Retirement Travel and a Weird Mix of Other Stuff
Hubby e-mailed it to me at some point over the last couple of years, so I don’t know who gets credit for it. But it’s funny. I think so anyway. And who can’t use a bit of humor every now and then?
I hope you enjoy your Thursday!
I had to take a closer look.
Yep, dog legs and tail. Once I walked a bit further and looked down, I saw this.
It was Meg, sound asleep, on the landing. That’s one of her favorite spots. She doesn’t usually lay on her back, though. She usually reserves that position for softer places, like her bed. Or my recliner. But Meg’s crazy, in a good way, and one never quite knows what to expect from her.
Of course, the other thing that caught my eye yesterday were the news headlines that pretty much all said the same thing, “Obama Wins.”
Thank God it is over. It was the longest campaign run in history (I think I remember reading somewhere that it was 21 months). Twenty one LONG months.
Now maybe we can get back to the real news. I wonder what Britney has been up to? And Lindsay Lohan? I hear Brad Pitt has been stepping out on Angie. With his latest co star. Now that is justice.
Doesn’t this picture just make you COLD?
I think it’s an awesome shot. I didn’t take it though. It was taken by one of my new “friends” (pen pals, really) on Flickr. She (Janet) lives in Sterling, Alaska, which is southwest of Anchorage on the Kenai Peninsula.
When we visited Alaska, it was Seward I really fell in love with. That’s on the Kenai Peninsula, too. So I am living vicariously through Janet.
This photo was taken on October 29. I can hear Hubby now saying, “See? I told you it would be too damn cold to live there!”
But it is pretty. Although there are occasional road hazards, she also has quick access to scenery like THIS.
Songwoman, Pam, takes COOL PICS, too. (She and her hubby, AK Dave, also live on the Kenai Peninsula. AK Dave’s pics are restricted to Flickr members for some reason.)
I’m so glad they post great pics for me to enjoy. That’s what friends are for, right? I wonder if they’ll mind me popping in for a visit…
Well, I later realized that was pretty lame. I mean, stuff happens every day, right? The question is, is the stuff interesting?
You be the judge.
As I sat at my desk, eating but not enjoying my Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Pop Tarts straight from the package, I was feeling a bit, well, confused. I usually love this particular flavor Pop Tart. Hot or cold. But they totally were not hitting the spot.
I pulled the remaining pastry from the package and saw this (photo at left). I think it is Kellogg’s way of sucking people in to buy more pastries. I wonder how well it works. What is “BG” anyway? And really, it looks ugly. And because it looks ugly, it tastes ugly. After I took this lovely photo, I re-wrapped the second Pop Tart. If I get desperate later, I might eat it. Or feed it to the dogs. Or toss it in the trash.
Speaking of the dogs…
I noticed Meg (above) was looking a bit melancholy.
So was C. 
I couldn’t figure out why. Not that I wasted a ton of brain energy trying to figure it out. I was working after all. That requires lots of focus.
But I was having a hard time focusing. Maybe it was my lame-ass, half-eaten breakfast?
Perhaps it was the fact that C, who prefers hanging out under my desk while I work, had gas. (I was even feeling a bit dizzy.)
So I decided to take the dogs outside to cheer them up. And hopefully give C the opportunity to air out.
But, it was raining. And we were confronted with this, which I think you might agree is not very cheery.
Doesn’t this shot below make you shiver?
That’s when I realized it was darn cold out there. Wanna know how cold?
Yep, not only was it wet, it was a mere 44.6 degrees Fahrenheit outside. But, what was worse, was the inside temperature. Did you happen to notice that in the handy photo posted above? It was 59.7 degrees Fahrenheit.
Inside.
Hmmm. I think that means it is time to switch on the heat, don’t you?
Maybe that will cheer ole C up. I’ll let you know later if it worked.
Yesterday was a typical Monday. Not a lot happened. I didn’t take one single picture.
But, thanks to Flickr, I’ve met some cool people that take really neat photos, which I can use at will for my Blog (using Flickr’s “blog this” feature).
The image shown here is one from BrutalGoddess (Chris) in Colorado.
Then there’s Michelle in NY who takes really cool macro shots.
And we can’t forget my new friend Dave in Alaska or his wife Songwoman (Pam).
Check them out when you get time. They all have some pretty cool images.
Happy Tuesday! Hopefully it isn’t cold and rainy where you are, too.
That was the plan.
The execution of said plan meant going to Costco for some fresh clams. They didn’t have any. So I had to go to the local seafood place. It’s the sort of place that sells all sorts of fresh seafood. They sell cooked seafood, too.
That’s where I got into trouble. Not trouble really, unless Hubby digs backwards in my posts when he gets home on Thursday and reads this! Let’s just say that’s where my plan changed.
This is a swamp dog. It is a really big, blue crab, steamed Maryland style. This one is sitting on a platter.
It was big.
The plan was to have clam chowder for lunch. But the crabs smelled so good, I decided to buy a couple. Here’s the swamp dog from another angle.
I didn’t go completely astray. I bought clams, too. About 50 little-neck clams (they’re small ones). I’d never bought clams before. Or prepared fresh ones. It was an adventure.
After lunching on the swamp dogs and watching the second half of the football game (the Ravens kick Oakland’s butt) while I quilted, I prepared the clam chowder for dinner.
I soaked the clams in clean, clear water for a while, swooshed them around, changed the water, soaked them some more. Repeated. Then I had to scrub them. They have sand on their shells and inside their shells, too. And they’re still alive. So they peek out of their shell while you aren’t looking at or touching them and then “clam up” when they’re disturbed.
Here they are all cleaned and ready to cook. If you look closely, you can see a couple of them are hanging open.
And here they are in the pot.
I totally felt like the Pioneer Woman as I was doing this, by the way. Don’t worry, though. I won’t make a habit of it.
The clams only had to steam for about 10 minutes until they all opened and I could remove the innards from the shells. Some of those innards, fully cooked, are pictured below.
The small bowl in the following photo contains the meat (the cooked innards). The big bowl contains the leftover shells.
It doesn’t look like much, does it? Once I minced them, it was actually a good bit.
I couldn’t resist presenting the bowl of shells to Moses, my 18+, pain-in-the-ass cat. She just kept sniffing and meowing. Sniffing and meowing. I think she was saying, “WTF? What’d you do with the meat!?!”
The picture above is the finished product. I served it (to myself) with sourdough garlic bread.
Oh. My. God.
The chowder really was quite tasty. It was totally worth the effort.
I forgot to mention the sangria. I make killer sangria, so I had some of that, too. While I was cooking.
That was my day.
That and I finished quilting my quilt between lunch and dinner. Now I just have to bind it. That’s fodder for another post though.
Right now, I am in serious need of a nap.
