27 responses to “Saturday afternoon walk.”

1. 

   brian stouder said on December 3, 2011 at 6:19 pm

   The girls and I just got back from running an errand, and we had to cut through a neighborhood to get from Spring to State, since the Spring Street bridge (near St Francis) is out. And indeed, earlier today there was a police stand-off on the street we went down – they deployed that armored personnel carrier that Nancy displayed here before, and the thing ended without anyone being killed – and we saw a marvelously beautiful Christmas lights display, including deer on the yard. Made the girls and I say “oooo” and “ahhhhhh”, and everything!

   And speaking of reindeer and police, yesterday here in Fort Wayne, a woman was following clues and looking for a reindeer figurine (a local radio station promotion; $500 for each one you find, and $1000 if you find Rudolph)….and she found a dead body by the river!

   When asked if she was going to keep searching for reindeer, she said something like “I think I’m done with that”…!!

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2. 

   Dexter said on December 3, 2011 at 6:25 pm

   I am disappointed in our city because someone decided to abandon our large display featuring this type of animated decorations. Yes, I bet these reindeer look splendid at night.

   My nemesis, the giant plastic snowman on our courthouse square, is back to torture me yet again. The problem: A giant tobacco-smoking pipe jammed into his fuckin’ mug. I see the snowman, I crave some Kentucky Club. And I MUST look…every time. So far, I am OK…16 days until my 30th anniversary off cigarettes.
   25 years off the pipe and cigars, that was in July.

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3. 

   brian stouder said on December 3, 2011 at 6:33 pm

   Dexter, I confess that THAT struck me as funny!

   Some would protest a religious creche, and others would protest a commerical pagan symbol like Santa; but the tobacco angle was one I had not thought of.

   And really, Santa is proudly obese, and we had a fairly heated local controversy over whether obesity is a disease or a choice….so that might be next.

   http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20111203/EDIT/312039987/1147/EDIT07

   an excerpt:

   Billboards for a weight-loss program are sparking anger in northwest Indiana. “Obesity is a disease. Not a decision,” reads the signs for the Healthy 4 Life program in Hobart. But calls to the medical center suggest plenty of Hoosiers disagree. A receptionist said one male caller was angry. “He said he felt very offended, and that obesity was more of an option and cancer was more of a disease,” Kathryn Galambos told the Times of Northwest Indiana.

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4. 

   Deborah said on December 3, 2011 at 8:23 pm

   I don’t get lawn ornaments, never did. I have owned some houses in the past and when I was a kid my parents used colored flood lights washing up palm trees at Christmas, that’s all the lawn ornamentation that I’ve ever been associated with. I have lived in high rise buildings since the late 80s so haven’t had any pressure to conform.

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5. 

   Linda said on December 3, 2011 at 8:32 pm

   The house dead across the street from me is flooded with lights. In Toledo, it’s the norm in some neighborhoods to have enough light power to read a paper by. And I love it. This time of year I’m a cavewoman, and the dark and cold make me crave big honking amounts of artificial light to drive back the darkness.

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6. 

   alex said on December 3, 2011 at 9:02 pm

   Why, those things have antlers. If I lived in some less conservative bastion, I’d take the both of them, mount one on its hind legs behind the other and trademark it as a Two-Buck Fuck.

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7. 

   brian stouder said on December 3, 2011 at 10:34 pm

   Well, I think Alex just won the thread! (or – the buck stops there!)

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8. 

   Dexter said on December 4, 2011 at 1:04 am

   A regular caller, a friend of the radio show I listen to daily, The Ron and Fez Show, XM-105, Sirius 206, goes by the name Hard Rock Johnny because he’s Director of Sales & Marketing at the Times Square Hardrock Cafe.
   Monday he went under the knife for weight reduction surgery. The surgeons removed seventy-five per cent of his stomach. He was sent home twenty-four hours later, and he returns to work tomorrow. Well, extreme measures require drastic measures, and since Johnny couldn’t leave the pizza alone, he needed the surgery.
   The USA is rife with so many overweight people, it’s such a growing problem, surgery and exercise and dieting all must be encouraged.
   It’s confusing for a normal weight person to see a fat person eating anything but a plain celery stalk , but maybe that fat guy is diabetic and is needing to eat to regulate his blood sugar.
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8D8zpLqpw8

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9. 

