore. ?
ArchTeryx
@MomSense: Stab a few Pearl-2s for me. (I don’t knit but I do counted cross stitch and embroidery. I love that sort of art, and need to get back into it; it’s reasonably cheap and a lot of fun).
Uncle Cosmo
In the last week I’ve gone thru the first 3 volumes of The Expanse & The Industries of the Future by Alec Ross.
I’ve got the Season 1 DVD of The Expanse out of the library & (if I can renew it, due tomorrow) that should kill some hours next week. (IIUC the first two seasons line up fairly well with volumes 1 & 2, & there appears to be a natural break point in the story at the end of volume 3 [Abaddon’s Gate] which would take the SyFy series through next season…& then who knows?)
The other book is interesting & mildly provocative. Ross was a special assistant for innovation to SecState HRC (before that a middle-school teacher in Baltimore City; he still lives here & his wife still teaches in the public schools) & has been all over the world looking at what’s been happening on the ground. As a result the book is a mile wide & a few inches deep. Some things there worth mulling over…but IMO a lot of it is OBE after last November, at least until we overcome the current threats. (NB Ross recently announced he’s running for Governor as a Democrat. IMO he has no realistic shot: it’s several bridges, a tunnel & a ferry too far for someone with zero electoral experience. I am unpersuaded of his apparent intention to “crowdsource” a platform & wonder who’s funding him.)
schrodingers_cat
Beautiful things give my joy.
1.Music and movies, reconnecting and rediscovering and adding to the sound track of my childhood.
2. Long walks taking in the beautiful countryside that inspired Frost.
3. Spring flowers
ArchTeryx
@Betty Cracker: Yeah, the resort on Universal property in Orlando. It’s utterly lovely here…70s, sunny, light breeze. Time to go catch our cab to the aquarium! :-)
Quinerly
@Spanky:
Sorry to hear that about your parents. Hospital has improved a lot. Greenville certainly better. Morehead is a nice town. Was there early this AM at Lowe’s for landscaping stuff and a light fixture. As I said, I grew up down here (undergrad at ECU and law school in St. Louis, where I have been since 1982). I enjoy coming back here “off season.” Traffic on the island is terrible in the summer…plus they have these surprise check points. In the summer, the police have made it so unpleasant..a hassle to hop over to the mainland for dinner, drinks, music. One beer and they want to bust you. The beach cab business has grown like gangbusters. The real downside is Carteret County is one of the most Republican counties in the state. A lot of retired military.
Yutsano
@CaseyL:
I’m all for making Reichert, McMorris-Rodgers, and Newhouse jobless come 2018. Even if it’s just getting another Repub who might actually give a damn to get in the jungle.
Spanky
@Shell:
Thank dog for that comma!
O. Felix Culpa
Gardening, cooking, friends, Ms. O, and my fluff dog.
And, I’m leaving in 10 days to walk a section of the Camino del Norte in Spain. I did the Camino Frances in 2015 and loved it. Life is very simple: walking, sleeping, and finding food and drink as needed. The Spanish wine is plenteous and cheap.
ETA: Egad! How could I forget the jackals of Balloon Juice? Seriously, this place has been a lifeline.
debbie
@MomSense:
I just finished my furious weekly cleaning and am about to walk the neighborhood furiously in order to see all my favorite azaleas. They’re starting to fade. I can’t think of a sadder sight than a bush with all its petals on the ground. It’ll be a walk filled with carnage, I’m afraid.
HinTN
@Quinerly: Come to Tennessee on your way back. We’ll put you up. Get email from BC or other FPer.
greennotGreen
For coping, I have a beautiful view, I have my family and friends around me, and my dogs who are my constant companions…unless some other doggy drama distracts them.
I am lucky enough that I was able to build my dream home. It sits on the edge of a hillside with the west facing a somewhat open field spotted with oaks and the south in the tree line.. Some friends who came by today said, “Can you imagine a writer or musician sitting out on that porch and being inspired by the trees and the view?” And I said, yes, I can very much imagine it. So my coping mechanisms are human, animal, the natural world, and architectural…and a shower. Do you have any idea how skanky one can allow oneself to get while sick.
So, off to take a shower!
Buttermilk Sky
MASH reruns, music, and visualizing the treason trials to come. (Impeachment is for wimps.)
SiubhanDuinne
@greennotGreen:
Go skanky, come back clean!
Your house and view sound wonderful. Are there photos you could send to one of the front pagers to share with the rest of us? We’re there with you in so many ways, it would be lovely to have the visual.
Quinerly
@O. Felix Culpa:
So glad to see you on this thread. Keep missing you on the other threads. Post pics of your walk! (that On the Road AM thread is cool) I’m so excited for you. Made my Albuquerque reservations for next year…1/25-2/25. (which reminds me…has dexwood been on any threads lately?) I’ll be in Santa Fe, Cerrillos, and Madrid for some visits. Hope to connect again.
Quinerly
@HinTN:
Yep @75! Drinking my go to beach beer “Beast Light.” Yes, I know…Milwaukee’s Best Light…I’m a “known tightwad” and if you drink it in the sun, you just sweat it out. Also, need to get some stuff done.
aliasofwestgate
For me? Playing WoW, the Jackals here at BJ, watching various japanese live action shows like Kamen Rider Drive, GARO, and catching up on Kamen Rider Ex-Aid. Contemplating rewatching a few older anime just for nostalgia’s sake, one of the more upbeat of my many favorites instead of the dark serials. Also planning my trip to Chicago on the 18th for Anime Central weekend. Where my friends are basically kidnapping me and making me relax from the insanity that is my household life at the moment. A weekend with 45K geeks who ‘get it’, and good friends around me.
