Absolutely Feisty has a post that primed me. I posted this as a comment:"Roy's birthday is Dec 2nd. So my memories usually start then with a call or email to my mom. To remind her that I remember."
We are/were, what is called I'm told, Irish twins. We aren't Irish. I was born January 12th and he was born Dec 2nd of the same year. He was so outgoing, so many friends, so young. At the age of 21 he died in a car accident. Our family was never the same after that. Some of us can talk about him but my other brother who was riding with him can't/doesn't. I believe that by talking about Roy I honor his memory. It's taken a long time to get there. For a long time it was easy to pretend that he was in Canada (where he is buried) or Florida (where he died). Living his life, not writing or calling. Isn't that just like a young man to behave? Being so far from my family it's easy to forget who is living and who isn't. But over the years I have gone to visit his grave, tend the flowers I planted there. I've sat next to his stone and poured my heart out. I've even brought my husband to meet him. Funny in a weird way isn't it? I've dreamed of him years ago, twice. He smiled the whole time, without ever saying a word, like it wasn't allowed. After that I felt like all was well with him. I miss him enormously. More than anyone else who has gone. And there are some very special people who have. My grandmother after whom I was named. Her husband, my grandfather, after whom my bother was named. And my great uncle, my grand father's brother, who taught me how to drive. By these two men I judge all men. Most are lacking. But luckily my guardian angels lead me to my husband. Who just so happens to be a Sagittarius like my brother Roy. Hmmm
AF, I wish you dreams. Dreams that give you peace, that make you smile, that you see James and he's happy.
Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Yule! Have a great day! Just wanted to take a moment from cooking & celebrating to let you know that I'm thinking of you. I'm glad that you are part of our life. You've enriched it & made it so much more enjoyable. Blessing to you and you family!
As many of you know, homebrewing beer is one of my hobbies, and a few months ago, I won a homebrew contest at 75th Street Brewery. The prize was the opportunity to make a batch of my winning recipe on their massive equipment – 200+ gallons of beer!
My beer (“Triple Sugar Tripel”) will be tapped on December 29, and, to celebrate the event, my wife and I are hosting a party starting at 5:00 in the back room at 75th Street Brewery. We will provide appetizers, and the brewery has agreed to donate to the Central City School Fund 50 cents for each glass of beer they sell that night. Additionally, I will have a donation jar there for those who choose to make a final year-end donation to the Fund. 100% of the donations will go to the schools.
The Central City School Fund supports Catholic elementary education in Kansas City’s poorest neighborhoods. In these trying economic times, it is difficult for many families to pay for Catholic education, and the problem is even worse for the families in the old Northeast and Westside sections of Kansas City. Despite the challenges of poverty and crime faced in their daily lives, the families of the CCSF realize the importance of Catholic education for their children, and every family that has children attending the Central City Schools makes a financial contribution (as much as they can afford) toward their children’s tuition. Very few families, however, are able to afford to send their children to our schools without financial assistance, and the Central City School Fund helps bridge the gap between poor families’ meager income and the cost of a high-quality Catholic education.
As for the beer, I haven't sampled it yet, and we made a few significant changes to my 10 gallon recipe in the process of scaling it up to 200+ gallons, so I'm relying a bit on guesswork to predict how it will taste. The last time I saw this beer it was nothing more than sweet, tea colored water being pumped from the boiling kettle through the chiller and into a fermentation vessel where it would meet up with the special Belgian yeast that does all the work.
I expect that this beer will be the color of medium-strong tea, with a subdued but long-lasting head. The aroma will probably be honey mixed with just a suggestion of hops. The flavor will be sweet, with a strong note of honey flavor, followed by all the esters thrown off by the 75th Street Brewery's Belgian strain of yeast. Those esters will add a fruity, spicy taste to the beer, which I hope will combine with the honey to create a sweet, warming beer that will stand up to rich holiday meals and accompany traditional holiday desserts. At 9% alcohol, it will be a strong sipping beer. My hope is that the sweetness will make it appealing to those who think all craft beer is dark, hoppy and bitter, while the Belgian complexity of the beer will appeal to the beer snobs. While I’m calling it a Belgian Tripel, which is a type of beer originated by Belgian monks, it is my own take on the style, because those ales focus more on the yeast characteristics than on the sugar, and it's a little dark for the style.
Enough beer geek talk! I hope you are able to stop by 75th Street Brewery on Monday, December 29th after 5:00, to toast the end of a memorable year, and support the children and families of the Central City School Fund. Please forward this invitation to anyone you think will be interested in supporting the Central City School Fund or drinking good beer – the more the merrier!
PresentMagazine.com is putting together Top 10 Lists for the year including Top 10 local blogs. Care to submit a list to them? They would like to hear from as many local bloggers as possible about what blogs they're following and would recommend. Responses can be sent to PresentMagazine.com via email - present@presentmagazine.com - no later than December 21.
I'm feed up with BlogRolling. Right now I have 2 blog rolls & will be removing BlogRolling ASAP. But not tonight. I need to make sure I go everybody before I delete my old one. I'll be doing the same to my other blog Kansas City Bloggers. If you know of any blogs that should be listed let me know. Now I'm heading to bed.
A good time was had by all. Emawkc brought door prizes. Here are the bloggers who were there. The top group are regulars who just can't stay away from the camaraderie. The second group are bloggers/tweeters new to our gatherings. Average Jane had told one of them, who told the others. As they found out all bloggers/tweeters are welcome. They may notice also notice that since so many of us have been meeting for so long that we are like family. We are happy to see each other & we tease each other when we do get together. And we miss you if you don't show up.