   Basset said on December 4, 2011 at 8:03 am

   Another deer-themed Christmas light setup, this pic has been circulating for awhile;

   http://i.imgur.com/8gKTW.png

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10. 

    coozledad said on December 4, 2011 at 11:06 am

    Next time you hear some wingnut freak go on about welfare, remember, it’s them that gets it most. Fucking parasites.
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/01/fox-news-studio-in-manhat_n_1124121.html

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11. 

    caliban said on December 4, 2011 at 11:24 am

    Bye bye Cainster. How, aside from pigment, do Newt and this ahole differ? When Cain declared himself a brother from another mother with the Koch Kriminal Konspiracy, how did Teabangers reconcile that with their alleged “beliefs”?

    Christmas lights commodified:

    http://dovestreetlights.com/

    I kinda like the candles in the window, Irish version.

    And the antidote to It’s a Wonderful Life, which James Stewart would probably disown these days since it made big bankers look like heartless barbarians, watch Millions, the Danny Boyle masterpiece, and Slumdog Millionaires be damned.

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12. 

    caliban said on December 4, 2011 at 12:43 pm

    Perfect Doonesbury:

    http://wpcomics.washingtonpost.com/client/wpc/db/

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13. 

    LAMary said on December 4, 2011 at 12:53 pm

    The lights came back on mid-morning Saturday and I think my freezer contents survived. Having no email or phone at home, and living in a place where there is terrible cell phone reception, I was going crazy. I’m in the middle of a job offer negotiation for a high level position and the lack of communication was making it ridiculously complicated. Normally I would have been ok with being unavailable outside of work hours.

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14. 

    Dexter said on December 4, 2011 at 2:24 pm

    Glad you made it through that horrible event, LAM. Now if you can get the hum of constant chainsaws out of your head…

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15. 

    MarkH said on December 4, 2011 at 2:32 pm

    Alex, photos exist of such lawn ornament copulating ungulates.

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16. 

    caliban said on December 4, 2011 at 3:12 pm

    Good luck with the job Mary.

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17. 

    Deborah said on December 4, 2011 at 4:00 pm

    Later this evening we’re going to a movie watching at some friend’s house. It is our turn to bring the food. She’s vegetarian and also doesn’t eat processed wheat. She’s a breast cancer surviver so she’s careful. Littlebird helped with the menu ideas and the cooking. We’re having roasted brussel sprouts with a sour cream horseradish dip, red pepper stuffed with forbidden rice (black) mixed with scallions and lemon pepper tofu (which we marinated and baked first), along with fennel potato hash. For appetizers we’ll have cheese and flackers (wheatless crackers). For dessert we’ll have apple, pear and cranberry compote left over from Thanksgiving with yogurt on top. I’m pretty happy with it, I hope it goes over OK.

    Littlebird went to a dinner party last night and took the goat cheese stuffed dates wrapped in bacon that we heard about here. She said it was a huge hit so thanks for that.

    I was really looking forward to having Bob NG’s pork and prune extravaganza today but I had forgotten about movie night. We’re going to see Raging Bull which I’ve seen a million times but our friends have not seen it before.

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18. 

    MichaelG said on December 4, 2011 at 4:21 pm

    Mary, I remember when you got the job you have now! Good luck on this upgrade. Fingers are crossed. Glad your freezer is safe.

    Deborah, that sounds really good. Can you share the recipe for the fennel potato hash

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19. 

    basset said on December 4, 2011 at 7:10 pm

    We were going to try the pork stew but it’s Sunday, can’t buy brandy in Tennessee unless it’s by the glass in a restaurant or whatever, can’t take it home with you. I had never heard of fennel in any form but seeds, didn’t know you could actually eat the root of it. Have to find some now.

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20. 

    Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 4, 2011 at 7:33 pm

    Ah, someone has to post it, I guess. Dex, the deer in this picture are not using any tobacco products whatsoever.

    http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_rimPtODTDJk/TPMd4YHBX5I/AAAAAAAACUs/oLASdnBeJPY/s1600/effing-deer.jpg

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21. 