FlyingToaster
Coping mechanism? Living in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts and wondering when I’ll need to start making caltrops and itch powder for when Trump decides to violate both Posse Comitatus and the 3rd Amendment.
RobertDSC-Mac Mini
@Crashman06:
My main game is Metal Gear Solid V. An open world military shooter where you build a private army in the style of Big Boss of Metal Gear Solid fame.
I play it all the time. Other games have faded in and out but MGSV stays strong. I enjoy almost everything about that game.
Quinerly
@greennotGreen:
Sending hugs and love!
Crashman06
@RobertDSC-Mac Mini: I never bought into that series previously but I heard that V was really good. Maybe I should add that one to the list.
??? Martin
CA-39, CA-45, and CA-48 all moved from likely R to lean R. CA-25 and CA-49 are toss-up. If we work hard, we can push all Republicans out of Orange County, pick up those 4 seats plus CA-25. That’s almost a quarter of what dems need to win the house.
Yutsano
(take two because FYWP)
Coping mechanism today is showing off my new 2016 Volkswagen Passat to some friends then running out to get a new phone. Then some lunch and maybe chicken Provençal for dinner. Basically unplug for a while.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
Beautiful spoonbill, Mrs. Cracker. I love your nature pics.
Me, I’m sittin back in my rose pink Cadillac thinking Thunder Snow just for fun, Irish War Cry for a practical choice.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano: Just got it? Color and specs?
zhena gogolia
@bemused:
Reading mysteries also helps. Plus Phineas Finn, the sweetie.
Hal
For those who have read Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, this is brilliant.
Paul Ryan’s dream for America
dm
I’m really happy to read this: Black Lives Matter shifts from protest to policy — those people did such good an important work in the streets, and now it sounds like they’re setting sights on the corridors of power:
There’s a big focus on local organization within communities on local, specific issues — honest to god problem-solving. There are so many good stories in this article I can’t really summarize them (for one thing, each story is full of local, subtle particulars of local problems that it’s hard to summarize them).
Let’s just say there’s a boatload of political maturity and effectiveness on display.
So, I guess stories like this recharge my batteries.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@greennotGreen: Enjoy the view and your day. Sending light and love.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Had a little money left over from my TVG account from last year. Made my Derby bets on this wide open race – $2 exacta box on Irish War Cry, Thundersnow and Gunnevera, with a sentimental $10 win ticket on J Boy’s Echo.
hitchhiker
@dm:
DeRay has a podcast in the Crooked Media empire, along with former Obama staffers & Ana Marie Cox. I hope it takes off, b/c he’s fantastic.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: That’s a really informed box, but given your family history, I’d expect nothing less. Some time I’ll tell my Smarty Jones Belmont story and why (rather annoyed) people thought I was some kinda bad news prophet about that race. I called last year’s TC before the Derby, and was laughed at all the way until that last day…
Boussinesque
Put me in the “play video games and read Balloon-Juice” coping category as well. Recently Final Fantasy XIV sucked me back in, but prior to that it was Persona 5 and Horizon Zero Dawn.
ETA: also reading lots and lots about multiple ordinal logistic regression for a take-home project related to the interview process for a job I’m in the running for.
Geeno
My wife wanted to be in on the next writer’s thread – does anyone know when that will be?
aimai
Cold and rainy here. I am trying to start writing my last paper for the first year of Social Work school. I have been looking forward to this paper, and got an extension for it, but am now mano a mano with it and its not going well. Pre irritated and exhausted because I know Iwill end up staying up late to finish it, and it is due tomorrow at 5 so I don’t have two late nights to pull. But would rather be doing something, anything, else. I’m just so over this year and really badly need a break. Which I don’t get because my internship continues until June 22 and I start summer classes on May 23rd.
schrodingers_cat
Just had a wonderful lunch with husband kitteh sitting on the deck outside, its 70, perfect weather. Jasmine rice with moong dal, crisp tilapia dusted with rice flour and spices, served roasted zucchini and Japanese eggplant. To drink a concoction of summer ale and hard cider. Came back inside after the allergies started bothering me.
Quinerly
Well, well, well…what do we have here? http://m.govexec.com/technology/2017/05/military-using-human-brain-waves-teach-robots-how-shoot/137624/
MomSense
@schrodingers_cat:
Zyrtec before bed. It helps.
MomSense
@greennotGreen:
Enjoy your shower! So happy every time I “see” you here.
Another Scott
@Colleeniem: Well done (maybe except for that little dig at the end).
Thanks for the pointer, and don’t be a stranger. We need everyone we can get to fight off the trolls and Putin’s minions.
Cheers,
Scott.
HeidiMom
@ArchTeryx: Lovely story, and good to meet another who believes in overtipping. My (probably bizarre) reasoning goes like this: If Bush II hadn’t been born to a rich and powerful family, he would have been lucky to manage a Radio Shack after all the missteps he made as a young man. And, to be even-handed, it’s possible that if Ted Kennedy hadn’t been born . . . etc., etc., he would have done jail time after Chappaquiddick (I haven’t dug into the details of that event, nor do I doubt that the Senator did all he could in later life to atone for his failings). I can’t right the vast inequalities that give rise to disparate outcomes in cases like these, but I can tip the scale a tiny little bit in favor of hard-working people who don’t often get a break. (As Ben Foster’s otherwise-reprehensible character in Hell or High Water said, “I never knew anyone who got away with anything.”) To be clear, I’m talking about our local diner and the cup for tips at the Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru window, not fine-dining establishments where (I’m told) the “waitstaff” can make a decent living.
