BOOB 08-17 through 08-21

For those of you who do not know what BOOB means, it means:
"Being Out Of Blogging" (shame on you). What this means is that I will not be blogging next week… but instead will be on vacation— which includes not using my computer (I'm on the computer all day at work and need a break). However, I do have some guests who will be posting on my behalf while I am away. When I asked for assistance with guest posting, I was pleasantly surprised at the outpouring of volunteers. It is an honor and a privilege to have these people help out and be guests on my blog.

Here is the schedule for next week:

Monday, August 17:

Mama Nut @ 4 Nuts in a Nutshell

Mina @ The World According to the Little Fish

Tuesday, August 18:

Deb @ Dirty Socks and Pizza

Wednesday, August 19:

Liz @ Eternal Lizdom

Thursday, August 20:

Moonspun @ Moonspun Spins

Friday, August 21:

CK Lunchbox @ Clark Kent's Lunchbox

If you are unfamiliar with these authors, I encourage you to check out their blogs so that you get a feel of their writing styles.
See you when I return.

F2: Just call me Mr. Tabasco

Welcome again to Friday's Feast. Today I'll be talking about my inherited desire for Tabasco sauce. If you don't know what Friday's Feast is all about, please read the Friday's Feast page for a more detailed explanation. If you want to join in on the feast— be sure to leave a comment and include the URL to your post so I and others can know of your contribution.

Participants in this weeks Feast are as follows:

Participants in this weeks Feast are as follows:

• m²I @ Ca-Joh
  A post with Tabasco throughout.

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If any of you read my post Writer's Workshop: C is for Cookie you know that I was exposed to Tabasco sauce early on in my life. What you do not know is my natural affinity with the stuff.

According to my father, his Grandmother (my Great Grandmother) was born a McIlhenny. They lived in western Pennsylvania and not on Avery Island. Now… if any of those McIlhenny's from Avery Island ever lived, or even moved to Pennsylvania— then I am truly related to the Tabasco giants. This explains a lot:

• Now I know why I do not prefer any other type of hot sauce and tend to always buy Tabasco.
• Now I know why I can stand spicy foods so easily.
• Now I know why I was so saddened when hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.

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Next week I will be on vacation and will have Clark Kent help me out by guest posting for me— so I am not going to have a Friday's feast next week. Do not fear… the theme in two weeks will be "favorites". Do you have any favorite foods, or favorite things that you enjoyed eating as a child. Are there favorite food shows you like to watch, or even your favorite food celebrity. So… if you have anything that relates to this topic, be sure to leave a comment and include the URL so I can include you in the next feast. You now have twice as much time to prepare something— or even find that post from long ago… I'll be sure to add you in.

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Rhyming Wednesday: Sunset

I have discovered a new meme hosted by Otin @ Wizard of Otin called Rhyming Wednesday. This gives me an opportunity to recite my poetry and read others as well.

This is one of my "six line" style poems that upon reading again reminds me of sunset… so I titled it that. It is difficult to say what it truly means… I'll leave it over to you to offer your interpretation:

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The fog rolls in and clutters the sky
while the sun withers and begins to lie

The light so warm now starts to fade
a rosy red to a scarlet jade

Our eyes they look but see none at all
thus blinded by our own heroic fall

So until we fall to our own doom
overpass the gloom by clearing our dye

84'

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If you are interested in reading this week's offering… or want to participate yourself— go visit Otin's Rhyming Wednesday.

Grandma Grandpa Camp

Typically our family goes camping every year. Unfortunately this year we did not. In order to make it up to our Grandson who was looking forward to camping, my wife and I decided to have what we call "Grandma-Grandpa Camp". What we planned was to do similar activities that we would normally do when we go camping— but do them closer to home.

Cast of Characters (Grandpa, Grandson, Grandma).

One of the activities that we normally do is rent paddle boats and go out on the lake. My wife and I noticed that there was a boat rental place nearby and planned on renting a boat there. What we did not plan was the excessive amount of rain which put a damper in our plans:

Looks like the dock is flooded… can't get to the boats.

An activity that we were successful with was prospecting. There is a rock hunting activity that we discovered last year. This was one of those activities that our grandson looked forward to. What we did instead was to go to Dave's Down To Earth Rock Shop and purchased some rock activities that he could do such as a dinosaur egg kit:

Picking away at the matrix to reveal…

… what is hidden beneath the matrix.

Another activity that we normally do is go swimming in the pool (Yes… there is a pool where we camp). My wife and I figured we could use our YMCA membership and go swimming at their pool. Unfortunately, the storm the night before knocked out the power and caused us to rethink where to go swimming.

Looks like we can't go to the pool today…

Fortunately we were able to go to a nearby water park which had a cool water feature. There is a giant bucket that gets filled with water. At some point gravity takes over and the bucket tips over spilling all of the water on unsuspecting swimmers below…

Grandpa and Grandson getting doused with the huge bucket of water.

After swimming for several hours, we decided to pull out the grill and make hamburgers and hot dogs. Once we ate, we then pulled out the marshmallows graham crackers and chocolate for some home made smores…

Grandson roasting marshmallows for smores.