    Kirk said on December 4, 2011 at 10:09 pm

    Don’t see any humping reindeer, but if you have an appetite for obscenely ridiculous, over-the-top Christmas decorations, this has some beauties. Be thankful that they’re not next door.

    http://www.djmick.co.uk/really/112-pictures-crazy-house-christmas-light-decorations/

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22. 

    Deborah said on December 5, 2011 at 12:38 am

    Michael G the fennel potato hash is really simple, you chop up a yellow onion and sauté it, add chopped or shredded potato and fennel until the potatoes are tender, salt and pepper to taste.

    Everything went over well at the movie night. I hadn’t mentioned previously that I got a coconut spread this weekend at Whole Foods that they were giving samples out for that was spectacular. It basically tastes like butter but it doesn’t have the cholesterol. We also had that tonight on the flackers. It came with a dollar off coupon too, so good deal.

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23. 

    Bill said on December 5, 2011 at 12:39 am

    LA Mary: Hope your job thing turns out well for you. If I had a company I’d hire you for sure.

    The reindeer/Christmas/lighting decorations are just starting to turn up in the Chicago area. We’re doing the minimum this year. Just a small lighted tree in the window facing the street.

    If you’re into prayers and good thoughts, remember my brother, Lew, who is getting a total ankle replacement on Wednesday.

    I’m stage managing “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” at our community theater this year. Great audiences for a really good show. Shazam!

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24. 

    Dexter said on December 5, 2011 at 12:42 am

    JmmO: I detect snuff in the cheek, but dat don’ bother me none.

    Deborah: This means you missed tonight’s Boardwalk Empire, the only gangster soap opera in history, and I find it comparable in stunning tension to The Wire, which is nigh-sacrilege here.
    Tonight’s episode had a story line that was predictable, awful, and so “oh no they DIDn’t!” that it’s difficult to shake it out of my mind even yet. I just can’t recall a show that stays with me so long after I shut the TV off.
    I love modern things but it sucks not be able to mention anything about any TV shows because almost everybody dvr s everything and they get mad if you spoil it for them. Even movies…hell, you can’t discuss a movie anymore because you are “giving it away” and ruining it for people…I say this is nonsense, but I am in the minority.

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25. 

    Deborah said on December 5, 2011 at 7:38 am

    Dexter, is Boardwalk Empire on HBO? We don’t have HBO.

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26. 

    LAMary said on December 5, 2011 at 9:21 am

    Thank you for all the good wishes, but I’m the one hiring someone. I’m negotiating with someone, trying to hire them without giving away the farm. In this case I’m the middle person between an executive and the candidate determining salary, relocaton assistance, incentive bonus and possible sign on bonus. That sign on is a no-go, by the way. It’s a job with a very specific skill set, but we found more qualified applicants than anyone thought we would.
    Thank goodness I’m still in the job I got almost six years ago. I love my job and I’ve survived some tough stuff, but I’m vested, reasonably remunerated, and I’ve got benefits.

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27. 

    Dorothy said on December 5, 2011 at 9:37 am

    Yes Boardwalk Empire is an HBO show and I haven’t watched last night’s ep yet. I appreciate you not spoiling the show for me, Dexter. I watch/record 3 or 4 things on Sunday nights and I have to get to sleep by 10:30 or I’m a wreck on Monday morning. We’ll be watching BE during the dinner hour tonight for sure.

    Mary I thought that was the case – you were doing the hiring. That chess game you’re doing sounds intriguing to say the least.

    We were invited to have Christmas dinner with friends this year (our son’s girlfriend’s parents) so that means we’ll open gifts with son and girlfriend at her house before we head to her parents’ place. All of this leads me to inform you that we’re not putting up a tree this year. It seems to make no sense to do it just for the two of us. It’s very liberating to know I won’t have to get all that stuff out, unwrap it, and then turn around and put it all away 2 weeks later. (I never put a tree up before Dec. 15 – that is plenty of enjoyment time for me!)

    I did put up our old Avon calendar that has a cloth mouse who moves into a pocket every day between Dec. 1 and Dec. 24. And Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus, the ceramic couple who kiss. Santa has a music box inside and when you wind him up (!!) he turns ’round. It would not be Christmas without those items!

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