SWMBO
Here’s a coping mechanism:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXUlhT3-r0c
schrodingers_cat
@MomSense: Yesterday I took Claritin. Will try Zyrtec today.
Kay (not the front-pager)
Cats! Actually, cats, books, and Twitter (AKA Hell’s evil time-waster) are my solace.
I got a botvac this week to deal with the cat hair. The cats are fascinated. They watch it everywhere for the whole 5+ hours (including breaks to recharge) it takes to clean the first floor. Loki, the smart one, has concluded that it is a living thing – a sensible conclusion given that it is self-propelling. His observations have convinced him that it is not dangerous, in fact may even be friendly since it turns away if he steps directly into its path. For Loki the next logical step is to see if it will play with him. So he has spent today hiding on sofas to jump down in front if it and run away (chase me! Chase me!), or running up behind it and tapping its top, only to dash in front of it. I have no idea what he will do next, when he figures out it won’t play with him. But I’m looking forward to finding out what the next step will be. Cats are wonderful creatures.
Another Scott
@aimai: Keep plugging away aimai. A big part of the challenge of school is just getting things done on time. You can do it! Keep going!
Cheers,
Scott.
HeidiMom
@zhena gogolia: In recent years I’ve taken to making a list of my favorite mystery authors, checking on Amazon to see when his/her next book is coming out, then checking my public library’s online catalog a month or two ahead of the release date to reserve the book. Cheap, I know, but I’m trying to be prudent in retirement. And I do buy every new book in John Sandford’s Virgil Flowers and Craig Johnson’s Walt Longmire series.
Yutsano
@Omnes Omnibus: I threw it on Twitter but I haven’t seen you about. Silver (which has this neat bluish tint to it) S with a turbo. It’s gonna get me in trouble and I love it already.
Josie
Coping mechanisms – reading, writing, family and sometimes cooking and eating. I do try to keep the eating down to a reasonable level.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano: Cool. Fun cars are fun. Enjoy.
Elizabelle
@greennotGreen: Enjoy that shower! They’re a real pleasure.
—–
For coping mechanisms: um, leaving the country and no TV from American stations whatsoever. I avoid most reporting on Trump — just not that interested — although my friends have turned my Facebook feed into a plethora of his face.
Today, I saw a photo of Trump walking the colonnade outside the Oval Office and was startled to think that, yes, he’s allowed to do that now.
Reading up on 20th century countries during their runup to fascism or worse.
Hanging with you jackals.
Elizabelle
Saw a post from Susie’s Senior Dogs, and thinking it would be lovely to have a senior pet who needs a home, once I go back to the States. Another coping mechanism.
There was a perfect senior miniature dachshund, age 12, today, but she’s on the West Coast and they want to adopt her to Cali, Nevada, thereabouts. Sinead, now at Los Angeles Dachshund Rescue. I want.
LurkerNoLonger
@CaseyL:
In a world of pure imagination….
trollhattan
Speaking of hummingbirds, the front porch has a flock/herd/gaggle ruckusing over control of the feeder and nearby bottle brush, which is in full bloom. The dog SO wants out there.
Jim Parene
@bemused: I have been binge watching “Murdock Mysteries” . It is a wonderful show. It helps keep me from running into the streets and randomly knocking off people’s hats.
For me, a wonderful feature of the writing is that Detective Murdock is so uptight about certain things in his changing world. He embraces technology, but he has a hard time with some social issues. He is a former Jesuit, of course.
Lizzy L
Coping mechanisms… Reading while sitting in my weed-infested back yard, weeding my weed-infested back yard, weed-whacking my weed-infested back yard, walking my dog, more reading, buying 3 shirts at the local thrift store (did that this morning at the 50% off sale, they cost me a grand total of $9) and reading.
Lunch will be paprika & cumin spiced chicken baked with Chinese eggplant. And damn it, I’m out of beer.
SFAW
@SiubhanDuinne:
That’s because you’re a Mob Enforcer, albeit a nice one.
Jim Parene
@HeidiMom: Check out Barbara Hambley’s “Benjamin January” Series. Awsome reading!
SiubhanDuinne
@Elizabelle:
Someone noticed that his chin and jowls are the basic shape of a bullfrog, so my own FB feed is suddenly cluttered with painted images of Trump as Frogface. They are creepy in a scary-clown kind of way, but also pure genius funny.
“Rubbit. Rubbit.”
dm
@hitchhiker: Thanks for the heads-up. A little googling, and I find it’s called “Pod Save the People”. First guest: Cory Booker (who is another battery recharger, so: double header).
SFAW
@FlyingToaster:
Don’t worry. He’ll put them up at the Trump Gold-Plated Hovel and charge the government $3000 per night. He can’t really grift if you’re in the revenue stream.
SiubhanDuinne
@SFAW:
I don’t seem to be very good at enforcing mobs these days.
