Merry Christmas to All

Sorry I have been so backed up. I am just now taking a shower and packing up to head to the families for the holidays. I should have been on the road almost 4 hours ago. At least I have most of the snow taken care of.

This holiday it is mostly going to be about my niece. Well that and my parents which they are going to kill us for doing them. Oh well. My niece gets some close, a Wii system and DS and Wii games. I am sure there is other stuff to but I am sure it will be more than enough to keep her busy for a while. I got her games because she is super picky about what she wears and there is no way I would get the correct thing for her tastes. My parents come more into the 21st century this year. The will be getting NetFlix for movies which they love to watch and Skype for Voip meaning my Mom can talk to her sisters more than once a year and to my one relative that is near by but long distance. Well that and me and my brother too. So it could be a very good thing. We will see. The other item is coupons to their pizza place they go every Sunday. It does not sounds like much but we know they will use them.

We are celebrating tonight so that is why I have to get my butt in gear.

I hope anyone out there that reads this and celebrates Christmas has a wonderful and safe Christmas time.

Owen 16

Owen 16
Originally uploaded by abarndweller

I found this photo out on Flickr. It so goes along with what I have to share from yesterday.

Yesterday, after having unburring myself from the over 10 inches of snow and braving the rather nasty weather conditions of yesterday I went to see the Detroit Lions play their 15th game of the NFL season. What did I see at this football game?

First let me say it was interesting. Ford Field where the Lions play is a lovely stadium. Although we were most of the way to the top, the seats were still nice. We sat in a corner and had a decent view of the field. If you wanted to see it closer you either needed to bring binoculars, have closer, much more expensive seats or watch the giant board that had very good coverage of the game.

Anyway what I did see was a fan be ejected from the game. So what did this fan do to get ejected from the game? This terrible person, a felon for sure, probably life of crime with a rap sheet longer than anyone can handle, on the naughty list for sure... brought a grocery bag into the stadium.... GASP, NOT THAT!

It is on the list of prohibited items. They obviously hid the bag on entering the stadium where it should have been discovered and pitched. So what is so wrong about bringing in a grocery bag? Well personally I think a person is making a statement and should be allowed to do this and I do not think there is anything wrong with this. But what this person did was wear a make shift shirt like the one above. Upon first looks the jersey looks normal. But there is a meaning behind it. The Lions who were playing their 15th game of the season have not won a single game yet this season. This game was no different and they lost 42 to 7. Chances are they will lose their last game next week hence the shirt ... OWEN 16 or 0 and 16, their record for this season.

Anyway what this person did was wear the bag over their head. This was suppose to represent the unknown Lions Fan. If you are not familiar with with the Unknown Comic, here is a clip of his act that the unknown Lions Fan is based on.

The Unknown Comic

So this person was expressing their displeasure with the team. I mean if you are a pro sports team how can you possibly lose each and every game of a season? And what happens... immediate ejection from the game. What makes this even worse is you are not allowed to bring a video camera with you nor are you allowed to have a decent camera with you so you could not record this person being ejected from the game so it is as if it never happened. Oh there was one more thing this person had with them. A make shift sign (which is allowed) that read, WHY AM I HERE? Well I figured this needed to be at least mentioned.

So was the person in the wrong? You bet they were. I watched them put on the bag and quickly take it off after a very short time. They where hiding it of course. But to me it just feels like they were being muzzled. What could it possibly hurt to allow even every fan in the stadium to wear a BAG over their head. COME ON, the Lions are terrible. No other team in the NFL has ever went 0 and 15. Next week they will set another record and not win a single game in the season. Their over all record since 1930 has been they lose 54 percent of their games. It has not been since 2000 that the Lions have won more than they lost.

Anyway, I may just need to drop the Lions. The only way they will ever get better is for the fans to abandon them. As long as the franchise continues to make money what incentive is there to ever get better?

55Flash Fiction Friday

The kids were suppose to bring
dishes to school from around the world
Half the dishes you can not pronounce
But they all smell so wonderful.

What did Little Johny
bring in for International day?
Johny had the United States.
He could have brought in so many great foods
He chose to bring French Fries.

What can I say, Lime has had an International flair about things as long as I have been visiting her blog but the past few weeks she has out done herself. I guess this and the comment her daughter made about them having such a global kitchen just planted a seed in my mind. I think I need to try a whole lot more dishes from India. Until then maybe I will have to go look up that Ethiopian restaurant in the next town over. I have only been to such a place once and I think it is time I venture out of my comfort zone once again.

Have a wonderful weekend and send warm thought my way if you can. I just want to make sure I do not get buried in snow from the storm heading this way. I will use any warm thoughts to help melt a little snow… unless you want to help me build a gran snowman. Any takers?

