Colonial tavern for lunch in Charolettesville

Camping in style

Saying good bye to that smelly old popup trailer we used to rent from Outdoor Rec!

Vietnam era history review

Since there appears to be so many re-writers of what used to be recent history, here's a pretty good summary of the war that everyone keeps comparing Iraq to:

http://www.vvlf.org/default.php?page_id=41

The Fonda Fallacies: Why Jane Fonda Was Wrong, and Why It Matters Today

Too bad a well-documented summary springs from a discusson on the poster-child for Hollywood stupidity: Hanoi Jane.

Could there be a better example of why Hollywood douchebags and other self described "trend-setters" should stay out of politics and just stay in my TV / Radio / Movie screen?

View from the window at the Inn at Biltmore

I had a week long meeting in Marietta and Fran came along too as it was her spring break. On the way back we stopped in and stayed a couple of nights at the Biltmore estate. The hotel was just an excuse to stop and get more wine!

Anyways, it was just a few weeks before all the flowers start blooming, but it was still a nice stay.

Test driving the new MacJournal v5

until now, i have been using the latest MarsEdit program. It works, but still wished it handled iphoto and movie clips better.

so this is an experiment with MacJournal.

Dinner

At least the beer is authentic!

Yodel-lay-he-hoo

Joshua tree in Mojave Desert

Random view from the strip

Shopping Roman style

Hotel fire

Scary fire nearby hotel

Good Morning Las Vegas

Puppy Santorini

Just doing some spring cleaning on the computer and found this clip of Santorini when he was a puppy. He still "talks back" to me in exactly the same way, except with now "grown up" voice.

Kids...what are you going to do with them?

She should get hostile fire pay for this

Is there ever a day she doesn't exaggerate or just outright lie? If she was in such extreme danger, why did she take her daughter? Or is she simply just pumping herself up with another exaggeration to make herself look good? Speaking as one who actually has been shot at while flying, I don't think she was in much danger...after all, she had a couple of "hollywood stars" left to jettison as chaff.

Hillary says she risked life on White House trips

VINTON, Iowa - Ever since Barack Obama suggested Hillary Clinton's eight years as first lady were a glorified tea party a few days back, she's looked for an opening to strike back.

On Saturday night in Dubuque she pounced, arguing she risked her life on White House missions in the 1990s, including a hair-raising flight into Bosnia that ended in a "corkscrew" landing and a sprint off the tarmac to dodge snipers.

"I don't remember anyone offering me tea," she quipped.

The dictum around the Oval Office in the '90s, she added, was: "If a place was too dangerous, too poor or too small, send the first lady."

It turns out that Clinton wasn't quite flying solo into harm's way that day.

She was, in fact, leading a goodwill entourage that included baggy-pants funnyman Sinbad, singer Sheryl Crow and Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, then 15, according to an account of the March 1995 trip in her autobiography "Living History."

As the plane approached the runway, the pilot ordered the Clintons into the armored front of the plane, Clinton writes.

What's not clear is whether Sinbad or Crow were invited to the cockpit or had to brave it out in the unprotected rear.

Happy New Year...Wassail! Drinkhail!

We went to a pub in Williamsburg last night to start the New Year's Eve festivities. While we were there, one of the entertainers sang a song about wassailing on Christmas Eve. I knew about the tradition drinking wassail during the holidays, but didn't know it could be used as a verb. Evidently, in the ye olden days, wassailers went about on Christmas eve getting looped on wassail then going door to door singing Christmas songs and demanding even more wassail for their efforts. What a great idea!

So today's recommendation (and history lesson) is about Wassail and wassailing.






wassail |ˈwäsəl; -ˌsāl| archaic

noun:
spiced ale or mulled wine drunk during celebrations for Twelfth Night and Christmas Eve. Lively and noisy festivities involving the drinking of plentiful amounts of alcohol; revelry.

verb:
1 [ intrans. ] drink plentiful amounts of alcohol and enjoy oneself with others in a noisy, lively way.
2 go from house to house at Christmas singing carols : here we go a-wassailing.