Quinerly
Hey, I’ll throw this out since OT. Anybody have an experience with “chalk paint?” I’ve got an old armoire (in a barn here in NC, I’m here trying to organize and move stuff from a house I grew up in, 50 plus years of memories). Technically, I think this is a “clothes press.” It’s rather petite, not deep enough to hang clothes on a rod..has the original hooks. It’s in great shape but for about 6 layers of oil based paint going back generations. It would be beautiful stripped down and refinished (it’s pine) but I don’t have the time to do that, plus I would have nowhere to put it. It will work at the beach place if I cut two shelves for it and used it as a large cabinet. I’ve cleaned it, started sanding it. Thinking about that beachy, distressed look…a whitish. Someone suggested chalk paint with the wax finish. Started my research. Anyone have a favorite brand? Anyone mix his/her own? (Saw the on line recipes). Anyone have any other suggestions? I’ve “pickled” unfinished pine beadboard and love that look for bookcases/cabinets/wainscoting but to get that look with this I would have to completely strip it (and somehow bleach it. It’s late 1890’s dark, old pine). Thanks in advance for any thoughts/suggestions.
SFAW
@SiubhanDuinne:
I’m thinking you’re just not trying that hard.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@HeidiMom: That fuckin Flowers! I love him – it’s a great spinoff from the Lucas Davenport series. Do you read CJ Box? His Joe Pickett series is fun, and Nate is kind of a violent Virgil. Or really more of a plains version of Joe Pike from Robert Crais. I’m always drawn to the darker buddies. And Flowers.
dm
@Quinerly: I’ll see your nightmare, and raise you: http://www.popsci.com/ai-pilot-beats-air-combat-expert-in-dogfight?src=SOC&dom=tw
rikyrah
@Gator90:
Peanut just started Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone.
Redshift
@SFAW:
Hmm. Makes me wonder if the Death Eaters have really shot themselves in the foot with this one. Conservatives only care about an issue if it affects them or someone close to them, and this piece of legislative crap might actually clear that threshold enough to overcome the propaganda for a significant number of their base, since they made the mistake of spelling it out instead of just blathering about how the free market is always best.
One can hope at least that its appalling effects will drive down turnout at least as much as “we done repealed Obamacare!” drives it up.
rikyrah
@greennotGreen:
Sending you positive thoughts.
schrodingers_cat
I want to start reading the the critical edition of Mahabharata, but my Sanskrit is not good enough for that. I can read the Devnagari script and know some prayers/hymns etc but that’s all. I love the stories of Mahabharata, its ultimate message is the futility of war, even for the victors it is a poisoned chalice. Its not preachy or a simplistic good vs. evil story like the Ramayana. It has layers upon layers and is nuanced. Although the society depicted in Mahabharata is patriarchal, the women have a greater agency than women in 21st century India. Neither is the society prudish and moralistic like modern India.
My grandmother had a 20 volume version of the critical edition, which had the original Sanskrit text, its Marathi translation and then the commentary. I want to learn Sanskrit, and I am trying to figure out how to go about doing it.
rikyrah
@??? Martin:
I hope that some Dems in the area will have townhalls in those R districts. Can you contact the Dems and leave that suggestion?
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Redshift:
I keep seeing pictures of Ryan with his tight-lipped and pleased-with-himself grin. I wonder if he and his churchy brethren really have spiritual beliefs or if it’s all done for manipulative show, like the be-aproned appearance at a soup kitchen.
If he truly does subscribe to a spiritual doctrine, I don’t know how he looks himself in the mirror or how his wife can abide his malice. Clearly, spouses of such people are rather slimy themselves.
germy
scott walker got into a heated discussion with a County Executive over the new healthcare bill
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7LRAF529Rw
owlface
The GOP vote to literally kill me sure was a kick in the face. I haven’t slept since. The chaplain happened to come by and chat with me at chemo, and we talked a bit about how the bill isn’t likely to clear the Senate, but it sure doesn’t feel good.
Watching all those old white men laughing and celebrating their victory over cancer patients. America.
Lyrebird
@Florida Frog: Wow, that sounds (fig.) so beautiful, would love to hear it! I think a trial balloon will get floated (unless I missed it already) for a St Pete/Tampa-area meet-up. Are you anywhere near that part of Fla?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho:
I love exacta boxes – I always get calls during a race, and that makes it fun even when I don’t cash.
As to the picks (I eventually threw J Boy into the box, because it really didn’t cost that much), I’m really high on Godolphin’s stable. While I don’t think Dubai is the answer for the sport as a whole, I have some connections there and think they’ve done a fine job with training and selecting bloodlines. Thundersnow could very easily pull this out, everything being so wide open.
zhena gogolia
@owlface:
Nauseating for a lot of us. We’re doing what we can.
Lyrebird
@schrodingers_cat:
Sat in on a SanskritVeda class once in grad school… forgot everything. But anyhow, iirc you’re close to a fair number of universities. I’d bet an individual prof might let you just come in and take the course for free if you’d help the novices with basic things.
zhena gogolia
@germy:
That pig.
germy
@zhena gogolia: He thinks he can control the narrative completely. “Tourism!”