If you decided to do a 55 thsi week than go over to G-Man's blog and let him know so he can come visit.

UPDATE: The big storm came and went and dumped 8 inches of snow on me. An hour and a half later of using my snow blower to do battle with the snow and the snow plow teams that kept burrying my driveway and sidewalks ... I am finally all clear. Of course tomorrow night we have an additionl 3 to 6 inches on the way. So we could have as much as 32 inches of snow already and winter has just begin. Nice.

For the Person that has Everything

Do you have someone on your Christmas list that is impossible to shop for. Well you may just be in luck. Here we have something I found on the Internet. I am not sure if it is real or not but the people that created it seem to be and you can find this all over the Internet. There is a ton of buzz out there. Of course it is in pre-production so it is only available for pre-order. I guess Christmas this year is out.

So here you have the hood thong. In it's defense, one place someone said that maybe this will be worn over other clothes like they do with exercise outfits. That at least makes some sense to me.





Around my neck of the woods we are getting all ready. We are expecting 6 to 10 inches of snow by tomorrow evening. The worst of it is the snow will be coming down more than an inch an hour during rush hour tomorrow morning. The snow crews can not keep up with that much snow. Then on Sunday I believe we are expecting another 3 to 6 inches. That will be 9 to 16 inches of snow in 3 days. Yikes! That could put us as a little over half our annual snow fall and Winter still has not officially started.

I think I am moving south.



Finally it would seem that Jeff Foxworthy has decided to target Michigan ...

If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 18 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by, you might live in Michigan.

If you're proud that your region makes the national news 96 nights each year because Pellston is the coldest spot in the nation, you might live in Michigan.

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, you might live in Michigan.

If you instinctively walk like a penguin for five months out of the year, you might live in Michigan.

If someone in a store offers you assistance and they don't work there, you might live in Michigan.

If your dad's suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead, you might live in Michigan.

If you have worn shorts and a coat at the same time, you might live in Michigan.

If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, you might live in Michigan.

If you have had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Michigan.

The Christmas Meme

I borrowed this meme from KJ.

The Christmas Meme

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Usually paper

2. Real tree or Artificial? Would like real but... Artificial

3. When do you put up the tree? Ideally Thanksgiving but usually not until the mid December

4. When do you take the tree down? New Years day or soon there after

5. Do you like eggnog? Yes

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Microscope, possibly an erector set???

7. Hardest person to buy for? Most about the same

8. Easiest person to buy for? My niece

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail but I only do that occasionally

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Beats me.

12. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Ham

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? last minute

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? no

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Unfortunately anytime

16. Lights on the tree? Defensively, sometimes white, sometimes multicolor

17. Favorite Christmas song? Winter Wonderland

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel to the folks home

19. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel

20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We time share my sisters family, one year it will be Christmas Eve, the next Christmas. This year, Christmas Eve.

55Flash Fiction Friday

Planning what to do,
Preparing the list.

To the store shopping.
Filling the cart.
Paying for the fixings

Measuring, stirring,
mixing, cleaning.
Folding, blending,
chopping, beating,
sprinkling, placing..

Baking, cooking,
refrigerating.

Preparing for the road trip
Hot stays hot,
cold stays cold
nothing spills.

Sure is a lot of work
for an Office Christmas Party.

The above is a flash fiction 55. If you would like to try one of these just put together a little story that contains (about) 55 words. Include some sort of story line and a character and away you go. Once you have posted jump on over to Gman’s blog and let him know (and the others) so they can come and visit.



Today we have an office Christmas party. I am always the fool. One person always brings in pop for his contribution but not me. I usually do two or three items. Most of the time they are in a crock pot to keep warm adding to the fun. Still I want to make sure I do my share.

On the menu today as far as I am concerned is antipasto salad and creamy chicken enchilada’s. While the salad does not sound bad, it actually takes me some time. I top the salad with a layer of coto salami and then a layer of ham lunch meat. This is cut up into small squares, probably about an inch square and then each square is placed on top of the salad one at a time. I have discovered that if I partially freeze the lunch meat before working with it I can separate the squares a little easier. Of course my hands get cold but it is worth the trade off. Still this step alone takes going on about 46 minutes all by itself. Of course it makes a much better presentation doing this.

Tonight should be fun. I have the ingredients and it is now time to make Limes “Don’t Fear the Curry” recipe. I am looking forward to this as the curry powder I purchased actually smells wonderful to me. When did I start liking curry anyway?

Oh and tonight Frosty the Snowman is on. Yes, I still watch those silly little holiday shows.