DERIVATIVES
wassailer |ˈwɑsələr| |ˈwɑˈseɪlər| noun

ORIGIN Middle English wæs hæil [be in (good) health!] : from Old Norse ves heill (compare with hail 2 ).

The drinking formula wassail (and the reply drinkhail [drink good health] ) were probably introduced by Danish-speaking inhabitants of England, and then spread, so that by the 12th cent. the usage was considered by the Normans to be characteristic of Englishmen.

Spiced Ale:
Ingredients:
1 Quart Ale
Nutmeg (to taste)
Ginger (to taste)
Grated Lemon Peel (to taste)
3 eggs
4 oz. Powdered sugar
1 Quart Rum or brandy

1. Heat ale to almost boiling with spices
2. Beat eggs with sugar while ale is heating up. Combine both into a large pitcher.
3. Put Rum or Brandy into another large pitcher & turn from one to another until mixed well. Then pour into a holiday wreathed wassail bowl (or punch bowl). Best served hot!

Mulled Wine Version:
Ingredients:
4 cups apple cider
4 cinnamon sticks
1 lemon, sliced
1 tsp. whole allspice
1 tsp. whole cloves
4 cups pineapple or orange juice
1/2 cup sugar
4 cups dry red wine


1. Place apple cider, cinnamon sticks, lemon slices, allspice, and clove in large saucepan and heat over
medium high heat for 20 minutes.
2. Add pineapple/orange juice, sugar, and red wine and heat thoroughly.
3. Remove lemon slices, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice before serving.

The Invasion

First they hung around in peaceful groups above the roof line misleading us with their brilliant colors. In truth they were actually spying on us, maybe even taunting us, and simply waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack.

A few probing forces jumped early, ahead of the attack, and they were easy to drive out of the homeland with a few hand tools. I'm sure they poured over the intel they got from these early skirmishes because they changed tactics. After a short lull they charged in a coordinated massive attack.

Their ambush was perfectly planned. We weren't ready. There were too many of them, and we were too few. We fell back to a protective position in the pub while they streamed in under their colorful parachutes.

They thought they had us trapped, and they laid siege to both the front and back yards. But we were well stocked with provisions and patience and outlasted their feeble siege attempt.

We broke through the siege lines just after sunrise a few days later and made it to the smokehouse in the back of the garden and uncovered some old, mothballed heavy artillery. Their bodies were weak and colorless from the prolonged siege. They couldn't stand the 100+ mph wind assault of the mighty Toro 51586 leaf blower. They were no match. The Spartans would have been proud of our delaying tactics and our final triumph.

There were so many casualties mopping up operations took quite some time. We tried mulching their little lifeless forms with the lawnmower, but there were too many of them for the summertime machine. We retired the lawnmower and took up manual tools to assist in the cleanup. We finally collected their carcasses and gathered them up in bags. The local government will come around in a few days to take the bags to a mass burial site.

It turns out that there have been several battles like ours all over the neighborhood and there is a rumor that even though we clearly won this round, they will plot all summer long and attack again about the same time next year.

We'll have to invest in better equipment and think about a new defense plan this summer. As seasoned veterans, we'll be better prepared for next year!

see more pre-battle photos at http://gallery.mac.com/rude#100113

End of 2007

It's a nice sunny day on the last day of 2007. F has gone for a run in Yorktown National Battlefield. My outdoor work will be limited to putting all our leaves out for collection. (Hey, that is no small job as evidenced by the photo I'll attach here later) After that...maybe cozy day in the office doing taxes...yeah...

Anyways, here are a couple of photos from early this year in the hopes that the upcoming cold weather will have some snow in it.

Christmas photos online

the season's events online at http://gallery.mac.com/rude#100101

Christmas morning