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@schrodingers_cat:
I started Zyrtec today, as I’ve been miserable for two weeks. Thing is, I leave for Sydney in 11 days, and will be diving in the Coral Sea in 16 days, so I’ve got to kill these allergies AND avoid any kind of lung infection.
zhena gogolia
@HeidiMom:
Have you tried Ruth Rendell? She’s no longer with us, but her oeuvre is good for many, many hours of fine enjoyment.
zhena gogolia
@germy:
He does that typical Republican thing of shouting the other person down self-righteously. Pig.
glaukopis
Spending time with the grandkids, the puppeh, and on vol 3 of The Expanse. Also sleeping off the painkillers from my rotator cuff surgery. And enjoying the amazingly green back yard.
schrodingers_cat
Disneyfied version of the Mahabharata, set to a fight song* from Gulaal, 2009 movie about dirty politics Indian style by Anurag Kashyap. Love the use of traditional drums and the bugle.
*Which has been appropriated these days by the horrid right wing BJP-RSS combine in India against the explicit wishes of its composer and singer.
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: Pepe-ready.
@zhena gogolia: Yes! I love Ruth Rendell. Haven’t read that much of her, but interesting, complicated characters. Not so formulaic. Sharply observed.
She and PD James are exemplars. They write mysteries, but books can stand alone as novels too.
Elizabelle
@owlface: Welcome. Glad to see you here. We will triumph over those terrible, terrible creatures who want to take away healthcare.
And good luck with your chemo.
schrodingers_cat
@Lyrebird: I think I need a class where I try to learn how to speak, Sanskrit grammar was interminable when I tried studying it by myself a few years ago.
schrodingers_cat
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I do neti at night too, that helps me sleep. Your trip sounds great. I has a jealous. I am trying to arrange an extended trip to India to work on my book this fall.
Lapassionara
I am coping by gardening, as I have a never-ending supply of weeds, etc.
I know I am showing my age, but what does “IIRC” stand for?
Thanks, Jackals
schrodingers_cat
@owlface: {{{ }}}. The fight is not over and you are not alone.
SiubhanDuinne, Mob Enforcer
@SFAW:
Up and at ’em!
Straighten up and fly right!
Sit down and shut up!
Take it easy, Murgatroyd!
Shit or cut bait!
Rise and shine!
Fish or get off the pot!
Watch it, Sikorsky!
Do I have to turn this car around?
schrodingers_cat
@Lapassionara: If I Remember Correctly.
germy
@Lapassionara: “If I recall correctly” if I recall correctly.
schrodingers_cat
@Lapassionara: What is your tool of choice for weeding, asking as I have nice bed of weeds and I need to make it a vegetable bed instead.
germy
@Lapassionara: I keep seeing “FWIW” and getting confused. I had to look it up. “For What It’s Worth”
SiubhanDuinne, Mob Enforcer
@Elizabelle:
I would add at least the later Dorothy L. Sayers mysteries, and several by Josephine Tey.
chopper
@Quinerly:
ah yes, “the beer so bad it made the news”.
eclare
@SiubhanDuinne, Mob Enforcer: I love mysteries, tried to read Ruth Rendell a while back but just couldn’t get into it. More of a Michael Connelly and George Pelecanos fan.
geg6
For me, it’s food and wine and hockey. Making shrimp and spaghetti in marinara sauce with a nice green salad, some nice crusty bread and Irish butter and a Pinot noir for dinner during the hockey game tonight. Tomorrow I’m making orange soy salmon with couscous and asparagus with Sauvignon blanc. Dolt 45 is making me fat because all I really want to do is cook and eat.
Juju
@Quinerly: You were having your first beer before I had my first cup of coffee. Very impressive. ?☕️? I like to sleep in on Saturday’s or any day I can get away with it.
SiubhanDuinne
@eclare:
Randell writes in several different styles. There’s the Insoector Wexford series, which progress chronologically and have a strong detection component. Then there are the stand-alone mysteries she wrote, which tend to be much darker and more atmospheric. She also wrote a number of novels — also fairly dark, but not mysteries per se — under the name Barbara Vine.
I like and admire them all, but they definitely appeal to different moods.
JPL
What do mean by coping? I’ve been reading twitter feeds of never trumpers, hoping there will come a day, when I never longer do so. Somehow hoping @20committee has sources that Trump is going to be led out of the White House in handcuffs, seems wrong.
Today I did go out for lunch and then worked outside for awhile. That seems like a healthier alternative.
Juju
@Shell: I’m glad you had that first comma in that sentence, otherwise it would have put you in a whole different creepier light.
debbie
@JPL:
Stop torturing yourself. You know you’ll hear the news when it happens. Your listening won’t bring his demise any sooner. Do the stuff that makes you happy.
Teddys Person
Some info for allergy sufferers. I have mostly spring time allergies and tree pollen (flowering trees and oaks) bothers me the most. Claritin never worked for me, and I relied on Zertec. Last spring, the Zertec wasn’t working as well. So, this year I tried a new over-the-counter product, XYZAL. So far so good.
bemused
@pamelabrown53:
I like the expressions on her face depending on the situation. She sees people acting or doing something that is off or odd and you can see she is thinking, hmm, what’s going on here.
Peter
@schrodingers_cat: I use a stirrup hoe, and a pointy Korean trowel for digging stubborn taproots.
HeleninEire
@SiubhanDuinne, Mob Enforcer: As a serial mystery lover I should go try Ruth Rendell again. Recently I read her first book from 30 plus yrs ago. The answer to the mystery SPOILER ALERT was that the woman’s lover WAS. A. WOMAN. OMG!!! Thirty years ago that woulda been a great ending. But I figured it out about half way through the book.
I want books (and for sure movies) that are smarter than me. I wanna say “Oh holy shit” at the end.