This month has been full of ups & downs: Working the Obama campaign, the election, my laptop crashing & dying, trying to get my database reconstructed, my 36 year old brother in law having a heart attack, his surgery (2 blockages: 90% & 75%), and trying to get local bloggers to agree on a place for a gathering. The North of the River people would like to have one up there but can't make it until later. So here's the compromise:
I can't say it loud enough or often enough. You deserve respect & proper health care, and so much more. To all active military: Thank you! Be safe! Come home!!!!!!
Worked my volunteering ass of on the Obama campaign. You're welcome! I did it for all of us not just myself. Because I care. The feeling I and many have is euphoric. We are so hopeful.
My laptop died. Gave it's life for the campaign. I mean right after the campaign. I did some research online, and on Twitter. I was told that my next laptop should be a Mac. So I went to Micro Center, they have some of the last models marked down. I've been busy learning the rope (kinda). It will take me a while to be 100%. (What no right click? Browser window not filling the screen??)
Hubby is busy with school & did some handy work recently on So Many Books' house. Hopefully we can get some wood ready for the winter to heat the house. I guess the house isn't getting painted this year.
This last weekend we had supper on Friday & Saturday nights at friends. We are blessed with many good and close friends. And Saturday night I stay over at friends who were out of town. I hung out with their 3 dogs. We don't allow our dogs to sleep on our bed. A Great Dane just takes too much room. So it was great to cuddle up to their dogs on the bed since the hubby wasn't there t0 keep me warm.
I've never been to a burlesque show before. I've never yelled at women to get then to take their clothes off before. I've never laughed so hard that I almost peed myself. I can't stress enough how much fun I had. If you hear of one with these ladies you MUST go see them. You won't be sorry. The only downside was that it was so late. Us old folk need to get to bed.
Republicans have sunk to a new low! Obama signs are being stolen. They are even pealing bumper stickers off cars. How desperate are they? If caught they could be prosecuted since we have paid for our Obama signs.
A friend, who worked away from home all week, always made a special effort with his family on the weekends. Every Sunday morning he would take his 7-year old granddaughter out for a drive in the car for some bonding time.Just him and his granddaughter.
One particular Sunday however, he had a bad cold and really didn't feel like being up at all. Luckily, his wife came to the rescue and said that she would take their granddaughter out.
When they returned, the little girl anxiously ran upstairs to see her grandfather.'Well, did you enjoy your ride with grandma?' He asked.
'Ohyes,Grand PaPa!' the girl replied, 'And do you knowwhat?We didn't see a single dumb bastard or lousy shit-head or son-of-a-bitchanywherewe went today!'
Trooper looks like this today all messed up on drugs. You can see one of the four places they shaved him for surgery. The Vet removed 4 "fatty" tumors. I'm hoping that the t-shirt will keep him from licking or scratching those areas: right hip, left shoulder and the base of his neck where his chest starts. He will be on antibiotics & pain meds.
This other photo is how he normally looks when he's not doing drugs. He's a sweet boy, so low maintenance. Not like Willow the Great Dane who is a bitchy bitch. But just because he's a sweet boy don't think he's a pushover when guarding the house. That's when he's a storm trooper. So tonight he's off duty & Kanga will have the guard duty.
Saturday morning I got up early, dressed quietly, ate breakfast, slipped quietly into the garage to load up my golf clubs, and proceeded to >back out into a torrential downpour. There was snow mixed with the rain, and the wind was blowing 50 mph. I pulled back into the garage, turned on the radio, and discovered that the weather would be bad through out the day. I went back into the house, quietly undressed, and slipped back into bed. There I cuddled up to my wife's back, now with a different anticipation, and whispered, 'The weather out there is terrible.' My loving wife of 30 yrs replied, 'Can you believe my stupid husband is out playing golf in that mess?'
http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/cocoamulch.asp Even if you don't have a pet, please pass this to those that do.
Yesterday one of our dog agility friends experienced a tragedy and wanted me to pass a special message along
to all of my dog loving friends and family. Please tell every dog owner you know.
Over the weekend the doting owner of two young lab mixes purchased Cocoa Mulch from Target to use in their
garden. They loved the way it smelled and it was advertised to keep cats away from their garden. Their dog Calypso decided that the mulch smelled good enough to eat and devoured a large helping. She vomited a few times which was typical when she eats something new but wasn't acting lethargic in any way. The next day, Mom woke up and took Calypso out for her morning walk. Half way through the walk, she had a seizure and died.
Although the mulch had NO warnings printed on the label, upon further investigation on the company's website,
this product is HIGHLY toxic to dogs and cats. Cocoa Mulch is manufactured by Hershey's, and they claim that 'It is true that studies have shown that 50% of the dogs that eat Cocoa Mulch can suffer physical harm to a variety of degrees (depending on each individual dog). However, 98% of all dogs won't eat it.'
This Snopes site gives the following information:
Cocoa Mulch, which is sold by Home Depot, Foreman's Garden Supply and other Garden supply stores, contains a lethal ingredient called 'Theobromine'. It is lethal to dogs and cats. It smells like chocolate and it really attracts dogs. They will ingest this stuff and die. Several deaths already occurred in the last 2-3 weeks. Just a word of caution, check what you are using in your gardens and be aware of what your g ardene rs are using in your gardens.
Theobromine is in all chocolate, especially dark or baker's chocolate which is toxic to dogs. Cocoa bean shells contain potentially toxic quantities of theobromine, a xanthine compound similar in effects to caffeine and theophylline. A dog that ingested a lethal quantity of garden mulch made from cacao bean shells
developed severe convulsions and died 17 hours later. Analysis of the stomach contents and the ingested cacao bean shells revealed the presence of lethal amounts of theobromine.
PLEASE GIVE THIS THE WIDEST DISTRIBUTION