It should be an interesting day today. No partying but that is just fine with me.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Less than two weeks to Christmas...

No Regrets

I have nothing but I thought I would post a quick thought.

Yesterday a family in California will never be the same. I do not know all the details but I just heard that the an F-16 fighter crashed on approach to the base. The pilot ejected and is going to be OK. The family however will not. The 18 month old daughter and her just born sister were lost along with the wife and her mother. So here you leave for work (or whatever) and something as unlikely as this happens and everything in your life changes in an instant.

Things like this make you think twice. That hurtful comment you said before leaving for the day, that missed opportunity to tell someone you love them, the opportunities to get in touch with someone who means a lot to you but you have been to busy to call. Just think for a minute how you will feel should something happen like the fighter jet crash, or 9/11 or the jet that crashed on take off near where I lived and all but 1 person on board died, and you did not get a chance to tell them you love them.

Well time to go brave another day. Yea, most of the ice or snow they thought might be heading our way did not happen. I hope you have a nice day.

Natures Game of Chicken

This is how I spent a half hour Saturday morning...




Saturday morning I woke up early and decided to get on the computer and see what all was going on. After a while I looked out my large window and saw the bird of pray you see in the picture above (about in the center). I was rather fascinated trying to figure out what it was but then the fun happened.

There was a squirrel that was wandering through the trees and it discovered the bird. It then disappeared for a few minutes and reappeared about 5 feet away from the bird. The squirrel then headed off in several different directions but kept returning to check out the bird. Of course the whole time the bird kept it's eyes on the squirrel.

Finally the squirrel disappeared and went up several branches to where you see in this picture (top a little over a third of the way from the left).

I snapped this picture and then went for my good camera only to come back and discover the bird and squirrel were both gone.

It seems to me the squirrel was a little touched in the head because I think that bird could have done some real damage to Mr Squirrel.

Well that was an exciting 30 minutes on Saturday morning.

55Flash Fiction Friday

The snow flakes are falling
They were so large
and they were fun to catch
on your tongue
but now it is super fine

You can see your breath
when ever you
breath out

It really is a pretty time of year
except for when
you have fallen on the ice
and can’t get up

The above is a flash fiction 55. It is simple to do. Just put together a small story that has about 55 words. Have a subject and at least a character (which I am missing in this one) and there you have it. Once you get started you will be amazed how fun they can be.

So far this year we have had over 12 inches of snow. To me it seems like we rarely get snow before Christmas but not this year. And it has been so slippery too. I have caught myself many, many times slipping only to manage to stay up. I sure hope things get better soon. Maybe I should be putting on something with a little padding on the back in case I take a tumble.

I hope where you are the weather is treating you a little better.

„La Cucaracha

Yesterday when I walked into work I had a surprise. I walked in with a cockroach. Now I was going to say that is the first live one I have ever seen but that would be wrong. When I was in my early 20s I visited someone in a dump of a motel room and they had roaches in it. I had no idea what it was.

Downtown's are notorious for having cockroaches. I once was sitting at a bar and saw a cockroach scurry across the corner of the bar. Now it was not like this place was not kept up after. I think that sprayed for bugs twice a month and were fairly careful all the time.

Once when I was visiting my friends in Florida (who now live in Kentucky) I went with them looking at a house. It was at night and it was dark. We walked into the house and turned on the lights. There were like a million cockroaches that all scurried out of sight. In truth there were maybe 10 of them but I was not use to seeing them. Of course they have lots of fun things like this down in Florida.

About a year ago we moved into the building I work in now. We knew at the time this building had a problem with cockroaches. Up until yesterday the only ones I have seen were dead and there have only been two of them at that. At least one thing, the little buddy I came into work with was not real super fast. I feel a little better about that. Of course they sprayed for them the day before so this beastie may have been handicapped. I just hope none of them follow me hope as they are NOT WELCOME!

Let it Snow (cringe)

Lets see... checking the calendar... it is suppose to be late fall. So why does it look so white out there? I wish I had my camera with me the last couple of days. The trees looked lovely with about 2 inches of snow piled up on each and every branch. Luckily I have only heard of a few branches coming down. We have had just about 12 inches of snow so far this season. We are already 6 inches ahead of normal but I would argue it is even higher as it seems to me that we are usually wishing for a white Christmas and not always getting that. I have a feeling this is going to be a long winter.

Does anyone (in a warmer climate of course) have room for a visitor???

Well time to make the best of it. I know the local zoo has a good sized lights display. For that matter so do some people. Maybe I should go checking that out. That way I can start getting into the holiday mood.

I just heard my all time favorite band is coming to my area. Not sure I can talk anyone to go with me but we will see. Anyway here is one of their songs.