Quinerly
@chopper:
Or as some would say…..https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u7OSxQ3uKU0
JPL
@debbie: Hey look at the bright side, I no longer have nightmares. I’ve had to turn off the TV because the ads against Ossoff are nonstop. He’s trying to stay above the fray, but the presidential election showed that most aren’t voting on issues.
SFAW
@SiubhanDuinne, Mob Enforcer:
OK, that’s a new one on me.
SFAW
@Juju:
The Breakfast of Champions!
Lapassionara
@schrodingers_cat: Good question. It depends on the weed type and what is going on with the bed. Sometimes I hand weed, with one of those long slender metal tools that get the tuberous roots of dandelions, etc. sometimes I just layer corrugated cardboard, held down on the edges with rocks or bricks, and pile a load of mulch on top. That works when there are so many weeds that hoeing will not work. I don’t worry about weeds in the lawn, so long as they are green and can be mowed. I am still debating how to handle the over whelming number of wild onions behind my house, so if anyone has any tips about wild onion control, I am all ears.
HeidiMom
@Jim Parene: I have! Just finished the most recent one, Drinking Gourd. They are indeed excellent.
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: That’s probably because you’ve never met Sikorsky.
Lapassionara
@germy: thx. Useful to know.
schrodingers_cat
@Peter: Thanks! In one of the writing threads I remember that you were soliciting queries for your magazine. Are you still accepting queries. I had an idea for an east (east coast of the United States) meets west (west coast of India) article about cooking.
Omnes Omnibus
So is the fact that Limousine Liberal just won a race a portent of any kind?
Quinerly
@Juju:
Not my normal “MO” (although this is the last weekend of NOLA’s yearly Jazz Fest…our campground crew would always start off with 8:00 AM beers before heading to the fairgrounds, old habits die hard?). I was up at 5:30 and to Lowe’s by 7:30. After dealing with landscaping rock, indoor/outdoor carpet, paint (and unfortunately Walmart, which I normally boycott but not a lot of choices in Morehead City at that hour), I felt I deserved a libation but for the Walmart factor alone. I’ll buy the first round at the Ruddy Duck if we connect next weekend (or the next). They have topnotch NC microbrews. Got your email and responded.
SFAW
@JPL:
It’s never wrong to hope Shitgibbon gets put away, whether in Sing Sing, Leavenworth, ADX Florence, Lubyanka, Creedmoor, or FMC Devens
SWMBO
@SiubhanDuinne, Mob Enforcer: Don’t make me pull this blog over!
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
If you mean someone other than Igor, that’s true.
Juju
@SFAW: I had coffee cake and a banana cupcake with chocolate cream cheese frosting. I’ve never really been a champion. I have been baking. It makes me feel better.
Quinerly
@SWMBO:
@195….Waaaaaaa, I hate the backseat and Ozark pulled my hair. Let me out.
SFAW
@Juju:
Sounds great. Did you bring enough for everyone?
bemused
@Jim Parene:
Netflix? There are many things I’d like to watch on Netflix but can’t until we can get faster internet service and stream on tv. Who knows when that will happen in our area.
SWMBO
@Quinerly: You suck! That does it, we’re turning around right now!
Quinerly
@Juju:
I had left over Eastern NC barbecue for my 5:30 breakfast from Ayden’s very own “Bum Dennis.” You know all about Bum, don’t you?
Juju
@Quinerly: Lowes is open at 7:30am? I did not know that. The only Walmart I hate more than the Walmart in Morehead City is the Walmart in Greenville.
SWMBO
@SFAW: How do you feel about Abu Graib? The Hague? Tower of London? You really need to broaden your horizons.
HeidiMom
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: I love Virgil, too! Especially as he’s both: 1) a country music fan who’s decided that Waylon and Willie’s “Good-Hearted Woman” is the best country song of all time; and 2) a dog lover who tells his girlfriend (at the end of the most recent book) that he’ll come in for supper as soon as he throws a few more balls for the dog. And I read and really like the Joe Pickett series, as long as the author keeps his right-wing beliefs out of the action. (That book with the drones was silly.) Your description of Nate as a plains version of Joe Pike is perfect! As are Crais’s Elvis Cole/Joe Pike novels (the new ones with Maggie the GSD are good, too).
A series you might like is Peter Bowen’s Gabriel DuPre mysteries, set in Montana and featuring a Metis fiddler/cattle inspector/part-time unofficial detective as the protagonist, with crazier-than-usual versions of the usual sidekicks. Serious themes, laugh-out-loud humor (Gabriel, responding to his girlfriend’s statement that a person he doesn’t want to talk to is looking for him: “I am dead, tell him. Funeral is tomorrow. Ver’ sad.”) This series is pretty much under the radar, I think; I stumbled over them in the library, read all that the library had, and ordered the rest as used paperbacks via Amazon.
Quinerly
@SWMBO:
That’s fine!!!! (KICKS SEAT) (I’m out of beer, can we run a short errand first, though?)
Juju
@SFAW: As long as there are no more than 24, otherwise I have to get some more bananas and let them get old.
SFAW
@SWMBO:
@Quinerly:
[Sound of car braking violently, pulling onto the shoulder]
All RIGHT! That’s ENOUGH! You two — OUT OF THE CAR RIGHT NOW. No, I don’t care how far we are from home! I’ve had it with you two [sic].