I did plan on pulling out the tent in the living room, but my wife objected to such a monstrosity in the middle of the room. We then intended on just pulling out our sleeping bags and sleep on the floor, but our grandson sleepily said: "is it OK if we just pull out the couch instead?"— we happily abliged.

F2: Seasoned Potato Skins

Welcome again to Friday's Feast. Today I'll be talking about what to do with those pesky potato skins. If you don't know what Friday's Feast is all about, please read the Friday's Feast page for a more detailed explanation. If you want to join in on the feast— be sure to leave a comment and include the URL to your post so I and others can know of your contribution.

Participants in this weeks Feast are as follows:

• Michelle @ It's a dog's life
  A great meatless potato recipe that puts the Food Network to shame.
• Mama Badger @ out of the boondocks and into the burbs…
  Don't know what Salt Potatoes are… read on.
• m²I @ Ca-Joh
  A recipe of mine that requires you to peel some potatoes.

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With inspirations from Mrs. Mackinac…

I saw my wife do this once while making mashed potatoes. I think it makes a great appetizer that people can eat while waiting for the main dish to arrive.

Seasoned Potato Skins:

1 Iron Skillet

Skins from however many potatoes you are peeling at the time

1-2T Peanut Oil

Seasoned Salt

1. Heat up the iron skillet over medium heat.
2. Peal your potato into the iron skillet.
3. Add some peanut oil over the top.
4. Stir the oil into the skins
5. Continue to slice or dice your potato according to whatever recipe you are using.
6. Repeat steps 2-5 with however many potatoes you are using.
7. When finished, add the seasoning.
   If you do not want to use seasoned salt, you can use any other seasoning such as bay seasoning if you like.
8. Remove skins from pan and serve over a paper towel in a shallow bowl.
9. Enjoy.

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Next weeks topic is Spicy-Hot! Let's turn up the heat shall we… it doesn't even have to be a recipe. Have you ever had something that was too hot, or are you one of those people who say to others "that's not hot at all". Or, why is it that people like eating spicy foods in the summer (are they crazy!).So… if you have anything that relates to this topic, be sure to leave a comment and include the URL so I can include you in next weeks feast. Even if you have already posted on this topic in the past— your links are always welcome.

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Thrus Night Club

When I was in community theater our theater group rehearsed on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday. After the Thursday night rehearsal we typically went out to a local bar and blew off steam after a long week of rehearsals. Once the show was finished we figured: "hey… this can't end— we want to still meet!" So, we vowed that we would meet every first Thursday of the month at the bar just so we could reminisce.

One of the cast members wrote up a post card as a reminder to the rest of the cast of the upcoming first Thursday get-together. Fortunately/unfortunately, the subject of the post card was "Thrus. Night Club" instead of the intended "Thurs. Night Club". Upon looking at the post card one cast member remarked to himself: "Hey, Thrus Night Club… sounds kinky— just add a 't' to it and you got Thrust Night Club". After a lot of laughs about the type-o we took on the name of Thrustre (because that is how you spell theatre by the way) and we have been the Thrustres ever since.

During a summer production a lot of us who were Thrustres were in a Sock-hop scene. The seamstress of the group decided that we all should have bowling shirts. And not just every-day ordinary ones either— they would be Hot Pink and Black!

Here I am sporting the Thrustre bowling shirt with our family dog Alexis. Note the hot pink collar on the dog (I think she liked being a Thrustre).

Here's another picture me on a trip up to Wisconsin telling the wooden captain a secret. Note the patch on the arm— (I was a Sergeant at Arms).

The bar in which we met so frequently closed down after the owner passed away. Then so many of us moved away or joined other companies that the tradition faded and now it seems only a memory.

So here's a toast to the Thrustres:
"No matter where you go…There you are"
"There's a hammock about fifty yards that way— I'm numb— and this night… is mine!"
"And here's to the lady in the see through dress… long may she wave— Huh Huh Huh Huh… Sheep-Dip!"

51 And Falling…

Lately I have noticed that my Follower count has dropped from 55 to 51. I do know that someone actually wrote indicating that blogger wiped their account one day and they have been desperately trying to follow those blogs and got an error message when trying, so I know that one person is accounted for— but I am unsure of the rest.

When followers was the new thing, I wrote a few Tuesday's Tributes giving a brief summary of my Followers and what their blogs were all about. Here are the posts that I wrote:

• Tuesday's Tribute: Followers-of-the-Blog-01
• Tuesday's Tribute: Followers-of-the-Blog-02
• Tuesday's Tribute: Followers-of-the-Blog-03

At the time I stopped abound 30 followers and briefly after that Blogger changed the way they listed Followers. I have a widget on my side-bar which lists "What the Followers have to say" and shows a blog-roll of those that I know have followed me in the past. Please check to see if you are still following me if your blog is listed. If not, try following me again (unless you really don't want to follow me any more don't worry— I'll understand). Or, if you are a regular reader and want to give me an "atta-boy" you can follow me too. I am hoping to have another Tuesday's Tribute once I reach 60 followers so that you can get some publicity about your blog.