HeidiMom
@zhena gogolia: I have indeed read the Inspector Wexford series, and enjoyed them very much. I’ve read one or two of the psychological suspense novels, enjoyed them well enough but not enough to seek out more.
Quinerly
@Juju:
Greenville is the worst. No doubt. Morehead one did the deed for me. Could have been worse. Plus in and out fairly quickly.
Juju
@Quinerly: I have heard of Bum’s, but have never had it. I live closer to B’s Barbecue, that is what I tend to have if I have barbecue.
SFAW
@Juju:
Not sure what the current count is, but if you need more old bananas … you can use Obama’s time machine to get them a few days ago (he said, avoiding an obvious joke or two).
Mike J
@Omnes Omnibus:
Limousin is over 500k from Amiens where Macron is from.
Juju
@SFAW: I am not in that loop. They won’t give me the keys to the time machine. I think it has something to do with my desire to pants a number of historical and political figures.
Another Scott
@germy: I saw a weird initialism on Usenet years ago. It was something like:
WFYITBWNBLJ
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Waiting for you in the bath wearing nothing but lime jello.
I don’t have much occasion to use it. ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
SFAW
@Juju:
I TOLD you not to tell them about that. Jesus H. Christ, must I do EVERYTHING around here?
Steve in the ATL
@O. Felix Culpa: one of my kids hiked el Camino a couple of summers back. Said it was “life changing” though honestly she doesn’t seem all that different to me!
bemused
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
@germy:
Do any Republicans envision what their death care bill would do to every local economy in the country? I’m thinking of all the small business owners in my area who finally had insurance after ACA went into effect. Many are recently struggling with higher premiums and deductibles. One small newspaper owner wrote an editorial about that. The GOP bill would throw them off health insurance again and I have no doubt many of those small businesses would fold up. Lot of rural/small town area economies aren’t great now and local groups are working on revitalization ideas and plans. I can easily imagine what the GOP bill, as it is, would do to our communities. Bankruptcies, no one spending money except on necessities, job losses, etc. We’d look like a third world country. Why can’t Republicans see what would happen?
Steve in the ATL
@Mike J: so Amiens Centrist is a better bet than Limousine Liberal?
Steve in the ATL
@bemused:
The better question is “why don’t they care about what will happen?”
Quinerly
@Juju:
Bum’s is an Ayden institution. Third generation, I guess. Direct competition with Ayden’s other barbecue institution owned by Pete Jones. My mom was an Ayden gal (both my parents are buried in that Ayden Cemetery, didn’t you say you taught in Ayden at one time?) As for the Ayden barbecue thing…the little old church ladies all argue after church about which one they are going to that Sunday. If you are from Ayden or know anyone from Ayden, you are eventually forced to pick sides. I’ve been a “Bum’s” chick for a little over 50 years. His has those cracklings in it.?
bemused
@Steve in the ATL:
Yes, that is the question.
Steve in the ATL
@Quinerly: there are several current and former Memphians posting here. Just so you know, we don’t acknowledge NC style “BBQ” as BBQ. And don’t get us started on the atrocities in KC and Texas. Beef with BBQ sauce is not BBQ.
Juju
@SFAW: Apparently you do.
Uncle Cosmo
@chopper: As opposed to the legendary Old Frothingslosh, “the beer with the foam on the bottom”…
Mike J
@Steve in the ATL: The Amiens centrist is certainly better than the Île-de-France nazi.
Juju
@Another Scott: Are you more of a cherry jello fellow?
Florida Frog
@Lyrebird: not all that far away. I’m on Amelia Island at the northeast corner of the state. I’ve never met another Juicer except for the cool solid state physicist and comic book super hero guy who spoke at the science march. A meet up would be cool. I wonder if there are any other harpers around here .
Peter
@schrodingers_cat: I was,The future of that endeavor is currently under discussion, however, as we figure out what to do now that the book is out. We may go the podcast route. If you’re feeling the piece, I’d say write it, or at least write a pitch you could sell to Eater or one of the many other outlets that publish quality food writing. I’m happy to help any way I can.
Mike J
@Steve in the ATL:
Which isn’t to say it can’t be tasty, but if your mouth is ready for BBQ, it’s a huge disappointment when they serve you some random non-pork animal with sauce.
Peter
@Mike J: Isn’t that a regional distinction? In the Carolinas, BBQ means pork. In Texas, brisket is most certainly included.
Quinerly
@Steve in the ATL:
I’ve traveled all over..been to Memphis a lot, been to Austin (music scene and business)…still nothing better than NC whole hog barbecue. Hot pepper vinegar. And some “Texas Pete” added if you are feeling frisky AFTER IT’S PLATED. Pure pork taste. Don’t get me started on that ketchup based sauce crap. I was mortified when I got to St. Louis and the natives were calling pork steaks “barbecue” and slathering that disgusting Maul’s sauce on it. And then there’s KC and it’s “barbecue.”
Juju
@Quinerly: I did my middle grades teaching internship at the Grifton school. I am not native to this area, though I have lived here a long time. I will say it did take a while to get used to eastern North Carolina barbecue. I stay out of the barbecue wars by mentioning my midwestern and northeastern background. Most North Carolinians don’t want my opinion after I drop that little nugget of information into a barbecue conversation.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: Either is better than a fascist from a posh Paris suburb.
Steve in the ATL
Did anyone else read the New Yorker article a couple of weeks ago on the nexus of BBQ and politics? It focused on a South Carolina family BBQ empire and, you’ll be shocked to hear, the patriarch started flying confederate flags at his restaurant in 1964. It seems a lot of similar things happened in that year and I just can’t figure out why….
Uncle Cosmo
@SFAW: I recall my T.A. for “English Literature to 1790” wearing a sweatshirt with the Schlitz logo & the legend “Breakfast of Champions” underneath.
When I was a lad, a couple of generations back, we would be issued textbooks that remained the property of the school system, & we were required to put covers on them. Local businesses would provide brown-paper-bag-colored covers plastered with their ads free to schoolkids, that had to be folded a certain way to stay on (& >50 yrs later I could still fold one of those in my sleep if I had to). I recall one heartwarming version from high school that featured on the front cover an ad for a local Baltimore bakery, in negative print (dark blue background with the letters showing up as the light brown paper color), for
Heartwarming, after one of my less intellectual (but more observant) classmates demonstrated the, shall we say, interesting results when a dark-blue ballpoint was used to fill in every other letter, starting with the “c”…
Uncle Cosmo
@Quinerly: First visited NC in 1965 with my folks, to follow my cousin playing for the Winston-Salem Red Sox in the Carolina League. I recall my astonishment the first time a barbecue sandwich showed up with a layer of coleslaw between the meat & the upper bun. But it was good!
A Ghost to Most
@Quinerly:
Can’t say I’ve ever had NC barbeque, but mightily agree about KC bbq sauce.
We use dry rub
schrodingers_cat
@Peter: Thanks! I may take you up on that.
Denali
Gardening if it would ever stop raining. Painting if the sun would ever come out. Going for a walk in the woods if it would not be muddy. That is all.
Quinerly
@Steve in the ATL:
This place that I grew up going to in Ayden, NC (Bum’s) had a bit of a history. I’m a 1961 model but can remember distinctly that they would refuse service to Blacks in the main part of the restaurant…well into the 1970’s. It was just a known fact. Sign at the back door with a walk up window that said “Coloreds.” At some point, Bum put at sign in the window (in the 1970’s) that said “We serve ALL Races, Colors, Creeds.” I think I have the wording right. I was maybe 14 and I asked my dad about it. He essentially said Bum was forced to and that was a good thing. My parents were born and bred in NC but were a bit different than typical. My father took me to hear Rev Ralph Abernathy speak when he came to the area in the 1960’s. My parents always joked that my mother almost lost her job teaching first grade because of a homemade McGovern for President sign she put in our front yard in 1972. Somebody complained to her principal.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Geeno:
They’re always on Sunday, but possibly not every Sunday. E-mail TaMara for specifics. You can use the “contact a front-pager” gizmo at the top of the page (desktop version of the site).
ETA: Just checked on the mobile version of the site. You can use Menu | Quick Links to get to “Contact a front-pager.”
Quinerly
@Uncle Cosmo:
And they do that coleslaw thing on the shrimp burgers on the coast. I guess that kinda makes more sense, though.
Quinerly
@Juju:
My apologies on the confusion. Although I grew up in Grifton, a lot of Ayden connections because that’s where my mom was from. She was a first grade teacher for 30 years, retired in the the ’70’s from Grifton Elementary and passed away a little over a year ago. Have had her and Ayden on my mind a lot these last two days. Beach place at PKS was basically hers…I have been making a few changes here….not sure she would approve.
owlface
@Elizabelle: Thank you. It’s coming along–I did 8 weeks of AC, and now am on to 12 weeks of herceptin/perjeta/taxol. It’s tough.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Quinerly, @dm:
So we’re just going to blow by Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics with nary a thought. Skynet, here we come!
Steeplejack (phone)
@Steve in the ATL:
It’s “brisket,” and that’s fine with me.
Juju
@Quinerly: No apology needed. I actually did some pre internship work at the Ayden Middle school as well. The two towns often run together in my mind, and I don’t have the familiarity with them that you have.
Quinerly
@Juju:
Hated Grifton (and still do). Loved Ayden (and still do). They are like night and day. My dad grew up on the other side of Grifton….Highway 118..in the community of “Quinerly.” All that’s really left now is the crossroads and farmland.
Juju
@Quinerly: Most of my knowledge of the two towns comes from my experience dealing with and driving to and from the two schools. From that viewpoint, they are similar. I’m sure you know more than I do about Ayden and Grifton. I think Ayden has more stoplights.
eclare
@Steve in the ATL: FTW…stepped away for a while, no, NC BBQ is definitely not BBQ. Beef is definitely not BBQ. Was on a team for five or six years here for the World Championship BBQ Contest.
Quinerly
@Juju:
I just find it remarkable that two people would cross paths on a blog named “Balloon Juice”…both with Grifton and Carteret County connections. I have followed this blog since Cole’s conversion…mostly lurking because I didn’t have time to comment that much. More time now. Coincidences and connections always make me shake my head about what a small world we live in.
Juju
Give our region, we may have even graduated from the same university, though probably in different years.
Quinerly
@Juju:
ECU, 1982, Political Science. Saint Louis University School of Law, 1985.
SWMBO
@SFAW: But she started it!
Well it seems we have our mob. Now what is Suibhan going to enforce?
laura
@Quinerly: police have made it so unpleasant..a hassle to hop over to the mainland for dinner, drinks, music. One beer and they want to bust you.
The old “Come on vacation, leave on probation” revenue generating rag….
Hi Q, please pass along some Scritches for Poco.